We often put our ancestors in boxes. Urban residents work in factories and live in apartments. Rural residents work as farmers, plowing fields and baking bread. But we need to remember that not all our pioneer ancestors followed the same path. They were all individuals and lived their own individual lives.
Rebecca Smith was one of those who appeared to have broken out of the standard pioneer woman mold. She was born in October of 1822-23 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Her parents, Jessie Smith and Esther/Hester Freer, would soon join the growing Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints along with other family members living in Ohio.
The family followed church members to Missouri sometime after 1831. They settled first in Clay County and then moved to Jackson County. When Governor Boggs issued Executive Order #44, giving Missouri residents the authority to exterminate or drive out Mormons, they were forced out along with the other Mormons to move from county to county, losing everything multiple times. The family finally ended up in Van Buren County, Iowa, by 1843, where Rebecca met and married Frank Nelson Gipson.
Rebecca and Frank had their first child, William, in 1845, and by 1850 had moved to Appanoose County, Iowa. Each time they moved, they were surrounded by family, in-laws, and other familiar faces. That softened the blow of the frequent moves.
Sometime, likely in early 1851, Nelson and Rebecca packed up and moved to Texas. Going along were Rebecca's father, Jesse (her mother having recently died), her sister, Sarah, and her husband, Isaac Scalf/Scaif, and others. They may have been heading to the Mormon Mill settlement, where other Mormons had settled after moving to Texas in the 1840s.
Whatever their destination, they made it only as far as Collin County, Texas, where Rebecca's father, Jesse Smith, died in 1851. At least two of Rebecca's children were born in Texas. Some time between 1857 and July 1860, the family moved back to Iowa. Many of the Mormons who had traveled to Texas earlier also left about this time, but Rebecca's sister, Sara, and her family stayed behind.
In 1860, Rebecca was on her own with her children, William, Francis, and Ellen. Living in Davis County, Iowa, she gives her occupation as Day Laborer, a somewhat unusual occupation for a rural woman at that time. It's unclear what happened to her husband, Nelson. The 1860 census does not specify marital status. Unsourced sources give his death date as 1870, and Rebecca had at least one more child, a daughter, Martha, born in 1868, presumably fathered by Nelson.
By 1870, Rebecca had moved to the Mormon community of Galland's Grove, Shelby County, Iowa. She was living with three of her children, Francis, 18, Ellen, 14, and Martha, 2. She owned $75 worth of real estate. Again, there was no sign of her husband.
The Galland's Grove community was part of the "Winter Quarters" area, where many Saints stopped on their way to the Salt Lake Valley. But some people stayed. These mainly were Mormons who disagreed with the practice of polygamy and had left the parent church to form a Reorganized group, commonly known as the RLDS. It's unclear if Rebecca was part of this group or if she even continued to practice the Mormon faith. But as in other locations, her neighbors included family and other familiar faces.
By 1880, a 55-year-old "Beckey" Gipson is listed as widowed. But she's not the standard farmer, housekeeper, or day laborer. Her occupation is listed as "fortune-telling." Her daughter, Martha, now 12, is still with her, along with David Jenkins, a 26-year-old day laborer born in Texas.
One can't help but wonder what this occupation was all about. While there was a spiritualism boom later in the century, it doesn't appear to have hit rural Iowa at this point. Was she reading palms? Was she reading tea leaves? Healing? What exactly was she doing to tell fortunes?
By this time, the Mormon church was discouraging anything resembling fortune-telling or spiritualism. So what did her mostly Mormon neighbors think? It was obviously known in the community, since it was enumerated in the census. And she seems to have been using it to support herself and her daughter. Women, especially those living in rural communities, had few ways to support themselves during this period. She may have been accepted, but not respected, tolerated, but whispered about behind her back. Neighbors likely visited on the sly to get their fortunes told.
Whatever the reason for her foray into fortune-telling, by 1900, she was a 78-year-old widow, living in Harrison County, Iowa, with her 13-year-old grandson, Archie Haner. No mention of fortune-telling.
Rebecca Smith Gipson died on 9 February 1907 in Harrison County from a sudden stroke of apoplexy. The informant on her death certificate was her grandson Archie, who was now living in Omaha, Nebraska.
Rebecca lived a challenging yet fascinating life, often moving. She likely lost some children as babies, and lost her husband (either to death or desertion) while she still had young children. The saving grace is that, until at least 1880, she lived with family and friends nearby, which likely made those moves less challenging.
This week's #52Ancestors prompt is RURAL.
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