[JHPF-FO:91] Need HELP: James and Jane Pearson Hacking with Joel Terry problem
Eileen Lentz
The following account was taken from Mother's diary [Annie Maria Glines]: "My husband's grandfather, James Hacking was born December 4, 1802 in Burton-in-Kendal, Westmoreland, England and his grandmother Jane Pearson was born February 15, 1808a in White Haven, Cumberland, England. They were married January 17, 1827 and lived in Preston, Lancashire, England where he was employed as a carpenter and cabinet maker.
On his way home from work one evening James listened from an open window in a building to the talks of some LDS missionaries and he was very much impressed by what they said. However, before he had the privilege of investigating and hearing more about the Gospel he fell from a building on which he was working and died a short time later. Grandmother Hacking was left with a small family, James Jr., Jane, John Sampson, and Harriet. John Sampson was only four years old at the time of his father's death.
"Grandmother, Jane Hacking was baptized into the Church in 1839. Later she married John Fisher and children were born to them. A few years later John Fisher brought the family to America and on to American Fork, Utah. John Fisher died and was the first person to be buried in the American Fork Cemetery. John Sampson Hacking moved his mother Jane Pearson Hacking Fisher to Cedar Fort where she lived the rest of her life."
Annie continues: "My husband, James Hacking, the oldest son of John Sampson Hacking came into the house from the field in Ashley Valley one day and sat with head bowed and in deep thought. I could see that something was disturbing him so asked the cause. 'All of my brothers and sisters are sealed to Father and Mother but Harriet, Phoebe and myself. Father isn't sealed to his parents and they are not sealed to each other either, so we don't belong to anyone,' he answered. I immediately wrote to Jim's father and mother telling them how he and Phoebe felt, and soon received an answer from Grandmother Hacking telling Jim and Phoebe to come into Salt Lake City as soon as possible and have the sealings done.
"In a few days he and Phoebe left Vernal for Salt Lake City. They arrived in Provo the 15th of October 1898. Jim stopped off there to attend the Utah Stake conference the next day, Sunday, and Phoebe went on to Salt Lake City. Sunday night Jim arrived in Salt Lake City at 10:00 o'clock. The next morning at 8:00 o'clock October 17th he met his parents and sisters Harriet and Phoebe at the east temple gate. They met President Joseph F. Smith in the temple and Grandfather Hacking explained to him that a Mr. Joel Terry had persuaded his mother Jane Pearson Hacking Fisher to be sealed to him (Terry). Grandfather also told President Smith that his father James Hacking was favorably impressed with the teachings of the LDS missionaries, but before he could hear more he died.
President Smith, who was not yet the president of the Church but was the Salt Lake Temple president said, 'That was wrong for your mother to be sealed to anyone but her first husband, your father, as long as he was worthy of her.' And he told them to come back the next day, Tuesday and he would have the records ready so they could be corrected. (According to Salt Lake film #184,654 Sealing of Children to Parents, Book C 1897-1899 this sealing ordinance was performed or at least recorded 20 October 1898.)
After this had been corrected and the sealings done the Hackings went to a friend Brother Gibson's home on H Street in Salt Lake City. Grandfather Hacking was sitting by the stairway when he began to cry. Grandmother Hacking, seeing him asked, "John, aren't you happy now that you are sealed to your parents?' 'I never was so happy in my life,' he answered, 'as this is the first time I ever realized I had a father.' 'Was that dark-complexioned man who stood at the head of the altar while the sealing ordinance was performed your father?' asked Jim. "Yes, Jim, that was my father,' answered Grandfather Hacking.
In 1981-4 the First Presidency of the Church, President Spencer W. Kimball specifically had this ordinance cancelled and the sealing to Joel Terry validated. No one could find any evidence whatsoever that Jane Hacking Fisher Terry had had a divorce or cancellation of her sealing to Joel Terry as his third wife. We found in the missionary records that he had gone on a mission the very next day after they were sealed, and she was left with his children to care for. Not long after he returned from his mission he married a young girl as his fourth wife, having her sealed to him also.
Throughout my life (Miriam C. Perry) my grandparents James and Annie Hacking and my mother Nellie H. Colton told the story that Grandma Fisher had never lived in marital life with Joel Terry. They said he persuaded Grandma Fisher that she couldn't be sealed to James Hacking, her first husband, since he was dead, and so she was sealed to Terry, whom our folks even called an "old scoundrel."
On 20 March 1961 Ralphena Hacking and Nellie H. Colton got permission from the Salt Lake Temple president, E. L. Christiansen, to have John Fisher and Jane Pearson Hacking Fisher's four children Alice, Elizabeth, Moroni and William Fisher sealed to Jane Pearson and James Hacking, her first husband. This was also annulled according to Val Greenwood, voice for the First Presidency, so both the Hacking children and the Fisher children were in the files ready to be sealed to be sealed to Joel Terry and Jane Pearson.
I got in touch with one progeny member of each of the original John Sampson Hacking family, not one of whom agreed with what had been done. But since only the President of the Church can annul a sealing, and since President Joseph F. Smith was not yet the President at the October 20, 1898 sealing, and since, as Val Greenwood said, this matter had been discussed at great length three times, the final decision was that we are all sealed to Joel Terry and Grandma Hacking Fisher. Those Hacking cousins with whom I have talked, and I were very much upset because we are proud of our Hacking heritage and it is my personal opinion that during the millennium we will all finally be sealed to the proper grandparents and parents. (Miriam C. Perry)
The last letter I wrote to the First Presidency in care of Val Greenwood told him our feelings that we just know that James Hacking, Ann Pearson and their four children and progeny had been functioning as a celestial family ever since 1917 when John Sampson died, and if both families of children, Hacking and Fisher, were sealed to Joel Terry, the work would have to be done over again. Val Greenwood strongly urged us to continue to do research and temple work for our Hacking ancestors, but of course no more sealings beyond John Sampson and Jane Clark Hacking can be done. The final ultimatum on this matter from the First Presidency was dated 30 October 1984. (Miriam C. Perry)
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