Philomelia Smith Lake

Philomelia Smith Lake

Birth: Apr. 13, 1793

Brookfield, Orange County, Vermont, USA
Death: Mar. 29, 1873
Oxford, Franklin County, Idaho, USA


She is the daughter of Parker Smith and Sarah Loomis, She married Ira Smith on 2 Jan 1812 in Ernestown, Lennoxadding, Ontario, Canada. After Ira death in 1820 she married James Lake Jr., on 3 Sep 1823 in Ernestown Twp, Upper Canada. She is the mother to Elizabeth Boardman Smith.


This sketch prepared by Samantha T. Brimhall Foley appeared in the Women's Exponent in 1910.

In among the many noble women who embraced the Gospel in the early days of the Church was Philomelia Smith, daughter of Parker Smith and Sarah (Sally) Loomis, she being their sixth child and born in Brookfield, Prince County, Vermont, 13 April 1794. At the age of twelve she was bereaved of her mother and left to the care of her grandmother, Sarah Huntington Loomis who, although crippled with age, sat in her armchair and gave her daughter's children the benefit of her wise counsel in domestic training, and also her deep religious conviction, which was a natural result of all those who were favored by a rich flow of Puritan blood in their veins. Many of those splendid principles are embodied in the following verses which have been handed down to posterity by the poor lame Grandmother as she addressed herself to Philomelia who was bereaved of a little brother.

Your little brother is dead and gone;
We all must die before 'tis long.
And when you think he young did die
Say, In the grave I soon may lie.

And may you early learn to know
Good children's souls to God do go;
At last their bodies sure will rise
To dwell with him above the skies.


She also wrote the following acrostic for Philomelia:
"Your poor, lame grandmother has made and written this for you, and you must have it rolled on a round stick and keep it a long time to remember me by."

Pretty girls should always mind
How they talk and spend their time,
If they strive with all their might,
Learn to spin, sew, read, and write;
Obey their parents and they'll see
Most glad they surely then will be.
Even brother must be kind,
Love sisters, too, and always mind
And never quarrel, so repine.
Some little girls are so pretty
Many would call them very witty.
If they are proud they soon will know
That shame is lurking there below,
Hence friends will turn, they'll find it so.

Thus trained to love God and home, Philomelia was capable of taking upon herself the duties of a wife and mother. At the age of eighteen years she married Ira Smith, [2 January 1812] and with him become the mother of five children, viz. Lymon, James Harvey, Elizabeth, Boardman, Josiah William, and Esther.

Ira Smith died in the 36th year of his age. Philomelia then became the wife of James Lake [8 September
1823] and with him again the mother of ten children: Sabra, William Bailey, Barnabus, Clara, Jane, Lydia Ann, Moroni, Samantha, George, and Sarah Amanda. She was a wise and loving mother and was noted for the neatness and order of her home. She was adept in all home manufacture. She knew the art of spinning, and of dyeing the most beautiful colors, and in the weaving of many kinds of cloth, she also excelled. Her fame as a maker of the best flavored butter and cheese was known wherever her name was heard.

Her children partook of her meek and docile, yet lofty and noble nature and when the Gospel came to them in Upper Canada, she with her husband and family were some of the first ones to embrace it. Philomelia was baptized 31 December 1832.
Brigham Young took the gospel to them and they were baptized by Eleazer Miller. Their house was always a welcome place for the Elders traveling in Canada. Brigham Young making their home his home for a year or more.

They gathered with the Saints in Kirtland and shared all the hardships of early days. James Lake with an ox team and assisted by his sons, handled the first cornerstone to the Kirtland Temple and helped to lay it in its place, at the beginning of temple-building in this dispensation.

Philomelia Smith Lake received a Patriarchal blessing under the hands of Joseph Smith, Sr. the father of
Prophet Joseph Smith, in which he called her "Beloved of the Lord" which name was most appropriate, for she not only was beloved by the Lord but by all who knew her. She was tall and graceful, with broad forehead and full dark brown eyes, her dark brown hair was silken and luxuriant and the noble name of mother was appropriate to her in its most dignified meaning. Her husband was appointed captain of fifty and was successful in arriving in the Valley in the fall of 1850. They settled four miles north of Ogden City on a farm.

James Lake was ordained a patriarch and many of the saints of Weber County were comforted through the blessing they received at his hands.

He was a member of the high council and with his wife enjoyed the honor and esteem of all who knew them, while almost worshipped by a numerous posterity, members of which can be found in nearly every settlement of the states and from Canada to Mexico. I have often thought of the life career of my Grandmother and have led to exclaim:

"If every soul were of such worth,
Nearer would heaven be to earth."
--Samantha T. Brimhall-Foley

Philomelia Smith Lake died on 20 March 1873 in Oxford, Oneida County, Idaho.
Burial:

Oxford Cemetery
Oxford, Franklin County, Idaho, USA
 Find A Grave Memorial# 12086972

___________________________

Source: http://www.beadmobile.com/family_story_julia_boice.html

Autobiography of John Boice [Boyce]

John Boice [Boyce]

Source:  Seventies Record, 2nd Quorum, Biographies, LDS Church Archives, Pg. 29. Grammar has been standardized.

John Boice [Boyce], the son of Margaret and Benjamin Boice, born 10 February 1810 [Alternate date in records: 20 Feb 1814], Fredrisburg, Upper Canada, was baptized in the Church [Jesus Christ] of Latter-day Saints, 1833, having been married two years to Jane, the daughter of Thomas and Martha Horne she became a member of the Church at the same time.  A miracle was wrought there, which I would like to mention concerning an aged lady, who had been troubled with the salt rheum[?] about twenty years, she standing by the water's edge.  Brother ... said to her, "If you will believe in the Lord Jesus and be baptized for the remission of your sins and have hands, then I will promise you you shall be healed."  She at once consented and was immediately healed.  This circumstance I witnessed.  I then came to Kirtland, was ordained a priest, remained there a while and then started for Far West.  But on meeting the Saints in Missouri, I returned with them and came to Quincy.  At the close of one year I lost my wife and one child, besides suffering with sickness myself.  I married again, Mary Ann, the daughter of James and Betsy Barizee. 

Mary Ann Barzee

Prophet Joseph Smith
Prophet of the Last Dispensation
and Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ

I have been personally acquainted with Joseph and Hyrum and many of the Twelve, and remain a firm believer of all these persons as far as I am acquainted.  Nauvoo, November 3, 1845.



John Boice [Boyce]

Mary Ann Barzee

Mary Ann Barzee and John Boice
Oxford Cemetery, Franklin, Idaho

Biography of John Boice 1814-1886

John Boice

Written by his granddaughter, Rachel Boice Olson,
at the request of her brother, John. 

To be read at the family reunion on the
seventh day of April, 1931, at Lovell, Wyoming.

John Boice was a man of great honor and integrity.  He was a perfect specimen of physical manhood which enabled him to stand great hardships encountered in his strenuous work of pioneering.

He was born February 20th, 1814, at Fredricksburg, Upper Canada.  He was the son of Benjamin Boice and Margaret Hartly and was the youngest of a family of six.  He married Jane Hearms June 7th, 1835, and this same year he and his wife were led into the waters of baptism.  Through this ordinance they were ushered into the rays of living light and their descendants were made heirs to great blessings.

Shortly after he embraced the gospel he had a dream.  He dreamed he saw the temple in place and Joseph Smith, the Prophet, dressed in a long white robe standing with bowed head by the temple, his hands and feet were clear as glass.  Looking up and gazing at the temple, he said, "Bretheren, the set time has come to favor Zion, and Jackson County is ours; I will take with me fifteen hundred men, and there will not be a man to make afraid nor a dog to bark."

Prophet Joseph Smith

He then awoke because of the dream.  In the year 1837 he with his family migrated to Kirtland, Ohio, and the following year they started for Missouri, but were driven back by a mob and stopped at Barry Pike County, Illinois.  Two years later they went back to Ohio on business.  After their interest had been transacted they started for Kirtland.  While on the journey, his wife was taken very ill in the town of Hudson.  During her illness she was permitted to see beyond the veil and for 24 hours appeared as dead, after which she regained consciousness.  She related the following story, that angelic spirits had declared to her that Joseph Smith was the great prophet raised up to open this last dispensation, and she bore a strong testimony of this latter-day work.  She said she had only come back to stay four days as she had promised a certain woman that she was willing she should rear her three little children, but now she desired that her husband should rear two of them, as she was going to take one of them with her.

In the evening of the fourth day at eight o'clock, at the same hour that she became unconscious, she passed peacefully away on February 14th, 1840.  After the service and the body had been laid to rest, Grandfather, returning home found his healthiest son, Thomas, in a dying condition, not from any perceivable sickness, and soon passed away.  Thus her words were fulfilled.

He resumed his journey and met the Saints at Quincy, Illinois, who were gathering to hold their first conference after being driven from Missouri.

While in company with Brother Haddock, Grandfather related his dream while in Canada.  Brother Haddock answered, "Well, you can test the truth of that dream today, for if it was Brother Joseph, you will know him when you see him."  Soon after, Grandfather looked up and saw a group of men conversing among themselves.  As he beheld the sight of one of the man's faces he said, pointing, "There is the man I saw."  "Yes," said Brother Haddock, "that is Joseph Smith."

After arriving in Kirtland he met Mary Ann Barzee, and they were married May 7th, 1840.  In June, 1841, they sailed by boat to Nauvoo.  Here they were being mobbed and driven from place to place. 

Mary Ann Barzee

Their first son, Chester, was born at Chester, Ohio, April 12th, 1842, and died at Crooked Creek, Illinois.  Martin Calvin [was] born at Crooked Creek, April 7th, 1844, on Sunday at dusk.  John, Junior, was born at McDonough County, Illinois, May 24th, 1846.  David was born February 18, 1848, Jo Daviess County, Illinois.  Elizabeth Ann was born November 27th at Jo Daviess County, Sand Prairie, Illinois.

At the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, Grandfather's family was living a few miles from Carthage.  He, with others, were called in haste to Nauvoo by the Prophet as he was going to prison and he desired to talk to them.  They heard his instructions to the people from time to time.  "Bretheren, I have great sorrow in my heart for fear that I may be taken away from the earth with the keys of the kingdom of God upon me, without sealing them upon the heads of men.  God has sealed upon my head all the keys of the kingdom of God necessary to the organizing and building up of the Church of Zion and the kingdom of God upon the earth, and to prepare the Saints for the coming of man.  Now, brethern, I thank God that I have lived to see the day that I have been enabled to give you your endowments, and that I have sealed upon your heads all the powers of the priesthood and apostleship with all the keys and powers of which God has sealed upon me.  And I now roll all of the labor, burden, and care of this Church and kingdom of God upon your shoulders.  I now command you in the name of the Lord Jesus to round up your shoulders and care of this Church and kingdom of God before heaven and earth, and before God and angels and man, and if you do not do it you will be damned."

After the Prophet and Patriarch were slain, most of the Apostles were on missions.  Sidney Rigdon seemed much concerned and expressed the idea that a guardian must be appointed to lead the Church on.  When the Apostles came home, the people met in a large gathering in the forenoon to consider who should be the president of the Church.  It was not decided and another gathering was called in the afternoon.  In this gathering Brigham Young rose to speak, and by the spirit of the Holy Ghost which brings things past, things present, and things to come, fell with such power upon the people that Brigham Young was transfigured before them in the likeness of Joseph in looks and speech; the vote was unanimous in favor of Brigham Young.

President Brigham Young

In the spring of 1852, Grandfather with his family left Nauvoo, Illinois, with others and started across the plains by ox team, arriving in Salt Lake.

They were called to Spanish Fork to assist in building a fort.  While there they met a friendly band of Indians.  The chief asked if they would build him a house inside the fort, which was also done.  Donations were given to the Indians and Grandfather was chosen to deliver these donations to the chief who in turn distributed them among his tribe.

Grandmother succeeded in learning the Indian language and was appointed Indian interpreter.  One day a young Indian came to her home with his three-month old baby saying he would give it to her and never take it away as his squaw had died.  She answered him saying she would let him know in a little while.  After talking the matter over with Grandfather, he advised her to go to their bishop for counsel.  She related the circumstances to the bishop, telling him she had a family of five children and could not see her way through, but he said "By all means, Sister Boice, take the baby, for you don't know what good it will bring."  So she took the baby and when it was about a year old it took seriously ill.  All was done for its recovery, taking it to a doctor in Provo, but finally the baby died and was buried as if it was their own.  The father of the baby was a frequent visitor during its sickness and death.  This was in the year 1855.

Alpharetta Boice buried in Pioneer Heritage Cemetery
Spanish Fork, Utah

Like all colonizers in a new country, their time was devoted to building and farming while the women provided clothing by spinning wool and weaving cloth.  He remained in Spanish Fork until the year 1857 when he was called with others to make a settlement 40 miles southeast of Salt Lake.  When they arrived there, they were met by a bunch of hostile Indians, about 40 in number, on horseback forming a line before their wagons.  Grandfather offered to shake hands with them, but they refused, waiting for the word of command.  When one of the Indians jumped from his horse and went to the chief telling him how Grandmother cared for his baby during its sickness and death, the chief listened to the story, then began to talk telling the Indians that it was their best hunting grounds and when the whites came their game and fish disappeared.  Grandmother understood their conversations, telling Grandfather what they said.  He told her to tell the chief they would not hunt or fish.  The chief replied that they will scare them all away.  However, through the pleading of the young Indian, his heart was softened and the chief said [that] if they would make a treaty to give them a beef they would not molest them, which was agreed upon.  Grandmother said, "Oh how glad I am that we listened to our bishop and took his counsel."  Grandfather immediately rode to Salt Lake on horseback and reported to President Young and he advised them to move out.

They then went to Parley's Park and remained there that winter, being shut in with the depth of snow.  This was the winter of 1858 and has been recorded as the hardest winter in the history of Utah.  When spring came they were destitute, broken up in body and mind, for they were nearly famished from hunger and cold, being deprived of the comforts of life.  From here they migrated north as far as Farmington where another son, Elijah, was born.  Here they remained until 1861, at which time they moved to Smithfield, living there a few years.  Another son, Lorenzo, was born.

George Barzee and John Boice
Smithfield, Utah Cemetery

In the year 1865 they went north as far as Oxford, Idaho, where his son, John, age 19, and his brother-in-law, George Barzee, age 23, were frozen to death one mile from Franklin, Idaho.  Here his health began to fail him and he devoted his time to church work.  He, with Grandmother, were called to work in the Logan Temple.  After spending two months there they were called to the deathbed of their son, David.  They returned to the temple, but he continued to fail in heath.  President John Taylor called him to the office of patriarch and advised him to travel and bless the people.  Many of the sacred prophecies and promises which he made the people are recorded in Grandmother's diary.


John and Mary Ann Barzee Boice home in Oxford, Idaho

Possibly John Boice plowing

John and Mary Ann Boice home today Oxford, Idaho

He led a life of prayer and honesty.  He governed his family according to the requirements of the priesthood.  While on his deathbed, his tribute to Grandmother, "Ma, you have been faithful with me in rearing our large family and you have done well; may you always keep the presence of mind and God will bless you forever."
They reared a large family who are co-workers in the great cause of Zion.

Mary Ann Barzee and John Boice
Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, Franklin, Idaho

His mortal activities have been recorded in the annals of Church history.  Surly the rewards for faithfulness is [are] realized in the numerous posterity which carry on the good teachings and example given them by such a worth progenitor.  He passed peacefully away on March thirty-first, 1886, and his mortal remains were laid to rest in the Oxford Cemetery.
__________________________________
Source: Biography of John Boice, typescript, LDS Church Archives.  Grammar has been standardized.

Martin Calvin and John Boice Document

Martin Calvin Boyce

Transcribed from above letter written in Grandmother Asay's handwritting

John Boice - Patriarch

"These. Few questions you mentioned. Answers

 1. My Grand Father John Boice. 1. wife is Jane Hearns (died young)
Inserted 2. He married Mary Ann Barzee



Mary Ann Barzee Boice

 The saints had to cross a lake to attend their meetings. They crossed by Boat. The Boat sank out in the lake - all aboard were drowned. At that time, it was advisable for men to have the women sealed to worthy men. 2 of the young ladies were sealed to my grand Father John Boice. They had a elderly lady sealed to him known as Old Auntie to us, but she was cared for by my grand parents. It is writen that Grand Father John Boice said the Prophet Joseph was the only man he could not pin his shoulders to the mat, (wrestle for pure entertainment)

Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.

Now for the item you ask for. My Father Martin Calvin Boice was Born. April 7. 1844 at Crook Creek Hancock County Ill. At that time, the Prophet Joseph Smith in grate danger by the mob a crats. They wanted to kill him. The Saints did all they could to protect the prophet from these wicked people by hiding him in their homes. At this time, my grand parents hid the prophet in their home. Thus he (inserted: my Father 2 months old) was held in the Arms of our beloved Prophet Joseph Smith. But the wicked men later caught the prophet put him in Carthage jail. On June 27 1844 the mob gathered broke in the jail and shot Hyrum Smith the prophets Brother also the Prophet Joseph Smith. My grand father rushed to the scene as soon as the alarm was given; but it was over.

My Grandmother told me this It always made me feels so sad - I did not talk about it much.

I appreciate your efforts more than you know.

By to all.
Love and Blessings
Mom