Martha Needham was born in Lancashire, England on April 14, 1833, the daughter of Jan Harrop and Joseph Needham. Martha was the sixth of fourteen children. Information about her life is exceptionally scarce, however, it is known that she was baptized on February 18, 1849 at the age of 16. Her younger brother Jonathan was baptized a year later when he was 14 years old. In checking to see if her parents or other siblings joined the church it was found that of the fourteen children, eleven died in infancy. Only Martha, Jonathan and an older sister Sarah survived childhood and only Martha and Jonathan joined the church in England.
In June 1853, Martha married John Lees, in Lancashire, England. A previous post about John's parents Elizabeth Buckley and John Lees Sr. tells the story of their joiniinged the Church in 1848. (Oh, how we would like more information on Martha's conversion and how she met John Lees - good lesson to write personal histories.) In April, 1855, with the rest of John's family, they joined a group of Mormon Immigrants who were coming to America from England. The trip from England to New Orleans, took three months time. Upon arrival in New Orleans, the Lees immediately started for Utah. They traveled up the Mississippi River on the boat ‘Amazon’. After several days on the river, the boat docked for repairs and the passengers were force to leave the boat until it was safe to proceed again. It was while waiting here that their first child was born. It was a baby girl, who, at the request of the ship’s captain, was named Amazina after the ship they were traveling on. This is our ancestor. When John knew that his wife was in labor, he borrowed a mattress from the ship and made a bed for her under a tree. It started to rain, and with an umbrella held over her head, in a driving rainstorm, she gave birth to a lovely baby, who came to the valley with her parents and grew to womanhood there. Martha lived another 24 years in Salt Lake City having 5 more children after Amazina. Two died shortly after they were born.
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| Martha Needham Lees |
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