LIFE SKETCH OF
ANNA HEGETSCHWEILER (STONE)
(BACHMAN)
(1847-1921)
Emma Scholl
1958
Anna Hegetschweiler Stone
Bachman was born the 29th of September 1847 in Ottenbach, Canton Zuerich,
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 the 17th of March, 1827, a daughter of Johannes Sidler and Susanna
Jenta. She had two sisters, Barbara, born the 18th of March 1825 and Susanna,
born the 3rd of 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, the 30th of March
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 immigrants. There were 594 souls on the ship. Seventy of them
were from Switzerland. The far was $4.00 for adults and $3.00 for children.
Elder James D. Ross was president of the company. His Counsellors were James
Taylor and John Croft. Captain Roberts was in charge of the ship. They arrived
in New York the first of May 1860. On the 3rd of May they continued their
journey from New York to Florence, Nebraska.
They left Florence, Nebraska
the 17th of June 1860, on the second wagon train of immigrants in 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 so many Saints from switzerland in the Company. They
were called together by Elder Ross mornings and evenings. They always prayed
before starting on their day's journey. At camping time in the evenings they
sang songs and sometimes held a meeting, rested on the Sabbath day.
When they arrived in
Emigration Canyon they were met by Apostles George A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow and
Franklin D. Richards, who held an interesting meeting with the immigrants. They
were so happy to meet these Apostles. They arrived in Great Salt Lake the 3rd
of September 1860.
Anna Sidler met Labrecht
Baer, a Swiss man, on the ship coming to America. They were married soon after
they arrived 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 baby sister. But great sorrow soon came into her life.
A Welshman, Joseph Morris,
got a band of followers in South Weber. The Bishop of the Ward, Richard Cook
was one of them. Elders John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff of the Council of the
Twelve, were sent to South Weber Ward. A meeting of the members of the Ward was
held the 11th of February 1861. Bishop Cook and fifteen others who declared
their belief in Morris were excommunicated. On the 6th of April 1861, Joseph
Morris became the head of a new church, with Richard Cook and John Banks as Counsellors.
The Morrisites held their property in common. They located at "Kington
Fort." They increased rapidly and soon numbered over 300 and before the
breaking up of the community that number was increased to between five and six
hundred.
Labrecht and Anna Sidler
Baer, her daughter Anna Hegetschweiler, the baby sitter and Susanna Sidler, who
had only been in Utah a year and who could not yet speak or understand the
English language, followed the Bishop Richard Cook and were in Kington Fort.
Soon some of Morris's
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.
The 10th of June 1862, Chief
Justice Kinney issued a second writ of habeas corpus, demanding the release of
these men, also a warrant for the arrest of Morris, Cook and Banks. Those 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 being sent from Salt Lake County and 100 from
Davis County. Besides these, a great many people gathered in the vicinity of
the expected conflict.
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 woman
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, Anna Hegetschweiler,
now a fourteen year old girl, picked up the bones of her mother and baby
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 as 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 advise of
Morris. General Burton ordered his posse to fire. He himself shot Joseph
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 their native land, Switzerland.
After picking up the bones of
her mother and baby sister, Anna Hegetschweiler was taken care of by General
Robert T. Burton. She was now fourteen years of age. She was now all alone in
Utah, without relatives or friends. She worked to earn her living. She worked
at Bishop Chauncey West's and in other homes until she was seventeen. The 4th
of February 1865 she was married to Samuel Stone. He was born the 8th of
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 the 14th of September 1865 in Wilson Lane. Anna's life
with Samuel Stone was very unhappy, as he drank and was not kind to her.
Finally she left him and with her baby in her arms, she walked to Marriott,
where Theresa Marriott gave her a home.
Later Anna went to Ogden
Valley and while there she met Jakob Bachmann. They were both from Switzerland.
Jakob's wife Elizabetha had died November 1866, leaving him with eight
children, the oldest twelve years and the youngest a baby. Anna had divorced
her husband, Samuel Stone. On the 27th of April 1867 she was married to Jakob
Bachmann in the Endowment House, President Heber C. Kimball performed the
marriage.
Jakob was seventeen years
older than Anna. Anna's son, William Henry Stone, was now nineteen months old.
Elizabeth's children were Maria, thirteen years old, Verena, ten, Jakob, eight,
Elizabetha, seven, Emuel, six, Rosella, three, Bertha, two and Alma, six months
old. Alma had been given to Alma Taylor at three days old. Jakob and his
children were living in a one-room log house in Eden. So Anna and her son
William moved in the log cabin. There were bunks in the north end of the cabin
where they all slept. The benches and stools were home-made. They scrubbed the
pine floors with sand. There was also a cellar.
The house was on a five-acre
plot of ground. A school house, 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 snow covering the ground to a depth
of six feet. They could raise no fruit except currants, berries, plums and a
few apples. Their vegetables often froze before maturity. Their principal crops
were alfalfa and wheat.
Anna had never been raised
with other children. In her home in Switzerland she lived with her grand-mother
and grand-father, her mother and her two aunts. So it was a new experience for
her to be in a home with eight children. They had to endure many hardships.
Their crops were often destroyed by grass-hoppers. Sometimes they were so short
of food they had to dig sego roots. They were often molested by Indians.
As soon as he could Jakob got
some cows. He built a barn south of the house. He later bought a farm and
raised grain and alfalfa. He also bought some dry farm land and pasture land
about two miles southwest of his home. He later had twenty cows. Anna had to
work hard.
One of their neighbors was
the Eccles family. A son, David, who was worth thirty millions at the time of
his death was a frequent visitor at their house. He and Jakob walked over the
mountains to Ogden and carried home some flour and molasses on their backs.
The 8th of February 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.
The 19th August 1870 Anna
gave birth to her third child, Annie. She was all alone with the little
children and did not even have a match to light a candle.
In November 1874, Jakob's
oldest daughter, Maria, died at the age of twenty. This caused the family great
sorrow.
The 19th of October 1875,
Anna gave birth to her fourth child, John Rudolf. 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 and a pantry on the
first floor. The house is now owned by a grandson, Gainer Bachmann. He and his
wife Rhea live in it. A front room, porch and bathroom have been added. A
chapel has been built a block south of the house. The ditch of irrigation water
still runs on the north.
The log house was now used
for a milk house, as Anna made butter. They had twenty cows. The milk was put
in pans and the cream was skimmed off and churned in a large round wooden
churn. The butter was molded in a pound mold and Jakob took it to Ogden and
traded it for other food.
Anna was forty years old the
28th of September 1887. Soon after her birthday she had pneumonia and developed
asthma and chronic bronchitis which remained with her the remainder of her
life.
The 5th of December 1887 Anna
gave birth to her fifth and last child, Emma Josephine. This child was not
strong as the other children, and she was sick a great part of her life.
On the 6th of March 1889,
Rosilla Ferrin, Elizabetha'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 Elizabetha's nine children died, at the age of twenty-four.
In 1901 Jakob and Anna sold
their home and the farm land in Eden and moved to Ogden. Anna had spent
thirty-five years of her life in Eden. Eden was settled in 1865. The first
school house was built in Eden in 1866. Richard Ballentyne was the Presiding
Elder. In 1877 Eden was organized into a Ward. Anna Bachman was re-baptized on
the 5th of May 1877 by Peter Johnson. The Bishops of Eden were Josiah M. Ferrin
1877-1881, John Farrell 1881-1883, David McKay 1883-1885, Josiah M. Ferrin (2nd
term) 1885-1895, Henry J. Fuller 1895-1911.
Anna moved to a three room
house at 1518 Jefferson Avenue, Ogden. Emma was the only child with them in
Ogden. They had five lots so they could have fruit and a garden. Glenwood Park,
later Lorin Farr Park, was near their home. Anna enjoyed going there. They were
members of the Seventh Ward in Ogden. Anna's son William Stone and his family
lived at 531 17th Street.
On the 19th of December 1907
Anna's husband, Jakob Bachman died of pneumonia.
Anna stayed in Ogden until
July 1911 when she and her daughter Emma went to Oregon where her daughter
Annie Inglis lived. Anna and Emma lived in Portland, Oregon until January 1913,
when they moved to Los Angeles, California.
In Los Angeles they lived at
the Bixel Apartments 616 Bixel Street, near Westlake Park. Anna enjoyed going
to the Park. They attended church in a rented hall at 10th and Grand Avenue.
Later a brick chapel was built at 153 West Adams. Joseph E. Robinson was
President of the California Mission. Anna loved to go to church.
The 26th of May 1915, Anna'
daughter Emma married George Scholl and moved to San Diego. So Anna also went
to San Diego and rented an apartment. It was the year of the Fair and Anna
enjoyed it very much. She also enjoyed attending church there.
In July 1916 Emma moved back
to Los Angeles. So Anna went there again and spent the remaining five years of
her life. She enjoyed Emma's first child, Audrey, and took long walks with her.
She still went to church at 153 West Adams.
In January 1921 Anna became
ill with bronchial pneumonia, Emma took care of her. Her daughter Annie and
husband William Ingles also came from Oregon to be with her. She enjoyed having
the missionaries come and sing for her. She loved music and could sing well.
One day she said to Emma "Do you know the greatest regret I have?"
Emma said, "No." She then said, "It is because I haven't done
the Temple work for my dead ancestors." Emma said, "If you will help
me when you go to the other world, I will try to do it." She was never
unconscious during the three weeks she was ill. On the morning of February 1st,
1921, after speaking to her daughter Emma, she passed away peacefully. As Annie
and William Ingles were not going to Utah funeral services were held at 153 West
Adams.
Emma and Audrey her four year
old daughter went to Utah on the train to take Anna's body. It was taken to the
Larkin Mortuary at 24th and Adams Avenue, Ogden.
Sunday the 6th of February
1921, funeral services were held in the Eden Ward Chapel, George A. Fuller,
Bishop. Her remains were laid to rest beside her husband, Jakob Bachman, in the
family lot in Eden Cemetery.
Anna's daughter, Emma Bachman
Scholl is the family Genealogist. Julius Billiter secured the records of 5,000
of her dead ancestors.
Anna Hegetschweiler Stone
Bachman's descendants number 5 children, 17 grand children, and 36 great grand
children in 1958.