Item Detail
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Richards, Nanny Longstroth
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1828-1911
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MSS 8
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Biography
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Nanny Longstroth Richards was born April 15, 1828 to Stephen Longstroth and Ann Gill in Arncliff, Yorkshire, England as the seventh of eleven children. Her family was baptized on March 4, 1838. The family left England when Nanny was twelve, and they made a six-week voyage from Liverpool to New Orleans and from there, traveled up the Mississippi River to Missouri. Nanny remained with her parents for two years and went with them to St. Louis, where she worked for a wealthy family. She saved this money to buy linen to make a temple suit. When Nanny was seventeen, she married Dr. Willard Richards through plural marriage, and she suffered with the saints from persecution in Nauvoo and Missouri. Her husband, Willard, was present at Carthage Jail, and he was the only one not to be wounded. The families crossed the plains in 1848, and a year later, Nanny had her first child. Willard died in 1854, and Nanny and Willard's three other wives married Willard's nephew, Franklin Dewey Richards. In 1860, Franklin moved his families to Farmington, where he owned a flour mill. When Nanny was 49, she had a severe and prolonged illness that caused her to be bed-ridden for the most part of two years, and also to be an invalid for several afterward. Yet, Nanny raised three of her sister's children after their mother died, in addition to four of her own. After her daughter's husband died in 1886, Nanny then moved to Farmington. She moved to Salt Lake again when the same daughter moved, and there, Nanny died on January 7, 1911 at the age of eighty-three.
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This is a four-page typescript biography from the Margaret Steed Hess collection, written by Minerva E. Richards Knowlton, one of Nanny's daughters. Minerva briefly describes the main events of Nanny's life. She writes that while in England, the family had to give away most of their possessions, except for a feather bed that they kept for their mother, who was an invalid. Before leaving, the family also had to bury the two eldest daughters. Although the children received no schooling, Nanny had knowledge of the use of good English and spelling, and was also 'apt at figures.' When she was eight, she was present at Queen Victoria's coronation. Nanny's father, in America, worked mainly as an architect and builder, and he even helped to build temples. Also in America, Nanny was present as the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young, and she testifies of its truth. Polygamy.