The Mysterious Alexandra Tarasova-Yusupov

by Carl Douglass

  “Any idea where she’s off to, Elder Young?” asked the Aussie who was the senior companion of the pair.

  “Not really. I gathered it is for a long time, though.”

  “I got the idea that it was maybe five hundred K south of Woop Woop. Maybe even Utah to join the saints for all I know?”

  “Could be, but I doubt it. She would have been one of our baptisms if that was her intention, don’t you think, Elder?”

  “Probably right.”

  “What time are we supposed to meet her?” Elder Young asked since he left all issues of time to his Australian companion who both acknowledged was the more reliable of the two.

  “No later than half past one. Crikey, we’re gonna be late if we don’t get more of a move on. Av-a-go-yer-mug; we’ll never make it if you don’t get those Shanks’s ponies movin’ a little faster. It’s not all that hard to move your legs more often and to make your steps farther apart. Let’s get a sweat up. We go flat chat, and we’ll be finished in half the time.”

  “I must have been here a long time, Compie; I think I’m getting to understand your Aussie language,” said Elder Young refusing to take umbrage at his companion’s criticism.

  “Not quite, Mate,” Elder Phillip said, “You hafta keep in mind that Australia is the lucky country. First thing is it is not ‘Ausssie’. We are ‘Auzzzies’. Get the difference in pronunciation?”

  “Ah, yes. Thanks. I hadn’t paid attention before.”

  “No offense meant.”

  “None taken.”

  “Did I tell ya that you’ve really gone and got yourself all tarted up? And that I take a liken’ to yer new bag a fruit?” asked Elder Phillip.

  “Suit cost me half of my monthly ration from home; the shirt, tie, and shoes set me back another fifteen percent. I should look like someone from the big part of town just for the cost of it all. That’s the truth.”

  “Bloody oath it is. It’s gotta be yer best bib and tucker.” said Elder Phillip, his face having lost its usual jesting look.

  They came to the First-Class Area sign and hesitated for a moment before Elder Phillip nodded for them to go in.

  “We got as much right to be here as any of those swells,” he said to justify their choice.

  “Right-O,” Elder Young said, and pointed at the most elegant woman in the entire reserved area. “That has to be our Sheila.”

  “It’d be a grand disappointment if it isn’t,” Elder Phillip said, “but I want to ask somebody to be sure.”

  He approached a burly wharfie and asked, “G’day, Mate. Do you happen to know if that fine lady there leanin’ on her brolly is the important Mrs. Bradshaw?”

  “Aye do, and she is.”

  As brash as ever, he led Elder Young over to where Mrs. Bradshaw stood looking over the harbor and city.

  Elder Phillip could tell that she was paying them no mind.

  “She’s away with the pixies,” he said to Elder Young.

  “We gotta get our chinwag goin’ sometime, and now is as good a time as ever.”

  “Ow-yar-goin, Sister Bradshaw?”

  Alexandra was mildly startled.

  “I’m fine. I was just gathering a little wool, I guess. I’m glad you two could make it to see me off for places unknown. And you on time and everything.”

  “Must be a mighty fine place you’re headed, Sister Bradshaw. You are dressed up fit to kill, if you don’t mind me saying so,” Elder Young said to her.

  “I’m hoping so, and it is nice of you to notice.”

  Elder Phillip broke in, “Well we wouldn’t have presumed that you got those duds from Vinnies.”

  Alexandra laughed, partly at her self. She would not be caught dead in a St. Vincent De Paul’s charity store.

  “Like yer frilly brolly, Sister. Looks like the Ridgie didge straight from Paris.”

  “I like it, too, if I don’t say so myself. It might even rain,” she said with a small laugh. “No worries mate. She’ll be apples!”

  “We’d like to give you a little spiritual lesson, Sister, if you think you have time. Maybe you will get to meet some more elders wherever you’re goin. Who knows what might come of that?”

  “Let’s find some shade.”

  Elder Phillip found a good spot where bales of aboriginal calico cloth stood high enough to block the sun’s rays.

  “I’ve got a real possie spot here in the shade,” said the irrepressible, Elder Phillip.

  “I think you’ve found the bonzer spot.”

  They ate as the missionaries took turns giving the next two lessons in the Introduction to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pamphlet. Elder Phillips had read the lesson several times before coming to meet the prospective new member, and he had all but memorized it; so, he could recite the new ideas as rapidly and fluently as possible. The lesson was on baptism, especially on the fallacy of baptizing infants before they could sin. He paused for questions. There were none; so, Elder Young gave lesson five—the most difficult of the lessons—about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. It was easy for him since he had been required to read about them, memorize them, and preach on them in Primary–the Sunday school for children–since as far back as he could remember.

  They closed with a short folksy prayer, then Elder Young asked if Alexandra was going far away or for a long time.

  “Will you be yonks, Sister Bradshaw?”

  “Not sure; come see; come saw. Maybe weeks, maybe years.”

  “I hope not unless you are on your way to Utah.”

  “You can never be sure what is going to happen, Elder. I just can’t say.”

  “Are you travelin’ with anyone else, Sister?”

  “No, I’ll be alone.”

  “That’s pretty hard,” Elder Smith said… “I mean to be Pat Malone way out there.”

  Elder Phillip wanted to lighten things up; so, he said, “No worries mate. She’ll be apples!” and gave Alexandra a warm Aussie smile.

  “Good onya,” said Elder Young, trying out his shaky grasp of Australian strine.

  The first boarding call came; and Alexandra said, “Sorry, brothers. Looks like I’ll have to get going.”

  Both boys quickly reached for the small gifts they had brought for their prospective new member, lest she forget them and the church.

  “We have little somethings for your trip, Sister Bradshaw.”

  Elder Phillip handed her a small bouquet of Wattles, Australia’s national flower.

  Elder Young gave her a book of Australia’s first stamps, printed in 1913 for the first time. Alexandra was charmed by the gesture and by the stamps themselves—they featured a kangaroo standing on a map of Australia. And—so she could not forget the source—the stamps were inscribed in bold letters, “AUSTRALIA POSTAGE”. The two young men handed Alexandra a book called The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by CJ Dennis and a nice leather-bound Book of Mormon; so, she could not forget the religion. They signed the books with both of their names…their full names and addresses.

  She shed a tear and quickly wiped it away to prevent losing courage or showing more emotion than she ought. She gave each elder a brush kiss on the cheek and laughed when the puritanical young men blushed.

  She turned to leave, and Elder Phillip gave her one parting bit of advice, “Remember to pray every day, Sister, and Bob’s yer uncle.”

  Alexandra laughed at the young man’s impertinent and quintessentially Australian enthusiasm as she walked into the passengers-only Circular Quay Overseas Passenger Terminal—officially, the Sydney Cove Passenger Terminal—and saw a large formally dressed coterie of dignitaries waiting to send her off, much to her chagrin. She had hoped to go in style, but eschewed fanfare since it had the potential to alert her husband of her departure. She was met by the crème de la crème of Sydney society: Frederic John Napier Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GBE, PC, Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Denman 3rd Baron Denman, Governor-General of Australia, and James McGowen
, outgoing Premier of New South Wales, and their wives.

  White-coated railway waiters served French 75 champagne cocktails accented with an assortment of different citrus accents, choice Augustora and Peychaud bitters, a dash of Curacao, and sugar. Pretty girls in pinafore dresses with the railroad logo on the left breast served creamy chicken liver pâté on fresh Parisian toast, pork rillettes–a rustic pâté made from meat poached in its own fat, then shredded, and stored in some of that fat–pickled dried apricots, and clothbound cheddar gougères.

  The greetings and discussions of matters both light civilities and weighty policy issues were cordial and complimentary to the departing demi-queen. Alexandra–for all of her attempts at modesty—loved every second and syllable of the festive departure gathering.

  Her wit ingratiated the ladies.

  “I have a question,” Lady Thesiger said to Alexandra.

  “The answer is, ‘money’,” replied Alexandra resulting in a robust round of laughter from the upper-crust women who were unused to even slightly irreverent answers.

  Finally taking her leave with promises on all sides to keep in touch, Alexandra climbed the gangplank escorted by the ship’s activities director and onto the Anchor Line oceanliner, the SS Cameronia, and taken to the First-Class Area Passenger Outwards and Customs Lounge.

  The ship was a twin propeller triple-expansion 1700 passenger ocean liner steam-ship owned by the Glasgow-based Anchor Line and built by D. and W. Henderson and Company at Glasgow in 1911 to sail under the United Kingdom flag with every amenity and safety feature extant at the time to persuade and please the affluent traveler. The large—11,000 GRT–liner was 515 feet in length, 62.25 feet across at the beam was capable of a maximum speed of 19 knots. The powerful ship’s propulsion was provided by a twin propeller, triple-expansion, 15,600 IHP steam engine. It was one of the largest, fastest, and most luxurious ships afloat.

  Seated in a soft leather covered office chair in front of a round table with a large checkerboard designed top made of an assortment of precisely cut hardwoods polished to a high gleam, Alexandra was given her ship’s passage and customs documents to fill out and sign. Most of the documents were routine, listing ports of embarkation and debarkation, reason for travel—vacation—race, religion, name of spouse, and Australian residence information. A more difficult portion of the custom’s requirements was to complete a dictation test in one of the recognized European languages. Colored race or illiteracy were disqualifying factors to prohibit exit or entry of undesirables, including the colored races, Muslims, Hindus, Athiests, those with contagious diseases or criminal records, or who were considered to be morally weak, those who were unable to support themselves, and those believed to have occupations that would take away jobs from members of the United Kingdom or the United States. An immigration officer read a fifty-word passage in English which Alexandra was required to write out in a legible hand with a minimum of mistakes. She passed without a problem.

  The great ship edged out from the wharf area and passed North Head–the important northern edge of the seaward entrance to Port Jackson–which played a major role in the cultural and military life of the colony of New South Wales, following the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and in the business and social life of Alexandra and her Chinese family. The ‘Heads’, signified arrival and departure at Port Jackson and Australia since 1788. For Alexandra, it was a moment of final hooroo from Australia and her life there.

  BOOK THREE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

  CHURCH HISTORY

  “Inspiration is discovered in the fact that each part, as it was revealed, dovetailed perfectly with what had come before. There was no need for eliminating, changing, or adjusting any part to make it fit.”

  —Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith,

  Doctrines of Salvation, 1954, v. 1, p. 170

  The apostle Paul, the foremost defender of spiritual religion, never ceased trying to get the Jews to give up their confidence in outward works and rituals, and to lead them to spiritual realities. Yet I feel that the great majority of Christians have fallen back again into that sickness.

  —Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus,

  The Dagger of the Christian Soldier, 4th and 5th Rules

  Conference Center, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 60 West North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, March 26 through April 3, 2016

  The senior missionaries who served in the Australia Victoria Archives digitalization project scheduled to meet in Elder and Sister Durrells’ room in the Joseph Smith Building [formerly, the Hotel Utah] during the April biannual conference of the LDS church in Salt Lake City on Saturday evening after the Priesthood Session. The get-together started at nine-thirty p.m. with lemonade and cookies purchased from the famous Lion House Pantry Café—a tradition for groups of returned senior missionaries. The house was originally built in 1856 by Brigham Young, second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to accommodate his large polygynous family of fifty-six children from sixteen of his fifty-five wives, and their many adopted, foster, and step-children.

  As most of such occasions are, this was a joyful one except for the untimely death of one of their number–Nephi Smith—who passed through the veil separating mortal and immortal life in an untimely way three months previously. Since all of them believed whole-heartedly in an eternal life hereafter, and that Nephi—a thoroughly good man, a true saint—was with his loving Heavenly Father and those of his ancestors who had passed on, none of them were seriously sorrowful, not even his loving wife, Marianne.

  Glen Gabler, the latest self-appointed court jester for the missionary group burst into the room after everyone else had taken their places at the family-style tables.

  He shouted, “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!, and rest of the missionaries responded appropriately with “Oi! Oi! Oi!” feeling a bit sheepish in the crowded café.

  They needn’t have felt the least bit inappropriate as evidenced by the enthusiastic clapping by their co-religionists throughout the large basement eating facility.

  Because he had made such an outburst to announce his arrival, Glen was unanimously elected to offer the blessing on the food. After dinner, Katherine Durrell–the de facto leader of the group’s search for history of the mysterious Alexandra Tarasova-Yusupov—was given the floor.

  “Sorry that I haven’t got anything dramatic to share tonight, but I do have something that Elder Durrell and I discovered in our research in the The Family History Library.”

  The library is a major genealogical research facility located at 35 North West Temple, in downtown Salt Lake City close to Temple Square and the Conference Building. The library is open to the public free of charge as an act of generosity for all the world and is operated by FamilySearch, the genealogical arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  The idea that something—anything—new had been discovered piqued the interest of the former missionaries.

  “What we found was something none of us would ever have imagined. Sister Bradshaw, as she was known then, met several times with a pair of Australasian missionaries, Elder J. Hales Young and Elder Samuel Randolph Phillip. Elder Young was on of the great greats of President Brigham Young, and Elder Phillip was one of the great, great greats of Admiral Arthur Phillip–the Royal Navy officer who became the first Governor of New South Wales. He founded the British penal colony that later became Sydney.

  “Both of those missionaries have passed on, unfortunately; but Elder Durrell and I were able to find their journals from their incredible missions back in the early 1900s. They described attending church with Mrs. Bradshaw in the basement bar of the Duke of Wellington Hotel on March 30, 1912. They even called her Sister Bradshaw, but still there is not record we could discover of her having ever been baptized into the church. For your interest, the mission was organized in 1851 as the Australian Mission then in 1854 was changed to the Australasian Mission, then it was again renamed the Australian Mission again in 1
898 when the New Zealand Mission was added. Charles Henry Hyde was the mission president during the period when Alexandra was in Australia. There were only something like 450 members in the whole country and maybe something like ten or eleven in all of Melbourne during that time.

  “The last known record of Sister Bradshaw—or Tarasova-Yusupov—as we know her–came from a short article in the general Melbourne newspaper, The Argus, on January 28, 1913. Here is a digital copy of the society section, Comings and Goings, on page eleven:”

  ‘A happy throng gathered at the First-Class section of the grand ocean liner, the SS Cameronia. Among the dignitaries at the gay send-off festivities were Frederic John Napier Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Denman 3rd Baron Denman, Governor-General of Australia, and James McGowen, outgoing Premier of New South Wales, and their wives, and Alexandra Bradshaw of this city, reputed to be one of the–if not the–richest women in the world. We wish all of them a save voyage whereever the winds and waves take them.’

  “This little article did not even indicate the destination of the voyage.”

  “Have you had a chance to check possible ports of call to see if a ship’s passenger list might give us a clue as to where she landed?” asked Sister Nedra Wright.

  “Nary a one,” answered Sister Katherine Durrell. “Glen and Marilyn Gabler pitched in to help. They are their stake’s genealogy experts and are very imaginative when it comes to finding locations, ships’, trains’, and bus, information. Together, we searched all the major European and Asian ports, Russian ports—with special emphasis on Vladivostok. No Bradshaw.”

  “Any luck with the names, Tarasova or Yusupov?” asked Peter Wright.

  “Nothing, zip, nada, zero, nichego.”

  “I hate to think it, but maybe we are defeated,” observed Sister Louise Nicholson.

  “As the Lord wills,” said Goeffrey Smedley, currently the patriarch in northern Utah.