• • • I l I L E P J.. G E PIONEER NAME CATHIEEN BLANCHE BIRD WOOD BIRTH DATE AND PLACE J uly 4, 1852, Wreatem, Norfolk, England QEATH DATE AND PLACE' October 1933, Farmington, Davis County, Utah FATHER James Bird MOTHER WHO MARRIED AND DATE Jonathan Goble , October 9 1871 YEAR ARRIVED IN. ~TAH _ 1_8_64 ___________________ _ NAME OF COMPANY Warren Snow Company WHO WROTE HISTORY AND DATE WHO SUBMITTED HISTORY AND DATE Lorainne Wilkinson _______ ___;__....;;. ___________ ADDRESS 365 S State Morgan, Utah 84o 50 ----------------TELEPHONE NO. 829-3231 CAMP NAME s·o.uth Morgan COUNTY NAME - ..- -M-o-rg-a-n '"'------------- -----------__,; CAMP HISTORIAN Lucill'e O. Wi l liams ADDRESS ·--'----'---~~---------- - - - - - - - - - - - ~ COUNTY HISTORIAN Barbara C. Porter ADDRESS JPEG-Bk13 71 • HI STORY OF CATHLEEN BLANCHE BI RD WOOO,'c-.': Cathleen Blanche Bird was born in Wrdatem, Norfolk, England, 4 July 1852 • Har parents were James Bi rd and Harriet G:.>ble Bl rd who 1 ived In Eastern rural England. James Bird was a shepherd. Her brothers and sisters were: WJJ)am, a h~tf-brother (born to H3rriet 4 December 1844, by John Cottrell. Ther~ ls no mention of a marriage In the records). William was born before Harriet's marriage to James. William came to America six years after the family came. Elizabeth Ann (born 7 July 1850), Charles Heber (born 23 November 1854), and Edw~rd Harry (born 28 August 1858). The family had lived at Monford, then a small place call'ed Drandon, where there was a small branch of the Latter-Day-Saints Church. Her parents had been converted to Mormonism about 1850. Folto·~Jng their c..•o. nversion, they found them-selves alienated from friends and relatives, but the· Gospel was the most Import-ant truth In their lives. Consequently their greatest desire was to Immigrate • to Utah to raise their young family. Charles, their eldest son went ahead to find work and help finance the trip for the fa,nlly. • On 3 June 1864, w~en Blanche was eleyen years old, they sailed down the Thames River on the ship 11 Hudson11 with 1100 other Saints, It was a good voyage although they had some deaths at sea. Burial consisted of strapping the body to a ,board, weight it down then push it overboard. 0,1e thing that really bothered Grandmother Bird, who was a very meticulous wo~an, was when she dis-covered that her children had acquired lice from some source or another. She worked diligently to keep her family free of lice. They arrived ·fn New York in early August seven weeks later then travelled by boat up the Hudson River to Albany. · They to~k the train to Buffalo, travelling in cattle cars like wild cat~le,to St, Joseph, Missouri, then by boat to Omaha, where they were met by ox teams sent from Utah • ,n~ She tater changed the spelllng ,of her name to Kathleen JPEG-Bk13 72 • • • 2. ?3 They left Council Bluffs on the 17 August 1864. Th,~y were a la".rge company and Blanch? with many others walked most of the way as there was no room In the wa.gons for the healthy ones. They crossed the plains with the "W.:uren Snow Company'' and were Joined by a train of Gentiles which made their train five miles long. This was .of mutual benefit, as the Indians were very aggressive at that time; Blanche gathered buffalo chips to make fires. Two little boys were sent to bring In the cat~le, and aQ Indian shot an arrow pinning the boys together. However, the boys recovered; There were many deaths along the way. One lady was climbing into the wagon while the train was going and was pulled down under the wagon by her hoop skirt and was killed. They stayed a day or two at Weber, and reached Salt Lake 2 November 1864, where an Aunt and Uncle, John and Fannie Goble Wood met them and took them to ·-. . Farmington for a month. Anvther Uncle, Thomas Carter' , took them to Nephi where they settled 7 December 1864. James Bird bought an acre of land and their first horne was a dugout in the Southwest part of town, just outside the Old Fort W-111 built by the first settlers 11 years before. Later the family built a two-room adobe house. In 1865, a year after the family had settled In Nephi, the Black Hawk Indian War broke out and it was 2 years before peace was declared· and attacks of the Indians ceased. James Bird resumed his sheep raising, which kept him away from home so the Bird family were in constant fear of the Indians. Charles, then only eleven years of age, was appointed to stand guard, and the fear of Indians worked on his nerves causing frequent nightmsres, and h~ w~uld call out In the night. This struck terror in the hearts of the family, who feared some prowling lndlan might be near and be attracted to the dwelling by the noise. Blanche's mother and oldest sister Elizabeth, went ·out gleaning In the fields so Blanche stayed at home and kept house. Just thirteen months after . their JPEG-Bk13 • 3. 7 'f-arrival in the valley, Elizab~th died of Typhoid fever. She was a beautiful girl of sixteen years. They had been here but four years when James Bird passed away l•?aving the family with but sm:tl 1 means to provide for themselves. Blanche worked very hard help.Ing her mother take in washings to make a living for her three brothers. There was no opportunity for her to go to school. When she was eighteen years old she went to work for John and F~nnie Goble Wood, her aunt and unc,le. While worki ng there she fell In love with ber cousin Jonathan and he with her. They were married 9 .0ctober 1871 · in the Endo\ltfflent House In Salt Lake City. They made their home in Farmington, Davis County, Utah, where she lived the remainder of her llfe. She was the mother of twelve children, eight boys and four girls, Lillian Blanche, Jonathan David, Philip James, _Elizabeth Ann, Cha.rle~ William, George Franklin, Willard LeGrand, Alice Myrtle, W,3llace Harry, Geneva Bird, Clifton B., and Afton G. Wood. The twins, Clifton and Afton, were born when she was nearly 47 yea rs of age. When she was 52 a daughter-in-Jaw, Pearl, • wife of Wallace, died leaving a six-month old son Udell, who Blanche raised as her own. Although she lived to be eighty-one years old, none of her children or her husband predeceased her. J~nathon was prosperous, active in civic, business and religious activities. He owned a mercantile business in Fa rmington. He also homesteaded a farm at Fielding, Utah of 160 acres. He built a home on the farm but Blanche always Jived at Farmington in their home there. The home in Farmington was very nice, built of rock, and is still standing and being lived in today, and I might add, in v~ry good condition. Jonathon was large and Blanche was small in stature. Both had happy dispositions and made friends readily. They were very happy together. Blanche was very thrifty. She had blue eyes and long dark hair, and a peaches and cream complexion. Because she was small she was thought to be fragile, however she deceived her looks as she was such a hard-working and industrious • woman. Of course my memory of her was when she had long grey hair which she wound JPEG-Bk13 • 4. 75 . around in a bun at the'top of her head. She was smiling much of the time, and never remember her being at all cross with me. She loved children, especially her grandchildren. She had a raspberry patch from which she would sell raspberries and also can them for storage for winter food. I remember going there and picking raspberries for her. She would call me at 5:00 a.m., and I would jump out of bed for I wished to please her. She would say to me, "lack-a-me child, you don't need to jump out of bed tha.t fast", but I knew that she was pleased. At lunch time she would serve me in the celler. The ceiling of the celler had a trap door which was raised from the floor of the porch to enter and descend the stairs. Those stairs were scrubbed until they were almost white. The celler was cool and in those days there was no air-conditioning nor was there refrigeration. She kept that celler as clean as a pin all swept and whitewashed down. · She kept her milk there in round enamel pans and I remember the thick cream that rose to the top, some of which she used and some of which she sold. For lunch she would always • serve me a small piece of cheese, that was a food stable with my Grandmother. Also she would serve me a piece of bread and butter, a dish of fruit and~ glass of milk. It almost never varied. This was adequate for I was always full of raspberries. Supper at Grandmother's was the large meal of the day. She made butter some of which she sold, so she always had a little money of her own. My Uncle Clifton Wood told me she hfd it and nobody knew where the hiding place was. She kept her expenditures at a minimum. She was a beautiful homemaker, her home was spotlessly clean and neat. She worked as a secretary for the Relief Society for many years and she and Granfather were always at church on Sunday. She was a delightful Mother and Grandmother. She loved to work in her spare time with her crochet hook, and made the most beautiful shawls for the babies, and her grandchildren. She never said anything unkind about anyone else and was especially kind to her mother and brothers. Her mother, Great-Grandmother Bird • lived much of her life in Grandmother'~ home after Great-Grandfather Bird passed JPEG-Bk13 • 5. away. Of course Great-Grandmother Bird became a very important person to all the Wood children and they loved her dearly . Hy Mother , Alice Myrtle Wood Wilkinson, was always adamantly opposed to polygamy. I do not think that my Mothe r knew at that time, or for many years after, that the first wife had to give permission for her husband to take a sceond wife. I remember telling Mother of this requisite after I was married . She was very surprised and only when my Dad assur.ed her that this was true did she believe it. She said that when Grandfather brought his second wife home that Grandmother Blanche gave up her bed to them and slept with her children. I fully understand my Mother's loyalty to her Mother, however, I should like to quote from Hy Uncle Clifton Wood. "To say that it didn't hurt Mother wouldn't be right. Father and President Hess came to Mother and asked if it would be alright if Father took Eliza Hess for his second wife. President Hess and other religious leaders urged Father to take a second wife. They were assigned by • higher authorities to take care of these matters . Father said, 'if I thought that it would hurt her, bi"eak us up or cause an y trouble, I w.:>uld rather bur}' her • than see that happen.• It dtdn 1 t h.'3ppen. I think that it hurt because Mother had six children whe~ he m3rrled Aunt Lyde who was only eighteen years of age. They never lived In a way that showed that it hurt. They ware very congenial. I don't think Mother really wanted polygamy, I know ft hurt her . because she was that type of individual, however, she never complained about it. I talked to her once when she was old. Brother Millard, Stake Patriarch ca:ne In and gave her a blessing. He said that she would Jive long enough so that polygamy wouldn 1 t hurt her. 3afd. •well, ~ave you lived that long? 1 She said, .n~t yet. so you see that it did hurt her. Father was a great peacemaker, they just took his advlce about things, yet I cannot re.m ember of the nee·d arising. They always. lived peacefully together. Mother loved Eliza's children and Eliza loved Mother's children. Polygamy didn't mean anything other than being a good bfg family to us. JPEG-Bk13 • • 6. 7'1 I presume that Is why we got along so well. There Just wasn't any contention between the two families. They used to 30 together on trips· and outings with Father and if they weht to Fielding they went together because both had children up there running the farm. I don't think Father had a favorite wtfe, I think he lov«:d them both dearly." Of course there was much persecution of the polygamist fami li es at that time. The marshals w~re scouring the countryside for the polygamists. Grandfather always kept a horse saddled In the barn for a rapid es cape. Also, the people of the town of Farmington so loved and respected Grandfather that they were always on the alert to help him. They would know the authorities were in the vaclnlty and would send someone o, a horse to warn him. He would immediately mount his horse and ride swiftly for Fielding and the farm. The authorities never w~nt farther than Brigham City, so he was never arrested. After a tima he wearied of this constant tension and harassment, so h? went to the President of the Church and asked him what he should do. He told the President, 11 1 feel like giving up." The Presldent said, "all right Brother Wood if that Is the way you feel, I would recommend to you ·that you go to them 3nd turn yourself in." Grandfathe r went to the authorities and told them who he was and that he was a polygamist . They told him to go and they never bothered him again. That was a big family for Grandfather Wood. Aunt Eliza had nine children and with Grandmother's twelve, and counting the adults they were twenty four in number. There was no need for dis cipline in Grandmothers home, It just wasn't needed. The children recognized parental guidance and accepted it quite naturally. The severest punishment a child could have was If either parent told them they should be ashamed of themselves . Everyone Wvrked h~rd and Grandfather and Grandmother knew the need for recreation and relaxation so . they allowed tlme for this and many times parti cipated with the children. At Thanks givi ng time both famili es • w~uld get in the bobsleigh and go out to Grandfather's Sister's home (Aunt Mary JPEG-Bk13 • 7. Wilcox) in South Farmington. The families loved going there. At canning fruit time Aunt Eliza and Grandmother would peel and prepare big tubs of peaches together. The children would wash the peaches first. Some or the peaches were sold. The children w~uld arrange them in boxes side-by-side with face up (they called this procedure facing th~m) which made them look nice. The orchards stood between Aunt Eliza's h~me and Grandmothers. These homes· were approxlmately ·three-fqurths of a block apart. Half of the orchards belonged to my Grandmother and half to Aunt Eliza. Gra~dmother's family (Including grandchildren) were never allowed to pick fruit to eat from Aunt Eliza's ~lde. But we could go Into Grandmothers and eat our fill of cherries, peaches, apples and .apricots. Accordingly, we loved to go there especially in the fruit season. I remember the little yellow buttercups a~d white daises that grew along a ditchbank west of Grandmother's house. The lawns were kept ln apple-pte ~rder. I loved to pick the flowers, and she had many varieties. admired her roses. • Grandmother made wonderful pies·and was known throughout Farmington for those pies. • Grandmother's birthday and Aunt Eliza's blrthday were on ldentical days, the Fourth of July. Grandfather would buy identical presents for both ·except for color perhaps, Grandmother liked blue, and Aunt Eliza liked red. He alw~ys ~reated them just the same. Both wlves dld gratuitous work for the poor and the sick. Grandfather Wood did some carpentry work. He had built a barn for his Father and Great-Grandfather Wood was so pleased wtth his w~rk that he told hlm to make his casket. "I want it built out of two-Inch lumber," he told Grandfather , "and I want you to dedicate my grave."' Oddly enough, when Great-~randfather and Great-grandmother Wood died it ·was just 36 hours apart and they . were burled In the same grave. Grandfather Wood made .his father's casket and dedicated his grave as ·was his father's desire. The famrly always had family prayer and studied the scrlptures • . When ft JPEG-Bk13 • • • 8. was. conference time Grandfather would say, "come on and let's go to conference . " They would all go. Just on special occasions they gathered together. Grandmother had a huge long table. In the sum~ertime both families would slt at the table out under the .shade trees and have dinner there. One of the children would have to shoo the flies wtth a willow to keep them away from the food. remember my Mother telling me that some woman from Farmington had the first fly swatter They had ever seen, and Gr~ndmother said, "look at that silly woman, she thinks she can kill all those flies with that little swatter." Those were happy times . Alth6ugh she had twelve children, my Grandmother was the first to pass away. remember that time so vividly . Grandmother had a stroke and we knew .that her condition was terminal. Each of her daughters and daughters-In-law took turns taking care of her in her own home. I stayed at home out on the farm and cooked \ ~ . and took care of the family while Mother was In Farmi~gton. The second time Mother's turn came, she felt she was needed at home for we had a big family also • She told Grandmother . that I would go down and take care of her for two we.e ks • . was petrified . With my aversion to death, I was afraid Grandmo~her would pass away while I was there with her. called Mother into Grandmother•s bathroom and cried and told her i was afraid to stay with Grandmother. Mother understood, but to my horror Grandmother heard us and told Mother, "tell little Alice. not to be afraid, she can sleep rlght here ·beside me. 11 Then really was frightened . So Mother took her turn and t went home the second t I me and took care of the .f amt 1 y. As It turned out, Grandmother did pass away that week and died · In Mother's arms. # This wa~ my first lntroductlon to re·al sorrow. Mother was grief-stricken, and and although we all felt badly, we had lived quite a distance from Grandmother's home .and didn't feel the passing as did. my Mother. 79 Grandmother Wood was eighty-one years of age when she died , the 4 October 1933 ln farmtngton,' Davis County, Utah, arid was buried In the Farmington cemetery • Written by AlJce Wilkinson Sessions - Granddaughter JPEG-Bk13