Great Great Grandma and Grandpa Forward

A SHORT SYNOPSIS OF MY MOTHER’S LIFE Written By her daughter Ellen Forward Wheat.

This first picture are of my Great Grandma Naomi Forward Thomas with Ellen Forward Wheat, my Grandma Naomi Forward Thomas’s younger sister (The beautiful Tall one) and the twins Alice and Mabel. And then The First to commit to the Gospel Great Great Grandma and Grandpa Pitman.

Now my Great Aunt Ellen Forward Wheat’s account of her Mother’s life –  My mother was born on September 7, 1865, at Blaenavon, So. Wales, and was named Naomi Biggs. Her parents, Thomas Biggs and Ellen Pitman (See the Pittmans above) joined the LDS Church when she was a baby. She was not baptized when she was a child because there were no missionaries there at that time. So she grew to womanhood without knowing much about the Gospel and its teachings. However, she married and became the mother of eleven children—ten of whom grew to adulthood.

This is  Great Grandpa Forward Naomi Forward’s husband.

My earliest recollection of the LDS Church was as a child. Being curious to know what mysterious things were put away in drawers, I came across a bundle of little magazines, all tied up, and of course I opened them. I found them to be copies of the “Latter-day-Saints Millennial Star”, published by the European Mission. They contained articles of interest about the Church and also published many of its teachings. Mother had read them all many times, I’m sure, and said that after reading them she had no desire to join any other church. I remember her saying that on one occasion she came into her home to find someone had left a Gospel Tract on the table and it made her feel very happy to find that someone was somewhere teaching those same doctrines.
In about the year 1908 or 1909, we moved from Cwmavon to a place called Varteg, where my maternal grandmother lived. There we came in contact with the missionaries, and there mother heard that same message.
To her it was the Gospel in its fullness as taught by Jesus Christ. Her mother had told her the story of the Prophet Joseph, which she had always believed, and to hear it again seemed the fulfillment of her desires.
During this period the Church was going through one of its greatest ordeals of persecution and to be a Mormon or to be in any way connected with them meant to lose your friends and also on many occasions the respect and love of one’s family. Thus it was with mother’s family—her husband was very prejudiced—her sons took no heed of her teachings, but some of the seeds of the Gospel message fell on fruitful ground and as a result one of her daughters, [also named Naomi](This is my Grandma and Grandpa Thomas – the first of the first of the next group), joined the Church as she was at an age where she might choose for herself. So thus the first member of mother’s family of children became a “Mormon”, a desire that had long been in mother’s heart but could not be granted.
She continued to attend the cottage meetings, which were held in many scattered places, sometimes walking ten or twelve miles to get there. She knew by this time that the law of tithing was a law of God, and faithfully paid an honest tithing and fast offering. She had a fervent testimony of the Word of Wisdom and lived it to the letter.
Through diligent work and earnest prayer father at last gave his permission for mother to be baptized, which was a day of rejoicing. In the meantime my oldest sister, [Naomi], and her husband had joined the Church so they went with us twelve miles away to Newport and there in the canal, mother and I went down into the waters of baptism. Elder H. R. Thomas, a missionary of Wales, Sanpete Co, Utah, baptized us. This was in 1912, and in 1914, World War 1, broke out.
Father did not feel any better toward the Church, so life was not easy and many trials and persecutions followed. This has been the lot of many converts to this Church.
In 1916, [Naomi], the daughter who had first joined the Church came to Utah, my brothers were called to war and it was an anxious time for all. We still had a few missionaries from Zion and several of the local saints were called to labor as missionaries.
Mother was among them and she labored faithfully in that capacity until after the war when more missionaries came from Utah.
In 1916, a Relief Society was organized and mother was made president, a position she held for nineteen years. Her labors in the Relief Society were many and varied as all those who work in Relief Society know. What a contrast to the few sisters who met in humble cottage meetings to pursue their labors to the wonderful gatherings now held in the Tabernacle, in Varteg and elsewhere. Yet from humble beginnings much good has been accomplished.
During these years my father seemed to grow more tolerant toward the Church. Mother tried to teach him the gospel but he would not attend many meetings. She would read aloud to him from the scriptures and the Book of Mormon and other Church works. He finally became quite friendly to the missionaries and allowed them to visit his home where they were housed and fed and made comfortable. However, he passed away in 1933, without ever being baptized.
In 1919, one year after the armistice was signed, I left home to come to Zion [see the autobiography of Ellen Forward Wheat for details]. I lived here for sixteen years and during that time two more of my sisters came to this country, one in 1924 and one in 1928. They were mother’s youngest children, twin girls, [Alice and Mable] – The ones in the picture above.

In 1935, the opportunity came for me to again visit my homeland. I took my three-year-old daughter, [Barbara], and arrived there safely after a lovely trip across the Atlantic Ocean. We visited family and friends for three months and then made preparations to return home, bringing mother with us.
They were busy and exciting days. Finally we were ready to sail on September 7, which was mother’s 70th birthday. We will never forget the trip home, as it was wonderful! [Naomi, Ellen, and Barbara set sail on September 7, 1935 on the ship M.V. Britannic departing from Southampton and arriving in New York.]
When we reached New York, my husband, [James Levi Wheat] who had been waiting patiently for five days, met the ship at the dock. We then started the trip, by car, back to Utah. We drove up the Hudson River to Albany, where we stayed the night, then on to Palmyra and the hill Cumorah. We visited the Sacred Grove and experienced the thrill of standing on the Hill Cumorah and our thoughts went back to the story of the Prophet Joseph again. It was one of the happiest moments of mother’s life. Then on to Niagara to see the falls, all of which was very thrilling to us.
We finally reached Salt Lake City—a dream fulfilled for thousands of Saints. For us and for mother especially, it was one of the many great blessings that come to the faithful.
A few months after arriving home mother went to the Temple in Salt Lake City for her own endowments. We have had father baptized and had all his work done and father and mother have been sealed together with all available children. I know mother is happiest when she can go to the Temple and perform the work for those who have gone before. This is another of the many great blessings the Gospel has brought us. I know she is thankful for all these things and I can see the hand of the Lord guiding her destiny all through her life.
This week she will fulfill another long-held desire and along with those of her children who reside here will become a citizen of this great country. We believe in being loyal and true to the country we have adopted, and may we all live to see peace restored.
I would like to pay tribute to my mother and thank her for all her teachings, not only by precept but by example and I pray the Lord will continue to bless her with health, peace of mind, and that I may always be as steadfast and faithful to the Gospel as she has always been.

*Footnote: This was written in 1945 (Two years before we Thomas’s started to come – April 1947), the end of the Second World War. At that time mother was about 80 years of age, and had enjoyed good health and was able to go to the Temple often. At about 85 her health began to fail and for the next few years she became unable to do the things she loved. In the summer of 1954 she suffered a stroke and was bedridden until November 2, 1954 (I remember her living in Grandpa and Grandma Thomas’s house, upstairs – we had to be quiet or go outside), when she passed away at my home at the age of 89.

Great Grandma Forward with her daughters- in the back 2nd in is my Great Aunt Ellen Forward Wheat (The Author of this article); 4th over in the back is my Grandma Naomi Forward Thomas; 2nd row on either side are the twins, from the first picture above Alice and Mabel with Ruth in the center my Great Aunts too. Then sitting in front in her regal place is Great Grandmother Naomi Biggs Forward. Side note the two little girls are Prdwynn and Ann, my cousins – Uncle Harold and Aunt Effie’s girls. And I think they are watching my brothers Chris and Richard teasing a cat.