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The following article appeared on: http://www.welshmormonhistory.org/index.php?/resources/view/2227 The Welsh Mormon History website is the work of Ron Dennis. Autobiography of Annie Matilda Bevan Blake1881-1954Editor's note: This autobiography is taken from Annie Bevan Blake and Samuel Henry Blake's "Book of Remembrance". It is Chapter 3 of a combined history of Annie and her husband Sam Blake. I am going to attempt a short history of my life. I will start with mine as I am more familiar with that. First I will give a little remembrance of my grandparents. My paternal grandparents were James and Mary Bevan Bevan. (My grandmother's maiden name was Bevan). James Bevan died before my parents were married, consequently all I know of him is hearsay. He had poor health for years before he died of asthma and rheumatism. (Could it have been emphysema? - Editor) They were lease-holders of a farm called "The Bank" getting its name from the rise of the house and land from the road. It was located on the Gower peninsula in south Wales, 15 miles from Swansea. Several generations of the Bevans were born and died in this locality. They intermarried so much that they are all related either by birth or by marriage. Many of them settled here, but in later years many moved away. It is a very backward community, as I know it. There was even very little drinking water. They caught the rain in a large barrel and this was used for cleaning, bathing, washing etc. For culinary water they had a large barrel with shafts, wagon wheels and chassis. My uncle would hitch a horse onto this and go several miles to a community well, fill the barrel , and that would last a week. It had a faucet attached and we drew it out. Needless to say, we had to be very careful with it, and all suplus such as water from cooking, dishwater, and from washing milk buckets, pans, etc. was put into the barrel of pig feed. I spent one year on this farm after my grandma died. My Aunt Ann, father's sister, was lonely and father said I could go there for a while. This was about 1899. My father loved his birthplace and told us children so much about it, it---of the seashore, only a quarter of a mile from the house, the countryside so beautiful with hedges or roses honeysuckle, and hawthorn---the paths through the fields and over the old styles that we learned to love it too. Father had five brothers and three sisters. I was born at Great Bridge, Staffordshire England, on May 6, 1881. I was the second child in a family of six children. My sister Ada Mary, older than I and four brothers: Silvanus James, Oliver Charles, Mansel John and Rowland Francis. I was christened as a child in the Church of England. My father was Rowland Bevan, and my mother Mary Clara Cluff. I remember the house we lived in until I was about six years old. It was on a main street where a steam streetcar passed the front. I remember the family who lived next door. Their name was Watson, and they had a family of young people. One, Sarah Ann, used to visit my mother until I was quite a big girl, after we moved to Smethwick. I used to play with children across the street whose father kept a saloon. I remember getting my finger caught in their door and the nail came off. I also remember seeing a child run over with a streetcar and killed. There was a lady, Miss Dimbelow, who had a nursery school not far from us and I went with Ada and can well recollect going to sleep, and the teacher laid me on her bed. I was about six years old when we moved to Smethwick. My father had been moved by the railway, first to Great Bridge, and then to Smethwick,Staffordshire. He worked for the same Midland Railway as long as he lived. The house we lived in was Broomfield, Smethwick. We lived here two or three years. Our neighbors were Hoods and Clements. I remember Mr. Clements died while we lived there. He was the first dead person I ever saw. The Hoods had a large family, some the age of Ada and I, and some older. About this time I lisped and Charley Hood, who was a young man, used to give me a penny to sing for him while he had his tea. The Hood girls, Florrie and Gertie were our childhood friends for years. We moved to Green Street about two blocks away, and there is where my childhood years, about seven to fifteen years old were spent. Our neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Bates. They were old people. Their daughter Mrs. Arter lived there too. Arter's children and our family were playmates for years. Fred was Ada's boyfriend and Bert mine, and Percy was Jim's playmate. We all went to the Crockett Lane Board School. I got all my schooling there. We walked about one mile to school as I remember it. During these years Mansel and Rowland were born. The Parsons were mother and father's friends and they visited each other often. I went there for the Christmas holidays when I was about 12 years old. We were friends as long as I lived in England. Dad had a nice garden at Green Street, both flowers and vegetables. We went to the Church of England, Sunday School, and church services. We attended regularly---Sunday School at 10 a.m., morning service at 11, Sunday School in the afternoon at 230 p.m., and evening service at 630 p.m. This is where I learned the Bible. I enjoyed going very much, and loved the hymns we sang, my Sunday school teachers and the clergy who were our ministers. My parents seldom went to church. I never remember my fathers going to church, but she went occasionally, but she preferred the Congregational Church. I was confirmed a member of the church at the age of 14. From then on I could go to Holy Communion, which is the same as our Sacrament, but held as a separate service from the regular service. My home was happy. We six children enjoyed each other, but apart from school, church, walks together and such things, these years were uneventful. My first real sorrow was when my mother died when I was 15 years old. This seemed like a calamity to us all. We had moved to a larger house on Church Road, Smethwick. Mother was ill only a week when she died of pneumonia. Father seemed lost. Rowland was nearly two years old and Ada 17. The next years were not very happy. We didn't know much about housekeeping, preparation of meals etc., and father was most unhappy. Mother's sister Auntie Annie, mother's sister, came and stayed for awhile, and then left us again. My grandmother Bevan died when I was 17 years old, and I went to Aunt Ann's for a year at Gower. When I came back home, I went to work at Greenfield's. It was a shoe store, and I worked there for over two years. George Greenfield was my beau about this time for about two and a half years. I went from there to Mr. George's to work. Mrs. George was Mrs. Greenfield's sister. George Greenfield taught me to ride a bicycle, and we had many pleasant hours riding through the country, and taking pictures when we had a day off from work. I worked in the George's shoe store for nearly five years. They were very good to me, more like family. When Jim had the scarlet fever I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. George, as our home was quarantined. They had three children---Jack, Hattie, and Howard. During these years my father had married Auntie Annie, and they had a daughter, Daisy. At this writing none of the family had heard from Daisy for years. My father died on June 16, 1904 of cancer of the throat. As was natural after father died, we seemed to have more financial responsibilities. Mansel, Rowland and Daisy still going to school, unexpected illnesses, extra expenses for the home etc. My brother Oliver, worked in the office of Tangyes. He was interested in languages, and when young men from the continent to Tangyes to learn the business, Oliver would bring them home to live, so he could learn their language, while he taught them English. We had them from Greece, France, Turkey and Switzerland. Oliver could speak seven different languages when he was thirty years old. He later was a salesman for the dynamos, large engines and such things which Tangyes sold. Jim was a different nature to Oliver. Oliver was always quite selfish, and while he always had a good position, when we had family emergencies, which seemed to come often, after father died, he would shirk his share whenever he could. This nature has gone through life with him and he squandered his earnings until at this time, 1952, he is in poor circumstances His wife, the former Mollie Slaughter, has stayed with him through good times and bad. More about them in the diary I kept when I visited them in 1929. Jim was always a good natured boy, and I think mother's favorite if she had any. At the age of 13 he went to work at the postoffice in Smethwick to deliver telegrams. He worked only one week when mother died and I think that upset him very much. Father was grief stricken and the home so different without mother that he seemed more of a problem to dad. He got tired of his job and lost it, and for several years afterward he seemed unhappy and dad was very strict and so there was trouble often. In those days the workmen had to be at work at 6 a.m. and Jim was often late, and so would get fired. When dad died, Jim didn't take his responsibilities in the home financially, so when he wanted to come to this country, Auntie was really glad to let him have his passage money as a loan from what dad left. So that is how he got to come. Mansel was more the same temperament as mother---not so quick to get angry, and very liberal with his means. For a few years after I came to Utah, I didn't get too much news of him. He was about 18 when I left England. Later he worked for an English company who exchanged English goods for native exports at Nigeria, West Africa. There were only 13 white people in the place where he was and he supervised the cutting and shipping of mahogany and other fine woods, ivory, etc. to England. He was always very good to Auntie, and for years he had a monthly check sent to her from the company in England. He paid all the expenses of her last illness, funeral and burial, hospital, etc. He was unmarried and had a good job. He later married Freda and took her to Africa with him. But it was no place for a white woman so she went back to England after a short time. They had one son, John. But from what Ada said, the marriage was not too happy as the wife lived high for years. He went home only three months every two years. He died at a hospital of tumor of the chest. Auntie decided to take boarders and among them were theMormon missionaries. As we know, they live in pairs and are transferred from place to place. We had quite a few different companions. Being a family of young people, we naturally got friendly with each pair. While we were not very interested in their religion, we made them welcome for visits after their work in the evenings. They invited us to their conference and Jim and his girl friend, and Beatrice Taylor and I went to the evening meeting. We thought it was very funny. After this they invited us to their outings and socials, etc. Beatie and I rode our bicycles everywhere, and so would ride over to their meetings just for a laugh and leave as soon as it was over because we didn't want the missionaries to think we were interested. This went on for about 18 months. Then I began to get interested and couldn't stay away. I joined the Church and was baptized April 1, 1906. I enjoyed the Church very much and when the first Relief Society organization was organized in Birmingham, by sister Romania Penrose, wife of Charles W. Penrose, then President of the British Mission, I was set apart as assistant secretary-treasurer. The friends I made after I joined the Church were Edith, Hilda and Gertie Jones, Janet Poole, Milly Taylor, Lily Owen and Edith Tarleton. They married (Edith) Aaron Newey, (Hilda) Mr. Hardy; (Gertie) Moses Holbrook, (Janet) Joe Monk, (Milly) James W. Phillips; (Lily) Homer Bushman; and (Edith) William Corbridge. I used to go Relief Society teaching after I was through work at 7 p.m. and my district was seven miles from my home. I used to go by bus. I was also Sunday School teacher and treasurer. These positions I had until I emigrated to Utah. When I started to investigate Mormonism, I got acquainted with Cos (Maria) Eves, and we have always been good friends the rest of our lives, they too having immigrated to Utah. In May of 1906 a young missionary came to Birmingham, England, from Vineyard, Utah. I met him first at a cottage meeting and we had about 20 new missionaries each year, he was just another missionary to me. As I became better acquainted with Samuel H. Blake, I liked him and after a few months he was assigned with his companion to live at our house, where he lived for about six months. As we both rode bicycles, we often rode to and from meetings with others of the Saints and missionaries. After his first year in the mission, he became ill with chest trouble, cough, etc, The conference president, William A. Noble, sent him to the south coast of England, for his health. Several of the girls and brother Noble were invited to spend a couple of days at Bournmouth, with sister Hazel. So we all went together there on the train. We had a lot of fun wading in the ocean and visiting during this time. When we returned we left Sam there to convalesce for a couple of weeks. It was at such times and at house parties and church socials that we really got to think of each other as something more than ordinary friends---No, I won't say that we loved each other then, for that was avoided by us while he was on his mission. But there were little things such as an occasional letter or postcard, or, after he was transferred to Walsall, a visit to our family when he was in Birmingham for conferences, which makes a girl know she is more than a friend. In August, 1906, my brother Silvanus James, came to America. He had not joined the Church but thought from what the missionaries had told him, he could do better financially. He was an electrician and did well in his trade. He wired the towns of St. George and Cedar City for electricity. He also supervised the work of putting in pumps at Saratoga which pump the water from Utah Lake into the Jordon river. I came to America (Utah) in 1910. I left Liverpool on March 17, and arrived in Salt Lake on Friday, April 1. We had a pleasant trip. I loved the sea voyage. I wasn't sick and each day was really an adventure into something I didn't know. But I was looking forward to it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was going to Zion where the Saints lived, "and the mountains high and the clear blue sky," Sam had written that he would meet me in Salt Lake. He was living in Globe, Arizona, helping his brother Isaac run a dairy. But there was a washout on the Railroad line and the train had to go by way of California, so he was four or five days late. My brother Jim met me and took me to the home of Sister Garrett whom I had known in Birmingham a short while before they immigrated. It was April conference time and on Saturday I went to conference and saw many saints and Elders I had known. But there was no Sam on Sunday nor at the Birmingham reunion on Monday! I thought, all right, if that is how it is! Next day I went to Bountiful to Gertie Holbrooks for a few days. About the second day I was there, here came Sam and when he held out his arms and the kiss I got, I knew it was all right. He stayed there a couple of days and then went home to Vineyard. I came from Salt Lake to Eves' at Provo, and from then on we met often. Grandma Blake asked me to their house and there Sam proposed to me. We were married May 16, 1910. Brother and sister Eves went to the Salt Lake temple with us, and were sealed and their daughter, Dora, sealed to them. We left the day after we were married for Globe, Arizona, by way of San Francisco and Los Angeles. We had a nice time and arrived at Globe on Sunday June 1st. I was not homesick until we settled down in Globe. It was so different to anything I had experienced before. Sam and I went to church the evening of the first day. It was there that I had a very embarrassing time. When we arrived at the church, the Bishop, Bishop Hunsaker, came down the aisle and spoke to Sam. He introduced me and then, so I wouldn't feel alone, because the bishop had asked him to go to the stand, Sam introduced me to several of the people around. When the Bishop told him the time was his to tell of his trip to Salt Lake, Sam asked, "Aren't you going to open with a song and prayer?", the Birshop replied, "We have had the opening exercies." My most embarrassing moment! I was very homesick in Arizona the first year. We had a small two-room house, used furniture and, as we intended to return to Utah, we wanted to save all we could. After Thelma was born (Feb. 23, 1911) I was happier and felt more settled, but looked forward to the time Ike (Sam's brother) returned from his mission to England so we could return to Utah. Ella (Ike's wife) went to England to meet him upon his release and I kept their son, Carl, who was four years old during this time. I also cooked for the seven who worked on the Dairy. This, I realize, was all good for me as I learned to cook from Ella. She was a good housekeeper and cook, and we enjoyed each other very much. We went to town with a horse and buggy with baby Thelma and little Carl. Also to church and visiting friends. Ella and Ike stayed with Ada while in Birmingham and it was nice to hear all about my family and friend, Beatie, and others when they returned. It was also nice to have someone in Arizona who had seen my family. We returned to Utah in January, 1913 at which time Grandpa Blake rented the farm to us and Jim Blake, and he left for a one-year mission to England. We lived in part of the old home and Jim and his wife, Emma, in part until they built their own. Grandpa returned in 1914, and they bought a home in Provo. Rex was born on November 1, 1914 and in 1915 Ruth, (Sam's sister) taught school in Vineyard and made her home with us. We bought the farm in 1915 for $9,000 at 6% interest. We had built a cowbarn in 1913, but our cows were poor and the farm needed drainage, so we didn't get very far ahead financially. At this time, Sam was second assistant superintendent in the Sunday School, and I was treasurer of the Relief Society. William Varley was the Bishop, and Jim Blake second counselor. I had three school teacher to board and room with us in 1916, and we got our first car---an open Ford--- in March 1917. George was born March 14, 1918 and Grant March 13, 1920. About 1914 we bought some shares in the Union Dairy, then we could ship milk to Cloverleaf Dairy in Salt Lake. This was an incentive to get better cows, so all the extra money we made, after our payments to Grandpa went to buying better cows, draining the farm, getting a good team, etc. Sam worked very hard and would haul gravel on the roads, work on the canal, and other jobs for a few extra dollars. Milk sold for 45 cents a hundred pounds. When we moved onto the farm there was a large orchard of peach, apple, pear and cherry trees. The price was low and the fall that Rex was born we sorted apples by the bushels for $13 per ton and shipped them East through a company, and didn't get a cent for them. Sam would pick peaches all day, after doing the morning chores. We would pack them in lugs---each peach wrapped in paper--- and after he had done the milking at night, he would leave about 8 p.m. with the team and wagon for Provo and deliver them to a shipper (Roylance), whose warehouse was where the Utah Poultry is now, on South University Avenue. He would get home about 11 p.m. and up again at 5 a.m, and so the days went. The road between home and Provo was graveled and in the spring would be deep mud, then when it dried out, deep ruts. The paved highway was constructed in Vineyard in 1929. In December 1919 Sam was sustained Bishop of Vineyard Ward, and held that position until October 1929, when the Sharon Stake was organized from the seven North wards of Utah Stake. He was then sustained first counselor to Arthur V. Watkins in the Stake Presidency. Adelbert Bigler was second counselor. This position he held until 1945. He supervised the building of the Sharon Stake Seminary, near the Lincoln High School, soon after the Stake was organized. At the dedication of that building, a box was placed in the building to be opened in fifty years from then. My grandchildren will possibly read the letter we put in there During the years the children were home and growing up, we had many pleasant times. Each year we went for day to the canyon for service berries, took our lunch and always a barrel of ginger-snaps. They were the highlight of the day's outing and we always enjoyed them. The children dipped them into the clear mountain stream to make them soft. They often talk about this fun. |
Biographies 
