Time Travel Tuesdays ~ Baby #12, Triumph, & Tragedy

~I apologize in advance for the differing fonts and type sizes. I have grown weary of typing these long chapters and tried scanning the pages as my mother typed them and copying them into my blog. I found I had to format the pages in a word document differently if I wanted to copy and paste them. Somehow they came out differently with each copy. Maybe I'll have to copy the entire thing at once next time? There are obviously some kinks I need to work out! 

The last time I traveled back in time, my mother was a little baby, my Granny Hamblin (Ida) had just found that her father was dying from cancer, and my Aunt Fay had contracted "blood poisoning" which was a common term used when a bacterial infection was present in the bloodstream It affected Fay's leg in a horrible way.

Fay's leg was drawn up towards her back, and continued to be drawn
 up even after her fever was gone. She got so thin, but was so
 patient all during her sickness. In August, Carl got a job,
 working on the canal in St. Johns. We also wanted to be near a
 good doctor on Fay's account. She had been so ill all summer. One
 night she was so bad, that I felt I had to have help with her, so
 I sent one of the girls down to see if Lydia Maxwell would come and
 spend the night with us, which she did. We were up most of the
 night with her, and it was the night that I decided that we must be
 near a doctor. So when Carl suggested that we move to St. Johns
 and he could work there, I agreed. I hated to leave Father, but I
 had to think of Fay. I knew he was in God's care, and anything he
 did would be for the best. So, in the middle of August, we loaded
 our belongings in the wagons, bade my dear mother and father
 goodbye, with a sad heart and knowing full well we would never see Father alive again.

We found a house to rent, down in the swamp. Our neighbors on the
south were Brother and Sister Heber Jarvis. On the corner east of
them and across the street was Marion and Mary Gibbons. On the
same side of the street and north were the Connol1ey's. Across the
street and east were Brother and Sister Lige DeWitt. No one ever
had better neighbors.

We called in the county nurse to look at Fay's 1eg. After
examining her, she said the bone was affected and if we didn't get
her to a bone specialist, her leg would continue to be drawn back,
and she would never walk again. She made this remark in front of
Fay, and after all she had suffered, she began to cry and could not

be comforted. I thought that was such a cruel thing to say in her
presence. We took her to Doctor Bouldin the next day. His verdict
was much more consoling. He said the bone was in no way affected,
was as good as his, only the ligaments needed stretching. She was
on crutches. He told us to throw them away, start her in school,
and have her walk as much as possible. She would use her leg on
the Giant Strides and at play, and before long she would be
walking. We started her to school, but she used one crutch for
awhile. Soon she could go without it. Eventually she was walking without a limp. Again we thanked our Heavenly Father for this
blessing. She is a fine woman now, and the mother of nine boys
and girls. I realize now that all these experiences have been for
a purpose.

That winter my brother's daughter and son, Leata and Orville, came
to live with us and go to school. It was hard to have so many
housed in such a small place, but I could not refuse my brother,
who had always been so good to me. So generous in every way. I
have very happy memories of him and how good he always was to me.

Father gradually grew worse; and finally, one day in October (I
think it was the 23rd) 1923, I received word that he had passed
away and I was soon on my way up there to comfort Mother. Poor
Daddy. He looked so peaceful lying there. My two brothers, Claude
and Rain, were with him when he passed away. He was so considerate of Mother, and never made any more trouble for her than possible. So with the help of the children, he was cared for in his own home. 

          This is what Father would have wanted. I did not stay long after
he was laid to rest, as I had to get back home to Fay, and the
other children who were in school. I enjoyed the time I spent in
St. Johns. I had so many dear friends I had made through the years
while attending school there.

On December 8th of that year, my brother Claude was married at our
home to Alice Lavena Wilcox.

Time passed by, as always. My husband was away at work most of the
time and I was left to care for the children. I did my best, but
often felt the need of him being with me, to help with their care
and training. I had some real good neighbors, Mary Gibbons, and
Sister Susie Jarvis, on the south. Sister Wilmerth DeWitt and
Sister Connolly on the north. I managed to keep my children in
school, Sunday school, and Primary. My girls were exceptionally
good to help with the work. I don't know what I would have done
without them. My only regrets are that I could not give them more
and better advantages. Maybe they got more valuable experiences
they would not have received had we had more money to spend on
them.

Along in the spring, Orville and Leata went to stay with Aunt Zina
Mineer. We enjoyed life here by these kind neighbors. The next
spring, 1924, I discovered that another little baby was expected in
our home. Sister Margaret Jarvis was hired to take care of me.
One Monday, around the 12th of November, my water broke and I sent
for Sister Jarvis. (There is a gap in the paragraph here. I assume here contractions started up but then slowed down a bit.) She stayed until the 14th when they started
again in earnest. Sister Jarvis got afraid and sent for Dr.
Bouldin. The baby, another sweet little girl, was born within a
few minutes after the doctor arrived. I have always been convinced
she would not have been born that soon if we had not sent for the
doctor. Her father was away at work and did not arrive until after
her birth. It was the first and only time I had a doctor with any
of my children and Shirley was the 12th child. I will never forget
my neighbors at that time. I had no hired help. My girls were
growing up and helping a lot, night and morning. Helen was less
than two years old and Sylvia only four. But with the help of good
neighbors, we managed.

In the summer Blanche and her cousin, Minnie Reynolds, went over on
the mountain where Carl was working to help cook for the men at the
road camp. Carl kept Orland with him most of that summer. On the
4th of July, I got a chance to go up to Alpine to see them. On the
way up there, I stayed all night with my sister Lillian. I shall
never forget a letter she wrote me, earlier in the year, telling me
how blue and despondent she was, and couldn't understand why, as
they were all well and Willard had a good job. He was Game Warden. The night I stayed with her she mentioned the John Nortons losing 
three children, all they had, with diphtheria, and she just 
wondered how they ever stood it. The poor girl didn't know that in 
just a month four of hers would be taken from her, three with the same disease, and Ardell, who was sick at the time, with St Vitus Dance. 
I went on to Alpine and visited Carl, Blanche and Orland. 

After returning home, word came of how sick Ardell was. They took
her to the Gallup Hospital, in Gallup, New Mexico and she passed
away July 19th, 1924. I was unable to attend the funeral as I was
expecting Shirley. It was hard not to be with my dear sister in

her sorrow. Within two weeks, Pauline, Beulah, and Wallace were
taken with diphtheria. I know they could not have stood that
sorrow had it not been for the sustaining help of the Lord. This
was a shock, though, that I am sure they never got entirely over.

Can you imagine those days, when an illness could sweep through your family and take multiple members? How awful this must have been! I never knew this about my Great Aunt Lillian. My heart aches for her! Here is a screen shot I took from her page on www.familysearch.org so that you could see the whole family. Their oldest child died 3 days after being born, there were nine children living at the time, and they lost four of them! Three to diptheria and Ardell to St. Vitus Dance or Sydenham's Chorea. According to Widkipedia,it is: 

 a disorder characterized by rapid, uncoordinated jerking movements primarily affecting the face, hands and feet.^[1] 

It occurs about 6 months after the patient (most always under 18 years of age) has had rheumatic fever. About 20% of rheumatic fever patients contract a Group A beta haemolytic streptococcus infection. Sometimes this turns into the St. Vitus Dance. So Ardell (12) had had rheumatic fever months before, the streptococcal bacteria lay dormant, then came back and took her life just before her other three siblings Pauline (16), Beulah (11), and  Wallace (8) died from Diphtheria which according to the Mayo Clinic is:

"Diphtheria (dif-THEER-e-uh) is a serious bacterial infection usually affecting the mucous membranes of your nose and throat. Diphtheria typically causes a sore throat, fever, swollen glands and weakness. But the hallmark sign is a sheet of thick, gray material covering the back of your throat, which can block your airway, causing you to struggle for breath.

Diphtheria is extremely rare in the United States and other developed countries, thanks to widespread vaccination against the disease."

The children are buried in the Eagar Cemetery.

I am so very grateful to live in a time when my children and even myself did not have to worry about these awful diseases because of vaccinations and early detection and medications.

I almost cannot write anything after this. Their sister Minnie lived right next door to my Granny Hamblin for years. Granny must have thought about those children quite often, especially when she saw Minnie. I loved Minnie! She was always so happy ad kind. I thought she was my aunt, because of her age, and called her "Aunt Minnie". I wish I could go back now, with my grown-up knowledge and sense of compassion, put my arms around her, and tell her how sorry I am that she lost her brother and sisters that way. Minne was nearly 15 when this all happened so you know that she had vivid memories of it. Again, we are so very blessed to live now!

The other death that occurred during this chapter was that of Ida's father, John Willard Lee (my great-grandfather). He died of cancer and is buried in Nutrioso. According to Ida there never was a kinder, more thoughtful man on Earth. My mother was always so touched by how, on his death bed, he worried about her, baby Helen, and if Ida was too busy caring for Fay and her leg that she was forgetting to give Helen enough water to drink. He was a great and noble man, true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a real pioneer on the American Frontier.

The other thing that caught my attention in this chapter was something called the "Giant Strides" that Granny mentions in Fay's recovery story. I wondered if it were some kind of leg brace, some rehabilitative device. I did what any person would do today and Googled it! Here is a Giant Strides:

I found this description on a blog by someone who remembers these things on their own childhood playground:

" Can you imagine how dangerous this was?? We grasped the rungs, ran around the pole faster and faster until our feet were airborne, sometimes sticking straight out. Very scary, especially when those bullies made it go too fast."

Aunt Fay was to use this device to support her weight and exercise the leg that was so badly atrophied. Hopefully she got exercise and didn't just swing around in the air! Below is a photo that I love. It shows my Aunt Fay Front and center, right in front of her father. She was about 11 years old when the blood poisoning took place and this photo looks to be  around the same time, perhaps a bit before. That's my mother Helen, in Granny Ida's lap. Sweet! I love Granny's hat too!

Next Time: A new calling for Ida,  baby #13 joins the family, and another move (or two, or three)!

Time Travel Tuesdays~Ida Lee Part 14 Moving again, Illness, Babies...( It's a girl again, and again!)

Hello everyone! I have been absent for a few weeks. I visited with my mother in Colorado for nine lovely days, and then had just returned home for a few days when we went to Arizona for my  dear sister-in-law Sherri's funeral. I will write more about that later this week. It has been a hard few weeks since and I am still so sad and worried for Sherri's family.  
For now we will continue with my Granny Hamblin's story.

Soon we were into the year of 1921 and on May 7, another sweet little girl arrived to join her other six sisters and Orland. We named her Sylvia. She was as cute and sweet as the others were, and just as welcome. Grandmother Hamblin was getting older and felt she could not take the responsibility of delivering another baby. We obtained the services of Mrs. Margaret Robinson, a registered nurse and school teacher who had taught school in Nutrioso, and who was living about five miles from town. I got along real well under her supervision.

In the fall of 1921 after the harvest was over and enough wood for the winter was piled up, Carl accepted a job at Lyman Dam working for his brother Jacob and other contractors. Winters in Nutrioso in those days were long and cold. I didn't feel equal to staying there alone with a family of little children, so it was decided that it would be better if we went with him. There was to be a school and many families were moving there. So another move was made and we were soon located there in a nice little house. Blanche, Fern Klea, Fay, and Priscilla were enrolled in school and Orland, Margaret, and Sylvia were home with me. Jenny Berry Palmer was their teacher.

In the above photo you can see that the Lyman Reservoir is in between Nutrioso and St. Johns. The dam is on the Little Colorado River which flows south to north from the White Mountains and on to the Grand Canyon to the west. 

Bryant Whiting, who is now the President of the Arizona Temple, (1970-75) was there working at the time. He was only a boy of seventeen. He was a grandson of Grandmother Whiting who I had lived with years before when going to school. Bryant was a young, inexperienced boy, and Carl being older and very kind-hearted, took a special interest in him and helped him in any way possible.Bryant appreciated it a lot. One morning Carl went out before daylight to harness his horses. In doing so he got one of the bridles on wrong. On finding what he had done he said to himself, not knowing there was anyone near, "I must be going crazy." Bryant, with his dry humor, spoke up in the next stall and said, "Maybe you have always been that way Brother Hamblin, and are just finding it out!" Carl was so surprised that he didn't know what to say and didn't answer him but mentioned it many times later. Bryant now tells our children that their father was the best friend he ever had. Long toward spring of 1921 the flu broke out in St. Johns, and fearing that the children and I would be exposed to it, Carl decided that we should return home for the rest of the winter. Leslie Noble was there with a load of grain to sell and was returning home to Alpine. Carl hired him to take us with him. We stopped in Eagar and stayed all night with my sister Margaret and family. How happy we were to see them again, knowing that we would be home the next day. It was good to be with them and partake of her hospitality which was a trait of the Lees. We rode the next morning toward Nutrioso. I shall never forget that ride. It was bitter cold and the wind had blown all night and still was blowing. The children and I sat in the back of the wagon box covered with quilts, and the wagon had a cover. Someone told Father we were coming and about halfway he met us with a light wagon, plenty of covers and hot rocks for our feet. I shall never forget how good he looked to me and how happy I was to see him. He was all bundled up and had a man's handkerchief tied around his face to protect it from the extreme cold weather. Soon we were transferred from Leslie's wagon to his, wrapped in quilts and the hot rocks to keep us warm. How relieved I was to see him, and what a thoughtful thing for him to do (with Mother's help).There never was a more thoughtful of kinder man in all the world that he. It was not long until we were at his and Mother's home and by the fireplace with a hot, blazing fire burning. We stayed with Mother, Father, and Eva that night and the next day Eva helped me clean our house and move in. Of course dear Daddy saw that I had plenty of wood. Eva was always ready to help when it was needed. We settled down to spending the rest of the winter alone until my husband came later on. It was hard, but we were happy together and God watched over us. In thinking things over, I believe Carl spent as much time away from us as he did with us, for we had a large family that must be clothed and fed. I made most of their clothes, but they looked as well as other children did and we were always happy and king to each other.

I found that I would have another baby. Mrs. Robinson (the one who took care of me a Sylvia's birth) took care of me again. Our baby was born December 5, 1922, in the same house that Margaret and Sylvia were born in. She was another sweet little girl and we named her Helen. This made us eight girls and one boy (living). We didn't mind for they were all sweet little girls and a lot of help to me. Carl needed help too, and I often wished he could have more boys. He didn't seem to mind but I am sure he wished he had more boys as well. He devoted his time to Orland and had him with him whenever he could.

In those years the little towns of Nutrioso, Luna, and Alpine had a party for the old people of the three wards. In the fall my father and mother went to Luna for this party. When they returned home about noon, I sent one of the girls down to tell them to come up and have dinner with us. I knew they would be hungry and tired. They came, but Father did not feel like eating, so they went home so he could rest. He did not get any better, but gradually got worse, lost his appetite, and lost weight. There was no doctor closer than St. John's and he was not an expert. So it was decided that Carl would take him to Gallup, New Mexico to an expert there. My youngest brother Claude went with Carl. They went to Ramah, New Mexico where my brother John lived, and he went with them. The doctor put Father in the hospital and they did all kinds of tests and x-rays on him. They discovered cancer, and because of the location (where the esophagus joins the stomach) they could not operate. They sewed the incision up and kept him in the hospital a week or so more. Carl came back home. It was very sad news he bought back to mother. When Father was released from the hospital he rode the train to Holbrook, Arizona.  He stayed with Aunt Clara Lee in Holbrook. She was Uncle Bell Lee's widow. I think he rode the mail bus home. It was a sad meeting for Mother and all us children, but we put on brave faces before Father so he would not suspect the serious condition he was in. After a few weeks had gone by and he did not get any better, he knew. One day he told me that the doctor had done him no good, that all they had done was take his money. What could I say? He was given the best care one could have. Poor Mother. It was so hard on her for she was constantly in pain with arthritis.

Around the last of April or the first of May, Fay came in the room where I was caring for the mail and said, "Mama, I hurt my leg." I looked down and saw she had bruised her heel on a rough board. There was no blood and I thought it didn't amount to much. How often I regretted in the following months, that I had not taken the time from the mail to take her and soak it in warm salt water, which I should have done. Too many things to do, and the mail to go out to Alpine and Luna, and back to Springerville, by night. During the night she woke me up crying and saying her leg was killing her. I had waited too long and blood poison had set in. I got up immediately and heated water and put salt in it and soaked her foot and ankle in it. She had a slight temperature, but I put her back in bed and she was soon asleep. In the morning her temperature was much higher. This went on week after week. It was hard on me to care for her and be so worried about Father too, for we knew he could not live. There was nothing we could do to relieve his pain. The opening at the top of the stomach was nearly closed up, but what food that could get by did give him some strength. I could hardly stand to see him suffer as he did. He had always been such a kind, loving father, which made our home bight and happy. Now he seemed so depressed and blue. It made my heart ache. He would lie there and think of Fay and Helen, who was the baby, and would say to Mother, "I wish you would send one of the girls down to tell Ida to be sure and give that baby a drink of water, for I am sure she is so busy with Fay that she neglects giving the baby water." Poor, dear, Father. on his death bed and still worrying about others.

Next Time: The conclusion of these two stories...Aunt Fay's blood poisoning,and Great Grandpa Lee's cancer.

Sylvia Hamblin, born May 7, 1921

Helen Hamblin (front) and a cousin.

Born December 5, 1922.

 John Willard Lee, son of John D. Lee and Agatha Ann Woolsey Lee.

He was Ida's father and my great-grandfather.

Born October 11, 1849

Big Cottonwood, (Salt Lake City), Utah.

John W. Lee, missionary portrait.

 John W. Lee, mid-life.

John Willard and Lucinda Margaret Clark Lee.

The below photo shows a closer look at the Reservoir. There are two dams now. I indicated them by orange arrows. I don't know where the original was but I did read that in 1915 the dam burst and flooded St. Johns. Eight people were killed.

The dam was rebuilt in 1918-19. Below is a photo from that era. The family had moved lower in elevation, so a bit more of a desert terrain and warmer climate.

Time Travel Tuesdays~ Ida Lee Part 13 The One I'll Call "WOAH!"

Last time we learned of the terrible time Granny Ida had after Aunt Margaret's birth in July of 1919. It was miraculous that she survived the infection she had with no antibiotics. There are now 8 children who have been born to Carl and Ida:  Ida 1908 (stillborn), Blanche 1909, Fern 1910, Klea 1911, Faye 1913, Priscilla 1915, Don Carlos Jr. 1916-1916, Orland 1917, & Margaret 1919. There are six surviving girls and one surviving son
.
I kept very busy that fall, winter, and the next summer. We always had a large garden and patch of corn to care for, and I kept the Post Office as well. Carl had built a large lumber room on the east side of our home. I had been appointed Post Mistress for the town. The walls on the north and west sides of this room were stocked with groceries by Will Burk. This helped with our groceries as we got ours at cost. I kept this store and post office until we moved away later. It helped the people and the ranchers around, as now they could obtain many items that they otherwise would have had to go to Springerville to buy. As far as I can remember, this was the first store since Grandfather Brown ha one in the early days oh Nutrioso. This little store helped us also in many ways. It, in connection with the Post Office job was the only cash we had, mostly spent for tithing and taxes (which is as sure as death!). Occasionally I would send an order off for cloth to make clothes for tour children. Many (clothes) were made of others clothes that were given me. I sewed for the family, made everything they wore, except stockings and shoes. But I managed to keep them well dressed and clean. I did my washing on the board and did my ironing with the old "sad irons" (flat irons). I made all the bread we ate, mostly from home-ground wheat. How wholesome and sweet it was.

Across the street were the corrals. Sam and May Love's home (had) stood on this spot. ((The home had been torn down and the lot was unoccupied) There was a well on the place which had not been filled up and covered. Carl had always been intending to fill it up, but had not found time. He warned the children to stay away from it, and they had. One day at school Priscilla became ill and the teacher let her come home. I gave her some medicine and she went to sleep. All of a sudden Klea came rushing through the door into the living room. Her face was as white as snow. She said, "Mama, is Priscilla home?" I told her yes, and she broke into tears. She had been thinking of her coming home
alone, and thought she might go to the corrals and get around the well and fall in. I soon pacified her and told her Priscilla was alright and for her to go back to school. She was always worrying about her little brother and sisters. One night, not long after this, Carl got up and went to the corrals early, as usual, and found one of the horses missing. He looked all around for him and found that he had fallen into the well. No way of getting him out, he had to kill him. Then he took a team and scraper and soon had the well filled up and no danger to anyone. Thank Goodness!!
 Nothing unusual happened for the next several months, only the ordinary things, daily chores and taking care of the family. Christmas came that year with the anticipation of the children looking forward to filled stockings, hung on the fireplace all in a row. Candy, nuts, and cookies, with a big red apple on top. Always a small present, dolls, ribbons for the hair, beads and other things for the girls; tops, marbles and gifts that little boys like, for Orland. Christmas carols were sung by the family, and a Christmas story told, for their enjoyment. Then to bed early so they could get up and see what Santa had brought them.

In the fall, while living there, Carl had rented some land and raised wheat on it. Will Burk was hauling wheat and putting it in the new granary Carl had built. One night he got in late and did not unload it. The next morning Will came and wanted me to come and steer the truck while he took a pole and pried it (the truck) loose. The roads were wet and muddy and during the night there had been a hard freeze. When Will came in the morning to unload the truck he had found he could not move it. He showed me how to start it, but not how to stop it. He soon had it started (pried loose from the frozen ground) and whizzing down through the 2 acre lot. I was sitting in the seat, holding the wheel and crying "woah! whoa! whoa!" Will ran by the side of the truck and put on the brakes. He had quite a laugh from this but to me it was not very laughable. I was much better scrubbing on the board than driving a Ford! That was my only attempt at driving any kind of vehicle. I left that to those who knew more about it.

Many of my memories of my Granny Hamblin involve my mother and I going to her home in Mesa to pick her up and take her somewhere. She truly never did learn how to drive. She did know how to handle a team of horses and tried to stop that truck the best way she knew how...Woah!

I like to iron (when the pile is not too large!) It is very soothing and satisfying to me to see the clothes all smooth and fresh when I am done. I would not have liked to iron with the irons below, though!

Sad irons, also called flat irons or smoothing irons, are shaped pieces of metal that are flat and polished on one side and have a handle attached to the other, created for the purpose of de-wrinkling fabric. “Sad” is an Old English word for “solid,” and the term “sad iron” is often used to distinguish the largest and heaviest of flat irons, usually 5 to 9 pounds.

The forebears to modern electric irons, these flat irons are often triangular or come to a point to make it easier to iron around buttons. The heft of a sad iron would help it hold heat, as well as to press the fabric flat. To protect fabric and surfaces from singeing, sad irons often came with metal trivets to rest on, and these are often-beautiful, intricate, and collectible examples of metalwork that were made in a myriad of designs.

Below is an example of a washboard ca. 1910, and an old galvanized wash tub. The wash board went into the tub, which was filled with very hot water. The clothes were dunked in the water, rubbed with a bar of homemade soap, scrubbed up and down on the washboard's ribbed surface, then rinsed in clear water, hung out to dry, then...the heavy sad iron! I can just imagine the sore red knuckles, dry cracked hands, and the tired back and neck when wash day was over. 

I love my Maytag washer!

This is my beautiful Aunt Klea Hamblin Boddeker and her son Hugh, Jr.

 I also love that sweet story of my Aunt Klea, who ran all the way home from school because she was so worried about her sister falling into the well. I wonder if she stopped by the well first to peek in, or if she was too scared to do so, poor thing!  I always loved it when Aunt Klea stopped by to visit with Mom. She was a very successful Avon Lady and sold Mom products at 40% off.  Let me tell you, we had tons of those Avon figurine type bottles full of Wild Country cologne for men and all of the women's fragrances. She always made me feel so loved and special. She would bring tiny lipstick samples for my sister and me, and  all of those pretty little scented soaps. I enjoyed visiting her at her house too, which was on N. Beverly St., just west of  Westwood High School. After Dee and I were married, we lived in a tiny studio apartment in Flagstaff, AZ while Dee attended a semester at NAU. We had nowhere to put our boxes of wedding gifts from our reception in Mesa, so Aunt Klea gladly took them for us and kept them in her home in a spare bedroom. She was a very generous soul.

Next time we enter a new decade, the Roaring Twenties!

Time Travel Tuesdays~ Ida Lee Part 12 ~ A Mystery Illness & Snakes!

In October of 1918, I became pregnant again, which would make me the mother of eight children. This pregnancy was a miserable one. About six weeks before I was confined I felt a severe pain in my side, which lasted for weeks or months after the baby came. At first I thought it was something minor, such as gas, so did not think much about it. Grandmother Hamblin (Sarah Priscilla Leavitt Hamblin) was with me as usual, as she had been with all the others. I gave birth to a baby girl on July 19, 1919, a normal birth. She was a sweet little girl  but under-nourished on account of my health. We named her Margaret after my mother. I expected the pain to leave after the baby's birth but it didn't. In fact, it got worse. After a few weeks we moved back into town in our home where I could have more help with the children. Grandmother Hamblin became ill and had to go home to Eagar. My mother and sister lived close and gave me so much help when I needed it. No one has ever had a better mother or sister. All these weeks we had called on the Lord often, for help, for help, but it seems I had to go through this experience. Two days after Grandmother Hamblin left, Carl had me propped up in bed  with a chair and pillows at my back. When I got tired and asked him to lay me down, he took the chair away and I fell back, screaming from such an intense pain. It felt like a knife had been stuck in my side. It was the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced. The doctor in Springerville was called and he told them on the phone what was wrong and what to do until he got there, as he could not come until the next day. It was during the rainy season and the roads were very bad. Carl's sister, Mary Beeler came by on the mail cart on her way to Alpine to pick wild berries for jam and preserves. On arriving at our place and seeing my condition she did not go any further. The doctor told them to wring out cloths in hot water and put on my side, as hot as I could stand. Water so hot it almost scalded their hands, and I couldn't even feel the heat. This they did all night long with the help of my sisters Eva and Margaret, Lydia Maxwell, and my brother Rain, who was always ready in time of need, and others who I can't even recall.It was the first relief I had felt for months. My brother-in-law Will Lund, left the next morning to meet the doctor with a team and a wagon. The buggy could not make it all the way in the mud. He said I had an infected tube, and the opening between there and the uterus was closed. None of the poisonous matter could leave my body. He told them to continue on as they were doing, and for Carl to bring me to Eagar the next morning, letting him know as soon as we arrived. Aunt Mary decided to go back to Eagar with us and help take care of me. When Will took the doctor back to his buggy he asked him what were my chances of living. He said I had a fifty-fifty chance if the tube opened up and let the infection out. Hot towels were kept on my side all night. They were so hot that they would have to be wrung out in a dry towel with two people holding the ends.

Early the next morning the men fixed up a wagon with bows and covers. They put a cot inside for me to rest on, and chairs for Mary and Eva, my sister, to sit on. The men of the priesthood gathered around me and had a prayer circle for me. There were a lot of subdued voices around and as sick as I was, I realized they all felt that I was near death. I told them not to whisper for I was not going to die. Eva was going along to care for my baby Margaret. The six children were scattered out among friends to be cared for while I was gone. I did not worry about them for I knew they would be taken care of. People in Nutrioso were the best in the world when it came to trouble. One person's trouble was every body's. We made the trip okay, although the roads were rocky and muddy. Every time the wagon went over a rock, my pain was more intense, but soon the nightmare was over and I was at Grandmother Hambin's home and in a nice clean bed. The doctor was called and was very pleased and surprised to find that after making the trip, my fever was less that it had been when he had seen me the day before. I continued to improve, thanks to the doctor, Mother Hamblin, my dear sister Eva, and Mary. Margaret was given good care which was a comfort to me.

One night I was awakened to hear the most beautiful music, as if it were angles singing. I have never mentioned this to anyone as I thought they would say I was not in my right mind. I was as clear-mined then as I am now and the sweetest, most peaceful feeling came to me. After about three weeks the doctor came to see me and told me I was out of danger. I told him I knew I was going to be alright for I know God would not take me from all those little children. He said, "You'll never know how near death's door you were." Once again I thanked our Father in Heaven for the power of the Priesthood. How grateful I am to my parents and all the dear folks who cared for my children while I was away. If my memory does not fail me, I think I was away for three weeks to a month. At last the day came when I was strong enough to go home to my loved ones, and to my normal happy life. Before the doctor released me, he warned of the dangers of accepting motherhood again for at least five years, but in less than two years, Sylvia was born and I have never gotten along better.

On a lighter note, and because we all need to laugh now and then...
 One day while I was sick, before I was taken to Eagar, Grandmother Hamblin had put me in the rocking chair by my bed in order to make the bed. I looked down on the floor and there was a large snake lying the length of my chair. Grandmother was scared nearly to death. She got all the children up on the bed with her and sent Fern to get Carl, who was working in the fields. When he came in the door, there was Grandmother up on the bed with all the children, a broom in her hand. He said he guessed she was going to fight the snake with her broom if it attacked!  It was curled up by (the rocking chair) and he shot it from the doorway and threw it down the well.

(Ida also recalled at the time she wrote this story, another snake story. This time Carl had found a large rattle snake, killed it and brought it to the house to show the children. Then he hung it in a tree outside. That is when Fern (of course it was Fern!) got the bright idea to scare the others with it. That evening we heard the children crying and looked out to see them running down the road and Fern chasing them with the snake in her hand. It made no difference to Fern that it was a rattler! She was not afraid of anything, and was glad to hear the children cry! She really got a lickin' that time for her Daddy told her the she or one of the others could have still gotten venom form it had they stepped on it.

As for Granny's terrible pain and illness during and after her pregnancy with Margaret, I am baffled.  We rarely hear of infected Fallopian tubes, and when we do the onset seems to be swift and violent resulting in a ruptured tube. How did this country doctor, with no x-ray machine or ultrasound device make this diagnosis. It bothered me to the point that I read up on everything I thought it could possibly be. Gall bladder? Pancreas? Appendicitis? Those all present with severe pain, but are all in different places than Ida's was. Without more detailed information from her on other symptoms we'll never know exactly what it was, but I am guessing the heat packs helped release any infection that may have been in her side. I was also wondering why they didn't give her penicillin for the infection. Well, I was right in recalling that penicillin was discovered in the 1890's, but it was not refined and in wide use until the 1930's. All we do know is that the Holy Spirit confirmed to Ida that she would live, she received priesthood blessings, loving care, and heard the angels in Heaven sing for her. She had such great faith! We are so blessed to have the technology we have today. I'm sure she would have been diagnosed before Margaret was born, and out of pain fairly soon.

Below is Mary Elizabeth Hambin Beeler. She was born to Jacob and S. Priscilla Leavitt Hambin in 1872. She was Carl's older sister by ten years. She was therefore, Ida's sister-in-law. She was one of the angels that lovingly cared for Ida through the night and traveled with her to Eagar on that bumpy, painful wagon ride. The had a very loving relationship. My own mother speaks of "Aunt Mary" very sweetly and with admiration.

This is Ida's sister Evaline Lee Caffal. She was younger than Ida by 9 years. She was another angel on Earth who lovingly cared for Ida and traveled with her. I remember being around "Aunt Eva" many times and loving her! She was a favorite of my mother's.

This is Ida's mother-in-law Sarah Priscilla Leavitt Hamblin. She went by Priscilla. 

She was the third wife of Jacob Hamblin, the great missionary to the Native Americans in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. She was also a midwife and the daughter of a midwife.

She attended all of my grandmother's births until she was too old. I know she didn't deliver my own mother in 1922. She passed away in 1927. 

She was a genuine pioneer who walked across the plains as a five year old girl, after fleeing Nauvoo, Illinois when the Latter-day Saints were expelled that frozen February night in 1846.

 In her older days, always a loving smile and a helping hand.

 Let's not forget the folks back home who cared for Carl and Ida's children in Nutrioso for a month while they were in Eagar. Here are her parents, John Willard Lee and Lucinda Margaret Clark Lee. She is the person whom Aunt Margaret (the baby born in this story) was named for. Her mother Evaline Brown Clark Was who Aunt Eva was named for.

 As for Aunt Fern and those snakes...! What are you going to do? Anyone who has grown up in Arizona knows you steer clear of these guys, dead or alive, but Fern wasn't afraid of

 much and was spunky all of her life. I loved her dearly!

Next Time:

Two more babies, a new job, and a runaway truck (aka Ida's first driving lesson!)

Time Travel Tuesdays~ Ida Lee Part 10, A Baby Boy!

After the last part of my Grandma Hamblin's story, not only did I take a break, she took a break as well. As happens with all of us, she began her story and then life got in the way. She left off in about 1916 and Ida was expecting another baby. This is where she picks up writing years later: 

"This part of my story I recorded years ago and remember well, but now I will have to continue on and my memory is not as keen as it was thirty or forty years ago, so be patient with me. (of course!)

Nothing of interest happened in Eagar that winter. I had a picture made of my five little girls, which I have always cherished. (The one from the previous post.)

On moving back to Nutrioso we bought the house which Mother's brother, John W. Clark built when he came to Nutrioso, the same spring that Mother and Dad came. They (Uncle John) sold the house and went back to Utah. It was like coming home, for my parents owned this home when I was a child. It was just across the street from the school house. It was a pretty little frame, four room building. Mother and Dad lived there when I was younger and it was where some of Mother's children were born. We liked this location close to school and church and Relief Society. I was expecting another baby. As we had six girls it never occurred to us that we would be blessed with a son. Yet, every night when Klea said her prayers, she asked God to send her a little brother, and He did. How happy we all were when it turned out to be a boy! On July 1, 1916, out first son was born and how happy and proud we were. I was especially happy for Carl. I think he was more thrilled than I was. I have never seen a sweeter baby, beautiful and dark haired. We all idolized him, especially his father. He was blessed and named for his father, Don Carlos, Jr. We were too happy for it to last. God saw fit to take him.I could never stand to let him sleep except on my arm. It seemed that if I did,he would be gone and I wanted to love him every minute. In September Carl and some of my brothers decided to go to Clifton to find work for the winter. After they were gone, the baby became very ill. Carl, heeding the spirit of the Lord as usual, was prompted to return home. How happy I was when he drove into the yard.While he (the baby) was so sick I just could not reconcile myself to the fact of his being taken, so I pleaded with the Lord to spare my little son. One evening my father came in the room where I was grieving and said, "Daughter, why don't you release him to the Lord? You are only prolonging his suffering." And then I knew how selfish I was and although  it broke my heart to say the words, "Thy will be done", I did, and Father administered to him and told the Lord he was in His hands and in just a little while that sweet spirit had gone to his Maker. That taught me to not question God's will. I know that little spirit just came here to take a body and return to his Father in Heaven. My arms felt very empty and it seemed as I went about my work that I could hear him crying for me. To this day I can hardly bear to think of him without crying. Afterwards, Carl's mother, Sarah Priscilla Leavitt Hamblin said she had felt that we would never raise him. We buried him the next day beside his little sister. It was very lonely around our home and as often as we could, we went with Carl for wood and other work he was doing.

I could not have typed that story last Tuesday. It was a bad day and I was questioning the Lord's will in many of my loved ones lives. I came to realize (as I knew all along) that the Lord allows us to go through trials which He could easily stop, but then there would be no personal growth. We are also often subject to the wrong choices of others around us. This life is all about faith and learning to be gracious in our lives as trial and good times come. Be mad or sad for awhile...an hour or a day, but then get on your knees and pray for strength and understanding. Then get up...rise up...and take on life. I have never lost one of my babies. My grandmother  lost two, as did my own mother. I may have other trials, but I am grateful I have never had to endure that one.

Next time we will hear about adventures in the wilderness, another move, another baby, and seeing their first motorized vehicle!

Time Travel Tuesdays ~ Ida Lee, Part 9 ~ Five Little Girls & Happy Times

When last we left the Hamblin family the year was 1915, their sixth daughter, Priscilla had been born, (their 1st daughter, Ida, had passed away at birth). They had survived a round of whooping cough where daughter Fern had nearly died. They were living on a ranch between Nutrioso and Alpine, Arizona, enjoying the beautiful, cool summer days. I now continue my Grandmother Hamblin's story in her own words:

Fern 1910, Blanche 1909.

Faye 1913, Priscilla 1915, Klea 1911.

"One Saturday evening I was bathing the little girls so they would be clean for Sunday School. Carl had started for the cows. I had bathed Fay who was next to Priscilla (in age) and set her out in the back yard to play while I bathed the others. She had seen her Daddy go up the road to get the cows. She started to follow him. He had gone up to the gate and left it open in order to drive the cows back through. He had not gone too far when he was prompted to return to the house. He turned around and went back. He met Fay toddling along the road nearly to the gate. How nice it was for him to heed the spirit of the Lord that had prompted him to return, for had she gotten through the gate and into the trees outside, no one would have known which way she had gone and in which direction. There were bears and other wild animals in the woods. Again God had been watching over us and by His Holy Spirit, Carl had been prompted to turn back. What a blessing.Another time Carl came home from Springerville and Parked his wagon on the brow of the hill just off the road. Soon afterward the children were playing in it and we heard them crying and screaming. We got outside as soon as possible and there they were, rolling backwards down the hill, hollering, "woah! woah!" One of them had pulled the brake off. (I wonder which "one"?) Carl ran after it and pulled the brake and stopped the wagon. Thank God that Carl was home. No telling what would have happened had I been there alone. I am not sure I would have had the strength to stop it. Now there was a bunch of very serious children. I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was very serious.

During the summer, my sister Lillian's husband, Willard Hamblin, was away for awhile. They were living in Alpine and I think he was in Utah after horses. She was alone and lonesome with her little children, so she came and spent several weeks with us. We enjoyed the hours together, caring for our children and making them happy. In the evenings we sang songs which echoed back from the hills around. hose were very happy days, as all the days were that we spent together in each others homes while out husbands were away.Some time later, Carl decided we should move back into town, for, as he said, he wasn't cut out to be "Robinson Crusoe". We decided to move to Eagar as Blanche was ready for school, and it was easier to obtain work there. So we packed up our things and made another move. His brother Jake, and family, had moved to St. Johns as he had been elected Sheriff of Apache County. So we lived in his house that winter.

She writes about a friend who fixed her "nice things to eat" which helped her very much as she was expecting another baby and not feeling so well.

After this sickness passed we had a pleasant winter and in the spring moved back to Nutrioso. I had lost track of the many times we had moved since our marriage. We could have been called the "Moving Tribe".

 A couple of things ...first of all, in typing this story I am so intrigued by the restraint my grandmother and people of her generation are in their use of exclamation marks! Back up to where Grandpa had to chase the wagon and pull the brake while running alongside it because the team was running away with his children! She wrote, "what a blessing." Period! Maybe I just use them too much? ...Nah!!! 

The other thing of note is that this little family did, indeed, move around a lot. (I just typed and exclamation point after this sentence, then thought better of it.) Grandpa did not have a profession. He found jobs wherever he could. He didn't really farm, but had pasture for the horses and milk cows. To be settled in one place for very long was not something they had experienced in their 8 years of marriage up to this point, nor would it be that way for quite a few more years. To be a "Jack-of-all-Trades" was a difficult thing for a family man. Thank goodness Ida was very easy-going and loved him with all of her heart! (That deserves and exclamation mark!)

Since St. Valentine's Day is this weekend I thought I'd look up a few Valentines from 1915 to share with you. They are fun because they show some of the style and fashion of the day.

This one shows Cupid as a phone operator, connecting two lovers.

There were phones in use at that time but not in Grandma Ida's life!

Love the big bow. My aunts Fern and Blanche are sporting big bows in the top photo of this post. 

I think the fasihons of the 1980's were calling back

 these days.

Cupids and Doves were quite fashionable.

 Also stylish during that time were rosy cheeked, plump little kids, 

like those Campbell's Soup Kids and Kewpie Dolls.

So, Happy Day of Love to all of you...until next time!