MARY ELLEN HUNTSMAN LEAVITT

Life Sketch of Mrs. Mary Ellen Huntsman Leavitt, Pioneer of 1861, by Mabel Jarvis.

Joseph S. and Salenda Parker Huntsman, with others of the Parker and Huntsman lines, became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their New England homes, and were among the early immigrants to Utah, settling in East Tooele. Here on July 12, 1860, their eldest child, Mary Ellen, the subject of this biography was born.

Her grandparents, Zadoc and Miriam Parker had moved to Santa Clara early in 1859, and her father spent the winter with them, returning to East Tooele in time to welcome his little daughter's arrival. Then, as soon as spring began to open up in 1861, the Huntsman's were on their way south, coming first to Santa Clara when Mary Ellen was but a few months old. Her only remembrance of that place are their camp on the hillside at the East entrance of Santa Clara, as they moved to Clover Valley in 1864. The Parker and Huntsman wagon boxes were set facing each other several rods apart, and each wagon was sheltered under a wide shed of evergreen (creosote) brush. When Mary Ellen made a visit or errand to her grandmother Parker's wagon, during the summer of 1863, she carried with her a small piece of board on which to cool her bare feet every few steps, the sand was so burning hot.

Grandmother Parker had suffered a sunstroke during the summer of 1863, and the move to Clover Valley in the spring of 1864 was made in her behalf. As soon as her Mary Ellen's] parents had a place prepared, the grandparents followed. But Clover Valley was far removed from other settlements and the Indians were troublesome. Mary Ellen was seven years old when George Rogers, a cattle buyer from across the Nevada line was killed as he returned to Pioche, by the little Indian Yaquis. Officers came immediately from Nevada, and Yaquis was shot for the acknowledge offense. This increased the disturbance, and the blame for Rogers death was laid to [the] tribal chief who hired Yaquis. Again the Nevada officers came, seized the chieftain, and before the assembled tribe, erected a triangle of poles in the heart of the little settlement, and hanged the offender, as a warning. Small as she was, Mary Ellen was deeply grieved over the shocking spectacle, as were all of the settlers, as they wished to be friendly with the natives. Shortly after this event, President Erastus Snow visited the families in Clover Valley and advised them to join the settlement at Shoal Creek, later known as Hebron, where friendly relations were already established with [the] Indians. This they did, and were soon comfortably located, but the Clover Valley children were slow to overcome their fear of the Red men, because of what they had witnessed. And one day, when father Huntsman called his eight-year-old daughter to let Ben Indian measure her for a pair of real moccasins, she was almost too frightened to submit, much to Ben's amusement. As long as he lived he would tease her about this event whenever he saw her. Another Indian, called "Cockeye" by the settlers, took great delight in peeking in windows or otherwise startling children, just for fun.

After the arrival of the Clover Valley families, Shoal Creek was soon organized as the Hebron Ward, and George W. Crosby was called from St. George with his family to preside as Bishop. The town grew rapidly and for the time the people prospered. It was here Mrs. Leavitt's mother, Salenda Huntsman, her grandmother Miriam Parker and Mary Calloway carded, spun and wove the woolen cloth at the Huntsman home. Before reaching her teens, Mary Ellen also learned to spin, standing on a bench which her father had provided in order to carry the whell around with one hand while the other guided the yarn onto the bobbins. Later the yarn was used for weaving or knitting. And from woolen cloth thus home carded, spun, dyed, and woven, Mrs. Leavitt has a needle book, formerly the property of her grandmother Parker.

It was also while living at Hebron, Mary Ellen, along with other young girls had what they called their "pigweed cotton dresses," earned by pulling and bunching the tender pigweeds, which grew there thriftly and which were hauled with other vegetables and fruit and sold at Pioche, in exchange for the calico dress materials. And at the age of fourteen this girl had the pleasure of a trip by covered wagon to Salt Lake City to attend the general conference of the L.D.S. Church. The entire family made the trip. Here they head the great Mormon leader, Brigham Young address the people. They also rode the mule team drawn street cars, had a short trip on the early day train, from Sandy into Salt Lake City, and went shopping. This experience always brought her happy memories. She witnessed the growth of Utah's capital city and the state generally, and appreciated especially the ease with which the trip is made today, compared with the long, hard journey of pioneer days.

Her first schooling was in Clover Valley at the home classes of Louise Brown. Later she attended two school terms of three onths, under William E. Jones, in a log cabin at Hebron. Then came the school house with William Leigh of Cedar City as teacher, and she went another term. This completed her schooling, but she is grateful to have had even that much, which makes possible today her enjoyment of newspapers and other readings, and regular correspondence with her children, brothers and sisters and other relatives and friends, and the keeping of her diary. She writes always six to ten letters each week, and seldom a day passes without a letter for her.

The Joseph Huntsman family moved to Gunlock, Utah in 1875, and it was here that Mary Ellen met Jeremiah Leavitt, son of Jeremiah and nephew of the well-known Dudley Leavitt. They were married in St. George May 14, 1876, at the home of Henry Schlappy, President Daniel D. MacArthur performing the ceremony. When the St. George Temple was completed in 1877, they returned, received their endowments and were married in comformance with the Church ceremony by Wilford Woodruff.

According to Mary Ellen, about all she did in Gunlock was to work and have a family, but with her kindly husband, this was worthwhile. They were parents of fifteen children, including one pair of twins, all of whom grew to adult age, and twelve still survive at this writing. These are Mrs. Ella Tullis and Josiah Thomas Leavitt of Ogden, Utah; Mrs. Lydia Blake of Chichasha, Oklahoma; Mrs. Louise Williams of San Francisco, California; Mrs. Sarah Talbott, Mrs. Ethel Flitton, Mrs. Olive Chinn of Idaho Falls, Idaho; Mrs. Clarissa Chidester of Richfield; Mrs. Eathel Platt of Newcastle, Eugene and Duane Leavitt of St. George, Utah, and Mrs. Blanch Holt of Gunlock. Their eldest son, Jeremiah, a daughter Vera, and their youngest son, Howard, have passed away, the latter in October 1931, just three months after the death of her husband. She has 85 living grandchildren, 11 having died, and has 38 great-grandchildren.

When they moved to Gunlock, the factory at Washington, Utah was operating. Here they exchanged produce for wool rools, wool and cotton cloth, and thread. She spun the wool rools into yarn for knitting and made the stockings for her entire family, often knitting for others also. While a small girl at Hebron she learned to knit and crochet, and after her marriage found time to decorate her home with her own hand work. She also liked to quilt piecing and quilting and has made dozens of quilts in her life. Now at the age of 81, she still knits, crochets and sews, with skill and rapidity, and is always busy piecing quilts, making lace or even knitting dainty baby hose of fine luster threads. She has spent the winters at the home of the writer since September 1935, and along with preparing meals for her two grandchildren who attend the Dixie College, found time to piece thirteen quilt tops, some in intricate patterns, made fourteen sofa pillows or shirred rayon, knitted six pairs of baby hose, crocheted seven rugs, and made yards of knitted and crocheted lace. And, between times, she has spent many days attending sessions at the temple.

Interesting in her history is the fact that in all of her family raising, she has had no mechanical helps for labor saving, with the exception of her sewing machine, which was purchased after the birth of their fifth child. Nor has she enjoyed many other comforts that are now considered necessities by the housewife. "Of course," she says, "my children were none of them lazy and I had a lot of help as soon as my daughters were old enough to help. And the boys helped their father. The Leavitts owned a farm not far from Gunlock town, and for thirty successive years moved there for the summer months, to care for the fruit and field crops, cattle, and pigs, which were their source of income. Her husband always had plenty to do at home and never went away to find work, though he made regular trips to St. George, to the factory, or even as far north as Sevier to dispose of his farm produce in exchange for other necessities.

The family made a practice of regularly attending the quarterly conference in St. George, and as often as possible, some of them went to the Annual General Conference in Salt Lake City.

After her marriage, Mrs. Leavitt served twenty-three years as Primary department teacher in the Gunlock Sunday School, eventually having in her class the children of those who were first enrolled in her care. This was prior to 1897, at which time she was appointed secretary of the Ward Relief Society, which post she held until she became its president in 1903, retaining this latter office until 1920.

In her life she had known of gathering wild herbs for medicine, the use of saleratus for baking, the making of barrels of soft soap from meat scraps, with lye leached from cottonwood ashes. She made starch for cooking and laundering from corn and potatoes, and ground her own meal for corn bread, often from the corn that was well dried. She has dried hundreds of pounds of peaches, other fruits and corn, made many gallons of peach preserves with molasses, much of which was sold at Pioche and the West Mountain mines. She gathered soap stone and cose (yucca) roots for washing from the foothills near Gunlock, used the prickly pear leaves for settling and softening water for washing and gathered alum-bearing soil from the mills for medicinal use, and for setting dye stuff. She has used peach leaves, wild sage, creosote brush and rabbit brush for dying cloth and yarns.

Today, she views all of this past experience with happiness, and is convinced that with all that she had to do, she took more comfort with her family and in her home and public life life than do most mothers of today, who are too busy to enjoy themselves. Until 1920, she and her husband seldom missed a public entertainment, party, play or dance, and were always welcome among the young and old. During the eight years prior to her husband's death in 1931, she was tied closely at home because of his illness. Since 1932 she has made several trips to visit her children and other relatives in this state, as well as in Idaho, Nevada, and California, being in Long Beach at the time of the 1933 earthquake. Although she has not been on the sea or traveled by air, she has witnessed the sham battles of military aircraft, she has seen sea-going craft and the U.S. battle fleet and felt the jar of the earth as the bombs droppe, during their maneuvers, exploding in nearby ocean.

While her husband was never pensioned, his name is listed among the boys of the western frontier who served as home guards during the days of trouble, and she has responded the past three years to invitations to attend the Black Hawk encampments. She plans to be present for the August encampment in Iron County, then to return to St. George in time to visit with the pioneers of 1861 during the homecoming in September.

Her Continued History is in her own Words:

"August 4, 1936 I went with Wilford and Blanche to Cedar City for the Blackhawk Encampment. I stayed with Sister Sarah Nelson, during the three-days celebration. We then drove to Cedar Breaks, thence onto Zion Park where we had dinner, driving on home that night. I remained in Gunlock until September 4, then went to St. George for the homecoming celebrating the 75th anniversary of the settlement of St. George. We had a grand time. After the celebration I came home to Gunlock and stayed there until February 26th, 1937, when I went back to St. George and took the bus for Los Angeles, where I visited friends and relatives until the 13th of April, when I received a telegram saying my son Thomas had passed away in Ogden. I took the bus for Ogden that night and was traveling 26 hours. My two grandchildren, Paul and Corrie Hanesth met me at the Ogden bus station and took me to the funeral home to see my dear boy. After the funeral he was taken to Mt. Ogden where he was laid to rest. The folks all went home on the 17th, but I stayed as my daughter Ella was to be operated on, on the 20th. As soon as she was out of danger I left for home, reaching St. George the evening of April 28, stopping over with Eugene and Vilate. Wilford and Blanche came for me the next morning, and I remained in Gunlock until June 13.

"Going by bus to Ogden, I visited there until June 28th, then went to Idaho, visiting in Idaho Falls, Rigby, and from there to Cheyenne, Wyoming, visiting all my children in that section, then returning to Ogden, where I met Clarissa and Roy Chidester, who had come in to surprise me on their wedding tour. I came with them to Spanish Fork in time to attend the Blackhawk Encampment of 1937, remaining for the entire six-day celebration, then came on to Richfield. Roy and Clarissa met me at the station and the next day they took me to Bryce Canyon, a distance of 107 miles. We visited relatives in Panguitch, and after a few days rest they took me to Fish Lake, a distance of 30 miles, returning that night in time to attend a party. The next day we enjoyed a birthday party in Monroe, going on the next day to see my cousin Elsie Hooper in Annabelle. On the 29th of July, Roy and Clarissa me to Cove Fort where I caught the bus for Cedar City. George and Eathel Platt met me at Cedar and I went with them to Newcastle where I stayed until August 28th, then went on the mail to Enterprise and spent two days with my cousin Edith Tait. Andrew Holt came to Enterprise for me on the 30th and we went back to Gunlock that day.

"On the 29th of November Wilford and Blanche took me to St. George and at eight the next morning I was on the bus going to Los Angeles, taking a taxi to the home of my grandson, Leonard Skinner. I visited in California until February 17, 1938, and taking the bus for home, stopped over five days in Las Vegas, visiting Boulder Dam, and making a stop over in Glendale five days, to visit my sister; two days in Overton, six days in Mesquite and on to St. George where I stayed until March 6 when Blanche and Wilford came for me, and I went home to Gunlock.

"I was home less than one month that time, taking the bus at St. George April 21st for Mesquite where I visited, staying nine days. From here I went to Las Vegas and visited my brother, then went by train to Carp to visit Duane and family. From there Duane took me to Mesquite where I stopped over one day before coming on to St. George, May 13. I spent the 14th, Mother's Day, with Eathel and family at Newcastle. May 23rd, I went to St. George and spent a week in the temple, coming home on the 28th.

"Although I have done a good bit of traveling the past two years and more, I have not been idle. I have pieced 52 quilt tops, made 15 rugs, knitted 21 pairs of baby stockings, made 49 pot holders, knit 59 yards of lace, made 26 sofa pillows or rayon silk, and 9 crocheted pillow of yarn; embroidered 19 luncheon cloths, crocheted a bedspread and crocheted 8 chair tidies, one machine cover and have written letters as follows:

"1936 320

"1937 302

"1938 318 to June 1938 170, totalling for the entire period 1,110. I have also written 125 Christmas cards, 102 birthday cards and 96 other greeting cards, besides keeping my diary.

"I still find much enjoyment in living and hope each of you will find your lives as interesting as mine has been and continue to be, thanks to so many dear ones with which to share the good things of each day."

During World War II. she had twenty-seven grandsons and five great-grandsons in the service, and spent a great part of her last days writing letters of encouragement to her beloved boys. She died July 30, 1945 at Gunlock, Utah.

Following are lines written by her during the war. She wrote a number of beautiful poems also:

"Our Country's Need" by Mary Ellen Leavitt

Our Country is not in need of any more bobdished heads and idle hands. Its most trying needs today are skilled workers. For men and women who care more to be useful than ornamental. They want men like our own town boys, who can plow and farm, shoe a horse, and use a gun better than they can talk philosophy. These are the kind of boys our country needs today. Boys who have led a clean life and have been taught to serve the Lord and have lived His laws as they have been laid down to us. These are the kind of boys that will win this war. There is no use in our thinking we can sit down and let someone else do the work we should do ourselves, for the Lord says He will help those that will help themselves. So let us think of these things and indelibly stamp them on our minds and in our lives, so we can make our lives worth living. If we do this there is no use of our being defeated in whatever we are called to do, either for our Church or Nation.

So its stands us in hand to rally round the standard and do all we can to help our nation and to keep our flag flying. May our prayers assend to our Father in Heaven every day of our lives, to protect our boys that are in the Service as well as those at home.

If ever there was a time we as a people should be united it is the present time. As one of our good old hymns says, 'Who's on the Lord's side, who? Now is the time to show.'

I hope and trust we will be found on the Lord's side which will mean victory for us." Mary Ellen Huntsman. [Original in Platt Family Records Center, Document 154]