Death of Olivia P. Driggs
Olivia Pratt Driggs, eldest daughter of Parley P. Pratt, and Miriam Frost, died today in Pleasant Grove. She was the wife of W.P. Driggs, and was born in England, June 1, 1841.
[Republican, June 12, 1906]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Jan. 2006]
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Mrs. B.W. Driggs Passes Away
Provo, June 12—Mrs. Olivia Pratt Driggs, wife of B.W. Driggs of Pleasant Grove, died last night. She has not enjoyed good health for some months, but there was nothing in her condition when she retired last night to indicate that the end was near. This morning she was found dead in her bed. Mrs. Driggs was a daughter of the late Apostle Parley P. Pratt, and was born in England when her father was there as a missionary accompanied by his wife. She leaves a large family and many relatives. Her husband is in Sunshine on business and has been communicated with.
[Ogden Standard Examiner, June 13, 1906]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Jan. 2006]
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Died
In Pleasant Grove, Tuesday, June 12, Olivia Pratt Driggs, eldest daughter of Parley P. Pratt and Mary Ann Frost, and wife of B. W. Driggs, born England, June 1, 1841, crossed the plains to Utah in 1852, was the mother of twelve children and a home-maker in the best sense of the word.
[Improvement Era, 1906]
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Sudden Call of Noble Woman
Mrs. Olivia Pratt Closes Grand Career at 65
Special correspondence.
Pleasant Grove, Utah co., June 12—Mrs. Olivia Pratt Driggs, the eldest daughter of Parley P. Pratt and Mary Ann Frost Pratt, and wife of B.W. Driggs, died here at her home very suddenly yesterday morning. She had spent the evening until about 10 o’clock visiting with friends, and when they left she seemed as well as for some time past; but when her son, who had slept in a nearby room, arose, he found that his mother has passed away. For two years and more the good woman had been a constant sufferer from asthma, and within recent months her trouble was added upon by heart disease, which was the immediate cause of her death.
Mrs. Driggs was the first child born of Mormon missionary parents in a foreign land. She came to the world in Manchester, England, June 1, 1841, while her father and mother were carrying the gospel to the world—her mother being the first woman missionary to a foreign land from the Latter-day Saints. As the family returned to Nauvoo not long afterward, and while passing up the Mississippi on the steamer Maid of Iowa, another daughter was born to them. They were met by the Prophet Joseph, who carried the missionary mother ashore from the steamer.
The family remained in Nauvoo until almost all the Saints had left for the west. They passed through all the trying times which marked the expulsion from Illinois, being in the city while the battle of Nauvoo occurred. From there they removed to Winter Quarters, where they stayed until just after the Pioneers had started, when Mrs. Pratt took her children and returned to Maine to make a farewell visit with her parents before she left for the valleys.
During the year 1852 the family crossed the plains. They remained in Salt Lake one year, then removed to Pleasant Grove, where they have since resided.
In 1857 the deceased was married to B.W. Driggs by Orson Hyde. A few months later the sad news of the assassination of her lamented father came.
Mrs. Driggs was a pioneer mother and an exemplary one. She passed through the struggles incident to the settling of Utah, meeting and mastering her difficulties with courage and cheer. Twelve children came to bless the home. Of these eight still live—B.W. Driggs, Jr., M. Luna Clark, Prest. Don C. Driggs of Teton stake, Ida., Parley S. Driggs, Leland M. Driggs, Mrs. Grace Smith, Mrs. Alice Brown, and Will K. Driggs. Four daughters—Ella, Mrs. Florence Todd, Beatrice and Rintha—have preceded their mother to the great beyond. Mrs. Driggs is survived by one brother from her mother’s family—Moroni L. Pratt of Provo—and one sister, Mrs. Mary Ann Winters of Salt Lake.
The home of “Aunt Ollie,” as she was affectionately called, was a social center, especially while her family was being reared. Hundreds have partaken of the warmth and cheer of her fireside. She was a “home-maker” in the best sense, and her doors were always open to young and old. From here was radiated a spirit of culture and cheer that helped to leaven the soberer side of life, and the spirit of the gospel was not absent, for Sister Driggs remained always true to the faith of her parents. In the passing away of this sister, there can be no regrets other than the sorrow of parting from loved ones, and there is a great consolation in the pleasant memories in which her life has been enshrined.
The funeral will be held in Clark’s hall Friday, June 15, at 1 p.m.
[Deseret News, June 15, 1906]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Jan. 2006]
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