Person:Elizabeth Wiley (7)

A Short History of the Life of My Grandmother-Elizabeth Reynolds This is the story of the life of Elizabeth Kate Wiley Hankin Reynolds. Her LDS Bishop gave it at her funeral service. It is difficult to give a summary of her eighty-four years on this earth in a death notice or in a funeral talk. Elizabeth was the ninth child in a family of thirteen. Her father and mother also raised one of their grandchildren. In explaining how she came into this world, Elizabeth always said that her parents had found her under a “Cabbage Tree.” In New Zealand a cabbage tree is another name for one of the very common Palm trees, which has flowers in the top that look like large, green cabbages. Even though her mother had been a midwife most of her life, sex or the birth of children was never mentioned in her family. Elizabeth’s father had come to New Zealand from New York working on a whaling vessel. After arriving in Auckland, he secured a job there working as a Sawyer in a large saw mill. It was while working in this sawmill that tragedy struck the Wiley family when her father lost his eye in a sawing accident. Before immigrating to New Zealand Elizabeth’s father had lived in upstate New York and become acquainted with Joseph Smith and the Mormons. So when some of the first LDS missionaries arrived in New Zealand he was one of the first to invite them into his home. As a result of the missionaries visiting this home everyone, except him joined the Mormon Church. Most of the family immigrated to the United States and went to Utah. Hamilton, his oldest son, and his family want to come also, but could not because of one of their eight children died. The other children were already married so the whole family lacked the money to pay for their passage. Elizabeth was eighteen years old when she came over to America in 1907 with her mother and father and five of her siblings and the one granddaughter. They settled in Logan, Utah in the fall of 1907. While on the ship coming over, Elizabeth had met a young man who said his name was Nathan Hankin. His real name was Thomas Harris. After they arrived in Logan, Utah he asks Elizabeth to marry him and she accepted and they were married on Jan. 6, 1908. They had two daughters born to them, Kathleen and Ruth. In 1913, Elizabeth had to undergo major surgery. Her husband Nathan and Nathan’s sister, who was visiting them, decided that she might be helped in her recovery by returning to New Zealand for awhile. So in the fall of 1913, Elizabeth and the two girls went back to New Zealand. They ended up spending four years in Auckland, New Zealand. They were very difficult years because of the outbreak of World War One. Elizabeth was able to support herself and the two girls by doing cleaning work and by her sewing ability Since the children had been raised in Logan, Utah where Christmas was celebrated with Santa Claus, and a Christmas Tree they had hopes of being able to have these in New Zealand, but the situation was hopeless. Elizabeth had barely enough money to pay the bills and purchase food for the family. So Elizabeth made a makeshift Christmas for Kathleen and Ruth by using bias tape to form the shape of a Christmas Tree on the wall in the corner of the room by using thumbtacks. They then decorated the “Tree” by thumb tacking the decorations they had brought from America on the wall. Elizabeth did not have enough money for toys so she made a little dress for a kewpee doll to give to Ruth and found a string of pink and white beads to give to Kathleen. So this is the way they spent their Christmas in New Zealand in 1916. In 1917, Elizabeth’s father was killed in train accident in Logan, Utah. But his dying wish was that Elizabeth and her two daughters would be sent the money so they could board a ship and return home to Logan, Utah. So the money was sent to them and they went to board the ship in Auckland, New Zealand. Two important events happened in 1918 as they were waiting to board the ship to come home. World War One ended and the missionaries in Auckland, New Zealand, baptized them into the Mormon Church in November. But they couldn’t come home yet, because the worldwide Flu epidemic had spread to New Zealand and they and they wouldn’t let the ships dock at Auckland. So many people had died from the Flu that the bodies were stacked under canvas in the parks to be shipped out of the city and buried in quick lime. Twice a day people had to go to the medical stations and have the nose and throats sprayed to try and curb this terrible Epidemic. None of the three of them contracted the flu and three months later they were able to board a ship heading for the West Coast of America. After they arrived home, Elizabeth divorced her husband since he had not provided for them and refused to send them the money to return home. Elizabeth was very gifted in working with her hands as a seamstress and was able to secure work in a tailor shop in Logan. She worked there for several years. She also met Thomas Reynolds whose wife had died and left him to raise two small sons, John and Sidney. They were married and their marriage was solemnized in the Logan Temple in 1924. She was an excellent housekeeper but not easy to live with and very independent. Her second marriage to Thomas Reynolds also ended in divorce after thirteen years. Later she moved to Salt Lake City with the two girls, Kathleen and Ruth. It was while living in Salt Lake City that she got a job working at Kearns and at Hill Field doing office work during the Second World War. During her later years, when she could not longer work, that she went often to Salt Lake Temple. She also worked in the LDS Relief Society and on her family genealogy. When her failing health kept her closer to home she wrote to her many friends in New Zealand and told them about some of her missionary contacts there. Several of them wrote her letter saying they had joined the LDS Church and thanked her because it had made such a difference in their lives. Elizabeth did all kinds of beautiful needlework until the last ten years of her life. She also had a very green thumb and could raise any kind of plant in a garden or a windowbox planter. Her daughter Kathleen also spoke at her mother’s funeral and said, “I realize we have only touched the top of her life.” “But she had many serious illnesses that had an adverse effect on her life. She had a major operation and typhoid fever before we went to New Zealand. After we came home she had rheumatic fever, a heart condition, and diabetes. She even had cataracts removed from both eyes.” “Ruth and I had very little formal schooling in New Zealand. Mother had taught us how to read and write and spell and do arithmetic. She taught us to love God and to pray. She taught us how to sew and to do housekeeping work. She transferred to us her love of gardening and to make do with the things we had on hand. She taught us to keep morally and physically clean. She taught us the importance of honest. She taught us to be tolerant of other. But perhaps her great gift to us was that she taught us to endure to the end. She said to Orval on her last Christmas on this earth “I am better than they think.” The “they” referred to her two daughters.” Kathleen penned a tribute to her mother a few years ago. Here is that poem: Beauty and handiwork, they dear are you. Flowers and cleanliness, all the year through. Bright scrapes of calico, worked with your threads Make Quilts and comforters to grace our beds. Crocheting holds a spot in heart and home; Plantings in windows bloom from their dark loam Grandchildren offerings placed here and there Pictures of all of us, some old and rare Just an apartment small, but your deft hand Paradise makes of it- I would give much If I a home might make lovely as thine.

1.   Jeff Law, GEDCOM file imported on 11 Nov 1998. Created from Wiley, Law-Cargill, Kells, and Foster databases.