 1873 - 1961 (88 years) Submit Photo / Document
Has more than 100 ancestors and 38 descendants in this family tree.
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| Name |
Sarah Ellen Bennett |
| Birth |
9 Feb 1873 |
Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
19 Jul 1893 |
MANTI |
 Census |
1900 |
Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States |
| Image | | Transcript |
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| Ln | Hhold | Given | Surname | Relation | Gender | Race | BirthDate | Age | Status | Years
Married | Children
Born/Living | BirthPlace | BirthPlace
of Father | BirthPlace
of Mother | Immigration
Year | Occupation |
|---|
| 48 | 1841 | Joseph L | Stott | Head | Male | White | Jun | 27 | Married | 0 | | | Utah | England | England | | | | 49 | 1841 | Sarah E | Stott | Wife | Female | White | Feb | 27 | Married | 0 | | | Utah | Tennessee | England | | | | 50 | 1841 | Joseph L | Stott | Son | Male | White | Oct | 5 | Single | 0 | | | Utah | Utah | Utah | | | | 1 | 1841 | Cleon B | Stott | Son | Male | White | Aug | 3 | Single | 0 | | | Utah | Utah | Utah | | | | 2 | 1841 | Melba E | Stott | Daughter | Female | White | Sep | 1 | Single | 0 | | | Utah | Utah | Utah | | |
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| FamilySearch ID |
KWC8-124 |
| Death |
13 Jun 1961 |
Provo, Utah, Utah, United States |
| Burial |
17 Jun 1961 |
Meadow Cemetery, Millard, Utah, United States |
| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Person ID |
I5198 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
Hiram Bell Bennett, b. 1 Mar 1823, Sumner, Tennessee, United States d. 17 Aug 1912, Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States (Age 89 years) |
| Mother |
Ellen Greenhalgh, b. 27 Jul 1851, Radcliffe, Lancashire, England d. 4 May 1890, Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States (Age 38 years) |
| Marriage |
4 Oct 1867 |
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
| Family ID |
F3662 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Joseph Lees Stott, b. 25 Jun 1872, Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States d. 27 May 1923, Fillmore, Millard, Utah, United States (Age 50 years) |
| Marriage |
19 Jul 1893 |
Manti, Sanpete, Utah, United States |
| Children |
| + | 1. Joseph Leo Stott, b. 28 Oct 1894, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States d. 25 Aug 1959, Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States (Age 64 years) |
| + | 2. Cleon Bennett Stott, b. 23 Aug 1896, Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States d. 17 Apr 1961, Fillmore, Millard, Utah, United States (Age 64 years) |
| + | 3. Melba Ellen Stott, b. 2 Sep 1898, Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States d. 15 Jan 1987, Provo, Utah, Utah, United States (Age 88 years) |
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| Family ID |
F3376 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
5 May 2024 |
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| Event Map |
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 | Birth - 9 Feb 1873 - Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States |
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 | Initiatory (LDS) - 19 Jul 1893 - MANTI |
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 | Marriage - 19 Jul 1893 - Manti, Sanpete, Utah, United States |
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| Census - 1900 - Meadow, Millard, Utah, United States |
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 | Death - 13 Jun 1961 - Provo, Utah, Utah, United States |
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 | Burial - 17 Jun 1961 - Meadow Cemetery, Millard, Utah, United States |
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| Notes |
- Sarah Ellen Bennett Stott
1873 - 1961
Autobiography written 29 Nov 1958
I, Sarah Ellen Bennett Stott, was born February 9, 1873, the daughte r o f Hiram Bell Bennett (born March 1, 1823 in Nashville, Tennessee), an d El len Greenhalgh Bennett (born 27 July 1852 in England). My father wa s a p olygamist and my mother was his second wife. He was old enough t o be he r father, having been born the same year as her father was. My m other wa s 16 years of age when they were married in 1868. Her first chi ld, Jess e J. Bennett, was born when she was 18. I was the third child i n a famil y of eleven children (7 girls and 4 boys). They were born in t he followi ng order: Jesse J., George A., myself, Esther P., Mary A., Luc y B., Minni e M., Clara Marinda, Edith Ann, Albert Eli, and Peter Presto n (1888). W e were all born in the same bed, the same corner of the room , and in th e same house, which is located in Meadow, West of Cleon Stott ’s barn an d is now owned by Var Cleon Stott, a grandson. The eleven o f us were bor n over a period of 19 years. Mother died of typhoid pneumo nia when Prest on was one and a half years old. Father’s first wife, wh o was 73 years o ld at the time, raised us after mother died. “Grandma” , as we called her , lived to be 86 years old. I was the only child marr ied at the time “Gr andma” died. My mother had always called her “Mother ”. At the time of h er death I was living in Provo while my husband wa s going to school.
I grew up as all children do, without much knowledge of my life. Abou t t he first thing I can remember was when I was about four years old, Jo e Da me, a neighbor, asked me if I would like to go to Fillmore with him . H e was going up with a load of grain to the flour mill to get some fl our . That was the way everyone did when they needed flour. They too k a loa d of wheat to Fillmore and traded it for a new supply of flour . They pu t it into two bushel sacks and would empty it into large flou r bins whe n they got home. We did not get it in fifty pounds as they d o now. At h ome we had a big long porch (three rooms length) and our bi n was on tha t porch. Our large family had Saloradus (soda) biscuits eve ry morning . I was really disappointed by I had to tell Joe Dame I could n’t go beca use my clothes were too ragged. I remember that ragged dres s now just a s it looked then 82 years ago.
I was baptized on 11 June 1882 in a creek northwest of town by Hinden Ad a ms and confirmed by William Probert of Scipio, who was in Meadow at th e t ime preaching.
I started school at the age of six. “Grandma” Martha S. Bennett and Sar a h Stott (Allison Stott’s mother) were my teachers. Two teachers taugh t i n the same room. Our school was a one-room log house, where Tom Reay ’s h ouse now stands and it was also the meeting house for one year. I r ememb er the following teachers: John Neild, George Ramsay, Hannah Hanse n (Moth er of Stella Day), and Hyrum Beckstrand. Hyrum Beckstrand was fo ur year s older than I and I particularly remember him as a teacher becau se he ha d us sing a solo “A Bird With a Broken Pinion Will Never Soar S o High Aga in”. Our studies were reading, writing, and arithmetic “taug ht to the t une of a hickory stick”. We made our own chewing gum out o f resin. We w ould chew for awhile and then let the next person chew; th e more we chewe d, the sweeter it got.
One day I was on my way to Fillmore in a wagon with a group of girls wh e n Eliza Bushnell dropped one of the lines. I was afraid the wagon wou l d tip over, so I jumped out to stop the horses and broke my leg. I wa s l aid up for nine months.
It was at this time that we had trouble because my father practiced poly g amy. The government stationed three big U.S. Marshals at our home. Th e y arrived in the middle of the night. Two stood outside with big club s a nd one came in and watched the house hoping to catch father. I had j us t broken my leg a week or so before. One of them looked in the dresse r d rawer (evidently looking for father) and I said “What kind of fello w do y ou think he is?” They arrested all of the children that could test ify aga inst him. They couldn’t take me because of my broken leg. The y didn’t f ind him that night. They had a pre-hearing in Provo. I stil l have som e of the dishes they gave me for staying home and seeing to th e other chi ldren that couldn’t go. I was about 14 years old. Father ha d been hidin g in the ditch East of Meadow. They found him later comin g from the tith ing office to our home which was just through the fence.
I remember once in my childhood I was going out with a boy my father did n ’t want me to. In order to stop me he grabbed the rolling pin from th e f lour bin on the porch and held it over me as if to strike me.
Because my father was Bishop of our Ward we had many Mormon leaders co m e and stay in our house. I especially remember when Brigham Young cam e t o visit us. He always had fancy gloves and hats. He would bring hi s wiv es and other important people in his party (two or three buggy load s). W hen the women would take off their fancy hats and wraps, we girl s would t ake them to their room and try them on. When Lorenzo Snow came , he alway s put on a nightcap before going to bed. We all thought he lo oked so fun ny. The women always wore nightcaps with strings under thei r chins in or der to keep their heads warm in the cold rooms, but very se ldom did we se e a man in one.
Even though my father was Bishop for many years we always had coffee i n t he morning. He chewed tobacco until the day he died. He had been ra ise d on a tobacco farm in Tennessee. We never heard about the Word of W isdo m in those days. I remember some of the Apostles and Church leader s smok ed pipes and cigars when they came down and stayed over night at o ur hous e. It wasn’t until Heber J. Grant’s time that we heard much abou t the Wo rd of Wisdom.
“Grandmother” and I went to Fillmore to live so that I could continu e m y schooling at the Millard Academy. We stayed just part of one yea r . I was about fifteen years old. We took some Meadow boys along who l iv ed with us. My teachers were Alma Greenwood, Joshua Greenwood, Benjam i n Cluff and Mrs Walsh. Benjamin Cluff was principal. They were very g oo d teachers and knew how to make us work. I got Hyrum Beckstrand’s spe lli ng and definitions for him while he got arithmetic for me. Of cours e , I never got very far in figures.
My formal education ended that year. At that time I started to work o u t doing housework for women in town at $1.50 per week, or did washin g o n a scrubbing board for fifth cents a day. After finishing the washi n g I would scrub a big wood floor. We didn’t know about linoleum then.
One springtime I left home to work for the first time. I went to work f o r Mrs Hinckley at Cove Fort. It was a long way in those days, taking a l l day to go. I stayed about three weeks and was so homesick I just ha d t o come home. They sent me home in a two-wheeled card drawn by one ho rse . I was never so happy to get home. It was right after this that m y mot her had a bad cold and about a week later it developed into pneumon ia. S he died the 4th of May 1890.
Even though I went to work early, Father had always been a good provide r . We never went hungry and he always hired out much of his work.
At this time I was keeping company with Joseph L. Stott. We went togeth e r about six years. He never got very far from home while courting beca us e walking was our only way of travel. He used to come and see me Wedn esd ay and Sunday nights. When there happened to be a dance we got to g o ou t on Friday nigh too. I well remember the first time he came to as k to g o anywhere with him. I was on top of the house putting apples u p to dry . I had been peeling apples and was bare-footed. The dress I h ad on wa s so stiff with apple juice that it would have stood alone.
I worked for my future husband’s folks for three months. In the year 18 9 3, Joseph went to Nevada to shear sheep to make our wedding stake. I n ev er kissed him until we were engaged. On July 19, 1893, when I was twe nt y years old and Joe was twenty-one, we were married in the Manti Templ e . It took us three days to travel by covered wagon to Manti for the we dd ing. There were five of us who went: my brother George, my sister Mar y , Ellen Stewart (George’s girl friend), and the two of us. It took u s th ree days to return home by way of Clear Creek. We took our own gru b bo x and slept out on the ground two nights.
When we were a young married couple, we used to dance in Joe’s father’ s b arn (Charlie Swallow’s now) and in an old school house with an orga n an d a fiddle as our music. My husband always had a wonderful sense o f humo r. One night after a party in the Meadow Ward, my brother George , and hi s wife Bessie Joe and I left and went down to my brother Jesse’ s house . We got a quart of Loganberry Wine. One of the men put his ha t over th e bottle of wine and as we drank it, waited, and go a thrill ou t of the w ine. Joe would say “hat’s off” when we wanted another drink . This was b efore the Word of Wisdom was stressed as much.
A short time after we were married Joe wanted to go back to school in Pr o vo. He had attended one year previous to our marriage. The B. Y. Acad em y was down by the railroad station in an old warehouse. We took all o u r belongings which included a little four holed stove, some bedding, et c . Actually we didn’t have very many things. We loaded them onto a hay ra ck and started on our journey which took us four days. My brother Jes s e went with us. We stopped in Nephi the second night and Joe was terri bl y sick all night long and fainted.
Joe went to school two years. We would go home in the summer so tha t h e could farm. In order to stay in school we rented two rooms (on e a slan t-off and a front room) for $3.00 a month and took in five board ers. The y furnished the grub and paid the rent, and I did the cooking , washing, a nd ironing for seventy-five cents a week plus my grub free . I did all th e washing on the scrubbing board. The boarders slept i n the slant-off ro om and Joe and I slept in the front room, and also use d for eating, washi ng and other work. One Sunday morning the boarders h ad to leave becaus e I knew that the baby I was expecting was coming an d that was the only p lace I had to deliver it. We were surely happy whe n our first boy, Leo , arrived. He was born October 28, 1894. My siste r Esther came up to he lp me for awhile.
I didn’t put Leo in pants until he was six. He had ringlets until the n t oo. I shined his shoes every night and always maintained that you co ul d tell the character of a person by the look in his eyes and the way h e k ept his shoes.
Once when coming home from school for the holidays we camped in Scipi o . They had a log house called “Camp House”. That night there were ni n e men and myself camping there. They made a long bed the length of th e f loor and put me at the end, with Joe next, and George, my brother, ne xt . In the night I got so cold I climbed in between Joe and George.
While attending school Joe was called on a mission. He didn’t feel he c o uld go at that time because he didn’t have a place for us to live in wh il e he was gone. The Church Authorities said they would release him fro m g oing until he could make preparations and get ready, but before the y ea r was up (in February) he received another call. I told him to accep t it . It was surely a hard decision to make because we didn’t have a th ing . He had left school after his first call and we had gone home befor e sc hool was out.
After we came home Joe taught school during the winter in the daytime a n d spent the evenings building a house for his family. He made a mud ma ch ine in order to make mud bricks for the house. It was like a shaft wi t h paddles and he used broncos to keep the machine going around. He ha d t o break quite a few broncos before he could use the machine. Joe Bec kstr and and my brother, Jess Bennett, helped him. They put the mud in m old s to dry, then laid them in a kiln and burnt them to bricks. Joe als o we nt to a saw mill and sawed his own lumber. The water was so low tha t h e would have to wait for the mill race to fill before going on. Whil e i t was filling he would go find trees, cut logs and them go back to th e mi ll race and saw the logs for the lumber. It was really a job to bui ld ou r two-roomed house. The house still stands. My grand-daughter, Cl oa Ric hards, lived in it for some time. We moved into our new home thre e week s before Joe left for his mission.
I was left with only five cents in the house. He had mortgaged the ho m e to a fellow in Meadow for money enough to do him on his mission. H e co uld only get about $250. I worked for anybody I could - sewing, mak ing s oap, etc., and I didn’t touch a penny of the money he had for his m ission . He auctioned his only horse and got a little money, but laced $ 5.00 o f the amount needed to get in the mission in California, with head quarter s in San Francisco. Ben Goddard loaned him the $5.00.
When Joe left in the Spring for his mission I was expecting our second c h ild. Leo was just a little over a year. Seven months after he left Cl eo n was born on August 23, 1896, the year Utah became a State. People a ske d Joe how he got a baby having been away from home. He told them tha t h e had good ward teachers. Elizabeth E. Stewart, a mid-wife, delivere d Cl eon and took care of me. She charged $5.00 which I had saved up fro m m y work. When I went to pay her, she refused to take it. I told he r I gu essed I would have to give her the baby. She finally got him a s a son-in -law.
The closest flood that every happened in Meadow was on the 12th of Jul y a nd Cleon was born the following August. He had a lot of hair and i t stoo d straight up. People would come in and ask what was wrong with h is hai r and I would tell them that he got scared of the flood and it nev er cam e down again. My sister, Marinda, lived with me most of the tim e Joe wa s gone.
In order to buy a baby buggy I dried fruit, made soap and sewed. I carr i ed plums (which were given to me by Brother John Gull) four blocks in t h e daytime and cut them at night and laid them on boards so they would d ry . I sold them to the store for three cents a pound. After much har d wor k I finally got the nice baby buggy and a dish cupboard. I had t o hav e a substantial buggy for the two babies because I had to take the m wit h me everywhere I went. No one knew what a struggle it was. I did n’t co mplain to anyone. When Joe came home and saw my garments and the y were a ll patched on top of each other, he cried because he hadn’t know n. I ha d never told him about the hardships. I had a sugar bowl full o f sugar u p in the cupboard and didn’t dare touch it because I was afrai d someone w ould come in and I would have to prepare food, so I saved i t for company . I was as “poor” as a “skinned owl”.
After Joe had been on his mission a year and a half, Howard Bushnell we n t out from Meadow and reported what a difficult time we were having a t ho me, so they released Joe. When he got back I didn’t even weight 10 0 poun ds.
Joe came home in July and taught school in Kanosh for the next five year s . We lived there the first year and from then on, for four years, he t ra veled back and forth, coming home on week-ends.
When Cleon was 18 months old, on Christmas Eve, he drank chloroform an d s eemed absolutely dead. Joe came home and made coffee and poured dow n hi m and he vomited. Then they put him in hot water baths and then col d wat er baths and rubbed him over and over. It took him all day to com e out o f it. He wore ringlets until he drank the chloroform. After tha t he wa s covered with sores all over his body so we had to cut his hair.
Our last child, our only daughter, was born September 2, 1898, nearl y a y ear and a half after Joe’s return from the mission. I got pregnan t wit h Melba while Joe was teaching school in Kanosh and he said “Ther e wasn’ t a thing wrong with me but Kanosh water”. The night before sh e was bor n I felt miserable and didn’t sleep much, but I didn’t complai n becaus e I wanted Joe to get his rest. Our house had two rooms and a h allway . I got up and was waiting in the hallway facing west in a rocker . Jo e asked me what was the matter and I said, “Nothing, only what wa s to be” . He went to the store and the baby was here while he was away . I ha d a mid-wife helping. I though she was such a lovely baby. Whe n Melba’ s first baby was born I took it harder than I did for my own.
After Joe taught school seven years we went back to school at the B.Y. A c ademy for one year. It was then located on the lower campus (Room D ) o n Fifth North and University Avenue in Provo. We traveled on a hayra ck t his trip and trailed a cow behind us. Every day the cow would bloa t up a nd we would have to stop and give the cow coal oil. It took fou r long da ys to make the journey. We had the two little boys and the bab y girl wit h us on this trip. When we arrived we rented a house from Dr . Zimmerman . It was a busy time for me. I took in ten boarders and w e had five o f our own to feed. I boarded them for $20.00 a month.
After Joe finished we returned home. We trailed the cow back and whe n w e got her home she got in the lucern and went in Al Duncan’s chicke n coo p and died. I cried like a baby when “Old Min” died because she me ant s o much to us. We needed her milk for the three little children.
When Melba was eight years of age and I was thirty-three, I had to g o t o Salt Lake City to have an operation in the L.D.S. Hospital. Marth a Bus hnell took care of my children wile I was away. I was in the hospi tal th ree weeks. I wrote my husband and told him the doctor said I coul d go ho me when he came for me, so he came and I told the nurse I could g o home . The doctor hadn’t released me, so when the doctor went to the h ospita l and found I was gone he looked all over Salt Lake for me. Whe n he foun d me he said I sure took my life in my hands.
We took the train down after the operation from Salt Lake to Clear Lak e ( about 40 miles from Meadow). Joe put me in the back of a covered spr in g wagon with a mattress in back. He had to carry me in because I was s o w eak. After my return my sister, Edith, stayed with me.
During my life I have held offices in the Church as counselor in the Pri m ary, President in the Primary at the time of my operation, so had to b e r eleased; Secretary in the Relief Society for three presidents ove r a peri od of 25 years (Elisabeth Stewart, Mary Bushnell, and Albertin a Fisher) ; and President of the M.I.A. for five years. I was Presiden t of the M.I .A. when the first Gold and Green Ball was started. Leona B ennett was th e queen. She borrowed all the jewelry there was in town . We made her dr ess out of gold and green paper. It was very pretty.
At the time of World War I (1918) Cleon was on a mission and Leo was i n t he army. Melba and I had to take their place on the farm. Melba plo we d with seven head of horses and a mule all day and I planted all the g rai n (320 acres). I drove three horses on the grain drill.
My husband was elected Assessor of Millard County and held the job for t w o years. I was his secretary until he died at fifty years of age. M y so n, Leo9, took his place as Assessor for 7 ½ years and I stayed on a s hi s deputy and secretary. I did all the descriptions of all the lan d in Mi llard County with a Spenserian pen.
Six weeks before Joe died I had a premonition of his death. I felt i t s o terrifically strong that I just couldn’t even go with him to a cele brat ion up at Fillmore of the laying of the last spike of railroad fro m Sal t Lake to Fillmore. I got on my horse and roamed the hills all da y Eas t of Meadow.
He died of a ruptured appendix. I went to Fillmore and stayed ten day s a nd nights at his side when he was so ill. He said one night that i f he c ould just make it until morning, he would be all right. I had al l of th e children come up and he died the next day about 11 o’clock on M ay 27, 1 923.
Joe and I had planned for a long time to take a trip together, but befo r e we made it he died.
After the death of my husband I started to do a little traveling. My fi r st trip was taken to Coronado, California with my daughter and her husb an d to an insurance convention. This was in 1923. In the year 1930 I m ad e my first trip to Canada, spent three weeks and worked in the Temple . L ater I went with Dan and Melba to Detroit, Michigan by bus and we dr ov e a new car back. While there we went on a boat from Detroit, Michiga n t o St. Paul, Minnesota. A bad storm came up and Melba so sick. I fel t fi ne.
At the time of the World’s Fair I went to San Francisco to another insur a nce convention with Dan and Melba. We visited all of the exhibits ou t o n Treasure Island where the Fair was held. During World War II, I we nt t o Pensacola, Florida with my sister, Miranda and her son, Ted, by ca r an d came back by bus. After that I took a trip to Seattle, Washingto n by b us. When Ted Sorensen was stationed on Whitby Island in 1944 we v isite d him and went on a ship to Victoria, Canada. My next trip was wit h my g rand-daughter, Leola, by bus to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The tw o of u s then went down to Texas where Merrill, my grandson was on a miss ion a t San Antonia (Spanish American Mission). I ate my first Mexican f ood an d liked it. I liked the Mexican people and they seemed to like me . Merr ill promised me many times after that that he would take me to Me xico, wh ich he later did.
When I was 75 I took a tour with the Vida Fox Clawson Tour group (1949 ) . I was listening to the radio one day while I worked when I heard a b ro adcast about a tour that was leaving Salt Lake in a few days for point s E ast. I dropped a card in the mail asking for details. In the meanti m e I tried to find someone else to go with me, but everyone was too bus y a t the time. So I decided “I can speak English, I’m in good health, s o I’ m going to make the trip by myself”.
We left October 4th on the D & RG railroad and went to Denver and the n t o Kansas City, Missouri, where we saw Liberty Jail, the grave of Davi d Wh itmer, Monument of the Three Witnesses, The Reorganized Church Taber nacle , Church of Christ, the Temple site and many other interesting thin gs. T hen we went to Chicago where we visited Shedd Aquarium, Akler Plan etarium , Field Museum, Marshall Field’s Store, and had dinner at Jane Ad ams’ Hul l House. After leaving Chicago we went to Cleveland and motore d to Kirtl and where we visited the Kirtland Temple and drove along Lak e Erie. Trav eling from there to Niagara Falls which we viewed from th e Canadian side , we saw the Rainbow Bridge. The falls were beautiful li ghted with 1,380 ,000,000 candle power. We left Cleveland and arrived th at evening in Gen eva, New York. We motored to Peter Whitmer’s farm an d through the lovel y country-side to the Hill Cumorah. We held a testim ony meeting at the S acred Grove. Our next stop was at the Martin Harri s farm., which was mor tgaged to obtain money with which to pay for the p rinting of the Book o f Mormon. Next stop was Boston where we visited al l the spots of Interes t including Bunker Hill Monument, Paul Revere’s ho use and went to Lexingt on, Concord, and the Old North Bridge. We visite d the homes of Longfello w, Lowell, Hawthorne, Emerson and Louisa May Alc ott. In New York City w e went out sight seeing which included Columbi a University, Central Park , Grant’s Tomb, Rockefeller Center, China Town , etc. In Philadelphia w e saw the Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, etc . Points of interest tha t we saw in the Washington DC area were Mount V ernon, Old Georgetown, Arl ington Cemetery, The White House, the Nationa l Art Gallery and the Govern ment buildings.
On the way home we stopped at Detroit and the Ford Plant, Iowa, Cartha g e Jail, Nauvoo, saw the homes of many of the early Mormon leaders and s a w the graves of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith. This whole trip was a w on derful thrill for me. We arrived home October 22.
I took three trips with Melba and Dan to San Francisco to see my grandso n s Merrill, Stott, and Fred while they were attending Stanford Universi t y in Palo Alto. On the second trip Fred was leaving for a Mission to S ou th America and we went to Van Couver, B.C. to see him off.
At 84 I went on my promised trip to Mexico with my grandson, Merrill a n d his wife, Lucille, my daughter, Melba, and my son-in-law, Dan. We vi si ted Hermosillo, Guaymas, and other small Mexican towns. It was my fir s t trip to a foreign sneaking country and it all interested me very muc h . Many of my relatives thought I shouldn’t go and I did get extremel y ti red, but when I returned I said if I died the next day it would hav e bee n worth it. While on this trip we stayed in Tucson and Phoenix als o.
During my lifetime I have been quite a horsewoman. I rode horses bareba c k, sideways and made them lope. I used to ride that way to the tow n . I have ridden many different horses through the years. I have als o ra ised hundreds of pet lambs - the ones the ewes wouldn’t own. I woul d rai se them on cows milk and made a little money from them. I didn’t q uit mi lking cows until I was 83. When I needed milk I would go out an d milk th e cows.
As I recall I have never had one bit of difficulty with my mother-in-la w , or my step-mother, and have always gotten along with my daughters-in- la w. I have tried to always get along with all people.
Through the years I have made many things for my children, grandchildr e n and great-grandchildren. At the age of 78 I made my first afghan f o r a granddaughter, Leola George. This started me on an afghan caree r . I have made 24 of them since. I have set 43 double wedding ring qui lt s together. I have made 10 of these and quilted them for my ten grand dau ghters. I have crochet since I was 13 years old. I still have a pil lo w that I made when I was 14 years of age at the time I had my broken l eg . It is black velvet with yarn flowers. It is now 72 years old. I t wou ld take rooms and rooms to put all the handiwork I have done in . I hav e made most of my grandchildren 3 quilts each and have done eve r so man y for my three children. I still spend days and days quilting f or the Re lief Society. Since I turned 85 I have made three large quilts , 5 baby q uilts and 2 afghans (one for Tom Swallow and one for Lillian B ooth, my gr anddaughter’s (by marriage) mother).
I have been a lover of flowers all my life. In the summer time to g o t o Grandma’s was always a beautiful sight. Even at the age of 85 my f lowe rs are still a part of me. I rise early and always find weeding t o do . I am still active for my age. I have always loved to go to show s an d to travel. I still live alone and do my own house work.
Now at almost 86 I am giving my history to those interested. I am pro u d to have three fine children, 17 grandchildren, and 49 great-grandchil dr en (29 are Leo’s grandchildren, 15 are Cleon’s and 6 are Melbas.) A s I l ook back now my philosophy of life through the years has been “I wo uld ra ther wear out than rust out”.Postscript by daughter, Melba Stott B ushnell
Mother was a widow for 38 years and it seemed she spent that part of h e r life in doing good for others. She spent many hours helping young mo th ers, when they would have sickness or at fruit canning time. There wa sn’ t a woman in Meadow who did not receive a crocheted handkerchief sh e ha d done. She cooked many meals and took them into homes where sickne ss wa s.
My oldest brother Leo died of cancer in 1959, a year after Mother had gi v en this life’s history. And then two years later in 1961, my older bro th er Cleon was killed when the tractor he was driving on his farm overtu rne d on him. These two tragedies were very hard on Mother and she was n ot t he same after.
Cleon died in April 1961, Mother was 88 and in May 1961, the following m o nth, Mother became bedfast and the doctor said she was dying of a brok e n heart and old age so all we could do was to keep her comfortable .
I stayed with her in her home at Meadow for some time then I brought h e r up to my home here in Provo where she died six weeks later, June 14 , 19 61. At that time she had 16 grandchildren, 53 great grandchildren , an d 1 great great grandchildren.
Mother died as she had lived - nobly, patiently, and thankful for all th a t was done for her. She was loved by everyone that knew her and she lo ve d them in return.
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Has more than 100 ancestors and 38 descendants in this family tree.
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