Susannah Sumner Fackrell

Susannah Sumner Fackrell (1836-1905)

"Born in England, she emigrated to America and became a pioneer to Utah traveling as an orphaned teenager in 1850. There she met and married David Bancroft Fackrell and bore fifteen children. A loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Susannah was a courageous and devout woman who was, and still is, an inspiration to her many descendants."
-See her memorial on FindAGrave.com

Also, I found a biography at the following web address:  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosy/Fackrell/Susannah.htm 

A Sketch of the Life of Susannah Sumner Fackrell

written by her granddaughter, Fanny H. Fowler Harper.

The information was obtained from Susannah's daughter,

Laura Fackrell Chamberlain, written from memory.

Susannah Sumner began her earthly career in Eaton, Lancashire, England, October 29th, 1836, the daughther of John Sumner and Sarah Bromley. Her father died while she was very young. Her mother came to the United States before she was old enough to walk, and settled in St. Louis, Miss-ouri. She soon married a man by the name of John Parker (a widower with several children).
They heard the gospel preached and joined the Church and planned to make their way to Utah but were never permitted to do so for a scourge of cholera came amongst them and both her mother and stepfather were taken, so at the age of 12, grandmother was left alone.
A woman by the name of Katings gave her a home for her services with the children. She stayed with them about two years when another woman by the name of Burch offered her the chance to come to Utah with them. She walked most of the way. Mr. Burch was unkind to her, but Mrs. Burch defended her against him.
When she arrived in Salt Lake City, there were some gold seekers going to California who wished her to go with them, but there was a family living in Bountiful who had heard about the lone Mormon girl and they offered a home with them which she accepted. Thus she was permitted to remain in the Church influences.
James and Amy (Crumb) Fackrell were the people who befriended her. They came to Utah in 1848 and after grandmother went to live with them, their son, David, came from the east with some California gold seekers and stopped over to see his parents (in 1850). They persuaded him to remain with them.
Susannah married when she was 16. He was about 30. They had their endowments before their third child was born.
They had quite a bit of trouble with the Indians in the early days at Bountiful. One day while grandfather was away getting wood from the canyon, and Indian came and demanded bread. She had dough mixed and gave him some. He proceeded to use what wood she had to bake it with. When she protested, he drew a long knife on her. She saw a boy that she knew
quite a way off and screamed to him and the frightened Indian ran. She said the boy was such a coward that if he had heard her he would have run the other way.
Susannah and David owned and kept some sheep and grandmother helped care of them and she used to spin the wool and weave it into cloth their clothes, also, for other people.
Reading matter was scarce in those days so that the magazines were passed around to let as many as possible get the benefit of them. The New York Ledger was one of them (story papers) that was published at that time and grandmother, with several others assembled to hear the continued stories and they became so engrossed that the sixteen-months old baby boy slipped out unnoticed and when they found him, he had fallen in the spring where they got their drinking water. Her sorrow was terrible for she felt it was punishment, and she quit the use of tea and coffee and never read any more novels.
In 1870 the family moved to Long Valley (Orderville) and settled in a little place called Carmel. The territory was soon dotted with buildings made of logs. A little later the United Order was organized by Brigham Young and other church authorities, They were members as long as it lasted (about 9 or 10 years) and made many lasting friends while living like one big family. All the members moved onto a piece of land and named it Order-ville. They advertised to tradesmen of every kind so they could be self-supporting. A man by the name of Thomas Robertson was the bugler and "Do What is Right" was the tune that called them to prayers.
Grandmother taught school for a while and was always active in church work They sold their property in Orderville and moved to Riverside, Idaho, in their later years.
She died there of diabetes on the 3rd of February 1905.