Show oj louisa ko daw 9 mary louisa dark clark before beginning the sketch of my life I 1 would like to tell a few incidents that I 1 have learned from older members of the family father had a store in nauvoo joseph smith the prophet was a frequent visitor at the home of my father and mother and was a great friend of theirs on one oc casion he said to father possibly to try his faith brother wool ley I 1 want you to take an invoice of all your goods and box them up and deliver them to me father did as he was told when they were ready he told the prophet and ask ed if he wanted him to deliver them and the prophet said broth er woolley put them back on the shelves you can sell them as well as I 1 can on another occasion when he was visiting at father fathers s my sister rachel then a small girl was run ning and playing she fell and cut her forehead and it was bleeding badly he took her on his knee and took his handkerchief and wiped the blood from her face and it bled no more when the prophet re the revelation on plural marriage it was first read in fath er s home by hyrum smith to a few close friends behind closed doors father a r s younger brother samuel was very sick upstairs but his spirit stood behind hyrum and read the revelation over hy rum rums s shoulder my sister rachel crept down stairs and sat on the step and heard it read I 1 mention these things think ing perhaps you younger children did not know them I 1 will just state here that mother embraced the gospel about six months be fore father and she also accepted plural marriage before father did when father and mother were married they went on horseback mother on behind father quite a novel and romantic way perhaps the younger people in our day wouldn t think so well now I 1 will try and give a little sketch of my life As you all know the saints were driven from their home in nauvoo father did not come with the first pioneers in 47 but came in 48 in brigham young youngs s second company father had three families be fore he came west and as I 1 have said before father was a merch ant in nauvoo he filled up two wagons and brought mother and aunt ellen mothers mother s wagon was a light spring wagon with springs under the box the bed at the back across the box like our sheep camps are made father made it as comfortable for her as he could he had a piece of carpet between the bd and the driver s seat and a small rocking chair for mother to sit on my eldest brother john drove ellens wagon and father drove mothers aunt louisa stay ed behind with her people and her little three year old son father was to go back next year and get her aunt ellen had one little girl six months old my sister sarah 1 I was born bom on july 5 after the pioneers had made camp for the night it was in keith county neb on a small stream a trib autray of the north platte river there was a woman in the core coni pany margarett alley whom my father got to take care of my mo ther and me margarett alley later married brigham young we arrived in salt lake valley september 18 1848 fathers father s bro ther john came in the first comp any in 1847 and he settled in the ath ward after we arrived father went to uncle johns john s father built one log room and took the wagon boxes off and put them on the ground one on each side of the log room for the bed roams rooms I 1 was too young to remember much a bout when we lived in the ath ward and yet they have told me that I 1 used to walk up to meeting and back with joe simmons my brother in law he married my two sisters rachel and net I 1 suppose I 1 was two or three years old in those days they had meeting in the large bowery made of upright POS posts ts covered with limbs of trees and brush I 1 think that it was made somewhere on the temple block my memory is more vivid when we lived in our home north of the old social hall where the salt lake public library now stands it was a two story adobe house with 8 or 9 rooms with an addition of two or three rooms at the j there was a porch over the dining broom room on the south in those days there were bath houses at the hot springs north of salt lake city they had a large room or hall where they used to have parties or dances I 1 re member of being at one of those parties I 1 think it was at my sis ter rachel s wedding party when I 1 was just a small child I 1 had on a new pink dress I 1 remember and I 1 suppose I 1 was very proud of it captain hooper a very great friend of father and mother came and sat down by me on my dress so I 1 informed him of the fact I 1 mar you say still I 1 was rather modern dont don t you think hooper and eldredge had a store so often when I 1 had a nickle I 1 would go to the store for candy 1 I frequently got my candy and my nickle back cal foes was his clerk he was franks pranks wires ife s bro ther he thought I 1 was quite nice too so child like if I 1 had a nickle I 1 went there to spend it and so I 1 guess brother hooper think so ill of me for telling him that he was sitting on my dress brother hooper often game me a present I 1 remember once he gave me a little black and white leath er bag or purse we would call it now the leather was cut in nar row strips and woven together it was very pretty he also gave me a black and white muff which was very pretty they used to hold their annual fairs in the large rooms of the tithing office which was a large building where the hotel utah now stands they were supposed to have all home products I 1 was representing a home spun girl I 1 was dressed in cloth made in the he valley from the skin out I 1 wore nothing imported except the thread that my clothes were sew ed with no buttons or hooks or eyes were on my clothes instead they were fastened on with thorns gathered from brush in city creek canyon I 1 of course had to walk around the rooms for inspection I 1 took first prize my brother marcellus was five years younger than I 1 he married mame maine naylor he was bishop of ward for many years while we lived in our house by the social hall father was fore man of president young s business father for many years was bish op of the ward he died while still holding the office of bishop of this ward my childhood and girlhood was spent in the ward of salt halt lake city of course as I 1 grew up I 1 went to school in those days they did not grade the schools big and little were together I 1 went to school one term in the basement of the social hall but cant can t re call the name of my teacher my brother gordon taught one term in the ward he taught in the ves try of the meeting house I 1 at tended his school and so did some of my other brothers I 1 don t know that it will be amiss to mention a little incident that happened one day in school perhaps it will make you smile there was quite a fad for chewing gum gordon did not object to them chewing at their seats or desks but forbade them to come to class with it one of my brothers thinking that as his brother was teacher he did not have to obey came to class chew ing gum gordon asked for his gum and lold him to go home in stead of going home he hung a round looking in the windows dis curbing the school so gordon went out and gave him a sound charsh ing and sent him home there was no more gum chewing in class that winter I 1 later went to school in the ward in the building where the knitting factory used to be there was a large room upstairs where the school used to be held our teacher teachers s name was doremus they lived in a back part of the build ing they had two children abe and annie I 1 think abe was an attorney in tooele thoele at one time we had to walk to and from school each day which was quite a dis tance julina and edna lamson went to the same school also john henry smith and a rougher boy at play never was but we had lots of fun julina afterward mar ned ried joseph F P smith and edna married my cousin albert davis during the time we lived in our house by the social hall father married two more wives a widow and her daughter the widow also had a son they came and lived with mother and the son went to school with us I 1 did not seem to ake take to him very kindly and I 1 was frightened to death of his moth er I 1 there was a little incident nap hap bened in school one day there was a man lived across the street from the school house he had a well with an old fashioned windlass that you draw with a rope the wat er up from the well we got water at his well for the school so one day I 1 took the bucket and went for water when I 1 had the well bucket about half way to the top of the well the handle slipped from my hand I 1 was afraid that would break the well I 1 stood try ing to catch the handle and every time it went around it hit me in the face when I 1 got to school the blood was running down my face the teacher told this boy the widow widows s son to take me home to my indignation when johnson johnsons s army came to salt lake city we had to leave our homes and flee father took us all to prove provo also all his stock of goods as he was still a merch ant my brother frank did the clerking while in Provo the older wife gave birth to a son but after we came back from provo they both left father and went to cal and of course took the baby with them father tried sev eral times to locate them and the boy but never could mother mothers s health was very poor she was practically an invalid aft er we came home and about two years before her death father had an old english lady mrs brooks to care for her in the early days things were very expensive coffee sold for 1 a pound when frank and samuel got married they brought their wives home to live with mother olive and maria did the work while mrs brooks waited upon mother and my little five year old broth er marcellus As I 1 stated coffee was high the family did not drink it but father had if for mo ther when mrs brooks took mo ther her breakfast mother would complain that it was so weak and she would answer oh it its s your taste sister woolley it its s your taste and poor little cell she would water his milk the dishpan would be turned down on the kit chen table and when maria would go to wash the dishes she would i find a nice strong cup of coffee hid I 1 guess that goes to prove there theres s tricks in all trades after mother mothers s death father mo ved aunt ann into mother s home and frank and samuel moved to themselves samuel went into aunt anns ann s home and frank on the south side of the block my sisters rachel and net also al so lived anthe on I 1 the south side of the block they both married joseph M simmons they each had a young baby fred and alice I 1 used to go down after school to help with the babies I 1 was down there holding one of the babies when they sent for me mother was dying my two sis were up home I 1 ran up thru the lot but mother had passed a way before I 1 got there father was pacing the floor back and forth it was a heavy blow for all of us when they were settling south cm ern utah my three brothers frank dee and gordon were called to go to st george to settle franks frank s wife olive was a niece of pres ident woodruff dee and gordon married sisters emma and lavina bently I 1 spent a lot of my time with them aunt rachel grant heber s mother used to go to st george to visit her sister anna ivins tony s mother and C caddie a addie s mother this Is how I 1 got acquaint ed with heber and tony who were just boys then caddie and I 1 were like sisters we went every place together another girl fri fn end was abbie cumell pu Al mell imell who lived live d in the ward S she he went to st george with me one time continued next week |