LAURA MELVINA LEAVITT

A Short Sketch of My Mother's Life - Laura Melvina Leavitt Knight. Written on letterhead "Nelson - Wagner Hardware" A. R. Nelson and M. R. Wagner, P. O. Box 57-7, Hawthorne, Nevada.

She was the oldest daughter of Lemuel Studvant Leavitt and Melvina Thompson Leavitt. Born 4 August 1851 at Toole, [Tooele, Tooele,] Utah. Her mother died at the age of 28 after having eight children; she being eleven years old at the time of her mother's death. I heard her tell of an experience she had when her father was away and the children all had the measles. She thought her mother was there and one of the boys said mother is here. She was so frightened that she covered her head. She knew she could have looked and seen her as they felt her presence so great.

She married Samuel Knight at the age of twenty years which was the year of 1874 and took care of sixe girls he had by his first wife. The oldest one being about five years Syounger than she. She had ten children of her own and also took care of her youngest brother. After she quit having babies she took up being a mid-wife. She was set apart by George Q. Cannon and was given a promise she never would lose a case is she wouldn't hide sin. She never lost a case as she never went on case except she offered up a prayer for the Lord to guide her in her labors. She was greatly blessed as she brought hundreds of children in the world, never losing a case of baby or mother.

When I was about twelve years old my mother waited on Ella Hafen and on the way home she caught cold and started with hard chills. The next morning she had pluresy and got delirious. The doctor was called in for about four weeks. I put hot salt in sacks on her side but it didn't do any good. I went for the Elders and they promised her she would live and do much good and she did. That is one incident that strengthened my faith in prayer. My mother was a very prayerful woman and I can remember hearing her pray, as she was hard of hearing and would pray loud enough for anyone to hear around her. Her prayers were for her children mostly. I am most certainly thankful for such wonderful parents.

She was a widow for twelve years. She always had a desire to live so she would never have to be waited on. She did wait on herself until a few days before she died. She was seventy-one when she died at her home, the 13th of February, 1922.