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Show Early Days In Milford ELLEN D. MA FIELD Ellen Didania Thompson Max-field, Max-field, grandmother of Mrs. Harvey A. Dean, well-known Milford resident, resi-dent, was born July 15, 1838, in the town of Alexandria, Genessee county, New York. She was the daughter of George V. Thompson and Lucia Spaulding Thompson. Ellen left her home in New York in October, 1849, With her parents and a sister, Laura Althea, and a Drother, DeWitty Clinton. Five brothers remained in New York Her famlily wintered at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and started on to Utah from there on July 17, 1850 They arrived in Utah October 13, 1850, and spent the first winter at a place called Lttle Pigeon. They came with ox team in Bishop Hunter's company, and their outfits out-fits were good. Ellen rode most of the way, then her brother became ill and although al-though she was only 12 years of age she drove the team for a long distance. At the end of their first winter her father took up a large farm at South Cottonwood in Salt Lake county. On this farm Ellen grew to womanhood. On April 5. 1862, she married Richard. D. Max-field Max-field as a plural wife. Her daughter, Vilate M. Aldrich, gave the history of her mother as she remembered it, which is as follows: fol-lows: You know in those days women in polygamy had to be both mother and father to ther families, and mother was always a good manager. man-ager. Father wanted to do big things, while mother had to take care of what she had and add to it as she could. When her father, George V. Thompson, divided his land among his three children, mother's share was 16 acres of very good land with a good four-room brick house on it. But as the boys grew up she sold her home at Cottonwood Cotton-wood and bought an 80-acre farm fin Butterville. The house on the Butterville .farm was very poor, but mother planted trees and had chickens and pigs, and she made such good butter, which she sent to Salt Lake each week, we had plenty to eat. Mother sewed carpet car-pet rags and we always had a nice, clean, home-made carpet for our best room. Mother also gave supper when there were dances in the school-' house. They would come from the dance by sleigh loads. One sleigh load would eat while the rest danced. Then they would return to the dance, and another sleigh load would come for supper, and so on until everyone had eaten. Poor mother did not have many comforts. She had to work hard to kep her family clean and fd. I remember her many times staying stay-ing at home from social affairs because be-cause she had nothing suitable to wear and she was too proud tojjo unless she could look as well-dressed well-dressed as others. For a long time she and Sadie, my older sister, made overalls for the Z. C. M. I. They would bring home big bundles of three dozen at a time. I can smell them now and see those big spools of yellow line thread which they seweu them with. They received $3.50 per dozen pairs finished. When they sewed I was always called in from play to start supper. I had to peel the potatoes and when we j had no bread mother would say, ! "You can bake biscuits so make ! some stirred bread and bake it m that big dipper so there will lt enough." Sometmes Uncle Clinton would be there extracting honey and mother would be gone all day help-j help-j ing him. I can see how they looked ' now, with their big hats on which ! was mosquito netting so they would not get stung, and again mother 1 would say, "Latie, you get the po-I po-I tatoes on and make some stirred bread. It will be so good with this ' fresh honey." ' Mother had to go to Salt Lake for the overalls, and return them 1 Sadie went with her and they always al-ways went on Saturdays. They would be gone all day, but they would aiways bring back something some-thing for us children. They had to take their lunches in tin buckets. We used to save rags to sell or trade at the store. Once sister Edie and I took rags to the store and traded them for ribbon for our hair. We had to drive about six miles to the store from where we lived. We asked for "corn colored' ribbon. The clerk said "You mean yellow, don't you?" I blushed, a I had made a terrible mistake. As time went on. mother found ; that her boys were not taking to farming, so the farm was sold and she bought a small store and post j (Continued on Page Five) HERE'S MORE ABOUT EARLY DAYS (Continued from Page One) office. The office was known as the Brinton post office. I learned to take care of the office for mother. In those days they took all the mail by wagons. They stopped at each post office and the mail was brought in and dumped upon the floor, where it was sorted. I kept "all the mail which was addressed to Brinton. The mail that was for Butter-ville, Butter-ville, Arenta and Brighton was senc on. The mail that was being sent from Brinton was cancelled and sent on. On the return trip the majl went through the same process, proc-ess, the mail for the north being sorted and sent on. Every three months the stamps had to be counted and I had to go to Salt Lake and have it all fixed for the government. The store was iust a small place. It consisted only of a few groceries, a bolt or two of . calico, some "factory," "fac-tory," some bleach, thread, ribbon and soda water. Mother never waited upon anyone that came to the stored Sister Edie and I both took care of the customers. Father was engaged in the sawmill saw-mill business and although it was mother's money that bought the store, it was not an unusual thing for him, if he owed a debt to someone, some-one, to come in and give them halt the store, or have me do it, to settle the bll. Mother had to leave her family and go underground when the government gov-ernment was arresting the polyga-mists. polyga-mists. I remember how scared we children all were whenever 8 strange man was seen in the neighborhood, for fear they were coming to take father away. The very next day after father's ; first wife, Aunt Artemissia, died we were all taken to Salt Lake for -. hearing. Mother was ' the only ' one called to the witness stand, ; and when she told them that they j had buried Aunt Artemissia just j the day before and that father was j still underground, they dismissed j the case. Mother remembered all about , : the move when Johnson's army came. Brigham Young ordered all the people to leave the city. Mother Moth-er at the time was at a celebration being held at Brighton. They moved to Lehi, where they remained re-mained until Brigham Young issued is-sued orders for all to return to their homes. In 1891 father moved his sawmill to Spring City, Sanpete county, where they lived, contented and happy in their association with the people there. Mother was a faithful faith-ful attendant to her Sacrament and Relief Society meetings and never missed being present at the annual Old Folks celebration. In her advanced years she still had a love for reading. She was particularly fond of geography and j history and biography. She was J active until the time of her death, caring for the home, her .garden and chickens, and making quilts and braiding rugs. She died March 5, 1909, and was buried in the Spring City cemetery She was the mother of nine children, chil-dren, six of whom survived at her death: Sarah Ellen Maxfield Ir- ving, born April 5, 1863; George Spaulding Maxfeld, August 29. 1864; Elezah Osro Maxfield, January 7 1S66; Louis Bedeque Maxfield, August Aug-ust 29, 1866; Joseph Clinton Maxfield Max-field Aldrich, December 16, 1868; Laura Vilate Maxfield Allred, May 22, 1871; Archie Gardner Maxfield, January 31, 1877; Jessie Earl Maxfield, Max-field, July 29, 1883. Recorded by a granddaughter, j Beryl I. Dean. |