- Born 20 February 1850 in Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Died 28 September 1943 in Nampa, Idaho
- Excellent seamtress
- shrewed busines woman
MARY MARINDA GARNER CHADWICK
Born 20 February 1850, Died 28 September 1943
Written by Dora Dutson Flack, a Great-granddaughter
Parentage and Birth
Young David Gamer lived in the small town of Lima, Illinois, situated 25
miles south of Nauvoo. In the fall of 1839 he joined the new Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Lima, David met Dolly Durfee who lived in Yelrome,
the Mormon settlement about three miles distant.
David and Dolly were married on 10 October 1842. (The family Bible
records the marriage date as 22 October 1842. An Archive sheet states 18
October 1842, but the Temple Index Bureau states 10 October 1842. This is the
date we'll use.)
Dolly's parents, Edmund and Magdalena (Delana) Pickle Durfee had been
staunch persecuted members of the Church since their baptisms in 1831.
Surprisingly young Dolly was not baptized before their marriage, and David did
not baptize her until a year later, October 1843.
By then they
were already enjoying their first baby:
1.
Louisa Jane, born 12 July 1843, near Lima.
Less than a year later, the Saints were shocked beyond expression when
the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered by the mob in
Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844. A few days later Dolly delivered their second
baby:
2.
Fannie Marilla, born 2 July 1844, near Lima.
No one was safe in the area. Then tragedy consumed the family when
Dolly's father,Edmund Durfee, was killed 15 November 1845 by the mob at his
home in Yelrome (also called Morley's Settlement). His home was burned to the
ground.
Hoping for better protection, David and Dolly moved to Nauvoo where their
first son was born:
3. David Edmund, born 10 January 1846 (named for his recently deceased
Grandfather Edmund Durfee).
Soon David and Dolly crossed the river from Nauvoo with many other
saints, fleeing to Council Bluffs.
At that time the Mormon Battalion was organized to march westward to
protect the southern border of the United States. David joined the Battalion
and left Dolly and their three little ones with the main body of Church members
living at Council Bluffs. The small family lived in a covered wagon on the
banks of Mosquito Creek while their father was gone.
David stayed behind the main body of soldiers because of illness and also
to assist other sick ones, including his brother. Instead of marching clear to
the west coast with the main Battalion, he and his brother, with others from
the Sick Detachment, took a shortcut to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving 29 July
1847, five days after the first body of Saints entered the Valley.
After
working in the Valley a short time to assist with the initial settlement, David
returned to Council Bluffs. His family remained there about five years and two
more babies arrived:
4. William Franklin, born 12 December 1848
5. Mary Marinda, born 20 February 1850.
Heading West
When baby Mary Marinda was only a few months old, the family packed their
covered wagon, furnished with only one bed and very few additional commodities,
and started west for the Salt Lake Valley. Louisa, the eldest child, was only
7. Five little ones in one wagon became a real challenge, but they arrived
safely in September with Capt. Benjamin Brown's Company.
Even after such a lengthy journey to the Valley, they continued on to
Ogden Fort. The following spring of 1851 David moved his family to what is now
known as North Ogden where they became some of the earliest settlers in that
area. Here Mary Marinda grew up.
Her father built a one-room home, equipped with a fireplace, two beds,
two trundle beds and
other meager
household furnishings. As the needs of the family grew, so did the home, and it
finally became a lovely two-story rock and brick structure.
Life in North Ogden
Necessity made the pioneers self-sustaining. Mother Dolly's ingenuity was
frequently taxed in order to supply necessary clothing for her growing brood of
children. She even cut up the canvas wagon cover which had protected them from
the hot prairie sun. Marilla remembered and cherished the canvas dress her
mother sewed for her. Possibly her sisters also proudly wore their canvas
dresses made
from the same wagon cover.
At North Ogden, when baby Mary Marinda was only 18 months old, another
little sister was
welcomed
into the family:
6. Nancy Jane, born 7 September 1851.
When Nancy was only ten months old, she fell into a boiler full of hot
water and died 25 July
1852, as a
result of the scalding.
Ten months later another baby girl arrived:
7. Amelia Jane, born 10 May 1853. (This
baby was named Jane, to honor her older sister who had died.)
During the winter of 1856 the settlers had little to eat and would have
starved to death
without the
precious sego bulbs.
Dolly's family was completed with another son and daughter, also born in
North Ogden:
8. Charles Henry, born 16 April1856.
9. Lydia, born 2 March 1858.
Mary Marinda, along with her older sisters, learned early to assist their
mother in endless household tasks. They even made their own cloth for clothing,
sheets and other household needs. Flax
was raised from which they spun and wove cloth. Wool was carded and then woven
into fabric. Sage was boiled to provide
color for their homespun cloth, which produced a yellowish brown tone. They knitted their own stockings and mittens
from homemade yam. Homemade moccasins protected their feet, and skins and furs
were stitched into jackets, coats and bed covers. When cloth became more plentiful,
the girls learned the art of quilt-making.
Father Gamer successfully operated a farm of about 50 acres where he
planted necessary vegetables and grains as well as a large orchard. Preparation
of food for winter use was part of Mary
Marinda's
early education.
Because of the demands of survival, school time was limited. Mary Marinda
took advantage
of her few
opportunities and absorbed readin', writin', and 'rithmetic. In later years she
was almost the sole educator for some of her own older children.
The winters were severe during those early years, with food for people
and livestock at a premium. Indians also became troublesome. Consequently the
saints gave away much of their sparse food to reconcile the Indians. During one
winter they even removed the straw from their mattresses to feed the stock.
Mary Marinda was only seven years old when Johnston's Army arrived in
1857. She remembered well the Garner family traveling "south" at
Brigham Young's order, through Salt Lake City, passing deserted houses ready
for the torch in case the Army entered the Valley. When the trouble was finally
averted, the Garner family returned to North Ogden to resume their normal lifestyle.
Marriage and Early Homes
When Mary Marinda was only 14 years of age, she began "keeping
company" with a neighbor boy in North Ogden, Abraham Chadwick. When she
was almost 17, they were married in North Ogden on 13 December 1866. They
quickly bought a farm near the .home of Mary Marinda's parents' where Abe built
a one-room cabin. In North Ogden their first baby was born: (M M is the
reference for Mary Marinda's children.)
M M 1. Mary Ann, born 23 September 1867.
When Mary
Ann was only 14 months old her baby brother was born:
M M 2. William Abraham, born 26 November 1868, followed by
3.
Emily, born 25 September 1870.
During Mary Marinda' s early married life, and especially during
confinements, a neighbor girl, Olive Ann Cazier, walked barefoot across the
fields to assist. Polygamy was being practiced by some of the Latter-day
Saints. Since Mary Marinda's hands were so full, she suggested to Abe that he
take Olive Ann as his second wife. On 21 November 1870 the three young people
attended the Endowment House where both young women were sealed to Abe.
This gave him time to build a second home of two rooms before Ann's
family started. Since she and Mary Marinda were so congenial, this time-sharing
under one roof was not difficult. Both families expanded quickly.
Olive Ann's family began, and two houses were really needed in a hurry:
Ann 1. Celestia, born
28 January 1872.
Mary Marinda's family also increased:
M M 4. Louisa Jane,
born 14 February 1873.
That autumn Ann gave birth to twins:
Ann 2. Joseph, born 27
September 1873.
3. Hyrum, also born 27 September 1873.
On the way to Park Valley Mary Marinda delivered another little boy:
M M 5. Albert, born 27
April1875.
This baby was born on the way to Park Valley, but he died soon after.
They buried him at Bear River City and continued on to Park Valley. They rented
a home from Joe Heller where they lived that summer. In the fall, they returned
to North Ogden.
Back at North Ogden, Ann's fourth baby arrived:
Ann 4. Olive Permelia,
born 26 August 1876.
While still
living at North Ogden, but anticipating a move to Park Valley, Mary Marinda brought
another addition to the family:
M M 6. Charles, born 5 September 1876.
With eight living children under the age of 11, sharing such small
quarters at North Ogden became a serious space problem. Abe was a laborer on
the railroad. Park Valley seemed more inviting than ever. In the spring of 1877,
they sold their North Ogden property to Mary Marinda' s father, who lived
nearby, and moved to Park Valley where they acquired a farm. The children helped
clear the sagebrush :fi:,gm the land and Abe quickly built a one-room log
house. Shortly he moved Ann and her family to Park Valley and built for her
another one-room house close by. Then Abe connected the two houses with log
slabs. This middle room became the kitchen for Mary Marinda whose family was
larger.
Later Abe homesteaded another farm and built a four-room shingled duplex
with wood floors. The walls were papered
with fancy pasteboard wallpaper. This was a fine home for that period of time.
Mary Marinda lived in one side and Olive Ann in the other. Abe acquired a third
homestead and built a three-room home for Mary Marinda and two rooms for Ann,
with a shingled roof and wood floors. Three beds were placed in the bedroom.
One was a trundle bed with very short legs and could be pushed underneath
another bed during the daytime. The springs on the beds were made of ropes
strung back and forth around pegs. When the ropes began to sag, they were
pulled tighter.
During these years at Park Valley, the family continued to expand: '
M M 7. Edward, born 14
April1879. He died the same day.
8. Lydia, born 7
April1880 .
9. John Gamer, born 6
September 1882.
10. David, born 29
January 1885.
11. Eva, born 18
August 1888.
12. George Alonzo, born
29 November 1890.
Ann 5. Benjamin, born
3 November 1878.
6. Viola, born 9 May
1881.
7. Frederick Richard,
born 29 June 1883.
8. Isabell, born 14
September 1885.
9. Henry, born 10
January 1888.
This made a total of 21 children born to these two faithful wives. The
children were treated as one family and were never referred to as half-brothers
and half-sisters. Three of the boys died while babies, and Mary Marinda's David
died of appendicitis at 11 years of age.
With such a large family to care for, Mary Marinda sewed constantly. She
acquired the first
sewing
machine in the whole valley-a Howell--and became a skillful seamstress,
actually making all
the clothing
for the big family. Later Olive Ann bought a Singer sewing machine.
Mary Marinda made cheese which they sold in the valley. Obtaining rennet
was an unusual process. A young calf was killed after having been tied up so it
couldn't eat anything. The following morning
it was killed. Its first stomach was full of rennet, or curd, which could be
used for about a year to make cheese by putting a piece of the curd in milk.
Cooking for so many was endless. How could she ever find additional time
to work in the yard and with crops and livestock? But she did. It was possible
because the whole family shared these responsibilities.
The Chadwicks owned about 25 acres. After milking the cows, the milk was
strained into large round pans. As the cream rose to the top, it was skimmed
off and made into butter. The family made about 80 pounds of butter per week
and sold it to the hotel in Kelton, about 13 miles away, and Terrace, some 3
miles distant. One summer alone they stored 1600 pounds of butter in barrels in
the cellar. During the winter they shipped it to Terrace.
Abe was a prosperous stockman which required many trips to Chicago. At
one time Mary Marinda contracted a skin disease on her hands which curtailed
working much in the house. To help her, Abe
brought back from Chicago to Park Valley a beautiful young girl in her early
20's, Anna Seibenaller, who was not a member of the church.
A Change of Life
No doubt the traveling and observing city life changed Abe's viewpoint.
The city became attractive, especially Salt Lake City. In about 1898 he
purchased an attractive home at 922 E. 2nd South. At Abe's
insistence Mary Marinda lived there one unhappy winter. Most of the members of her
large family were married by then, leaving only four at home. She actually
enjoyed hard work and missed the rigors of farm life. City life was not her
dish, and she refused to remain in Salt Lake City. Most of Ann's family was
still at home and probably remained in Park Valley on the farm.
Mary Marinda was extremely frugal by nature. She loved rummage sales, but
her "bargains" irritated Abe who was able to provide the best for her
because of his now-prosperous cattle business. Conversely
Abe's extravagances irritated Mary Marinda. Details which widened the chasm
between them are
unknown.
After that winter in Salt Lake, Mary Marinda returned to Park Valley. Abe
remained in Salt Lake City. He left his two large families and married Anna
Siebenaller on 6 December 1899.
In 1900 President Lorenzo Snow granted Mary Marinda a temple divorce from
Abe. At that time George, her youngest child, was 9 years old. Will, her oldest
son, was on a mission in Minnesota, having been married for three years. At
this difficult time of adjustment Mary Marinda received comfort from a
patriarchal blessing given to her 26 June 1901 in which she was promised great
blessings, both in this life and in eternity.
Later Life and Pursuits
Although operating a farm without a husband was not easy, Mary Marinda
shouldered the responsibility and apparently did very well in spite of
difficulties. Naturally her heart was heavy and the physical burden was great.
Her family cooperated, and together they were very successful. Mary Marinda was
a shrewd businesswoman. As a result, she was in a position to lend money
occasionally to relatives needing assistance. She sent two more sons on missions-John
and George. Also she financed David E. and Caroline Burgi and their five
children when they immigrated to Utah from Switzerland in 1902. After they
arrived in Utah, she supported them for several months. Later they reimbursed
her for most of this care.
Prior to World War I, while her son George was on a mission to New
Zealand, Mary Marinda sold her farm in Park Valley. Two of her daughters, Emily
and Lydia, had both moved to Union, Oregon. Consequently Mary Marinda went to
Mt. Glen, Oregon, which is located five miles from La Grande. There she
purchased five acres ofland and a seven-room house.
As the years rolled by and her family left home, Mary Marinda naturally
wished to spend time with her children. She traveled to Gridley, California, to
spend about a year with her daughter Eva Lyons.
On January 8, 1927, Mary Marinda was shocked with the death of her
daughter Louisa. Spending time with
Louisa's family seemed a necessity.
In 1930 she rented out her home in Oregon and traveled to Utah where she
stayed with a sister and spent much time that winter working in the temple. She
also traveled from one home to another, helping where her assistance was needed
and spending considerable time with George. Wherever she went, she literally
left a trail of patchwork behind her. (I have a treasured sofa pillow which was
her creation for her daughter Mary Ann.)
Husband Abe died 28 October 1929. Following his death, Mary Marinda
worried seriously about his lot in the hereafter. She had the same dream
several times in which Abe was in a deep hole, begging Mary Marinda to get him out.
She felt she was the only person who could do so. After discussing the matter
with some Church Authorities, she had his temple work re-done on 8 February 1940
in the Salt Lake Temple. The dream was never repeated.
Mary Marinda remained active in the Church throughout her life. While
living in Park Valley, she was a Relief Society Visiting Teacher and served as
a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency for five years. Following her move
to Mt. Glen, she became Relief Society President there for 8 years.
Work was the motivating force of Mary Marinda's life. Keeping busy kept
her young in spirit and active in mind and body. While staying with a son's
family, one of the grandchildren saw her pulling weeds along the ditch bank.
"Grandma," the child said, "You don't need to pull those
weeds."
"But I like to pull weeds!" was her instant reply.
Even when she reached the time that hard and active work were not advisable,
her hands were always busy. Her nimble fingers embroidered over a thousand
pillow tops in nine years alone. She made approximately a hundred temple aprons
and literally hundreds of quilts. Some of her work she sold, but most of it was
given away to express her love and good will to friends and family members.
Throughout her life she enjoyed unusually good health. At age 82 she
walked a mile to
church twice
each Sunday.
When Mary Marinda was in her late 80's, one day she sat quilting at the
home of her daughter Mary Ann.
She glanced around the circle of busy quilters-her daughter and
granddaughters-suddenly realizing
she was the only one not wearing glasses to quilt!
On her 87th birthday a granddaughter, Iona James Muir, gave an "open
house" in her honor
for her many
descendants to come and visit. At this joyous occasion a photograph was taken
of her
four
generations with her birthday cake decorated with 87 lighted candles. In those
days four generations were rare. The picture included Mary Marinda, her daughter
Mary Ann, Mary Ann's daughter Iona, and Iona's daughter Virginia. A year before
Mary Marinda's death, Virginia had a
year-old
son, making five living generations!
In 1940 on Marinda's 90th birthday, another granddaughter, Bertha Perschon,
gave an "open house"
for her. Movies were taken of Mary Marinda dancing outside. Even 90 years had
not stilled her active
feet and body. Her sister Marilla was also present, being 96 years of age. Mary Marinda remained mentally and physically
alert almost until her death. She continued to live alone in a small house
built near her daughter Eva Lyons in Nampa, Idaho. On 28 September 1943 at
Nampa, Idaho, Mary Marinda died and was buried at the Cloverdale Memorial Park,
Ada County, Idaho.
To her numerous posterity she left a heritage of physical stamina, mental
alertness, the
capacity and
the love of work, and a serene faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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| Mary Marinda with Abraham Chadwick Jr. |
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| Mary Marinda on her 87th birthday. |
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