A new life? Sadly not for Diana (Part One)

Diana (Hannah) Wild

Hannah WILD, known as Diana, was my 2x great-grandmother and was born on 19 March 1799 in Bagshot, Surrey. Her parents were Thomas WILD, an agricultural labourer, and Margaret GOSDEN. She was baptised on 13 April 1800 in Windlesham as Hannah WILDE but the name Diana appears on most of the records available. She was still living in Windlesham when she married Samuel WALLER, an ostler, on 31 October 1819. They had eight children, Stephen, Sarah Ann, Margaret, James, Charles, Mary Ann and William. In 1861 they were living in Chelsea, London with only James and William. Mary Ann married William MILLS in 1843 and Margaret married William Titus HOWLETT in 1855.

William Titus Howlett

Margaret Waller

In 1867 Samuel died at the age of 72 in Chelsea Workhouse but three years prior to his death Diana had made the life-changing decision to emigrate to the United States as a Mormon Pioneer. Why would someone in their 65th year wish to embark on such a gruelling journey? It was possibly a decision based on economics more than a desire to follow the Mormon religion, given Samuel’s circumstances.

It is likely that Diana’s decision to convert to the Mormon faith was influenced by the marriage of Mary Ann to William MILLS. MILLS was a blacksmith who was baptised into the Mormon religion in 1843 and was one of 29 branch presidents of the Mormon church.

Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Heber Kimball all played crucial roles in the Mormon religion. In 1830 they were among those who organised the Church of Christ, later to be known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph and his brother Hyrum were killed in jail while awaiting trial and Brigham Young became the leader of the Mormons in 1845. According to an entry in the Utah History Encyclopaedia, Kimball married forty-three wives and had sixty-five children and at least 300 grandchildren.

The British conversion to Mormonism can be traced back to the early 1830s when Mormon missionaries were sent to England to share the teachings and beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These missionaries were successful in spreading their message and attracting many converts, especially among the working-class population who were attracted by the church's message of communalism and social equality. There was, however, disapproval from the Anglican and Catholic churches regarding their view on polygamous marriages. The 1851 English Religious Worship Census gives the total number of places of Worship for Latter-day Saints as 222.

Part Two to follow