MARTHA JANE BLACK
by
Theressa Allan Redd, daughter
Martha Jane Black was born in Orderville, Kane Co., Utah, on July 8, 1882, a daughter of John Morley and Thressa Elnora Cox Black. There was already one daughter, Lois Elnora Black, and one son, John Martin Black in the family, so Martha was the third child. In 1884 Vilate was born and the family moved to Salina, where Mr. Black ran a sawmill during the summer. In the fall of the same year they moved to Gunnison, Utah, where a son Edson, was born in November. In Gunnison, Mr. Black built and operated his first flour mill. Chester A. Black was born January 19, 1889 in Hunnington, Utah. A few years later the family, now consisting of 6 children, moved to Springville, Arizona. Grandpa spent ten years or more in Arizona.
Mother has told me some thrilling stories of her life in Arizona where she grew up from childhood to the age of 16. She told of one time when they were living on the mountain near Eagerville and running a saw mill. A mountain lion came very close to their camp and one day as she and Uncle John were coming up the trail from the river on a mare with a colt following behind them, they heard a lion in the trees not far away. Uncle John whipped up the horse and they got safely to camp. Some of the men went back to look for the colt and found that the lion had killed it.
Another time when they were traveling along the road in a wagon they thought they heard a baby crying near by and looked up in the tree ahead of them and there was panther just ready to spring down on them. The horses were whipped up and the panther missed the wagon, so the Black family in it was spared.
Four more children were added to the family while they were living around in different towns in Arizona; two girls and two boys, Ella, Millie, Jay and Isaac. Because of such a large number of children in the family, Martha was sent out to work for other families in her early teens so she did not have much opportunity to attend school. She did, however, complete the fifth grade reader and was a fairly good speller and able to do simple arithmetic. She told me that one summer when she was just eleven years old she carried water in buckets from irrigation ditches to help neighbor women do their washing. Her wages at that time were $0.10 a day.
In the year of 1897 Grandpa Black moved his family to Fruitland, New Mexico. On February 8, 1901 a pair of twins, Paul James and Pauline, were born in the family. Then a few years later the oldest son, John, married Silvia Evans. Grandpa went into Old Mexico to help install and operate a saw mill. He took Martha, John and his wife with him and left the rest of the family in Fruitland. Martha enjoyed her first few months in Mexico and was very popular with the young folks, then she got Typhoid Fever and nearly lost her life. Many days her fever was so high that grandfather thought each day would be her last day on earth. She did pull through, however, and was permitted to return with her father to Fruitland, later that year.
After she fully regained her health she had happy times with young folks
of Fruitland and surrounding communities. On 19th of October, 1904, the youngest son, David Owen, was born making 14 children in the Black family. One weekend in 1905, at a stake conference for the San Juan Stake, Martha met a good looking middle aged bachelor, Peter Allan. He was then Stake Clerk of the San Juan Stake and thereafter he made it a point to call on Martha every time he visited Fruitland. They also wrote letters to one another and on October 10, 1906, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.
Martha and Peter Allan made their first home in Bluff, San Juan Co., Utah. It was a three room log cabin home and Peter's Auntie Mother, Agnes Allan, lived with them until the time of her death in April 1, 1909. While living in Bluff, two daughters were born to them; Theressa on July 20, 1907 and Rowena on April 27, 1909.
In the spring of 1910, the Peter Allan family moved to Grayson, now known as Blanding, Utah. They lived in a tent and lumber lean-to while their new brick home was being built on the two lots that Peter had bought in the new town sight. The brick home was completed in 1911 and the family moved into it.
Mother told me of a big rain storm that we had in Grayson while we were living in the tent and shed. The tent was our bedroom and the roof of it leaked She said that one day a dark cloud appeared over the southwest corner of the Blue Mountain. As it grew bigger and came closer to Grayson, it began to rain. Soon the rain was coming down in torrents. The tent started to leak. Mother did not want the bedding on the beds to get wet so she piled it all on one bed and rolled it up and sat on it. Mother was a rather large, heavy woman, weighing around 200 pounds most of her married life. She was 5 feet 5 inches tall. She had gray eyes and light brown hair, which was very curly.
No more children were born to Martha and Peter so in the fall of 1913 Martha began to board-and- room the lady school teachers who came to Grayson to teach school. The first two teachers that stayed in our home were Miss Louise Eliott, who later married Ancel Redd, and Miss Allie hunter, who later married Pres. Leland W. Redd. The next year there were four lady teachers staying with us. Allie Hunter and her sister Susanna Hunter, Elnore Jameson, and Marie Ekins. Mother was a good cook and many of her family, friends and neighbors enjoyed her tasty foods as well as the teachers that lived in our home from time to time. The last two lady teachers to stay at our home were, Miss Marian Gardner, who later became Mrs. Joseph L. Nielson and Miss Carol Gordon. That was the winter of 1926-27.
Martha was also good at using the sewing machine. She made all her own dresses and aprons, all the clothing for her girls and pieced many quilt tops. She was also a good quilter and many quilting bees were held in her home.
About the time that Theressa was married to Benjamin Franklin Redd, Jr. (April 4, 1928), Martha began to work as a practical nurse for Dr. Hally W. Shurman, who had come to Blanding to practice as a Medical Doctor. She helped him at a temporary hospital that he had set up in Ed Nielson's home and also helped him with the delivery of many babies from 1928 until 1937.
Peter Allan died February 4, 1930, then as Martha was left a widow she began to work at Blanding Elementary School making hot lunches as well as help Dr. Shurman. She was one the first cooks to work in the school lunch program in Blanding. She was also a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She attended sacrament meetings and Relief Society meetings regularly and was an efficient Relief Society teacher. Shortly before her death she was elected President of the Nellie Grayson Lyman Camp of the Daughter of the Utah Pioneers.
Aunt Martha, as she was lovingly called by all who know her, was really a lovable person. She had a cheery disposition and was always helpful to her family, to her friends and to her neighbors. She opened her doors to strangers who needed help and many hungry people tasted her good cooking.
She passed away suddenly, because of a stroke suffered at her daughter's, Rowena Winters, home on October 5, 1937. She was laid to rest in the Blanding City Cemetery place, beside her husband on October 7, 1937. Survivors at that time were her two daughters, Mrs. B. Frank (Theressa) Redd and Mrs. Buck (Rowena) Winters and six grandchildren; Ada, Chester, Craig and Peter Redd, Rowena Jane and Goldie Winters. Also five sisters and seven brothers.