MARY ANN CHADWICK
- born 23 September 1867 in North Ogden, Utah
- died 18 February 1952 in Rexburg, Idaho
- was a wonderful baker
- was a very hard worker
MARY ANN CHADWICK JAMES
Born 23 September 1867, Died 18 February 1952
Written by Dora Dutson Flack, a granddaughter
Marv Ann's Beginnings
The Abraham Chadwick and Mary Marinda Garner Family began in North Ogden,
Weber County Utah, in the early years of Utah Territory. (Even though Mary
Marinda Garner was commonly - known as Mary, to prevent confusion we will call
her Mary Marinda throughout this book, because there are so many Marys in the
pioneer generations of the Garner, Chadwick and James families.)
Abraham and
Mary Marinda Chadwick lived in a little house situated close to the home of her
parents, David and Dolly Durfee Garner. Abraham's father also lived in the same
area. Both were polygamist families.
In North Ogden, Abraham and Mary Marinda’s children arrived quickly:
1. Mary Ann, born 23
September 1867.
2. William Abraham,
born 26 November 1868.
3. Emily, born 25
September 1870.
This young couple decided to follow the example of their polygamist
parents. After all, in those days polygamy was a usual practice in the church.
Therefore, when Emily was born, a neighbor girl, Olive Ann Cazier, came to
help. The two were so congenial that Mary Marinda told Abraham to bring her
into the family as a second wife. They welcomed Olive Ann on 21 November 1870, being
married and sealed in the Endowment House. That same day Mary Marinda was also
sealed to Abraham.
Three more children were born to Abraham and Mary Marinda while living in
North Ogden:
4. Louisa Jane, born
14 February 1873.
5. Albert, born 27
April1875.
6. Charles, born 5
September 1876.
In North Ogden four children were also born to Abraham and Olive Ann:
1. Celestia, born 28
January 1872.
2. Joseph, born 27
September 1873 (twin).
3. Hyrum, born 27
September 1873 (twin).
4. Olive Permelia,
born 26 August 1876.
By the time Mary Ann, the oldest child, was 8 the Chadwick families
included nine small children. Obviously, adjustments in home and income
demanded consideration. So Abraham and Mary Marinda traveled to Park Valley, in
Box Elder County, to survey possibilities of establishing a new home there.
Abraham had been working on the railroad at Promontory. After staying in Park Valley
that summer, they returned to North Ogden just before Charles, Mary Marinda's
sixth child, was born.
Park Valley Welcomes the Chadwicks
Three years later, in 1879, when Mary Ann was 11, Abraham sold their
North Ogden property to Mary Marinda's father, David Garner, and the family
returned to Park Valley to establish a home before their seventh child arrived.
Unfortunately, Baby Edward was born 14 April1879, during the arduous journey.
He died the same day and was buried at Park Valley.
Father Abraham built two homes for his growing families, one for Mary
Marinda and one for Olive Ann. The children who were big enough helped to clear
sagebrush from ten acres of the farm. While living in Park Valley, Mary Marinda
brought five more children into the world, making a total of twelve:
8. Lydia, born 7
April1880.
9. John Garner, born 6
September 1882.
10. David, born 29
January 1885.
11. Eva, born 18
August 1888.
12. George Alonzo, born 29 November
1890.
Olive Ann added five more:
5. Benjamin, born 3
November 1878.
6. Viola, born 9 May
1881.
7. Frederick R., born 29 June 1883.
8. Isabell, born 14
September 1885.
9. Henry, born 10
January 1888.
This meant that young Mary Ann had eleven full siblings, and nine
half-siblings. However, Edward had died at birth and David died at age 11. One
of Olive Ann's twins died at age 2. Father Chadwick and his two wives supported
18 surviving children. Being among the first settlers in the Park Valley area,
strictest economics were practiced.
Obviously they all learned early how to work. Mary Ann, being the eldest
of the children, had to be the leader. She was a born worker, which both
mothers appreciated. In addition to household tasks, the girls had to care for
chickens and turkeys, milk the cows, churn the butter--the list continues. Mary
Ann even became an expert cheese maker when very young.
In Park Valley the family moved three times. One home was maintained in
the mountains which they occupied in the summer. Remaining there one severe
winter, much of the livestock died of starvation and cold. The cows became so
weak that family members made big slings to help them to stand and encouraged
them to feed. If the animals remained quiet too long, they would have stiffened
and died.
Mary Ann faithfully cared for one sick calf until it recovered, so her
father gave it to her.
(Later, when
she was married, that cow brought several offspring to her barn.) When spring
arrived, following that severe winter, the family left their mountain home for
the valley, singing as they jogged merrily along.
Even though the family was active in the church, Mary Ann was not
baptized until 3 July 1880, when she was 13 years old.
She completed school only to the third grade, but her education was the
best to be acquired at the time and her father saw to that. At one time he even
hired a supplementary schoolteacher because the regularly-employed teacher was
Danish and couldn't speak English very well.
As the children reached school age they all walked about two miles to
attend. When they were too old for school, they worked on the farm and inside
the home.
Mary Ann Marries
While growing up, they attended dances held in the church house. Father
Chadwick was very strict with all their children and wanted to know where they
were, with whom, and when they would be home from activities. His strictness
discouraged the girls' suitors.
Mary Ann dated several young men, but the story was always the same-her
father didn't think anyone was good enough. Neither was Tom James, especially
because he was not an active church member. By the time she was 26, she knew
she must make her own choice, so she married 28-yearold Thomas Richard James in
Salt Lake City on 5 September 1893.
Light-complexioned Mary Ann was taller than Tom, about 5' 8" tall
and very thin, and remained thin her whole life. Tom was shorter and plump. She
wore her light-colored hair combed up and twisted on top of her head, with a
ringlet in front of each ear.
After their marriage, the couple moved into the two-room house on her
father's ranch, where their first four children were born:
1. Florence Mary, born
May 12, 1894.
2. Abraham Thomas,
born November 21, 1895.
3. Iona, born December
22, 1897.
4. Edith Ella, born
May 7, 1900.
Fortunately Mary Ann had learned capable farming practices. The tasks of
maintaining the home, farm and family were largely up to her because Tom spent
most of his time away from home prospecting and working in the Century Mine a
few miles from Rosette. In 1901 moving to Rosette seemed logical, thus saving
Tom's travel time. There, five more children were born:
5. Gladys Lydia, born
January 14, 1902.
6. Irene, born
December 6, 1903.
7. Emma, born April3,
1905.
8. Frank, born April
22, 1907.
9. Dora, born March
25, 1909.
(The family picture in front of the log home was taken soon after Dora's
birth, when they felt their whole family was complete.)
Mary Ann Runs
This small home was almost next door to the town schoolhouse. So Mary Ann
became the school janitor. She could use the money, and the older children
could help her by doing much of the work at home and caring for the little
ones. Mary Ann served as Primary
President in Rosette. Her daughter Iona was her secretary at age 10.
At another time she taught Religion Class, conducting the sessions in her
own home. Especially while living at
Rosette, Mary Ann's mode of travel was a two-wheeled cart, drawn by one horse.
The cart had only one seat. Those who couldn't squeeze onto the seat sat on the
floor of the cart as they went to visit her mother or friends. A shay and horse
replaced the cart. Finally the Ford replaced the horse and shay.
In 191 0 Tom finally decided his mining ventures were not rewarding and
that he should devote his entire time to farming and livestock to provide for
their large family. Tom's brother, Eliezer, and his wife intended to move from
Park Valley, so Tom purchased their farm and home. Next to that property lived his brother Dave,
and the James children formed close friendships with their cousins down the
lane.
The following year, much to her surprise, at age 45 Mary Ann was
expecting child #10. Because little Dora
was three years old, Mary Ann had assumed her family was complete. At that time
Frank and Dora were the only children not in school. So she took them and
traveled by train from Kelton to North Ogden, where she stayed with her sister
for a few weeks. There, her tenth child was delivered, the only one under a
doctor's care:
10. Stephen, born May
31, 1912.
Upon recovery from Steve's birth, Mary Ann's half-trot developed into a
half-gallop. Her older children were sometimes working in other people's homes,
but all of them were helpful to their mother. Mary Ann's farm and livestock
work continued even though Tom was then a full-time farmer. When the whole
family was home, they usually milked fifteen cows. As the family members married
and only Steve was left, there were only seven or eight cows to milk. Mary Ann
did a lot of the milking but family members helped when they lived at home.
The cows produced lots of milk, so cream was plentiful. Night and
morning, fresh milk was set to cool in the milk house, after being poured into
large round pans. The cream, which rose to the top of the pans, was skimmed off
for butter. Never did they buy butter. A large wooden churn was often operated
by one of the children. Mary Ann's butter was sold not only at the Century
Mine, but she even sold butter and eggs at the Kelton Hotel, also Brigham City,
and the cafe in Park Valley where Gladys worked in her teen years. Chickens and
turkeys required constant care when they were killed for meat. Even the
children helped cut off heads. Of course they gathered eggs and fed the
poultry. Mary Ann "candled the eggs." This was done by placing each
egg in a battery-operated small appliance which lighted up and the viewer could
determine if it was a good or bad egg.
Food Fun
The fragrance of freshly-baked bread was common, for Mary Ann was an
expert bread maker. Her graham bread
(whole wheat) even surpassed her white bread. Yeast cakes, as we know them now,
were unheard of then. A "start" of yeast would be obtained from a
neighbor. Then each day potato water and a little sugar was added. At
bread-making time this yeast-mixture was added with the milk. Sometimes yeast
was "started" by using a small, hard square cake of dry yeast, then it
was kept alive by adding leftover water after potatoes were boiled.
In the autumn Tom drove over to Cedar Creek by horse and wagon and
purchased flour by the ton at the mill. Using a hundred pounds of flour per
week was not unusual for such a large family. When they were all at home, Mary
Ann baked bread every day but Sunday. On Monday mornings she had to make
hotcakes or baking powder biscuits for breakfast because the yeast bread had
been consumed.
(As a child, her whole wheat bread hooked me,
her granddaughter and author of this biography. Years later when I was a Relief
Society President in Salt Lake City, the bishop requested we teach the sisters
how to use the wheat we were urged to store. Three of us, Vernice Rosenvall,
Mabel Miller and I, developed a recipe as good as Grandma James' and we gave
many bread demonstrations in other Relief Societies. We three wrote the wheat recipe book, Wheat
for Man . .. Why and How, which has sold throughout much of the world for fifty
years. In its early years the proceeds helped to build three L.D.S. church
buildings.)
At Mary Ann's home three meals a day were served at the long oblong table
in the living/dining room. Mary Ann was delighted when Tom built a kitchen on
the west side of the house for easier cooking.
Every Friday a big pot of beans was boiled, with slices of home-prepared
bacon (salt pork). Beans were harvested
in the autumn by stomping on them on a canvas in the garden area to separate the
beans from the shells and stems.
Sunday dinner was always a special treat. When the family returned from
church about 3:00 P.M. Mary Ann cooked home-grown chicken or meat, mashed
potatoes and gravy, home-dried corn, garden vegetables, bottled fruit and cake.
Her special treats included Ginger Crumb Cake, Applesauce Cake, Mince Meat Pie,
Apple Pie, Vanilla, Custard and Rice Puddings. Oatmeal Cookies and Rolled Molasses
Cookies were favorites.
(Molasses Cookies were
the Dutson granddaughters' favorites too. When we lived in Leamington, later in
Lynndyl, in Millard County, Grandma James packed these round rolled-out cookies
in a shoebox and mailed them to us on the train for birthdays and special
holidays. Sometimes it took a week to reach us but they were as good to the
last crumb as when they were fresh out of Grandma's oven.)
GRANDMA'S MOLASSES COOKIES
Sift
together:
6 cups flour
1 tsp
cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
Mix well:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups
sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp
vanilla
Add: 1 cup
molasses and mix well.
Dissolve 1
tsp soda in 3/4 cup buttermilk. Add buttermilk with sifted dry
ingredients.
Mix well. If necessary, add a little more flour for a very stiff dough.
Chill
several hours or overnight.
On floured
board roll portions and cut with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased
baking
sheet. Bake about 15 minutes at 3 50 degrees. Decorate if desired.
Vinegar was not purchased at the store. Whenever a "mother"
appeared in the vinegar jug it was carefully saved. The vinegar
"mother" is a large filmy substance which floats in the vinegar liquid.
Then the old vinegar is poured off and fresh water added. The
"mother" develops new vinegar when juice from cooked apple peelings
is added.
Fruit preserves were made each year and stored in 2 Y2 and 5-gallon
crocks in the fruit cellar. As needed,
contents were ladled from the various crocks. Spoilage was rare.
A short distance from the back door of the house was a low adobe brick
building which was actually a cement root cellar, with a ceiling just high
enough to accommodate adult workers. A lower, cooler level was reached by going
down several steps to a dirt floor where squash, potatoes, turnips, carrots,
etc. were stored for winter use. This was a cool storage spot in the summer and
warmer than outside in the winter, which kept food from freezing.
Shelves lined the walls for hundreds of bottles of fruit and other
kitchen equipment which was not in constant use. Milk was brought there to cool
after milking the cows. Mary Ann also candled the eggs there. Of course the
cellar door was kept closed, especially in the winter, to keep the snow outside.
(Years later when grandchildren visited the farm, Mary Ann expected their
help in gathering eggs, feeding chickens, picking fruit and flowers, helping
with the washing, especially pulling the agitator on the washing machine 15
minutes per washing load.)
(Iona's daughter Virginia remembers that when she was 8 years old,
"Grandma" handed her a big kettle and instructed her to go pick some
gooseberries for jam. Not realizing the difference in the many bushes, Virginia
returned to the house with a kettle of green currants, instead of gooseberries.
No doubt Grandma Mary Ann was short of currants for jelly that year.)
After Mary Ann was told that eating onions counteracted the flu bug, she
served onions with meals most days.
For such a large family, hundreds of bottles of fruit were prepared, then
stored in the fruit room. Much of the fruit was raised in their own orchard
near the house. However, they had to travel to Brigham City for peaches. In
addition to all the bottling, Mary Ann dried a lot of apples and plums in the
yard, as well as com. Daughter Dora explained that the food to be dried was put
on sheets on top of the house with netting over the top to keep the flies off.
Some of the com was hand-ground with their small muscle-powered grinder. During
World War I, at times the family tired of so much com bread. They also ground
com and grain and mixed it with home-made cottage cheese (whey) to be fed to
the little chickens and turkeys. During the War, food was scarce, but the James
Family raised sufficient on their farm.
Mary Ann baked birthday cakes in a round tin milk pan. Icing made from
egg whites (undoubtedly 7-Minute Icing) topped the cakes. Then candy was
sprinkled on top. Cakes were the only special treat for birthdays. No gifts. The family loved Ginger Crumb Cake which is
also a favorite of grandchildren's families.
GRANDMA'S
GINGER CRUMB CAKE
4 cups
sifted flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
Mix flour,
sugar, butter in large bowl and cut with pastry cutter. Measure
3 1/2 cups
of mixture into mixing bowl. Set aside residue for topping.
To mixture
in mixing bowl, add and stir:
1 tsp
cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp baking
powder
Add:
1 cup
buttermilk
1 tsp soda,
dissolved in buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp
vanilla
Beat well.
(Modem
option) To crumbs which are set aside add:
1 cup
chocolate or butterscotch chips
1 cup
chopped nuts
Grease
9" x 13" pan. Sprinkle on one-half of flour mixture which was
set aside.
Pour batter evenly over crumb mixture. Sprinkle remaining crumbs
over top.
Bake 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees.
Occasionally there were candy pulls. Often com was popped for
refreshments. Tom ate popcorn as he read, sometimes with a thimble perched on
his head while the children played "Who's Got the Thimble?"
The James children enjoyed Dutch Noodles, but their father didn't. When
he was away, Mary Ann often prepared this main dish. The noodles were made from
Baking Powder Biscuit dough, cut into small pieces and fried. Milk was heated
and seasoned and the noodles were dropped in and quickly served.
Parties were frequent at the James home because of the big dining/living
room. Guests played "Hide the Thimble," "Button-Button,"
"Blindman's Bluff'' and other games. Torn always sat reading the newspaper
at the table with the coal oil lamp close by. His ear or bald head provided an unexpected
hiding place. He never moved, which kept the thimble from dropping and being discovered.
Gladys related that they were never permitted to go barefoot. But some
days in Rosette they sneaked out the back bedroom door, took off shoes and
socks and ran in the grass. One day the barefooted girls heard a strange noise.
One of the first cars putted down the dirt road. The little girls ran
around the house to the front and Mr. Jones took them for a ride some distance
down the road. Then he let them out and they had to walk back home barefooted.
How their feet hurt! One day all seven
daughters took lunch to the church house and joined friends under a bowery made with willows over the top.
Care of the Home
The dining/living room was the main room in the house, with a big long
table on one side near a window. A tall china cabinet stood against the west
wall at one end of the table. Tom's oak desk stood against the east wall at the
other end of the table. A couch on the west wall accommodated Tom’s mid-day
nap, or anyone else who wanted to nap. The sewing machine, a few chairs, two
rocking-chairs, and a coal heater completed the furnishings of the room. Even
with all this furniture, there was floor space for children to play.
Mary Ann kept a clean house. She and Torn occupied the east bedroom.
Their bed had a soft feather mattress. All the other beds, had straw ticks.
(The heavy mattress covers were filled with straw and were called straw ticks.)
She checked carefully every few weeks for bedbugs, then treated the surfaces
with coal oil so that bedbugs couldn't survive if any happened to invade the
house.
Children
were not permitted to sit on the beds. If they wanted to lie down during the
day, they rested on the floor.
Floors were covered with woven rag carpeting. Worn-out clothes and cloth
were cut into
strips about
two inches wide. The strips were sewed end-to-end, then rolled in balls which
were
deposited in
baskets until they were woven on a loom into carpets to be used on the floors.
Every
spring the
home had a good housecleaning. By then straw under the carpets would be mashed
into
dust, so the
carpets were pulled up and hung outside on the clothesline for cleaning and
beating. The
bare floors
and walls were cleaned. New straw was laid on the floor and the carpets laid
over the straw. Then the carpet was tacked into place.
The prized organ stood in Mary Ann and Tom's bedroom. Emma and Dora
learned to play the organ and accompanied family singing.
Four bedrooms accommodated the family of twelve. This was indeed spacious
compared to most other homes in that locale and time period. Yet the house was
crowded. Therefore, in the summer a bedroom was contrived in the granary, which
was quite large, and grain occupied only one bin. Abe and Frank used this
"bedroom." A candle became their night light. One night Abe dozed off
before blowing out the candle. When he awoke, flames were rising up the side of
the building.
Abe grabbed
an old coat and tried to pound out the blaze, then dashed to the well for
water. Since the gas engine was hooked onto the pump, he had to start the
engine to get the water. The noise woke his parents. Fortunately, the fire was
extinguished before much damage occurred.
A big vegetable garden required much care. In addition, Mary Ann always
raised flowers and arranged them for the dining room table-marigolds, pansies,
cosmos, gladiolas, roses, lilacs, foxglove, Canterbury bells and sweet peas.
Her summer sweet peas exuded fragrance as well as beauty.
(When vacationing in
Park Valley as a child, I loved to pick Grandma's sweet peas and take them to
Aunt Minnie and Uncle Dave down the lane to the east, and to Marne Carter's
family to the west. Because of my attachment to her sweet peas, we have planted
them every year since acquiring a home three years after our marriage. Neighbors and friends still receive them with
great pleasure all summer. Many years ago when I took a large bouquet for a
Relief Society luncheon, the President said, "Do you know why your sweet
peas bloom so profusely?" "I
just take good care of them," I replied.
"No, you give them away. They don't bloom unless you share
them." Thank you, Grandma James.)
Saturday was bath-time, using a large galvanized wash tub. Water was
carried in buckets from the pump a short distance in the yard, then heated in a
metal oblong boiler on the kitchen wood burning range. When heated, the water
was dipped into the tub with a pan. Chairs were lined up around the tub, and
sheets hung over the chairs for privacy. The oven door of the stove was opened to
send out as much warmth as possible. When the family was small, they all bathed
in the same water. But with twelve individuals, perhaps they emptied the water
after the first few, then changed the water for the rest of the family.
The home had no bathrooms. Tom maintained the outhouse, painting it every
spring, inside and out. This outhouse had two holes. Screened vents at the top
of the walls allowed circulation. Crockery
chamber pots were kept under the beds for night use so that individuals didn't
have to brave the dark and cold and run outside to the outhouse. The pots were
emptied and washed every morning and put back under the beds.
In those days there was no electricity, so coal oil lamps furnished light
at night. Each morning the glass chimneys had to be carefully washed and dried
and placed back on the glass bases which held the coal oil.
In their growing years, Mary Ann placed a thick Sears Roebuck catalog on
the chairs for the little ones so they could eat more comfortably. The Sears
Roebuck catalogs, and other sales books were also used for toilet paper in the
outhouse.
Gladys recalls how their mother sat at the end of the dining room table
every night, darning socks. Even in the summer they wore long black stockings,
sometimes hand-knitted. Underwear reached to their ankles.
Mary Ann made a new dressy Sunday dress for each daughter for Christmas
but not much in between, except for summer dresses. The girls wore the same
school dress all winter, changing to a cotton ''wash dress" as soon as
they returned home. In warmer weather they had a few more dresses. Clothes were handed down from older
to younger children.
Sewing and mending to keep ten children well-dressed was a Herculean
task. Mary Ann sewed everything they wore, including underwear even for the
boys, and it was always white. Her mother obtained proper fabric from an
underwear factory in Ogden and sent it by train to Mary Ann to sew for her
family. For the girls, petticoats were as important as dresses.
Bloomers reaching to the knees were made from flour sacks, with a ruffle
on the bottom, but no elastic. The bloomers were fastened with buttonholes onto
buttons at the waist.
Of course the clothes were washed on a scrubbing board and wrung out by
hand until Tom finally ordered through the catalog a hand-agitator washing
machine with a roll-wringer. Clothes were swished clean by one of the girls
pulling the agitator back and forth for fifteen minutes per batch, then feeding
them through the hand wringer into two galvanized rinse tubs. After swishing in
the rinse water, the clothes were fed through the wringer again into "bluing
water" to keep whites white and colors bright. Then clothespins were used
to hang articles on the clothesline for drying. Sometimes the drying took all
day. Then the dry clothes were brought in, sprinkled with water (called dampening),
folded and rolled and stuffed in a bushel basket for ironing the next day.
Mary Ann always made her own soap by saving grease from cooking. When
pigs were butchered, the fat was melted and saved for cooking, then leftover
fat was used for soap.
Everything was ironed with hand irons heated on the stove. With such a
large family, ironing required two workers, one at the ironing board, the other
ironed on a sheet on the kitchen table. All sheets and pillowcases were ironed.
The heat for this lengthy job was unbearable in the summer. In the winter,
instead of sheets, the family members slept in between flannel blankets. This
saved on the ironing.
Of course with winter came Christmas. The family never had a Christmas
tree. Each family member set out a box, probably a shoebox, and Santa filled it
with candy and an orange. They didn't hang up socks.
Three times a week someone in the family picked up the mail and
newspapers at Kelton where the items arrived on the train. Mary Ann didn't have
much time to read the newspaper with her daily tasks so consuming. But she
tried to keep up with the times.
Other Activities
Church was held on Sundays in the big room on one side of the building
where Goodliffe's store operated. They climbed the stairs and enjoyed their
meetings. During the week sometimes other meetings and events were conducted
there, including dances.
People enjoyed being around Mary Ann because she was outgoing. Even as
busy as she was, she found time to be a good neighbor and visitor. Quilting
bees furnished socials for neighbors and relatives. Whenever a quilt was
needed, customarily friends were invited to spend the day quilting. A delicious noonday meal was served to
quilters and their children who played under the quilt as their mothers plied
the needles up and down.
Piecing quilt blocks was an artistic expression for Mary Ann. Then she
sewed them together, into quilt tops. Friends helped with the quilting, as
mentioned above. In her later years she pieced quilt tops for grandchildren.
Some were a long time being made into quilts but all are enjoyed on the beds of
her posterity.
For one 24th of July celebration, all of Mary Ann's seven daughters wore
white dresses. They took a lunch to the park for enjoyment with people from
surrounding towns. The James house was always full on celebration days. The
children returned from the evening dance and never knew who might be overnight
guests in their home.
Gladys remembers reading UNCLE TOM'S CABIN to her mother but the whole
family also listened, including her father sitting at the end of the table,
seemingly absorbed in reading his newspaper. But he heard every word.
Family Leaves Home
As members of the family reached marriage dates, they simply traveled to
the Salt Lake Temple. No special socials or parties were held for any of them.
During World War I in 1917 and 1918, young men 18 and older were drafted.
Abe was one, but he didn't have to go overseas. Before being drafted he had
purchased a Model T automobile, which he left at home, to the delight of his
siblings. Young people didn't worry about a driving age or training in those
days.
Everyone who had someone in the Army hung a red-and-white silk flag with
a blue star in the middle in the window of their home. This notified everyone
that someone from that house was serving in the military. Many flags had two
stars, indicating that two men from that home were serving.
Soon after Abe was released from the service he was called on a mission
in 1921. His car remained behind. Frank, at age 14, became his father's
chauffeur. Abe's mission call to the Western States, with headquarters in
Denver, was a point of pride to the whole family. After he returned, Frank also
filled a mission in the Western States. In those days few women learned to
drive.
Neither did
Tom become expert, so Steve became his chauffeur, even at age 12. Because he
was the only one still at home, he could not accept a mission call when he
became old enough. (Many years later Steve and his wife Berneice served a
mission in Australia.)
Grandchildren loved to visit at Grandma's and Grandpa's. Iona's three
girls spent many a summer vacation on the farm because they could travel free
on the train to Kelton. The stereoscope with its three-dimension pictures
furnished enjoyable afternoon entertainment for them.
Back to Salt Lake-Again
Most of the family were married and gone by 1927 when Iona's husband
died, leaving her with three little girls. It seemed advisable for Tom and Mary
Ann to sell the ranch and move to Salt Lake City where Iona lived.
At the time of October Conference, in 1928, Tom and Mary Ann purchased a
home at 2758 South 51
h East in
Salt Lake City, Utah. Steve accompanied them. He was 16 and became the chauffeur
even in the big city. However, work in that small yard was not sufficient to
keep Tom happy. So they invested in a larger place at 4232 Highland Drive where
Tom could raise fruit trees. But he was
not really happy in the city.
Next they purchased a ranch near Cambridge, Idaho. Irene had been living
with them in the Highland Drive home and she remained there. It was a good
thing they hadn't sold it, because they · · stayed in Idaho only a month when
Tom contracted Mountain Fever and returned to Salt Lake City for medical advice.
They soon sold the Idaho property at a loss and moved back to Highland Drive.
The family was widely scattered by this time and grandchildren were
numerous. For short vacations some traveled to Salt Lake City to visit Tom and
Mary Ann. Florence and Gladys lived in Oregon. Irene, Dora and Iona lived in
Salt Lake City. Iona remarried and had a second family who also enjoyed having
their grandparents nearby. The other James siblings lived in Idaho, rearing
their growing families.
After marriage, Irene and her husband Melvin Newman moved into the
Highland Drive house with Tom and Mary Ann, which reduced the work demand.
"Busy hands make light work." Mary Ann's hands were never idle, but
now her work was light. Quilts kept her busy. Other sewing diminished, however.
Iona had become a professional dressmaker and made Mary Ann's clothes.
Embroidery
work on pillowcases and table runners kept Mary Ann's hands busy, as well as
lots of crocheting. Crocheted pieces for arm chairs were popular and
time-consuming. Large doilies and centerpieces, especially in her favorite
pineapple design, are still enjoyed by grandchildren in their homes. In 1932
Mary Ann made star quilt tops for each of her children.
After moving to Salt Lake City, unfortunately Mary Ann was not a faithful
churchgoer, nor did they make many new friends. She continued to drink her cup
of coffee with breakfast and Tom his green tea.
Mary Ann Loses Tom
In the late '30s Tom developed an asthmatic condition and was put on a
strict diet. Three weeks later, on 18 August 1939, at age 74, he died in his
sleep at home.
Most of the family came from far and near for the funeral service in the
Winder Ward Chapel on Highland Drive. Mary Ann had reached the age of72. Tom
was buried in the James Family plot in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Mary Ann
wondered how long it would be before she would be buried beside him.
Mary Ann lived thirteen difficult years after Tom died. Her greatest fear
was that she would become incapacitated. In order that she might have a degree
of independence, yet necessary supervision, Dora and Willard moved her into a
small house next door to them. Irene and Melvin purchased the James home on
Highland Drive.
Her hands kept busy crocheting so that her grandchildren would know she
had done something in her life. She made quilt tops for many of her older
granddaughters.
The church was important to Mary Ann, but even more to all of her
children. Because of Tom's total inactivity in the church, they had never been
to the temple. Soon after Tom's death, she went to the temple for her own
endowment, 4 October 1939. However, getting her family members together was
difficult. Finally on 1 June 1942 she and seven of her children attended the
Salt Lake Temple and they were sealed to her and Tom. Later, in the Idaho Falls
Temple, Gladys was sealed to her parents 7 April 1949, and Florence and Frank
were sealed 28 May 1951, only ten months before Mary Ann's death.
Living with Family Members
With the home on Highland Drive sold, Mary Ann moved into a little house
next door to her daughter Dora, but she was not happy. So she moved to the
homes of her children for weeks or months at a time. When she watched TV at
their homes, she told her relatives how much she disliked it, but watched for
hours. While living with her daughter Dora, on washday Mary Ann told her daughter
she had no clothes to be washed. Then after Dora went to work, Mary Ann washed
her own clothes by hand and hung them on the clothesline outside to dry.
"Old age" set in and the younger grandchildren did not develop
the appreciation which her older grandchildren possessed. George Throckmorton
reported that, as a young boy, he often "had to stay with Grandma"
and the time spent with her was difficult. She was critical and repetitive.
Carol Muir remembers that Grandma crocheted a rug while staying with Iona
and she still read the newspaper every day. By then, Grandma had false teeth
that didn't fit well. In fact, as she sat reading the newspaper, they almost
fell out of her mouth. But Carol recalls how much she loved Grandma.
When Mary Ann stayed at Iona's, both Marjorie and Dora were diligently
studying music. Mary Ann enjoyed only
hymns and cowboy music. She wondered why Marjorie didn't play music as she sat
so long at the piano keyboard. Mary Ann did not realize her granddaughter was
studying difficult classical music. Why did Dora sing all those strange sounds?
That wasn't music for Mary Ann. She didn't realize Dora was singing classics in
various languages. Mary Ann wondered why the girls didn't use real music, such
as "Home on the Range."
When other company stayed at Iona's home, Grandma Mary Ann slept with
Marjorie. Her loud snoring kept Marjorie
awake much of the night. Such complaints could go on, judging from discussions
with other grandchildren.
However, Mary Ann was proud of her offspring and their faithfulness in
the church. Two sons had filled missions, also four sons-in-law and one
daughter-in-law. Later Steve and Berneice
filled a
mission together in the East. Many of her grandchildren filled missions.
She was delighted when her first great-grandson Jean Addams was born the
day after her 75th birthday. By the time she died, Mary Ann had
gained many great-grandchildren. At this writing, a multitude of her posterity
reaches down to third-great-grandchildren. Mar lane Flack, born 24 March 1954,
was Mary Ann's 1001h descendant.
On Mary Marinda Garner's 87th birthday, Iona hosted a big party at her home
at 76 "R" Street in Salt Lake City. Many relatives attended and a
picture of four generations was taken of Mary Marinda, Mary Ann, Iona and
Virginia, Virginia being the eldest great-granddaughter. Soon thereafter
Virginia gave birth to a son Jean Addams (mentioned above) who became Mary
Marinda' s first great-great-grandchild. So Virginia placed his picture in the
frame, making it five living generations, which was rare in those days.
Daughter Edith related a later accident that stopped Mary Ann's
half-trot. In 1943, when she was 76 years old, Mary Ann was living at Edith's
home in Idaho. At that particular time Granddaughter Eva was also staying with
her parents and remembers the accident.
One night Mary Ann went to the bathroom. Not wanting to disturb anyone by
turning on the bathroom light, in the dark she misjudged where the seat was
located, and fell beside the toilet. The doctor was summoned and an ambulance
took her to the hospital with a broken hip. Hospital fees were not so
exorbitant in those days and she remained there for eight long weeks. Never
again was she able to walk straight.
As Mary Ann stayed in the different homes, she tried to train
great-grandchildren. At one point Edith's daughter Amy was staying at her home
and had her small son Paul. Her husband, Charles Brizzee, was in the service.
At times Amy was forced to leave Paul in Mary Ann's care for very short spells.
With her cane Mary Ann directed Paul's activities and kept him entertained with
a football. The crook of her cane always pulled Paul away from questionable
situations.
On 18 February 1952 Mary Ann left this life while living with Emma and
Faye Wasden in Salem, Idaho. Her body was brought to Salt Lake City for her
funeral held in the Parley's First Ward where Steve lived. The chapel was
filled to capacity with her descendants. Other relatives were present, but only
a few people in addition to the family.
She was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery beside her husband in the
James Family plot. The view from that
spot extends out over the growing Salt Lake City.
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