Ida Ann Rice, “Indian Annie”

This little Bannock Indian baby was lovingly raised at Farmington, Utah, by Leonard Gurley Rice and his wife, Elizabeth Almira Babbitt.  They gave her the name Ida Ann Rice. 

She became the wife of a white man, Civil War veteran, Jonathan Ferris Wilcox who had come to Farmington, Utah, after the war to be near his brother.  He obtained a beautiful 200 acres of homestead land on the mountainside, about one mile east of 200 East and a little south of Glovers Lane in Farmington, Utah. 

Annie was the mother of nine children.  William A. Rose went to see her family and the families of her children often.  He was comfortable with them. 

Maude Allen describes, in her History of Ida Ann Rice Wilcox, the following:   “At home in Ogden Mr. Rose kept the baby a week, his wife nursing it, as she had a small baby of her own.  Mr. Boyd thought the Rose family should keep her but as they had two small children of their own they felt it too great a task.  Mr. Boyd knew a family in Farmington, a Leonard Rice, and Mr. Rose gave his consent to take the baby down to the Rice family, where the baby was accepted and raised to womanhood as their own.  The parents named her Ida Ann Rice.

            She looked to be about eight months old at the time they found her and it is thought probable she was born about the beginning of January, 1863.  When she was past eight years of age she was baptized into the church by a Brother Christensen.  She started her first school when she was about seven years old and continued until she had passed the highest grade the schools had at that time.  When a small child she passed through a famine.

As she grew older she developed many artistic traits, with her pencil and charcoal she would draw most beautifully.  She made her own designs for embroidery and used to make many patterns for neighbors.  She would make log cabin quilts from a pattern or if she chose she would make blocks of her own designing.  She could knit, tat and crochet.

            She was a wonderful cook.  She lived for five years at Ezra Clark’s home in Farmington, as their cook.  She would set the most beautiful table, so artistic and precise. She would spend hours polishing silver and glass goblets till they shone with a spotless brilliancy.  She was extra particular about the cleanliness of her person.  She took a bath every night of her life.  She was a faithful attendant at the church and at festival outings.  She was always called upon to cook and help serve the guests.  She loved to help nurse the sick. She could darn so perfectly that the boys would come from three miles away to have her mend a tear, and after she was through one could hardly find the place.   She used to do needle work around the boys’ baseballs in a honeycomb stitch with net yarn and they would last for years.  She often had as many as 15 balls at a time on hand.  In this way she spent her spare time and when the ball was finished she would bees-wax it.  She also made fish nets with a wooden shuttle and she would place the weights and pieces of cork in as she went along.  These nets were used for seining the fish in the fresh water lakes.

            When she was about 18 years of age she met a man by the name of Jonathan F. Wilcox, he was a veteran of the Civil War.  He enlisted in the Civil War and was always proud that he was permitted to shake the hand of President Abraham Lincoln, with his soldier companions.  After the war he wended his way to Utah.  As a young man he made and lost a fortune panning gold in California in 1849.  He settled at Farmington, Utah, taking up a one-half section of land, up by the hills and although he was nearly three times the age of Ida Ann, he fell in love with her and after two years of courtship they were married in 1883.  They settled on his land, where he had planted a wonderful orchard and vineyard.  Here they spent their life together.  She kept their home spotless.  She proved to be a wonderful wife and mother.  She used to put up hundreds of quarts and dry hundreds of pounds of fruit.  She would cut pumpkin into fancy shapes and thread it upon strings and hang it up to dry.  When she wished to cook it she would steam it slowly and you would not know that it had not just been picked from the vines.  Whenever she heard of anyone in want she would load up her cart and give and give, always helping out the needy.

            She would gather roots and herbs and make her own medicine and whenever there was illness in her family she did her own doctoring as well as helping the neighbors in their illness.  Her husband lived to be 95 years old and in all of his illness she had doctored him with herbs.  

            He had brought some sugar maple twigs from California, which he planted.  They also had maple trees at their place and made maple sugar from them.  Their home was a stone (rock), one story dwelling.  Jonathan went into the hills and selected the material himself. 

Winding around the foothills he built fish ponds and lined them with rock and on the borders of these he planted all sorts of iris and it was a most beautiful sight in the spring when they were all in bloom.

            His vineyards and orchards were planted on the mountain side.  The variety was an assortment of most every known fruit.  Their walnut trees furnished them with nuts all the winter.  This place became a resort or park where the citizens of the community held their outings and festivals.

            In the fall of the year when the frost had turned the leaves to crimson and gold in all their gorgeous hues she would gather them, tubs and tubs full; she would sort them out and lay them flat in a corner of the room upon the floor, then she would place flat rocks on a canvas, which she covered them with, till they were dry, or cured.   Then she would place these leaves in great books, page by page and lay them away in a large bin.

            During the summer months she would cut and gather green willows and shape them into many fancy forms, tie them and hang them upon a long hook to dry.  sometimes they would be a heart, a cross, a star, a double heart or a horse shoe.  She took long narrow strips of cloth, similar to our bias tape and  would bind each form tightly around with cloth.  When she heard of a death she would take down one of these willow forms and sort out her most beautiful leaves and with needle and thread she would sew these leaves tightly to the form until she had a beautiful design.  She had a small flat iron she would heat and rub on it a piece of rosin and on a specially prepared board she would lay them, pressing each leaf one at a time, to glaze them by pressing them lightly to make them glisten.  The rosin would form a coating which preserved them, making them last indefinitely.  There was never a funeral but that she had her offering and at Decoration time she would place these wreaths on the graves of those she loved.

            When she heard someone was sick she would take apples and polish and polish them till they shone like glass, then she would catch a fish, stuff and cook it most deliciously and together with a bottle of fruit juice made from cherries and grapes would carry these dainties for miles and miles to some poor soul who was ill.

            She was always kind and generous and most unselfish, no matter how tired she was she never complained but always lived for those about her.  When she would be going somewhere there was always a crowd of children following her and she was never in such a hurry but that she would stop and sympathetically listen till the child had told its last sentence.  They all loved her dearly.

            She was the mother of nine children, five boys and four girls.  Three of her boys served in World War I.  Gilbert, one son, was turned down in the United States and he went to Canada and enlisted.  When the World War was over a letter came bearing the Coat of Arms and British Flag to this little mother personally written by King George of England congratulating her on her noble, gallant sons. 

Though she tried to be happy in doing for others she grieved deeply on account of her three sons at war and another son seriously injured in an accident; one Sunday she fell ill with pneumonia and only lived one week.  The Sunday morning came and she asked for the Elders to come to administer to her.  Her family was gathered around her bed and Doctor Gardner was in the room.  She bid them all good bye, looked up and put up her arms and called “Mother”, in pure English, then her tongue was loosened and she talked to unseen personages in her native language for almost an hour, until she became exhausted.  Brother Clark and Doctor Gardner, with her family witnessed this experience and Doctor Gardner said:  “What a pity there was no interpreter present, for she had been given the gift of speaking in her language to her people who were waiting on the other side to welcome her home.”  She passed from this life talking with them.  Her children all married into the white race.” ....