FIFE, Janet

1789 - 1854  (64 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	FIFE, Janet
  Birth	8 Nov 1789	Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland
  Christening	8 Nov 1789	Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland
  Gender	Female
  Death	1854	Alton, Madison, Illinois, United States
  WAC	8 Jul 1891	MANTI
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I21233	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Father	FIFE, James ,   b. 16 Mar 1755, Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotlandd. 3 Nov 1785 (Age 30 years)
  Mother	BARCLAY, Jean ,   b. 12 Aug 1759, Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotlandd. 28 Mar 1827, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, Scotland (Age 67 years)
  Marriage	3 Nov 1785	Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland
  Family ID	F11529	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	WYLEY, William ,   b. 9 Oct 1792, Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland
  Marriage	11 Sep 1812	Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland
  Children	1 son and 2 daughters
  + 1. WYLEY, Janet ,   b. 29 Oct 1823, Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotlandd. 22 Dec 1904, Fountain Green, Sanpete, Utah, United States (Age 81 years)   2. WYLEY, Robert ,   b. 8 Mar 1816, Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland Kilberney, Ayrshire, Scotland   3. WYLEY, Barbara ,   b. 31 Dec 1819, Ayrshire, Scotland Ayrshire, Scotlandd. 26 Jul 1910, Moroni, Sanpete, Utah, United States (Age 90 years)
  Family ID	F10752	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

• Notes

  Across the ocean called Scotland in the City of Kilburnie, a little girl named Janet was born October 29, 1823 to William and Janet Fife Wylie. She had very dark brown hair, almost black, blue eyes, and a little under average height. As a child she was very alert, nothing escaping her quick perception, whether in play or listening to her elders. She was a very patient child keeping all her troubles to herself. In her early life she was a lover of the story of Jesus and therefore learned to ask Him for help. When she was a very small child and any of the family teased her, especially at mealtime, she never answered back, but would only continue eating. Her mother in a joking way would say, “It doesn’t pay to tease Janet while she is eating, she only goes on eating more.” Janet must have learned in some way to hold her own council and fight her own battles in a quiet way. She went to work in a factory at the age of eight years and worked there steady until she was married. Her father, William Wiley, was a devoted Christian. The family belonged to the good old Presbyterian Church, which was found by John Knox. His motto was, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” John Knox was one of the early reformers who taught the people to read the Bible and to think for themselves and not to depend entirely upon what the priests and the Pope taught them. He was a broadminded man. He taught the people to think for themselves, so when Janet came home one night and told her parents of a new doctrine that was being preached her father told her that he had had the right to investigate the scriptures and choose the way he thought best to get the greatest light. “So now, Janet, I am not going to stand in the way of any of my children from having the same privilege.” The mother could not at first be persuaded to listen, but soon Janet’s older sister, Barbara, accompanied her to one of these meetings and heard this new doctrine. Janet was only about sixteen at this time but it was she who led the rest of the family to try and understand this new gospel plan. To her it seemed to open up something broader and gave her a clearer light of the plan of salvation. Together the two sisters, Barbara and Janet, would tell their father the differences in the points of doctrine as the following: “The Elders said tonight, father, a man must be called of God by prophecy and by the laying on of hands by those having authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.” This they proved by scriptures. It was not long until their father became interested and would go to hear the Mormon Elders, for they were the men whom Janet listened to. It took a great deal of courage and faith to listen to Mormon Elders in those days. But Janet was convinced that this was a broader explanation of the scriptures than she had ever heard before. She was only sixteen when she was baptized December 23, 1841 and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Parley P. Pratt opened this branch of the church and Janet’s father and sister were baptized. William Wiley was a man of strong will power, that is, he was not easily led. He took his time to investigate and when he became satisfied in his mind that this was a revelation from God he studied all the principles thoroughly and one point he was blessed with was faith. Faith is a principle of power. He was glad to know that they taught healing by faith. He had often thought of the healings and miracles of Christ. So one day when he was brought home from work on a stretcher with his leg very badly broken he ask that the Elders be called to administer to him. He has such great faith that after they had administered to him he was able to move his foot. His wife became convinced that God gave power to the Elders and to those that put their trust in Him and was baptized into the church. Janet was a faithful and active member and attended to all the services that were possible with her work. At one of these meetings she was introduced to a young English man who had come to Kilburnie to work in the coalmines. This was a coal district as well as a manufacturing town. This young man joined the church November 25, 1825 before coming to this town. Janet and the young lad became attached to each other and were married when Janet was twenty-five years old. They lived in Scotland until their first child was born then they decided to gather with the Saints in America. They arrived in New Orleans in the fall of 1850. Her husband, George Crowther, found work with good pay so they remained here until they could save enough money to make the journey to Utah. As the years went by they had three children but buried the two older ones, Janet became very ill with chills and fever. She had faith that if they could go to Utah she would become well but they had not been able so save enough money to buy a team and wagon. They bought a homemade handcart for sixty dollars and planned to join the handcart company that year. George was worrying about this trip and said, “Janet, I am afraid this will be a harder journey than you think.” She answered, “I will die if I stay here so I might as well die trying.” So they made the necessary preparations and began this long hard trek across the continent, with the handcart company. Where else on earth could you find a people who would think of taking such a risk, bundling their babies and belongings into a homemade handcart and fall to the task of pulling it across mountains and deserts, going to unknown lands. But their faith and courage was strong. They left all in the hands of their God. Janet said the first few days she would sit down and rest, sometimes even lie down, but as the days went by she became stronger and was so happy that they had decided to make the journey. They arrived in Salt Lake City September 12, 1857, the last of the Israel Evans Handcart Company, consisting of 154 souls and 31 handcarts. September 15, 1857 Brigham Young declared the territory of Utah under martial law and forbade the troops to enter the Great Salt Lake Valley. Large numbers of armed men were ordered to Echo Canyon and other points to intercept the soldiers and prevent their access to the Valley. Just a week after the arrival of Janet and George, while they were living in the little schoolhouse with two other families they were awakened and George was asked to go stand guard at Echo Canyon. There was nothing to do but go. All this was a puzzle to them. A week later some men came and moved these families as far south as Payson and when George was released from his guard duty he could not find his family. He searched and inquired for several days before he found them and when he did he sat down and shed tears. They came to Manti from Payson and lived here a few years. They then moved to Mt. Pleasant and then to Monroe. They dug holes in the side of the foothills (called dugouts) to live in. they were damp and unhealthy and the whole colony became ill with typhoid fever. Some were seriously ill. Janet and her sister, Barbara went from house to house waiting in and caring for the sick. They gave of their time and strength willingly and cheerfully. The people called them ministering angels. None of the people died but were reduced to weakness. The Indians killed two of the men south of the settlement so they were called back to Sanpete settlements. At this time George had a cousin Thomas Crowther, who lived at Fountain Green and he wanted George to settle here so he moved here and made his home. George and Janet was a very devoted couple, doing all they could to bring happiness to each other. They had nine children, five boys and four girls. When George had a birthday Janet would invite the entire children home for a big birthday dinner. On the 23 of December, 1891 George gave a celebration for Janet because it was just fifty years since she was baptized into the church. He hired the dance hall and orchestra and invited the entire town to come to the dance. “The children say they never saw their mother so happy and as beautiful as she did that night. Like all other people in the community they had a few sheep. Janet and the girls washed the wool, picked, corded, spun, dyed, and wove it into clothes for the family, one fall Janet wanted to make some cloth for a suit for George. She colored some of the wool red, some black and some white then mixed this in the picking, which mad a rich dark color. When it was woven George was very proud of his suit. Janet and her daughter, Katherine, made forty yards of jeans this same winter. Katherine corded all the wool onto spools by hand. Janet was always busy either with her homework or helping those who were ill or in need. When her married children came to visit her she was always busy at the loom. They would say: “Mother, you do not need to be working like this all the time.” She would smile and say, “Better to wear out than to rust out.” And when God called her home she left a piece of carpet in the loom she was working on. A son and George preceded her to the grave. When her husband died she was alone in the old home. She was in word and deed a Pioneer Mother and when we say a Pioneer Mother it stands for all that is praiseworthy, honest, benevolent, courageous, and strong of heart and hands and faithful. She died December 22, 1904 in Fountain Green, Utah. Stubbs Nelson Hart Pickett, Tervort Wride, and Davis Bradshaw Catherine Crowther was born March 11, 1856, at Alton, Illinois, to George Crowther, who was born November 18, 1826 at Dorley or Iron bridge near London, England. She died April 16, 1895 at Fountain Green, Sanpete, Utah. Her Mother Janet Wiley, was born 29 October 1825 at Kilberney 'Ayrshire, Scotland. She died December 22, 1904 at Fountain Green, Utah. She was so small when she was a baby that she could fit in a quart cup. (This was a quart container similar and used as a measuring cup with a handle and spout. it was made of metal or aluminum.) At the time of Catherine Crowther-Larsen's birth, the Mormon's were being persecuted. They left in June 1857 for Utah, with a company of Saints under the direction of Israel Evans, who had organized a hand Cart company. Grandma was fifteen months old when they started the long hard march across the plains. Catherine and her sister Robena, who was seven years and five months old at the time of starting rode on the hand carts, the loads were heavy and had to be pulled through sand and mud, over hill and over a thousand miles to Salt Lake City. After a three-month trip across the plains, they arrived in Salt Lake City, just ahead of the Johnson Army. One week after they arrived President Brigham Young called Catherine's father George Crowther to go to Echo Canyon to guard against the army of Colonel Johnson. While he was away, the church ordered the Big Move as it was called. Janet Crowther and her two little girls were moved to Payson when the guard was mustered out it took the husband and their father two weeks to find them. As a little girl Catherine went with her parents from one place to another where her parents were called to go by President Brigham Young, and help colonize. They moved to Wales, Sanpete Co., in 1860, to Moroni in 1863, to Monroe in May 1864 they lived in dugouts that had been there family home in which they lived when she was 8 years old. They dug holes in the side of the foothills. They were damp and unhealthy, and nearly the whole colony became ill with Typhoid Fever. Because of this and the Indian troubles, the church leaders asked them to return to the Sanpete settlement about 1864 to about 1867 they went to Manti, where they stayed for two months and then to Fountain Green where they made a permanent home. Catherine was now eleven years old and had to work in gathering thistles, mustard greens, sego roots or bulbs and mushrooms to be used for food for the family. Catherine would fight grasshoppers and do work around the house. Catherine fingers were nimble so she was assigned the task of selecting the long fibers of wool and twisting them into threads to sew the clothing they made from cloth woven by her mother. Catherine's education was such as could be obtained from the schools at that time. The school terms were short and curriculum consisted principally of the three R's (reading, riting and rithmetic). In these she did well and with the practical experience gained through the College of hard Knocks, she became fairly well educated. As a young woman she would help spin and weave, cook and sew, work in the gardens and fields with her father, help neighbors in sickness and need of assistance. Catherine was very active in church and civic affairs at that time. Catherine always had the ability to make and keep friends; she practiced fair play to all. On December 15, 1881, Catherine married Hans Peter Larsen in the Salt Lake Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The endowment house was used at that time for eternal marriages until the temples could be built. Hans Peter Larsen was the son of Niels Larsen and Annie Hansen Larsen. He with his parents joined the Church in 1863 while in their home at Gunnerod, Denmark. After they joined the church his father's people disowned them, and the treatment they received caused them to sell out and move to America. Han's father had been a captain in the Danish army, and was well fixed financially there. But when he decided in 1864, to come to America he loaned thousands of dollars to the immigrants coming over at that time. Many of them never repaid the loans because some died on the way or soon after and others never had the money ahead to pay with. At the time of her marriage she was 5'2" tall, with medium brown hair, gray-green eyes, a slender build, the grandchildren thought she was kind of heavy, but when she would take off her petticoats, 7 or 8 of them, she was not so. She always wore a long sleeve to the waist, dresses, to her ankles. Grandma was so exact in all that she did; she didn't believe that anyone should be idle. We were always given something to do. She always seemed to know when the job was finished, so she could give another job to be done. Grandma washed on Mondays, (start at 4 A.M.) always had one wash out on the line when we would go passed on the way to school, Iron on Tuesday. She would make the children take off their stockings and would mend them, when they were on their way to school. After school, she would have a job or errand for the kids to do, she would give them a slice of bread and butter to eat, tell them, to go home and help their mother. She also had them churn butter for her. She would always have me wash and mop her kitchen floor, which she disliked to do because the floor was inlaid linoleum it was a dark green and dark beige, it always had to be done on your knees, when it was dry, she would have you put linoleum oil on it. She had a real system to house cleaning. It was always started in April and completed by Memorial Day, inside and out. On the last of October, she would start all over again, and everything was done again and finished by Thanksgiving every nook and corner. Grandma was always cooking, because of the boarders they had in the home, because of this, everyone helped to push the washing machine. She was very compassionate, always taking food to those who needed help or those who had a funeral. Grandma was an exceptionally good cook, she canned everything, if she got a quart of raspberries out of the garden, and some were left, she would put them up in jam, always something in her windows, currant jelly, raspberries, and fruit. Grandma always expected to be obeyed when she spoke, she always said, "it's better to wear out than to rust out," She was always busy doing something, never idle, everything she did was systematically. She always had boarder's in her home, men working at the courthouse, schoolteachers, etc. One time she had a lady school teacher boarder, for one winter, she always said women were a nuisance, always wanting to wash their hair, take a bath, men boarders were a lot easier to have in the home. She always said, " If anything is worth-doing at all, it was worth doing well” She told everyone that helped her this saying. She was always a very fine cook and an exceptionally good manager; she could prepare a meal so quickly. She was always taking bread to others in the neighborhood, or those who were ill. I was sent to the bakery one time for a dozen cinnamon rolls, when I got back, she counted them, and there were only eleven, she accused me of eating the one, which I wouldn't dared to eat. She sent me back to the bakery, I told Mrs. Ruesch, she said I had eaten it; I was getting mad at this time and held my ground. Finally she gave me the roll. When I got back to grandma's she said, let this be a lesson to you, don't trust anyone, and keep your eyes open to what is going on, I was twelve at this time. She was a happy woman and good hearted, but had a mind of her own. As she grew older, she still wore the older style clothing and always wore an apron, but always was neat and tidy. She wore her hair bobbed on the top of her head. She loved kids and everyday she'd go out to the gate and wait for the kids to come home from school, talking and laughing with her own and other children. She'd wear a black shawl around her shoulders. She always had a treat for the kids when they came to visit. She would let the children pick up the walnuts in front of her house. Catherine's daughter Myrtle remembers the summer of 1945 when they went to Monroe and showed her husband the dugouts that had been her and her family home in which they lived when she was 8 years old. They dug holes in the side of the foothills. They were damp and unhealthy, and nearly the whole colony became ill with Typhoid Fever. Because of this and the Indian troubles, the church leaders asked them to return to the Sanpete settlement about 1864. When I was married in the Temple, Grandma went to the temple with us; this is the first time she had been back to the temple since she was married in the Endowment house in 1881. As she went through the temple, her cousin, Mary Anderson, wife of President Lewis R. Anderson, Kate, told her you are more trouble than anyone; you would think it was you getting married. Grandma traveled very little, once a couple of times to Wales, Utah to see her daughter Jennie, She really didn't like to sew, but used up all scraps of material she could, into aprons or something. Their first child and son was born 21 Sept. 1882 in Manti, Utah, they named him Hans Milton, died Oct. 28, 1885 of pneumonia at the age of three; The second son was born 13 October 1 884 in Manti, Utah, they named him George Niels, he married Martha May Block, October 14, 1909, George died 3 Oct. 1972. Their third son, William Wallace was born 11 June 1886, also in Manti, Utah, He married Stephine Wells McAllister the 1st of Sept. 1909, Their first daughter and fourth child was born 15 Nov. 1888 in Manti, Utah, they named her Myrtle, she married Lawrence Niels Nelson, 10 June 1908 in the Manti Temple. She died 18 January 1945 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their second daughter, Annie Janet was born 17 August 1890 in Manti, Utah, She married Alma Midgley Thomas, 9 May 1928. She died 23 March 1967. Their sixth child and fourth son, Robert Moriand, was born 3 June 1893 in Manti, Utah. He died 23 March 1909 at Manti, Utah of quick pneumonia; Their seventh and last son was born November 10, 1899 at Manti, Utah, they named him Lorrin Ward, he died March 15, 1923 in Manti, of either pneumonia following an operation for appendicitis. Lorin Ward was in the service of his country in the world war and at his death his mother's name was added to the list of "Gold Star” mothers. Shortly before she died, my mother and Aunt Annie Janet Larsen's were caring for her because she was so sick and could not care for herself. She was so bad that jenny sent my mother to get the Elders. After they gave her a blessing, within 15 minutes, she settled down and slept about 3 hours. Her faith in the Priesthood and Church was so strong and was an important part of her throughout her life. She always had that spirit of wanting to help others. Her ideals were the same throughout her life. "It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong's " He who serves is happier than he who receives services” Hans spent a lot of time at the Manti Temple doing Temple Work. They enjoyed dancing and Hans was known all around for his calling of square dances. She died at the age of 90, July 22, 1946 in Manti, Sanpete, Utah. She was buried in the Manti City cemetery 25 July 1946. Written by Ruth C. Nelson Stubbs