Lydia Ann Beckstead – Charles Lorenzo Jenkins– Ilene Jenkins – Shirley Ann McConkie – Lyrad Kelly Riley
Born: Nov. 24, 1853 / Married David Jenkins: Sept. 11, 1871 / Died: Jan. 25, 1938
When Lydia was a young girl, she learned an unforgettable lesson about prayer while she was tending three younger siblings and had been warned by her mother to keep them away from the nearby streams. After the baby fell into a stream, Lydia jumped in after her and brought her out,unconscious. Thinking the baby was dead, Lydia knelt down and prayed to the Lord to give them back their baby sister. About the time their mother arrived, the baby was miraculously waking up.
Lydia’s grandfather, Alexander Beckstead, was asked to help guard Joseph Smith. After two ugly men rode up to take the prophet away,Alexander witnessed the shooting and killing of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.While Alexander was gone, two more ugly men rode up to the Beckstead home and told Alexander’s wife, Catherine, that she had until morning to be gone; otherwise they would burn the house and kill the children.Catherine worked all night packing their wagon, and at sunrise Alexander arrived home to flee with the family. Looking back as they went into hiding, they heard a terrible noise and saw a large group of men going in a rage toward their home, with burning torches, and soon the house was completely gone. The men were singing and shouting, "We burned ole Joe’s guard up, and his family are sizzling in that heap of fire. We’ve got them now…” But the Becksteads were safe and sound in their hiding place, thanking the Lord for their protection.
At age 7, Lydia was asked to recite a poem in church one Sunday while Brigham Young was visiting. She didn’t have any nice dress and no shoes whatsoever, so her mother made her a cute little dress out of an old white curtain dressed up with bows and ruffles. For shoes, they made moccasins out of her father’s old felt hat.
Lydia always helped the sick and needy, often riding in sleds or buggies in the middle of the night to care for the sick or lay out the dead.Lydia remarked a few days before her death in 1938 in Vernal, UT, “If only I could leave with my posterity a knowledge that there is a God. Then I think I could leave the greatest gift of all.”
Source: Lydia Ann Beckstead Jenkins’ life story, written by Grandma Ilene’s cousin
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