Lucy Elzada Hardy Cheney

LUCY ELZADA HARDY CHENEY
Lucy Elzada Hardy was born February 24, 1829 at Belfast, Waldo County, Maine. Her parents, Zachariah Hardy and Eliza Philbrook, heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and were baptized in Maine, as was Lucy. The family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois so they could be with the rest of the church members. They knew the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Prophet had a special horse that he rode most of the time and really loved that horse.

One day when Lucy and some of the other younger children were playing near the horse-watering trough, the Prophet and some other men came to water their horses. He spoke to the children and Lucy told him she liked his beautiful horse. He asked her if she'd like to ride on that horse and when she said yes, he pulled her up onto the saddle in front of him and gave her a short ride.

When she was in her teens, she went to work for the Prophet and Emma and helped Emma keep the house clean and take care of Emma's children. She also showed the mummy exhibits to people who paid to see them. Lucy’s mother was a seamstress and during the family’s stay at Nauvoo she made clothes for the Prophet’s family. (This information is according to family traditions—no records have been found verifying these events.)

Also in Nauvoo, was another family named Cheney and they had a son named Ezekiel Wells Cheney, who was the same age as Lucy. The two became good friends.

Lucy was 17 yrs old when the mobs drove the church members out of Nauvoo, they went to a place called Winter Quarters to live until the weather got better and they could travel on to another place.
When the Hardy family left Nauvoo, Lucy’s father was handling the ferryboat taking some of the families across the river in that very cold February weather. He worked night and day and caught pneumonia and died of exposure as a result of battling the icy waters of the Mississippi. When the saints were burying Zachariah Hardy, they were molested by the mob and had to leave him at the graveside and family members returned to bury him secretly at night.

Many of the Saints were forced to leave Nauvoo with only those belongings that they could carry in their arms. Lucy’s mother, Eliza, who was now a widow, had seven children when she fled from Nauvoo and was carrying the youngest in her arms who was only 5 days old. The family received help from other family members and friends to travel to Nauvoo.

While in Winter Quarters, Lucy and Ezekiel got married at North Pisgah in March of 1848. Ezekiel was almost 20 years old and Lucy was 19.

A year later, the two Cheney families were ready to move on to the Salt Lake Valley. Ezekiel was asked to be a scout for the wagon trains; so he rode his horse out ahead of the wagons looking for good places to feed and water their animals and for the people to camp at night. Lucy traveled with Ezekiel’s parents, Aaron and Mehitable Cheney, in the George A. Smith Company. Brother Smith was a cousin of the Prophet Joseph. On the way, they suffered many hardships, but fortunately were not molested by Indians.
Three weeks after they left Winter Quarters, Lucy’s first child was born near the Elk Horn River crossing in Nebraska. When the baby was born, Lucy was lying on barrels of flour. The captain said they should put the flour in bags to make a softer bed, which they did. They named the baby Eliza Ann.

When her baby was only three weeks old, Lucy jumped into the icy waters of a slough to help the oxen through the water. One night, as it was rather warm, the front of the wagon was left open, and during the first part of the night a heavy blanket of snow fell, covering the sleepers in the wagon as well as the oxen that were tied to the wheels. It then turned extremely cold. Upon awakening the next morning, Ezekiel found one of the oxen frozen to death. However, nothing daunted, Ezekiel hitched his saddle horse in with the remaining oxen and continued the journey in this manner.

For the trip to Salt Lake, Lucy owned only 2 pair of shoes. One pair she wore everyday and the other she saved for church meetings and for dancing. She loved to dance and could do step-dancing very well. (Step-dancing and music was a family tradition in the Hardy family.) When her everyday shoes wore out from all the walking along side of the wagons, she walked barefoot the rest of the way so she could save her best shoes to use for church meetings and for dancing when they got to Salt Lake.

They settled in Utah at what was called Uintah in 1849 but later moved to Centerville and then to Mound Fort at the request of Ezekiel’s father, Aaron. It was while the family was living at Mound Fort, that the crickets came and devoured the crops. The seagulls came and saved part of them by eating the crickets until they were full, then vomiting them up and eating more. There were dead crickets everywhere that the seagulls had vomited up.

At this time the price of cloth was high--as much as seventy-five cents a yard for calico. For the most part, Lucy spun her own yarn and made the family’s clothes and shoes. The shoes were often made with rawhide for the soles and knitted yarn or cloth for the tops. Nearly all the children went barefoot in the summer.

They lived in Utah for several years, then, moved to Idaho where they lived at Basin and Oakley near Burley until Ezekiel died in 1886. Then 4 years later, her son, William, who lived near her died. Lucy went to live near some of her children in Utah and in Eastern Idaho. She was the mother of 11 children—8 girls and 3 boys. One girl died at birth, another at age 16. One boy died at 18 months.

She was a great entertainer and dancer and she loved to dance. At a ward old folks’ party, they had Lucy and her oldest daughter, Eliza Ann, give a dance recital for the entertainment. She was honored for being the oldest at this party. Lucy was very active and did all her own housework and took care of herself until the day she died at the age of 84.

The night that Lucy died, she had spent the day getting all her nice blouses out and ironed them all up. She had some beautiful blouses and she loved to iron them. Her granddaughter asked why she was ironing her blouses and she said, “I’m going to a wedding tonight. You’ll see.” That evening she told her great-grandchildren, to all line up on the sofa and she would dance for them because she was going to this wedding and she would dance before she left. So she danced for them and then she said, “Well, I’m getting kind of tired. Move over some of you, and let me sit down.” She sat down and passed away on the sofa.
Lucy died November 7, 1913 at Swan Valley, near Irwin, Idaho. She is buried in the Ririe Cemetery in Jefferson County.

Note: She lived near William E. Hope and Lucy Jane Higley, Lucy’s granddaughter, in Salem near Rexburg at one time. Lucy was my grandmother’s (Alice Grace Hope Clay), great-grandmother, and my grandmother knew Lucy very well and spent a lot of time with her as did her brother Isaac Hope. Isaac used to go cut wood for her and take it into her house for her heat and cook stove use. She talked to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and told stories about their trip across the plains as pioneers. She told them how far it was to walk and how tired she got walking and sometimes carrying her baby while she walked.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:
Website www.hannahdustin.com
Memories and written family traditions from Alice Hope Clay and her brother, Isaac Hope.
Death and burial records of the Basin Cemetery in Cassia County, Idaho
Compiled, edited and illustrations added October 2006 by Darline Burke