Phoebe Emeline Miner

History of EMELINE PHOEBE CURTIS MINER

Grandmother -----BY LAUREL MINER DICKSON.

A beautiful Dresden China figurine reminds me of my fathers

mother. Her naturally curly, jet-black hair,, always parted in the

middles waved neatly down each side of her head and was pinned in

a bob at the nape of her neck. She told us she had Cherokee Indian

blood in her "from way back." In her dark brown eyes there was a

twinkle of humor mixed with tender love and affections Her satiny

smooth, skin was pallid, almost transparent. Her face mirrored

sympathy, compassion, understanding, and an inner beauty of peace.

Her clothes showed good taste and were becoming. The dresses

she wore were of the waist and skirt type, with a belt that buckled

in the front. A favorite breast pin, which adorned the high-necked

waists, was an exquisite oval-shaped cameo, a luxurious rarity for

pioneer women. Most of her dresses were dark colored and all of

floor length, It was quite improper to show the ankle in her day.

An occasional white waist broke the monotony of the drab colored

Skirts. The Sunday dresses were trimmed with beading, velvet and

lace, and rows of tiny tucks, ruffles, and frills. She was up to

the minute in style.

Emeline Phoebe Curtis was born at Golden Point, Illinois,

Hancock County, December 6, l844. Her father was Uriah Curtis, her

mother, Phoebe Martin Curtis. She was the youngest child of a

family of seven: Elsa Ann, Erastus, Eliza Jane, Lehi, Uriah Martin,

Mary Melinda, and Emeline Phoebe.

When she was a child of eight years old, she crossed the plains

with her parents and brothers and sisters. Her father, Uriah Curtis

was Captain of the Sixteenth Company of Emigrants, He was in charge

of a company of Saints from Pottawattamie County, Iowa, numbering

about 365. which had been organized by Elder Jedediah M. Grant, June

24, 1852. A few days later they left the Missouri River, The Company,

arrived in Salt Lake City on October 1, 1852. No information is

found concerning their stay in Salt Lake City. The Journal histories

of 1855 states that Uriah Curtis was on the committee for the proceedings

of the celebration of the 24th of July 1855 in Springville, Utah.

His family lived in Springville for a number of years. Then they

moved to Curtisville which was near pandtown, now known as Salem, Utah.

The Deseret News of October 24, 1863 gives the following account

Pandtown; Uriah Curtis son of Joseph and Elsie Curtis died of lung

fever October 18, 1863. He was born May 5, 1805 at Stephen Town,

Kenzler County, New York. He was baptized July 7, l831 by Solomon

Hancock in Fountain County, Indiana. He gathered with the Saints to

Jackson County, Missouri in the fall of l932. They were driven

there by our enemies. He passed through all the persecutions with

the Saints that gathered at Nauvoo, and from there to the Great Salt

Lake City in 1852. He was true in the faith until the end." Written

by Erastus Curtis, son of Uriah. Uriah is burled at Salem, Utah.

Grandmother grew to be an attractive brunette. Accomplished

in the practical arts, her skills were varied and many: carding wool,

spinning, weaving, sewing, cooking, at infinitum. She had a very

beautiful singing voice and often sang solos.

An industrious, courageous, tall, light complexioned young man

from Springville, Utah, courted the pretty brunette. On February

24, 1861, Mormon Miner and Emeline Phoebe Curtis ware married at Springville.

They went through the Endowment House November 2,1867.

Early in the Spring of 1861 the young couple moved to Fairview

Sanpete County, Utah then called North Bend. Here they endured the

hardships and deprivations of the early settlers. They knew what it

was to be hungry, cold and fearful of the marauding, treacherous Indians.

Their daily rations were often supplemented by sego lily bulbs, thistles,

wild currants, and berries from the hawthorn bushes, which grew wild.

They lived within the old rock fort. This was an enclosure against

the wily Indians. A rock wall ten feet high and about two feet thick

was built on the north, east and west sides. The South side was started

in the summer of 1859.

There was a community, cattle and sheep herd, which fed along the

valley as far north as Indianola. The Indians caused much trouble,

stealing and killing the animals. Several men were killed by the

Indians as they guarded the herd.

In 1660 Mormon Miner helped guard the northern-end of the

Valley against Indians and renegade whites following Johnston’s

Army. The soldiers helped to build the road up Thistle Canyon east

of Thistle Junction, and commemorating this service, different places

still bear the names of Soldier’s Summit, Soldier Dugway, and Soldier’s

Canyon.

One early morning in the Spring of 1852, the settlers awakened to

find the Indians had driven off a large number of their horses. A posse

was Immediately formed to find and recover them. The horses had been

driven up Fairview Canyon., The men followed the tracks until they came

to a place in the Canyon where the Indians had stopped to rest and eat.

They recovered most of the horses. The Indians had cleared out, leaving

behind one sick man huddled under a bush. Some of the white men

suggested that they kill the Indian. Grandfather said: “No we must

not do that. We will take him home with us, and he may get well.” This

they did. In a short time the Indian was well and was given his

freedom.

About a year later Grandfather and another man were standing

night watch inside the fort. It was after midnight, and the two men

had made the rounds and met in the center of the enclosure as agreed.

Both men had noticed the uneasiness of the stock. Little did they

realize that at that very moment two treacherous Indians were hiding

behind a "critter" with their guns leveled on Grandfather, awaiting the

opportunity to kill him.

Grandfather said to his partner, "Somebody, must be getting pretty

damn close."

Shortly afterward the cattle quieted down, and everything was all

right the rest of the night.

Some years later a group of Indians came to Fairview. This was

after the Black Hawk War, and the Indians were friendly. One of the

Indians came to see Grandfather and asked. "You 'member sick Indian,

white men want to kill? You do not let them?"

"Yes", answered Grandfather.

"You 'member d-a-r-k" night you guard cattle in rock fort? You

think some one there?"

"Yes, I remember that very well", said Grandfather.

Then the Indian said: "Me and another Indian behind cow waiting

to shoot. When you say ‘Some one damn close’ me know your voice. you

save my life. I save you. 'we go the way we got in.”

That Indian was always grandfather’s friend.

The Black Hawk War took Its toll In Fairview. Because of the killing

of three men in March, 1866, Brigham Young warned the settlers of

Fairview to move to the Fort at Mt. Pleasant.

With the arrival of the State Troops in June 1866, some of the

militia were posted in each town, and the people returned to Fairview

in the fall of that year.

Grandfather had homesteaded and cleared the eastern half of the

City block cater-cornered from the rock fort where the Fairview Mercantile

Coop now stands. His property was the eastern half of the block

between Main and first streets East, and first and Second South Street.

When it was safe to build houses outside the fort, he built a two

room adobe house on the southeast corner facing the east. The adobes

were made by hand; they were reinforced by mixing straw with the clay

mud, put in wooden molds to shape them, then dried in the sun.

On the northern part of this property, facing First South, Miner

Brothers had a general merchandise and food store. Business was done

through barter and exchange, for the most part. Butter, eggs, potatoes,

grain, coal, lumber, meat, and so forth were exchanged for the other

commodities of stock and trade. An alloy metal was used for temporary

money with Miner Brothers inscription on it, When they went out of

business, I remember father taking a leather bag of this money and emptying

it into the fire, where it melted into fantastic shapes.

To the west of Town and about one and a half miles south. Mormon

Miner had homesteaded 150 acres, which extended east of the present

highway and across west to the hills. The western part was swamp land

with the San Pitch River running through it. This later was known as

Miner Brothers Farm. There also Was a Miner Brothers Creamery Company.

When relations with the Indians became peaceful, the family lived

in a little shack at Indianola for a few months. While there, Grandmother

learned the Indian language.

Emeline, as she was lovingly called, was the mother of thirteen

Children, nine boys and four girls. Of this number seven boys and two

girls grew to adulthood, the others dying in infancy or childhood. They

were Martin Mormon, Erastus, Albert Uriah, Phoebe Ann, Mary Rosalee,

Melvin Orson, Homer Franklin, Ernest Leroy, George Dolaze, Laurette

Emeline Lester Curtis, Lee Ross, and Louie Merle.

As the family increased, a larger home was necessary. During the

early eighteen seventies, Andrew Christiansen and John DeFries built

the large white rock house on the same lot where the adobe house stood.

At that time it was the grandest home in the County, a stately, sturdy

structure two stories high, towering above all the other houses in the

town. The walls were about two feet thick. When a child, I climbed

up and sat very comfortably in the wide window ledges.

The beautiful white limestone rock was quarried in Stone Quarry

just north of Fairview, Stone cutter Christiansen, a skilled rock mason,

cut, dressed, and faced each stone. Andrew Christiansen was born

in Denmark; May 15, 1842, and died in Fairview in January 1880. Cattails

from the nearby swamps were dynamite to get the walls down, and

the plaster hung in great sheets. This stood on the corner of what is

now 85 E. 2nd S. Street, Fairview Utah.

The warm, cozy kitchen was the largest room in the house. It did

double duty. as It was also used as dining room, a general congregating

or family room as well as kitchen. The huge Majestic Coal Range served

as cook stove and heater. A brightly polished copper tea kettle, which

always sat atop the stove, sang merrily through, the years. The kitchen

table, was large enough to seat a dozen people, and there were chairs to

accommodate all. In front of the east window was an Invitingly comfortable

handmade lounge. In her declining years Grandmother used this daily.

She would often say "I feel so bad" and Aunt Louie, a small child

would say, "I feel so bad."

A magnificent large oak bureau stood along the south wall near a

door which led into her attractive and peaceful bedroom. At the right

of the bureau a door opened to a long, straight, steep stairway which

you ascended to reach the floor above. From an oblong hallway three

doors opened into three roomy upstairs bedrooms.

The spacious parlor, located in the southeast corner of the building

displayed an array of lovely furnishings. A carpet made of rags

that had been dyed pretty bright colors, woven in strips a yard wide,

and sewed together by hand covered the floor from wall to wall. Straw

was the padding underneath, and it would crunch and crackle as you walked

upon it. At the east side of the room, under the window, was a beautiful

red plush sofa, and two matching chairs with white china casters; these

stood on either side of the sofa.

The north wall displayed an intricately carved table covered with

a large white throw. On the top of the table, a large dome-shaped glass

covered a delightful bouquet of flowers made of chenille and wax. This

was a bright spot that gave color and cheer. In the evening the bouquet

was pushed back, and a large kerosene lamp sent forth a bright clear

light. The round bowl that contained the oil was decorated with hand

painted red roses. Small crystal pendants hung from the base of the

neck. The glass chimney was kept spotlessly clean and polished. The

soft light from the tubular wick filled the room with golden splendor.

On the wall above the table hung an exquisite piece of art, a sampler

showing the result of skilled needlework. An elegant reed organ

found its place at the west side of the room. Against the south wall

was a dignified and tall secretary, imposing in its grandeur. A

platform rocker and a Nantucket high back rocker chair found places in this

lovely room. From the four windows hung long, white, fancily designed

lace curtains. This old fashioned parlor was not used every day. To

me it was the most elegant room I had ever been in. My cousin Ora

said to me. "0nce when I was a little girl, Aunt Louie took me into

the parlor and let me touch each thing in the room; then we came out,

and the door was closed," Most of the furniture was brought across

the plains by ox team and wagons. After grandmother’s passing, Aunt

Mary Lee, shipped this beautiful furniture to Salt Lake City and stored

it there. The Storage warehouse burned, and all of the furniture was

lost in the fire.

Another kitchen door opened to the east onto a large front porch

enclosed by a carved fence railing. To the South a swinging gateway

led down a slightly winding stairs into a cool, clean cellar, very

similar to our basements of today. Here all kinds of food were stored

for winter.

On a long tables pans of milk were set to cool so the cream would

rise. This was skimmed off and churned into butter. Many times I

have helped to churn the cream by constantly pulling the dasher up and

down from the tall barrel-shaped churn. The cool buttermilk was refreshing

to drink. The golden butter was very tasty on grandmother’s

salt-rising bread. Sometimes we had wild currant jelly or ground cherry

preserves to eat on the bread.

Grandmother was an excellent cook. Her pioneer dishes might not

suit the connoisseur’s taste of today. Thickened milk, called "lumpy

dick” was made of tiny lumps of moistened flour cooked into Scalded

milk. It was served as first course with just plain milk, second

course with sugar and milk, or third course with cinnamon and butter.

Butter mush, sweet soup, and vinegar pies are but a few of the different

dishes she cooked. All were wholesome; tasty, and satisfying, containing

no adulterations or preservatives to dull the body or mind.

Her sense of humor was piquant, refreshing and delightful; she

was an Emily Post of her day. In a gently soft voiced way she would

say things which never hurt, but usually brought a burst of laughter.

One day, while eating the noon day meal, Grandfather was guzzling his

food, and in her clever, kind way, she said; "For heaven’s sakes,

Pa, don't eat so much like a horse." Grandfather leaned back in his

chair, and his impetuous, jovial laughter resounded throughout the

house.

One early morning, while the family knelt in prayer, by their

chairs which surrounded the kitchen tables grandfather was saying the

customary morning prayer. A loud knock came to the front kitchen door,

made by the crooked cane of an old Indian Squaw. Grandfather prayed

on long and loud. The knocking continued; grandfather persistently

praying and the Indian persistently knocking. It seemed to be a test

of endurance. Finally Amen was said. Grandmother, whose patience

bad long since ceased, went to the door and saw the Indian woman, who

was a busybody and who bad previously made a nuisance of herself on

numerous occasions. There was an unmistakable ring of authority in

Grandmother's voice as she spoke to the Indian in her own language.

She said, "We were talking to the Great White Spirit; now you get

yourself away in a hurry or I’ll set the dog on you, and he’ll chaw

your hinder off." The Indian's retreat was not slow. Turning to

Grandfather, Grandmother said, "Pa, where is your reverence? You know

that words without thoughts never to heaven go." Although she was

not a large woman, she never minced words with any one. She had taken

the wind out of both of their sails, and justly so.

Her quips, quotes, anecdotes, and original sayings, for which she

shall long be remembered, always fitted the situation at hand. When her

boys came to the door with muddy feet, a good natured reminder was,

"Bestus, clean your boots."

"Pride is painful", she would say when the girls complained about

having their hair curled and combed.

"When you dance you pay the fiddler.”

"Thanks be to ye, Pat, for doin’ me that." This is the complete Irish Ditty:

“Thanks be to ye, Pat,

For doin’ me that,

May the blessings upon ye be big.

At the great judgment day

To the widder I’ll say,

Mrs. Flanagan, here's your pig."

The lack of normal intelligence was: "He was hit over the head

with a hand spike", or, "He's a shingle or a button short." The favored

one was, "The blue hen’s a chicken.”

Inquiring about a foul deed, she'd say: "How come Your eye’s out

without your face being scratched?"

When Uncle Mel was about three years old, a man named John was

pretending to buy his baby brother Frank. Mel was pleased with the

idea, but as Johnny walked out of the door with the baby wrapped in a

new blanket, Mel said :"Bring back the blanket Johnny." So when

articles were loaned, it was always "Bring back the blanket, Johnny."

"Your honey tastes of the bee-bread", was the remark when there

was an off colored flavor to food.

On choosing associates, she said: "Remember, birds of a feather

flock together.”

She wrote poetry of noble verse, filled, with human kindness and

homespun wisdom.

She did not have opportunity of schooling beyond the Fifth

Reader, However, she was well versed in the three R's, Reading, Riting,

and Rithmetic.

The wisdom she had was reflected in the wise, gentle, just and

kind way she raised her family, showing as much refinement and culture

as was possible in those rugged frontier days, Her sons worshipped

her and tried hard to be the ideal she expected them to be.

The young ladies of the town would say, "You might as well go

out with the Miner boy’s mother as with them. They tell her everything

that is done or said." One late, stormy night, perhaps it was

early morning, two of her boys were later than their customary time

in returning home. Upon their arrival, they found their mother kneeling

at her bedside, praying for their safe return home. It was an

established custom for her boys to kiss her good-night when they had

been out, then she knew if they had been drinking.

Grandmother’s greatest desire was for her children to be honorable

and get a good education. Most of them attended the B.Y. Academy

at Provo. Five of the seven sons filled missions for the Latter-day

Saints Church.

Uncle Martin was well over six feat tall, dignified and stately.

He filled his mission in Iowa. Ernest and Lester both went on two

missions. Ernest Miner was in the Hawaiian Mission for seventeen years.

His wife and eldest daughter Odetta died while there. Three of her

boys became school teachers, and one was County Superintendent of Sanpete

Schools for two terms. Aunt Mary Miner Lee was a very successful

milliner. Aunt Louie helped her. Louie had a beautiful singing

voice, played the organ, and was very artistic in Interior decorating

and sewing.

Uncle Frank was very kind and gentle, He seemed to know just

how to help and to please his mother. He didn't go away to school,

but stayed home and helped to care for his mother in her declining

years. Uncle Ernest also helped care for her in her declining years.

Uncle Mel was always so jolly and very spiritual. When in the Mission

Field at Texas he was tied to a telephone pole and black-whipped, but,

only one small black and blue mark was visible on his body.

I shall always remember Uncle George, who had such beautiful

Black, curly hair. No one in the town could play the harmonica so

Well. At the Mormon Miner family reunion. July 24,1960, at the age

of 82, he played two harmonica numbers.

Uncle Martin's and Father’s first suits were made of woolen cloth.

Grandfather sheared the wool from the sheep. Grandmother washed,

Dyed, and carded the wool into rolls about the size of your fingers, spun

it into thread, then wove it into cloth on a hand loom and tailored

their suits by hand.

At Albert (A. U.'s funeral Prof. B.F Larsen said the three most

distinguished boys of Sanpete County were Allie (or A.U., Mel and

Ernest Miner. Dressed in their long frock or Prince Albert coats,

white vests, cravats, and shining silk top hats, they were three gay

young blades.

One of the highlights of my childhood days was riding in "the

surrey with the fringe on top," This pleasure carriage had four wheels

and two seats, both facing forward. There were steps to step upon to

get into it. The broad seats were of buttoned leather, on each side

of the front seat was a square wrought-iron case holding a glass lantern

which held candles. A deep Fringe hung gracefully from the top,

blowing and dancing in the wind. Two sleek horses trotted lively,

drawing the carriage along the dusty road.

In winter time, when snow was about four feet deeps dappled grays

pulling sleighs, with sleigh bells jingling as we road over the tops

of fences, made life merry.

When the children married, most of them lived, within a radius of

one block from the old home. Martin and Mel lived in two houses

across the street, and to the South. Mary lived in the first home west,

Albert in the house across the street east, Frank in the next one east,

Ernest north one block and east. George, Lester and Louie were not

married until after their mother had passed from this sphere of life.

Every morning she would visit her children to see what she could

do to help, and to give advice. She was trained in the medical care

of the day. She expected everyone to have the house work well under

way, if not entirely completed, by ten A.M. She was always willing

to lend a helping hand when needed.

Though Grandmother was a frail woman, she withstood the rigorous

pioneer life with courage and fortitude. She had contracted tuberculosis

of the lungs from her mother. It was not active until the later years of

her life. At this time hired help was hard to get and difficult to pay for,

as a result she continued to do her own

house work when she was not physically strong. She would often say:

"I am treading on the wine press alone." a Bible expression She was

a student of the Bible, with a deep abiding faith in God. During

the long years of her affliction, she was ever patient and cheerful.

Through her meticulous and immaculate care of herself. I know of no

one to whom she transmitted this dreaded, infectious, communicable

disease.

As the days passed, her strength began to wane. She became bedridden.

All medical help was of no avail Bromo Seltzer would bring

some relief. If I remember correctly, she used 66 bottles during the

years of her Illness. On February 8th, 1905, her blithe spirit left

her frail body and passed to realms beyond. She left a rich heritage

to her family and a large posterity. At this writing, In June 1961,

It number 13 children, 69 grandchildren, 179 great grand children,

108 great-great grandchildren, equaling a posterity of 568 descendents.

She was buried in the upper cemetery at Fairview, Utah.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Church Records; Aunt Mame-Mrs. M.0. Miner; Uncle Lester Curtis Miner;

Uncle George DeLaze Miner; Prof. & Mrs. B.F. Larsen; Mr. Arden F. Miner;

Mrs. Maurine Seely Miner; Mr. Glen B. Miner; Mrs. Verda M. Ashman; Mrs.

Ora M. Snyder: Mrs. Lela De St. Jeor; Mrs. Jessie M. Colvin; Mormon

Miner’s autobiography; My own recollection, Mrs. Laurel M. Dickson;

Mrs. Kate B. Garter, whose husband Is a descendent of Polly Miner Carter;

Tombstones In the Fairview City Cemeteries; Dates & Genealogy Data, Mrs.

Floyd Miner, Journal History Dec. 31, 1852 & roster; Deseret News, Oct.

24, 1863; Journal History - 1855, July 24; Souvenir program of Fairview

City Centennial Celebration, June 1959. Church Emigration - 1849 60

1857 - Vol. 11.

Added, by Melvin Edwin Miner, grandson of Mormon and Phoebe Miner, son

of Martin Mormon and Evelyn Brown Miner:

When I was a child I used to visit my grandmother Miner almost

every day. She would ask me to gather the eggs for her, and each day

I was rewarded for my efforts with one egg, with which I was permitted

to go to the store and buy candy. And I always received a large bag

of candy for one egg. Sometimes I would find a nest that had been

hidden away by the hens, and I would be rewarded, with an extra egg for

such a find. So I spent a good deal of my time and alertness In

trying to find the hidden nests.

I can always remember the salt -rising bread grandmother baked

every day. Many times she has torn the "heel" from the warm bread

and filled It with butter and honey, to my great delight.

I, too, knew of her great suffering from tuberculosis, and her

great care that she should not pass It on to those of us who were so

near to her. She was most careful to keep small cloths In her pocket,

and when she coughed, she did so Into one of these rags, putting It

Immediately Into the stove and burning it.

I always felt that she had a very special and tender feeling toward

me because I was the youngest, and so young, at the time of my

father death. My father was her eldest child.

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• Residence: Utah, United States - 1870
• Residence: Fairview, Sanpete, Utah, United States - 1880