John Spendlove, Elizabeth Harrison, John Harrison, Spendlove, Maria Tole, Thomas Tole, Mary Davies, Susanna Mossindue

Back to Spendlove Leatham Genealogy

Email
Last Revised April 2004
Early Spendlove Women
 Bios written by Jolene Spendlove Allphin
Susanna Mossindue:
b. 1 Oct 1762, 
Uppingham, Rutlands, England,







daughter of
Robert  Mossendew
and Mary Hull,
wife of
John Spendlove:
 b. abt 1762

 (Written by
John Dewey Spendlove)

"Susannah never heard the message of the restored church in this life. According to her grandson, Joseph, who states that his father used to come and meet him on the Stanion road, while he was working at Medboum. On one of these occasions, he writes, that his father told him of a dream his Grandmother, Susannah had. She related that she seen, in her dream, her son reading the old bible to his family when two young men came into the room. They took the old bible out of his hands and gave him another book that had a shiny cover and after reading from this book for a while, he got up and went with the strange men. When she awoke she wondered what the new book was and told her son about the dream, saying that something very important would come into his life some-day and he should prepare himself to receive it. Joseph always believed that this was the message of the restored church".   more...

Elizabeth Harrison,
b. 20 Oct 1816
Whetstone, Leicester, England,
Elizabeth Harrison, dau of John Harrison and Ann Smith
daughter of
John Harrison and Ann Smith,
wife of
John Spendlove:
b. 10 Aug 1816

Elizabeth Harrison was Susannah's daughter-in-law, who married her son who was also named John after his father.  It is written of Elizabeth by one of her sons, "She was a good reader . . . she would take the old Bible down after we children had gone to bed and read to us [and father] . . . He loved her for it.  The Bible was very old; not less than 100 years old and had been passed down through the family for years.  It was called ‘mother's bible' and was thought a great deal of in the family.  Bibles were very scarce in those days and not many families had them.  My mother praised it very much . . . My mother was a Bible reader and a believer of its principles that it contained . . . I was only four years old when she died . . . I missed her very much.  She died before the gospel came into our lives."
(John remarried.  He and his new wife, Maria Tole, both joined the church and emigrated to Utah.)
Maria Tole,
b. 20 Jan 1815
Newport Pagnell, Bucks, England,
Maria Tole, second wife of John Spendlove   daughter of
Thomas Tole
and Catharine Robinson, second wife of
John Spendlove:
 b. 10 Aug 1816
 Mary Davies
b. 13 Jul 1843
Stackpole Elidor, Pembroke,
South Wales,

Picture of Mary Davies

daughter of  
Benjamin Davies,
and
Elizabeth Brooks
wife of John Spendlove:
b. 5 Jan 1840

Mary was from Wales.  She was baptized at the age of 16, against her parents' wishes.  In her own words, she told about meeting the missionaries.  "I read some of their pamphlets that they gave out and I attended some of the meetings and heard them preach.  It was so different and they had the answer to many of the things that had been on my mind during the time I was a girl."  When Mary's parents found out that she was interested in this new faith and the Mormon Elders, they were much concerned and displeased with her.  They wanted her to have nothing to do with this religion.

Just as her husband's grandmother had done, Mary read from the Bible.  She said, "I knew it must be the true church for everything was just according the way the Bible taught that it should be."  There were very few Bibles in those days, but Mary said she did "as believed, [and] read from the one her grandmother had."

After Mary was baptized she said, "I seemed to have more peace and pleasant times with the people who were members of the church."  Mary left Wales and went to England to be with more young people of her faith and to seek work to earn money to emigrate.  She returned to Wales after awhile to try to resolve some of the bad feelings with her family and some of her friends in Wales, but to no avail.  She was returning to her job in England on the train when she met her future husband, John Spendlove (son of John Spendlove and Elizabeth Harrison).  John worked for the railroad.  He saw her crying and tried to tease her to cheer her up.  She returned with him to his father's home, where she was invited to stay.  She became good friends with John's sisters, and she and John eventually fell in love and were married.  After she emigrated to Utah, she tried again to reconcile with her parents, but she said they never answered her letters.  She said, "It was many years after I had found the truth and come to America that my mother relented and finally wrote to us but so far as I know none of my folks ever accepted the gospel."

John and Mary were fairly well-to-do, as working on the railroad paid a good wage.  However, they lost much of their wealth as they traveled to Utah.  On the train through Missouri, John realized that the train was traveling much faster than it should.  He called to the conductor and cautioned him about the speed of the train and what he knew about it.  However, John said that the conductor was very unkind to the people and wished them a bad journey.  Because of the conductor's actions, the baggage car caught on fire and many of the Saints' belongings were destroyed before the fire could be contained.

They arrived in Salt Lake City on the third of October, 1863, and stayed with friends and family until October conference was over.  The following was written by Mary's brother-in-law about the conference: "On the 8th and 9th of October we all attended the great conference.  There we heard President Young speak for the first time and others of the Twelve.  They were all that a man might expect them to be.  President Young spoke like a kind father would to his children.  I could have listened to him for hours.  He spoke with that power and authority that could come only from God."

The Spendlove's were called to settle in Southern Utah, and eventually ended up in Hurricane.  It is recorded that John and Mary both bore their testimonies in meetings.  Mary told the following story relating to her testimony: "One time I had a few doubts about Joseph Smith, and then I had a dream that I saw him and knew that it was Joseph Smith even through I had never seen him in life.  He came from behind a curtain and he said, ‘You do not know me,' and I said, ‘Yes, I do,' and then he left me.  A few weeks later, President Brigham Young and one or two of the Apostles came down to conference and I was there and they told the story of Joseph Smith as eye witnesses and it was so complete in words I could understand and they said things about him I had never heard before.  I knew now that he was a prophet and never doubted anymore."

When the St. George Temple was completed in 1877, John and Mary finally realized their dream of going to the house of the Lord and being sealed for time and eternity.  Mary said, "It was like going on a second honeymoon.  We drove down to St. George from Virgin and stayed all night and had a wonderful time at the temple."  They also talked often of completing the work for their ancestors and said, "We must do it."  After they had researched and done much of the work, Mary said, "This is a great thing in our lives.  We have wanted to do this for a long time and now I can rest better at night."