Nancy Tracy

Nancy Tracy

Tracy, Nancy, 1816-1902

Jones, Christopher

Tracy, Nancy (1816-1902)
Tracy, Nancy Alexander (1816-1902)
Tracy, Nancy Naomi Alexander (1816-1902)

1816-05-14

Henderson, Jefferson County, NY

1902-03-11

Ogden, Weber County, UT

female

white

free

Tracy, Moses (husband)

Kirtland, Geauga County, OH

Far West, Caldwell County, MO

Nauvoo, Hancock County, IL

LDS (Mormon)

Nancy Tracy was born in upstate New York and was exposed to a variety of Christian denominations as a youth. Her father was a Universalist, her mother a Baptist, and her grandmother (who raised her), a Methodist. Tracy remembered having "a religious turn of mind" as a child and wanting "to be a Christian and be happy like" her peers. She attended Sunday School and thought the Methodists "the best people in the world" but "never joined them." Shortly after marrying Moses Tracy in 1832, they first encountered Mormon preachers, and after a prolonged period of study, were both baptized in 1834.

"At last Parley P. Pratt came into the neighborhood, another apostle. So there was a great turnout to hear him. My husband went and his eyes began to be opened. He began reading the Bible. He took his time to investigate. By this time other elders came. There were quite a number who believed and were baptized. As yet we had not joined them, although I had longed to do so. On the 25th of November, 1833, there came a son to our house to take up his abode and for six weeks I hovered between life and death. By this time there had been a branch organized, and James Blaksley was set apart to preside. He would come and talk of the gifts and blessings of the Gospel, the healing of the sick by the power of faith. But I felt unworthy to claim the blessing because I had not done my duty, but I determined that if the Lord would spare my life, when I was able I would be baptized. So In the spring of 1834, the 10th of May, my husband and myself were baptized with Elder Thomas Dulcher officiating. We were confirmed at the water's edge."

From Nancy Tracy's autobiography, written in 1885.

Nancy Tracy, “A Short Sketch of the Life and Travels of Nancy N. Tracy” (1885), 1, typescript of original, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. Transcript available online at <http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/NTracy.html>

Rachel Cope, “‘I Wanted with All My Heart to be Good’: Nancy Tracy’s Conversion Process,” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mormon History Association, Springfield, IL, 2009.