1 Days never to be forgotten

Eliza Brazier Batt (1864–1926) wrote her life story sometime in 1917 or 1918 when she was 53 years old. It focuses primarily on her early life in England before she and her husband accepted the restored gospel, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and immigrated to America. This is the third of nine installments (see Batt & Lee Ancestors, 3–5). Eliza was the mother of William B Batt (1888–1959) and the grandmother of Dorothy Batt Cleverly (1915–1982).

When 14, I was prepared for con­firmation, one of the most seri­ous things of my young life. Twice a week found me and 15 others in a class at the rectory, each one of us having to learn and recite the Apostolic Creed, the catechism, and the St. Athanasian Creed, and having to know so much about the Bible. At last the day arrived when I was to be con­firmed. I walked to the village church with my mistress. Not a word was spoken, this experi­ence being looked up­on as the most sacred thing in my young life. Clothed in a light dress and cap and veil, the gift of my mistress, I arrived at the church. The Bishop of Winchester officiated. Each of us took her place without a word as the organ pealed forth, "Onward, Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War." At the altar rail sat the bishop with his long white gown and large white sleeves. With a feel­ing of awe, I arose in my turn as we walked quietly two by two and knelt down in front of the bishop. How my heart rejoiced! I offered up a prayer that I might always be good. The choir sang—

Soldiers of Christ, arise and put your armor on
Strong in the strength which God sup­plies through his eternal Son.

Never will that day be forgotten. I was not allowed to work on that day. One of my schoolmates, a boy I had known all my life, brought me a lovely bunch of violets, which were taken away for fear my thoughts would be taken away from the serious­ness of my confirmation.

When 17, I left the rectory and went to London to be a kitchen maid in Sir Thomas Waller's family, where 14 servants were kept. My work was in the kit­chen under a French cook. Everything being strange, it took me some time to get used to the ways of the people. The house was a beauti­ful mansion in Eaton Square. My mistress Slessor and the Lady Waller had been girls in the same school and were very great friends—a word of recom­mendation gave me the situation.

Leaving the little country village, never having been in a large city before, I felt almost lost as I arrived at Vauxhall station. There was such a tremendous amount of traffic that my heart almost failed me. I had been told what to do before leaving home (my mother, having a perfect horror of my going to London but not wanting to hinder me from such a good situa­tion, parted from me with oft-repeated entreaties not to speak to strangers). After I ar­rived at Vaux­hall station, you can imagine how very shy and timid I was when up came a stately gentle­man inquiring if I were going to Sir Thomas Waller’s Eaton Square. A fine carriage was waiting; Lady Waller had sent the butler to meet me. He was very kind, point­ing out the places of interest as we drove along. At Eaton Square the carriage stopped at a stately man­sion and a livered servant came out and took my trunk. There among 13 other servants, the little country girl be­came a favorite.

2 Quote of the week

"When faith comes, it brings its train of attendants with it—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, gifts, wisdom, knowledge, miracles, healings, tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. All these appear when faith appears on the earth, and disappear when it disappears from the earth; for these are the effects of faith, and always have attended, and always will, attend it. For where faith is, there will the knowledge of God be also, with all things which pertain thereto—revelations, visions, and dreams, as well as every necessary thing, in order that possessors of faith may be perfected, and obtain salvation" (Joseph Smith, in Lectures on Faith, 7:20).

3 This week in our family

Mon, Sept 28: Daniel Ricardo Mena's birthday [Ray]
Tues, Sept 29: Anniversary of Dorothy's birth in 1915
Wed, Sept 30: Sharae DeMartini's birthday [Ray]
Wed, Sept 30: David Wilke's birthday [Lyle]
Wed, Sept 30: Corben's birthday [Gail]
Thurs, Oct 1: Mary Elizabeth Oveson's birthday [Dean]
Sat, Oct 3: General conference
Sun, Oct 4: General conference
Sun, Oct 4: Peter Arthur Challis's birthday [Dean]
Sun, Oct 4: Margaret Christina Hodson's birthday [Dean]
Mon, Oct 5: Jordan Reher's birthday [Ray]
Mon, Oct 5: Next issue of newsletter

4 Bits and tidbits

Lyle's family
Isn't life with a toddler so exciting? Crystal Price thinks so (click here to read more). Shandi reported on some of the activities of their summer (click here to read more).

Gail's family
Kate tells of hiking Utah's Big Cottonwood Canyon (click here for part 1 of the story and here for part 2 of the story).

Kay's family
Kay tells of a Peruvian regional stake conference (click here to read more). Nicolle tells of a camping trip she and Chad and their family almost took (click here to read more).

Dean's family
Anna Halverson tells about getting little Miles Peter Halverson here a week ago (click here to read more). Becca Hoff shares a perfect moment (click here to read more).

Claudia and I spent five days visiting Paul and Eliza and their two boys, Peter and Aaron, in Atlanta. We left from the Salt Lake airport early Thursday morning, September 17 (just a week after I had had a pacemaker installed), and flew to Birmingham, Alabama, where we rented a car and drove two and a half hours to Atlanta. (Southwest Airlines flights are cheaper, and Southwest doesn't fly into Atlanta).

We had a delightful visit over the next several days, celebrated Peter's third birthday a few weeks early (he thought we had come just for his birthday party and thought we were going to leave as soon as it was over), baby-sat the two boys while Paul and Eliza went to hear Dave Ramsey all Saturday afternoon, and got to hear Eliza speak in church on Sunday. Monday afternoon, September 21, we drove back to Birmingham, and flew home to Utah. We arrived back in Salt Lake about 10:00 Monday night.

It had rained every single day we were there, and some serious flooding closed I-20 between Atlanta and Birmingham just after we made it to Birmingham.

Dale's family
Keisha mentions that she is officially done with school on October 31 and that Kira is moving to Arizona in a few more days (click here to read more). Kira mentions her pending move and other things she has been up to (click here to read more).

Jackie's family
We know of two members of Rex and Jackie's family that are on Facebook: Jared and Jolene.