Thomas – A Deck of Ancestors

52W Mark V – Week 17: Louisa Thomas

My 4xG Grandmother, Louisa Thomas, had a short and difficult life. While she passed away when she was 35, she had married three times and had partaken in one of the great westward treks of American history, the Mormon Migration.

While by every account Louisa was possibly born on May 28, 1811, I have had a great amount of difficulty in determining where her birth occurred. I have not found any primary records on the matter. The few sources I have are secondary or tertiary in nature.

When I first learned about Louisa in the mid-1990s, what little I found indicated that she was born in “Berks” or “Berks County” Virginia. However, there is no such place.

There’s a Berks County in Pennsylvania, not Virginia. There is a Burkeley County in West Virginia, in the panhandle bordering Maryland, which would have been part of Virginia when Louisa was born. There was also a Berkley, Norfolk County, Virginia, but the town was annexed by the City of Norfolk and the Norfolk County no longer exists. There is also Burke, Virginia, an unincorporated community in Fairfax County, about 20 kilometers southwest of Washington, D.C. The death certificate for Charlotte Liggett, Louisa’s daughter, says Louisa was born in West Virginia. The entry for Louisa’s death in the Winter Quarters Sexton’s Records says she was born in Maryland.

Considering all this information together, it seems that Louisa was most likely born in Burkeley County, then part of Virginia, close to the border with Maryland.

Louisa’s parents are also largely a matter of speculation and were said to be James Thomas and Elizabeth Stevens. The one source I had that named Louisa and her parents was a family history of Louisa’s second husband, the Liggetts, which I first consulted in 2013. The current version of that document no longer mentions Louisa or her parents. However, after writing this paragraph, I came across a history of Scioto Township in Delaware County, Ohio, which includes mention of James and Elizabeth. Unfortunately, the book does not indicate the source of this information.

FamilySearch had a James Thomas named as Louisa’s father, but named a Catherine Simmons as her mother. There were no sources for this connection, so I edited Louisa’s entry on FamilySearch by disconnecting her from those individuals. As it stands, I have no actual knowledge of who Louisa’s parents might have been.

The fog of history continues with Louisa’s first marriage. She is said to have married Lazarus Absolom Beakley in 1835, when Louisa was 24. However, I cannot find any record of this marriage or of Lazarus himself, who is said to have been born in 1811 and died before 1837. One secondary source even suggested that his name was only Absalem, with no Lazarus as a first name. Lazarus and Louisa supposedly had a son. Not only can I not find a record of this child, I can’t even find anything indicating what his first name might have been. Most of what I have about this marriage comes from a memoire by George Burgess, who was born 50 years after Louisa died, so I do not consider it particularly reliable.

At most, the registration of Louisa’s marriage to her second husband, Conrad Liggett (my Great x4 Grandfather) names her as “Louisa Beakley”. For the longest time, I had assumed this indicated a previous marriage to a man with the surname “Beakley.” However, that was based upon the belief that Louisa’s surname at birth was Thomas. The record of her marriage to Conrad does not indicate she was a widow.

The registration of marriage for Conrad Liggett and Louisa Beakley. There is no indication that Louisa was previously married or whether Beakley was her surname at birth or that of a previous husband.

What if there was no Lazarus Absolom Beakley (given that I can find no record of him) and Louisa’s surname at birth was Beakley? I’ve been unable to find any record or mention of a Louisa Beakley, so that thought remains largely theoretical.

The real paper trail for Louisa begins with her marriage to her second husband, Conrad, as reproduced above. It’s the first tangible record indicating that Louisa even existed. Louisa and Conrad married on February 28, 1837 in Delaware County, Ohio. They had one child together, my Great x3 grandmother, Charlotte Liggett. It was a short marriage, as Conrad died on April 21, 1838, when Charlotte was only five months old.

With Conrad’s death, Louisa had to find work to support her family. As a result, Conrad’s parents, James Liggett and Susana Carr, took Charlotte in, possibly along with her half brother through her mother’s marriage to Lazarus Beakley. It is not clear if Charlotte’s grandparents had full-time custody and care of her or whether they only looked after her during Louisa’s working hours. Based upon the second-hand descriptions of their custody I’ve read, it appears that James and Susana had full-time care of Charlotte.

Three years and one week after Conrad died, Louisa married for a third (second?) time, to Aaron W. Cook. Aaron’s birth information I take with a grain of salt, because it’s exactly the same as what I have for Lazarus, and with an equally flimsy evidentiary basis. What is definitely far more certain is that Louisa married Aaron on April 28, 1841 in Delaware County, since there is a registration for their union in the Delaware County records.

The registration of Louisa and Aaron’s marriage.

Here is where the story becomes (allegedly) more dramatic. According to George Burgess’s memoire, Louisa and Aaron married in secret. Around the same time, the couple joined the relatively new Mormon church.

Shortly after the marriage, Louisa asked James and Susanna if she could take Charlotte home with her for a week or a weekend. However, Louisa never returned Charlotte to her paternal grandparents. In George’s words, they “ran off” with Charlotte and joined the Mormons in their westward migration. However, it seems to me that Louisa was well within her rights to keep her daughter with her, since her in-laws never had any form of legal custody of Charlotte.

George said that Louisa had three daughters with Aaron when they were living in Nauvoo, plus another child about 12 miles out of Nauvoo after the Mormons were driven out of there. I have no records of these children, so I have not included them in my database. Louisa and her youngest child died during childbirth. Allegedly – again! – because I cannot find any mention of a child in the record of Louisa’s death or that Louisa had died in childbirth.

After leaving Ohio, Louisa and Aaron apparently settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, where the Mormons had established a settlement and built a temple. However, in 1846, a few years after the death of church founder Joseph Smith, the Mormons were driven out of Nauvoo. This motivated the Mormons to migrate to what is now Utah, which was then still part of Mexico.

Because of the rushed departure from Nauvoo late in the year, the Mormons set up camp known as Winter Quarters, near present day Omaha, Nebraska. Conditions were rough and many of the trekkers died there. Depending on the source, anywhere from 350 to 2,000 Latter Day Saints perished at Winter Quarters. Louisa was one of those who died there.

An entry in the Winter Quarters Sexton’s Records shows that Louisa died on on November 16, 1846, about 19 miles up the river from Winters Quarters. Charlotte was only nine at the time.

“Loisa Cook. 36 years, 0 months, 0 days. Wife of Aaron W. Cook [her third husband]. Died 19 miles up the River from Winter quarters Bur[i]ed at the same place. [Died] Nov 16 1846. [Disease] chills fever. [Born] State of Mareland May 1811.”

While Louisa only lived for 35 years, I only have documentation I have for her only coves the last ten years of her lifen. What little there is shows short marriages, family strife, religious persecution, and an early death. Despite what I have found, Louisa remains a solid brick wall ancestor.

52W Mark V – Week 8: Daniel Thomas

No wonder I am weeks behind in the 52 Ancestors Challenge. In order to provide some background into their childhood and family before marriage, I look for what I have on each individual’s parents and siblings. It’s a good practice to examine your ancestors’ FAN club (“Friends, Associates, and Neighbours”), but I end up getting sucked into deeper research for the grandparents and great grandparents of the person I am writing about.

In this case, I’m supposed to be writing about my Great x4 Grandfather Daniel Thomas. Instead, I’ve spent the last few weeks researching his parents, Rev. Daniel Thomas (1739-1810) and Sarah Covington (1750-1828). In fact, while writing this paragraph, I ended up falling back into the research wormhole and spent two more hours on it before returning to this post.

Daniel and Sarah were both born in Maryland and had deep family roots in that state, back to the early 18th century when it was still a British colony.

Daniel Thomas Sr. was a Baptist minister and well-to-do plantation owner , which, of course, meant that he was a slave owner. Daniel Senior was the first minister of Dockery Meeting House in Rockingham, Richmond County, North Carolina, which was chartered in 1774. It was later renamed Cartledge Creek Baptist Church. While every source I have about his marriage to Sarah Covington says they married in 1770 in Rockingham, I suspect they might have married in Maryland because it seems Daniel moved to Rockingham to take up his ministerial role there.

Daniel and Sarah had eleven children in Richmond County. Daniel the younger was their third child and second son. All of Daniel’s children are named in his will, although it does not appear that he provided anything for his eldest child, Priscilla, even though she was one of the witnesses to the will. However, it may be that Priscilla was not actually Daniel’s daughter, but his niece or daughter-in-law. I could dive back into the research wormhole to find out, but I really want to make some progress here.

Daniel Senior did not divide his estate equally. Daniel junior only received ten shillings, as did two of his brothers. Sarah received Daniel’s plantation with a life estate, which passed to their eldest son, William, on her death. One son received $25, on received $100, and another received $400. Two daughters received a cows, with one receiving furniture as well, while a third daughter only received a bed and furniture.

Portion of the will of Daniel Thomas, Sr., showing bequests of 10 shillings to his sons Elijah, Daniel, and Henry.

Portion of the will of Daniel Thomas, Sr., naming his sons William and Daniel as executors of his estate.

While Daniel might not have inherited his father’s plantation, he did well enough for himself. According to his grandson, also named Daniel, Daniel Jr. could be described as “wealthy”, owning a “well equipped plantation with many negro slaves.” Another writer described Daniel as “an affluent slaveholder”.

Sometime in his early adulthood Daniel bought a 3000 acre plantation with a river running through it, which included some islands. The land cost $2.24 per acre, plus the cost of surveying and the deeds. The plantation was on the east bank of the Yadkin River about 8 miles northwest of Rockingham. Daniel built an 8-room wood frame house on the land, which had an orchard and garden. Daniel kept sheep and also had a carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, a cotton gin, and a shad fishery.

Daniel also owned about 30 slaves. It’s hard enough wrapping one’s mind around the concept of one human “owning” another, even harder to think a man of God could justify it.

On December 3, 1795, Daniel married Nancy Ann Morehead. I don’t know if this was before or after he bought his plantation, but it’s likely the two events were not far apart in time. Or not. As I noted in my earlier post about Nancy, despite all the (mostly secondary) sources indicating that they married in 1795, there was a 16-year gap between their marriage and the birth of their first child in 1811.

Together Daniel and Nancy had four children, all born in Rockingham, likely on the plantation. All four were born about a year apart from each other. The fact Nancy had four children in rapid succession after a 16-year period also causes me to question the chronology set out in the information I have. Alternatively, Daniel and Nancy might have had other children I don’t know about before 1811, but that seems unlikely.

Daniel died on November 7, 1830 in Rockingham. According to Find A Grave, Daniel might be buried at the Cartledge Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, like his father. However, if he is buried there, the site of his grave is unknown.

On Daniel’s death, his family sold his property for $3,000 and relocated to Tennessee and later to Mississippi. Of course, they kept the slaves. Heaven forbid. As contemptuous as I am, one can’t choose their ancestors. You have to take the crunchy with the smooth when you do genealogy.

52W Mark IV – Week 38: Card B12 Thomas Preston

TL;DR: My Gx3 Grandfather Preston Thomas was first a slave owner and later a polygamist. I don’t like him.

Of course, that comes with the bias of my point in time. The longer story is that in his time Preston was well-respected by his community, his church, and his family. He was acting on the norms of his time and his community. In addition to many different occupational pursuits during his life, Preston a leader, a teacher, a politician, and a judge.

Preston’s story begins in Rockingham, North Carolina, where he was born on February 15, 1814 to Daniel Thomas and Nancy Ann Morehead. Daniel was the son of a Baptist minister and was an affluent slaveowner with a 3000 acre plantation with a carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, a cotton gin, and a shad fishery. Daniel owned about 30 slaves, many of whom were passed onto his sons.

Needless to say, with the stature of his father, Preston was well-educated. Apparently he spent some time in New Jersey as part of his schooling, although I do not know what kind of school he attended or when. Preston was 16 when his father passed away on November 7, 1830. By the time he was 21, Preston’s endeavours included operating a sawmill he owned in Covington, North Carolina.

Sometime after Daniel died, Preston, his mother Nancy, and his older brother Joseph, and younger sister Elizabeth (“Betsy”) all relocated to Tipton, Tennessee. Joseph was married at the time; Preston and Betsy were not. Needless to say, the family brought their slaves with them. It seems Joseph bought some land that he farmed. Preston’s pursuits included the study of law, but I don’t know if he actually practiced. By 1838, Preston also owned a mill in Tipton.

In Tipton, Preston married Sarah Ann Jane Morehead on May 10, 1838. Sarah – who went by Jane – was a cousin of Preston’s to some degree, but I haven’t researched their exact relationship. From 1839 to 1860, over four states, Preston and Jane had nine children.

^{Sarah Ann Jane Morehead and Preston Thomas}

Sometime in mid-1835, Preston’s brother Joseph had relocated to Somerville, Mississippi. Years later, Joseph returned to Tennessee and persuaded his mother and siblings Betsy and Daniel to join him in Mississippi. Preston remained in Tipton. However, after Preston’s mother died on November 7, 1843, he moved to Somerville. Part of the move was to help settle his mother’s estate. Preston build a mill upon moving to Somerville; presumably a sawmill as he had done in North Carolina.

It was in Mississippi that Preston and his family first encountered some Mormon missionaries. Eventually, Preston and all his siblings joined the church; in fact, years later on a mission to Texas, Preston converted his brother Daniel. Preston was baptised into the church January 13, 1844 and became one of its most ardent evangelists. He served on six major missions, primarily to Texas. Preston travelled the Mississippi river nearly thirty times as part of his missionary work. Thomas sold his slaves to his uncle, Benjamin Thomas, and moved his family to Nauvoo, Illinois, settling there by 1845.

When the Mormons were driven out of Nauvoo in 1846, Preston initially moved his family to Memphis, Tennessee. In part, it was because they still had family in Tennessee; as well, Preston was serving another mission. They remained there for at least a year. By 1848, Preston and family had joined the Mormon migration in Winter Quarters in Nebraska, which the Saints had set up as a temporary community on their way to Utah.

However, before proceeding to Utah, Preston was called to another mission to Texas. As well, in 1850, the family briefly lived in Freemont, Iowa, where Preston carried out farming. While residing there, Preston and Sarah Jane took in two of Preston’s nephews, whose parents had passed away. By 1851, Preston and his family had settled in Lehi, Utah, where they remained for the next nine years.

Sometime in 1949, during one of his missions to Texas, Preston met John Smith and Maria Amanda Foscue (1822-1885), a couple with seven children. John was originally from Alabama, Maria was from Florida. During this mission, Preston converted the couple, who undertook the trek to Utah. John did not survive. Maria ultimately ended up in Salt Lake City and came back into contact with Preston, who she married on November 17, 1851. Bear in mind that Preston was still married to Sarah Jane at the time, and he remained so until he died. With Maria, Preston had four children, all of whom were born in Lehi.

Besides providing for his large and growing family, Preston was a busy man in Lehi. The town established a school in 1851. Preston and his sister Betsy were its first teachers. Preston taught the boys on one side of the school room; Betsy taught the girls on the other side. A school board was established on February 20, 1854. Preston was one of three men elected as the first trustees. Another was William Burgess. My grandfather, Leo Burgess, is a direct descendant of William and Preston – William on his father’s side and Preston on his mother’s. A month after becoming a member of the school board, Preston was elected as an alderman of Lehi.

Two of Lehi’s first school board trustees, and great grandfathers of Leo Burgess, my maternal grandfather

On top of all that, Preston was one of the first Probate Judges in Utah. He was appointed when the court was created and was the first judge for Utah County (Salt Lake City). Preston’s appointment was approved by an Act of the territorial legislature on February 7, 1852 (Laws of the Territory of Utah, Chapter XLV).

At the time of its creation, the Probate Court in Utah had a much broader jurisdiction than simply the estates of the deceased and those under guardianship. In addition, the territorial legislature granted the court jurisdiction over civil, criminal, chancery, and divorce matters. As well, the Probate Court heard appeals from the county Justice of the Peace courts. In 1874, the federal government revoked the Probate Court’s jurisdiction over all matters except for divorce and probate matters and in 1877, it revoked the court’s authority in divorce matters. When Utah became a state in 1896, the Probate Court was abolished.

Docket and Journal of the Probate Court, 1852, showing Judge Preston Thomas swearing in the Clerk of the Court.

It appears that Preston’s tenure was a short one, as he was succeeded by Isaac Higbee on December 27, 1852. Not surprising, since Preston was called to serve yet another mission in Texas, from August 1852 to November 1853. Preston served yet another mission in Texas from September 1854 to September 1856.

During that latter mission, Preston made his way to Texas through St. Louis, Missouri. There he met Rachel Hadlond (née Franklin), an English immigrant who had joined the Mormon church. When Rachel learned Preston was arranging for a company of Texan converts to migrate to Utah, Rachel “begged” him to take her three oldest children, Charlotte, Maria (“Molly”), and Edward with him. The children were ages 18, 16, and 14 at the time. While Molly remained in Utah, Charlotte and Edward ultimately returned to St. Louis.

Two years later, on October 8, 1856, Preston married Molly. Apparently Brigham Young himself was the officiant, and conducted the ceremony in his office in Salt Lake City. Preston was 42, Molly was 18. Preston fathered 9 children with Molly. All together, Preston fathered 22 children with his three wives. Preston and Molly’s first child was a daughter, who they named Sarah Ann Jane, after Preston’s first – and still – wife.

During his final years in Lehi, Preston was elected to the Utah Territorial House of Representatives, serving for three sessions from 1857 to 1859. Preston was first elected as one of three representatives of Utah and Cedar Counties, along with Aaron Johnson and James C. Snow. During his first term, he served on two Select Standing Committees: Elections, as well as Agriculture, Trade, and Manufacture. The first session took place in Fillmore, which was originally the territorial capital. The next two took place in Salt Lake City.

Some of Preston’s legislative and judicial positions

In June 1860, Preston accompanied Brigham Young as part of a team exploring a site in northern Utah. Young planned for a settlement at the site. During the trip, Young told Preston that he wanted him to be the Bishop of the new settlement and directed Preston to go home and get his family. It was a two-week trip to make the move. Maria and her children remained behind in Lehi, as she was about to give birth to her youngest child.

By September, a settlement was established at the location, which became Franklin, Idaho. When it was established, the founders believed the site was in Utah. Long afterwards they discovered that it was inside Idaho, about a mile north of the border. In the meantime, Franklin was administered as if it was in Utah. Preston served as bishop in Franklin for three years. In 1863, Preston was reappointed to the Probate Court of Utah, where he served until 1865.

In 1863, Brigham Young directed a team of 12 to 15 men to explore the Bear Lake Valley in Idaho, not too far from Franklin. This group included Preston. The team completed its survey and by September 1863 a settlement had been erected where Paris, Idaho now stands. Preston built a log cabin at the time and then returned to Franklin for the winter. He then moved to Bear Valley with his family the following spring.

After living in Paris for a while, Preston moved the family about 20 kilometers south, to Fish Haven. During the time he lived in Bear Valley, Preston was called to serve another mission in 1869 and 1870, which included Alabama and Tennessee.

In 1873, Preston moved his family back to Franklin. Upon his return, Preston oversaw the construction of a canal, which was nicknamed Thomas Ditch. The name was probably an apt one as it seems calling it a canal might have overstated its stature. Regardless, it remained in use for 60 years and was subsequently expanded. Preston settled on a homestead of 160 acres, alongside the canal.

In 1876, Preston once again stood for election to a territorial legislature. However, by that time, it had been discovered that Franklin was inside Idaho, so Preston was nominated to run for the Territorial Council of Idaho for Franklin County. It does not appear that he was successful.

A year later, on July 10, 1877 Preston was killed as a result of an accident while working with his son Preston Pinkney, who was 16 at the time. Preston had felled a pine tree that he intended to mill into lumber for a house he was building on his property. Preston was cutting the tree into lengths when it began to roll downhill. While trying to move out of the way, Preston’s feet became entangled in the brush, and he fell. While he was rolling down the hill, the tree rolled over him and killed him instantly. Preston was interred at the Franklin Cemetery.

I acknowledge that my dislike for Preston might smack of presentism, which involves applying modern values and perspectives to historical analysis. As someone who majored in history, I am well-aware of the viewpoints for and against presentism. It is also a question debated by genealogists in writing about our ancestors.

However, we are also allowed our feelings about past norms that are now seen as historic wrongs. Moreover, while it is important remember our ancestors in the context of their time and what might have been considered right or wrong, I am not convinced that absolves the slaveholders and bigamists of my past. Avoiding presentism does not mean avoiding the application of a critical mind.

While it might not be appropriate to judge Preston, especially by modern standards, it does not mean I have to like him.

One thing that researching Preston has instilled in me is understanding the responsibility I have in doing something positive with the knowledge that Preston was a slaveowner. For example, researching slaveowners can help the descendants of the enslaved learn more about their ancestors. That’s an area of genealogical research I haven’t done much of and involves a steep learning curve. Time, distance, access to records, and resources are also hurdles. Nevertheless, I have started investigating what tools and techniques I can employ in that research.

52W Mark IV – Week 31: Card B5 Ella Elizabeth Thomas

My Gx2 Grandmother, Ella Elizabeth Thomas, is a rarity amongst my direct female ancestors, as she was one of the few with an occupation outside of the home. Ella was a midwife and nurse for about 40 years, serving the town of Cardston, Alberta and the surrounding community.

Ella was born in Lehi, Utah on October 9, 1859. Her father, Preston Thomas, was originally from North Carolina. Her mother, Maria Hadlond, was from England and emigrated to the States with her family when she was a teen.

When Ella was about 18 months old, her family moved nearly 200 kilometers north to Franklin, Idaho, which is located right on the Utah border. It was the first non-Indigenous settlement in Idaho. In fact, when the town was founded, the original settlers thought they were within the boundary of Utah. Another fun fact about Franklin is that its county, also named Franklin, is the only county by that name in the United States that is not named after Benjamin Franklin. Rather, it was named after Franklin Richards, a Mormon leader.

Somehow, by 1879, when she was 19, Ella was living in Salt Lake City. It is not clear what events in her life led her to be there. Salt Lake City is a fair distance south of Franklin. Her father died in 1877, so it may have been that her mother relocated to the city after becoming a widow. That’s a matter for further research.

^{Ella and John. One source I’ve seen says this is their wedding photo, but I have a hard time seeing a 19-year-old and a 24-year-old. Of course, the stern expressions, style of dress, and fact it’s black and white all serve to age them.}

In Salt Lake City, Ella married John Alexander Nelson on January 9, 1879. After marrying, the couple relocated to Smithfield, Utah, which is relatively close to Franklin. They remained there for about ten years, where Ella gave birth to the first six of their twelve children. In September 1890, the family moved to Canada. They were part of the earliest wave of Mormons to settle Cardston, Alberta after it was founded in 1887.

While John was kept busy by a multitude of endeavors, Ella was soon called to a profession of her own after the family settled in Canada. As a new community, Cardston did not have any physicians or other kind of healthcare providers. The closest doctor would have been in Lethbridge, 80 kilometers away. Today that’s under an hour’s drive; in 1890, it was a long and difficult journey by horse or wagon.

The accounts of Ella’s training as a midwife differ. They all agree that Ella was called to study nursing and obstetrics in her early 30s and was sent to Salt Lake City for training. Several sources say that Cardston’s founder and stake president, Charles Ora Card, issued the direction himself. However, the various sources are inconsistent as to when Ella received her training.

An article about Ella in the Lethbridge Herald following her death said that she left her five eldest children at home, taking with her “a six months old baby”. Given there were five older children left at home, that baby would have been Seth Henry Nelson, who was born October 1891. Another article in an annual family newsletter, Nelson Talk, stated that the baby Ella brought with her was her son Cleveland, who was born in March 1893. Chief Mountain Country: A History of Cardston suggests that Ella “left behind seven small children for John to care for and run the home, only to find she was expecting another child.”

^{Ella with her four eldest children, Ella, Rachel, Lileth, and Maria. This photo would have been taken in Utah shortly before the family moved to Canada.}

Together, these accounts are most consistent with Ella having attended her studies in Utah in 1892. Seth would have been about six months old at the time, and the child Ella learned she was expecting was most likely Cleveland. Of course, Nelson Talk most likely nailed it when it said that John and Ella’s eldest child, Maria, who was about 12 at the time, primarily took care of the other children in the family during their mother’s absence.

In Salt Lake City, Ella trained under a Dr. Shipp for about six months. When Ella returned, she was the only medical help that Cardston and area had for many years. The Herald article says that Ella “answered every call from 1892 to the time when the district was supplied with medical men, and after that time when there was more work than one doctor could do”.

Chief Mountain Country indicated that Ella often received no payment for her services, or would sometimes be paid in goods, such as produce. In a short biography of his mother’s life, Seth wrote that Ella’s regular fee for the delivery was $5 and $1 per day for nursing services after the delivery. However, she would often not receive anything for nursing.

Nevertheless, it seems that Ella did not forego payment easily. Seth said that her sons were often sent to collect on outstanding accounts, which sometimes required repeated trips. An account from another of Ella’s sons was that one woman deducted fifty cents on her own volition because she was paying in cash. Ella promptly sent her son back to get the full $5, who told the woman, “mother is not a storekeeper and does not give discounts!”

All the while, Ella had five more children after becoming a midwife. I have no idea who, if anyone, attended to her for those births. However, Seth wrote that at the time Ella began her service there were “a partially trained midwife or two” in Cardston.

Ella assisted in the delivery of hundreds of babies in her 40 years of service. According to Seth, his mother lost track after 400. Seth proudly said that Ella never lost a mother and rarely lost a baby.

When physicians first set up shop in Cardston, Ella would sometimes act as their nurse. Ella also helped those suffering from diphtheria, typhoid, and childhood diseases. Seth wrote that Ella continued to provide midwife services after physicians had established themselves in Cardston. However, Seth stated that after the Alberta “Medical Professional Act” came into effect, Ella was not permitted to charge a fee for her services.

This was most likely a reference to the Alberta Health Insurance Act enacted in 1935, when Ella was 76. She had already largely retired from working as a midwife and healthcare provider a few years earlier, when she was 73. By that time, Ella was not only a grandmother, but a great grandmother.

Ella passed away on October 30, 1941, almost a month after her 82^nd birthday. The funeral service was held at the Latter Day Saints tabernacle in Cardston and Ella was interred at the Cardston Cemetery. Ella’s pallbearers were all grandsons: Leo Burgess (my grandfather), Grant Lamb, Rulon Lamb, Grover James, and Wilbur Nelson. Her granddaughters Ella Burgess, Julia Burgess, Fontella Burgess, Jean Nelson, Dorothy Nelson, Kathleen Nelson, and Jane Nelson all served as flower girls.

Ella is one of those ancestors for whom I have a lot of respect. When people query which of your ancestors you’d like to meet, Ella certainly comes to mind. It is somewhat strange and special to think of my personal connection with my grandfather, born over 100 years ago, who had a personal connection with someone born in the middle of the 19^th Century. While musing over this, I also remembered that just as my grandfather was a pallbearer for his grandmother, I was one of his.

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