Autobiography of Clarissa Isabell Wilhelm
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==Part 1== | ==Part 1== | ||
| - | I was born in Rockville, Washington Co., Utah on March 27, 1870. My parents were Bateman Haight Wilhelm and Lydia Hannah Draper Wilhelm. I had six brothers and sisters, three brothers and three sisters, seven of us in all. I also had one half-brother and five half-sisters, as my father was a polygamist. My mother and father was married five years before he took his second wife, Grace Tibbits (Tippets) Jose. My father and Mother were very happy until this woman came into their lives. I was the first child born to mother after my father took the second wife. I had one brother and one sister older than myself. My mother's parents names were Zemira Draper and Amy Terry Draper. We lived in Rockville until I was 3 years old and then we moved to a little town called Mount Carmel. My father’s mother and his oldest sister moved there also. Aunt Susan. We lived there until I was 4 years old. Then the church started the United Order and they called father to help head the Order at Orderville, where we moved about two miles from Mount Carmel. A little while after we moved to this place, I had a little sister born. She was named Amy Elnora. She lived until she was 21 months old and then she died of indigestion. Mother was unable to get proper food for her. She was a sweet, little golden-curly headed doll like kid. At this age of 4 I started to school, I will always remember the book I was supposed to read part of it was the Doctrine and Covenants. I can think of trying to read with horror. I forgot to state that father was put in as first councilor to the president of the stake. I will try to tell as near as I can how the Order was carried on. | + | I was born in [[Rockville, Utah|Rockville]], [[Washington County, Utah|Washington Co.]], [[Utah]] on [[March 27]], [[1870]]. My parents were [[Bateman Haight Wilhelm]] and [[Lydia Hannah Draper|Lydia Hannah Draper Wilhelm]]. I had six brothers and sisters, three brothers and three sisters, seven of us in all. I also had one half-brother and five half-sisters, as my father was a polygamist. My mother and father was married five years before he took his second wife, [[Grace Tippett Jose|Grace Tibbits (Tippets) Jose]]. My father and Mother were very happy until this woman came into their lives. I was the first child born to mother after my father took the second wife. I had one brother and one sister older than myself. My mother's parents names were Zemira Draper and Amy Terry Draper. We lived in Rockville until I was 3 years old and then we moved to a little town called Mount Carmel. My father’s mother and his oldest sister moved there also. Aunt [[Susan Clarissa Williams|Susan]]. We lived there until I was 4 years old. Then the church started the United Order and they called father to help head the Order at [[Orderville, Utah|Orderville]], where we moved about two miles from Mount Carmel. A little while after we moved to this place, I had a little sister born. She was named Amy Elnora. She lived until she was 21 months old and then she died of indigestion. Mother was unable to get proper food for her. She was a sweet, little golden-curly headed doll like kid. At this age of 4 I started to school, I will always remember the book I was supposed to read part of it was the Doctrine and Covenants. I can think of trying to read with horror. I forgot to state that father was put in as first councilor to the president of the stake. I will try to tell as near as I can how the Order was carried on. |
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| + | They built the houses in fort shape and right in the center of the square of buildings, was built a large kitchen and dining room. They would select a set of 12 women to work for six weeks as cooks in the kitchen and one man helper and at the end of six weeks, they would choose another 12 women, and so on. There were enough women so they would only have to go into the kitchen every three months. But while our mothers were working, we children would have a good and lonesome time of it, for a home without a mother in it is a pretty lonesome place for little kiddos, especially. Mother would go at 4 o’clock in the morning and probably wouldn’t get home until 10:00 o’clock at night. That made the days pretty long. In the dining room, they had three long rows of tables, the length of the dining hall. I don’t remember the length of the hall, but it seemed very large to me then. In the mornings, they had a bugle call to call every one out of bed and they had one to call the grown people to their meals. The tune "Hard Times" was used to call people to arise of a morning and the tune "Do What is Right or The Old Oaken Bucket". for the meals. Then they would clear away the dishes and wash them and call the young people over 12 years of age to eat and the tune was "Oh, Come, Come away from Home" a school song. Then came the children’s turns under 12 years of age and their tune was : "In Our Lovely Deseret" and it has always sounded like something to eat to me since then. They had nice old ladies to help serve us children. We always called them Auntie. I remember Auntie Harmon, and Auntie Blackburn (the name now a little spoiled) and Auntie Clarage. Of course there were more of them but these were My Aunties that waited the tables where us children ate. There was also a man that walked up and down in the aisles between the tables to keep the children quiet. I remember of how I have been hit a lick on the side of my head with a roll of papers for whispering to some child eating near me. It would sure make one’s head ring when a lick came unexpected. They also had little girls 9 years, well I said little girls I should have said little girls over 9 years old, none younger and oh my, I did so want to be old enough to help wait on the tables. But I was Baptised in the summer and we left there in the fall, that same year, so I never had the pleasure of waiting tables before we left there. | ||
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I remember a little happening that has always remained with me even since I was grown: We children were all out playing and very much interested in our play and the bugle blew for us to go to supper. I said to the rest of the kids that I didn’t care for any supper and there were some few others who stayed to play as well. When the others came back from supper, they said that they had had bacon. I didn’t know what bacon was, as my father always cured his own pork and he called it salt pork. I just grieved about it for a long time. They didn’t have any more bacon or if we did I thought it was just pork and I thought I had missed such a treat. | I remember a little happening that has always remained with me even since I was grown: We children were all out playing and very much interested in our play and the bugle blew for us to go to supper. I said to the rest of the kids that I didn’t care for any supper and there were some few others who stayed to play as well. When the others came back from supper, they said that they had had bacon. I didn’t know what bacon was, as my father always cured his own pork and he called it salt pork. I just grieved about it for a long time. They didn’t have any more bacon or if we did I thought it was just pork and I thought I had missed such a treat. | ||
We used to get very hungry sometime as there was nothing in our homes to eat. No matter how we felt or how hungry we got, we couldn’t go to the breadbox or the pantry and get a piece of bread and cake. We just had to wait from one meal to the next. | We used to get very hungry sometime as there was nothing in our homes to eat. No matter how we felt or how hungry we got, we couldn’t go to the breadbox or the pantry and get a piece of bread and cake. We just had to wait from one meal to the next. | ||
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At first, they had good meals and plenty of dishes to eat out of but finally, there were so many drifted in that the eats were sure poor and many a time I have gone away from the table hungry after trying to eat bread and milk from a dinner plate, not a soup place, just a flat plate, with a fork, and no spoon. As I said before there were all kinds of people drifted in and there were so many people that wouldn’t work, and many others that couldn’t work, old ladies and old men too old to do anything. Cripples and half-wits, and all other kinds that were a burden to those that could and would work. Then young people would marry and come in without bringing any housekeeping outfits, and it just simply overtaxed the rest and soon dissatisfaction crept in. | At first, they had good meals and plenty of dishes to eat out of but finally, there were so many drifted in that the eats were sure poor and many a time I have gone away from the table hungry after trying to eat bread and milk from a dinner plate, not a soup place, just a flat plate, with a fork, and no spoon. As I said before there were all kinds of people drifted in and there were so many people that wouldn’t work, and many others that couldn’t work, old ladies and old men too old to do anything. Cripples and half-wits, and all other kinds that were a burden to those that could and would work. Then young people would marry and come in without bringing any housekeeping outfits, and it just simply overtaxed the rest and soon dissatisfaction crept in. | ||
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I remember President Brigham Young and his company coming to conference. There was a man with the outfit that always kept minutes at their Meetings, and I fell in love with him. Every time he would took my way, I could feel my face burn. I would blush, as I thought of course he was looking at me, I was only five years old at that time. This was my first love affair and no one knew anything about it but myself. Since I was grown, I have heard of similar cases. They tell me that every child has their first love affair at an early date. I should guess that this man was all of 35 year old. | I remember President Brigham Young and his company coming to conference. There was a man with the outfit that always kept minutes at their Meetings, and I fell in love with him. Every time he would took my way, I could feel my face burn. I would blush, as I thought of course he was looking at me, I was only five years old at that time. This was my first love affair and no one knew anything about it but myself. Since I was grown, I have heard of similar cases. They tell me that every child has their first love affair at an early date. I should guess that this man was all of 35 year old. | ||
| - | My folks began to he quite dissatisfied and Apostle Erastus Snow was calling men to move to Arizona to build homes. He called father, so he went with Bro. Snow’s company to look for a place to build us a new home. There were 8 men, I think I heard them say. Edward Noble (Aunt Nancy’s father) was one of the company, Bro. John Nail ( or Naegle), Wm. (Bill) Maxwell were others. So they all decided to move to Arizona. As Mother was in delicate health, he decided to take her down to her mother’s in Rockville, and leave her there for a year and take the other family to Arizona. So he drew his property out of the Order. Each one that joined the Order kept a list of the property that he had turned in and they had one in the Order. As I remember, father drew out 3 work teams, 2 farm wagons and one saddle pony and he and his mother drew 50 head of dairy cows besides some dishes and other things. They bought a nice lot of provisions, fresh pork, cheese, butter and other groceries. I thought I never saw anything look so good. Then father started with us down to Grandmother Draper’s. I remember the first night we camped, Mother fried some of the fresh pork and when we were eating supper my brother George ate piece after piece of pork, and the grease fairly ran out of each side of his mouth. We were under-nourished and half-starved. The folks were watching him eat and mother was afraid that it would make him sick, but Grandmother said it wouldn’t hurt him, so they just let him eat all he wanted. He would eat a piece and say, "Please pass the poke!" Grandmother asked him if he wouldn’t like a little butter spread on it and he said he would, but they didn’t put any on it for him. I know that the folks didn’t know just how us children had suffered for something to eat, that is, food that would nourish our bodies, until we had left the Order and they had started to feed us at home. | + | My folks began to he quite dissatisfied and Apostle Erastus Snow was calling men to move to Arizona to build homes. He called father, so he went with Bro. Snow’s company to look for a place to build us a new home. There were 8 men, I think I heard them say. Edward Noble (Aunt Nancy’s father) was one of the company, Bro. John Nail ( or Naegle), Wm. (Bill) Maxwell were others. So they all decided to move to Arizona. As Mother was in delicate health, he decided to take her down to her mother’s in Rockville, and leave her there for a year and take the other family to Arizona. So he drew his property out of the Order. Each one that joined the Order kept a list of the property that he had turned in and they had one in the Order. As I remember, father drew out 3 work teams, 2 farm wagons and one saddle pony and he and his mother drew 50 head of dairy cows besides some dishes and other things. They bought a nice lot of provisions, fresh pork, cheese, butter and other groceries. I thought I never saw anything look so good. Then father started with us down to Grandmother Draper’s. I remember the first night we camped, Mother fried some of the fresh pork and when we were eating supper my brother [[Zemira George Wilhelm|George]] ate piece after piece of pork, and the grease fairly ran out of each side of his mouth. We were under-nourished and half-starved. The folks were watching him eat and mother was afraid that it would make him sick, but Grandmother said it wouldn’t hurt him, so they just let him eat all he wanted. He would eat a piece and say, "Please pass the poke!" Grandmother asked him if he wouldn’t like a little butter spread on it and he said he would, but they didn’t put any on it for him. I know that the folks didn’t know just how us children had suffered for something to eat, that is, food that would nourish our bodies, until we had left the Order and they had started to feed us at home. |
Then father took the other family and grandmother and went out in to Arizona. He settled in a little town called Concho. I guess it ran him pretty short of money moving into a new country with such a large family to support. I forgot to state that he took my oldest brother Haight with him. | Then father took the other family and grandmother and went out in to Arizona. He settled in a little town called Concho. I guess it ran him pretty short of money moving into a new country with such a large family to support. I forgot to state that he took my oldest brother Haight with him. | ||
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There was a terrible murder done while we lived in the little place. We were all out in the yard and one old lady named Mary Parker, was passing. She stopped to tell mother that it was her birthday and that she was 63 years old. She had been down to the store (owned by Bishop Charles N. Smith, father of Eliza Morris here in Mesa) and had a small parcel with her. She said she was invited to Uncle Jacob Terry’s place for her birthday dinner and seemed to be very happy. I will have to go into the old lady’s history a little to make my story more clear; she only had one son and he had had some trouble with a certain party, and this party told him to get out of town and if he came back, he would kill him. Little towns were built up and down the river (it was the Virgin River) and there were 3 or 4 of them and they were from 1 1/2 to 3 or 4 miles apart, but the old lady used to go from one to the other as she pleased without saying anything to anyone. So it went on about a week and then someone missed her and started to inquire for her but nobody knew anything about her. They came to find out that she was last seen at Uncle Jacob Terry’s place (he was Mother’s uncle). There was a young man by the name of Jarod Dalton had called there while they were eating dinner and told her that her son wanted to see her and that he didn’t dare to come into town for fear of being killed. He said to meet him out about 3 1/2 miles, upon a mountain. They started a hunt for her and about noon, they found her murdered body, with her throat cut and sticks run down her mouth. She had been raped and still had the little parcel with her that she had bought at that fateful morning. | There was a terrible murder done while we lived in the little place. We were all out in the yard and one old lady named Mary Parker, was passing. She stopped to tell mother that it was her birthday and that she was 63 years old. She had been down to the store (owned by Bishop Charles N. Smith, father of Eliza Morris here in Mesa) and had a small parcel with her. She said she was invited to Uncle Jacob Terry’s place for her birthday dinner and seemed to be very happy. I will have to go into the old lady’s history a little to make my story more clear; she only had one son and he had had some trouble with a certain party, and this party told him to get out of town and if he came back, he would kill him. Little towns were built up and down the river (it was the Virgin River) and there were 3 or 4 of them and they were from 1 1/2 to 3 or 4 miles apart, but the old lady used to go from one to the other as she pleased without saying anything to anyone. So it went on about a week and then someone missed her and started to inquire for her but nobody knew anything about her. They came to find out that she was last seen at Uncle Jacob Terry’s place (he was Mother’s uncle). There was a young man by the name of Jarod Dalton had called there while they were eating dinner and told her that her son wanted to see her and that he didn’t dare to come into town for fear of being killed. He said to meet him out about 3 1/2 miles, upon a mountain. They started a hunt for her and about noon, they found her murdered body, with her throat cut and sticks run down her mouth. She had been raped and still had the little parcel with her that she had bought at that fateful morning. | ||
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When they found her, Jarod offered to go for the Justice of the Peace to hold the inquest. He came to our house, the most unlikely place that he could have looked for him. He got off from his horse and sat down with his back against a tree, on the sidewalk and seemed to be in no hurry whatever. He talked calmly about the old lady and her case. While he was talking, another old lady by the name of Mrs. Stalks, came out to where mother and Jarod were talking, and after talking a little while, she came right out and said "Jarod, you killed that old lady!" He denied it of course, but mother was horrified and half out of patience with Mrs. Stalks and said "He is the last one I ever would suspect of having done such a thing." He was a boy of 18 or 19 years old and always been good and steady and mother felt like it was impossible for him to have done such a thing. But he was tried and convicted and sent to prison for 20 years, but he was there 12 of them and was turned out for good behavior. | When they found her, Jarod offered to go for the Justice of the Peace to hold the inquest. He came to our house, the most unlikely place that he could have looked for him. He got off from his horse and sat down with his back against a tree, on the sidewalk and seemed to be in no hurry whatever. He talked calmly about the old lady and her case. While he was talking, another old lady by the name of Mrs. Stalks, came out to where mother and Jarod were talking, and after talking a little while, she came right out and said "Jarod, you killed that old lady!" He denied it of course, but mother was horrified and half out of patience with Mrs. Stalks and said "He is the last one I ever would suspect of having done such a thing." He was a boy of 18 or 19 years old and always been good and steady and mother felt like it was impossible for him to have done such a thing. But he was tried and convicted and sent to prison for 20 years, but he was there 12 of them and was turned out for good behavior. | ||
There was another party implicated, hut he wouldn’t tell who it was, so he was never brought to justice. Before they found out who it was that committed the awful deed, people were just simply terrified. Two or three families would pile up in one house to sleep, just scared to death and not knowing who to be scared of. For a while, one of mother’s sisters came and stayed a night or two, but mother thought it was too much trouble, so we stayed alone. | There was another party implicated, hut he wouldn’t tell who it was, so he was never brought to justice. Before they found out who it was that committed the awful deed, people were just simply terrified. Two or three families would pile up in one house to sleep, just scared to death and not knowing who to be scared of. For a while, one of mother’s sisters came and stayed a night or two, but mother thought it was too much trouble, so we stayed alone. | ||
| - | I remember while we were living at this place, mother left me with most of the housework to do. I always had the light bread to bake. The days were sure long. There would be just my brother George and myself, alone all day, and you can be sure they were long days. | + | I remember while we were living at this place, mother left me with most of the housework to do. I always had the light bread to bake. The days were sure long. There would be just my brother [[Zemira George Wilhelm|George]] and myself, alone all day, and you can be sure they were long days. |
| - | Then it came time for us to think about going to Arizona. As I have said before father took my oldest brother with him out to Arizona. We got a letter from father with $50 in it to pay for our move. Father sent Haight (my brother) back after the family. He was then 15 years old. There were two men came with him as far as Kanab. They names were Edward Wild and the other was Curtis. The man Wild was counted to be wild in life as well as in name, hut he was a diamond in the rough and lie surely had a big heart. The mules that my brother drove were not very trustworthy. This man Wild gave Haight a large ham, a nice big cheese, as well as a nice lot of canned stuff and then tried and tried to give his bed to my brother. As I guess his bed was none too good. We will never forget his kindness. | + | Then it came time for us to think about going to Arizona. As I have said before father took my oldest brother with him out to Arizona. We got a letter from father with $50 in it to pay for our move. Father sent [[Bateman Haight Wilhelm, Jr.|Haight]] (my brother) back after the family. He was then 15 years old. There were two men came with him as far as Kanab. They names were Edward Wild and the other was Curtis. The man Wild was counted to be wild in life as well as in name, hut he was a diamond in the rough and lie surely had a big heart. The mules that my brother drove were not very trustworthy. This man Wild gave [[Bateman Haight Wilhelm, Jr.|Haight]] a large ham, a nice big cheese, as well as a nice lot of canned stuff and then tried and tried to give his bed to my brother. As I guess his bed was none too good. We will never forget his kindness. |
Oh, what a trip for a boy of 15 to make, no roads hardly at all and with a span of mules that were only half broken. Father sent for a molasses mill, too. There were 6 in the family to go in one wagon and with the mill on it, we could not have had much room, so we had to walk almost all of the way. Mother started to get ready to move. Father said to wait for company to travel with. | Oh, what a trip for a boy of 15 to make, no roads hardly at all and with a span of mules that were only half broken. Father sent for a molasses mill, too. There were 6 in the family to go in one wagon and with the mill on it, we could not have had much room, so we had to walk almost all of the way. Mother started to get ready to move. Father said to wait for company to travel with. | ||
