RICKS, Clarinda Ann^[1]

1835 - 1864  (29 years)  Submit Photo / Document

 Set As Default Person

• Name	RICKS, Clarinda Ann
  Birth	10 Jan 1835	Olive, Madison, Illinois, United States
  Gender	Female
  WAC	10 Mar 1854	EHOUS
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Death	18 Mar 1864	Parowan, Iron, Utah, United States
  Burial	18 Mar 1864	Parowan, Iron, Utah, United States
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I4576	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Family ID

  F2506

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	SMITH, Silas Sanford Jr. ,   b. 20 Oct 1830, Stockholm, St. Lawrence, New York, United States Stockholm, St. Lawrence, New York, United Statesd. 11 Oct 1910, Layton, Davis, Utah, United States (Age 79 years)
  Marriage	9 Jul 1851  [2]
  Family ID	F2505	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

• Photos

  Clarinda Ricks Smith headstone.jpg

  
  

• Notes

  Clarinda died 9 days after the birth of her fifth child ranging from nine days to ten and a half. Sarah cared for them until her death just three months later. Clarinda Ricks was born January 10, 1835, in Olive Township, Madison County, Illinois. When she was about ten years of age, the family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. She spent from age eleven to thirteen in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and then crossed the plains with her family in 1848. After they arrived in Salt Lake, Clarinda moved with her family first to Bountiful, then to Centerville. On July 9, 1851, Clarinda married Silas Sanford Smith in Layton, Utah. At this time she was just sixteen years of age and Silas was twenty-one. In the fall of 1851, just as they were preparing to locate their first home on the little farm near her parents, they were called with others to go to the new frontier settlement of Parowan to help colonize the southern part of Utah. Silas’ mother, Mary Aikens Smith and Silas’ brother, Jesse N., also received the call. In obedience to this call, they sold their city lot and other holdings in order to get provisions and teams to make the trip. When ready, their traveling equipment consisted of two small wagons, one team of horses, a yoke of oxen, a pony, and a few cows. At Payson, which was the nearest settlement to Parowan on the direct road, they met a few other families going to the same place, and a traveling company was organized under the leadership of Wm. H. Dame. Silas, at this time, was just 21, his brother Jesse age 17, and their mother was 46 years of age. Pioneer hardships held this little family group together. The first two and a half years, they all lived in the same house. During this time, Mary, Silas’ mother, and Clarinda became very devoted to each other. Clarinda endeared herself to the people in this frontier community by her kind and neighborly acts. She was on hand to give comfort to the sick and to divide her supplies with the needy. She was an able seamstress and assisted many with their clothing needs. She also did needle and crochet work. Among the prized family heirlooms are some fine samples of her work, some of which were made from “Dixie Cotton,” spun, and worked into these articles by her own hand. On April 17, 1853, Silas married Clarinda’s sister Sarah Ann (Sally), in polygamy. On July 10, 1853, Clarinda’s first child was born. They named him Silas Sanford Smith Jr, and soon thereafter Silas built a new home in Paragonah and moved there with his family. Other children soon followed for Clarinda, but nine days after her fifth child was born, Clarinda passed away, leaving her four children, ranging in age from ten and one-half years to nine days old, for her sister Sarah Ann, to care for. Clarinda had lost one little girl, at age three, before this time. Three months after the death of Clarinda, Sally Ann gave birth to her fifth baby. Fourteen days later, Sally Ann died, leaving the care of both of the families to relatives and friends. At the time of her death on March 18, 1864 in Parowan, Utah, Clarinda was only twenty-nine years old. Silas was about thirty-four years of age when he lost both of his wives and was left with eight children to raise. Clarinda’s four children would give her twenty-three grandchildren. ======== Joel Ricks' two oldest daughters were named Clarinda and Sarah Ann (Thomas E. Ricks' sisters). They both were married to a man named Silas Sanford Smith--in polygamy.  Silas Sanford Smith's father was Silas Smith (son of Asahel Smith and Mary Duty), a brother to Joseph Smith Sr., so Joseph Smith Sr. was Silas Sanford's uncle.  This made Silas Sanford Smith a first cousin to the Prophet Joseph.  Therefore, Clarinda and Sarah's children were first cousins once removed to the Prophet Joseph and 2nd cousins to Joseph's children. They were called to help settled southern Utah and lived in Paragonah and Parowan in Iron County.  They had no doctors and lived in very harsh circumstances there. Silas married Clarinda Ricks (born in 1835) in 1851, and her sister Sarah Ann Ricks (born in 1832) in 1853. Clarinda died soon after the birth of her fifth child in March 1864. Her little daughter, Leonora, had died in September 1863 at the age of 4. Sarah Ann took care of her own children and her sister, Clarinda's four remaining children, until June 1864, when she died soon after the birth of her fifth child born June 16,1864. Her baby son, Hyrum Barton Smith, died in August 1864. In July 1865, Silas married a fifteen-year-old girl, named Martha Bennett, to help him care for the eight children from his first two wives. The oldest children were only three or four years younger than Martha, but Martha stepped up to the challenge and cared for the eight children, plus over the next 35 years, she gave birth to twelve children of her own, ten of whom lived to adulthood.  Martha's mother was the daughter of Ashael Smith Jr. (brother to Joseph Smith Sr.), and so was a first cousin to Silas Sanford Smith, making Martha and Silas first cousins once removed.

  
  

• Sources

  [S146] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), (Copyright (c) 1980, 2002), downloaded 15 Sep 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S285] Steven Webster, Book of Remembrance (Steven Webster), (Genealogy including pedigree and family group sheets for Steven Webster), 2 Feb 2009 (Reliability: 2).