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- Agnes was one year old when her mother was lost or left the immigrant wagon train while journeying to Salt Lake. He father had accepted the gospel in Liverpool and the family had sailed on "Ellen Maria" on February 11, 1852, where they wished to join the main body of the church. Her mother was lost near Fort Laramie.
It is known that Elizabeth Mainwaring came from a wealthy, aristocratic family who had large estates at Liverpool, England. The family objected to her uniting with the Mormon People. When she was lost on the plains the report went back to her people that the Mormons had done away with her, and this was their belief until her brother, Josiah Mainwaring, came to American years afterward and found that story to be untrue.
Her Father soon married Sarah Brown and the family moved to Spanish Fork, where Agnes grew to young womanhood, helping in every way she could to supplement the family income. She cared for the younger children a great deal, did her own sewing at the age of fifteen years. She attended school part of the time. She said that she learned how to crochet, knit, do tatting and netting, and making gloves and sewing when only eight or nine years old. All sewing was done by hand as they had no sewing machines and generally had to make their own cloth from wool which had to be prepared by washing, carding, spinning and weaving into cloth. At the age of 16 she became the second wife of Bishop Thurber. His first wife, Thirza, had eleven children, some older than Agnes at the time of her marriage. Agnes was the mother of four children. Sarah was born and died prematurely in Salt Lake City. Isaac Erin, Bertha Malvina and Joshua Albert were all born in Richfield.
When her husband was called to southern Utah, Agnes went with him. Albert K. Thurber was called by Pres. Brigham Young to go to Piute County to have charge of the Indians. In 1874 he moved to Richfield, Sevier County where he was asked to remain and assist Pres. Joseph A. Young in organizing the United Order, which was being established and he was very active in all pioneering activities, being a natural leader and willing worker. He secured land in Grass Valley in Piute County and built a home there and Agnes and her family lived at this place for ten years. It was about thirty-five miles south and east of Richfield, over a range of mountains.
She lived for a time in Grass Valley in the little village of Greenwich, a branch of Koosharem Ward. Grass Valley was a cold section in the winter, but in the summer there was an abundance of green meadowland, which furnished hay and good pasturage for the cattle, sheep and horses. Dairying was the principal occupation. Here she was appointed treasurer of the Relief Society and also secretary of the Sunday School. During the time that Edmunds-Tucker bill was being enforced by marshals but was never arrested. School advantages were rather poor, as they usually had only one ten-week term during the year. Her husband was president of the Sevier Stake at the time of his death and had been active in the church all of his life.
Agnes was a Relief Society worker practically all of her life. She joined the Relief Society at Spanish Fork when she was fifteen years old and assisted as a Relief Society teacher soon after this. In 1892 she was chosen president of the Primary of Richfield. She held this position for two years and then was sustained as president of the Relief Society. She held this position for ten years. The ward was a large one. About 1901 the ward was divided into three wards and Agnes was retained as president of the Third Ward Relief Society for one year in order to help divide the property and get the business fixed up.
Her daughter Bertha married and moved to Idaho in 1904. Erin and Joshua wanted to move there too, so in 1906 Agnes sold her home and moved with them to Manard. She secured land for herself and also assisted them in starting their homes.
The Manard ward was organized on July 21, 1907. Agnes was made president of the Relief Society. She held this position until August of 1913, when she was honorable released as she wished to go to Utah for the winters where the weather was milder. She kept house for her brothers Isaac at Cottonwood, Utah, for two winters while his wife was in California. She did some work in the Salt Lake Temple during her stay in Utah. The winters of 1926-27 she kept house for her brother Joseph at Spanish Fork. He had lost his wife and his daughter Mary was ill with heart trouble. She made a good many trips between Utah and Idaho, spending the winters working in the Salt Lake Tempe, and the summers in Idaho with her children. The last few years of her life she was in very poor health, had a bad cardiac condition and a stomach disorder. Her daughter, Bertha, was called to Salt Lake and took her back to Idaho where she cared for her most of the time for two years. Her health improved and she wished to go back to Utah and spend as much time as possible working in the Temple for her dead ancestors, a work she seem to enjoy very much.
Her son, Joshua, took her to Salt Lake in June of 1933. In August she went to Richfield and attended the Black Hawk Reunion. She enjoyed this very much as she was back in her hometown and meeting with old friends and relatives. In Salt Lake City she had a comfortable apartment near the Temple where she worked. Luvian Bates was her roommate and they were happy and enjoying their work. On Saturday, November 25, she fell on the sidewalk as she was returning home from a shopping trip. She was taken to her apartment and helped into bed. Pneumonia developed and she died on November 30, at the age of 82 years and 5 months. She was buried at Richfield on December 3, beside her husband from whom she had been separated for over forty-five years.
Written by her granddaughter, Helen Thurber Dalton (1904-2004), October 22, 1942, at Boise, Idaho.
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1851 - 1933 (82 år)
