A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the MormonsWilliams, Elizabeth Whitney
History
A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons
Williams, Elizabeth Whitney
Beaver Island (Mich.); Latter Day Saints -- Michigan; Strang, James Jesse, 1813-1856
Early the next morning after the storm some Indians at Cross Village
went to the beach to see if their canoes were all secure. The first
object they saw was the boat of their neighbor drifting along the shore.
No one was to be seen in the boat. They waited until the boat came in
reach so they could pull it out from the breakers that still ran high.
The boat was almost full of water. They took the water out as soon as
possible, and in among the quilts lay little three-year-old Rebecca. She
still breathed, her body was warm. The Indians in their excitement
delayed taking the child to the house, thinking there might be more
bodies washed upon the shore. They carried the child to the good
priest's house and everything that human power could do was done to save
the child, but it was too late, "Baby Rebecca had gone to join the
angels."
Oh the sadness, it was hard. It seemed sometimes Mr. Bennett could not
survive the shock. None of the other bodies were ever recovered. Mrs.
Bennett was a very beautiful woman with a sweet, loving disposition.
THE KING'S RESIDENCE.
About this time King Strang decided to build a residence for himself. He
made the plans and called it the "King's Cottage." The King came to our
house asking my father to go to the harbor and help build his house. He
wanted him to do the framing, and father, not being very busy, and not
liking to refuse the King, went. Father was gone about six weeks, coming
home often to see how we were at home. He boarded at the house where
there were four wives. The King's Cottage was built very strong. A story
and a half high with a porch across the front. The wide hall went right
through the center, with massive strong doors at front and back, and
with an open stairway. On each side of the hall was a large room, two
bedrooms, hall and closets upstairs. A white picket fence about the yard
with a nice garden spot on the hillside. It was a pleasant, cosey home,
and the location was most beautiful, looking out on the harbor and Lake
Michigan. The house was in the midst of a lovely grove of forest trees,
maple, beach, oak and scattering evergreens. The cottage was built under
the small hill or terrace on a level flat and just a short distance from
the docks and stores. When we arrived after the Mormons had left the
island the house was in good repair. My father and mother occupied it
two years, being the first ones to live in it after Strang's death.
Strang had started a large addition to the cottage before he died, which
was much larger than the cottage itself. The addition was put at the
back of the main building, made of logs hewed on both sides, containing
eight rooms. But like the cottage itself, it has gone to decay. Strang
remarked, "I am getting so many wives I have to enlarge my house."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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