The theme for week 3 of the 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks is "Tough Woman." There are themes for each week which I will sometimes incorporate when choosing an ancestor to feature.
One of the toughest woman I know of in my direct line is my great grandmother, Myrtle Palmer (Olive Myrtle Black Palmer). She was a polygamist wife, midwife, nurse, basically single mother, storekeeper, and had to leave her home and all behind after 27 years in the Mexican colonies. She came to Bluff with her unmarried children then later moved to Blanding, Utah where she lived the rest of her life.
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Myrtle Palmer
"Aunt Myrtle" as she was so fondly called by all who knew her was born 20 July 1865 at Circleville, Piute County, Utah the daughter of William Morley Black and Anne Marie Hansen Black. She was the third of their children.
Her life was not one of ease and she learned while young to shear sheep, dye the wool, spin yarn, weave it into cloth for her brothers' and sisters' clothing. Her family moved to St. George when she was quite young. She started doing work in the temple when she was thirteen about the time the St. George Temple opened. The family later moved to Orderville where they lived the "united order" with the community there.
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| James and Myrtle Palmer |
Jame and Myrtle first lived in Orderville where the young bride was given the job of working in the kitchen. A year later her first child, William Zemira was born. The second child was born after the little family moved to Snowflake, Arizona.
From San Jose she went to Stringtown where a group of pioneers had camped. Stringtown was located about a mile south of Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. At this camp they built forts or stockades in which to live. Each stockade had to accommodate eight or nine families. Myrtle had just moved in her part of a stockade when her third son was born October 14, 1886.
In March or April of 1887 a minor part of the Mexico earthquake gave the little Stockade Village a good sound shaking and scared a year’s growth out of its inhabitants.
During the latter part of April 1887 Myrtle and family pioneered their way up the steep San Diego Dugway and to their Corrales ranch in a picturesque little valley located a few miles from Colonia Pacheco, Chihuahua, Mexico. Corrales was only forty miles from Stringtown but it took ten days to make the trip because the earthquake had torn the road up so badly they had to rebuild it as they went along. Here they lived the rest of the time. All but one of her nine other children were born. Her son, Joe was born in Juarez where her parents lived.
At the Corrales ranch Myrtle lived in a wagon in the shelter of pine trees while the little log cabin was being built. And while expecting her fourth child, she helped build the house, clear land, dig an irrigation ditch, plant and care for a garden, raise chickens with an old setting hen and eggs she borrowed from a neighbor, dig post holes, build fences and build shelter for the mule team. Myrtle loved her new humble home and kept the dirt floors as clean and smooth as possible.
The children had to walk several miles into Pacheco and back to attend school. The trail was rough and Myrtle moved into Colonia Pacheco so the children of both mothers could stay with her there while attending school. Myrtle's husband also moved a small store onto the property. Myrtle was the sole proprietor/employee of the store. She also provided medical aid as well as running the store and helped with the confinement/delivery of a Mexican baby in 1888.
It was while she was living there that "Aunt Myrtle" took a nursing course and immediately started a nursing career as a midwife. She received a promise at that time that if she would always be humble and prayerful that she would be blessed in her work. She was greatly blessed too, for of the 500 babies she delivered she lost only two babies and no mothers. Her pay for her services as nurse and midwife was just whatever people could give her at the time.
Great sadness came to her when she lost her young son, Loren, with the whooping cough. Loren was born May 2, 1897 and died Aug 14, 1898.
When her son, Ellis was 14 he was injured in a giant cap explosion aroung 1900. The blast affected his eyes and hand. A Doctor Shipley helped Grandma care for him. She also helped Grandma in her nurses training.
Another great sadness which came to Grandma was when her son, Jim, died. Jim, Will and some other young men went to work on a railroad several hundred miles away. Jim took sick and wished so much that he was home with his mother for he just knew she could help him. They started for home with him but he died in a little Mormon settlement and was buried there. It was a week before they arrived home to tell the folks. He died July 4, 1901 of appendicitis.
In 1912, after they had lived in Mexico about 27 years, their troubles with the Mexicans increased. Word was sent on July 24th by the Presiding Church Authorities in Juarez, for them to leave Mexico for a short time until the trouble could be settled. They took with them only what was needed on a camping trip. They left their homes all cleaned up ready to go back to in a few days. They never did go back. Besides their good farms, home, and furniture and other household supplies they left about 20 cows, 30 horses and a large herd of pigs.
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| They left Pacheco in organized companies. Dave Black was in charge of their company. Only one man was allowed to six wagons of women and children. The rest of the men had to stay behind and fight.On their way to Juarez they met ninety Mexicans called “Red Flaggers”. They swooped down on their wagons like wild Indians and took everything they wanted including the guns. |
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| Again at Juarez they were raided. They had to wait several days at Juarez for their turn to ride on the freight train. The natives blew up all of the bridges after the train they were on passed through. |
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| When they got to El Paso, Texas they had to camp in a lumber yard. Five hundred people were crowded under a few small sheds. Here they had to stay for nearly three months. There was a building with a roof but no walls. Passersby liked to stare at the "polygamists" housed there. |
From El Paso they went by train to Farmington, New Mexico. Here Acel Palmer (Grandpa Palmer’s brother) met them and took them to his home in Fruitland. Here they stayed about two weeks.
Grandpa and Aunt Eva Palmer had left Mexico a year or so before and had settled in Blanding. Grandma and her unmarried children went to Bluff where they lived for about five years. Then they too settled in Blanding.
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| Bluff 1909 |
Grandma took up her nursing work again and has helped deliver over five hundred babies, besides aiding many other people. It has only been about 10 years since she handled her last case alone.
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| Myrtle and her half-sister, Eva. Both are polygamist wives of same husband. |
She moved to Blanding in 1917 and lived there until her passing at age 84 on 19 October 1949.
"Aunt Myrtle" Palmer is the mother of 12 children:
Related Post: James William Palmer (1860-1931)
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Sources:
- William Zemira Palmer 1882-1945
- James Acel Palmer 1884-1901
- Ellis Palmer 1886-1951
- Olive Rachael Palmer 1888-1976
- Chloe Amelia Palmer 1890-1977
- John David Palmer 1893-1963
- Ida Palmer 1895-1995
- Loren Morley Palmer 1897-1898
- Joseph Martin Palmer 1899-1967
- Viola Palmer 1902-1970
- Guy Carlos Palmer 1905-1974
- Oren Kenneth Palmer 1908-1999
Related Post: James William Palmer (1860-1931)
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Sources:
- Olive Myrtle Black Palmer Obituary
- "A Sketch of the Life of Myrtle Olive Black Palmer" written by daughter-in-law, Hilda Rose Palmer in 1949
- "Old Mexico History of Olive Myrtle Black Palmer" written by daughter, Chloe Amelia Palmer Nelson in 1953
- FamilySearch.org
- Ancesty.com
- FindAGrave.com
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