Frances Ann Otten Adams Life History

Early Life in London

Frances Ann Otten was born in London, England, Feb 8, 1827. (Her early girlhood was spent in that great city as the childhood of most English of that time. She attended the English grammar school for a limited period of time and later worked in an Umbrella factory, her meagre earnings contributing to the support of the Otten family.

Marriage to Junius Crossland

In 1841 she married Junius Crossland. (who was also born in London in 1822) and to this union was born four daughters (in the old country) Eleanor Amelia, Frances, Eliza Luff and Emma Crossland.

Journey to Utah and Loss on the Plains

In the year 1853 the Crossland family sold out their belongings in London and set out on the journey to Utah in Jacob Gate’s Co. The ocean was safely crossed ocean. During the long and tiresome journey across the plains it was too much for the father, and the family was compelled to give him a hasty burial near Bear River in the wilderness and continue their journey westward sorrowing and alone. No record has been preserved as to the exact date of death or place of burial of Junius Crossland.

Years in Salt Lake City

Arriving in Utah, the family made a home in Salt Lake City and lived there for six years. By dint of unceasing toil, the mother was able, with the help of the oldest daughter (Amelia) to provide the absolute necessities for the small family.

Marriage to William Henry Adams

In 1859 Frances Otten Crossland married William H. Adams of Pleasant Grove, abandoning her home in Salt Lake to join her new husband in the pioneer village. William Adams had with him an aged mother, blind and almost helpless, and six children by a previous marriage.

Pioneer Home and Hardship

This new union added eight more to the family, and later on additional three children were born (Alice, Theron’s Mother) Ann, and Joseph) making in all a family of thirteen. It was seldom however, that all were home at the same time, although it was not uncommon for ten to be there at once, all being housed in a single room. How they all found sleeping quarters at night is a mystery. (The congestion was relieved somewhat by John and William sleeping in the granary.) It is impossible for those who have always enjoyed plenty to understand the poverty and want found in this home.

Being half clothed and half fed, it is marvelous how the young children ever passed through the rigors of those early winters. Some of the younger ones had no shoes, in winter or summer. If they had occasion to go outside, they had to be carried on the backs of the older members of the family. The two boys who slept in the granary had only a small buffalo robe for their winter’s bed clothing.

Like the clothing, the food was poor in quality and insufficient in quantity. At the best of times, bread, bacon, and potatoes were the bill or fare, but two small pigs did not last the family very long, and so the fare often consisted only of bread and potatoes.

Children, Education, and Daily Life

As to the educational opportunities enjoyed by the children of this family, the following example might be cited: Eliza’s schooling consisted of three or four terns of three months each. Her entire school equipment consisted of one Wilson Reader, one Elementary Speller, and a slate.

Relief Society Service and Faith

Through all these trials and hardships Frances Otten Adams helped to keep the family together and was steadfast in her accepted religious faith. When she lost her first husband her people in England, wrote offering to send money for her return to the Old Country. She replied that she would stay with the Church. Not greater test of courage and devotion to the church could be imagined Frances Otten Adams was active in the duties incident to her religion.

She acted as Relief Society Teach from the beginning of that organization until the time of her death. She was a good neighbor, always assisting in the time of trouble or sickness. Above all she was a staunch Latter-day Saint, and was true to the faith to the end.

Final Years and Legacy

She died Jan 23, 1903, at the old Adams home in Pleasant Grove, surrounded by the numerous and devoted children.