Person:Catherine Cameron (5)

Watchers
Catherine Cameron
m. 26 Aug 1845
  1. Catherine Cameron1847 - 1929
  2. James Alexander Cameron1851 - 1928
m. 29 Nov 1862
  1. Mary Jane Southam1865 -
  2. George Henry Southam, Sr.1866 - 1959
  3. Eliza Ann Southam1868 -
  4. Alice Southam1870 -
  5. Ruth Southam1873 -
  6. James Southam1875 -
  7. William Southam1877 - 1955
  8. Emma Southam1879 -
  9. Margaret Southam1881 - 1905
  10. John Gillgoar Southam1885 -
m. 6 Aug 1903
Facts and Events
Name Catherine Cameron
Gender Female
Birth[1][2] 21 Apr 1847 Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Marriage 29 Nov 1862 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United Statesto George Southam
Marriage 6 Aug 1903 to John Shepherd
Death[3] 29 Aug 1929 Vernal, Uintah, Utah, USA
Burial[4] 1 Sep 1929 Vernal, Uintah, Utah, USA
Ancestral File Number 2K8F-QM

BIRTH: Ancestral File says that Catherine's birth date is 21 Apr 1847. Her headstone says she was born on the 21 Apr 1843. Her obituary in the Vernal Express says that she was born 21 Apr 1847. If she was born in 1843 this would be before her parents were married. The 1900 Census says that she was born on Apr 1842 in Scotland. In the 1860 Census it says that she was 13 years old. In the 1850 Census it says that she was 3 years old. Due to the obituary, written histories and early census's I am concluding that she was born on 21 Apr 1847.

Ancestral File says that she was Confirmed 1851.

DEATH: Her headstone also says that she died on 29 Aug 1929.

NAME: In her obituary her name is spelled Katherine on her headstone her name is spelled Catharine in Ancestral File it is spelled Catherine.

The 1900 Census says that she immigrated to the United States in the year 1844 and has lived in the US for 56 years. The history form Our Pioneer Heritage says that her family came to America in 1848.


Utah, Our Pioneer Heritage www.ancestry.com 19 May 2006

Catherine Cameron Southam, the daughter of John Alexander and Margaret Fairgrove Cameron, was born in Glasgow, Scotland April 21, 1847. Her parents were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their native land November 15, 1845, and emigrated to America in 1848. For four years they lived in Patterson, New Jersey and during this time Mrs. Cameron became very ill. Mormon elders administered to her, telling her that she would be healed and that a son would come to bless their home. In one year from that date this blessing was fulfilled and James S. Cameron was born. The family then made their way to St. Louis, Missouri and here the mother Margaret Fairgrove, died February 26, 1855 at the age of thirty-four years. Mr. Cameron married Mary McFall Thompson who died April 6, 1857. Later he married Alice Parkinson and of this union another son John Cameron was born. With his wife and the three children, Catherine, James and John Mr. Cameron proceeded to Florence, Nebraska, and, while camped there making preparations for the journey to Utah, a daughter Jeanette was born in a covered wagon June 9, 1861. He was assigned to drive a wagon pulled by two-yoke of oxen but worry and responsibility had so weakened his physical strength that he had to be assisted by members of his family in order to take care of the many duties the trip involved. Catherine drove the oxen most of the way and helped care for the younger children when they became ill. She was fourteen years of age at this time. After arriving in Salt Lake Valley Mr. Cameron resumed his trade of boot and shoemaker until he was called to help with the settlement of Round Valley on the Weber River. It was during the residency there that Catherine became acquainted with George Southam and his wife, Jane Carter. They had joined the Church in Oxfordshire, England, and emigrated to America in 1854. These three people became good friends and as polygamy was being lived at that time Jane, unable to have children, sanctioned the marriage of her husband and Catherine so that he could have a family of his own. The ceremony took place in the Endowment House November 26,1862. While in Morgan four children were born to Catherine, Mary Jane, George Henry, Eliza and Alice. Mr. Southam bought a small farm and worked for the Union Pacific R.R. then he moved Catherine, her children, and Jane to North Evanston, bought a house and all lived together. Prior to leaving Morgan he was called as a teamster for an oxtrain to bring in the last immigration company from Sweetwater, Wyoming, before the railroad was finished to Ogden. He was the oldest teamster. It was always Mr. Southam's desire to have his family live in a Latter-day Saint community so he bought land in Randolph, Rich County; later this was disposed of and he bought a ranch on the Bear River, eight miles south and a few miles east of Evanston. While crossing the Bear River one Christmas eve on his way home from feeding his stock, George Southam was drowned. Alice Southam Haslam writes: "We lived at Evanston about fourteen years and while there we had lots of sickness and bad luck. Mother lost a baby, Ruth, born Feb. 3, 1873, who died 24th of Feb., the same year; then the year 1876 we all had smallpox and lost brother James. In 1877 we lost sister Eliza Ann who was nine years old; then after father's death we lost brother John with pneumonia. Mother had lots of experience with sickness in her own family as well as helping with the sickness in our community. "During this time George Henry had taken up a homestead on Brush Creek at Vernal Utah; when he heard of father's death he came home, and helped" on the ranch the following summer. In the fall he moved us to his farm on Brush Creek. My sister Mary Jane and her husband, Warren Allred, who had been living near us at Evanston and helping on the ranch, moved to Vernal the same time we did. Mother started nursing to help provide for her family. She would hitch up the horse to the buggy and travel many miles to deliver a new baby or help in other sickness. No matter what the weather might be or what time of night she was called her pay would be a bushel of wheat or a sack of potatoes or whatever they might have she could use for her family. Sometimes they had nothing, but that was all right too if they needed her, and sometimes she stayed for several days. Our homestead was on Ashley Creek which was called Riverdale Ward at that time. Later they called it Naples, which is about three miles from Vernal. Much of her nursing was done in town as well as in her ward. She nursed for the Davises, Cooks, Hartles, Merkleys and many other families. Some of them felt they could not have a baby without the help of 'Grandmother Southam.' Later she traveled with Dr. Harry Coe Hullinger caring for the sick. She continued this work until she got older and her health would not permit the hard work she had to do. She had many friends and after her nursing had ceased she often visited her former patients. "After her family had grown and married she sold the ranch on Brush Creek and moved to a home her son George Henry had builther in Davis Ward, Naples Ward having been divided. She was close to the church and this made her very happy. Several times while I was staying with her the Relief Society sisters came to her home and held meetings so she could attend. She will long be remembered by the people of Davis Ward for her love and friendship as well as her nursing. In her later life she came to live with my mother, Alice Southam Haslam. We all tried to make her happy in her declining years." Catherine Cameron Southam died August 29, 1929, at Vernal, Utah, at the age of eighty-two years. —Katie Haslam Horrocks


CATHERINE CAMERON http://www.boydhouse.com/alice/Cameron/cameron02catherinecameron.htm

Catherine Cameron was an extraordinary woman. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 21, 1847, to John Alexander Cameron and Margaret Fairgrieve. She was their first child. Her father was a Scottish highlander from Argyllshire, who worked as a shoemaker. Catherine’s parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Glasgow. When Catherine was one year old, the family immigrated to the United States.

They lived in Patterson, New Jersey, with Margaret’s sister. While there, Margaret became very ill. Doctors thought that she would die. Mormon elders administered to her, and she was given a blessing. They said that she would be healed and that a son would come to bless their home. A son, James, was born one year later, in 1851. They stayed in Patterson for four years, until: “In Patterson, they lived with Margaret's sister. John told his wife to not tell her sister they were Mormons as he knew their attitudes toward the Mormons. For a while she didn't, but she was so pleased with her membership that she finally told her sister, expecting her to be glad for her. Instead her sister ordered them out of their home.” (John H. Haslem) Letters to Margaret from Margaret's friend, Maggie Young give a little insight into Catherine's early life. They called her Cassy, and she left friends and playmates when she left Patterson.

They moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1852. The family had very little money: “When they arrived in St. Louis, it was probably Friday night. They had enough money to buy food for his wife and two children and himself for one week, or else enough to pay for lodging for his family. They decided that they must have a place to live, so they spent every cent they had for lodging. He went out and got himself a job at his trade of shoemaking, but he could not start work until Monday. Being a faithful man, he located the Church, which was about nineteen blocks from where they lived. Sunday morning on his way to Church he found 25 cents in paper money lying on the board sidewalk. There were people coming and going all the way, but by the time he had reached the church, he had found enough money to feed his family for one week.” (George H. Southam)

Margaret became ill again. Catherine had become used to illness in the family. When she was a small girl she always pretended her dolls were sick so she could nurse them better. Her father told her that she should become a nurse when she grew up. In 1855, when Catherine was eight years old, her mother died of pneumonia. Later same that year, John married Mary McFall Tompson. John and Mary had two little girls, and a boy, who died young. Margaret and Mary, the little girls, died in St. Louis. Mary died two years later, in 1857. John was married again, the next year, to Alice Parkinson. A son, John, was born to them in 1859, in St. Louis.

In the spring of 1861, the Cameron family prepared to cross the plains to Utah with a company of Latter Day Saints. They had in their care a little nephew of Alice Parkinson's, William Parkinson. They traveled up the river by boat from St. Louis to Florence, Nebraska. While they were camped there, a daughter, Jannette, was born in a covered wagon.

The Captain of the company was Joseph W. Young. Ancel Harman assisted John Cameron in driving his two yoke of oxen to draw the heavy wagon. After they had traveled several days, John Cameron became sick with mountain fever, and was not able to drive the wagon: “The worry and hardship caused by this new responsibility, which he felt he was not fitted for, and the hardships of bringing his family across the plains, contributed to the circumstances which caused him to take Mountain Fever.” (George H. Southam) John was very ill, and Alice was still recovering from childbirth. The family was worried that they would have to drop out of the wagon train, but it was decided that Catherine would drive the wagon, with help when needed. Captain Young and his assistant, Ancel Harmon, said they would help them until they were well and could keep up with the company that way. Catherine was only fourteen years old, but she drove her father's oxen with Oscar Young's help. It was a very heavy load for Catherine to care for her sick parents, and the smaller children, and to take the responsibility of driving the wagon, but she did it. Catherine drove the oxen most of the way. Their company of Saints traveled throughout the hot summer over the prairies and mountains to the Salt Lake Valley, and arrived there in late October 1861.

The family settled in Salt Lake Valley, until they were called by Presiding Bishop Hunter to settle Round Valley in northern Utah. They were the first settlers in Round Valley.

Catherine became friends with George and Jane Southam. Jane was unable to have children, so encouraged George to take a second wife. On the 28th November 1862, Catherine was married to George Southam in the Endowment House as his plural wife. Daniel H. Wells performed the wedding. Catherine was only 15 years old. George was 32 years old.

George Southam worked for Bishop Hunter in Round Valley, until they moved to Morgan, Utah. While in Morgan four children were born to Catherine and George: Mary Jane (1865), George Henry (1866), Eliza (1868), and Alice (1870). George Southam was a kind and devoted father, and also a faithful Latter Day Saint. George and Catherine became the parents of fourteen children, four of whom did not live to be named. While in Morgan, George was called to be a teamster for an oxtrain to bring the last wagon company from Sweetwater, Wyoming, before the railroad was finished: “At one time, George Southam was called to go on a mission "without purse or scrip". Catherine was in bed with a new baby. They were poor, having no food stored and no one big enough to care for the money and children and home. But such was their faith that he went, leaving his wife and little ones in care of the Lord and the Saints. (Catherine C. Southam testified later in life that the Lord did provide and raise up friends in their time of need and she got along better than if her husband had been home.)” (Amy Gardiner and Dorothy Hein) George bought a small farm and worked for the Union Pacific railroad, then he moved Catherine, her children, and Jane to North Evanston, where he bought a house and they all lived together.

Alice Southam Haslam writes: "We lived at Evanston about fourteen years and while there we had lots of sickness and bad luck. Mother lost a baby, Ruth, born Feb. 3, 1873, who died 24th of Feb. the same year; then the year 1876 we all had smallpox and lost brother James. In 1877 we lost sister Eliza Ann who was nine years old; then after Father's death we lost brother John with pneumonia. Mother had lots of experience with sickness in her own family as well as helping with the sickness in our community.”

Catherine’s experience with illness led to her interest in medicine: “As early as 1871, Catherine began to work with the sick, and seemed to be a natural-born nurse. When a small girl she always had her dolls sick so she could doctor and nurse them better. Her father told her she should be a nurse when she grew up. In 1871 she started helping the sick, and they appreciated it so much - her kindness, they never forgot her kindness. She assisted Dr. Harrison, and Dr. Hawlker in Evanston, Wyoming. While her children were very young, Aunt Jane (George Southam's first wife) tended the children. She was like a mother to the children. I have heard the older children say they loved Aunt Jane nearly as much as their mother. She raised no children of her own, and she loved children very much, so she was a great help to Catherine in rearing her big family while she worked out with the sick.” (John H. Haslem)

Catherine's medical skills were in much demand, as her son George Henry recalled: "Early in the spring about 1877 there was an epidemic of black small pox broke out and our family was among the first three families to get it. My brother James died and was buried on a little knoll near the house. After that they moved the rest of us into a little shack up out of town in a little ravine where two hills met and a spring of water came out. It was a pretty place and we stayed there about six weeks or two months. I was so bad and lingered along until they did not know whether I would live or not. By the time I went home I was so weak I could hardly walk. Mother did not get it and soon after we got home the doctor and sheriff came to our house and told Mother she would have to come and help take care of the sick. They said they would give her $5 a day but she would have to go. I needed my mother so bad, so I made my way back near the house where I knew she was. I had kept out of sight as much as possible and when I reached the spring I sat down in a clump of brush until my mother came to the door. When she saw me she came and talked to me and showed me that she loved me and then sent me home. The ones who died were buried just around the hill except my brother whom I said was buried near our house. The small pox took three out of five that got it." (Life of George Henry Southam)

More children were born to Catherine and George in Evanston: Ruth (1873), who died as a baby, James (1875) who died in 1876, William (1877), Emma (1879), Margaret (1882), and John (1885). George bought a ranch in Bear River and a home in town, so that the children could go to school. Catherine’s father helped pay for their schooling. On Christmas Eve, 1885 while crossing the Bear River, George’s team and wagon cracked through the ice, and George was drowned. The family and friends of the family searched for George’s body under the ice: “His body went down under the ice and lay there five days while his family suffered and his friends searched in vain for the body. It seemed that they would have to give up the search, when the mother of George appeared to her thirteen year-old daughter, Alice, in the night. She told Alice where they could find the body of George. Alice told her mother about the visitation and said, "We will find Papa's body tomorrow." It happened like it had been shown to Alice in the night.” (Amy Gardiner and Dorothy Hein) At the funeral, in the cold and icy weather, the baby John caught a cold, which became pneumonia, and he later died. This was a time of great sorrow for Catherine.

The family decided to move to Vernal, where George Henry, the oldest son, had a homestead. “During this time George Henry had taken up a homestead on Brush Creek at Vernal, Utah; when he heard of Father's death he came home, and helped on the ranch the following summer. In the fall he moved us to his farm on Brush Creek.” The family moved to Vernal, in the Ashley Valley: “In the fall of 1886, Catherine and her family, and her older daughter and her husband, Warren L. Allen, and their family, moved to Ashley Valley. This valley was yet new and sparsely settled, so her children could get homes of their own as they grew up.” (John H. Haslem)

The widowed Catherine struggled with her concerns about taking care of the family: “Before this move to Ashley Valley she was helping her father do the work for their dead the year the Salt Lake Temple opened. She told her father she would have to give up helping the sick, as she felt it was more than she could do while caring for her young family. Her father said, "Catherine, you are all that your mother has to represent her here on earth, and you are only fulfilling your Patriarchal Blessing where it says you will be as a Well of Living Water in a desert, and people shall flow to you, and call you blessed." While in the temple some of the sisters told her it had been made known to them that she was to be called and set apart to take care of the sick in Uintah Stake, as there was only one doctor, and very little help there for sick people. She was set apart by the President of the Church, and he told her if she would go to Ashley Valley, and honor her calling, he would promise her that her wheat bin would never be empty (which was a great promise in those days when wheat was so valuable, and her large family to feed). I, her grandson John H. Haslem, can testify that her children never went hungry or cold. They lived as well, or better than most other families in the valley. Everyone was poor out there those days, and all the neighbors wondered how she provided so well for her family. The Lord surely helped her.” (John H. Haslem)

Catherine started nursing to help provide for her family. Her daughter, Alice remembers: “She would hitch up the horse to the buggy and travel many miles to deliver a new baby or help in other sickness. No matter what the weather might be, or what time of night she was called, her pay would be a bushel of wheat or a sack of potatoes or whatever they might have she could use for her family. Sometimes they had nothing, but that was all right too if they needed her, and sometimes she stayed for several days. Our homestead was on Ashley Creek, which was called Riverdale Ward at that time. Later they called it Naples, which is about three miles from Vernal.” Catherine worked to support her family through her nursing: “She worked in the Deseret Hospital at intervals- about two years with Dr. Anderson and Mattie Paul Hughes, and with Zina D. Young. In 1911 she told her granddaughter, Alice Southam Cook, that she had assisted in over 1,000 births of babies, and she still practiced many years after that. Her fee for her work was $5.00, if they had the cash, and most of the people she helped didn't, so she would take her pay in wheat or whatever the poor people had that they could spare. John H. Haslem, her grandson from Alice Haslem, was with her one day when she was making her last call on Mrs. John J. Davis - he was the President of the Uintah Stake - and he told her he didn't have money, but wheat he would like to pay her with. Wheat was next best to cash in those days. She got her seamless sacks she always carried under the seat in her two-wheeled cart (as she didn't have a buggy yet, but got one later to travel all over Ashley Valley, and Jensen, and Brush Creek). We filled the two sacks nearly full, as wheat was priced at $2.50 per sack. We were sweeping the wheat bin trying to fill the last sack, when she came on the scene, and said, "Brother Davis it that all the wheat you have?" He said yes, but he was about ready to thrash more wheat, so would soon fill his wheat bin again. She told Johny to dump that wheat back in under the boys' bed where we got it from. She said, "I never took the last kernel of wheat from anyone yet, and I won't take this from you." We drove away without any pay. It was customary to have twenty or thirty bushels of wheat under the homemade bed that the boys usually slept in, for safekeeping, and Brother Davis was no exception. I think Brother Davis paid her later, but I am sure she delivered more babies that she didn't collect pay for, than the ones she did.” (John H. Haslem)

Catherine’s gift for nursing was a great blessing to the community. In her later years she also enjoyed genealogy and temple work, and sought out information about her Scottish ancestors: “She had such a desire to help others her spirit wouldn't give up. As she grew older she did more genealogy and temple work, and left a nice book of names of her ancestors, for others to do the temple work. What more could the Lord ask of one of his humble daughters. If all of her posterity can only follow in her footsteps, I am sure we will be OK in the next world, and live much happier here also.” (John H. Haslem)

When Catherine was 56 years old she remarried: “Later, in searching the county records of Salt Lake County, we found where she married John Shepard, an Elder and Temple Worker, Aug. 6, 1903. He had a nice small home at about 2nd Ave. and K St., Salt Lake City. She had hoped to spend the rest of her life doing temple work as she had promised her father, but for some reason that she wouldn't tell her family, this marriage only lasted a few years. Then she came back to Vernal, and took up her midwife business again, and practiced that until her cancer disabled her.” (John H. Haslem)

She returned to nursing in the Ashley Valley: Her daughter Katie remembers “She continued this work until she got older and her health would not permit the hard work she had to do. She had many friends and after her nursing had ceased she often visited her former patients. After her family had grown and married she sold the ranch on Brush Creek and moved to a home her son George Henry had built her in Davis Ward, Naples Ward having been divided. She was close to the church and this made her very happy. Several times while I was staying with her the Relief Society sisters came to her home and held meetings so she could attend. She will long be remembered by the people of Davis Ward for her love and friendship, as well as her nursing. In her later life she came to live with my mother, Alice Southam Haslam. We all tried to make her happy in her declining years.” (Katie H. Horrocks)

Catherine developed a skin cancer on her face, which eventually killed her. It was a painful and slow disease, but she tried to maintain a positive attitude. Her friends remembered: “She had a cancer coming on her nose and in her old age she had suffered much from pain and from sensitiveness to be thus afflicted. She never was one to complain and was medical aid and nurse to her self most of the time.” Granddaughter Katie Horrocks adds: “Sometimes in the summer while she lived here my mother would have me go and stay with her to help care for her and I loved this opportunity, as she was always so cheerful and considerate. We would hitch up the horse and buggy and go to town. It was an all day affair as she had so many friends she just had to see and how they were getting along. I loved to visit with her and these good people. We grandchildren loved her very much. I can see her now rocking in her chair, humming a tune and piecing quilt blocks. She loved to live with us and thought a great deal of my father Joshua Haslam. In her later years her time was spent in temple work and research for her ancestors. She spent a lot of time and money in this great work. She always held some position in the church along with her nursing. She will long be remembered by her descendants for the wonderful life she lived.”

Catherine’s family continued to help care for her, as the cancer progressed. She spent her winters with her daughter Alice, and summers with her daughter Emma. Alice records: “After we moved to Vernal, my mother came to live with us. My sister Emma and I took care of her. She lived with Emma a month or so in the summer, and with us the rest of the year. She suffered with cancer for many years in her later life, although she tried to be happy and independent as she could be.” It was at Emma’s home that Catherine finally succumbed to the disease, and passed away on August 29, 1929. She was 86 years old. Her life had been both difficult and joyous. Despite numerous experiences with family illness and death, she had shown a positive and loving attitude. She is an example to her descendants of courage and faithful perseverance. Catherine Cameron was an extraordinary woman.

Her obituary in the Vernal Express pays tribute to her life:

"Grandma" Southam Passes to Great Beyond After A Long Period of Suffering

Impressive funeral services were held Sunday, September 1, in the Naples ward Chapel for Mrs. Katherine Southam, who passed away Friday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Joshua Haslem of Maeser, after many years of intense suffering from cancer. The chapel was filled to capacity showing the high esteem in which Mrs. Southam was held. Six grandsons acted as pall bearers and six great-grandsons as honorary pall bearers, each carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Bishop Alfred Simper of Davis ward conducted the services. The Naples mixes doubles quartet furnished the singing, the first number being "Oh, My Father". Invocation was offered by Edward Watkins, Sr.; Mrs. Bessie Swain in her usual pleasing manner then sang "Face to Face". Bishop Alfred Simper was the first speaker and told of his long and intimate acquaintance with Mrs. Southam, and of the strong testimony of the gospel she had borne to him on numerous occasions. He aslo related a brief history of her life, depicting the many trials she was called upon to endure. Mrs. Jane Murray also told of her association with the departed and of the willing service she had rendered to humanity. She highly complimented Mrs. Soutlham's children who had so willingly cared for their mother in her affliction. Willard Johnson related incidents showing the sturdy character of the deceased and her ever ready spirit to aid in cases of sickness or death. Mrs. Wallace Calder, accompanied by her daughter, Helen, sweetly sang "I Have Read of a Beautiful City". President A. O. Goodrich was the last speaker and gave consolation to the family. He told of the patience of "Grandma" Southam during her long suffering and gave assurance of her reward in the life to come. The closing hymn "Guide Me to Thee" was rendered by the quartet and the benediction pronounced by George E. Wilkins. A large cortege of relatives and friends followed the remains to the Vernal cemetery, where interment was made with Charles O. Weist dedicating the grave. Katherine Cameron Southam was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, April 21, 1847. When yet very young she emigrated to America with her parents and settled at Patterson, New Jersey. From there the family moved to St. Louis, Mo., and after a short period of time came west to Evanston, Wyo. She drove an ox team all the way across the plains when she was but thirteen years of age. In 1863 she was married to George Southam and became the mother of fourteen children. She came to Ashley valley during its early settlement and has been a great factor in its growth and development. For many years Mrs. Southam was the only physician and nurse in the valley and was called upon to travel many miles, without pay, in all kinds of weather, in a lumber wagon to assist in caring for the sick. During the past fifteen years she has suffered untold agony from cancer in her head, having been bedfast for the past three or four years. She has been taken care of by her daughters, Mrs. Joshua Haslem and Mrs. Charles Holmes. She is also survived by one son, G. H. Southam of Naples, her husband having preceded her in death forty-two years.

(Vernal Express, September 5, 1929 article courtesy of Dorothy Hein.)


CATHERINE CAMERON SOUTHAM Life Sketch from Alice Cook by John H. Haslem Found at http://www.boydhouse.com/alice/Cameron/cameroncatheroncook.html on 19 May 2006. Catherine Cameron Southam was born in Glasgow, Scotland, April 21, 1847, a daughter of Margaret Fairgrove and John Cameron. Her parents joined the L.D. Saints church in Scotland. They emigrated to the USA, and settled in Patterson, New Jersey, when Catherine was three or four years old. Their second child, James Alexander, was born at Patterson, New Jersey, Sept. 22, 1849 or 51. The family moved later to St. Louis, Missouri. In Patterson, they lived with Margaret's sister. John told his wife to not tell her sister they were Mormons as he knew their attitudes toward the Mormons. For a while she didn't, but she was so pleased with her membership that she finally told her sister, expecting her to be glad for her. Instead her sister ordered them out of their home. They moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Grandma Margaret Fairgrove Cameron died 26 Feb. 1855, at the age of 34, leaving Catherine and a son, James Alexander Cameron. Later Grandpa Cameron married his first wife's sister, Mary McFall Tompson. She had one son by her first husband, named Heston, and then three children by John Cameron, named Mary, Robert, and Margaret. She died in St. Louis about April 6, 1857 or 1858. Her little girls died as infants before her death. Then John Cameron married a third wife, Alice Parkinson. Her first child, John, was born Sept. 9, 1859, in St. Louis. In the spring of 1861, John Cameron and family started to emigrate to Utah with a company of Saints. They had in their care a little nephew of Alice Parkinson's by the name of William Parkinson, who in later years became the noted Doctor William Parkinson of Logan, Utah. Joseph W. Young was Captain of the Company they came to Utah with. Ancel Harman assisted John Cameron drive his four yoke of oxen to draw the heavy wagon. When they had traveled several days, John Cameron took sick, and was not able to take over again. Catherine was a young girl, but she drove her father's oxen with Oscar Young's help when needed. They had traveled up the river from St. Louis to Florence, Nebraska in a boat. When they arrived at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Jannett was born June 9, 1861, and her father was still sick, and now the mother was sick also. It was a very heavy load for Catherine to care for her sick parents, and the smaller children. Their company of Saints, like all the others, traveled all the hot summer over prairies and mountains to Salt Lake Valley, and arrived in late October, 1861. They settled in Salt Lake Valley, until called by Presiding Bishop Hunter to settle Round Valley, the first settlers in Round Valley. Later Bishop Hunter let him have a piece of land, and helped him when he needed help. On the 28th November 1862, Catherine was married to George Southam in the Endowment House as his plural wife. John Cameron was put in charge of Bishop Hunter's farm in Round Valley, and also farmed his own land. George Southam also worked for Bishop Hunter until later when they moved to Morgan, and later to Evanston, Wyoming. They became the parents of fourteen children. Four did not live to be named. The first wife, Jane Carter Southam only had one child, a son- Finas Henry Southam born Jan. 28, 1856 at St. Louis, Missouri, and died there Oct. 21, 1856. George Southam was a kind and devoted father, and also a faithful Latter Day Saint, and fulfilled his calling in the church to the best of his ability- all of his assignments, as well as living an exemplary life, In the fall of 1885, George Southam asked his son, George Henry (Harry) to go out to Ashley Valley to look for a new home, as he wished to raise his family in a Mormon community, where his children might select companions of Latter Day Saint members. Evanston had many good people, but not many Latter Day Saints, and the railroad brought many who were not so good. Harry stayed in Ashley Valley that winter, and lived most of the time with Uncle Jerry Hatch. On the 24th of December, 1885, while crossing the Bear River with his team and wagon, the ice broke and drowned George Southam and his team. His body went under the ice, and wasn't found for five days while his family suffered, and friends searched in vain to locate his body. All had given up hope of finding him, when the mother of George Southam appeared to his daughter Alice (thirteen years old), in a dream. She told Alice her name was Lucy Hunt, and she was George Southam's mother, and she needed her son to help her. She also told Alice where to cut the ice, some mile or so from where he had drowned to find him. Alice said she had seen the willow branch that he was lodged in, in her dream just as plain as when they saw it, and found her father. Alice woke her mother in the night after her dream, and said, "We will find Papa tomorrow." James Williams said he would try just this one more place, and then they would give up the search, as it was so cold on Bear River, cutting ice. This time Alice showed them the right place to cut, and they were successful. About a week before George Southam was drowned, he had a dream that he was going on a mission. He told his wife that he was either going on a foreign mission or would be called to the other side of the veil, and if he did die to be sure he was buried in a Mormon Cemetery, and in his temple clothes. As early as 1871, Catherine began to work with the sick, and seemed to be a natural-born nurse. When a small girl she always had her dolls sick so she could doctor and nurse them better. Her father told her she should be a nurse when she grew up. In 1871 she started helping the sick, and they appreciated it so much- her kindness, they never forgot her kindness. She assisted Dr. Harrison, and Dr. Hawlker in Evanston, Wyoming. While her children were very young, Aunt Jane (George Southam's first wife) tended the children. She was like a mother to the children. I have heard the older children say they loved Aunt Jane nearly as much as their mother. She raised no children of her own, and she loved children very much, so she was a great help to Catherine in rearing her big family while she worked out with the sick. She worked in the Deseret Hospital at intervals- about two years with Dr. Anderson and Mattie Paul Hughes, and with Zina D. Young. In 1911 she told her granddaughter, Alice Southam Cook, that she had assisted in over 1,000 births of babies, and she still practiced many years after that. Her fee for her work was $5.00, if they had the cash, and most of the people she helped didn't, so she would take her pay in wheat or whatever the poor people had that they could spare. John H. Haslem, her grandson from Alice Haslem, was with her one day when she was making her last call on Mrs. John J. Davis- he was the President of the Uintah Stake- and he told her he didn't have money, but wheat he would like to pay her with. Wheat was next best to cash in those days. She got her seamless sacks she always carried under the seat in her two-wheeled cart (as she didn't have a buggy yet, but got one later to travel all over Ashley Valley, and Jensen, and Brush Creek). We filled the two sacks nearly full, as wheat was priced at $2.50 per sack. We were sweeping the wheat bin trying to fill the last sack, when she came on the scene, and said, "Brother Davis it that all the wheat you have?" He said yes, but he was about ready to thrash more wheat, so would soon fill his wheat bin again. She told Johny to dump that wheat back in under the boys' bed where we got it from. She said, "I never took the last kernel of wheat from anyone yet, and I won't take this from you." We drove away without any pay. It was customary to have twenty or thirty bushels of wheat under the homemade bed that the boys usually slept in, for safe keeping, and Brother Davis was no exception. I think Brother Davis paid her later, but I am sure she delivered more babies that she didn't collect pay for, than the ones she did. Now back to her move from Evanston. In the fall of 1886, Catherine and her family, and her older daughter and her husband, Warren L. Allen, and their family, moved to Ashley Valley. This valley was yet new and sparsely settled, so her children could get homes of their own as they grew up. Before this move to Ashley Valley she was helping her father do the work for their dead the year the Salt Lake Temple opened. She told her father she would have to give up helping the sick, as she felt it was more than she could do while caring for her young family. Her father said, "Catherine, you are all that your mother has to represent her here on earth, and you are only fulfilling your Patriarchal Blessing where it says you will be as a Well of Living Water in a desert, and people shall flow to you, and call you blessed." While in the temple some of the sisters told her it had been made known to them that she was to be called and set apart to take care of the sick in Uintah Stake, as there was only one doctor, and very little help there for sick people. She was set apart by the President of the Church, and he told her if she would go to Ashley Valley, and honor her calling, he would promise her that her wheat bin would never be empty (which was a great promise in those days when wheat was so valuable, and her large family to feed). I, her grandson John H. Haslem, can testify that her children never went hungry or cold. They lived as well, or better than most other families in the valley. Everyone was poor out there those days, and all the neighbors wondered how she provided so well for her family. The Lord surely helped her. She worked with the sick many years after she got a cancer that took eleven years to end her mortal life. She had such a desire to help others her spirit wouldn't give up. As she grew older she did more genealogy and temple work, and left a nice book of names of her ancestors, for others to do the temple work. What more could the Lord ask of one of his humble daughters. If all of her posterity can only follow in her footsteps, I am sure we will be OK in the next world, and live much happier here also. Later, in searching the county records of Salt Lake County, we found where she married John Shepard, an Elder and Temple Worker, Aug. 6, 1903. He had a nice small home at about 2nd Ave. and K St., Salt Lake City. She had hoped to spend the rest of her life doing temple work as she had promised her father, but for some reason that she wouldn't tell her family, this marriage only lasted a few years. Then she came back to Vernal, and took up her midwife business again, and practiced that until her cancer disabled her. This is copied mostly from Alice Southam Cook's record she got from her father, Harry Southam, Grandma's oldest child. I have added some as I could remember, when I rode with her in her two-wheeled cart that she used to visit her sick patients in. I am 84 years old this year, and this is April 4, 1972. By John Henry Haslem



Obituary for Katherine Cameron Southam Vernal Express - Date 5 Sep 1929, Page 4

“Grandma” Southam Passes to Great Beyond After A Long Period of Suffering

Impressive funeral services were held Sunday September 1, in the Naples ward chapel for Mrs. Katherine Southam who passed away Friday at the home of her daughter Mrs. Joshua Haslem of Maeser after many years of intense suffering from cancer. The chapel was filled to capacity showing the high esteem in which Mrs. Southam was held. Six grandsons acted as pall bearers and six great-grand sons as honorary pall bearers each carrying a beautiful boquet of flowers. Bishop Alfred Simper of Davis ward conducted the services. The Naples mixed double quartet furnished the singing, the first number being “Oh My Father”. Invocation was offered by Edward Watkins Sr. Mrs. Bessie Swain in her usual pleasing manner then sang “Face to Face”. Bishop Alfred Simper was the first speaker and told of his long and intimate acquaintance with Mrs. Southam and of the strong testimony of the gospel she had borne to him on numerous occasions. He also related a brief history of her life depicting the many trials she was called upon to endure. Mrs. Jane Murray also told of her associations with the departed and of the willing service she had rendered to humanity. She highly complimented Mrs. Southam’s children who had so willingly cared for their mother in her affliction. Willard Johnson related incidents showing the sturdy character of the deceased and her ever ready spirit to aid in cases of sickness or death. Mrs. Wallace Calder accompanied by her daughter, Helen, sweetly sang “I Have Read of a Beautiful City”. President A. G. Goodrich was the last speaker and gave consolation to the family. He told of the patience of Grandma Southam during her long suffering and gave assurance of her reward in the life to come. The closing hymn “Guide Me to Thee” was rendered by the quartet and the benediction pronounced by George E. Wilkins. A large cortege of relatives and friends followed the remains to the Vernal cemetery where interment was made with Charles O. Weist dedicating the grave. Katherine Cameron Southam was born in Edinburgh, Scotland April 21, 1847. When yet very young she emigrated to America with her parents and settled at Patterson, New Jersey. From there the family moved to St. Louis Mo and after a short period of time came west to Evanston, Wyo. She drove an ox team all the way across the plains when she was but thirteen years of age. In 1863 she was married to George Southam and became the mother of fourteen children. She came to Ashley valley during its early settlement and has been a great factor in its growth and development. For many years, Mrs. Southam was the only physician and nurse in the valley and was called upon to travel many miles without pay in all kinds of weather in a lumber wagon to assist in caring for the sick. During the past fifteen years she has suffered untold agony from cancer in her head having been bedfast for the past three or four years. She has been taken care of by her daughters, Mrs. Joshua Haslem and Mrs. Charles Holmes. She is also survived by one son G. H. Southam of Naples her husband having preceded her in death forty-two years.

References
  1. Newspaper Record: Utah, Uintah, Vernal - Vernal Express. (http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/ve2.html)
    Date 5 Sep 1929, Page 4.

    Title: Grandma Southm Passes to Great beyond after a Long Period of Suffering

  2. Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2004. 1900 United States Federal Census. (Original data: United States. T623, 1854 rolls.).

    Image source: Year: 1900; Census Place: Riverdale, Uintah, Utah; Roll: T623 1687; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 151.

  3. Uintah County Library. Cemetery Record: Utah, Uintah, Vernal - Vernal Cemetery. (http://www.uintah.lib.ut.us/uintahcemetery.htm).
  4. Uintah County Library. Cemetery Record: Utah, Uintah, Vernal - Vernal Cemetery. (http://www.uintah.lib.ut.us/uintahcemetery.htm).

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