Their first home was in a village 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City called Fort Herriman, where her children were born and her husband died.  Sometime after his death, his brothers moved her to Richmond, Cache Valley, Utah, that they might help her with their counsel and management.

She had a yoke of cattle, a wagon, household furniture, a few cows, sheep, chickens and pigs, which they had accumulated while her husband was alive.  She bought a city lot with one log room, some shed and corrals to shelter the animals, thus, she started anew to make a home and raise her family which consisted of six boys and one girl ranging in age from 13 to 2 years.  My purpose in writing this tribute is to show how she did it.  She kept her family together, taught them to work and to be honest and obedient.  She was kind to them and worked hard to keep them clothed and fed.  She made clothes for clothing, stockings, blankets and quilts with the wool from her sheep.  After a few years they build a good log room with shingled roof and an attic where the boys slept.

When I was about 12 years old, I made many visits with them as her daughter, Eliza Ann was near my age.  Aunt always made me welcome.  The boys were agreeable.  It was a real home where peace and freedom were enjoyed.  The children were permitted to play games, chatter, tell riddles, pop popcorn, and make molasses candy.  Aunt seemed to enjoy the fun with the children who went to school in the winter.  The children always had their friends to chum around with.  There was no disposition to be unruly.  They just went along good naturedly about their duties.  I do not say they were perfect, I suppose they disagreed, spoke loudly sometimes, but on the whole they got along fairly peaceably.  I never heard of any of them leaving home or committing any drastic offense.  Young Elijah homesteaded a quarter section of land in Cove, Utah which is about three miles north of Richmond.  The boys built a nice two-room frame house and painted it white.  This was their home until they were all married.  Then the land was divided with the boys, and their mother went to live with them in her old age.  I tell this as a background to bring out her character.

She was industrious, a good housekeeper, honest, paid her debts, lived her religion, was kind and obliging to her neighbors, upheld her husband to her children so much that they had great admiration and reverence for him although the majority never knew him very well because they were too young to remember much about him.

Any woman who can raise a family under the circumstances in which she was placed from the beginning to the end is truly outstanding.  One may be sure that she had many difficulties to overcome, many that were trying to her soul, that nothing short of a good faith in God could make her master [of her] situation.  They all made good citizens and good Latter-day Saints, all were married in the temple and raised honorable families who bear the characteristics bequeathed them by their worthy parents.  One outstanding feature of her sons is that they were industrious, thrifty, and thereby able to build good homes and provide well for their families.  I say to their posterity how valuable is their heritage, worthy of sincere appreciation.
 

August 20, 1999:  Converted to HTML and some typos corrected by Matt Young from a document transcribed to computer by Quinn Young.  The original was probably collected by Reda Ricks and recorded by Dorothy Miles.