Faith & Betrayal

I was wandering through the library recently, and passed a book that made me stop. It had an old photo of a woman on the front. Being a fan of history of all sorts, I picked it up and checked it out with very little perusal. As it turns out, it was quite an enjoyable read -- and as I will blog in a future post -- relevant to my family history as well.

Faith and Betrayal by Sally Denton (Vintage Books, New York, 2005) is an intriguing look into the life of Denton's gg-grandmother, Jean Rio Griffiths Baker Pearce. To briefly summarize, Jean Rio was born in England and married and had children there. Upon the death of her husband, she decided to immigrate to the United States with the Latter Day Saints Church (the Mormons). Her children accompanied her on the journey and many individuals can trace their lineage back to her (one son alone had 23 children).

Faith and Betrayal examines Jean Rio's family life, journey from England to Utah and then to California, and religious experiences, but has a broader scope than just her individual life. The book is one that would be interesting to individuals with: Mormon ancestors, U.S. western pioneer ancestors, English emigrant ancestors, female ancestors... aah, yes, that about covers it.

The LDS Church was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith; Jean Rio was converted in England and immigrated to (what was to become) Utah in 1851. She was among the wave of foreign immigrants who were converted by missionaries abroad and talked into immigrating and moving west with the LDS Church. Utah was at this time not even a part of the United States, and the LDS Church members had moved there very recently as a result of attacks on their members in states further east. It was intended to be a heaven on earth where the church ruled supreme.

Using quotations from letters and Jean's diary throughout, the book references other histories and records to paint a complete picture of what life would have been like for Jean Rio Baker at each stage of her journey. Here's a sample paragraph taken entirely at random that discusses Jean's arrival in New Orleans after her travel from England (page 67):

"With two parlors, two bedrooms, and an outhouse 'answering all the purposes of kitchen and washhouse,' the temporary residence was a welcome respite after months on the water. 'The next discovery I made.' Jean Rio wrote 'was that I wanted a cooking stove, which I purchased with all the utensils belonging for fourteen dollars.' Her children immediately scouted the neighborhood for playmates, enjoying themselves, 'finely in their rambles about the town and the open country beyond.' She stocked her kitchen from the many markets that opened at four a.m. every day. 'All kinds of meat, poultry, and fish are very cheap. The fresh meat is good, but not so large and fat as in the English markets. Vegetables and fruit are abundant and of great variety.'"

As demonstrated by this passage, Denton does an excellent job of weaving details such as cost, supplies, and typical daily activities into her narrative. These details are ones that, while providing information about Jean Rio's life, can also offer insight into what other women, pioneers, Mormons, etc. might have felt, seen, or done.

Historical information about daily life for women, childbirth, life aboard ship and on the wagon train, general descriptions of cities, and so forth all help to provide a better understanding not just of Jean Rio's life, but also of the lives of other similar women/immigrants/Mormons.

Nonetheless, Jean Rio's descendants, Denton included, are unable to preserve an unbiased look at the life of their ancestor. Even within the book, Denton bestows lavish praise on Jean Rio, including these phrases (all taken at random from the same page, 128):

• "Still, the hardship could not erode Jean Rio's essential goodness."
• "generosity prevailed"
• "her high-spirited and curious mind was seductive and comforting"
• "All her grown sons had reputations for showing tenderness in a harsh environment"
• "A love of children and of dogs"
• "Jean Rio rose to the challenge"
• "she cultivated her aptitude"
• "her quick mind"
  

Clearly, the book was written as a tribute to Jean Rio and she was indubitably a remarkable woman. Nonetheless, this does seem to go a little overboard for my tastes. Denton's failure to curb her own and other's hyperbole in relation to Jean Rio leaves one wishing for a more objective source to look at. (It reminds me of that joke about Remus Starr, horse thief.)

Probably the most controversial part of the book, however, is the end. Denton spends some time at the end of the book discussing Jean Rio's later life, after her move from Salt Lake City, Utah to Ogden, Utah, and finally to California. Denton claims this is a time when she gave up her beliefs in the LDS church. However, the diary upon which Denton was able to draw, ends abruptly upon Jean Rio's settlement in Ogden, Utah.

Denton claims that Jean Rio Baker was disillusioned by the church that she had loved, primarily because of the principle of multiple marriages (polygamy) then practiced by male members of the church (including Jean Rio's own son). Denton also claims that the practice of "consecration" (an enforced sharing of wealth with the church) is what lost Jean Rio her beloved piano to the LDS church. She implies that the practice may have cost Jean Rio much of her wealth, although she does not provide any good evidence of this.

While sparse documentary evidence does back up the assertion that Jean Rio was not a member of the LDS church when she died and that she was discouraged by her Utah experiences with the LDS church, it is impossible to say that Jean Rio was as completely disillusioned as Denton claims or to claim the reasons for it. Without the diary as a primary source, it is impossible to truly know what Jean Rio's experiences were in these later years. Denton, herself admits as much, saying, "much of her life remains shrouded. I reassembled her story from untold shattered pieces" (178).

Denton is also the author of American Massacre which examined the horrible murders of an entire wagon train party in southern Utah by Mormon pioneers (itself a highly controversial book). Faith and Betrayal, which is a family history, retains a slight anti-LDS Church feel toward the end. Without the strength of the primary sources, the reader is left to feel as though Denton is trying too hard to convey her perspective. Certainly, documentary evidence that exists could support Denton's point of view. However, it is sketchy enough that we can't be entirely sure what Jean Rio's later perspectives really were.

Certainly, Denton's perspective on her family is different from another member of her family who is quoted in the book speaking of Jean Rio's son:

"Plucked from the lap of luxury and set down in a frontier land of staggering toil and comfortless surroundings... he tackled his job and made good without excuses or regrets. His brothers couldn't stand the privations and hardships and moved to California where life was not so hard. But William stayed with the religion he had embraced as a boy." (174)

This quote again, shows the bias that flows throughout the book (and which is acknowledged by Denton in this instance).

However, this book illustrates very clearly the value of primary sources in examining the life of an ancestor and how secondary sources can help supplement one's understanding of those writings.

Denton's success in the book was to create a well-written narrative of Jean Rio's life, to interweave primary and secondary sources, and to look at her daily life in addition to the standard genealogical dates, etc. Her weaknesses were in allowing her own biases in relation to her family and the LDS Church to flavor her narrative. A good reminder to those of us engaged in writing family histories!