Hannah Smuin Harvey b. 28 September 1834

Hannah Smuin was born in Radley, Berkshire, England, 28 September 1834 to Joseph and Esther Hannah (Pearce) Smuin.  Her brother, John Smuin is my 2nd Great-grandpa.

Hannah’s parents were farm hands and after her father, Joseph drowned in the river Thames September 6, 1842 great hardship befell this family of nine children. Although the family had lived in the same place for many generations, none had ever owned property. Their names were found in records kept by a shoe manufacturing establishment. People by the name of Smuin had bought shoes there for over three hundred years.

Hannah’s mother worked in the fields and dairy on a farm.  Those children who were old enough and  able also worked. Hannah’s older sisters worked at home making men’s smocks to be sold in the local stores. At an early age Hannah had the job of threading needles for her sisters to speed up the sewing. They were paid barely enough to stay alive. Hannah became an excellent seamstress and in her teens became a sewing girl, going to well-to-do homes to sew clothes for the family.

When Hannah was about twelve some American Mormon missionaries came to their community. Her mother and five of the children were taught, baptized on 13 March 1857, and organized into a branch of the church. About this time Hannah’s mother met William J. Irons and they were married July 2, 1845 in Edlesborough,   William was a widower and had two sons, Will and Tom. (He was a fine old man-drank beer enough to swim in but was a good man). He was a shepherd who braided straw for hats and taught the art to Hannah and her sister (Harriet) which stood them in good stead in later years.

Hannah and Harriet worked in London for some time. Harriet braided straw while Hannah sewed. In London Hannah met Daniel Harvey and both were converted to the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Hannah and Daniel were married in London May 21, 1854, and had three children, Ann, James S. and Daniel while living in London. Together they worked and saved and with the help of the church emigration fund were able to join the Saints in the new land.

Hannah’s sister Mary (Smuin) Brandon (or Brandham) died July 15, 1856 and left two sons, Jabez and Jessie and three daughters, Hannah, 14, Naomi 5, and Elizabeth 2. Hannah’s mother, Esther Hannah made a home for Jabez. Her sister, Susannah (Smuin) Empy took Jess and Elizabeth. Daniel and Hannah Harvey took Hannah and Naomi into their care and these two young women came to America with them. Rachel and Matilda Smuin, daughters of Hannah’s brother, Thomas Smuin were also chaperoned on the journey from England to Utah.

The Harvey family accompanied by their nieces commenced their journey on the sailing ship Amazon, which departed London June 4, 1863 bound for New York. From New York they traveled by rail to Omaha, Nebraska, the staging center for the trek across the plains and through the Rocky Mountains. Here they were met by men with ox teams who were sent from Salt Lake to bring them the rest of the journey, those that were able walking most of the way. Rosel Hyde was the Captain of their company, which arrived in Salt Lake City in October 1863.

They went to stay with Hannah’s sister, Harriet (Smuin) Clark. Daniel found work in Winell’s flour mill in Kaysville and the family came to Kaysville where they settled. The first night in Kaysville they were greeted by a light snow and no house available to shelter them. A Place was dug out of the side hill near the mill and was made as comfortable as possible for the family. It was quite warm inside, with a heavy timber door, well chinked up and a place made for a chimney.

In the spring of 1864 the family moved to the base of the mountains east of Kaysville and proved up on a 160 acre homestead. In their log home of two rooms, four more children were born; Susannah in 1865, Mary in 1868, Martha in 1870 and Mercy in 1872. Two of the children died in infancy.

Later, Daniel built a larger home. It had to be larger to accommodate their large family as well as the old folks who were coming from England. They even raised other children who had been orphaned on the trek.

The winter after they build their home was a difficult one. Daniel worked where ever he could for potatoes and some meat. Hannah supplemented the larder with her skilled hands designing and making wedding dress, tailoring suits for men, making saddle blankets and repairing buckskin garments.

With the arrival of spring crops were planted and all of the family who were able worked long, hard hours to ensure their survival in this new, raw land. That summer they raised wheat, hay, squash, potatoes and sugar cane and had an excellent yield. Grape vines and plum, apricot, peach, apple and pear trees were planted. As time passed and the children grew and were able to take on duties to aid the family, life became much easier for Hannah and Daniel.

In the following years, Daniel married Ellen Wootten December 1, 1868 and Ann Cadmor Gilbert, November 11, 1872. He died in Lehi, Utah, September 15, 1899 and was buried in Kaysville, Utah Hannah lived to her 81st year and died in Layton, Utah, August 22, 1915 and is buried in the Layton-Kaysville Cemetery.

This information is edited from information found in the SMUIN BOOK, pp. 61-62.

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p.923
HARVEY, DANIEL (son of John Harvey, born 1780, Prittywell, Essex, and Elizabeth Eastwood born 1800, Stanford, Eng.). Born May 29, 1830, Stanford. Came to Utah Oct. 13, 1863, Rosel Hyde company. Married Hannah Smuin (daughter of Joseph Smuin), who was born Sept. 28, 1836. Came to Utah with husband in 1863. Their children: Annie b. June 21, 1856, m. Limon S. Conley; James Smuin b. Nov. 1, 1858, m. Mary Rosworth Feb. 2, 1898; Daniel Jr. b. Nov. 21, 1860, m. Olive Welker Nov. 2, 1896; Susannah b. June 9, 1865, m. J. H. Morgan Nov. 7, 1885; Mary b. Jan. 8, 1868, m. E. M. Whitesides 1892; Martha b. March 30, 1870, m. J. H. Hutchens 1893.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 20, p.148
Kaysville City Cemetery. The snow lay deep and forbidding in the winter of 1865–1866 when the dreaded diphtheria struck in the pioneer home of Grandison and Celia Alice Hall Raymond. There was no Christmas that year with Alice and Bradley so very ill. Alice, who would have been eleven years old January 17 (1866), passed away December 26, 1865, and six days later, January 1, 1866, year-old Bradley succumbed. Hannah Smuin Harvey, a neighbor to the south, helped her friends the Raymonds during this trying time, preparing the children for burial. Before going back to her own home she would bathe and put on a complete change of clothes. The snow was so deep it was not possible to take them to the graveyard for burial, so two graves were dug in the orchard below the house and they were laid to rest there; to be undisturbed for almost a hundred years, when the remains were finally moved to the Kaysville City Cemetery.