Ann Victoria Rose was the sixth of eight children born to Abraham Rose and Catherine Nicholson Rose. She was born on June 4, 1839, in Howard, Steuben County, New York. Her parents had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1836. Her father was a prosperous, well-respected farmer in Steuben County. The spirit of gathering soon urged the Rose family to join the body of the Church in Nauvoo, Illinois. They left their comfortable home, loved ones, and most of their possessions, and traveled by covered wagon and ox team. Ann Victoria was a four-month-old baby at that time.
Arriving in the southern part of Ohio, late in the season, they remained at Carthage, Ohio until 1843. They obtained work manufacturing maple sugar and maple syrup. Two more children were born while the family resided at Carthage. They left Carthage in September 1843 and arrived in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois a month later. Here they met the Prophet Joseph Smith. His noble personality made a lasting impression upon the Rose family. They had arrived at a time when persecution was severe and they were among those who crossed the Mississippi River in the great exodus from that beautiful city and temple. Ann Victoria was a child of seven years. Her family crossed the Iowa prairies with one ox and cow yoked together, as the mob had killed one of their oxen to feed themselves.
They arrived at Kanesville, Iowa (present-day Council Bluffs) in August 1846. Here, a year later, their last child was born. They were destitute and remained in Kanesville until 1853 in order to obtain enough supplies to continue the journey across the plains. Ann Victoria was fifteen years of age when her family crossed the Missouri River with two wagons, five yoke of cattle, one horse, and provisions to last eighteen months. Ann’s younger brother, their herdsman, rode the horse, bareback all the way across the plains. They had fourteen head of cattle in all. On their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Rose family decided to settle in Farmington, about seventeen miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah. By this time, the town had an organized ward.
Ann Victoria married William Kelsey Rice, the son of a Farmington pioneer. He had crossed the plains with his father, Ira Rice, and brother, Asaph Rice. Ann became the second wife of Kelsey on June 7, 1855. They had a large family of fine sons and daughters. Ann Victoria died following the birth of her twelfth child, on May 26, 1878.
In spite of suffering hardships, privations, and heartache, Ann Victoria never wavered in her faith and testimony of the Gospel for which she and her family had given their all. She had, like her parents, the blessed ability to smile through tears and spread sunshine about. Ann Victoria, like her brothers and sisters, was musically inclined and had an appreciation for the finer things in life. These fine qualities are found in the posterity of William Kelsey and Ann Victoria to this day. A love of a well kept and attractive home, good literature, and the various arts is a part of the distinctive heritage that has left its mark on their descendants.
