Patience VAY LAMBERT REDFORD

Patience Vay was born somewhere¹ in Yorkshire England on 13 Oct 1786 daughter of John and Mary Vay.² She had a light complexion, short stature, was small boned and dainty, especially as a girl. Her temper was quick, her heart kind, and she was generous.

Her natural ability toward nursing kept her busy, helped out on her income and did much to mold her character. She was married in the Colgate Church³ in Manchester, [Lancashire], England, just one week before her 25th birthday, thus avoiding the title of spinster.⁴ This was on the 6th of October, 1811. Richard Lambert was a lucky man. His parents were John and Elizabeth Lambert. This John Lambert had two brothers, Richard and Henry, of York, England.⁵

Here their first two children, both girls, were born: Elizabeth on 8 Sep 1812 and Hannah, 25 Jun 1814. Then the family moved from Manchester to Gargrave, where John was born, 30 Jan 1820, followed by Richard, born 22 Nov 1822. Joseph was Patience's last child, born 22 Apr 1826.⁶

It was eight years later that Patience was widowed on Christmas day 1833.⁷ Her husband was taken from her by "dropsy," now known as Bright's Disease, which is curable through modern scientific knowledge and treatment.

The Mormon Elders, [William] Clayton, [Joseph] Fielding, John Moon⁸ and David Wilding, came to Patience's family home In Gargrave⁷, England soon after they began their mission in this place on 19 Oct 1838. They were always welcome to share the humble home of this generous widowed mother and her brood.

It seems the Lambert family wanted to be thoroughly convinced that this religion was all it claimed to be, and just what they wanted for their own. Hannah's death on 30 Jun 1839 (sic) [correct date: 30 Jun 1829] was definitely a deciding factor for as the Elders explained it, she was not lost to them. They could do her work and all be joined together in a later life if they remained faithful and were worthy. So in October, 1839^8a, they were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of L. D. Saints.

When the first⁹ shipload of Mormon saints sailed from England on the Britannia on 6 Jun 1840, Patience and her four children were among her passengers. After landing at New York, they took a boat up the Hudson river to Albany. From there they traveled via the Erie Canal and Great Lakes to Chicago. Hence they went directly to Nauvoo, where they gloried in the joy of working for the Lord.

During the six years of their stay in Nauvoo, Ill., Patience had her family with her and lived in happiness with work and faith. Elizabeth married a fellow by the name of [Timothy Peter] Terry and settled down there. Richard, Jr. married Jane Thorber and moved away. John, while on a mission in Iowa, met and later married Adelia Groesbeck¹⁰, 4 Feb 1846, at Sugar Creek. They came immediately to Nauvoo where they were sealed in the Temple 6 Feb 1846. They completed plans and preparations for leaving Nauvoo with the Saints.¹¹ When they were forced to leave their homes and cross the river to lay on the cold ground, Joseph was among the few who suffered from it. His illness was a fever from which he never fully recovered.

Patience and Joseph lived and moved with John and Adelia into St. Joseph, Mo., [? Her son Richard and daughter Elizabeth were still in the Nauvoo area] where she became a grandmother [through John. Elizabeth and Richard had already presented her with grandchildren]. Persecution [?] by Missourian mobs drove this small family from one place to another. Patience's second grandchild through John was born in Kansas City, Mo. Finally he [John] had enough equipment and provisions gathered for the westward treck to Salt Lake valley. Early in the summer of 1850 they joined Lorenzo Young's¹² company at Council Bluffs, Iowa. His company was in connection with Thomas Johnson's and Ben Hawkin's companies. They all crossed the plains together to Utah. Arriving on the 11 and 12 of September, 1850.

Here Patience lived with her two sons, John's wife, Adelia, and their children for about eight years.¹³ They were in the vicinity of 7 south and 4 east, Salt Lake City. Patience took very good care of the children. They all loved her. John Carlos Lambert, who was then about 3 years of age, has told of remembering her efforts towards keeping their childish hands out of the preserve jars.

It was the morning of the 25 of July 1855 that death again visited her little home. Her beloved son, Joseph, went out on the East Bench near the present site of the State Prison¹⁴ in search of the oxen and other stock that had strayed. He had searched for three days and had become despondent of their loss.[?] He was found shot to death. It is not known whether he was killed or took his own life.

Patience missed him terribly and felt she was imposing on John and Adelia by staying on in their home.[? see footnote 11] It was not long afterward (about the time John married 2nd wife [Eline Hansine Larsen], 6 Sep 1855) that she became attracted to an English convert's children.¹⁵ He was Robert Patesfield Redford. They met in church and became acquainted through various other community activities. They decided to pool their money and other resources, got married¹⁶ and joined a company of Saints to pioneer and help settle Cache Valley. They stopped off at Wellesville, Utah, instead, as they liked the location. They built and lived in a log cabin with a sod roof. It had a willow and sack door and a dirt floor. Not being accustomed to American ways [?], she had many things to learn in her last years. The neighborhood women took turns helping her clean her home and making quilts. She was a small woman who looked fragile, but was nevertheless hale, hearty, active and helpful all her days. Redford's children loved her and one, Joseph, later erected an attractive marker over her resting place in Wellsville cemetery, for death claimed this honorable Pioneer at the age of 79 years on 29 Jan 1865¹⁷.