Grace Elizabeth Beebe Williams
Written by: Thelma Williams SandersJuly 1987
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| Grace Beebe Williams |
The city of Provo, Utah County, Utah, was settled almost as early as Salt Lake City. Mormon pioneers moved south into the beautiful Utah Valley just a few months after the first Mormon settlement was located on the shores of the Great Salt Lake in 1847.
Provo is located in a beautiful spot. Utah Lake lies to the west of the city and the Wasatch Mountains rise majestically to heights of 12,000 feet to the east. The valley floor is dotted with several small cities, and over the years the area around Provo has become one of Utah's most rapidly growing sites.
Grace Williams loved the city of Provo very much. In her later life, she often visited the city and talked about her early life as a citizen there. Provo was Grace's home for the first 13 years of her life.
While living in Provo, Grace started her formal education and spent many happy days as a carefree youth. There were many pioneer trials and hardships in this newly organized community, but Grace had a strong personality and trials and hardships didn't seem to phase her very much even as a child.
Grace's life in Provo ended, however, just short of her 13th birthday when her father answered the call of the LDS Church to colonize areas in the Arizona Territory. Grace said she never questioned her father's decision. She had a strong belief in her religion, and her faith in that religion told her that the church call to begin a new life in new settlements was what was needed for the Latter-Day Saints to survive and prosper in the American West.
Grace often remembered the day when her father called his family together, in a special family circle, to discuss the proposed move to Arizona. She said that she immediately realized that what was going to be decided was going to be an important family decision because everyone in the family was given the opportunity to vote on the proposal to move. Each member of the family realized that they would have to leave many precious things behind, but possessions soon lost their luster in the excitement of a 1,000 mile move.
For example, the family realized that they would have to leave their substantial brick home. It was a red brick structure surrounded by a white picket fence, with trees, and flowers in profusion. Grace's mother, Eliza, supervised the care of the yard within the fence, and encouraged her children to make the place look as much like her childhood English home as possible. In the late 1870's, this home was considered quite a luxury since many dwellings in the area were small adobe structures.
Grace said that her mother, although she may have had some reservations, never questioned the decision to move to Arizona. Eliza believed in supporting her husband, and was more than willing to share with him the decision that would determine the future of the Beebe family.
Grace's father had always been somewhat of a wanderer. As a young man, he had left his home in New London, Connecticut, to join the crew of a pleasure yacht which sailed up and down the East Coast. Nelson's job as a cabin boy was a summer job at first; but, as time passed, he took other jobs that gave him the opportunity to sail thousands of miles from his New England home.
On his most important trip, he sailed down the East Coast of the U.S. to the Isthmus of Panama. Here he crossed Panama on foot to the Pacific Ocean, and then sailed up the West Coast to San Francisco. His destination was the gold fields of California. He, like many others, had caught the gold fever; and he and some of his friends decided to try their luck at striking it rich.
Upon arriving in San Francisco, Nelson soon realized that panning for gold wasn't the way he could make his fortune. He tried several odd jobs and then became a freighter, hauling goods throughout the state of California. On one of these trips, he met a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). He was impressed with the message that the missionary was preaching; and, consequently, he decided to travel to the Salt Lake City to observe the behavior of the members of the LDS Church more closely. The honesty and integrity of the Mormons so impressed Nelson that he joined the LDS Church. And, on one of his short trips from Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah, he met a young Mormon convert named Eliza Kemp. Eliza was a beautiful girl, and it didn't take Nelson long to realize that this was the woman he wanted as his wife. In 1862, Nelson and Eliza were married, and the couple settled down to a life of married bliss in Provo.
After Nelson and Eliza were married, Nelson established a freighting business between Provo and the Mormon settlements in Central and Southern Utah. Eventually, this route extending as far as San Bernardino in Southern California and Santa Clara in Northern California.
Two of the Beebe children were older than Grace at the time Nelson decided to move his young family to Arizona. William Nelson was 16-years-old and Alice Rosemary was 15. Also, there were four younger children--Maretta, Paul Henry, Samuel Kemp, and David Austin.
It was sometime after October, 1878 that the family started to prepare to leave Provo for Arizona. The decision had been made that the family would attempt the long journey into the Arizona Territory as soon as they were ready and the weather permitted. It was decided that Eliza and David Austin, who was only a small baby, would remain in Utah with relatives until the rest of the family was reasonably settled.
However, the other children were to accompany their father and do whatever they could to be of help. All recognized that the soonest that Nelson could return for Eliza and David would be sometime the following spring or summer, so the family contemplated a separation of several months.
Alice Rosemary promised her mother that she would take care of Paul, 5, and Sam, 3. She also promised Eliza that she would act as "mother" to the family until they could all be reunited in Arizona.
Nelson sold his freighting business and house quickly, and the family was ready to depart a little earlier than they expected. Some of the money from the sale of the Beebe property was invested in cattle, farm machinery, and other building supplies. The machinery and supplies were loaded onto wagons and secured for the long trip south. The cattle were also corralled and branded and fattened as much as possible in preparation for a long journey in which grazing conditions could not be very accurately predicted.
Grace's assigned task for the trip south was to ride a horse and help her brother, Will, drive the cattle. In her later life, Grace admitted that she thought that this was the very best job given to any of the Beebe children. She admitted to being in seventh heaven when she was rounding up and moving the cattle slowly through the countryside.
The Mormon companies who embarked on these colonizing efforts were required to meet very strict preparation standards. From much experience, they had learned the hazards of the plains and deserts and were very well equipped to travel through the wilderness as quickly as possible. Long lists of supplies were published and each family in the traveling company had to provide proof that they had all of the items listed. Consequently, the Beebe family was probably very well equipped to make this trip into the Arizona Territory.
Grace always said that the hardest thing that she had to do to prepare for the trip was to learn how to sew. This was a requirement for all of the women in the company, and Grace was required to make enough clothing for herself to last for one year. In later life, Grace expressed her gratitude to her mother for standing gently over her shoulder and teaching her the art of dressmaking. Little did she know that in a few short years her sewing skills would be put to use making clothing for her brothers and sisters, her wedding dress for herself and clothes for her own family.
When the pioneers knew that the rivers were low enough to cross safely, the party started to move south. It was a tearful farewell as the family said "good-bye" to their mother, but there was also a sense of excitement at beginning a new and challenging adventure.
The cattle moved behind the pioneer party, so Grace and her brother spent many nights alone a few miles behind the main company. Grace later said that she was not really afraid to stay alone at night because the trail the company was following was quite well known. Also, the wagon train was rather large, and it was not hard for Grace and William to keep the company in sight. However, as the wagon train moved into Indian country, the men of the company moved back with the cattle herders in order to protect both the cattle and the young people from Indian attack.
The cattle often gave Grace more sleepless nights than the fear of the unknown. She said that she often spent entire nights looking after stray calves, cattle and horses. The oxen and wagon horses were especially troublesome. They were generally staked as near the wagons as possible-sometimes in the center of the wagons-but they were often restless and could break loose at the slightest noise or disturbance.
Grace said that she soon learned to listen to the horses eating. If they ate quietly then things would be fine. However, if they stopped eating and raised their heads to put their ears back, then trouble was coming and she would start to become alert. Usually, it was the horses that interested the Indians the most.
The Indians wanted to steal horses, so it was especially important that Grace pay particular attention to the herd under her care. On a couple of occasions, the Indians were given a horse or a cow just to keep them from causing trouble.
The experience of crossing the Colorado River left a lasting impression on Grace. The party crossed at Lee's Ferry, and the ferry ride across the legendary Colorado River was very thrilling for Grace. She said that there were no accidents or mishaps, but the fast moving water gave everyone a scary ride.
It took the party several days to cross the Colorado River. Each wagon had to be ferried separately, and then the cattle and horses had to be tied and secured on the ferry for their ride across the river.
The scenery at this spot was breathtaking. Mammoth sandstone cliffs rise thousands of feet, and the rocks are beautiful reds and oranges which are typical of this desert countryside.
Once the party made it across the Colorado River, they had only one other smaller river to cross before they moved into what is now the state of Arizona. The Mormons had already established one or two settlements in northern Arizona, and it was to one of these, Shumway, that the wagon train headed.
The Beebe's spent the winter in Shumway. Here Nelson met and became friendly with Charles Shumway, the founder of the settlement, and together they worked on several building projects, including the building of the first grist mill in the state of Arizona.
Mr. Shumway also helped Nelson clear a small piece of land for a spring garden and helped the family build a small log cabin. The Beebe's then settled in for the winter and the life of true pioneers.
After the cabin was built, a daily routine set in. All of the older children were expected to take care of the house. However, Grace's job remained the same. She was still assigned to the job of keeping track of the cattle. She didn't mind this one bit. She said that the country was beautiful, and she loved to be outside even in the winter where she could enjoy all of nature's beauty.
There were many pinion pines and juniper trees in the valley near the Beebe cabin. Feed was plentiful for the livestock and both the cattle herd and Grace had a wide range in which to roam and explore. This suited Grace very much because when she returned home at night she had to help her sisters with the cooking and the care and attention of the younger children. Alice and Maretta must have had their hands full with the younger children because they were all very active and adventuresome.
Grace's father, by previous arrangement, helped Charles Shumway in the running of a grist mill. Nelson spent a lot of his time at the mill, but he was still close enough to make sure that nothing happened to his growing family. Nelson worked with Charles Shumway through the family's first winter in Arizona and into most of the early spring.
In the spring of 1879, Nelson returned to Utah to collect Eliza and David Austin. He traveled in the company of several other men from the wagon train. He took a canvas covered buggy, and since the party was much smaller than the original party, they were able to make very good time on the return trip to Provo.
The wagons that returned to Utah formed a sort of supply train because when they got back to Provo they were filled with the supplies that were needed by the Arizona settlers.
Nelson, Eliza, and David Austin's trip to Arizona retraced the steps of the previous company. However, on the return trip conditions were much better and the company made much faster time.
When Eliza arrived in Shumway, the children were very excited to be reunited with her once again. However, Grace said that she was almost as excited to see her little brother as she was to see her mother. She couldn't believe how much David had changed in just one short winter. He had grown from a baby of a few months into a very active toddler who was running all over the place.
Grace and Alice were very relieved to have their mother back in charge. They were given a short reprieve from housework and cooking, but were still very much a part of helping the family make a life for themselves in the wilderness.
The settlement of Shumway was not the final destination planned by the Beebe family. It was only a half way point; so early in the year 1879 preparations were once again made for the second leg of their journey. Unfortunately, the worst part of the trip was yet to come.
The company was headed for a spot in the southeast corner of Arizona near the Mexican border. Their intended destination was a very small settlement called St. David, Arizona. St. David had been established by a group of Mormon settlers in 1877 and was in need of additional settlers to bolster the original company.
The San Pedro River ran through St. David, and the country around was a wild and desolate part of the Arizona Desert. The area was believed to be excellent cattle country, however, so that was the reason for the first settlers planting roots there. The Mormons used the water from the San Pedro River to water their herds, built a small fort, planted crops and eventually converted a small plot of land near the river bank as a permanent settlement.
Nelson Beebe did not take wages for his work in the Shumway grist mill. He converted his work time into payments in cattle, so that by the time the Beebe's arrived in St. David they had a rather large cattle herd.
The trail south from Shumway took the settlers very close to hostile Indian country. This part of the world was the home and hunting grounds of the Apache Indians, and their feelings were anything but friendly to white settlers.
The route into Southern Arizona which the Beebe family followed was undoubtedly across the Mogollon Rim south of the present day town of Show Low to the point where they could connect to the historic Coronado Trail which descended down the western slope of the mountains into the Salt and White River valleys near Ft. Apache. From the Salt River they probably moved overland to the White River and then proceeded across country until they reached the Gila River. They then followed the Gila River west to its meeting with the San Pedro River. The last leg of the journey down the San Pedro River would have taken the family through the region where the modern towns of Winklemen, Dudleyville and Benson now stand.
According to one family account, repeated many years later, the Beebe party was accompanied for some distance of this journey by U. S. Army soldiers. Apparently, an escort was needed to get the pioneers safely through Indian Country.
The physical terrain changed drastically during this journey. The party dropped out of the trees and green of the mountains into the hot and barren wastes of the desert. Vegetation was scarce and the cactus plants were very strange to all of the travelers.
At first, Grace didn't like this country. However, as time passed, she began to learn more about the desert and this learning built an appreciation and loved the many plants and animals of the region. In later years, Grace kept a cactus garden which was a constant reminder of her years living in the desert southwest. She also loved to travel back to Arizona in her latter years, and was always thrilled when she descended from the mountains onto the desert floor.
The city of St. David was already settled by the time the Beebe family arrived. Other Mormon settlers were making great progress in converting the land to hospitable living. By the time the Beebe's arrived, the city had been plotted and each of the families assigned a city lot upon which they could build a home. The animals were kept outside of the city limits and generally they were allowed to roam rather freely on the open range. They did not wander far because there was no other water except the river. The cattle were part of a community herd and for the most part the settlers shared in their care and tending.
With the settlement of the Beebe's cattle as part of the community herd, Grace lost the job she had held for almost two years. However, this loss didn't mean she didn't have anything to do. Quite the contrary, there was a house to be built and crops to be planted.
The building materials for the homes in St. David were much different from those that had been used in Shumway or Provo for that matter. In St. David, trees were almost nonexistent, so the principle building material was mud. The settlers had to mold and bake adobe bricks before they could start to build a home or a public building.
The making of adobe bricks fascinated Grace. She liked to mold and shape the bricks. To her it was 'just like playing in the mud." However, the end product turned out to be something worthwhile Grace said. According to Grace, she was delighted when the family had enough bricks to start building a home. After the home was finished, the entire Beebe family was so proud of their new place that they gave it a good old fashioned English name-Long House.
St. David must have been an oasis compared to the surrounding desert. Grace remembered that there were some cottonwood trees living along the banks of the river, and the settlers planted fruit trees in and around their settlement; but the rest of the terrain was barren. The land was hot and dry and at certain time of the year it appeared like nothing at all was alive or growing.
The general climate, however, was moderate. The settlers didn't have to worry about cold winters. However, they did suffer from the extreme heat of the summer, but if the pioneers could make it through July and August they were home free.
Although they were living in an arid desert the Beebe's did have to fear water. On several occasions the San Pedro River flooded, and the river could be very dangerous during the spring months or following a severe thunderstorm. Sometimes flash flood water would rise so quickly that large rock boulders could be moved several miles.
One year, several St. David settlers lost their homes and gardens to a flash flood. Eventually, the entire city of St. David abandoned the fort area and the town was shifted to higher ground so that the flooding problem could be avoided.
Grace soon fell in love with the St. David settlement and people. When she was able, she would ride out into the desert enjoying the beautiful things of nature. She confessed that this was one of her favorite pastimes while living in St. David. Day-to-day living was very hard, but there was a certain beauty that only the desert could provide, especially when one was alone.
In 1882, another child was born to the Beebe family. Nellie was born in September of 1882, and she was the only member of the Beebe family to be born outside of Provo, Utah. Grace often said that Nellie was a true child of the desert, and with Nellie's arrival the Beebe family numbered 10 souls.
For eight years, the family grew and prospered in St. David. Nelson worked at ranching and at freighting, and the rest of the family settled into a daily routine as normal as possible for their wilderness setting. The children grew, matured, and learned the skills and talents that would help them become successful adults. They attended school and were active in their church and participated in many community affairs.
However, the normal routine of the family was shattered in 1888 with the sudden death of Eliza. Eliza died on March 29, 1888, and was buried in the St. David Cemetery. By the time of their mother's death, the three oldest Beebe children had married. William married Melinda Reed in 1884; Alice Rosemary married Seth Merrill in January of 1886; and Grace was married the following August.
Just two years before her mother's death, Grace had met and married the love of her life. She had met her special man in St. David, but he was not a native of that city. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even from Arizona. He was a Utah native who was visiting with his sisters who both lived in St. David.
The circumstances of the first meeting of Grace and her husband to be have been told over and over again in the Williams family. Several versions have been passed down, but as Grace told the story, she was straddling a log fence at one of the big cattle corrals just outside St. David. The men of the town were cutting out cattle, and she was watching and encouraging them. Suddenly, a stranger strolled up to the corral to see what was going on. He noticed the cowboys first and then his gaze caught the beautiful 18-year-old girl sitting on the fence. Grace said that her appearance and dress were anything but ladylike, but the young man made up his mind there and then that this was the girl who would be his wife.
On August 19, 1886, Grace married Thomas Edwin Williams from Kaysville, Utah, in the living room of Long House. Shortly after their marriage, the young couple traveled back to Utah so that their marriage could be sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan LDS Temple.
By 1886, the St. David community had built a large adobe school and Tom got a job as a teacher there. Tom was a graduate of the University of Deseret in Salt Lake City, and this job in the St. David School was his first teaching assignment. He taught in St. David for several years, and many members of the community gave him letters expressing their gratitude for his conscientious teaching efforts.
Unfortunately, the St. David settlement was only about 20 miles to the north of one of the most famous mining towns in American history-Tombstone, Arizona. This city was both a blessing and a curse to the Mormon settlers of St. David. It affected them positively in that it offered them a place to sell their beef, farm produce and handicrafts. However, on the other hand, it affected them negatively in that Tombstone quickly became one of the most notoriously wild settlements in the West.
The town of Tombstone was laid out in 1879, about a mile from the first silver mine, and was incorporated and made the seat of Cochise County in 1881. Tombstone's population in 1879 was estimated at about one hundred. However, just two years later over eight thousand people had made their way to Tombstone hoping to "strike it rich;" and by 1881, the city became synonymous with everything wild, reckless, daring and novel.
Also, not long after silver was discovered in Tombstone, copper was uncovered in Bisbee, a few miles to the south of Tombstone. Bisbee's population also mushroomed into the thousands, and the most popular route the miners took to the silver and copper veins was down the San Pedro River road through the St. David settlement. Thus the peace, quiet, security and relative obscurity which the Beebe's and their Mormon neighbors sought was shattered very quickly.
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| Grace & Thomas Williams |
Regardless of what was going on around them, Grace and Tom's early married life was very happy. Tom settled into teaching and Grace was content to become a homemaker. In 1887, the couple welcomed into the world their first child, Ada. Ada was their pride and joy, but unfortunately she did not live long.
Ada was born on July 21, 1887. She was named for Tom's mother, and although she was a weak child from birth, the couple hoped that she would be able to survive into adulthood. However, on October 29, one day before Grace's 21st birthday, Ada died. She was buried in the St. David Cemetery, and it was only one year later her grandmother, Eliza Beebe, was buried next to her.
A very disturbing natural disaster rocked the settlers of St. David just a few months after Tom and Grace's marriage, St. David was hit by a very severe earthquake. Tom was teaching in the city's adobe school when the quake hit. Two walls of the school building collapsed, but some of the roof and the other walls remained standing. Tom and all of the children came very close to being crushed by the falling walls, but Tom remained calm and through his quick action everyone got out of the building safely.
Grace was at home when the earthquake hit. She ran outside and just stood fascinated as the ground shook. After the quake subsided, she went back into the house to assess the damage. Some of the dishes had been shaken out of the cupboards, two walls were cracked; but the rest of the house was undamaged. Both Tom and Grace were grateful that no serious damage was done to their property, although some people in the community did suffer major losses.
Grace had one sister and three brothers still living at home when her mother died. Maretta was the oldest at 17. Maretta was engaged to be married to William Bennett, and so Grace and Tom moved in with her father to help take care of the younger Beebe children.
At the time Grace started to care for her father's family, her brother Paul was 14, Samuel Kemp was 12, David was 10, and her sister, Nellie, had just turned six. Consequently, this was quite a family responsibility which Grace inherited. However, as adults all of Grace's brothers and her sister express their gratitude for Grace's loving, substitute motherhood. As a matter of fact, Nellie often told people that Grace was "the only mother I've ever known."
Change was not unknown to the Beebe and Williams families. Not long after Eliza's death, Nelson and a group of other St. David settlers decided to get out of the ranching business and trade in their cattle herds for more productive farm land. Two new farming settlements were being established to the north and east of St. David, and Nelson Beebe decided that this area would offer a better way of life and growth possibilities for his family.
There were probably two reasons for Nelson's decision to move. One was the fact that the ecclesiastical headquarters of the LDS Church was transferred from St. David to Thatcher, Arizona.
Christopher Layton, Tom Williams' brother-in-law, was the president of the St. Joseph LDS Stake, and when he established a settlement on the banks of the Gila River this site attracted many Mormon settlers.
Nelson Beebe, Tom Williams and their families were strong members of the LDS Church, and the transfer of the church's social and religious activities out of St. David must have influenced their move to the Gila Valley.
The second reason for the relocation was undoubtedly the wild nature of Tombstone and the surrounding mining activities. The lawlessness of the area became intolerable, and the Mormons sought a haven further to the east.
A hundred miles or so to the north, on the Gila River, two Mormon towns had been established. They were called Safford and Thatcher, and many months before Nelson Beebe made his decision to relocate several other St. David families had already made the decision to move. So, the Beebe and Williams families had a knowledge of how good the prospects were in the Safford and Thatcher communities.
Safford was the first town in the Gila Valley to be settled. The town was located near a bend in the river under the shadows of the Graham Mountains. By the time the St. David saints arrived, the town had already been laid out and quite a few houses and public buildings had been built.
Nelson Beebe purchased property in Safford and immediately started to build another home. Grace and Tom took a lot next door to Nelson, and they also started a home building project.
The home that Tom and Grace built was very small, measuring only 14 X 16. However, Grace insisted that the living area be divided into two rooms, and once the house was completed she and Tom moved in. She continued to take care of her father and brothers and sister, but because of marital obligations she insisted that she and Tom have a home of their own.
Tom immediately went about securing a teaching certificate from the Graham County School officials so that he could get a job in the local school. Safford had a one-room school and school officials had advertised an opening for a qualified teacher, so this was one of the reasons why Grace and Tom followed Nelson and his family to Safford.
On March 11, 1889, a son, Lionel was born to Grace and Tom in Safford. Grace was very thrilled about this birth because the little boy filled some of the void left by the death of her first child, Ada.
Not long after the two families moved to Safford, Nelson Beebe made a trip back to Utah to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law, Daniel Kemp. Daniel left a wife, Alice, and several children, and after the funeral and other property matters in Utah had been settled, Nelson talked his sister-in-law into moving to the Safford settlement where he could offer them assistance.
Alice had no other close relatives and no way to support herself so she decided to accompany Nelson to Arizona. When they arrived in Safford, Nelson made living arrangements for Alice and she and her children lived close to the Beebe family. Alice was grateful to Nelson for his help and support and she took over some of the household chores that Grace was performing. Alice helped manage the Beebe household and her children and the Beebe children became very close, Eventually, Alice and Nelson were married, and they lived happily until Nelson's death in 1912.
Not counting the Mormon settlers, the town of Safford was mainly made up of people of Mexican descent. These people were very poor and could speak only limited English. However, their children attended the Safford public school. Tom struggled very hard to teach the Spanish children, but he was hampered because he could not speak their language. He learned a few words of Spanish and between his poor Spanish and their poor English, the children did manage to advance through some of the prescribed school curriculum.
The other children in Tom's classes were the sons and daughters of farm families. Farm work often kept these children at home, and there were some days when Tom had no pupils to teach. Consequently, it was very hard for him to keep the school running the required number of days each year. There were times when the school closed its doors because there were no children who showed up for class.
As more and more settlers moved into the Gila Valley, the town of Thatcher began to grow a little faster than Safford. Thatcher was located a few miles down the Gila River from Safford and had some better farming acreage. Thatcher also became the LDS Church Stake Center, and a large meetinghouse was built there. This building was later enlarged and eventually made into an educational academy. Many years later, it was turned over to the state of Arizona and is now known as The College of Eastern Arizona.
Grace's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Layton, lived in Thatcher. She owned a small mercantile store there. Another of Tom's sisters, Fanny Kimball, was also a resident of Thatcher; and Grace's older brother, William, eventually established a dairy farm just outside of the city. William's dairy was the first of its kind to be established in the valley.
The Thatcher school was much larger than the one in Safford, and Tom was offered the chance to be the school's principal as well as a teacher. Consequently, the Williams' moved to Thatcher and secured another home. This house was a little larger than the one they had occupied in Safford, but it still wasn't very big.
Lionel's history tells a little about this particular move. He says that the new house had two more rooms and a summer kitchen was later added. A new outhouse was built, and the chicken coop and barn were improved. The barn housed their horse and provided a place to store the family buggy.
In this not so "humble abode" Grace's third child was born. Gladys was born November 2, 1891. Three years later, another girl, Zena was born on July 9, 1894.
During her years in Thatcher, Grace performed her homemaking duties well, just as she did all the rest of her life. She neglected nothing when it came to the care of her family. She "pampered" her husband and raised her family with traditional Mormon values. Also, she planted and tended a large garden. She cared for the cows, horses, and other livestock; and also found time to plant and care for a rather remarkable flower garden.
Raising flowers was one of Grace's life long passions. She loved all varieties of flowers. She loved to care for them, and she especially liked to keep live and cut flowers in her home as often as possible. For her, flowers were objects of great beauty that could always be enjoyed by all members of the family.
Also, during her Thatcher years, Grace became an expert seamstress. Her father gave her the old family sewing machine, and Grace made all of the clothes for her family as well as for the Beebe and Kemp families. Grace was very proud to be able to tell everyone that she had made all of Tom's shirts. However, she didn't just sew for her immediate family. She made clothing items for friends and relatives throughout the area, and many other women came to her for advice and training in the art of shirt and dress making.
On one occasion, Grace asked a little neighbor boy why he wasn't attending Sunday School. The boy told her that he didn't have any clothes which were good enough to wear to church. Upon hearing this, Grace went immediately to the house and took one of Tom's old suits out of the closet. She cut the suit down and made a complete outfit for the little boy. The next Sunday, the little boy went to church as proud as he could be. Tom may not have been so happy about losing a suit, but both Grace and the little boy were very proud.
During summer vacations from school, the Williams family shifted from place to place because of the odd jobs which Tom took. One summer, Tom drove an ore wagon for his brother-in-law, Tom Kimball, from the mines above Safford to the smelter in Globe, Arizona. Lionel remembered this summer very well. As a youngster, he loved to watch the big wagons pass his home. The ore wagons were drawn by large mule teams and it took an expert driver to guide the big, heavy wagons. The wagon Tom drove, however, was not one of the largest ore wagons. He drove a four horse wagon that carried machinery, supplies and other things to and from the smelter and mines.
Another summer, Tom took a job driving a stage coach from Bowie Junction, which was a major stop on the Santa Fe Railroad, to Tombstone and back. For this job, the Williams family moved temporarily to Wilcox, Arizona. Grace and the children stayed in a boardinghouse where Grace helped the boardinghouse landlady care for the boarders. It was a job that Grace did not like very much. She often talked negatively about this summer. To begin with, she didn't like the boarders. She hated their poor manners and was not impressed with their even slight influence upon her small children. Also, the heat that summer was very bad, and Grace's work caused her to suffer more than normal.
Other summers the Williams' moved into a cabin in the Graham Mountains. This was a place they all loved very much. Grace's brother-in-law, Tom Kimball, started a saw mill in the mountains, and Grace and her husband had a small financial interest in the venture. For several summers, the Williams' went to the mountains and worked in the saw mill.
Grace and Fanny Kimball took turns cooking for the mill hands. One would take breakfast, the other lunch, and together they would both prepare the evening meal. Although this work was similar to the work Grace did in the Wilcox boardinghouse, she didn't seem to mind the saw mill experience because the workers were all known by her.
By this time, another son had joined the Williams family. Paul was born on April 13, 1896, He was just a small child when the family went to the mountains; and therefore, a considerable chore for Grace and the older Williams girls, He was an active child, and everyone had to keep on their toes in order to keep up with him.
The cabin the Williams' lived in during these summer stays was made of logs. It was built in somewhat of a lean-to style up against a hill with the front of the cabin resting on stilts. The front door opened out onto a broad porch, and there was a considerable drop from the porch to the ground below. The bedrooms were located against the dirt of the hill and secured from the mountain animals in that the bedrooms had no windows. However, there were several nights when Grace remembered hearing cougars moving about on the ground very close to the bedroom walls. And, skunks were a constant problem.
One summer, Grace worked at the mill without her husband. Tom was called on an LDS mission to the Snowflake Arizona Stake, so Grace had to manage the family and the duties at the mill without him. It was a difficult summer, but one that she remembered fondly as the years passed.
Tom's mission to the Snowflake Stake only lasted for the summer, but it required a lot of travel. He left Thatcher by wagon and traveled through the various Mormon communities in the Snowflake region. This travel took him across the mountains; over the desert to what was called the Little Colorado River, and then into the mountains once again. Here he turned north and traveled until he reached the northeastern corner of Arizona.
Tom's second mission for his church was much longer. His second mission call asked him to travel back to his native state of Utah. The purpose of this mission was to help establish a newly instituted program called the “Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations.” This was a program for the betterment of young LDS men, a subject in which Tom had a great interest. Tom's mission call was to Box Elder County, Utah, which was located about forty miles to the north of his birthplace of Kaysville, Utah.
Grace's calling in support of her husband during this mission call was to remain in Arizona and care for her growing family. She had to move her family in with her sister, Alice Merrill, because there wasn't enough money to pay for the mission and a home at the same time.
This was undoubtedly a very difficult time for Grace. She had little or no money, and she was living with her sister which must have been quite difficult because of the size of the two households. However, she still worked as best she could to continue to care for her family's needs. Fortunately, her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Layton, was able to give her work in the Layton Store. The store wasn't far from where Alice Merrill lived, so Grace could work and still look after her small children. However, despite her many sacrifices, it would have broken Grace's heart if she had been the reason for her husband not successfully completing his church mission call.
During the Williams' stay in Thatcher, they only fell victim to two very serious problems-other than the normal illness of childhood. Fortunately, the family missed a deadly diphtheria epidemic that struck the valley. There were many others who were not so lucky; and, during this epidemic, Grace helped out as best she could by tending many of the sick. She was in and out of many homes where the epidemic caused death, but neither she nor any of her immediate family members contracted the disease.
One near tragedy happened, however, when Lionel had the misfortune of getting hit in the eye with a piece of iron. Medicine was very crude in those days, and there were many anxious hours as Grace nursed and cared for her son. Grace was afraid that Lionel might lose his sight or worse that he might have a more serious complication which would eventually cause brain damage.
Grace watched over Lionel for several weeks. It was touch and go many times, but suddenly the injured eye started to heal properly and his sight was spared. He did, however, have a partial loss of sight in that eye; but the loss wasn't severe enough to cause problems in his later life.
After Lionel's accident, Gladys fell into a river and almost drowned. She was playing near a canal which ran to the side of the Graham Mountain saw mill. She slipped off a plank that the boys had teetered. She was swept into the canal's rapid current and if it hadn't been for another large plank over the river downstream, she would have been lost. Her father was able to save her by running out onto the second plank just in time to snatch her from the swift moving water.
When Tom returned from his Box Elder County LDS mission, he announced to Grace that he had decided to make another move. This time he proposed that the family move to Utah. This was a surprise for Grace, since all of her family was nearby; but Tom had accepted what he thought would be a more promising teaching post in the town of Syracuse, Utah.
It must have been another very hard decision for Grace to make because on her wedding trip to Logan, Utah, she had not been overly impressed with the Wasatch Mountains nor the Great Salt Lake Valley. Although she had been born in Utah and had spent her first twelve years growing up there, she considered herself to be an Arizona girl. However, after much thought and some prayers, she supported her husband's decision and made preparations to leave her desert home.
Tom's parents, Ebenezer and Ada Williams, had visited with Tom and Grace in Arizona. Grace got to know them quite well during this visit and liked them very much. Consequently, the decision to locate near her in-laws was not all that unpleasant because she loved and respected her mother and father-in-law very much. Because of this love and respect, she was happy that she didn't have to move into an area where she was a complete stranger. At least this is what she told friends and neighbors when she talked about this move later in her life.
Tom went ahead of the family to make the necessary living arrangements. Grace packed up their household belongings, said "good-bye" to her father and her family, and then boarded a train for the trip to Utah. The children were very excited about the prospect of taking a train trip so they didn't give Grace a lot of trouble.
This trip took place in the spring of 1900, and although the railroad had run through Thatcher for many years, none of the Williams family had ever taken a train ride. Consequently, even Grace had to admit to some excitement mingled with the sadness of leaving her father and many relatives and friends behind.
According to Grace, the family left Thatcher with "big tears in their eyes." They traveled north to Pueblo, Colorado, then through the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City. With each mile they traveled, Grace said that she got to "liking the mountains more and more." It was springtime and the mountain scenery was very beautiful as the train slowly made its way into the Salt Lake Valley.
On the train ride, the travelers had a very hard time keeping track of Paul. He wandered from one end of the train to the other, and keeping him in tow was almost an impossibility. With every mile, the other members of the family had to search for him constantly. Occasionally, he would be brought back to his seat by some stranger who had found him in a place where he shouldn't have been.
Salt Lake City was much different from when Grace had passed through it on her wedding trip. The city had grown rapidly; and, with the coming of the railroad, it had become one of the major commercial cities of the Mountain West.
Tom and his brother Franklin were at the station to greet the new arrivals. They had driven two wagons down to the station to haul the Williams belongings back to Kaysville. However, after they had loaded the wagons they parked them and then took the trolley car to the eastern part of Salt Lake City to spend the night with Tom and Franklin's sister, Tillie King.
The trolley car ride was another thrilling ride for Grace and her family. They had never seen a trolley car much less rode on one so the ride was an adventure that all remembered for the rest of their lives. Often, Grace used to remember this ride by telling others how impressed she was by all of the large, beautiful, Victorian homes that she saw as the trolley car moved east. The route took the passengers up South Temple Street, and the homes on this street were truly magnificent.
After the reunion with Tillie, the group picked up their wagons and then traveled about 22 miles north of Salt Lake City to Kaysville, Utah. In Kaysville, the Arizona family was met by other members of the Williams family. There were a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins for the Williams children to get acquainted with. For Grace it was a renewal of old and dear friendships; and for her children, it was an introduction to a rather large, extended Williams clan.
After visiting in Kaysville for several days, Tom and Grace took their wagons and traveled to a small community about nine miles to the north and west of Kaysville called Syracuse, Here they were looking forward to establishing a new home near another of Tom's brothers, Henry Williams. Tom and Grace lived with Henry and his family for about a month or so until suitable lodgings could be found.
It is hard to guess how they lived and where everyone slept while Tom and Grace were staying with Henry. Henry's house wasn't very big, and he had as large a family as Tom and Grace. It was summer, so the children probably slept on the summer porch and the grown-ups shared the various rooms of the house. There were four children in Henry's family and four in Tom and Grace's, so the house was definitely full.
Despite the inconveniences and hardships however, one very important thing did come out of this initial introduction of the two families. A very close bond developed between the children of the two families. They were of similar age and formed friendships which lasted all of their lives.
A tomato canning factory had been started just a few miles north of Henry's farm. The farmers in the Syracuse area raised tomatoes as 'a cash crop, and the delivery of the tomatoes to the cannery was an important town event. The entire Williams clan participated in the harvesting tomatoes that fall of 1900. Tomato picking kept the children occupied, tomato crating, loading and hauling provided employment for the adults so everyone was occupied until the school bells rang in the fall.
Grace was fortunate to have a husband with a profession like teaching. It was a teaching job that brought her to Utah, and it was an association with education that kept Tom employed all of his life. Initially, Tom was hired as the principal teacher at the Syracuse School so he had to report to work each year as soon as the harvesting in Syracuse was completed. The end of the growing season was the signal that released the kids from work and sent them to school for the next few months of study.
The Williams' finally settled into a house about a mile and a quarter from the school. This house was located in the oldest part of Syracuse. The house was really an old log cabin that had been built in 1886.
However, with a "little fixing," Grace made the place very "livable." She put all of her homemaking skills to work and soon had the place looking very much more modem than the typical pioneer lob cabin.
Syracuse had an attractive one room church which stood on the corner next to the schoolhouse. This church was the center of all of the activities of the town, and both religious and social gatherings took place here. All of the families who lived on the surrounding farms could be found there several nights each week for either church or social activities.
At church, everybody knew everyone else. The community welcomed strangers openly, so the Williams' had no trouble fitting in. They were immediately accepted as part of the town and had very little time to think about adjusting. Grace received a church calling immediately and soon joined the other ladies of the community in providing Relief Society benefits to everyone. Like she had in Arizona, Grace was once again called upon to use her sewing skills to aid her neighbors, and she began making shirts and dresses for many, many people.
The Williams’ lived in the log cabin through the winter of 1900-1901. However, not long after arriving in Syracuse, they purchased a 10 acre tract of land about a mile south of the center of Syracuse. Only about half of the acreage had been cleared of sage brush and grease wood, so after school Tom and Lionel spent their time clearing the additional acres getting the land ready for planting.
In the spring of 1901, one of the members of the community, Peter Christensen, asked the Williams’ to move into his house. Mr. Christensen lived in a large brick home. His wife had died leaving him with three small children so he asked Tom and Grace if they couldn't move in with him to help him take care of his children. For this service, Mr. Christensen was willing to provide the Williams’ with room and board. The Christensen boys looked upon Grace as their "second mother," and, even as adults, they visited her as often as they could.
On August 2, 1902, Grace gave birth to her fifth child, Thelma. Also in 1902, plans were completed for a house which was to be built on the Williams property that Tom and Lionel cleared. Building a house had one drawback, however. The Williams property didn't have access to any of the Syracuse streets. The property was in the middle of a block of land totally surrounded by acres owned by other farmers. So, in order to be able to build their house, the Williams' had to purchase a small strip of land which could give them access to the spot where they planned to locate their house. This strip of land came to be known as the "Williams Lane," and the lane, when graded, was the sight of many competitive foot races. All of the kids in the neighborhood loved to run up and down the Williams Lane. It was eventually lined with poplar trees and made an excellent playground for young children.
The Williams home was started in the spring of 1903, and before snow fell that winter the outside walls were up, the roof was on and the interior walls plastered. Just before real cold weather, the family moved in.
The plans called for a fairly large house, but only one bedroom, and one all purpose room, and the "buttery" (later made into a bathroom) were finished when the family moved in. The large front hall, the parlor, the stairs, and the two upstairs bedrooms were yet to be finished. However, the winter months were a good time for Tom and Lionel to continue working on the interior. They did all that they could themselves and finished as much of the construction on the house as was possible for them to do.
Lionel remembers that when the front hall and parlor were finished they became his temporary room until the other rooms were completed. He slept on the floor, but this wasn't new to him since he had "slept on the floor more times that I had slept in a bed."
In time, the entire house was finished. It was furnished modestly, and offered ample space for a family of seven. Grace tastefully decorated the interior. She made all of the curtains for the house and did other things that made the place bright and cheerful. She was particularly proud of her parlor (which was reserved for special occasions). Visitors could use this room, but it was often off limits to the family children. The parlor was always used when Grandpa and Grandma Williams came from Kaysville for a visit.
Ebenezer and Ada had a horse called "Old Jule" and when that horse and its buggy were spied coming up the lane, Grace's children would run to her to let her know that she needed to open up the parlor and air it out.
Grace also liked to keep her parlor filled with flowers. In the summer she would have bowls of cut flowers everywhere, and in the winter she would move all of her potted plants into the parlor to give the room the touch of living greenery.
The Williams farm expanded and prospered as Tom and Lionel cleared additional acres. Also, farm machinery was purchased, a barn was built, yards and animal pens fenced, and a proper outhouse constructed. Unfortunately, this outhouse blew down each time there was an east wind. Severe winds often blew down from the Wasatch Mountains, and since the outhouse was out in the open and unprotected, it was always the first structure on the farm to suffer wind damage.
The farm also had a large orchard which Grace tended. Several varieties of fruit trees were planted, namely, apple, cherry, peach, and pear. Syracuse soil grew marvelous fruit; but with time, the fruit trees were pulled out to make way for a more valuable "cash" crop-sugar beets. The Williams' raised sugar beets which were sold to a sugar mill in Layton, Utah.
Grace was very sad when her trees had be to sacrificed for the beets. She had great expectations for them and it was hard to convince her that the trees needed to go. Grace especially like to see her fruit trees in the spring and fall. In the spring they were alive with blossoms and in the fall they were brightly painted with several colors.
Eventually, the Williams' purchased another 10 acres to add to their farm. This purchase gave them frontage on one of the main Syracuse streets. The addition of these acres also created more work, and Lionel was primarily the one who did the farm work. Tom could help after school and during the summers, but a lot of the day-to-day farm work was done by Lionel.
Harvest time was always a community affair in Syracuse. Neighbors helped neighbors, and the whole community was alive with activity. On these occasions, Grace was usually called upon to prepare lunches to feed the visiting workers, and, during harvest time, Grace was also called upon to do as much outside farm work as Tom. She tended the garden and the orchard so, at harvest time, she was responsible for gathering and storing the crops produced in the orchard and garden. She also did a lot of last minute watering, and served as a relief team and wagon driver during the collection of tomatoes or sugar beets. And, at other times, she also drove the team for the plowing and planting.
In 1907, Grace gave birth to her last child. On February 21, 1907, Howard was born. It had been five years since her last child, and Howard's birth was a very difficult one.
Grace was 40 years old, and there were serious physical complications experienced at the delivery. The midwife, Aunt Esther Sessions, did all that she could, but it still took Grace several weeks before she could get up and move about. There were some pretty anxious moments just after the birth, and Tom and the other members of the family were not sure that Grace would survive.
Gladys took over the duties of "mother" during Grace's recovery period. She watched after the new baby, cooked, washed, and supervised the other children. The younger members of the Williams family always looked at Gladys as being "very much like their own mother."
Before many weeks of recovery had passed, however, it was decided that Grace should go to the hospital for an operation to repair some of the damage caused by the difficult birth. The hospital was located in Kaysville, and it was run by a doctor named Dr. Morton. The seriousness of this operation was later told by Samuel Cook at Grace's funeral. Sam said:
"Before Aunt Grace left the Syracuse Ward for the hospital, the ward held a fast and prayer Sunday. Just before the operation, Bishop Frances Nalder and I administered to Aunt Grace. Shortly after the operation started, a nurse brought the news to Brother Williams that when they made the incision they found an indication of a disease so advanced that they couldn't touch it. There were three doctors in attendance, and they all agreed that it was a condition from which Aunt Grace could never recover. However, to the astonishment of the physicians and to those of us who knew the condition, Aunt Grace made a speedy recovery. I think that this was the greatest testimony of the truth of the gospel and administrations to the sick that I know of, at least that has happened in my life time.
Those doctors were skilled, and I was called to witness the closing of the operation without anything having been done. Yet despite all of that, Aunt Grace was restored to health and has rendered service for 30 years both to her family and to her church."
Grace's family was very thankful for her eventual recovery. She was home from the hospital and acting her old self in just a few weeks. She took back the care of her infant son, and once again was able to look after her family admirably.
During the years that the Williams' lived in Syracuse, they had several visits from relatives who lived in Arizona. On one occasion, Maretta Bennett came for a visit and stayed the entire winter. Her husband had been called on a mission to England, so Maretta stayed with the Williams' and put her two children into the Syracuse School. Grace enjoyed that winter very much because she missed her Arizona family and the people she had known in Thatcher and Safford.
Grace and Maretta quilted, made rag rugs and relished in each others company. The quilts that they made that winter are now treasures to their grandchildren and great grandchildren.
In 1912, Grace's father, Nelson Paul Beebe, died in Safford, Arizona. Grace was able to travel to Safford for her father's funeral. She stayed for several weeks visiting with relatives and friends; and, after her return to Utah, she received some inheritance money from her father's estate. As soon as the money arrived, Grace knew exactly how she wanted to spend it. As she told Tom, she wanted her house moved from the "middle of the fields to the edge of the road."
This move was quite an undertaking, but it was accomplished by jacking up the house and rolling it on logs to the new foundation. The house was pulled a few yards each day.
In his memoirs, Howard wrote the following about this move:
"Our farm house being situated down a lane about 1/8 mile was very inconvenient. Anyway when I was about six the house was jacked up and moved on rollers to its present position on the main road.
This was a great event for me as I watched every move that the movers made. The movers placed two 12"X12" wooden beams under the house. Planks were then laid on the ground in front of the beams. Wooden rollers were placed between the beams and the planks. A post was set in the ground 50-60 feet in front of the house. There was a block and tackle between the post and house. A team of horses pulled the rope from the block and tackle until the house moved to the end of the planks."
The movement procedure was repeated until the house reached the road. With the help of many neighbors and several teams of horses, the house was raised and then lowered onto its already prepared foundation.
During the move, the Williams' were not unduly disturbed. They continued to live in the house, and life continued as usual.
After the move, a couple of additions were made to the house, and Grace was finally satisfied that she had the home of her dreams. A screen porch was the finishing touch as well as a storage room with a cellar underneath.
Today the house is very much as it was in the early 1900's. It has been continuously occupied, and all of Lionel's children were born in that house. Grace was very happy to see the home occupied right up until the time of her death.
Gladys was the first of the Williams children to leave home. While living in Syracuse, she met and married Peter Rentmeister. Pete had come to Utah with his family from Belgium. The Rentmeister's were converts to the LDS Church, and they fit into the Syracuse community very well. Rentmeister was soon an important name, partly because of the family's great talents in music.
Pete was only in his early teens when the family settled in Syracuse. However, he was already a talented musician. He was especially good with horn instruments.
Gladys had a beautiful singing voice and perhaps her interest in music was one of the things that attracted her to Pete and the rest of the Rentmeister family. Gladys often sang in church and during many of these performances she was accompanied by a member of the Rentmeister family.
Tom and Grace were very interested in instilling in their children a love of music. Tom sang in the ward choir, as did Lionel and Gladys. On one of their many trips to Salt Lake City, Tom and Grace purchased a piano. They made arrangements to have the piano shipped to Clearfield on the railroad. The family watched the mail every day after that, waiting for a notice that the piano had arrived at the local station.
When the news of its arrival finally came, all of the family jumped into a wagon to go to the railroad station to pick up their new treasure. At home, it took the help of several neighbors to untie and move the piano into the Williams parlor.
The thrill probably wore off rather quickly when both Zena and Paul were required to take piano lessons. A teacher came to the house once a week, and after that it took all of Grace's patience to make sure that they both practiced their hour each day after school. They had the summers off, but during the winter months when the fire was stoked each morning in the beautiful "Home Comfort" stove then Grace's problems began. She insisted that they both practice either in the morning or evening, and she didn't quit hounding them until the practicing was finished.
In later life, both Zena and Paul were grateful for their mother's persistence. They both enjoyed playing and got many hours of pleasure out of their piano playing talents.
Grace wasn't so lucky with her two younger children. Maybe she was just worn out by the first two, but both Thelma and Howard's musical education was sadly neglected.
The Williams kitchen was always used on Saturday night. After the dinner dishes were cleared away, it was time for the Saturday night baths. Sheets or quilts were draped over the high back of the dining room chairs, and each person took their turn in the tin tub.
On Sunday, the parlor was used by the family. After church, everyone retired to the parlor to do as they liked-read, play games (checkers and the like), or play the piano. The piano was used for short recitals, to show off what had been learned during the week. The parlor could be used for anything the family wanted except for rough and tumble play. Grace insisted that no rough house was allowed in her parlor.
After Gladys left, Grace missed her very much. Especially was this true when Pete and Gladys moved to Brigham City where Pete found work. Suddenly, Grace realized what losing a child to marriage was like.
Not long after Gladys' marriage, Lionel became engaged. The family unanimously approved of his bride-to-be, Golda Walker. Golda was a very pretty girl and a long time member of the Syracuse Ward. Lionel asked for her hand shortly after his return from an LDS mission to England.
Lionel tried one year at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, but couldn't seem to decide what he wanted to do with his life. Consequently, after he proposed marriage to Golda, he decided to stay in Syracuse and become a farmer.
Grace approved of this decision very much. As she often said, "Tom made a poor farmer." His talents were in teaching, and managing a farm was very difficult for him; but Lionel had a talent for farming. During the summers, Tom devoted his time to the farm or he took part-time jobs at the Walker Store; but Tom just couldn't be a full-time farmer so the farm was eventually turned over to Lionel.
Lionel and Golda built a little frame house on the northwest comer of the Williams farm and settled into a life of farming.
Soon Grace and Tom were proud grandparents. Gladys' son, Neldon, was the first to be born followed by Lionel's daughter, Dorothy. This made Grace very happy, and to the day of her death she loved to have babies all around her. She loved little children and was a great friend and helpmate to many of her grandchildren.
The year 1915 brought change once again into the lives of the Williams family. For two years, Tom had been a member of the Davis County School Board. In 1915, the board offered him the position as clerk to that body. The only drawback to this job was the fact that the district offices were in Farmington, Utah, several miles from the Williams home. Each day, Tom had to drive a buggy to the railroad station and then take the Bamberger train to Farmington. In the summer he drove a horse and cart, and in the winter he had to go by cutter sleigh. This became expensive since he had to pay someone to keep his horse, and soon it became apparent that his commute couldn't continue.
One day, Tom called the family together so that they could be part of another important family decision. The solution to the commuting problem seemed to be a move out of Syracuse to a place closer to Farmington. The family finally unanimously decided that they should relocate to Kaysville. The farm was to be left in Lionel's hands. He agreed to pay rent for it, and then later purchase all of the acres.
Grace always believed that her husband was head of the family, so all of the housing arrangements were left in his hands. Her job was to pack the household goods and get the children ready for the move, and when it came time to load her household goods, the neighbors came with wagons and helped the family move to Kaysville.
The Williams' first house in Kaysville was close to the railroad tracks, and this didn't suit either Grace or her family. The noise of the trains passing was a difficult sound to adjust to especially for a family who were accustomed to hearing "only the whine of a coyote in the bottoms below the Syracuse Bluff Road."
The trains whistled for a crossing which was only yards from the Williams' rented house. This noise, plus other problems of being located in the general vicinity of the railroad tracks, caused the family to look for a place several blocks to the east.
Also, this first house was close to the Kaysville Cannery. This presented another set of problems for the family since activity at the cannery went night and day during the busy canning season. Grace just didn't like all of this activity and insisted that another place be secured.
After one more move "uptown," an ideal place was eventually located. A house at the corner of 2nd East and 2nd North in Kaysville suited Grace perfectly. It was for sale at a reasonable price, and it had fruit trees, was in a quiet neighborhood, had a place for cows, chickens and other animals and there was plenty of room for a flower garden.
Grace went to work immediately planting and tending both a vegetable and flower garden. She planted several varieties of flowers that she transplanted from her Syracuse home. Eventually, she developed a rock garden that was a reminder of her early days in Arizona. With time, this rock garden became the envy of the entire neighborhood.
For the next several years, Grace did many of the same things that she had done in Syracuse. She was active in her church. She also sewed for her family and friends. And before long she was called upon to help with the "laying out of the dead." This was a very important assignment, especially in the very close knit community like Kaysville. It was a task that endeared Grace to nearly every family in the community. Her care and attention in making sure that the dead were properly clothed and laid out for burial brought her the gratitude and love of hundreds and hundreds of people.
Often, Grace made burial clothes for the people she prepared. Her skills were very much in demand because she made some of the most beautiful burial clothes ever seen in the community.
For many years, the people of Kaysville called on Grace for a number of other community services. She always helped with natural disasters, such as fires, etc., and was a counselor to many suffering from a variety of family problems.
She was very active with the war effort during World War II. War in 1941 caused great distress for the people of Kaysville because so many fathers, sons, and brothers were called up to fight in both Europe and the Pacific. During the war, Grace worked many hours as a Red Cross volunteer. After taking care of the needs of her family, Grace would spend hours with her knitting needles making socks, scarves, and other articles of clothing for the soldiers. She even enlisted the help of her daughters in this effort. Sometimes Grace, Gladys, Zena and Thelma would knit for hours or they would spend their time cutting and rolling bandages. This work was all part of Grace's Red Cross service, and she made sure that all of her jobs were quality jobs. Her jobs were done, not only to Red Cross requirements, but to her very strict standards as well. "Everything for the soldiers should be perfect," she often said.
After World War II, Grace's church and civic duties became less demanding. Consequently, she then devoted her talents to her immediate family. She sewed, picked flowers to give to family members, and tended the grandchildren whenever the need arose.
While living in Kaysville, Grace's house became the second home for her Arizona family. Her brothers visited often as did her sister, Nellie, and their families. The Arizona Beebe's always liked to visit Kaysville because Grace treated them so royally.
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| Grace &Thomas Williams - 50th |
The pictures taken at this anniversary party were treasured by Grace all the rest of her life. She was very proud of her family and often showed the pictures to visiting strangers. She also made sure that all of her grandchildren knew and could identify individual family members. Grace wanted to make sure that the younger generation knew their ancestors. Also, she wanted them to be familiar with all of the trials and struggles of their pioneer forbearers. Grace believed families to be eternal, and she wanted all of her posterity to understand their place in the eternal family structure. Also, she wanted all of her children and grandchildren to know of her belief in eternal life as a principle of her faith.
Grace's health was generally good. Except for a few bouts with asthma, she was able to carry on her life without many physical problems. She had recovered from a threat of cancer in 1907, and after that she moved through her life without many physical troubles.
In her later years, she devoted most of her time to caring for Tom. He was at the center of her life, and she made him comfortable and looked after his every need. They were very happy together, and found great joy in each others company.
Early in 1946, a bad cold brought on an asthmatic spell that was to end Grace's life. The attack was so severe that she had to be hospitalized, and she passed away on February 21, 1946, in Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah.
Her death was sudden and a great shock to the members of her family. However, her funeral was a great witness and tribute to her 80 years. Her friends and relatives from St. David, Thatcher and Safford in Arizona, Syracuse, and Kaysville in Utah all gathered in the Kaysville Tabernacle to pay tribute to her life of service. She was loved by many and her death was a source of sorrow for many people.
Grace was buried in the Kaysville Cemetery on the Williams family lot. In death she rests with her husband, father and mother-in-law and many of her husband's brothers and sisters. She approved of this resting place since she loved her in-laws and their family as much as she loved her own family.
Grace was a beautiful woman, physically as well as spiritually. Her descendants will always be grateful to her for her faith and personal sacrifices. Also, they will be better and have better lives because they knew her.
