What must have been the emotions of this young bride when they neared their home to see eight dirty, ragged children rush toward her shouting, “Mother! Mother!” What a courageous heart must have been hers to undertake the responsibilities awaiting her.Įntering her new home, one long room, poorly furnished, eight children with little or no clothing, scant food, and nothing to do with, it is indeed remarkable that she did not wish she was free to go back to her mother, but the true love of God was ever in her soul and she worked and prayed for strength to endure the terrible trails through which she as called upon to pass. Baker’s home, and while crossing the Mississippi, decided to marry at once, so securing the services of Elder William Snow, the ceremony was performed between the two states of Illinois and Iowa, thus saving a trip to the county seat for a license, as the State had no jurisdiction over marriages on the water. With this understanding, on April 8th, 1845 they started for Mr. She consented to go home with him and care for his children for a time, and if she liked him, would marry him, if not he would pay her for services rendered. Baker went to the home of the widow, introduced himself, made his circumstances known, and asked Charlotte to become his wife. So when the forenoon services were over on April 5th, Mr. On his way over, he asked a friend with whom he was riding, if he could recommend someone who would be a good mother to his children, to which the friend replied, “Yes, Charlotte Leavitt, the daughter of a widow living at Nauvoo would be a good wife and a good mother to your children.” So while preparing to cross the Mississippi River to attend conference at Nauvoo, he promised his children that he would bring them a new mother. Simon Baker, whose wife had died and left him with eight children, the eldest but fourteen years of age, decided it was necessary to find someone to care for his motherless children. locating at Twelve Mile grove, Illinois, about forty miles south of Chicago, where the father died in 1839.įrom here they moved to Nauvoo, where Charlotte assisted her widowed mother in caring for the family. In the year 1837, her father’s family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having been converted by Elder Hazen Eldridge. This training which she received in her youth was a great asset to her in after life, to fit her for the strenuous times through which she had to pass in later years. They raised, spun, dyed, and wove the flax and wool from which their clothing was made, even spinning the thread with which it was sewed. While a young girl Charlotte assisted in the usual duties of the household, making all the sugar they ever used from the sap of the maple. Having no educational facilitates, and no means of communication with more thickly settled communities, they were obliged to produce their own food, clothing, etc. Her parents, with their family, lived on a small clearing n the forest and her early life was spent in the usual manner of people of that time in remote districts. Charlotte Leavitt Baker, daughter of Wiear and Phoebe Cole Leavitt was born in Lower Canada, December 5th, 1818.
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