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| (Jane Sutherland as a young woman) |
My great grandmother, Jane Sutherland, grew up in a small fishing village in Scotland. As a young woman she chose to leave her home and accompany her sister and her sister’s three small children to Vancouver, British Columbia where they would meet up with her sister’s husband and another young man from their village, Daniel Davidson. While they were in Canada Dan introduced Jane to the
Mormon Church. She read
The Book of Mormon and gained a testimony of its truthfulness. For 10 months she studied until (in her own words) she was “thoroughly converted” and desired to be baptized. When her sister and brother-in-law discovered that she was investigating the Mormon faith, “they were simply furious and did everything they could to make [her] unhappy.” Jane’s brother-in-law even threatened to kill Dan if he didn’t stop preaching the Gospel to her.
This did not deter Jane, however. She wanted to be baptized and felt that the only solution for her was to go to Salt Lake City, Utah. Dan told her that if she was going, he was going with her.
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| (Jane and Daniel Davidson on their wedding day, June 21, 1905) |
With continuing bitterness against the two, they secretly left Vancouver and arrived in Salt Lake City very early one cold snowy November morning. With no place to go, no friends, no job, and very little money, they waited for the gates of Temple Square to open.
That day Jane met up with a prominent Mormon family who hired her as a live-in housekeeper. Her first Sunday in Salt Lake Jane wanted to go to church. She still had not yet been baptized. The family, however, told her that she could not go until she finished her morning work. When the dishes and other chores were done she hurried off to church. Jane arrived during the passing of the Sacrament. The chapel was packed, but there was one lone seat up near the front. Jane made her way to that seat and sat down. After the sacrament was passed and the Priests and Deacons returned to their seats, one fellow came up to where Jane was sitting and made it perfectly clear that Jane had taken his seat and he wanted it back.
Can you imagine how Jane must have felt as she got up and walked slowly back down the aisle searching and searching for a place to sit? She passed row after row—no room. She kept walking and walking and as she neared the back of the chapel, a woman suddenly reached out, grabbed her hand, moved over, and invited Jane to sit down. My great grandmother said that if it wasn’t for that woman, she would have kept right on walking—all the way home to Scotland.
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| (Jane Sutherland Davidson) |
I, personally, am so grateful to that unknown woman who reached out to my great grandmother. She joined
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints soon after. Today she has over 1000 descendants—most of whom enjoy the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My life wouldn’t be the same without it. I am so grateful for my faith and for my knowledge of God and his plan.
