Person:Bessie Spencer (3)

Story by Bessie spencer bateman

In the fall of 1867 my grandmother, Harriet Maria Young Brown, left her comfortable home in Draper and went with her husband and children to help settle the Muddy, located near the Utah-Nevada line, and which was then a part of Utah Territory. Sand and heat were its outstanding characteristics. In spite of all their hardships the Pioneers never lost their courage nor their appreciation for the finer things of life and this included good things to eat. "I just couldn't get along without butter," said Harriet, so she dug a hole in the sand large enough to hold a milk pan, wet the sand, put a pan of milk in the hole and covered it with another. She then spread a canvas over it and kept the cloth wet. As soon as the cream came to the top she skimmed it off and churned it into butter. It took time but time was their chief asset. In 1870, the Muddy Mission was abandoned because of the dispute over taxes, etc. Grandfather took his family and settled in Kanab, Kane county. In town the summers were very hot and dry but in the nearby canyons were places of cool retreat. It was while in the canyon that grandmother made butter and packed it into wooden barrels for winter use. The output of one churning was pounded into the barrel with a wooden potato masher, then covered with a layer of salt. Thus, layer by layer, the barrel was filled. It was then placed in the cool sand of the creek bank, a tub turned upside down over the barrel and big rocks placed on top for safety. That was considered a very good arrangement until one night the oxen escaped from their pasture and wandered down to the creek, smelled the salt, and did not give up until the rocks, and tub were pushed off and they had consumed or ruined three fourths of the barrel of butter. -Bessie Spencer Bateman

Christmas in Orderville. It was Christmas time. What was to be done to make the children's Christmas a happy, joyous one. The only sweet they had was molasses-but molasses? Of course, molasses candy and cookies, and that is what the sisters decided to provide for the youngters. One sister was to get the molasses from the molasses keeper and portion it out to the women who were to make the candy and cookies. Very simple. But it didn't turn out that way. The keeper of the molasses said, "No" and he meant it firmly and finally. They had already used up their allotment. What should they do? Only one thing to do-go to the Bishop's wife, she can ask the Bishop if we can have molasses to make a Christmas for the children. That is what they did. That evening when he came home, he had a good supper, and was enjoying a few minutes of relaxing, she said, "Howard you do think the youngsters should have a nice Christmas, don't you?" "Umhum," he replied. The next day she reported to the women that it was all right. One woman said, "Did he say we could have the molasses?" "He didn't say No." "We won't askthe brother in charge, we'll go and get what we think we'll need." Very quietly they went to the house, lifted off the chains and tub, and took what they thought would be enough. Put things back as they were and went to their labor of love. What was their dismay when they discovered there wasn't enough molasses, and the operation had to be repeated. But luck was with them and the second trip was as successful as the first. With the spirit of the season every woman went to work. Christmas morning every child had molasses candy and cookies to help them exclaim, "Merry Christmas!" -Bessie Spencer Bateman.

1.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ancestral File (TM). (June 1998 (c), data as of 5 JAN 1998).
2.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ancestral File (TM). (June 1998 (c), data as of 5 JAN 1998).