Anna Bucalew

Anna Bucalew was born on the 25th of October 1784, in either North or South Carolina. After moving to Kentucky, she married William Bean on the 20th of Jun 1803 in Livingston. She and William had four children: James (1804), Molly (1805), Garrett (1807), and William (1809).

Anna and William were accustomed to living on the frontier. Sometime after Garret was born (in Aug 1807), Anna moved with her family to Missouri. But then tragedy struck. William Bean died in Missouri in September or October of 1809. The exact date is not given, but his last child, William, was born December 4, 1809, "Two months after his father's death" the record states.

Living on the frontier would have been very difficult alone. It was even more so with four young children. So it comes as no surprise that a few months later Andrew Edwards, one of her neighbors “wooed and won her”. He was a widower with one child of his own. Anna and Andrew were married in July 1810 and she raised nine more children in this second marriage.

Indian raids appear to have taken their toll after a while. Between 1826, when her last child was born, and 1833, Anna moved with her second husband and children to Quincy, Illinois. But even then, tragedy struck again. In Quincy, her husband Andrew died (in 1833).

Anna never remarried. By then her children from her first marriage were old enough to care for her. She was in Quincy in 1839 when the Mormons were driven out of Missouri and her children were among those who helped them. In the process, they met and were impressed with the character of the people. Particularly one Alexander Williams, who decided as an adult to learn to read and write. Anna’s son, James, was a trustee of the school board and soon got to know Brother Williams well. Brother Williams was described as having “a great deal of personal magnetism though born among Tennessee darkies.” Based on his efforts the Anna’s son, James, and family joined the Mormon Church in the spring of 1841.

By 1842, at age 58, Anna Bucalew Bean Edwards, was baptized in the Mormon Church. She lived in Adams county, Illinois from then until she died of cholera on 4 Mar 1846 in the town of Ursa, just a few weeks before her children left for Iowa to join the saints who followed Brigham Young.