Anna Hegetschweiler Stone Bachmann was born 29 September 1847 in Ottenbach, Canton, Zurich, Switzerland. She was the daughter of Jacob Hegetschweiler and Anna Sidler. She never knew her father. She and her mother lived with her mother's parents, Johannes and Susanna Sidler. Anna's mother, Anna Sidler, was born 17 March 1827, a daughter of Johannes Sidler and Susannah Jenta. She had two sisters, Barbara born 18 March 1825, and Susanna born 3 December 1832. Her father died when she was seven years old. Her mother died in 1858.
Mormon missionaries came to Ottenbach about this time. Anna Sidler and her daughter Anna, also her sister, Susanna Sidler, accepted the teachings of the Elders and were baptized. Friday March 30, 1860, Anna Sidler, her daughter, Anna Hegetschweiler, and her sister, Susanna Sidler, sailed from Liverpool on the ship Underwriter. This was the 107th company of Church emigrants. There were 594 souls on the ship, 70 of them were from Switzerland. The fare was $4.00 for adults and $3.00 for children. Elder James D. Ross was president of the company. His counselors were James Taylor and John Croft. Captain Roberts was in charge of the ship. They arrived in New York 1 May 1860. On the 3rd of May they continued their journey from New York to Florence, Nebraska.
These people left Florence on the 17th of June 1860 on the second wagon train of emigrants of that year led by Captain James D. Ross. The company consisted of 249 persons, 36 wagons, 142 oxen and 54 cows. Anna and her mother walked most of the way crossing the plains, as the wagons were heavily loaded. They were bare-footed most of the time, their shoes having worn out. Their feet were often bleeding and bruised from the rough roads, but they had a pleasant journey as there were many Saints from Switzerland in the company. They were called together by Elder Ross mornings and evenings. Prayers were held before starting on the day's journey. In the evening they sang songs and sometimes held a meeting. On the Sabbath day they rested. When they arrived in Emigration Canyon they were met by Apostle George A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, who held an interesting meeting with the emigrants. They arrived in Great Salt Lake 3 September 1860.
Anna Sidler met Labrecht Baer, a native of Switzerland on the ship coming to America. They were married soon after arriving in Utah. They moved to South Weber, near the mouth of Weber Canyon. In 1861 Anna Sidler Baer gave birth to a baby girl. Her daughter Anna was happy to have a little sister. But a great sorrow soon came into her life.
A Welshman, Joseph Morris, gained the confidence of a group of men in South Weber, among them the Bishop of the Ward, Richard Cook. Elders John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, of the Council of the Twelve, were sent to South Weber Ward to investigate rumors concerning their activities. A meeting of the members of the ward was held 11 February 1861. Bishop Cook, and fifteen others who declared their belief in Morris, were excommunicated. On 6 April 1861, Joseph Morris became head of the new church, with Richard Cook and John Banks as counselors. The Morrisites held their property in common. They located at "Kington Fort." The membership increased rapidly and soon numbered over three hundred; before the breaking up of the community that number had increased to between five and six hundred.
Labretcht and Ann Sidler Baer, her daughter Anna Hegetschweiler, the baby sister and Susanna Sidler, who had only beenin Utah a year and who could not speak or understand the English language, followed Bishop Richard Cook and were living in the Kington Fort.
Soon some of Morris' followers desired to withdraw from the United Order and take what they had consecrated to the common fund. Several of these dissenters were captured and imprisoned at Kington Fort. Two of the prisoners were John Jenson and William Jones. On 10 June 1862 Chief Justice Kinney issued a second writ of habeaus corpus, demanding the release of these men, also a warrant for the arrest of Morris, Cook and Banks. These writs were placed in the hands of Sheriffs Robert T. Burton and Theodore McKean. Acting governor of the territory, Frank Fuller, called out several companies of the militia to aid the deputy sheriffs as a posse, 150 men being sent from Salt Lake county and 100 men from Davis county. Besides these, a great many people gathered in the vicinity of the expected conflict.
Map of Fort
Arriving on the heights that overlook the little valley in which Kington Fort was located, a written message addressed to Morris, Banks and Cook was sent into the fort calling upon them to surrender themselves and the prisoners and urging them to remove the women and children within the fort. Morris withdrew to his dwelling and soon returned to his assembled followers with a revelation forbidding them to yield to the demands of the posse and promised them not one of his faithful people should be destroyed. The people of the fort assembled, the "revelation" was read, but before it could be discussed a cannon ball crashed into the fort, killing Anna Sidler Baer and her baby girl. Her daughter, Ann Hegetschweiler, now a fourteen year old girl, picked up the shattered bodies of her mother and little sister. The confusion in the fort was great until ex-Bishop Richard Cook advised all to go to their homes and each man protect himself and his family as best he could. General Robert T. Burton, commander of the posse, ordered the surrender of all men bearing arms in the fort. They refused upon the advice of Morris. General Burton ordered the posse to fire. He, himself, shot Morris. John Banks was also shot and died during the night. The rest of the men were arrested and later tried and sentenced to imprisonment. Labrecht Baer and his wife's sister, Susanna Sidler, returned to Switzerland.
Cemetery next to the Fort, South Weber:
After the death of her mother and sister Anna Hegetschweiler was taken care of by Mr. Burton. She was now all alone in Utah without relatives or friends. She worked in the home of Bishop Chauncey West and in other homes until she was seventeen. On February 4, 1865, Anna was married to Samuel Stone, who was born 8 February 1840 in Eastwood, Nottingham, England. They were married in Salt Lake City in the Endowment House by Elder Wilford Woodruff. Her first child, William Henry Stone, was born 14 September 1865 at Wilson Lane. Anna's life with Samuel Stone was unhappy and finally she left him, walking with the baby in her arms to Marriot where Theresa Marriot gave her a home.
Sometime later Anna went to Ogden Valley and while there she met Jakob Bachmann. They were both from Switzerland. Jakob's wife, Elisebetha, had died November 1866, leaving him with eight children. Ann had now obtained a divorce from Samuel Stone and on 27 April 1867, she was married to Jakob Bachmann in the Endowment House. Jakob was seventeen years older than she. Anna' son, William Henry Stone, was now nineteen months old. Jakob's children were Maria, thirteen, Vernena, ten; Jakob, eight, Elisabeth, seven Emuel, six, Rosella, three, Bertha, two and Alma six months. Alma had been given to Alma Taylor when three days old. Jakob and his children were living in a one-room log house in Eden, so Anna and her son, William, moved into the log cabin. There were bunks in the north end of the cabin where they all slept. The benches and stools were homemade. The house, with a cellar, was situated on a five acre-plot of ground. A schoolhouse, which was also used as a chapel, was later built on the adjoining land on the south. The winters were very cold, the thermometer sometimes being 40 degrees below zero and the snow covering the ground to a depth of six feet. They could raise no fruit except currants, berries, plums and a few apples and their vegetables often froze before maturity. The principal crops were alfalfa and wheat.
Anna had never been around other children in Switzerland as she had lived with her mother, grandparents and two aunts, so it was a new experience to be in a home with eight children. They endured many hardships and sometimes were molested by Indians. As soon as he could Jakob bought some cows and built a barn south of the house. He later bought a farm and raised some grain and alfalfa; then purchased a dry-land farm and pasture land about two miles southeast of his home. As time passed he had twenty cows and Anna worked hard doing all the necessary tasks required of her.
One of their neighbors was the Eccles family. A son, David, who later became one of Utah's most prominent citizens, was a frequent visitor in their home. He and Jakob walked over the mountains to Ogden and carried home, on their backs, flour and molasses.
On February 8, 1868, Anna gave birth to her second son, Joseph. Jakob's older girls had gone to other homes to work so Anna was alone with the little children. Kind neighbors came in when they could spare time from their own large families. On August 19, 1870 Anna gave birth to her third child, Annie. She was all alone with the little children and did not have a match to light a candle. In November, 1874, Jakob's eldest daughter, Maria, died at the age of twenty. This caused the family great sorrow. On October 19, 1875, Anna gave birth to her fourth child, John Rudoll. She nursed him until he was three years old. He was healthy and grew up to be a handsome lad.
Jakob was now able to build a four-room frame house, two rooms upstairs and two rooms downstairs and a pantry on the first floor. The house is now owned by a grandson, Gainer Bachmann. Anna was forty years old 29 September 1887. Soon after her birthday she contracted pneumonia and developed asthma and chronic bronchitis which she had the remainder of her life. On December 5, 1887, Anna gave birth to her fifth and last child, Emma Josephine. On March 6, 1889, Rosilla Ferrin, Elisabetha's daughter died at the birth of her first child. Another great sorrow came to the family on Christmas Day, 1890, when Alma, the youngest of Elisabetha's children died at the age of twenty-four years.
In 1901 Jakob and Anna sold their home and farmlands in Eden and moved to Ogden in a three room home on Jefferson Avenue. Emma was the only child still living at home. They had five lots so they could raise fruit trees and have a garden.
On December 19, 1907, Jakob Bachmann died of pneumonia. Anna stayed in Ogden until June, 1911 when she and her daughter, Emma, went to Oregon where her daughter, Annie Inglis, lived. In 1913 they moved to Los Angeles, California. She later moved to San Diego then returned to Los Angeles where she passed away February 1, 1921. Her remains were brought back to Utah and laid to rest beside her husband, Jakob Bachmann, in the family plot in the Eden cemetery. —Emma Scholl