Circumstantial evidence suggest that Ann crossed the plains with her son John in 1848 under the surname Smith. Ann Bocking was born in Derbyshire, England on 27 July 1799. She and a William Smith both received Patriarchal Blessings on 25 October 1841 at Manchester, England. The Nauvoo Record of Members shows an "Anna" Smith together with William and John Smith. On 6 April 1846 Ann Smith and William Smith received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple. According to a document entitled Cutler's Park & Winter Quarter's Burials at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, William Smith, husband of Ann Smith died 29 January 1847. A Sarah Smith Fifield crossed the plains in the Brigham Young Company of 1848; Ann Smith was probably related to her because Sarah's son, William John Fifield appeared with Ann and her new husband, Joseph Billington, in the 1856 Iowa census. Joseph was also in the 1848 Brigham Young Company. "Anna" and John Smith were re-baptized at Salt Lake City 28 April 1850 and they both appear in the household of Joseph Billington in the 1850 Utah census (taken early in 1851). On 18 September 1851, Ann "Bucking" Billington (b. 27 July 1799) received another Patriarchal Blessing at Salt Lake City.
At the back of the Far West and Nauvoo Elder’s Certificates volume is a record of church members and their children living in Nauvoo fromf 1842 to 1846.