MARY PRISCILLA LERWILL CROUCH

Written By Ruth Rockwood Harmon - Finished in 2007

Mary Priscilla Lerwill was born on October 28, 1858, in East Down, Devonshire, England.  At that time period Queen Victoria (Hanover) reigned in England and James Buchanan was President of the United States.  Brigham Young was President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Mary Priscilla was the youngest of the ten children (five boys and five girls) of William and Mary Rawle Lerwill.  Two brothers, John and William, died at an early age so two of her brothers born latter were also christened John and William.  Another brother was Thomas.  Her sisters were Betsy, Grace, Susan and Lydia Ann.  Priscilla was the name she chose to be called. 

Her mother was first to embrace the gospel some years before Priscilla was born.  During the eighteen sixties and seventies all of the members of the family except John and William accepted the gospel and were baptized. They were in the Bristol Conference of the British Mission.  William Lerwill was a well-to-do farmer whose sons worked with him on the farm.  He and Mary desired their children to immigrate to Utah but it seemed impossible for them to do, so they remained in England.   Thomas and sister’s Betsy, Grace, Susan, and Lydia Ann made the long journey Utah. Young Priscilla stayed with her parents and enjoyed a carefree life until her mother (age sixty five) died in 1877.  She was twenty years of age when she joined her sisters in Utah to live with Lydia in Morgan. Her father died in 1885 at age eighty.  He was buried in East Down with his wife.

While living in Morgan, she met Ebenezer Crouch, a stalwart and dedicated member of the church who served in a number of callings.  He was married and sealed in the Endowment House in November1873 to his first wife, Sarah Jane Toomer.  During their early years of marriage she gave birth to four daughters who died soon after birth.  Her first child to live was a son, born in May 1879.  They named him Ebenezer Toomer Crouch.  On September 11, 1879 Ebenezer took Mary Priscilla Lerwill as his second plural wife. They were sealed in the Endowment House.  To support his family’s Eb worked his mother=s farm in the summer and did team work during the winter.  He also worked in the civil office as road supervisor for that district for several years.

After Eb=s marriage to Priscilla, Aunt Jane had five more children.  Winifred, James Herbert, and Maude lived to adulthood.  Priscilla also had a girl, Anne Shilo, and boy, Joseph Lerwill, who both died soon after birth. She and Eb adopted William J. Cottrell whose mother died when he was sixteen months old.  After their daughter, Zina Vivian, was born in July 1884 in her Grandmother Crouch=s log cabin, he was old enough to rock her cradle and was a big help to her mother. They raised William to manhood.

In the early eighties laws were passed against the practice of polygamy.  Men living with polygamist families were arrested and brought before the courts where they were fined and imprisoned.  Eb spent time on the under-ground railroad as it was called, or dodging from place to place to keep out of sight of deputy marshals and other people.  When Zina was eighteen months old, Priscilla moved with her daughter from Morgan to Salt Lake because her husband practiced polygamy and she was his second wife.  The U.S. Marshals were putting men living in polygamy in jail where the treatment was bad.  They lived there until Zina was three. 

They moved to Logan when Eb bought a ranch in Lanark near Bear Lake, Idaho.  He was close enough that they could see him occasionally.  Summers were too busy for him to leave, but each winter he would walk over the mountain, approximately thirty miles, on snow shoes to visit for a week or two.  During those visits Zina was instructed to call him AUncle Bert@ for fear that marshals in plain clothes might be listening.

            Eb gave them what money he could, but Priscilla had to work for the larger part to support herself and Zina.   She worked in the home of the McAllister family.  They had a large house and several children.  They were a haughty family and difficult to work for.  She was working for $1.50 a week plus room and board for the two of them.  She worked so hard her health was failing so she decided to move to a place where they would be alone and she could support them by taking in sewing.  A seamstress was in demand to make petticoats, panties, aprons and dresses that were not available in stores.  She went to the homes of those who hired her to sew and mend.  Zina went with her to play with the children of the family while she worked.  She did well financially and gained dear friends.  She didn=t mind their one-room home that had to be a kitchen, living room, and bedroom.  When extra money was needed, after a day of sewing she would Adress@ chickens for sale at the Isaac Smith Feed store.  After her mother had taken out the feathers and removed the entrails, Zina and her friends would do the tedious job of picking out the pin feathers.  Willie Smith, Isaac=s son, became one of Zina=s good friends.

In her life story, Zina tells of a frightening experience:  AOne lovely spring morning I was playing outside on the door step which led to our one-room up stair apartment while mother went to hang some clothes on the line.  Shortly she came running back up the stairs very frightened, and two men were after her.  They had a summons for her to appear in court in Ogden, Utah, which was the county seat.  They thought that she was the second wife of a Brother Hendrickson, whose home we were living in.  She explained to them otherwise, but they insisted that she appear in court.  We went to Ogden and stayed in the home of a Brother Stratford who was a loyal friend.  Mother feared they would find she was a second wife, although not to Brother Hendrickson, and hold her until they found father.  Brother Stratford went to court with her and promised her that everything would turn out alright.  It did when she told the court that her one and only child was four years old, which was proof to them that she had not recently been living with a man.@  During those years Zina and her mother were very dependent on each other.  However, their friendship with another second wife, Liza Roberts and her four children, gave each of them comfort and strength.

In the summers beginning in 1889, Zina and her mother looked forward to visits with Eb=s mother in Morgan.  Her log cabin was such a cozy place and there was always something good to eat. In the summer of 1891 she became very ill.  The weather was hot so they would sit by her bed for long periods, fanning her to make her comfortable.  It was a difficult time for them when she passed away in May 1893.     

In April 1891 John A. Hendrickson decided to start a knitting factory in Logan.  He purchased knitting machines, yarn and other supplies.   He asked Priscilla to go to Salt Lake City for a month to learn how to operate the knitting machines.  She took Zina with her to work each day so Zina had to amuse herself and not bother anyone. On their return Hendrickson put the machines in his home. He hired eight girls to work under Priscilla=s supervision. She ran the knitting factory and taught others her skills. The first products they produced were stockings, which sold in various parts of Cache Valley.  Soon, the demand for goods greatly exceeded what could be produced in the cramped quarters.  Larger quarters were found where twelve girls were employed.  Zina wrote of her mother=s experience:       

 ABack in Logan at the factory, in addition to teaching others and being sales lady, mother operated the Alamb@ machine which turned the heel and narrowed the toe of stockings just like hand knitting.  The society women of Logan were very proud to wear the black silk stockings she knit, including Dr. Armsby=s wife, who was the bell of the town.  Mother made some good warm wool union suits which kept the wearers busy scratching, and made the first knit pair of L.D.S. garments. These garments are to be worn constantly by those who have gone through the temple ceremony. They had previously been fashioned out of unbleached muslin, so this was a real fashion break-through. In her first pair she failed to leave any back or front opening and Brother Hendrickson properly dubbed them as only good for a dead man.@ 

Zina was about nine years old when her mother worked in the knitting factory.  She would stop there after school and about an hour before closing time would go home.  She lit a fire in a little wood burning stove to start the tea kettle boiling so her mother could have a cup of tea as soon as she arrived home. 

Priscilla and Zina nursed each other through many illnesses. Zina had typhoid fever when she was nine years old and it was feared she would not live.  Her mother had many spells of quinsy [a recognized complication of tonsillitis and consists of a collection of pus beside the tonsil].  Zina tells of their experience when her mother=s tonsils were so swollen that even water would not run down her throat.  It was late at night and she didn’t know what to do.  AI knelt down by her bed and with the humbleness and sincerity of a child asked my Heavenly Father to bless her so that she could have the drink of water she wanted.  When I arose she was able to swallow and I shall never forget my joy and thankfulness to my Heavenly Father.  This experience has given me throughout my life an abiding faith in prayer.@

           When the authorities of the Mormon Church signed a manifesto in 1890 prohibiting further plural marriage, those already living in polygamy could have their families together. Priscilla and Zina moved in a covered wagon from Logan to a home in Paris, Idaho in October of 1894.  Eb=s ranch in Lanark, Idaho, where his first family lived, was four miles from Paris.  Zina was happy after ten years to be in a family with the association of a father and brothers and sisters. 

Eb started a knitting factory in Paris.  Priscilla, Zina and half-sister Winifred (age twelve) were the knitters, so Winifred lived in the Paris home.  In the winter the girls hurried home from school to knit the assigned number of pairs of stockings.  In the summer they had to knit a dozen pairs and help with the housework before they could play.

            On December 16, 1895, Zina=s prayers for many years were answered when her mother gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Veda.  In Veda=s life story she wrote   AI know that mother was very happy to have another child but was a little disappointed that it wasn=t a son.  Her first two, a girl and a boy, died in infancy.  Naturally, mother was fearful that I would be the last child, and therefore, had hoped for a boy.@

About two years later their city life came to an end.  Although Paris was a very small town, it was the commercial center for surrounding farmers and a doctor=s services were available.  Because of ill health, Aunt Jane moved into Paris and her daughters, Win age 15 and Maude 7, lived there to take care of her.  Eb took Priscilla, Zina, and Veda to the ranch in Lanark to help with the farm and take care of Eb age 18 and Jim 7, Aunt Jane=s two sons who were working on the

farm.  Aunt Jane died of cancer in December 1899.

The 4^th and 24^th of July were important days for the families.  It was a time to get new clothes and a trip from home.  Garden City near the shores of Bear Lake was their favorite place to go. They rode their white top buggy drawn by a team of horses to the festivities in the town and go boating on the lake.  However, July 4, 1898 was a different time that year since Priscilla was pregnant and not feeling well.  Zina stayed with her mother while her father went to tend sheep so that Eb and Jim could go into Paris to celebrate.

She wrote AI was left to take care of Veda, age two and a half, and mother.  Since I was only fourteen years old, I did not comprehend the difficult situation I would be in, without transportation or telephone, if mother started labor.  Fortunately she waited until July 8^th to have Roy, whom I adored and hovered over with worry.  He was a very nervous baby and had several convulsions.@  While her mother was recuperating, Zina had heavy responsibilities C cooking for the hay men, washing and ironing, baking and harvesting vegetables.  A midwife came for a while each morning for one week to bathe the mother and baby.

Eb made a trip to Salt Lake to investigate purchasing property and moving his family there.  In the fall of 1901 Eb, Priscilla, Veda and Roy rode from Lanark to Utah in a covered wagon.  Veda remembered stopping in Morgan and staying with Aunt Susan, her mother=s sister.  Eb found a place to buy on about 4400 South Highland Drive in Mill Creek.  When they returned to Idaho he sold the ranch.  In April 1902 they moved to their home in Mill Creek.  They farmed   until October 1904 when they sold out and bought a large place in the city at 745 Elizabeth Street. 

Zina thought several things prompted the move to Salt Lake City, but mainly her father wanted to retire there.  The family was growing up and becoming independent.  Win was married to Edwin Budge who was in medical school in Chicago.  Eb T. was learning the butcher trade in Morgan and Jim was driving a trolley in Salt Lake.  Zina was twenty years old and looking for work.  Only Maude, Veda and Roy were still dependent.  The large lot also allowed Eb to engage in the poultry business and have a garden and a cow.

Veda tells of pleasant memories associated with that home.  AJust north of our home was a deep hollow running east and west for about a block. In it was a spring and a stream of water with trees and foliage growing on the side slopes.  It was a wonderful place to play hide-and-seek and eat lunch.  I was a real tomboy.  There was nothing I would rather do than play Kick-the-Can, Rounders-of-Wood and Hide-and-Seek.  Ours was the only house from Elizabeth Street on the west to the Fort Douglas Reservation and Emigration Canyon on the east and 9^th and 7^th south and north.  We used to pick sego lilies on the hills above 13^th East.@  A new ward was formed and a chapel was built on about 10^th East near 7^th South.  Veda enjoyed the activities while living in the ward and that section of Salt Lake during her teen age years.  It was there she had her first ride in an automobile.  

On August 1906 Zina went to Logan for a vacation and saw her childhood friend Willie Smith again.  He showed her a good time in his rubber tired buggy, which was his pride and joy.  In October the same year, Will left for a mission to Germany and did not return until 1909.  However, they corresponded while he was gone.  They were married on July 28, 1910 in the Logan Temple.  The rest of the summer was spent on Will=s brother=s farm in Idaho.  In October they moved to Columbus, Ohio where Will studied veterinarian medicine at Ohio State University.

During the period of time they were living on Elizabeth Street Eb speculated in mining stocks and other wildcat schemes and lost nearly all of the money he had been twenty-five years in making.  In the summer of 1912 he sold the property on Elizabeth Street and moved Priscilla, Veda and Roy to 808 Garfield Avenue on the corner of Eighth East.  It was a brand new bungalow-type house.  There were electric lights and modern plumbing for those days.  However, there was no central heating, with only a coal stove in the kitchen, a heater in the dining room and a fire place in the dining room.  They lived in the Sugar House Ward, but that was divided soon after they moved there.  Richards Ward was organized and a new chapel built on Garfield Avenue just a half block from their home.    

In March 1913 Eb found employment with Auerbach Mercantile Company driving a delivery wagon for fourteen months.  He then worked for Salt Lake City for a year.  After that job, he put up a building on his lot, stocked it with goods and went into the mercantile business for eighteen months.  When he closed out, his stock of goods was sold to a very good advantage.   He converted the store building into a house and moved the family into it.  The bungalow was put up for rent.  After working in a cement plant, he worked for Utah Power and Light. 

In July 1916 Veda was introduced to Erven Rockwood by his sister, Elnora.  He had recently returned from a mission and obtained a job at Auerbachs where Elnora and Veda were working. On a Saturday night when they left the store they met Elnora=s boyfriend and Erv happened to be with him.  When they were introduced he asked Veda if he might take her home.  That was the beginning of their romance.  By fall of 1917 many boys were being drafted so Erv enlisted in the Air Force and left in December.  In February 1919 he received his discharge from the service.  They were married on September 18, 1919 in the Salt Lake Temple.  They lived with her parents until December when the house Erv was building was finished enough for them to move in.

After his time in the service, Roy married Leona May Stone from Salem, Utah.  They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on April 14, 1920.  They lived in several western states where he worked as an assessor for mines and ore.  He also farmed.

In June 1919 Eb obtained work as a night watchman in the Sugar House business district where he worked for four years.  When the job ended in 1923, he started doing temple work extensively.  He rode a bicycle to the temple every day.  During the year 1926 or 1927 they sold the property on Eighth East and Garfield Avenue. They moved into the east side of the duplex on Garfield Avenue where Veda and Erv were living with their daughter, Ruth, in the other side.