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Show 1LAST PIONEER OF '62 ANSWERS CALL OTDEATH Mrs. Abigail M. Walker, Resident Res-ident of Dixie for GS Years and Oldest Woman in St. George Passed Tuesday Mrs. Abigail M. Walker, last of the pioneers of '62, and the oldest woman in St. George, died at her home here at 9:30 a. m. Tuesday, Tues-day, April 28, of the infirmities "of old ' age. She had been ailing, for the past year. Monday mtorning she passed into a comlU condition, ar.d never regained consciousness. Mrs. Walker was a Canadian by birth. She was born February 1, 1842, on a small island called Pops Harbor off the coast of Nova Scotia, Sco-tia, just across the strait from, the city of Halifax, a daughter of Edward and Abigail Keeler Middle-mass. Middle-mass. Ker early life was spent on this Canadian island, where she was reared in a plain and simple way. Her father was a shoe-maker, ship owner and merchant, mer-chant, having a small store, where the firshermen obtained their supplies. Her heme was a place of refinement refine-ment and plenty. She and her sister sis-ter knew no hardships but were taught to work. There was no church or Sunday school on their island, but every Sunday work was put away, and it was observed as a day of rest. Their work consisted of curing the fish caught by the fishermen. This was done by stacking them every night to keep them from the dew, and spreading them out every morning on large willow racks to dry in the sun. Being away from school she lacked the advantage of early education. ed-ucation. jo?) getting what her father fa-ther ': r at the bench as he work x' the shoes. Had they lived thej'- until she was older she would have been sent to school like her sister, but their father ' and mother obeyed to call to the rospel, and yielded to its teachings. teach-ings. She was baptized in the winter, a hole being cut in the ice that the ordinance might be performed. (Continued on page 4) LAST PIONk, (Continued from page 1) In the spring of 1855 her father fa-ther and mother sold everything, left their home just as they had lived in it and started for Zion. They traveled through the New England states in the early spring and from Boston continued on to Florence. Neb., where the journey across the plains began. On the trip across, the mother and three children, an aunt and the teamster team-ster died of cholera. Mrs. Walker's sister, Anna, drove tlie team into Salt Lake valley, arriving there in September, 1855. She was then only 13 years old, but life began in earnest. She was mother to a four-year-old brother and kept house for her father. At the age of nineteen, she was married to Charles Lowell Walker in the endowment house at Salt Lake City, on September 28, 1861, the ceremony being performed by Daniel H. Wells. With her husband she came with the second com-pany com-pany to Dixie. They arrived here in the fall df 1862. Soon after coming here they moved into a willow house with a dirt roof. She -Was living in this basket home when her first child, now Mrs. Zadie Miles, was born. Eight children were born to Mrs. Walker, and she was too busy spinning and carding to have much time for public life, so her labors were little known beyond the four walls of her home. Later in life she was a faithful Relief Society teacher, which office she performed until her eightieth year. She has also given many years of her life to temple work. During the 68 years that Mrs. Walker lived in Dixie she had been away only twice. In 1865 she made a trip to Salt Lake City to visit relatives. The trip required ten days. She went in a wagon driven by William Fawcett, another pioneer. Again, in 1890, she spent six months in Sacramento, Calif., visiting vis-iting a brother. Other than that she lived on the same lot in St. George. The first five years was spent in the little willow house, "Srn St Mrs. 'Zadle- Allister, Mrs. Ann 7' Charles M. Walker of St. Geo and Dr. Joseph Walker of f ' Angeles, a brother, Joseph Midd' mass of Saratoga, Calif., and rah Smith Walker, who has ' "j . with her and cared for her ' nCCJ ' ing the past three years She 25 living grandchildren andA:" living great-grandchildren, makinsr a total of 91 descendants Her husband died January n, im Funeral sen-ices will be 'held in the tabernacle t 3 o'clock todav under the direction of the South ward bishopric. uu |