Rebecca Hendricks

Rebecca Hendricks was born Nov 2, 1835 in Simpson, Kentucky to James and Drusilla Dorris Hendricks. Rebecca is a Pioneer of Richmond.

History

About 6 months before Rebecca was born, her parents had converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after her birth, the Hendricks family moved to Clay County, Missouri.

"My father was serious injured in the battle of Crooked River and was semi-invalid from that time on. 

When the persecution became unbearable, we moved from Missouri to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1840. It was there I began my schooling. 

When the Saints left Nauvoo, we were with them as they moved across the muddy hills of Iowa. We were six months going a distance of 300 miles. 

We wintered in the Missouri bottoms, then left the following Spring and walked across the plains toward the Great Salt Lake Valley. We arrived there on 4 October 1847. We suffered many privations and hardships.

The Hendricks family joined the Grant/Nobel company on June 19, 1847 and entered the Salt Lake Valley on Oct 2.

In 1851, Rebecca became acquainted with Hiram Abiff Watson and the two were married on June 23, 1852. Soon after the birth of their first child, Hirum was called to serve a mission for the Church in the Eastern U.S. After some time on his mission, Hirum became dissatisfied with the Church and left his family in Utah.

"Sometime between 1854 and 1856, I met Samuel Roskelley, who was a convert from England. He had been in the employ of President Young and brought some of the presidents family to Warm Springs. It was there that we met. 

In 1856, Samuel was called on a mission to his native England. Just one month after his arrival home in 1858, Samuel and I were married. 

We moved to Provo for a short time, but soon returned to Salt Lake City. The following Spring. Samuel and his brother-in-law William VanNoy bought a shingle mill and water power on North Mill Creek and made shingles for which they had good sale. 

In the Spring of 1860, Samuel and I, along with my parent’s family all moved to Cache Valley to open up farms there, upon the advice of Brigham Young. 

When we arrived there, we went to Richmond where we began to erect a fort for protection against the Indians. The fort consisted of two rows of houses running east and west facing each other with corrals and sheds for livestock back of the homes. 

In 1962, my husband Samuel, was made bishop of the Smithfield Ward and in January of 1863, we moved to Smithfield, Utah."

Epilogue