Sarah Rozella Dunn

Sarah Rozella Dunn was the daughter of Harvey Alvaro Dunn and Hettie Esther Welker Dunn. In the 1880 U.S. Census for Bloomington, Bear Lake, Idaho, Sarah was living with her parents and siblings. The family was listed as follows: Harvey A., 30, Hettie, 31, Harvey A., Jr., 11, James T., 9, Harriet E. 7, Crandell, 5, Teressa A., 3, and Sarah R., 9 months old. Next door was Hettie's brother, Gilbert Welker, 24, and his wife, Charlotte, 23, and their children, Olive, 4, and Gilbert A., 8 months old. Hettie and Gilbert were the children of James Wilburn Welker and his first wife, Annie Pugh Welker.

On the same census page was Niels Madsen, 32, and his wife Rebecca, 24, and they were related via marriage, since Hettie's and Gilbert's brother, Alfred, was married to Eliza Madsen, who was Niels Madsen's sister. There was another connection between the Welker and Madsen families, since Niels brother, Christian Madsen, was married to Roxana Louisa Welker, the daughter of John Welker and Rocksena Mahalia Dustin Welker. John Welker was the brother of James Wilburn Welker mentioned above.

By 1900, Sarah was 22, and still living at home with her parents, Harvey A., Dunn, 50, and Hettie, 51, and siblings James T., 29, Julia, 16, and Ivie, 16, in Georgetown, Bear Lake, Idaho. Next door was Sarah's brother, Crandell, 25 and his wife, Ida J., 19. Both Harvey and Crandell were working as farmers. In 1902, Sarah Rozella Dunn married John Moxey Bee in Cache County, Utah.

In the 1910 U.S. Census for Georgetown, Bear Lake, Idaho, John M. Bee, 36, and Sarah Rozella, 30, were living with their first three children, Pearl, 4, Virginia, 3, and Opal, 1 year old. John was working as a farmer. Both of his parents were born in Scotland, and both of Sarah's parents were born in Iowa, and all their children were born in Idaho. They had been married 7 years and had 3 children, all who were still living. They went on to have several more children, including John Russell in 1911, Georgina in 1913, and Maude in 1915. Sadly, only 4 years later, Sarah Rozella Dunn Bee passed away at the young age of 39 on March 13, 1919, from the great influenza epidemic of 1918-1919, and was buried in the Georgetown Cemetery in Georgetown, Bear Lake, Idaho.

The following information was provided by Sarah Rozella Dunn Bee's daughter, Opal:

I would say she was of average height, 5'5" tall, weighing between 130 to 140 pounds. She had a lot of pretty dark hair and brown eyes. She wore long dresses giving the impression that she was older than she was.

I remember the Saturday night baths in the round tin tub by the kitchen stove. She would then help us polish our Sunday shoes so they would be ready for church the net day. I can still see her curling wisps of her hair with the hand curling irons after heating them in the chimney of the oil lamp.

Mother was very honest. I once brought a large red apple home from the store. She took me by the hand and walked me back down to the store and had me give it back to the grocer and tell him I was sorry.

Monday mornings she was up bright and early to get the washing done and out on the lines, competing with the neighbor ladies.

I can see her churning butter in the barrel then working it in a large wooden bowl after salt had been added, then pressing it into one pound wooden molds and finally wrapping each pound in butter wrappers.

Mother loved to shoot a gun and she loved the outdoors. Now and then she would take us down along Bear River to fish for chubs and suckers. For safety sake she would make a fish hook for the small children by fastening a safety pin on the end of a string tied to a willow stick.

I can still smell the beautiful loaves of bread as she removed them from the oven eight at a time.

How it did worry me at times to see her standing over the kitchen wash stand and heaving into the round wash basin. Little did I know why at the time. A few months later she would bundle us up for father to take us down the hill to his sister's house where the family bed was made on the front room floor. The next morning we learned of a new baby at our house.

I can see her sitting in the sheep camp holding Russell and baby Georgia as we trailed sheep out along the Blackfoot river for their summer feed. At night mother would inspect us for wood ticks.

While living on the dry farm one summer, we children contacted German measles. We were very fevered and sometimes delirious. Mother worked over us night and day. She spent a share of her time kneeling by our bed in prayer.

Sometimes at home she became quite moody and she would sit on the last step of our back porch, and then walk on the road north of our home for a ways. It worried me and I would follow. Then I would realize it was because she and father had a few words. I'm sure it was because she became tired of waiting on and caring for father's brother as she had done for quite some time.

I remember hiding behind mother's big front apron when the Indians would come to the door in the fall to steal, beg or trade for winter supplies.

She was a lively seamstress and made all our clothes. She would buy doll heads for Christmas and would stay up late at night to make bodies and clothes for them.

Mother and several neighbor ladies would hold quilting bees and serve lunch.

Mother would tell the ladies fortunes by reading the tea leaves left in the tea cups. She was very superstitious. During an electrical storm she would cover the mirrors and chrome on the stove and put us kids in bed.

Mother suffered a lot with rheumatism. Father would rub her with Reweighs liniment.

Mother's sister and husband came to visit one day after returning from a school where they had studied for a degree as a chiropractor. They worked so rough on mother's back that I never wanted those treatments.

During the winter of 1918-1919 the ice had become frozen on the gullies and eaves of the roof. Father took an ax and shovel through the house and up the stairs to chop it away. Because he had done so, mother said there was sure to be a death in the house. Later an epidemic of influenza struck hard. Uncle Sterns and I were the only ones in the family to escape it. In March of 1919 Mother passed away. Grave side services were held and a few months later services were held in the church house.

Father and I were with her when she died. We missed her.

Sarah Rozella Dunn, was born September 4, 1879, Bloomington, Bear Lake, Idaho, USA, and died March 12, 1919, Georgetown, Bear Lake, Idaho, USA. Her father was Harvey Alvero Dunn Sr. and mother was Hettie Esther "Emmeline" Welker. She married John Moxey Bee, September 24, 1902, Logan, Cache, Utah, USA.

Children of John Moxey Bee and Sarah Rozella Dunn were:

Pearl Cleo Bee, born November 14, 1905, Georgetown, Bear Lake, Idaho, USA

Virginia Bee, born March 25, 1907, Georgetown

Opal Bee, born March 3, 1908, Georgetown

John Russell Bee, born April 15, 1911, Georgetown

Georgian Bee, born February 8, 1913, Georgetown

Maude Bee, born March 8, 1915, Georgetown

James Logan Bee, born August 21, 1918, Georgetown