PREDICTION FROM MALACHI FULFILLED—BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF MARY ALICE CANNON—CANNON FAMILY EMBRACE THE GOSPEL—MIGRATE—MOTHER'S DEATH AT SEA—ARRIVAL AT NAUVOO—FATHER'S DEATH—HER MARRIAGE.
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
Thus spake the Lord through Malachi, the prophet; but just what was meant by turning the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers, has been a matter of speculation among bible students since time was young. Of course, many have supposed that this prediction was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist; but wherein John the Baptist accomplished any such work as that indicated is not clear. Whatever the work was that Elijah was to do, there must be something potential about it, to have the effect of appeasing the wrath of the Almighty and averting the curse with which the earth (or possibly the inhabitants of the earth) would otherwise be smitten.
Not until the doctrine of salvation for the dead had been revealed was the full import of the declaration quoted from Malachi understood even by the Latter-day Saints. The anxiety they immediately experienced for the salvation of their kindred who had died without conforming to the Gospel requirements, when they learned that the living might do a vicarious work in behalf of the dead, that would place the latter upon an equal footing with the most favored of the living, was an illustration of its effects upon the children.
The interest that was awakened about that same time in the matter of genealogical research, without any apparent cause for it, more than had existed for ages, may reasonably be considered an evidence that the "heart of the fathers" was being turned to the children. Nor was this interest in the tracing of genealogies, and the connecting of one generation or age to another by kindred links, limited to Latter-day Saints, or those familiar with the doctrine of salvation for the dead, as newly revealed. It seemed to be a spontaneous feeling, specially noticeable in the more enlightened countries of that age and since. The disposition to engage in this research was not limited to any class or creed. It was manifested alike by people of various religious beliefs and by those also of infidel tendencies. Sometimes pride of ancestry furnished the excuse, and at other times the hope of inheritance was the incentive. Whatever the causes that led to the compiling and publishing of genealogical works, it is easy for Latter-day Saints to believe that men so actuated were inspired of the Lord, whether they realized it or not, and that the grand and ultimate purpose of the Lord was that the living believers in that doctrine might do a vicarious work for the salvation of individual dead, and thus connect the present generation with those of the past.
Plate as described below
Mrs. Mary Alice C. Lambert
A desire to learn as much as possible about one's ancestors, and then go into the Temple and labor for their salvation, may be really accepted as the normal feeling among faithful, sincere Latter-day Saints. So generally is it understood to be their duty to labor for their dead kindred, that it seems quite the natural thing that they should do so. Their obligation in this respect is comparable to that of providing for dependent members of their households.
One must have a broader feeling of philanthropy or a higher sense of duty, to labor as a general worker or officiator in the Temple for extended periods, without hope of earthly reward. Among the more conspicuous examples of this kind in the Salt Lake Temple is Mrs. Mary Alice C. Lambert, the dean of the women workers, if such a term may be applied to a woman. She was one of those called to so labor when the Salt Lake Temple was completed, and has so served faithfully and gratuitously ever since, being still active and efficient, although in her eighty-sixth year. Hers is as fine an example of a busy, well-spent life, as could readily be found, and a perusal of the following sketch can hardly fail to be faith promoting:
On the 9th day of December, 1828, a young married couple, George and Ann Cannon, then living in the city of Liverpool, England, rejoiced in the birth of their second child—a daughter—whom they named Mary Alice. There was nothing about the child or her brother, George Q., who was two years her senior, or their parents, to distinguish them from the many thousands of other families who lived in that great city. The father was an intelligent and industrious tradesman—an expert carpenter, or joiner—and the mother a thoroughly domestic woman, whose love for her husband and children was only equalled by the strength of her religious fervor. Though England had been the adopted home of this branch of the Cannon family since many years before their marriage, the most of their relatives lived in the Isle of Man, and thither the family went on occasional visits. On one of these visits, at the earnest solicitation of her maternal grandmother, little Mary Alice was left to bear her company, and spent five years of her childhood in the quaint old town of Peel, for this purpose.
In course of time the Cannon family was enlarged by the successive births of other children—Ann, Angus, John, David and Leonora. John, however, died when three and a half years of age. Prosperity had attended the father's labors, the family had a comfortable and happy home, the older children were acquiring an education, and gave promise of being like other children among the better class in England—no worse than the majority, and not much if any better.
When Mary Alice was about 11 years of age, an event occurred that was destined to change the whole current of the family life. If there is any truth in the theory of heredity, it was well for the Cannon family that their ancestors, for generations, had been hardy sea-faring men—some of them captains, conspicuous for their courage and adventurous disposition. It was well that their ancestral home was in the Isle of Man, where the inhabitants, largely fishermen, are inured to hardship and used to battling with the waves and braving the tempest. If any of the traits possessed by their ancestors had been inherited by the present generation, and especially strength of will and endurance, two of the most prominent characteristics of the Manx people—they must certainly be called into action in the strenuous life that lay before the Cannon family, thenceforward.
Some years previously Leonora Cannon, a sister of George Cannon, had migrated to Canada, and there met and married a young Englishman named John Taylor. Parley P. Pratt, as a Latter-day Saint missionary, soon afterwards visited the part of Canada where the Taylors lived, and they were converted and joined their fortunes with the Saints in Ohio. From Nauvoo John Taylor was sent on a mission to Great Britain, and immediately upon landing called upon his wife's brother and family.
A profound impression was made by this visit. The visitor had scarcely left the house, after a brief call, when the mother expressed the firm conviction she felt that he was a servant of God, although he had not then made known the fact that he was a missionary or explained the Gospel. After a very short time spent investigating the Gospel, the parents were baptized. Little Mary Alice, though so young, greatly desired baptism at the same time, but was too timid to ask for it. From the time she listened to the first conversation on the Gospel she had felt greatly exercised in regard to it, and earnestly prayed to the Lord for a testimony as to its truth. As a result, she obtained a strong assurance from the Lord of its truth, that has never since admitted of a doubt.
The parents had been members of the Church four months when, in June 1840, Elder Parley P. Pratt visited them in company with Elder Taylor. They had just finished eating breakfast, with the whole family present, when Elder Pratt, as if moved by a sudden inspiration, said: "Elder Taylor, have you preached the Gospel to these children? Some of them want to be baptized now. Don't you?" he asked looking straight at Mary Alice. "Yes, sir," she promptly replied, her heart so full of gratitude to the Lord for the opportunity she had prayed for of having her desire made known, that she could hardly speak. Further questioning resulted in immediate arrangements being made for the baptism of George Q., Mary Alice and Ann—all the children of the family then old enough for the ordinance.
It didn't take the family long to discover that there was no fellowship or tolerance for them among their relatives, or indeed among their former friends. Though formerly popular, they were now pitied or denounced, if not thoroughly hated. Whether this fact tended to create a desire to migrate to America or not, true it was that they soon obtained the spirit of gathering. The only social enjoyment the family found was in mingling with members of the church, and the desire soon grew strong to go where the majority of the members could be found. The mother especially revolted at the thought of her children growing up in an atmosphere of unbelief, and, although she was in delicate health, and had a premonition that amounted almost if not quite to an absolute fore-knowledge that she would not live to reach America, she insisted upon going, and was impatient to start. The father, too, after having a dream of his wife dying at sea, feared that it might prove true, and would have hesitated about going had the Lord not made known to him, in answer to prayer, that it was his duty to do so.
The family embarked on a sailing vessel bound for New Orleans in September, 1842, and the mother died and was buried at sea six weeks later, after suffering from sea sickness almost if not quite every day of the voyage up to that time. The forlorn condition of the family can more easily be imagined than described. The promises held out by the Gospel seemed to be their only comfort and support. For Mary Alice, mere child that she was, there was too much to do in caring for the younger brothers and sisters to admit of her yielding to grief. The new responsibility suddenly thrust upon her had the effect of merging her childhood into womanhood without any interim for youth.
The sea voyage ended at New Orleans, eight weeks after it commenced, the intention being to proceed immediately by river steamboat to Nauvoo; but obstacles were soon encountered, the first being the grounding of the boat on a sandbar, resulting in such a tedious delay that severe frost set in and the boat was unable to proceed farther north than St. Louis because of the river being frozen over. The Cannon family accordingly spent the winter in St. Louis, the father providing homes and support for two other families, whom he had charitably immigrated from England, besides his own.
Nauvoo was finally reached in April, 1843, seven months after the departure from England. A cordial greeting by the Prophet Joseph Smith and a hearty welcome from Aunt Leonora Taylor and family helped to reconcile them, and the peaceful home obtained in Nauvoo was all the more appreciated because of the difficulties experienced on the way.
In February, 1844, the father married a second time, the motherless condition of his children and a desire on his part for their welfare doubtless hastening the event.
This was a crucial period in the Church's history. Disaffection was rife, and the allegiance of many who had formerly been considered stalwarts in the faith had become very uncertain. Apostates, secret and outspoken, were conspiring with former enemies of the church to overthrow the work of the Lord and encompass the death of the Prophet. The martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch and the very serious wounding of Apostle John Taylor occurred, as a result of these diabolical plots, in June.
During all these trying times the Church had no more loyal supporters than the Cannon family. The father was among those who cared for the bodies of the martyrs when returned to Nauvoo, and he it was who (with the assistance of his friend, Ariar Brower,) made the plaster casts of the faces and heads of the Prophet and Patriarch when the bodies were washed and prepared for burial.
In the August following, having gone to St. Louis to obtain employment, George Cannon suddenly died there. If the children's condition was forlorn when their mother died, it was doubly so now. The one fact, that they were located with the body of the Church, rendered their condition more tolerable. What might have been the result, so far as the children were concerned, of their being thus early left orphans if they had remained in England, can only be conjectured. The one supreme desire of the mother, to hasten the departure from England that the children might be with the body of the Church before being left without their natural protectors, was now justified.
George Q. and Ann found a home with their Aunt Leonora, the former, being already in the employ of Elder Taylor as a printer, and Mary Alice, though lacking two weeks of being sixteen years old at the time, married in November following, and provided a home for Angus, David and Leonora. Charles Lambert, the husband, was a thoroughly congenial companion, though twelve years the senior of his wife, and was willing as well as qualified to provide for the three orphans of whom he became the lawful guardian. He was an expert mechanic who, for the Gospel's sake, had given up a lucrative position and sacrificed worldly advantages in England to migrate to Nauvoo, where he landed in the early part of 1844. He had offered his services to help build the Temple without hope of payment therefor, and remained so employed up to the time the Temple was dedicated and he and his wife received their blessings therein, though his devotion thereto involved many hardships and severe privations, and almost superhuman self denial.
In all these trials Mother Lambert, as we now call her, and as she then was too, though not so called, (for her first child, Charles J., was born in Nauvoo in November, 1845, when she lacked one month of being 17 years old) was a true partner, patient, cheerful, industrious and self-sacrificing, and as loyal to the cause of God as the needle to the pole.
STRENUOUS LIFE IN NAUVOO—CITY BESIEGED—THRILLING EXPERIENCE—MIRACLE OF QUAILS—RUN OVER BY WAGON—WAGON SINKS TO BOTTOM OF RIVER—LIFE IN UTAH—MISSION ABROAD—HER POSTERITY.
They succeeded in acquiring a fairly comfortable home in Nauvoo, and a farm a short distance outside of the city, but they were not destined to long enjoy their possessions. The enemies of the Church were not content with having killed the Prophet and Patriarch; they were determined to drive the Saints from the state of Illinois, as they had previously been driven from Missouri. The Saints, especially in the outlying settlements, were continually being harassed by the lawless mob. Farms were frequently pillaged or their crops burned. Domestic animals were driven off, and the inhabitants in some instances severely beaten and compelled to flee from their homes to save their lives. Many of their houses were also set fire to before the owners' sight.
Not only were the Saints the victims of these ruthless depredations, but they were actually accused of being the perpetrators of the same, and this made the pretext by the mob for demanding that the Saints remove from the state or abandon their religion. Is it any wonder that some of the more weak and faithless of the members chose the latter alternative?
An agreement was finally entered into, between the Saints on one side, and state officials and leaders of the mob on the other, that the Saints should leave the state as soon as they could sell their possessions. It soon became apparent, however, that they would have to abandon their homes instead of selling them, as their enemies, though anxious to secure them, showed little disposition to pay for them.
The majority of the Saints living in Nauvoo left there to journey westward in the early part of the year 1846, leaving those whose services to work upon the Temple were required, or who lacked the necessary equipment for the journey, to follow on afterwards. When the Apostles returned later to Nauvoo to dedicate the Temple they exacted a promise from those yet remaining there, and who possessed the necessary outfits to undertake the journey, that they would not abandon any of the less fortunate Saints who might desire to accompany them, but help them out of the state. Before they were ready to depart, however, the mobocrats, in far superior numbers, surrounded and besieged the city.
Charles Lambert took a prominent part in the city's defense, helping to manipulate one of the cannons, which, in the emergency, he and others had improvised from an old steamboat shaft, and which had been mounted upon a part of the running gear of a wagon.
Mother Lambert was an interested and anxious spectator of the battle. In addition to having her own small family to care for, a Mrs. Haines, a neighbor, who was very ill, had been brought to her home to be nursed, her husband being absent from the city. During the bombardment, which continued for several days, some of the cannon balls fired by the mob passed close by, but none of them actually struck the house. In one instance an old gentleman, who felt too feeble to be among the city's defenders, but whose anxiety to see how the battle waged led him to ascend to the top of the roof of the Lambert house to get a good view, was so alarmed by a cannon ball passing close by his head, that he rolled from the roof to the ground.
A flag of truce was finally raised by the mob and a treaty effected, one of the provisions of which was that the Saints would vacate the city within three days. Such of the household goods possessed by the Lambert family as could be, were loaded into a wagon box and an attempt made to remove across the river. As they approached the Mississippi, however, in the lower part of the town, so many other wagons were found to be ahead of theirs, waiting to be ferried over, that a temporary camp was made near an abandoned home.
While on the way from their home to this point the family had been surrounded by a large posse of the mob and compelled to give up to them such fire arms as they possessed. Soon after reaching the temporary camp, and while Father Lambert was absent with his team for the purpose of hauling John Haines' wagon, with his household goods and his sick wife in it, down to the same point, a second mob appeared and demanded that Mother Lambert give up to them whatever fire arms were in the wagon. In vain she told them the weapons had already been surrendered, and that she did not have the keys to unlock the boxes in the wagon. They used a hammer to forcibly break open the boxes, and proceeded to ransack all that the wagon contained, with the result that they obtained possession of a sword and bowie knife. These they brandished before the frightened mother and panic-stricken children, accusing her of lying to them when she said she had no fire arms, and threatening to cut her head off.
A sister of the Prophet Joseph Smith was a witness of this scene, she having proffered to remain with Mother Lambert for company while her husband was absent, and expressed regret that she didn't have some weapon to shoot the men with while threatening her friend.
In course of time they succeeded in getting ferried over the river and formed a camp on the Iowa side until Father Lambert could fulfill his pledge to help the poor Saints who had no means of conveyance, across the river, where they would be free from the power of the mob.
While engaged in this mission of charity, a party of mobocrats recognized him as one who had been conspicuous in the fight, and, with guns aimed at him, ordered his surrender. Then, while the two largest men of the party took him down into the the river and held him under the water three times in succession until his breath was gone, fourteen others, with their guns cocked and ready for action, threatened to shoot him if he attempted to resist.
Of course, he did not resist, neither did two brethren who were with him at the time—Thomas Harrington and Daniel Hill—for they were unarmed and knew it would be folly to do so. They were silent witnesses of the scene, and neither they nor Father Lambert made any response to the oaths of their persecutors, nor to the threat that if they ventured upon that side of the river again they would be shot on sight. Notwithstanding the threat, however, Father Lambert was in Nauvoo the following day, and continued to go over there until all the poor Saints who cared to be helped across the river had abandoned the city.
On one of these occasions he was detained in Nauvoo, because of the pressing nature of what he had in hand, and Mother Lambert, fearing the mob had caught him and executed their threat, walked the bank of the river all night in the greatest agony of suspense, and inquired anxiously about her husband of every passenger that crossed on the ferry boat, but all in vain. However, he showed up the next morning, with an additional yoke of cattle which he had secured on an account due him.
While encamped on the bank of the river on the Iowa side, a rain storm occurred, which continued without cessation for three days and nights, until the wagons and their contents, as well as the clothing worn, were thoroughly soaked. The sick woman, Mrs. Haines, was placed on a bed under the wagon, that being the most sheltered place available, and there Mother Lambert and others waited upon her as best they could, even holding milk pans over her bed to catch the water as it dripped through the wagon box, until she died—a martyr to the persecution to which the Saints were subjected.
It was while encamped on the bank of this river that the Saints, many of them suffering for want of food as well as otherwise ailing, were visited by a flock of quails, miraculously rendered so tame that some of them alighted on the beds occupied by the sick and were caught by their hands, and others allowed themselves to be killed with sticks. Those persecuted and suffering Saints, the Lambert family among the rest, accepted the birds as sent of the Lord, considering themselves as much the objects of divine favor as were the Israelites of old when fed with manna, and cooked the quail and ate them with the greatest possible relish.
The journey through Iowa was a very difficult one, and not entirely devoid of danger. The country was very sparsely settled, there were no really good roads except occasional stretches of natural prairie, and the numerous streams encountered generally had to be forded because of the absence of bridges. However, they did not travel continuously, a stop of some weeks being made at Bonaparte, and employment obtained by which supplies were earned.
It was while traveling westward from that point that a very serious accident occurred. Mother Lambert was very nervous about riding over bad places, preferring to walk when allowed to do so. The fact that the team animals, which consisted of two yoke of steers and one yoke of cows, were not well broken—in fact, quite wild when they left Nauvoo—rendered her more chary about riding. When approaching Soap Creek, which she had learned was a difficult stream to cross, she alighted from the wagon, and soon afterwards, by some accident, fell in front of the wagon wheel, and, before the team could be stopped, two wheels had passed over the small of her back. In addition to the weight of the wagon itself, its load amounted to fully 3500 pounds, making a combined weight sufficient to crush the life out of a person under ordinary circumstances. Indeed, it was supposed when she was picked up that she was dead. Father Lambert, however, was not willing to admit such a possibility, and called upon as many of his fellow travelers as had any faith to join with him in administering to her. His wife was miraculously spared, and the journey resumed the following day, but she has suffered more or less ever since from the effects of the accident.
Winter Quarters, on the west bank of the Missouri river, where the main body of the Saints had encamped, was reached late in November, and, as soon as Father Lambert had constructed a log house to shelter his family during the winter, he made his way to Missouri and found employment by which he earned supplies, and sent to his wife and children. He and his family were ambitious to journey westward with the pioneers in the spring. They were prevented, however, from doing so by the Indians killing their team animals after they had been brought through the winter in good condition, and shortly before the journey was to be undertaken.
It was a sad disappointment, but only a temporary set back. With courage unabated, the family removed to St. Joseph, Mo., where living was cheap and work abundant, and in February of the following year, with a new team and supplies earned in Missouri, Mother Lambert and the children were sent forward to Winter Quarters, to be ready to undertake the journey westward, while Father Lambert remained in Missouri to work as long as possible before rejoining them.
That journey of 150 miles in that inclement season was a terrible one, but it was bravely accomplished. In crossing the river from Ferry Point to Winter Quarters, however, a new misfortune occurred. The river had been frozen over for a considerable period, and teams had passed over it on the ice with impunity. Even that very morning two heavily loaded wagons had gone over. Yet, when the Lambert wagon was being taken across, although the precaution had been resorted to of taking the team over first and drawing the wagon over from a distance with a rope, the ice gave way. There, in that bleak March weather, six weeks before her son George was born, Mother Lambert stood upon the bank of the Missouri river, with her child in her arms and her two young brothers and younger sister clinging to her skirts, and saw the wagon containing all the family's earthly substance sink through the ice to the bottom of the stream. Sister Jane Dutson, (afterwards Mrs. Alexander Melville, of Fillmore) who had accompanied Mother Lambert from Missouri, stood beside her when the wagon disappeared, and the catastrophe almost made their hearts cease beating.
They never expected to see the wagon or its contents again. The accident, however, didn't prove so serious as that. The occasion served to illustrate how spontaneously kind, sympathetic and resourceful Latter-day Saints are. Though Mother Lambert had few acquaintances in Winter Quarters, the news of her misfortune soon spread, and proffers of help and expressions of sympathy came from all quarters. Volunteers soon plunged into the ice-cold water and readily reappeared bearing in their hands articles recovered from the wagon, which in turn were seized by others standing near the edge of the ice and then loaded upon hand sleds and conveyed to the shore. Before night set in most of the contents of the wagon had been recovered—damaged, of course, but not completely spoiled, and all done without any intimation of a favor being conferred thereby, much less any kind of remuneration being expected. Depend upon it, though, Mother Lambert was not lacking in gratitude, and in her prayers that night as she enjoyed the shelter of Brother Harrington's hospitable roof, she thanked God with all the fervency of which she was capable that she was a Latter-day Saint, and for the fraternal spirit that abounded among her fellow members.
The next day, by some method not now remembered, the wagon also was recovered.
Very soon afterwards President Young, who was then at Winter Quarters, preparing to start on his second trip to the Salt Lake Valley, accompanied by his family, wrote to Father Lambert in Missouri, advising that he remain there another year, promising, as a condition of his doing so, that he should lose nothing, but be able to go with a much better outfit than he otherwise could. Mother Lambert and the children accordingly returned thither, and awaited the arrival of the spring of 1849.
The journey to the valley, which occupied six months, was full of vicissitudes and rich in the experience that tends most to develop character. The goal for which the family had longed and prayed, though a wild region, forbidding in appearance, was hailed with joy, as promising exemption from contact with a sinful world, and freedom from persecution.
One thing that was specially disappointing to Mother Lambert and her three proteges was, that their brother George Q., who, with his sister Ann had reached the valley in 1847, soon after the pioneers landed, had only the day before started on a mission to California, thence to proceed to the Sandwich Islands. This involved a separation, as it afterwards proved (counting from the time they parted in Winter Quarters,) of almost eight years. He had, in anticipation of the family's arrival, arranged for the purchase of a lot—the same lot which was the family's home for so many years, and still in their possession, and made some adobes from which they might construct a house.
As illustrative of Father Lambert's disposition to follow the counsel of the church leaders, it may here be mentioned that President Willard Richards, one of the pioneers, and second counselor to President Young, who entertained a very strong friendship for Father Lambert, had saved a corner lot on Main Street—that which Walker Bros. bank occupied for so many years—for his friend, and so informed him on his arrival. Father Lambert expressed his gratitude for the kindness, but said, as President Young's counsel was that no family should have more than one city lot, and his brother-in-law, George Q., had bargained for a lot for him a couple of blocks distant from Main Street (the price of which must be paid) and made some adobes with which to build thereon, he felt that he ought to decline Brother Richards' kind offer. One has only to recall the almost fabulous value of that Main Street lot at the present time to realize what he lost by that declination, and yet, if its possession would have made the family become worldly-minded and think less of their religion, Father Lambert must even now, if permitted to know anything of mundane affairs, thank God that he did not accept it.
Those early years in Salt Lake Valley were years of desperate toil, hardship and privation, of which the Lambert family had their full share—perhaps more than their share; not however, from want of effort on their part, for none were more industrious or frugal, but largely because of their willingness to help others.
A more generous man than Charles Lambert probably never lived. He found more pleasure in relieving the wants of others who were in need than self gratification ever could have afforded him, and his wife was a worthy partner in that same respect. The needy did not have to apply to them to obtain assistance; they were sought for and their wants relieved without ostentation. No family ever bore privation with less complaining. When the crops failed through the ravages of grasshoppers, weeks passed without even the children of the household and served first the were they and bread, tasting the last to go without.
No woman in Utah probably had the faculty of preparing for her family a more palatable meal from herbs and roots than Mother Lambert, nor more wholesome and enjoyable fare when food was more plentiful and varied. How she accomplished the herculean tasks which came to her, and which she performed uncomplainingly, is incomprehensible to the present generation. Her first three children being boys, and their services being otherwise required, she had very little help in the household the greater part of the time she was bearing children, and she was the mother of fourteen. (She didn't shirk the duties of motherhood.) She was the dressmaker and tailoress for the family, even to the carding and spinning of the wool some of the time. Hers also was the task of cooking for the family, and not with the present facilities either. The open fireplace with its bake kettle and skillet and frying pan, and the adobe oven, were her early culinary conveniences in Utah. These were succeeded by the sheet iron stove, and that by the cast iron stove, and so on up to the range. She did the butter making and washing and ironing and mending for the family too, and it was always a big family, frequently including hired male help. She was the housekeeper also, and a good housekeeper too, the house being seldom out of order. It presented a cheery welcome to friends and acquaintances from far and near, and many availed themselves of it.
Hers was no stinted hospitality. The best she had was at the disposal of all who called, and frequently even the floors were taxed to their capacity to find room for the beds of those she entertained.
She was a good disciplinarian too. All her children as they grew up were taught to work, and in turn bore their share of the burden. She was also a famous nurse, and possessed of considerable skill in the use of the simple remedies that served so well to maintain a standard of health that has not been equaled in more recent years, notwithstanding our numerous and high-priced doctors. In these latter respects her services were not limited to members of her own household by any means.
Her own health was never especially robust, though she must have inherited a strong constitution and possessed naturally an indomitable will. She was seldom free from pain in her back, as a result of the accident before mentioned. Her powers were taxed too, upon numerous occasions, and for extended periods, in caring for an ailing husband, although he was a man who would bear any amount of pain without complaint. He was a great sufferer from inflammatory rheumatism, which caused a partial loss or his eyesight several times, and for more than six months at one time he was without the use of one arm, through having his shoulder dislocated.
The death of her husband, which occurred more than twenty-two years since, added an additional burden to her, but it also called forth her self-reliance, and proved that she possessed considerable executive ability.
In addition to all the labors and cares and duties mentioned, Mother Lambert found time throughout a very large part of her career for a great deal of charity work. For fifteen and a half years she was secretary of the relief society of the 7th ward, and for the succeeding twenty-two years was its president. She filled the last named office up to the time she removed from the ward, and her removal was for the purpose of being near the Temple, having been called to be one of its regular workers at the time that edifice was completed in 1893.
She filled a mission to England with her husband in 1882-3 and spent several months visiting different countries in Europe in 1906, mainly for the purpose of obtaining genealogical data. She has performed ordinances in the Temple for hundreds of her relatives and friends who died without the privilege of accepting the Gospel. She has also labored to a considerable extent as a missionary from the general board of the Relief Society, her travels in this capacity extending from Idaho in the north to Mexico in the south.
As an indication of the devotion of Mother Lambert and her family to the cause of truth, it may be said that the missionary work performed by herself and direct progeny (including the general work in the Temple, by direct call of the Church authorities) amounts in the aggregate to more than fifty-eight years.
Hers has been an unusually busy and useful life, and, according to her opinion, a rather happy one. She feels that she has had more real joy during her eighty-five and a half years upon earth than usually falls to the lot of mortals. And why not? A faithful adherence to duty throughout her life has left her comparatively little to regret, and unhappiness is largely the result of regret and remorse for sins committed and opportunities lost. Happiness depends less upon worldly possessions and a life of ease than upon a pure heart and a clear conscience. Her present joy is all the more complete for the sorrow she has felt; the peace of her recent years all the more enjoyable for the trials and turmoil of the past, and the comfortable competence she now enjoys is all the more appreciated because of her early privations.
If happiness is at all dependent upon the love of kindred, she ought to be supremely happy; for she has a numerous posterity, who almost idolize her. She is not able to wholly gratify the wishes of her several sons and daughters, because of her inability to spend her remaining days in mortality as a member of the household of each; so until recently she maintained her own modest but comfortable home and enjoyed a hearty welcome at the home of any of them as often and as long as she chose to visit.
During recent years the infirmity of age has led her to give up housekeeping and take up her residence with her eldest daughter. She receives every attention that love and duty can suggest, and is happy and contented. She is still a model of industry, seldom being seated for many minutes without having some kind of needlework, writing or reading to give her attention to.
In this connection it may be mentioned that for a great many years past it has been her habit to exhibit specimens of her needle work produced during the previous year at the annual State Fair, and has always received recognition, and sometimes the highest prizes, for the excellence of her productions.
As an indication of her methodical habits, it may be mentioned that she keeps a diary, or journal, in which she daily records, with her own hand, passing events of local or general interest, and especially happenings among her own family or progeny, and her financial transactions, as well as how she spends her time and the condition of her health. This has been her daily practice ever since shortly after her husband's death, and is a continuation of the journal which he kept during the greater part of his life.
It may be mentioned that Mother Lambert's personal accidents during her later years have been somewhat numerous, mainly because of her independence and disposition to do things herself rather than ask anyone else to do them for her. She has suffered from broken ribs no less than six different times, but she has always rallied wonderfully quick from any injury or ailment.
She takes a great interest in all of her progeny, remembers their names and quite generally their birthdays, and frequently visits among them. Her children appreciate her wise counsel and motherly interest, and feel, one and all, that whatever of merit they have accomplished in life has been due to the inspiring example and wholesome precepts set before them by her and their revered father.
To him not less than to her do they feel indebted, and forever shall be though they become the best and most dutiful of sons and daughters, for he was a model father, as loving, kind, self-sacrificing, honest, industrious and faithful as mortal father ever was. He alone of all his father's family embraced the Gospel as revealed anew, but from him and Mother Lambert, through the blessing of the Lord, a direct progeny has resulted (including three generations) to the number of 201, all of whom are living except 29, and all in the faith for which he sacrificed so much, and which was his guiding star through life.
Scarcely less remarkable has been the increase from the Cannon family generally, although the posterity of Mother Lambert outnumbers those of any one of her brothers or sisters. The direct descendants of George Cannon (including the six children already mentioned as having been left orphans, and their sister Elizabeth, born as a product of the second marriage six months after her father's death) who are living number almost 700, to say nothing of those who have died. In view of the fact that their numerous relatives left in England and the Isle of Man have actually decreased until their known descendents scarcely outnumber the fingers on one's two hands, we may well exclaim, "What hath God wrought!"
NIGHT WORKERS WHO SERVE IN THE TEMPLE DURING THE DAY—MANY WOMEN SERVE AT GREAT PERSONAL SACRIFICE—TEMPLE WORK A BOON TO THE BLIND.
Among those who are in daily attendance at the Salt Lake Temple, officiating for the dead, are quite a number of men who are deserving of special credit, because of the personal sacrifice the service involves. Allusion is made to those who earn their living by working at night, and then deny themselves the sleep and rest their tired natures crave, by devoting a good half day's service to Temple work, either for their own kindred dead or others. Indeed, it occasionally amounts to considerably more than half a day. They usually form part of the morning company, all the members of which are supposed to be present and seated before 9 a. m., when the introductory service commences. Under ordinary conditions, they may expect to emerge from the Temple about two o'clock; but if the company be unusually large, (as it is quite frequently,) it may be nearer 4 p. m. before they get out.
Most men object strongly to being deprived of ample and regular hours of rest and sleep, and many persons would rather make a financial sacrifice than forego the sleep and rest they feel that they require.
If they had to work all night they would feel that any kind of service during the day, to which they would have to give strict attention for several successive hours, would be absolutely out of the question.
The examples in mind are men in humble or moderate circumstances, who possibly couldn't very well afford to hire others to officiate for them; so if they failed to do it themselves, by sheer self denial, it would probably not be done.
August Roth is employed at the car barn in this city, cleaning out cars (which is very tiresome work,) from 6 p. m. to 6. a. m., every night in the week, yet is almost invariably at the Temple two days a week, and sometimes three. He and his wife (and a lady friend who occasionally comes with them) have, during the past six years, done the work for about 800 persons, mostly his or his wife's relatives. For a poor man, he has also been very generous in his free will offerings to the Temple. It has been his habit to contribute fifty cents every time he comes to the Temple.
Karl Niemelka has also been employed at the car barn at night for several years past, and done a good deal of work in the Temple (though not as much as Brother Roth) for his dead kindred, and has just left to fill a mission to his native land. While absent he hopes to engage in genealogical research, and be the better prepared for Temple work on his return.
John C. Hoggan is employed as a nightwatchman, having the care of a large amount of business property, and is required to be on duty and generally moving about from 8 p. m. until 6:15 a. m. every night in the week. Notwithstanding this, he has averaged fully two days a week at the Temple for the past eight years, working mostly for his own and his wife's kindred, but occasionally for others, and all that he has received for his service in behalf of others he has contributed to the missionary fund, in the ward in which he resides.
Albert A. Quellmalz is janitor in a large office building and a number of stores, to which he has to devote eight hours work between the time business closes at night and opens in the morning. Yet he never fails to serve in the Temple on Tuesday, the day devoted to baptisms, as well as the three succeeding days of the week. He has during the past eight years officiated for about 650 dead relatives and friends. Brother Quellmalz is a very studious, methodical man, and enjoys quite a reputation for efficient service in other capacities in the Church.
John N. Swift is employed as a janitor by one of the railway companies every night in the week, being on duty from 5 p. m. until 8 a. m. In addition to this, he has served regularly in the Temple during the past six years on Thursday and Friday. Some indication of the sacrifice this service involves is conveyed in the statement that, although his home is in Sugar House Ward, not a great distance away, he is necessarily absent therefrom continuously from Wednesday at 4:30 p. m. until Saturday at 9 a. m. His service in the Temple has been entirely in the interest of his own relatives.
John S. Muir has been employed by the Church for twenty years past as nightwatchman, formerly at the tithing office and yards, but since its erection at the Bishop's Building, every night in the week. During the past twelve years he has spent from one to two days a week in the Temple, having done the work for rather more than 600 persons.
Jedediah M. Brown, of South Bountiful, has been janitor at the large public school building in that region for the past twenty years, and during six years of that time was also nightwatchman at the Deseret Live Stock Co. Store. Yet during all that period, with the exception of fourteen months while he was absent on a mission, he has spent on an average two days a week in the Temple. For a number of years past his health has been quite poor, having contracted chills and fever while on his mission, which later developed into chronic rheumatism, from which he has suffered ever since. Whatever the condition of his health, however, he has never yet felt willing to give up his service in behalf of the dead. In addition to the service mentioned, he is under the necessity of traveling about twenty miles by train or otherwise every day he serves in the Temple.
Ernest R. S. Schnelle is also employed as a nightwatchman, in an outlying business district, and is responsible for a great deal of valuable property, some of which tramps are specially liable to prey upon, so that he has to be constantly wide awake and alert for twelve hours at a stretch every night, but he is among the most regular and devoted of the Temple workers.
Robert Hunter, who is nightwatchman at Z. C. M. I., is a frequent attendant at the Temple, mostly laboring for others, because of lacking names of his own kindred dead, and is in the habit of voluntarily contributing to the Temple expense fund all that he receives for his service.
Doubtless many of the women who are in daily attendance at the Temple, so serve at very great personal sacrifice. Self denying women seldom expect or receive full credit in this life for what they do in the way of service. Perhaps only the All-seeing Father or recording angels know all of the heroism involved in the nightly toil and rigid self-denial with which many, possibly most, of the sisters patiently and uncomplainingly serve in the Temple for the benefit of those who are powerless to repay them in this life. It would be difficult to find a more devoted and truly charitable class of women than those laboring in the Salt Lake Temple.
The women in attendance at the Temple almost invariably far outnumber the men—sometimes two to one. Another characteristic of the regular attendants is that there is a preponderance of foreigners. A very large proportion of the regular workers are Scandinavians. The Swiss and Germans are also quite largely represented.
One of the most self-denying and devoted women who ever served in the Salt Lake Temple was Sister Berger, or (as she was known in the Temple, by the name of her first husband) Catherina B. Moosheer. She was a native of Zurich, Switzerland, being born January 25, 1823. From the time she embraced the Gospel she was very much concerned about the salvation of her dead kindred, and took care to obtain all the information possible about her ancestors.
She arrived in Utah July 4, 1872, accompanied by her son and daughter. She purchased a home and exerted herself to the utmost to make her own way in the world by engaging as a nurse, by which she accumulated considerable property. She had the work done for her immediate ancestors as early as 1876, in the Endowment House. After that she found an opportunity of having her genealogy traced up by a party who was engaged in that line, and spent money very freely for that purpose. She worked in the Temple almost from the time it opened. In 1895 she was partially paralyzed, and never fully recovered therefrom. This made her if possible more anxious than ever to hasten the work for her dead kindred. She sold her home to obtain the means necessary to secure as many names as possible of her dead kindred, and to employ men and women to help her in doing the work for them. Her records show that in all sixty-five different people were employed to assist her. For a period of two and a half years she had twelve persons—six men and six women—constantly employed in helping her in the Temple. She had the work fully done for 1,748 of her dead kindred, and sacrificed all that she possessed in order to accomplish it.
It may be of interest to note that Sister Moosheer was the first Temple worker to complete a record of 1,000 names.
She died in Salt Lake City June 9, 1899, shortly after completing the work for the last name she had of her dead kindred.
Her son and daughter and their families gave her every possible encouragement in the Temple work while she lived, and are now more proud of what she accomplished therein than they would be if she had left them fortunes.
Another very devoted woman in the Temple work is Sister Catherina Z. Schuler. She is also a native of Switzerland, having been born in Glarus, May 22, 1834. She not only sacrificed her home there for the Gospel's sake, but left her husband also because of his determined opposition to her religion.
Bringing her son with her, she came to Utah and located first at Logan, where she remained for several years, and where her son subsequently died. She was present at the dedication of the Logan Temple, and did a good deal of work there for her dead kindred, of whom she had or subsequently obtained a very extensive list.
She removed to Salt Lake City in 1892, and witnessed also the dedication of the Temple in this city. She was dependent entirely upon her own earnings, and went out sewing as she found opportunity, and did Temple work occasionally. Since 1898 she has devoted herself exclusively to her Temple work, in which she has been assisted by many friends, and devoted every cent she could save to hiring men to work for her male kindred. In all, she has done, or had done, the work for fully 2,400 of her kindred dead.
A look at Sister Schuler's face is sufficient to convince any person that hers is a joyful work. Though she is now past eighty years of age, and has always been used to hard work, she is well preserved and active, and, though not mirthful, she is ever good natured, patient and contented. As in the case of many others who are active in Temple work, that labor has doubtless added years to her life, and rendered her declining days in mortality about the happiest she has ever spent. The consciousness of being a savior of others has brought her more joy than the possession of wealth or worldly honors ever could.
Sister Annie Davis Watson, widow of the late Joseph M. Watson, was a worker in the Temple for seventeen years, and only gave up the work because of her hearing growing so bad that she could not continue. Her husband died in the year 1895. She never had any children, and her life would have been extremely lonely if she had not interested herself in the work for the dead. She had a desire to devote herself to working for her husband's dead kindred, and mentioned the matter to President Snow, telling him if she could not so labor she had no desire to live; also that she had no genealogy of her husband's kindred farther back than his parents, for whom the work had already been done. He told her she would be able to obtain the genealogical information necessary, advised her to take up the work and promised there should be no end to it. He also told her that her husband in the spirit world would be familiar with every circumstance connected with the work as it progressed.
She has since devoted her life and her income to the work, and either officiated herself, or employed others to officiate, for 15,247 dead persons, most of whom are her husband's kindred.
She says it is the most glorious work she ever engaged in, and she has felt the presence of her husband's spirit upon many occasions.
There is one special class to whom the vicarious work in the Salt Lake Temple must be a very great boon. The blind, of whom there are quite a number of both sexes, in daily attendance, seem to find special comfort in the work. The opportunities people have of making themselves useful to their fellows, after being deprived of the priceless gift of sight, are extremely limited. People of independent minds dislike to be always treated as objects of charity. They like to feel that they are of some use in the world, and it is doubtful if there is any other work in which the average blind person can engage with so much satisfaction as that in the Temple. It is usually conceded that the loss of sight by a normal person has the effect of quickening and strengthening his remaining senses, and it is quite possible that the most of the sightless workers in the Temple get more enjoyment out of the work than the average person who retains his sight. He is perhaps able to think more profoundly, and is more susceptible to the impressions of the Spirit than if he had the use of his eyes.
Perhaps no man that ever labored in the Temple enjoyed the Spirit of the work more and shed a better influence among his associates than did Samuel W. Jenkinson, a blind brother of rather unusual intelligence and devotion, who died about three years since, and of whose experiences more may be said hereafter.