Joanna Hollister Patten

Joanna Hollister Patten (1833-1916)

Autobiography of Joanna Patten

"My parents names are John and Vina Hollister. My mother's maiden name was Clearwater. My father was born in Marble Town, New York State, October 13, 1792. My mother was born in Marble Town, December 19, 1792. Her mother's name was Rachel Davis. Her Father's name was John Clearwater and was born in Ireland. My parents had nine children, to-wit: Isaac, Mary, Melissa, Alva, Keziah, Sarah Anne, Vina, Rachel, Catherina and Joanna. They were all born in the town of Caroline, Tioga County, New York.
My parents join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio. They assisted in building the temple in that place and received their patriarchal blessings under the hands of John {Joseph} Smith, Sr the Patriarch of the Church and the father of the prophet, Joseph Smith. They emigrated with the Church to Missouri, and there through the persecution of the Saints. They were at Hauns Mill, Missouri the day after the terrible massacre, October 30, 1838. They were driven from their own homes by the mob, which was carrying out the extermination order of Governor Wilbur Silburn W. Boggs {Lilburn Williams Boggs}. My father lay out in the woods in the cold secreting himself from the mob, through which exposure, he died leaving mother with eight children to support. We were then without a home and lived in a wagon, all sick with chills and fever. She cared for and drove the team herself and returned to father's friends in Ohio. She stayed there a short time, helping missionaries who were sent to preach the gospel.
We then went to Nauvoo, stayed there until the Church was driven from that city after a severe battle and being disarmed. The women were searched for arms while camped on the banks of the Mississippi River, with neither shelter nor beds, except that furnished by nature. The mob fired at us but failed to injure anyone. We came west with the Church through the trackless wilderness, suffering the privations and trials incident to that journey.
I was baptized in Nauvoo in 1844. During our travels we suffered from hunger. The Lord sent quails which supplied our wants. This was in the year 1847. From then until 18523 we were traveling west until we arrived in Salt Lake Valley.
I was married to Thomas Jefferson Patten in Provo City, Utah April 25, 1853. He was born in Green County, Indiana, April 10, 1828. He is the nephew of David W. Patten one of the first Apostles, who was murdered in Missouri {Crooked River Battle} for his religion, being the first martyr in this dispensation. My husband is the son of John Patten, who was a High Priest.
I have ten children, all living, vis., Vina, born in Manti, Utah March 6, 1854; Thomas Jefferson, Jr {our ancestor} born in Provo City, Utah Feb 25, 1856; Hannah born on the desert on the Humboldt Nevada, Oct 10, 1857; on our return from Carson {Nevada} Mission, Joanna born in Provo City, April 18, 1860; Ida born in Provo City, Sept 3, 1862; Melissa, born in Provo City, Utah, May 9, 1864; William W., born in Provo City Aug 10, 1867; Alva born in Provo City, Oct 19, 1969; Phoebe born in Provo City, Aug 19, 1872; David Wyman, born in Provo City Nov 8, 1877.
We received our endowments in 1854 were sealed according to the law of Celestial Marriage in 1862. We received our second anointing in the same place under the hands of Apostle George A Smith.
During the first year of our marriage hostilities began between the Indians and the whites followed by a terrible war. Our people were obliged to move into forts for protection. Soon after the ward was over, in 1854, the grasshoppers made their appearance and ate all our cops, in consequence of which bread was very scarce. Many people lived on wild roots. Clothing was very hard to get, as it had to be hauled in wagons by oxen from the Missouri river, a thousand miles away.
In 1856, we moved to Carson Valley, Nevada and returned in 1857. The country in those days was inhabited by Indians from the Missouri River to California and were very hostile. My sister Isabelle was sealed in the Temple at Nauvoo to George F Stiles. Sister Sarah Ann was sealed to Phineas Young, brother to President Brigham young. Sister Catherine was sealed to Rosil Ferree. They have nine children.
My daughter Vina married John H Moore. Joanna married Joseph Harris, a grandson of Hyrum Smith.
I believe in Celestial marriage and believe it was formed of God for the redemption of mankind, to ennoble the human family. Without it our religion would not be perfect, for the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord. See revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Seer in Nauvoo Hancock Co., Illinois July 12, 1844, published in the Pearl of Great Price. In Heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage. If we want to be more than angels, we must be sealed for time and all eternity, and live by every commandment that God has given us and our salvation is sure.
When I was three years old while in Missouri, my father died, being brought up by my mother consequently am a woman's suffragist. I believe in Woman's rites when she can get them.
I have been a member of the Relief Society ever since it was organized. Acted for about twelve years as teacher in the same Relief Society. My picture is with the county Presidents as Treasury of Relief Society. I am president of the woman suffrage society. Have done baptisms for seven thousand of the dead and endowments for about one hundred. Have received all the ordinances for myself.
Before this box is opened, I will have closed my eyes in death with the hope to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection with love and affection to everyone that should chance to read this, yours truly.
Now my gentle reader, whoever you may be. I have endeavored to give to you a little of the history of your ancestry, trusting that this may do you some good. My motive in writing this is to preserve the genealogy of my family. Before you read this, I may have passed from this stage of existence and others occupy my place but my prayer is that we may all be saved in the Celestial Kingdom of our God. Amen
Provo City, Utah County, Utah
January 1, 1881"
(This was found in a box 50 years after it was written by Joanna Hollister Patten)

Kirtland, Ohio about 1836

John and Vina must have felt the west ward movement pulling them to Ohio. The exact circumstances are not know why they moved, but in my heart I feel the spirit of the Lord was on them and maybe they didn't even know why they were to go to Ohio. Coming first to Portage county, Ohio here they found themselves among the budding new Church of Jesus Christ and here they found their home with the Saints.
John had such a drive to know what was right that on December 4, 1835  in Kirtland, Ohio he went to the home of Joseph Smith and spent the evening talking and discussing religion. John Hollister stayed the night at Joseph's home and in the morning acknowledged that although he thought he knew something about religion  he was now sensible that he knew but little. (Joseph Smith of this meeting wrote that John's confession was the greatest trait of wisdom he could discover in him). On Monday, December 7, 1835 he wanted to be part of the church, and remarked that he had been in darkness all his days, but had now found the light, and intended to obey it. By June 1836, John Hollister was ordained to office of Priest.
 The Hollister family was now part of the body of Saints and there in Kirtland Ohio helped in the building and dedication of the Kirtland Temple. Our Joanna was just a baby here in Kirtland, but still was a part of the experience of those early restoration events.

map showing west ward movement years 1830-1836

Kirtland Temple dedicate March 1836

At the age of three, Joanna's life of hardship began when the family moved to Missouri, where they suffered such persecutions that they soon fled to Quincy, Illinois. Persecutions were happening in part due to Missouri's Governor Lilburn Boggs issuing an "extermination order" upon all "Mormons". Gov Boggs is now most widely remembered for his interactions with Joseph Smith and Porter Rockwell, and Missouri Executive Order 44, known by Mormons as the "Extermination Order", issued in response to the ongoing conflict between members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and other settlers of Missouri.

Lilburn Boggs, Missouri Governor

The climax to the Missouri persecutions was the massacre at Haun's Mill one of the most lamentable instances recounted in American history. Joanna's parents were among the sufferers.



Joanna's father, John, fortunately escaped and hid in the woods all night, but through this exposure in the wet and cold, he died, leaving his wife to care for their eight children, who were all sick at the time. The family went back to Ohio for a time.

Lavina or Vina Clearwater Hollister (Joanna's mother)

Our courageous Vina would lead the team of horses and drive the wagon to safety all while tending to sick children and mourning the loss of her beloved companion and husband, John. What a terrible loss, what heartache. Yet Vina carried on and did not loose sight of her burning testimony or her resolve to be with the Saints in Zion.

Haun's Mill Massacre, October 30, 1838, tragic events for the Hollister family

We now go along with the Hollister family to Nauvoo. When Joseph Smith took up his residence in Commerce in the spring of 1839 the little settlement consisted of one stone house, three frame and two block houses and three log cabins. The place was virtually a swampy wilderness. By draining the land, a delightful location for a city was made possible and the name changed to Nauvoo, a word of Hebrew origin signifying  "a beautiful situation or place". Vina and her children including Joanna were among the Saints in Nauvoo, experiencing all the events that happened there. 1844 Joanna was baptized here. At the end of the first year, the population was over three thousand, and at the time of the great exodus, just six years later, it was twenty thousand and a city of beautiful homes. After the exodus the beauty of the place was destroyed, and the growth permanently stopped.

Nauvoo exodus, winter 1846

In the severe winter weather, the inhabitants of Nauvoo were once again driven from their homes, this time to the banks of the Mississippi River, where they were without shelter, bedding or sufficient food and clothing. The suffering at this time were almost unbelievable as might be exemplified by the fact that the first night of the encampment, nine babies were born to the refugees (another of our ancestors, Diantha Morley Billings helped to attend these mothers for the births).

They went to Winter's Quarters until the summer of 1852. Vina's struggle to get her family to Utah lasted from 1847 to 1852, and when they finally arrived in Salt Lake City September 1852 with the  Robert Wimmer Company, Joanna was 19 years old and her mother Vina was 59. They were soon sent with a group of saints to the Provo River Settlement.

Thomas Jefferson Patten, Sr  (1828-1909)

Here Joanna met a young man by the name of Thomas Jefferson Patten, to whom she was married April 25, 1853. Thomas was the son of Dr. John Patten who died in Winter Quarters and the nephew of  David Wyman Patten, the martyred apostle.
The young couple's honeymoon was one of perilous adventure. The day after they were married they were sent to Manti to take part in the Indian Walker War. They lived in a wagon and the Indian, bitter an Hostile stole their cattle and most of their possessions. So here our Joanna began her wifely duties in a wagon among the Indians. Because of their hostility, the white settlers were forced to live in forts. At the close of the ward they returned to their homes, but their crops were entirely lost when the grasshoppers made their tragic appearance. The plagues almost drove the people of Provo to the brink of starvation. The crops of 1854 and 1855 failed owing to the ravages of grasshoppers, though drought added to the disastrous situation. Then followed the unusually severe winter of 1855-56 when cattle and sheep died by thousands from starvation and cold the settlers suffered severely from these combined calamities.
In 1856 they were called on a special colonization mission to Carson Valley, Nevada for a year during which time their third child was born. Realizing as the leaders did, that agriculture was the backbone of the community, groups were thus called to demonstrate rotation of crops and other agricultural experiments.
As they returned, news reached them of the Johnston's army invading Utah, they were filled with apprehension when they remembered the horrors of Hauns Mill and Nauvoo. But imbued with such patriotism as the people had always shown, they met the new crisis with strength and courage in spite of the previous persecution at the hand of soldiers and officials.
For a few years, they lived in Provo they managed to save about $200 to furnish their little home. At this time, they were called upon to spend their little fortune for guns and ammunition for the Black Hawk war.

Sisters visiting together. Rachel Catherine Hollister Ferre (left),
Melissa Hollister Van Hyning (middle), and Joanna Hollister Patten (right).

Joanna and her husband decided to take a homestead on Provo Bench (now know as Orem), one of the first families to settle there, although their friends protested and ridiculed. Joanna was the first white woman to live there. They tore the sagebrush up by hand, piece by piece and prepared the grounds for their cops, alfalfa was one of  the crops everyone said could not be raised in that section. In order to get the necessary water for their home and crops. Thomas and Joanna helped dig a ditch from the mouth of Provo Canyon to their home, a great distance. They built a square log house, fifteen by fifteen with a huge stone fireplace, where the cooking was done. Later they built an adobe house with three rooms and an upstairs. This house was built on the north west corner of what now is ZCMI in the University Mall. Here they raised their large family in love.

Ten children surround Thomas Jefferson Patten Sr., and his wife Joanna in this formal portrait dating from about 1885. They were among the earliest settlers of Provo. On the back of the photograph, which has been mounted on stiff paper, is a record giving birth dates, spouses and other interesting information about those shown. Left to right, front row, are Thomas Jefferson Patten Jr., Phoebe Patten, Joanna Hollister Patten, Thomas J. Patten Sr., David Wyman Patten, Vina Patten Moore second row: Melissa Patten, Ida Patten, William Wallace Patten, Alva Patten, Joanna Patten and Hannah Patten

The first real home built on Provo Bench by Thomas Jefferson and Joanna Hollister Patten.  Grandmother Patten is standing in front of the house.  This was located on State Street in Orem and is North West of the University Mall

In addition to the alfalfa, they also raised sugar cane and Thomas owned and operated the first molasses mill on the Provo Bench. (did he like sweet things??)

In those days coyotes were numerous and spread terror with their howling and by stealing chickens, calves and pigs and most anything they could get to eat.
After two years of success on this homestead on the "bench" others began to avail themselves of land.

Here their hospitality to all was legend. In later years her home served as a haven for the unfortunate as well as a headquarters for church and state authorities. She was invaluable in the days when a doctor's services were almost unattainable. Her family remembers well the catnip tea she brewed, the burdock leaves they used to bind on to cure headaches as well as countless other remedies made from native herbs.
During hard winters, Joanna would leave a light burning in her window to guide travelers through the blizzards while her husband made trails through the deep snowdrifts to further assist them. Their hospitality was unsurpassed and their home was a stopping place for Church Authorities traveling up and down the state. Additionally, most of the schoolteachers made their home with Mother Patten.

She worked in the Relief Society and enjoyed her service for that organization.

Stake Relief Society presidency in Provo 1892. Joanna is in back row far right.

Thru all the years of struggle Joanna's spirit never faltered. She felt strongly the need for social development in the community life. a wider field for expression and greater opportunities for her children. To further the religious and social life of the little community, the Pattens donated a part of their land for the first school and the first church. They also gave land for a tithing yard and the first school on "the bench".

Timpanogus chapel, still standing today

Timpanogos Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in 1895 on property donated by Thomas J. Patten, Sr

Joanna herself says that because she was raised by her mother, she became a woman's suffragist. She carried on an active correspondence with Susan B Anthony for many years. In 1890 when the women of Utah were working for their franchise, Joanna was appointed president of the Woman's Suffrage Association of Utah County. She and Anna K Smoot traveled from one end of Utah county to the other, month after month until Utah became one of the first states to grant suffrage to women and the first to gain statehood with suffrage.
She was a woman of serenity and wisdom who literally hewed her niche out of the earth and set therein her light of inspiration for all who knew and loved her.

Stake Relief Society Board Provo, UT, March 21, 1914. Joanna is exactly in the middle in all black.
(L-R, Margaret Allen Webb Smith Harris, Marinda Melvina Knapp Glazier, Martha Ann Smith Harris, Marilla Lucretia Johnson Miller Daniels, Eunice Billings Warner Snow, (Diantha Morley and Titus Billings daughter), Joanna Hollister Patten, Alice Malina Barney Wilkins, Sarah Louisa Fausett Turner, Percia Cornelia Grover Bunnell, Hannah LIbby Carter Robbins, Sarah Topham Clark.)

The above picture shows a group of sisters, members of the Stake Relief Society Board. They had dressed in their Sunday best or Widow Black and stood proudly in front of the draped flag of the United States of America, quietly declaring their patriotism. This day was an important occasion. They had hired a photographer and made arrangements for a notary public to be in attendance. They desired to record an "official" and legal document. A bold act for eleven elderly women, but they were already active "Suffragettes", and proud of it. This photograph and document was to become their voice, their independent cry to be heard. A record for their posterity. The official document says, "We the undersigned with joy and heartfelt gratitude to God, Our Heavenly Father, hereby testify that we saw the Prophet Joseph Smith and declare unto all that he was a prophet of God."

Joanna sitting in chair last on right, her son Thomas Jefferson Patten, Jr just behind her. about 1908

Her granddaughter, Zelia Riley, writes some details of their life in Orem this would be in Joanna's later years,

"They had a large living room and there my grandfather had a table and a desk to one side and my grandmother would sit at the other side of the desk with a table. On the table would be the Standard Church works, the Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price and the Woman's Exponent (church magazine). Every afternoon, after we had picked cherries all morning and they had been working, digging weeds, getting dinner and everything, we then had a study period and a rest period. The house was always so quiet and we would either lie down for a little while or study. Then it came time for our supper. And what would we have for supper? A great big pan of milk. We each would have a big bowl and we'd have bread and milk, maybe with green onions or chopped onions that we would put in our milk. Sometimes we would have a little cheese. The meals were always cooked in this log cabin and then they were carried into the living room where we had a dining room table. There we had a wonderful meal, each time, especially in summer when it was hot outside.
My grandmother was a wonderful housekeeper. Everything was so clean and neat and we couldn't have one fly in the house.
By six o'clock in the morning, out the East window, we could hear our grandmother going to the ditch to get her water. They had to use ditch water. She would go to the ditch and I could hear singing yet as she was carrying this water over to the house to prepare the breakfast.
Grandmother did all of her cooking in a small log cabin. It was very clean and spotless. Out in the back of this cabin they had a big cellar that they had dug down into the side of the hill and then they had put a big roof over it and covered the roof with thatch and dirt. In this cellar it was very cool and on each side they had rows of shelves. On one side they set the milk. They had the milk in shallow pans and the cream would rise on this milk and oh it was so good looking. Sometimes when my grandmother wasn't looking we would get a slice of bread and just dip it in that cream and sprinkle ad little sugar on it. It was so good. Grandmother made all her own bread and I can just see it as she took it out of the oven all brown Of course, the first thing we would do at the beginning of each meal was to have a blessing. My Grandmother would often call on my Grandfather and he would say the blessing. He was always neat and clean. Grandfather seemed to enjoy all the meals and one thing that he would like to do, if grandmother wasn't looking was to take a spoon of sugar and eat it. He often said, "little rocks would be good if they had sugar and cream on them." as he picked up the cream pitcher.
On Sunday we all went to Church, I distinctly remember once going to Church with my grandmother, I think it was a fast meeting, all at once she got kind of uneasy and started moving around. I asked her what was wrong and she said "well there's just something wrong." She put her hand down on the side of her leg and held it tight, then she went out of the Church. When she came back she told me that a mouse had gone up her dress and she had to leave to get rid of the mouse.
Grandmother was a very beautiful little woman. Very petite and she always looked so neat and clean. Always she wore a checkered apron to keep her house dress clean and this was tied around her. It was neatly ironed and taken care of. On Sunday, she had her Sunday Clothes. My grandmother was quite a cultured woman. She believed in woman's rights or women's suffrage. She went to all their meetings and she carried on this way. She always had beautiful clothes to wear. I remember her usually wearing dark or black clothes made of silk or taffeta, with a cute bonnet trimmed with lace and flowers tied under her chin.
Grandmother had a wonderful flower garden out in front of her house. She prided herself in this garden. After all of her work in the morning, after dinner was over, after her reading and resting and studying, then she would spend an hour and a half or two in her beautiful flower garden. It had every kind of flower that you could think of and we would never find a weed in it.
I never remember my grandmother lying down. She always rested in the afternoon, but she rested in her rocking chair. She sat in the rocking chair by her desk. She always rested in this rocking chair, reading and resting. I remember her reading a book and the book I noticed mostly on the table or the desk was The Book of Mormon, The  D & C, Pearl of Great Price and the Bible. I don't remember all of the other books. They were always reading and studying form these books.
I never remember grandmother being ill. Of course, she was always working. Although she had little ailments, she would never complain. I never remember her being laid up with her illness.   Finally when she became ill and was 84, they sent for my mother. My mother went down there and stayed for two weeks. Not once did my grandmother stay in bed, all day she demanded that they get her up. She would sit in her rocking chair, and in this rocking chair, after three weeks, she passed away. She thought it was better because too many people die in bed."

Her death occurred December 2, 1916, she is buried in the Provo City Cemetery.