LIFE STORY OF ABIGAIL MEAD McBRIDE

Abigail Mead was born on 29 January 1770 in Nine Partners, Dutchess, New York, the oldest of 8 children born to her parents, Gideon Mead and Martha Fiske. Both of her parents were descendants of the prolific colonial Mead family of Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut.

Abigail married Daniel McBride about 1787 in Saratoga District, Albany (now Saratoga) County, New York. By 1795, they had moved north to Washington (now Warren) County, New York where they were still living in 1805 when their ninth and last child was born.

Family tradition states that Abigail’s husband was a Campbellite minister. Since Alexander Campbell did not organize his church as a separate sect until 1830, it is possible Daniel McBride was an itinerant preacher seeking support for the Campbellite movement within the Baptist Church. If so, Abigail and her children would have endured the rigors of frontier living while her husband sought sufficient employment.

His religion appealed to all his family as being nearest to the primitive plan of salvation as taught by Jesus Christ of any of the creeds in his lifetime, but often he remarked to Abigail, as they returned from church, after preaching his usual Sunday sermon, "There is something lacking, I feel that I have not the Authority. If only I could say to the people, 'Thus sayeth the Lord.'

Sometime between 1805 and 1823 the McBrides moved to western New York where Abigail was bereaved of the companionship of her husband, Sept. 1, 1823, at Stillwater, Saratoga County, New York. Their children were John, Samuel, Daniel, James, Margaret, Hyrum, Cirus Gideon, Reuben and Martha. The brave widow struggled courageously to rear her little family in the fear of God. Abigail’s children must have been a cohesive group, for all 9 of them were living in the 1820s with families of their own in or very near Villanova, Chautauqua, New York.

Ten years after her husband’s death, Abigail was baptized a member of the LDS Church on 25 June 1833 in Villanova by William F. Cahoon. The McBride homes became centers for preaching the Gospel. Eventually six of Abigail’s children also joined the LDS Church.

The McBrides sold their thriving farms in New York and journeyed 135 miles to Kirtland, Ohio by stage coach and canal boat to gather with the other Latter-day Saints, contributing generously to the building of Kirtland and the new Mormon Temple.

At the age of 66 years, Abigail received her Patriarchal Blessing on 8 June 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio at the hands of Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr.:

PATRIARCHAL BLESSING OF ABIGAIL MCBRIDE

Abigail McBride, born in Nine Partners, Montgomery county, New York, aged
66 years on the 29th day of January.

My aged sister, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the
world, and by the power and authority of the Priesthood, I lay my hands
on thy head; and on the heads of thy posterity, confer a blessing.

Thou hast had sorrow and affliction, out of which the Lord is delivering
thee. He has established thy faith. Thou hast obeyed the gospel of the
Savior. Thy name is written in the Lamb's book of Life. Thou art of the
lineage of Abraham. If thou holdest on thy way, the time will come when
thou, like Job, shall see God in the flesh, standing upon the earth.

Thou shalt see angels, and receive the communication of the Holy Ghost.
Thy children shall stand in the covenant by the power of God. Thou shalt
go to Zion, and be in good health. Thy mind shall be strong and rejoice
in thy God. Thou shalt be a member of the celestial world.

I seal these blessings upon thy head. I seal thee up to eternal life. Amen
and Amen.

Joseph Smith, Sr. Kirtland, Ohio, June 8, 1836

When the Mormons were driven from Ohio, Abigail joined in the migration to Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. Abigail lived in Iowa about 5 miles from Nauvoo with her son Samuel McBride. On 27 January 1846 Abigail was endowed in the Nauvoo Temple. From Nauvoo, Abigail joined the thousands of other Saints in late winter of 1846 who were forced to leave their homes and travel across Iowa.

Abigail crossed the plains in the Edward Hunter Company with her 2 oldest sons, John and Samuel McBride. They left for Utah on 17 June 1847 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 21 September 1847. At age 77, Abigail was one of the oldest women to have ever crossed the plains to Utah. She was also among the first in her family, which by now included great grandchildren who were being raised in the LDS faith, to reach Utah. Others of her descendants made the journey West over the next several years; perhaps Abigail went during the first year of emigration out of consideration for her advancing years.

In Utah Abigail lived with her children and later her granddaughter, Adaline Knight Belnap, who after 1850 was living in Ogden, Weber, Utah. Abigail’s faith in her Maker was reaffirmed when she fully realized after a lapse of nearly 20 years the fulfillment of the words of Father Smith made to her in Kirtland that she would go to Zion and have good health.

Abigail died on 12 March 1854 in Ogden at the age of 84. She was buried in the Ogden City Cemetery in the Gilbert Belnap family plot.

Abigail’s great grandson Gilbert Rosel Belnap recalled her assistance with his mother, Adaline Knight Belnap, and other women in bandaging the bleeding feet and frozen hands of the members of the handcart company, upon their arrival in Ogden. He described her as being a short, rather stout, fine old lady, with a square face and fair complexion.

Three of Abigail’s sons did not join the LDS Church and move West. One remained in Villanova, one moved to Medina County, Ohio, and the other moved to Michigan. Of Abigail’s 6 children who joined the LDS Church, 4 finally reached Utah, while 2 died in Illinois but left children who went West with the pioneers.

Abigail’s children who joined the LDS Church played prominent roles in the early Church and the settlement of the West. Her son Reuben McBride, a member of Zion’s Camp which marched to Missouri, was the first person baptized for the dead in the font of the Nauvoo Temple by Brigham Young as Joseph Smith watched; he also served as custodian of the Kirtland Temple. Abigail’s daughter, Martha McBride, was a founding member of the LDS Relief Society. Martha married first Vinson Knight, who later became an LDS Bishop in Missouri and Nauvoo; she was sealed to Joseph Smith, Jr. in the summer of 1842; following the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, she was married for time to Heber C. Kimball. Abigail’s son John McBride pioneered Cache County. Her son Samuel McBride pioneered Millard County. Abigail Mead McBride’s posterity numbers in the tens of thousands today.

(Written by Brent J. Belnap. Submitted on behalf of the Belnap Family Organization to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in 1995.)

Other Sources:
http://www.belnapfamily.org/pioneerincidents.htm
http://www.belnapfamily.org/abigailmead.htm