Lucina Streeter Snow

By
Nathan H. Gardner
Additions and Editing by
Donna Woodward

Lucina Streeter Snow

Lucina Streeter was 16 of October 1785 at Chesterfield, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire the oldest child of William Streeter and Hannah Mason. Her parents were both born at Cumberland, Providence Co., Rhode Island. William and Hannah had gone from Cumberland to Chesterfield soon after marriage and their first five children were born there. About 1797 they moved back to Rhode Island, where they had seven more children. The deaths of three of these children were recorded at Smithfield, Rhode Island in 1820.

Lucina was just 16 years old when she married 19 year old Levi Snow on 26 November 1801 at Chesterfield. The marriage was performed by Abraham Wood, Town Clerk.

Levi and Lucina’s first child, Levi Mason was born 15 July 1803 at Chesterfield, New Hampshire.

Many of the neighbors were moving north where new lands were being opened up. Levi and Lucina wished to be to themselves and to acquire their own home and farmland. Because the home and sawmill in Chesterfield, Levi had inherited, along with his brother John, Levi sold his half to John. Soon Levi and Lucina with baby Levi Mason, set out for Lunenburg, Essex Co., Vermont, a hundred and twenty-five miles north, up the Connecticut River Valley, on the Vermont side of the river. While in Lunenburg, Vermont Lucina’s second child was born on the 26th August 1804 and given the name Lucina. This farm they were swindled out of. Lucina and Levi then move to St. Johnsburg, Caledonia, Vermont in the northeast section of the township, known as the Chesterfield district. Levi and Lucina, though heartsick and homeless, poor of material things, began anew, and with the help from old friends they had met again, they cleared there ground, made a home and settled among kind, helpful neighbors. While living here a third child, William was added to the family on the 14th of December 1806.

Through typical Vermont frugality, hard work, and untiring energy, the farm was expanded, the home furnished and added to as needed. Eight more children were born here: Zerubbabel, 29 Mar 1809; Willard, 6 November 1811; Mary Minerva, 30 July 1813; Shipley Wilson, 5 Feb 1816; Erastus, 9 Novermer1818; Charles Van Rensaeler, 20 August 1821; Lydia Mason, 7 December; Melissa Diantha, 20 August 1826. All eleven children were healthy, robust Vermont stock and lived to marry and raise families of their own.

Lucina was a very industrious wife and mother. She owned her own loom and spinning wheel and one can only imagine the labors that were required to use these important household items in those days. Lucina studied and knew the stars and constellations.

Education was primitive, but not neglected. Schools only functioned two or three months of the year. The three “Rs”, Reading, Riting, and Rithmatic, were the principal subjects. Schools were free but the parents furnish wood for heating and board for the teacher.

By the spring of 1826 a fine new barn had been constructed and was in use. During the hot summer their house caught fire and was burned. The fire started in a pile of firewood stacked on the north side of the house. All of the men were out in the fields working. They were able to save only a few pieces of the furniture and a box of books. The fine new barn became their home for several months. With the help of the neighbors a new house was built. Lucina is quoted as saying, “since the barn was built between plantings, a house could be built between harvestings” and it was done.

There was a strong religious conviction among all of the Vermonters at St. Johnsbury. By 1809 a church house was built and services were held regularly. For only two years was it headed by an ordained minister. The Snows were regular in attendance. Lucina joined the Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church and was very active in it’s affairs. The others, including Levi, were living food Christian lives but felt that it was not necessary to join any church. Erastus, at the age of nine, wished to join with his mother but Levi insisted that he wait until he was fully ready before joining.

On the 4th of May 1832, Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson came to Charleston, Vermont and held a meeting. They explained that a new Prophet had been called by God and that the Gospel had been restored. They talked about a new book, “the Book of Mormon” and other important truths. Lucina’s sons William and Zerubbabel were working in the neighborhood and attended the meeting. They were favorably impressed and sincerely interested. The conclusive testimony came when they witnessed the miraculous healing of Olive Farr, wife of Winslow Farr. William was baptized 19th of May 1832 and Zerubbabel soon after. These Mormon missionaries went about the area preaching and visiting. William joined forces with them and many converts were made. On the 3rd of February 1833, William baptized his younger brother Erastus, age 14. On the 18th of June 1833, Lucina and three more children were baptized. Soon the whole family except Levi Mason, Shipley Wilson and father Levi were members of the Restored Gospel. These three never joined.

The Levi Snow barn became the Mormon meeting house and regular meetings were held. Lucina was overjoyed with the truths of the Gospel and did everything in her power to bring it’s blessings to all she knew. Levi was really converted but couldn’t bring himself to accept the discipline of a church so was never baptized.

As the Snow children grow older they began to leave home. Levi Mason and Shipley Wilson married and moved away from the family, but they always defended the Mormon Church, but never joined them. Two of Lucina’s sons, Zerubbabel and Willard and one son-in-law, Jacob Gates (Mary Minerva) went with “Zion’s Camp” to Missouri with the prophet Joseph Smith.

Lucina and Levi left St. Johnsbury in the summer of 1836 and went to Kirtland, Ohio. They were accompanied by their daughter Lucina and her husband and three children. By the fall of 1836, Levi and Lucina had gone on ahead of their family and were in Far West, Caldwell Co, Missouri. They took up land ½ mile north of Far West, built a home and prepared to stay.

Prior to the coming of the Snows in Missouri the Saints had been driven out of Independence. They were gathering in Clay County where they had been befriended. Some took up land and built homes. As their numbers increased the older settlers of Clay County became somewhat alarmed and by mutual agreement were asking that the Mormons move to the north where there was enough unoccupied territory to support a large influx of settlers. As this was new territory, unorganized, the Saints were permitted to organize the area as Caldwell County in December of 1836. During the winter of 1836-37, Far West was founded and laid out as a city. The Levi and Lucina Snow family were early settlers of the area.

Persecution became rampant in all of Missouri and the Saints suffered mobbings, burnings, and all of the inexplicable indignities heaped on them by the depraved society among whom they lived. While the Snows were still in Far West the engagement known as the Battle of Crooked River took place. Captain David W. Patten led his forces against the mobsters’ forces on the 25th of October 1838, and was mortally wounded. He died during the night. At the funeral Lucina reports the words of the Prophet, “There lies a man who has don just what he said he would. He has laid down his life for his friends.” Finally the infamous “Extermination Order” of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs was issued on the 27th October 1838. The Snow families were among the last to leave Far West they left on 15th of April 1839 and arrived in Quincy, Illinois in the 27th. At this same time Joseph Smith had escaped his captors and arrived in Quincy on the 22nd of April.

The Saints were now homeless and anxiously searching for a place to settle. The hamlet of Commerce in Illinois was purchased which later became Nauvoo, and permission granted to take up land on the Half-Breed Tract, across the Mississippi River at Montrose, Iowa. There were some old unused Army Barracks at Montrose which were used for some time as shelter. Levi and Lucina then moved on north to Lima, Illinois for a short stay and by June they were in Montrose, Iowa where they built a home.

On the 2nd of November 1841, Levi Snow died of Pleurisy at Montrose, Iowa at the age of fifty-nine as a result of hardships he had undergone, and he was buried there. Lucina was left with her three unmarried children still at home.

Little is known about Lucina during the Montrose and Nauvoo period of her life. She cared for Williams 3 ½ year old daughter, Abigail while William was away serving on a mission. Abigail’s mother had died, leaving William alone to care for her. Lucina made a trip to Rhode Island to visit Levi Mason where she remained until after the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

After the death of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, in 1844 the Saints rallied and with increased effort finished the Nauvoo Temple. It was opened in December 1845 for ordinance work. During this time all of the Faithful Saints received their Endowments. Lucina received her endowments on Saturday the 17th of January 1846.

By February 1846 the Saints living outside the city of Nauvoo in Illinois were almost completely driven into the city, their homes and crops burned and their cattle stampeded. The mobs were threatening the city to complete destruction. It was decided to evacuate and move to the west. On the 16th of February, Lucina’s son Erastus took part of his family across the river on a ferry boat. Through carelessness the boat capsized and he lost much of his goods. He went west as far as Garden Grove with his family and then returned alone to Nauvoo in and effort to sell his property and settle his affairs. He succeeded in trading it for about one fourth its’ value. On the 5th of July he again set out for the west accompanied by his mother, Lucina, William and Willard and their families and others. They overtook the earlier group at Mt. Pisgah where they remained a few days before proceeding on to the gathering place at the Missouri River.

Lucina’s son William was asked by Brigham Young to remain at the river for two years and grow crops and to assist those who would outfit there for the trip further west. Consequently he took up land at Council Point and built a log cabin. Most of the Snows remained here on the east side of the Missouri River for the winter of 1846-47. All of the Snow families that were heading west were together for Christmas along the Missouri River.

On the 30th of June 1848, Erastus, Lucina’s son, with his family left Winter Quarters in the Willard Richards Company. He was a captain of ten in the 5th company. His family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley the 19th of October 1848 and spent the first winter in the fort. It is reasonably certain that his mother, Lucina, and Melissa and Jeter Clinton were also in this group, but in a company arriving a few days earlier.

After leaving the fort Willard Snow and Jeter Clinton were assigned lots in the thirteenth ward in the vicinity of First South and Second East Streets. When William came in 1850 he also had his lot in the Thirteenth Ward. When the 1850 Census was taken in the spring of 1851, Lucina was living with Jeter and Melissa. As Melissa taught the first school outside of the fort in the Salt Lake Valley and her husband was called on a mission to the States, it is only logical that Lucina should make her home with her youngest daughter and care for the Clintion children. Later when her son Willard was called to go on his mission to England and Denmark she was saddened by his death on the North Sea. As stated before it is not known where Lucina lived when she arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, but it is likely that she lived in her children’s homes. We know that she live with her son, Zerubbabel sometime between 1851-1852 and she was living with her son, William in 1855.

Lucina died at the home of her daughter in Salt Lake City of pneumonia the 9th of November 1858. Her obituary was published in the Deseret News of Wednesday November 24, 1858, Vol. VIII No 38:



Died, From cold and lung complaint at Dr. J. Clinton’s in this city on the 9th inst., LUCINA SNOW, widow of Levi Snow and mother of Erastus Snow, on of the Twelve Apostles, age 74 years and 24 days.

She was the oldest daughter of William and Hannah Streeter. Her mother died in the vicinity of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in the fall of 1854, near which place also died many of her ancestors of the Mason family at very advanced ages. They were remarkable for their activity of mind and body up to the last. She was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, October 16, 1784 and married to Levi Snow, November 29, 1801 by whom she raised seven sons and four daughters, Viz: Levi Mason, born Feb 15, 1803; Lucina, Aug 20, 1804; William, Dec 14, 1806; Zerubbabel, March 29, 1809;Willard, May 6, 1811;Mary Minerva, July 30, 1813; Shipley Wilson, April 7, 1815; Erastus, Nov 9, 1818; Charles Van Rensaeler, Aug 21, 1820; Lydia, Dec 7, 1823; Mellisa, Aug 20, 1826.

When their first two were yet only babes, they were swindled out of their farm and hard earned possessions in Lunenburg, New Hampshire and removed to St. Johnsbury, Vermont where they opened a new farm and reared the balance of their family being among the first settlers in that part of the state.

Deceased was a prominent and active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years previous and at the time of hearing the fullness of the Gospel.

In the summer of 1832, when Elders Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson bore the glad tidings to that people, she welcomed them as Angels of the Lord.

She was baptized by Orson Pratt in June 1833 and removed with her family to Kirtland, Ohio in the spring of 1836 and the same fall proceeded to Far West, Missouri, where she shared the persecutions of the Saints and sacrificed another comfortable home for the Gospels sake. She was next located temporarily in Lima, Illinois and afterwards at Montrose, opposite Nauvoo where her husband died in Oct 1841, and where she continued to live until the exodus of the Church in 1846, where she moved with her children and sojourned near two years at Winter Quarters and finally arrived in this city in Sep. 1848, where her soul rested happy and continued in the sweet enjoyment of the spirit of the Gospel, surrounded by her numerous friends, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, to all of whom she was a bright example of industry, economy, frugality, and faith. May they be able to emulate her virtue and rejoin her in celestial glory.

Lucina was buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery between her grandson Erastus, son of William, and the spot where later her son Erastus was buried. Several others of the Snow family are buried nearby.