Martha Robinson Blackham
1807-1888
Martha Robinson was
born 22 March 1807 in Heaton Norris, Lancashire, England. She was the fourth of ten children born to
James and Elizabeth Perry Robinson.
Martha had six sisters and three brothers.
Heaton Norris
was a very tiny area near the town of Stockport, which is now a suburb of
Manchester. Stockport, even today, is a
very beautiful area with cobblestone streets and many flowers growing
everywhere. It is very green and has
rolling countryside. Open-air shops
line the cobblestone streets where people sell their wares.
Oliver Cromwell,
a man who ruled England during a time when the English people had no monarchy,
owned a big estate in Stockport, which was later developed into a park for the
English people to enjoy. In all
probability, Martha and her family enjoyed going to that park and seeing all
the relics of long ago that are on display there.
Manchester was
also an industrial area of England.
Many worked in the cotton factories, which spun cloth. Some worked in the iron foundries and
sawmills.
Martha married
Samuel Blackham when they were both 22 years old. Samuel was born in January 1807 in Sedgley,
Staffordshire, England, to Samuel and Lucy Evans Blackham. They settled in Heaton Norris and to this
couple were born seven children; John, James, William, Samuel, Elizabeth,
Sarah, and Thomas.
Samuel
Blackham was a Whitesmith, which according to a dictionary is a tinsmith, a
finisher, a polisher or galvanizer of iron and a blacksmith. On his oldest son's wedding certificate he
said he was a nail maker.
When Martha
was 40, Mormon missionaries including Brother John Taylor and C. H. Wheelock
contacted the Blackham family and taught them the fulness of Jesus Christ’s
Gospel. Martha was baptized 23 May 1847
by John Lees and confirmed 26 May 1847 by John Albiston, Jr. When she was baptized in England, the first
company of Mormon pioneers in America were wending their way across the plains
to the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.
It is reported
by the family, but documentation is scant, that Samuel Blackham, Sr. elected to
avoid Church membership. Family
tradition says he wanted "The Pub" more than Mormonism and parted
with his family. Samuel was not with
his family on the 1851 census. Samuel
Blackham died in a work house on 3 March 1854 of smallpox, he was only 47 years
old.
By 1848,
Martha and her children moved 5 miles northeast to the Ashton-Under-Lyne
district and lived on Hertford Street, Walkmill, Audensaw. It was here that some more of the family
were baptized into the LDS Church.
Martha lost
two of their children while living in Ashton-Under-Lyne. In 1850, William died of hematemesis at age
17, vomiting blood for a duration of two days.
He had married just the year before and was a factory hand. Two and a half years later Elizabeth at the
age of 17 and a weaver in the cotton mills, died of meningitis. Life must have been very difficult for the
Blackham family. Neither William or
Elizabeth had joined the church yet.
(From Sarah's history)
When Sarah Blackham was a very young girl about seven or eight, a
stranger came to the back door asking for some bread. Martha explained to him
that there was none left as it had all been eaten at their previous meal, but
Sarah spoke up and said there was a crust or two left, to which Martha replied;
“Well, if there is a crumb, give it to the man!”
At this particular moment, a young friend of Martha’s boys,
Bob Mallinson was visiting at Martha’s home. Hearing the stranger’s request for
bread, he invited the stranger to go to his house, where his mother had just
baked that day, and she, he knew would give him a whole loaf. With these words,
the stranger thanked them all and departed. Bob realized immediately that he
had failed to give directions or address of his home to the stranger, so he
quickly cut through the house to the front door expecting to encounter the man
a he came around the house from the back door having a further distance to
travel, but this was not the case. The man was nowhere in the immediate
vicinity, but was clear up the street, knocking on the very door that Bob had
meant he should.
As the stranger knocked on her door, Ophelia Mallinson,
Bob’s mother, was just combing her hair preparatory to going to the shop to
purchase the necessities that was needed to sustain her family. She sat at the
dressing table pondering as to how she could stretch this last bit of money she
had in the world, which was a sovereign. Shocked out of her reverie by the
knock, Ophelia answered the door, brush in hand, and the clean neatly dressed
stranger, instead of asking for bread as it had been suggested he would, asked
for the exact amount of which she had, “a sovereign”. Mrs. Mallinson said, “God
Love Ye, but ‘tis the last cent I have in this world and I was only just now
trying to think of how I could make it go the furtherest.” Whereupon the neat
young man thanked her and as she shut the door, the most disappointed feeling
came over her that a must unusual reaction enveloped. She suddenly exclaimed;
“My God, what have I done? I’ll gee it ‘the man,” and quickly thrust open the
door to extend it to him, ere he got down the steps, but he was nowhere to be
seen. She went to every house, on each side of the street, her hair down and
brush still in hand, weeping and asking each and every resident if they had
seen such a person, until she at last came to Martha Blackham’s door, telling
her story once more. When her son Bob heard this, he told her that he had sent
the stranger to her for some bread, as he knew she had just baked and would
give him some. To this she quickly agreed she would have been only too glad to
have given him a loaf of bread if he would have just asked.
Martha later firmly believed this stranger to be one of the
“three Nephites” told about in the Book of Mormon, because it was not too long
after this incident had occurred, that Sarah became very ill. She had
contracted three dread diseases, any one of which were killers in those days,
and the doctors had given up all hope, saying that only a miracle could save
her now, and it would have to be a king sized one at that.
One sad morning, Ophelia Mallinsen was over comforting
Martha, through her trying ordeal. The two women sat smoking their pipes,
weeping in desolation at being unable to help a loved one in such a time of
need, a most dreadful feeling of helplessness and sorrow. They wept in silence
and bitterness as Sarah was in her room upstairs, just over the kitchen and she
was not to be disturbed, because they knew how every little sound grated on the
nerves of their loved one. As Sarah lay quietly, she heard the outside kitchen
door open and close. Footsteps tracked across the kitchen floor till they
reached the stair door, (the only entrance to the upstairs rooms.) The stair
door opened and closed and Sarah counted the footsteps as they ascended the
stairs one by one, till they reached the top, then they came nearer and nearer
until they reached her door. As the door opened it revealed the stranger who
had come to her house just a few months previous. It did not occur to Sarah to
be afraid as he entered the room, because there came with him such a wonderful
feeling of well-being. He walked over to her bed, laid his hand upon her head
and said;”you’re a very sick girl, aren’t you?” to which Sarah answered; “Yes!”
He then told her that in his church of which he was a member, they administered
to the sick and afflicted by the laying on of hands, and if the person
receiving the blessing had faith enough, he or she would get well. Did she have
enough faith? Sarah being full of the wonderful feeling that this man seemed to
have brought with him, said; “I know I’ll get well, if only you will pray for
me.” At her reply, the man brought forth a small horn, which was filled with
consecrated oil described by him as a part of the administration. He rubbed
some on her forehead and both arms, blessing her with a most wonderful blessing
all the while stroking the oil on her arms for a short while longer and then
told her she was going to be alright now. He then turned opened, closed the
door behind him, and left. Sarah arose, got dressed and descended the stairs
herself. As soon as she opened the downstairs door to enter the kitchen her
mother thought she was delirious, but Sarah told them she was better, the nice
man had made her so.
Martha and her
remaining children had a strong desire to gather to Zion and with the Perpetual
Emigration Fund they were all able to.
In the
territory of Utah, the Perpetual Emigration Company was organized to help the
Latter-Day Saints in Europe emigrate to America. The funds were loaned to each applicant who
was then responsible to repay the loan after arriving in Utah. Emigrants were to give their name, age,
occupation, birthplace, and a deposit of one pound sterling. They were expected to provide their own
bedding and cooking utensils. Food was
arranged for them.
Martha's two
oldest sons came to America first.
James Blackham sailed in 1853 on the ship "Elvira Owen". John Blackham with his wife, Susannah, and
two children sailed in 1855 on the ship "Samuel Curling."
Martha had
been a member of the Church for nine years when she left home and friends for
the sake of the Gospel on 25 May 1856.
Martha 49 with her three remaining children, Samuel 21, Sarah 16, and
Thomas 14, along with 800 saints set sail on the ship “Horizon” at Liverpool.
The
"Horizon" was a large ship for the time, having three masts, three
decks, and a square stern and figurehead.
The Saints were well organized for the voyage. They were divided into nine wards, with nine
cooks and ten men at watch. Cold and
foggy weather prevailed for most of the journey, but the "Horizon” made
good speed. They were on the ocean five
weeks and four days, landing in Boston 3 July 1856.
They took the
train for Iowa, arriving there on July 8th. The distance from the train to camp
was about four miles. They were tired
of riding, so they gladly walked the distance.
They had not gone far before a thunderstorm drenched them and everything
they were carrying. Night came on them,
and their clothes were wet, so they stood up all night. This was their first experience in traveling
to Zion on foot.
When they
reached the outfitting camp in Iowa City, they found no handcarts were ready
and all the seasoned lumber with which to make them had been used. This was because the camp had already
outfitted three other handcart companies that year, and now, late in the
season, a large group needed outfitting.
Counting the Thornton Saints, 1,620 persons needed handcarts or ox
trains. Martha with the rest of the
company had to remain in Iowa about a month waiting until more carts could be
made, and they had to be made from green wood.
Finally 260 carts were ready and it was on July 15th that 500 left with
Captain James G. Willie’s Fourth Company and on July 26th the remaining 576,
under the leadership of Captain Edward Martin’s 5th Company.
Martha and
family left Iowa City, July 26, 1856, in the Edward Martin’s Company. There were 146 carts, 7 wagons, 30 oxen, 50
cows and beef cattle for their group.
Behind them were two ox trains with Captain W. B. Hodgett in
command. Each person was allowed 17
pounds of clothing and bedding. The
Martin Handcart Company was the last of five handcart companies to leave Iowa
City that year.
(From Sarah Blackham's history)
The road across Iowa was good and the journey, though made
through heat and dust, was accomplished without unusual difficulties. A few dropped out en route, to wait more
propitious traveling, or to forsake the project entirely. The journey to Florence Neb, 277 miles was
made in a little less than four weeks. Willie’s Company reaching there August
11th, and Martin’s on the 22nd of Aug.
Here each company was delayed for repairs. We held a mass meeting there to decide
whether or not to take the chance of starting across so late in the season, but
because of our anxiety to get to Zion we gambled on the weather and decided to
take the risk. Levi Savage, who knew the journey and its hardships tried to
talk us out of continuing. When seeing
that they intended to go on said: “What I have said I know to be true. But
seeing you are to go forward, I will go with you; will help all I can, will
work with you, will rest with you, will suffer with you, and if necessary, will
die with you. May God in his mercy
bless and preserve us.” On each cart we
put an extra hundred pounds of flour and our human draft animals pulled the
extra load without a complaint.
We pushed and pulled the handcarts, which bore up well until
we crossed that invisible line that divides the humid mid west from the arid
west. Then our green carts began to
warp and disintegrate and collapse. The
shrieking wooden axles were worn down under the grinding of the sand. We had to spend each night patching,
greasing the axles with soap or bacon rind, but still we hurried on, knowing
that we were dangerously late.
Then something more serious happened at Wood River, a few
miles above Grand Island, Nebraska. A
stampeding herd of buffalo came right through our camp, and when we finally
crawled out from under the confusion, we found thirty heads of our cattle
missing. This was disaster, because
this was our beef insurance for the rest of the journey, as well as draft
animals to pull our heavy loads of flour.
Now the flour had to be put on the already weakened handcarts.
By now it was September and the nights were cold. There were deaths. Our seventeen pounds of
clothing and bedding was insufficient for our comfort. The older and weaker members dropped and
failed under the grind, stumbled into camp with faces drawn and set with
exhaustion, and sometimes would lie down for a moment's rest and die without
ever knowing how completely worn out they were. Life went out as smoothly as a
lamp ceases to burn when the oil is gone.
At first the deaths occurred slowly and irregularly, but in a few days they
happened at more frequent intervals, and we soon thought it unusual to leave a
camp ground without burying one or more persons. Many a father pulled his cart with his
little children on it until the day preceding his death.
We arrived at Fort Laramie and were able to buy a hundred
buffalo robes. These proved to be a
blessing and a curse, for while they might keep us warm at night, we could not
carry them in the daytime and many threw theirs away. When we reached Red Buttes we had to once
more cross the Platte River. It was now
slushy with ice. Dismay filled our
hearts for there was no ferry and no way to get across except to walk through. Grimly the fathers picked up their children
and waded out into the river; the women picked up their skirts and waded
through, like the heroines that they were, and as they had gone through many
other rivers and creeks. By the time we
got to the other side we were blue, shivering and starving. We camped for the night and when we woke up
the next morning there was a foot of snow on the ground and we had to stay
there. For three days we waited, we
could do nothing else. So many died
that a burial squad was appointed. I
sat looking at another young girl by the fire one evening and saw her die in
the act of raising a cracker to her mouth.
A day or two later I watched while eighteen of the company were buried
in one snow grave. It was impossible to
dig graves in the frozen ground.
When the storm blew out we plodded on; foot after tired foot
we trudged. We could not stop but had
to keep on our patient plodding, but before we reached the Sweetwater, another
three-day storm came and there we stayed.
Nobody in the group had strength enough left even to pitch a tent. We were waiting for the end. Five more corpses to be buried, and we could
only put them in the snowdrift. Sister
Elizabeth Kingsford, alarmed because her husband did not eat his supper,
wrapped him in their blankets and lay down beside him with all her clothes
on. About midnight, terribly cold, she
rolled closer to him and when she put her hand on him, she knew he was
dead. She cried out but her cries
brought none. The rest of the night she
lay grim and dry-eyed beside her husband's corpse; left to struggle on with her
three children, without hope, almost without thought, nothing left except the
indomitable spark that would not quite flicker out. Since we had crossed the Platte River only
nine days before, 56 of our company had died.
While at prayer meeting during a bitter cold night Brother
Rodwell spoke in tongues. An
interpretation was given, telling that rescuers would arrive in 3 days. On the 3rd day, Joseph A. Young and another
man rode into our camp. What a shout
went up. They brought word that there
was food a few miles distant. During
the night, 19 people died. Wolves dug
up bodies of the dead from the frozen earth and devoured them.
Few oxen were left to pull the wagons. A sick oxen was killed and the meat
rationed. (from June Hoauk writings)
It was almost too late when the rescue party came. The
rescue party--what a wonderful blessing, and if it had come one day later there
probably would have been none of us left.
How did it happen that a rescue party found us? Missionaries bearing news of our plight had
arrived in Salt Lake City during the October Conference. They had accompanied
F. D. Richards on a westward express. They went right in while Conference was
in session and reported to President Young of the terrible condition of the
Willie and Martin companies. President
Young promptly adjourned conference and called for wagons, supplies and
volunteers. John Blackham, the brother of Sarah, who had come to the valley in
1855, was among the first that volunteered. There was no hesitancy as to what
should be done. Twenty-seven young men took off with wagonloads of food, warm
clothing and bedding. John Blackham and Cyrus Wheelwright’s wagon was among
them. (Cyrus Wheelwright was the man that had baptized some of the Blackham
family in England.) This was not an easy task for them, for they had a forced
drive across three or four hundred miles of wintry mountains. They crowded their teams recklessly day
after day, looking ahead for the vanguard of walkers. By the time they reached Fort Bridger they
were seriously alarmed and would have pushed on faster but a new storm stopped
them. That was the night of October
20th. That same night Captain Willie
and one companion, frostbitten and exhausted and riding two worn-out animals,
appeared out of the blizzard to tell them that if they didn't come at once
there was no use to come at all. They
broke camp and started again and did not stop until they reached the Willie
Company, and the night before they had reached them, nine more had died and the
rest had nothing to eat for 48 hours.
The rescuers built up great fires, distributed clothing and
bedding and handed out food. They had
come in time to save the lives of most of the Willie Company. The rescuers divided, half staying with the
Willie Company the others under Captain Grant continuing on to find the Martin
party. They found us on the last day of
October at Greasewood Creek, sixteen miles east of Devil’s Gate. We were camped
and waiting for the end, too exhausted to do more. We had no food except a little stringy beef
from draft animals that had worn themselves out in the harness and that food
had made us all sick. Our clothes were almost worn out. Most of our bedding had
been left behind, as it was too heavy to carry. Martha was caring for a small
orphan boy, Billy Wareworth with frozen feet.
Unfortunately, he died later. It is hard to imagine the emotions of
rescue, the dazed joy of being found by your own son, and snatched from the
brink of the grave. It is hard to imagine that hope that has been crushed
little by little until it is apparently dead can come back like life itself
returning.
Now at least things looked better. The deaths continued, however, because of
the weakened condition of our people. The rescuers helped bury the dead. Then more rescue wagons came along with more
supplies and as quickly as possible they loaded up the weakest and started them
for Salt Lake City. The survivors were
so thin they almost looked like skeletons.
Only one third of us came along on our own power but it was easier
because there now was a broken trail to follow and someone there to help when
help was needed. We were camped at the
Devil’s Gate Fort, where we were to remain for several days. It was decided we should move on to find a
sheltered place where wood was procurable.
Loaded with the sick and dying, the wagons were to move along the
Sweetwater and cross to a depression, later to be known as Martin’s Cove, about
two and one-half miles from Devil’s Gate.
On November 3, the handcarts reached the river, filled with floating
ice. Some pushed through, but others were unequal to the ordeal. Three 18 year old boys (C. Allen Huntington,
George W. Grant, and David P. Kimball) belonging to the relief party, came to
the rescue; and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member
of that ill-fated handcart company across the snowbound stream. The strain was so terrible, and the exposure
so great, that in later years, all the boys died from the effects of it. “That act alone said Brigham Young, will
bring to those boys everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God,
worlds without end.” The fatigued
Saints finally reached the wagons encamped in the cove against the granite
mountain, where they found some shelter through several freezing days. On
November 6th, it was eleven degrees below zero. It was decided to store the goods at the
Fort and use the empty wagons to haul the sick and incapacitated members on to
Salt Lake. Seventeen men were assigned
to stay and protect the goods till spring.
Dan W. Jones, Thomas Alexander and Ben Hampton were three of the men
that stayed. The ordeal they endured
during the long winter was terrible.
Their cattle died; they ate the lean meat, and got hungry eating
it. Finally they were reduced to eating
rawhide. At first it made them sick,
but Jones, a professional cook devised a plan and evolved this recipe; “Scorch
and scrape the hair off; this had a tendency to kill and purify the bad taste that
scalding gave it. After scraping, boil
one hour in plenty of water, throwing the water away which had extracted all
the glue, then wash and let it get cold, and then eat with a little sugar
sprinkled on it. This was considerable
trouble, but we had little else to do and it was better than starving. We asked the Lord to bless our stomachs and
adapt them to this food…We enjoyed this sumptuous fare for about six weeks, and
never got the gout. (Improvement Era, XVII, p. 288)
When we got to Echo Canyon a child was born in one of the
wagons. One wonders how the mother
survived long enough to bring him to life but she lived to arrive in Salt Lake
City. They wrapped him in the garments
of one of the young rescuers and named him Echo.
The party moved forward on November 9th. Ahead of the company, there still stretched
325 miles of high, mountain desolation, mantled in snow. The severe cold continued and some persons
had their fingers, toes, or feet frozen; others died.
Our supplies became dangerously low. No more help had yet come. And there was uncertainty as to when, or if,
it would come. Redick N. Allred and
others refused to turn back because of the snow. Ephraim Hanks, one of the greatest of Mormon
scouts, continued to push on. Though
compelled to leave his wagonload of supplies, he pushed on alone through the
storms, with a saddle horse and a pack animal, hoping to meet the westbound
handcart. On the way, he providentially
encountered buffalo and killed one. “I
skinned and dressed the cow;” he writes, “then cut up part of its meat in long
strips and loaded my horses with it.
Thereupon I resumed my journey, and traveled on till towards
evening. I think the sun was about an
hour high in the west when I spied something in the distance that looked like a
black streak in the snow. As I got near
to it, I perceived it moved; then I was satisfied that this was the long looked
for handcart company, led by Captain Edward Martin. I reached the train just as the immigrants
were camping for the night. That sight
that met my gaze as I entered their camp can never be erased from my
memory. The starved forms and haggard
countenances of the poor suffers, as they moved about slowly, shivering with
cold, to prepare their scanty meal was enough to touch the stoutest heart. When they saw me coming, they hailed me with
joy inexpressible, and when they further beheld the supply of fresh meat I
brought into camp, their gratitude knew no bounds. Flocking around me, one would say, ‘Oh,
please, give me a small piece of meat; another would exclaim, ‘My poor children
are starving, do give me a little; and children with tears in their eyes would
call out, “Give me some, give me some.’
At first I tried to wait on them and handed out the meat as they called
for it; but finally I told them to help themselves. Five minutes later both my horses had been
released of their extra burden-the meat was all gone, and the next few hours
found the people in camp busily engaged in cooking and eating it, with thankful
hearts.”
Hanks went about the
camp administering to the sick. He
washed their frozen limbs with water and castile soap, until the frozen parts
would fall off, after which I would sever the shreds of flesh from the
remaining portions of the limbs with my scissors. Some lost toes, others fingers, and again
other whole hands and feet; one woman who now resided in Koosharen, Piute, Utah
lost both her legs below the knees, and quite a number who survived became
cripples for life.
(From John Blackham’s history)
The snow was 18 inches deep.
Brother Wheelock rode a horse and
John was driving the wagon. When they
reached the summit of “Big Little Mountain”, they say smoke issuing from a
distant grove of trees. At first sight
they thought it was Indians, but upon going nearer they saw it was the
ill-fated Martin Handcart Company.
Brother Wheelock on his horse reached there first and heard Thomas cry
out, “Here comes our Jack.” Never had
there been a more happy reunion. Tears
would flow from his eyes, as he would relate the story. He said, “Never have I received a more
welcome greeting. When this help came
they had no food except four pounds of flour for each person left in camp. They had cooked rawhide to obtain some
nourishment. At one time they had
buried 17 persons in a snow bank. The
survivors were so thin they almost looked like skeletons. Little Billy Wareworth lost his father and
mother. But John’s mother, Martha, took
him to her heart. He rode with his
little feet hanging over the side of the wagon and they froze, causing his
death after they reached Salt Lake City.
All rode in the wagons, as they were too weak to walk.
The Martin handcart company arrived in Salt Lake City on Sunday noon
November 30, 1856 in relief wagons that now numbered 104. President Brigham Young along with many
others met them outside the city and tears of joy rolled down his face when he
saw they were rescued. The saints were
taken to the Sugarhouse ward the meetings had been dismissed early. President Brigham Young had asked the Church
members to take the new converts into their homes and care for them until they
could find places of their own. The
loss of life for the Martin Company was between 150 and 160.
Somehow
Martha, Samuel, Sarah and Thomas all survived with no lasting physical problems
that we know of. They were probably
taken to John's house and cared for by his wife, Susannah. But John and Susannh were very poor and
would not have had enough food to feed them all through the winter.
(From Samuel Blackham’s history)
That very winter, Martha and her family were called to help
settle Nephi, in Juab County. When she
reached this place, a fort had been built for protection against the Indians
and their raids. The wall around the
fort covered an area of four blocks, and inside were small homes, in one of
which the family lived during the winter.
With no means of support for the winter, they lived on charity, which
was meager at times.
While living in Nephi in 1857, Martha was given her patriarchal
blessing by John Murdock. She was
blessed that the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, would rest upon her and be a light
to guide her....She would rejoice in Christ.
Her blessing stated that she and her kindred in the flesh would become
Savior on Mount Zion.
In December of 1857, Sarah, age 18 married Charles
Kemp. Her first baby was born and died
there in 1858. Also, James’ wife,
Harriet Tucker, had her third child, a son, Cyrus William Blackham, born in
Nephi in 1858. (James was living in Fillmore
in 1856 so had not known about the rescue.)
In the spring of 1859, the Blackham family, along with
several other families, were called to settle on the banks of the Sanpitch
River in present-day Sanpete County.
When Martha first saw the green pastures in the Valley she was reminded
of her beloved home in England.
The settlement, first named ‘Sanpitch,’ was renamed
Moroni. On their first day there, they
met Chief San pitch, who would be both a friend and an enemy. Along the river bottom, they built dugouts
where they endured the cold winter, little food, and problems with the
Indians. In August 1859, John’s wife,
Susannah, delivered a son, John Blackham, Jr., the first child born in the new
settlement. And Sarah Blackham Kemp
delivered a son, Charles Kemp, Jr., in Sep 1859.
About this time, Samuel left Moroni on a special trip east
to visit with the Lamb family in St. Joseph, Missouri. He had known this family in England, for
they were all members of the Manchester Conference of the Mormon Church. The Lambs had left England in 1853, three
years before the Blackham family had left, and Samuel especially wanted to
visit with their daughter Mary Ann Lamb, who was now 18 years old. They courted
and were married on 4 March 1860.
Shortly thereafter, Samuel and Mary Ann moved west to
Moroni, Utah. In the spring of 1862 a
disastrous flood made it necessary for the Moroni pioneers to move their
settlement from the banks of the Sanpitch river up into the hills, where it
would remain.
The Blackham men in Moroni, once cotton mill workers, had to
learn the occupation of farming. The
land had been divided into 5-acre lots.
Ditches and canals had to be dug along the low hillsides, and the ground
prepared for planting. Finally, the
harvests were hand-picked if they had not been devoured by hordes of
grasshoppers.
The Moroni settlers, in the middle of this 1866 Indian War,
celebrated the 24th of July. A large
willow bowery was made in front of the meetinghouse. At sunrise, guns were fired with a beating
of a snare drum. A parade was formed at
10 a.m. of road makers, pioneers, ban, queen and 24 attendants, horsemen,
guards, marching men, women and children. In all, the parade was four blocks
long. In the afternoon there were songs
and speeches. At the conclusion of the
day, there was another big volley of guns.
Another entertainment the people participated in was the
home dramatics, a group of talented citizens who spent the long winter months
rehearsing and presenting drama productions to the townspeople. Church services on Sundays and during the
week were attended, as well as school programs, especially spelling bees.
By now Martha, had a good number of grandchildren, and it
would have been pleasing to her to attend these church and community functions
with family members. A Garden Club was
organized in 1869 so that citizens could exhibit their fruits and vegetables at
the Pioneer Celebration on July 24th.
In the spring of 1870, Samuel and his family left the Church
because of plural marriage. They also
left Moroni and finally settled in Evanston, Wyoming. The decision of Samuel to leave the Church
brought much sorrow to Martha and the rest of her family in Moroni.
A home was built for Martha through the lot from her
daughter Sarah’s house. She was very
particular about her home. The wood
floors were scrubbed every week, the hearth stove in front of the fireplace was
polished with sand, the copper bucket was polished until a person could see
their reflection in it. Her meals were
regular and on time.
Martha also
devoted much of her time to her Church duties, and was true to her faith all
her life.
When her
daughter had a new brick home built across the street from the City Hall, a
room was made for Martha. So when
Martha's eyesight became so weakened that she could not live alone, she moved
in with Sarah.
Martha died on
11 December 1888 after living in Utah for 32 years and was buried in the family
plot in Moroni.