Eliza Mary Litson Glade

This is an entry for the Daughters of Utah Pioneers publication Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude (Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998). It is one of the many documents from my grandmother's files.

Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude

Eliza Mary Litson Glade

Born 7 Mar 1846 St. Andrews, Glamorganshire, Wales

Died 7 Jan 1920 Salt Lake City, Utah

Pioneer Arrived Great Salt Lake City 3 Oct 1863

Down and Back Wagon train — Capt. John H. Woolley Co.

Submitted by Beverly Glade Wessman and Florence Glade Wells

Section II ELIZA MARY LITSON GLADE

Born 7 Mar 1846 St. Andrews, Glamorganshire, Wales
Died 7 Jan 1920 Salt Lake City, Utah
Parents Richard Litson and Frances Ann Matthews
Pioneer Arrived 3 Oct 1863 by Wagon Train in John H. Woolley Company
Spouse James Glade
Married ? Oct 1863 Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
His Death 3 Dec 1882 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory

[James Glade's] First Wife: Mary Dyer born 30 Apr 1836 Burrington, Somerset, England
Married: 25 Dec 1855 Bethany CHapel, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales
Died: ? July 1861 near Florence, Douglas, Nebraska
Children:
1. William Franklin Glade b. 16 Mar 1857 Cardiff, Gla., Wales; d. 4 April 1858 Cardiff
2. Mary Jane Glade b. 29 Dec 1859 Cardiff, Gla., Wales; d. 20 Dec 1916 So. Cottonwood, Utah

Second Wife: Eliza Mary Litson
Md. James Glade ___ Oct 1863 Great Salt Lake City, Ter. Utah
Children:
1. James Richard Glade 20 Oct. 1864 Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Frances Ann Elizabeth Glade 24 July 1866 Salt Lake City, Utah
3. William John Glade 15 May 1868 Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Eliza Mary Glade 30 April 1870 Salt Lake City, Utah
5. Jennetta Georgeina Glade 5 Dec 1872 Salt Lake City, Utah
6. Joseph Robert Glade 30 May 1875 Salt Lake City, Utah
7. Grace Katchlaina Glade 3 Jan 1878 Salt Lake City, Utah
8. George Litson GLade 9 Dec 1879 Salt Lake City, Utah

Third Wife: Isabell Love Glade born 13 Nov 1845 Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Married: 28 June 1869 Salt Lake City, Utah Died 5 Mar 1921 Salt Lake City
Children:
1. Annie Isabell Glade 11 Mar 1870 Salt Lake City, Utah
2. James David Glade 3 Mar 1871 Salt Lake City, Utah
3. Margaret Elizabeth Glade 23 May 1876 Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Alice Addelinda Glade 11 Oct 1879 Salt Lake City, Utah
5. Orson Henry Glade 21 Oct 1881 Salt Lake City, Utah

ELIZA MARY LITSON GLADE

Biography

Two young sisters, Eliza Mary Litson age seventeen and Joan Jennetta Litson age fifteen bid goodbye to their parents and two brothers, friends, and the land of their nativity near Cardiff, Wales. The spirit of Gathering to Zion was uppermost in the minds of the saints, it having been preached continuously to them by the Elders. Their parents, Richard and Frances Ann, were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in October, 1852. Eliza Mary, being the eldest child, was baptized at age eight on 8 May, 1854. The next two children were baptized when they turned eight years old. The parents of Eliza Mary and Joan Jennetta were very anxious to emigrate. Saving enough money was a challenge, so by 1863 they deemed it wise to send their two daughters to Zion lest they be deprived of certain blessings if they waited for the entire (four children) to emigrate. One hundred and eleven saints from Wales went to London where 882 saints boarded the ship Amazon and left for America on 4 June, 1863. After landing in New York and processing through the Castle Gardens Immigration Depot, the Amazon Saints went by rail on 18 Jul, 1863 and river steamer to Florence, Nebraska.

The church had sent teams and wagons from Utah to Florence to help the saints migrate. Brigham Young had sent a driver named James Glade with one of the wagons. He made the acquaintance of the Litson sisters and invited them to use his wagon for their luggage. The two young girls walked most of the long distance across the plains, which was considered a great honor. In a letter home to their parents they wrote, "When you come bring with you some light shoes for crossing the Plains. They are much better for travelling in fine weather than having heavy ones. We have the boots that Brother Peard made for us. They are nearly as good as they were when we left home. Bring with you everything that you have that is worth bringing, especially clothing. You will find thread very useful here. All are very dear in this country, but above all, bring yourselves as quick as you can." They were very happy to reach their destination on 3 October, 1863. From London to the valley of the Great Salt Lake had taken four months.

James' first wife, Mary Dyer, had died two years earlier a half day's journey from Florence. He and his nineteen month old daughter Mary Jane finished their journey after burying Mary in an unmarked grave. This with the sisters was James' third trip across the plains. He fell in love with Eliza Mary, and shortly after they arrived in Salt Lake City she consented to be his wife and a mother to Mary Jane. The exact day of their marriage is not known, but James wrote on 30 Oct., 1863 to Eliza's parents, explaining the distance in corresponding was so great that he and Eliza were married, with the consent of his Bishop. James had a good job as a pastry cook at the town's leading hotel, The Salt Lake House. In one of her early letters to her parents she wrote, "I'm progressing in the ways of Zion. I make my own soap and candles, I can spin and knit, and I am becoming independent." Their next home was at 6th South and 2nd East in the 13th Ward. In 1868 and 1869 they lived on 5th South between East Temple and 1st East, which was in the Eighth Ward. During all of these years they saved enough money to buy one-fourth of a block on the northwest corner of Pine Street (now C Street) and Mountain Avenue (now 7th Avenue). This property was known as the dry north bench above the canal and the mud wall along Fourth Avenue. The fine two-story home at 331 C Street was finished in 1869. At first they had to carry water from the canal to their home, and this continued for many years. They used a barrel to catch rain water. A well was dug, but the steep slope of the hill caved it in. They tried again successfully, and they were happy the day they could pump water into their kitchen. Water was very precious.

James Glade and Eliza Litson Glade wedding photo

Eliza Mary liked gardening. They grew vegetables, fruit trees and grape vines, after they had enough water. Woodbine covered their east and south porch. Lilac bushes lined both sides of their path from the house to the front path. They had primroses, and the east kitchen window had a fuschia plant. Eliza fed chickens, rabbits at one time, and a cow was fed and milked. They had a goat until he ate the laundry off the clothesline. She enjoyed the work outdoors. She was a good cook and always wore a long calico apron. Her granddaughters remember getting a start of yeast from their grandmother to make their bread. She was a good seamstress, which she learned from her mother as a young girl. She was quiet, uncomplaining and hard working.

Eliza and James had eight children, four boys and four girls. On Nov. 18, 1878 a diptheria [sic] epidemic took the life of Joseph Robert, age 3-1/2. Six days later six year-old Jennetta died in the morning. A few hours later baby Grace, 11 months old, died; she was laid to rest in the arms of her sister and was buried that afternoon. Baby Francis Ann had died eleven years earlier. They are all buried in the Glade plot in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

With the consent of Eliza Mary, James married Isabell Love on 28 June, 1869. They had five children; one died in infancy. The two wives lived in the same home. The Glade family was considered an ideal polygamous family. James sat at the head of the table; each wife sat on a side of the table and her youngest child sat next to her; the other children sat on their mother's side of the table. James treated each wife the same; the day he married Isabell, he bought them each an umbrella, one green and the other blue. He promised Isabell a home of her own, but it never materialized; he attempted three business ventures and lost money in each one. People whom he trusted used his money and his work for their own benefit, before he found they were unscrupulous.

Auntie Liz and Auntie Bell in front of Glade home at 331 C Street.

Eliza was called "Auntie Liz" and Isabell was called "Auntie Bell" by each other's children. Eliza was quiet, and Isabell was outspoken. They were different but worked well together. They planned quilts and cut the pieces of material, sewed them together and made wonderful quilts. James belonged to the Nauvoo Legion Band. They loved to hear the band practice in the summer on their porch.

As a baker-confectioner, James worked long hours, and due to the persecutions to polygamous families, he had to be gone from his family often. One time he was working in Ogden for a hotel; upon returning to Salt Lake City he died in his home at age fifty-one on the 3rd of December, 1882. His funeral was held in their Victorian Parlor.

Front row, left to right: James Richard Glade, Eliza Mary Litson Glade, Eliza Mary Glade Johnson. Back row, left to right: William John Glade, George Litson Glade.

Eliza Mary loved her home and family. She never wavered in the faith of the gospel of her God. She remained a firm believer in the religion she had embraced in far-off Wales. She experienced the hardships and privations of pioneer life, but she chose the best of all careers—that of a true woman, wife and mother. She gave her all for her family; they in turn loved and cared for her. She lived thirty-seven years after James died, and died 7 Jan. 1920 at the age of 73.