Alena “Alley” Thatcher

Also Known As: Alena Kitchen, she was the d aughter of Joseph Kitchen and Catharine Judiah Chulic. She married Hezekiah Thatcher, 26 Feb 1829, Martinsburg, Berkeley, West Virginia. They had the following children - Sarah Elizabeth Thatcher, John Bethewel Thatcher, George Washington Thatcher, Moses Thatcher, Harriet Ann Thatcher, Hezekiah Thatcher, Virginia Eliza Thatcher, Aaron Dunham Thatcher, Abraham Thatcher, Catherine Mary Thatcher, Joseph Wycoff Thatcher, Mary Ellen Thatcher, Hyrum Smith Thatcher.

Obituary - A Noble Woman Dead "Grandma" Thatcher Passes Quietly Away: At 9:15 on Tuesday morning, Alley Kitchen Thatcher, relict of the late Hezekiah Thatcher, died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Harriet Preston. During Sunday her stomach showed signs of weakness and, while there naturally is anxiety at the illness, however slight, of one so far advanced in years, it was not thought that her indisposition could be fatal. There were no striking changes in her symptoms until within, perhaps, half an hour of her death-whatever changes occurred being rather of a reassuring nature. She was sitting up and eating about half an hour before she died, and seemed to be altogether free from pain. The only difference noticeable just prior to her demise was an increasing shortness of breath, and she passed away like one in a deep sleep.

"Grandma" Thatcher, as she was familiarly known, was a remarkable woman. Born in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia, April 12, 1808, she lacked but a short time of being 81 years of age. She married Hezekiah Thatcher in 1828 and emigrated to Illinois about 1840.

In 1846, being driven with the Latter-day Saints from Nauvoo, with her husband, she went to Winter Quarters. In September of 1847 she arrived in Salt Lake City, traveling from Winter Quarters in Parley P. Pratt's company and herself driving a pair of oxen with a light wagon the whole distance, and caring for her children besides.

In 1849 she went with her husband to California, remaining there and preaching with a vigor and zeal that she knew no rest the principles of her faith until 1857, when the family returned to Salt Lake City. They went south with the move an din 1860 proceeded to Cache Valley, which has since been her home, and with the growth of which the name of Thatcher is inseparably associated.

She has had eleven children, six sons and five daughters, of whom four sons and one daughter still live, their names being Moses, Geo. W., John B. and Aaron, and Harriet, the wife of the Presiding Bishop of the Church, William B. Preston. In all she has 104 living descendants. Her husband died in April, 1879, nearly ten years ago and while she has not been heard to murmur or complain, never, for so much as a waking hours, has the memory of his great loss passed from her.

Through all the privations and trials of a checkered career she endured with only a woman's fortitude and a mother's patience. She had tasted poverty to its depths, but when the blessing of plenty came to her as a reward for uncomplaining endurance and persevering toil, there was no change in her manner. Her heat was every an open door through which the sorrows of others and their sufferings might enter and find peace and comfort. She was a pioneer and a helpmeet indeed; and her ready hand was not stayed when her husband, in primitive days built a rude log cabin. Ever the same, she brightened her husband's hopes, shared his trials and assuaged his sufferings. Hers was a nature to lift. She could not be a weight.

She was a strong, loving, unwavering woman. While her children he buried from Illinois to California, it has been given her to rest beside the husband she loved and helped, as she held husband and children. Her faith was part of her life. None who knew her can deny that she would have yielded it up with devout resignation in its defense, had been required at her hands. Crowned with the glory of ripened years, loved devotedly by her children whom she had lived to see held high and side in esteem, she has passed to a rest well earned and to a cherished union with the spirit of her husband. She leaves as an heritance to all the children of men, the record of a life that has filled to the uttermost its mission on this earth. Ashes to ashes; spirit reunited to spirit; so let her rest.

Her remains will be taken to Logan on Thursday and funeral services will take place from the Logan Tabernacle on Friday.

Salt Lake Daily Herald, Wednesday, January 9, 1889.

Original obituary online

Spouse:

Hezekiah Thatcher (1808 - 1879)

Children:

Joseph Wycoff Thatcher (1829 - 1881)

Catherine Mary Thatcher Holden (1831 - 1856)

John B. Thatcher (1834 - 1917)

Aaron Dunham Thatcher (1837 - 1909)

George Washington Thatcher (1840 - 1902)

Moses Thatcher (1842 - 1909)

Hezekiah Thatcher (1847 - 1847)

Maintained by: SMSmith

Originally Created by: God Bless

Record added: Jan 21, 2008

Find A Grave Memorial# 24083800