An undated photograph of Alice Hanson.

Essentials
Born: 10 December 1836 (or 1837); Horton, Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Daughter of: Thomas HANSON and Caroline BARKER
Married: Lorenzo Hill HATCH; 2 January 1860; Salt Lake City, Utah
Died: 27 December 1891; Woodruff, Navajo, Arizona

Page contents
One-minute history
Longer biography
Jo Ann F. Hatch article
      Handcart pioneer
      Sister quits company
      Three wives, one roof
      A house of her own
      Never sees son again
      'Hardy race of careless boys'
      Alone in Arizona
      Lost and found handkerchief
      Declining health
      On her death bed
Patriarchal blessing

BY DARYL JAMES
FROM 'JAMES/HATCH ONE MINUTE HISTORIES' (1994)
     Alice Hanson was born Dec. 10, 1836, at Little Horton Green, Bradford, Yorkshire, England. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England at age 19 or 20 and was baptized by William Attwood. She crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel and pushed a handcart across the Great Plains to be with the Saints in Utah.
     On Jan. 2, 1860, Brigham Young sealed her to Lorenzo Hill Hatch, and she became his fourth wife. "I started to the City with Brother Evans,'' Lorenzo writes on New Year's Day 1860. "I went to the office and saw Brother Calder, President Young's clerk, about having a sister sealed to me. He told me to come next day at 11 a.m. ... I learned where Sister Alice was and went to the house and saw her. I made arrangements with her to go with me to the President's the next day.'' Lorenzo's first wife, Hannah Fuller, had died in Nebraska while emigrating with him to Utah. Lorenzo then had met and married his second wife, Sylvia Eastman, as a widower in Salt Lake City in 1851. In 1854 he had entered plural marriage with Catherine Karren in Lehi, Utah.
     Alice, Sylvia and Catherine lived together with Lorenzo in Lehi for several years. There Alice bore two sons, John and Willard. "We all lived together for quite a number of years,'' Lorenzo records, "and I never heard any of these three women say one word against one another."
     In 1863 the Church called Lorenzo to preside as bishop in Franklin, Idaho, and he separated his family for the first time. Alice and her two sons went with him to Franklin, while Sylvia and Catherine remained in Lehi. Lorenzo served in Franklin for 13 years and eventually moved the rest of his family to Franklin to be with him. During those 13 years, Alice bore four more boys and two girls, giving Lorenzo a total of 23 children. (The number became 24 when Catherine bore her last son in 1879.) In 1876, the Church asked Lorenzo to visit the Saints in Arizona with Daniel H. Wells and others, and when he returned to Utah the Church asked him to go back as a missionary to the Indians and to settle part of his family in New Mexico or Arizona.
     This he did by taking Catherine and her unmarried children as far as Obed, Arizona, where he left them and proceeded to the Indian villages in New Mexico. He preached in San Lorenzo, Mexico, with his fellow missionaries and baptized a number of people there; then, he returned to Obed and brought Catherine back to San Lorenzo with him. In 1878, he returned to Utah for Alice and her family and located them in Woodruff, Arizona. He eventually brought Catherine and her family to Woodruff also. Sylvia remained in Franklin, where she cared for her children. She eventually moved to a house in Logan, Utah, and was rejoined by Lorenzo and Catherine after Alice died in Woodruff Dec. 27, 1891, at age 55.
     Pres. Jesse N. Smith and Lorenzo prayed for Alice the night she died, but she passed on a few hours afterward. She had lived in Woodruff 13 years. On Feb. 12, 1892, Lorenzo dreamed she returned to him. "Her youth and beauty were wonderfully grand,'' he said. "I asked her if that was the body we laid in the tomb. She replied that it was a portion of the same."

-- Sources: 1. Jeremiah Hatch and Family History, by Dale Hatch. Aug. 30, 1993; Soft Cover Printing; San Juan Capistrano, California. Copies held by Quola Mae HATCH James, Daryl Heber JAMES and others. 2. Journal of Lorenzo Hill Hatch. (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; Provo, Utah.

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'Kindly, affectionate nature'

BY ALICE SMITH HANSEN
MATERNAL GRANDDAUGHTER OF ALICE HANSON
     I was the first born of my mother’s family, and consequently I was given my parents' first choice of names. I was given my maternal grandmother’s name, and by a rather singular coincident my married name became Alice Hansen, the same as Grandmother’s maiden name. I never saw my grandmother as she died when Mother was only 15 years old. I always wondered about the woman whose name I bear, and very often in my childhood I studied the enlarged picture of Grandmother which always hung on the wall above Mother’s bed.
     I imagined that her face looked kindly at me from the old-fashioned picture frame. Her soft, almost sad eyes fastened an irresistible gaze on me and compelled me to study the depths of her features. Her face bore many wrinkles which hardships, not age, had placed there. Her hair was prematurely whitened. I liked the shape of her mouth, which revealed a delicate daintiness and a kindly, affectionate nature.
     My mother always spoke of Grandmother with almost a tone of reverence in her voice, for she adored the tiny parent who had been taken at an early age. Grandmother’s virtues stood paramount in my mother’s eyes, and so it is to my mother whom I am indebted for what knowledge I have of Alice Hanson Hatch.

Child laborer

     Grandmother was born at Little Horton Green near Bradford, Yorkshire, England on December 10, 1837. She no doubt was named for her grandmother, whose maiden name was Alice Hexby. Alice Hanson was the daughter of Thomas Hanson and Caroline Barker Noble Hexby. By a former marriage to Noble, Alice’s mother had borne fifteen children. Three children were born to her through the second marriage; John, Alice and Jane. In a family so large much was expected of the children. The Hansons lived in an agricultural and manufacturing area during the reign of Queen Victoria.
     Although it was a time of English peace and advancement in social and economic reforms, child labor was still accepted in the textile factories of Bradford. When only six years old, Alice went to work in the factory to help sustain herself. Here she toiled until she was almost twenty-one years old. Alice grew up knowing little outside the manufacturing plant. She never attended school and learned to read through self effort. She never learned to write.

Convert to the gospel

     Sometime between the years of 1854-1856, when Alice was between seventeen and nineteen years old, she heard about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The father, Thomas, the mother, Caroline, the sister, Jane, Alice, and her half sister, Maria Noble, were all baptized members of the church. The Mormon elders soon learned that Alice and Maria were exceptional singers. The girls were requested to help teach the messages of the truth through rendition of gospel songs. After a day’s hard work, the girls willingly walked miles to give a beautiful service through song. Alice always sang the high part with a clear, sweet voice.
     Aunt Ruth Hatch Hale, who remembered Grandmother very well, told me that the Hatch youngsters used to try to get our grandmother to sing before she left to come to Arizona. She was very modest and shy, but whenever she favored the family with her songs, they were beautiful indeed.
     When it was decided that the Hansons would immigrate to Zion, the father, Thomas Hanson, was determined that it would be best for him to precede his family’s arrival in America. He left England with good intentions of preparing a place for his family in the new world. Misfortune attended his efforts. Thomas became lost to his family for his ship sailed around south America and docked on the coast of California. His wife never did see or hear of him again.

Handcart pioneer

     With a burning desire to be with the Saints in Utah, Caroline Hanson, three daughters, and son, John (who never did join the Church) sailed to America in 1859. After reaching the eastern seaboard, they made their way to Florence, Nebraska. On June 9, 1859, they left Florence and arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, September 4, 1859. They were members of the George Rowley Handcart Company. John drove the team, which pulled the supply wagon with him. The girls walked all the way, pushing a handcart over the vast stretches of American wilderness.
     Upon entering the Salt Lake Valley, the Saints of the region welcomed the toiler travelers with sincere hospitality. On a canvas lovely red tomatoes were piled in abundance for the newcomers to eat their fill. The English girls had never seen tomatoes, but they looked tempting enough to eat. One bite was sufficient. The disappointed Britisher threw the beguiling fruit as far as she could send it. Poor toiler, hungry Grandma, if you could see our time when tomatoes rate high in the diets of everyone. Little did you know of the valuable minerals and vitamins you rejected on your first day in Zion.
     Alice did not stay long in Salt Lake City, but went to Lehi, Utah, to seek employment. Elder Lorenzo Hatch, who had brought the gospel message to Alice’s family, and for whom she had faithfully sung in the far off mission field, gave the little convert work to do in his own household. The virtues and fine attributes of the tiny English maiden won the respect and deep devotion of Elder Hatch. On January 2, 1860, Alice accepted the principle of plural marriage and became the fourth wife of Lorenzo Hill Hatch. She was then twenty-three years old.

Plural marriage

     They were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, by Brigham Young.
     For a time families of Lorenzo Hatch lived under one roof; then in 1863, he was called to colonize at Franklin, Idaho. Alice went with him and later the two other wives joined the family circle. (Lorenzo’s first wife had died in the first year of their marriage before the saints moved west.) The big Hatch family prospered in Idaho, and the father served as an enterprising bishop of the new community for many years.
     After long years of estrangement and separation from his family, Thomas Hanson was able to locate the whereabouts of his children. His wife was already dead, but his daughter Alice was gratified to see her father again after thinking that he was lost and entertaining fears of some cruel end.
     In 1876 Lorenzo Hatch was sent on an exploring trip to Arizona, and on November 7, 1877, he and Grandmother left Franklin, Idaho, to become colonizers in Northern Arizona. All of Alice’s children but one small son, Lorin, came with their parents on this last pioneering adventure. Knowing the hardships to be encountered, it was thought best to relieve the mother of some of her burdens in caring for so many little ones in a new country. Lorin, who was only four years old, was a favorite of wife Sylvia, and so was persuaded to remain with her. For Alice this was a stern and bitter blow, but she yielded to the wishes of her husband and his wife. It was evident that her little boy would have better care than it would be possible to give him in the rough conditions of building a new home. I wonder if Grandfather did not respect and love Sylvia very much to give her complete charge of this one baby. "I will bring him to you when I make future trips back to our old homeland,” promised the father. It was a sad farewell when Alice forever said, “goodbye” to her little one and the comfortable home she must exchange for a new one in a desolate and forbidding land.

Called to Arizona

     It was not until February 1878, that the group of pioneers came to Woodruff, Arizona, located among the barren hills in the valleys of the Little Colorado River.
     The people of Woodruff were living the United Order, and Alice took her turn serving in the kitchen one week at a time. In 1879 the Hatches moved to Taylor, Arizona, where they lived until 1888. They moved again to the Woodruff Settlement.
     The Father made occasional trips to Utah to visit his family, who remained there and never came to pioneer in Arizona. Lorin was satisfied with his home and foster mother. He did not know or seem to care about the woman who had given him birth and whose heart ached in lonely desecration for the child who was never hers to caress and cuddle.
     Alice Hanson Hatch made excellent adjustment to whatever conditions life brought her. She was a thrifty and immaculate housekeeper and made use of whatever pioneer conditions afforded. It is said she was an excellent cook and entertained many in her humble home. Her husband was always an important and respected citizen. He served as second counselor to Lot Smith in the Little Colorado Stake, and first counselor to Jesse N. Smith in the Snowflake Stake.
     Many visitors came to partake of the hospitality of the Hatch home, for everyone was made welcome in those hard years of pioneering.

Large posterity

     Alice was a true convert to Mormonism. For the sake of the gospel she had left her native land and had walked hundreds of miles pushing a handcart that she might come and live in Zion. She lived the doctrine of plural marriage, pioneered in Idaho and Arizona. She quietly bore her trials without murmuring or complaints. She was modest, reserved and shy, almost to a fault. To her children she was a pattern of excellence, for they all adored their tiny English mother.
     She bore nine children. One was stillborn, but eight lived to rear families of their own.
     On December 27, 1891, at her home in Woodruff, the pioneer mother, at the age of fifty-four, was relieved of earthly toils and cares. She died after a brief illness thought to have been pneumonia. She lies buried in the cemetery at Woodruff, Arizona.
     All of her seven children who came to Arizona have settled in various sections of the state. Her children have left a posterity of 87 grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren, and great, great-grandchildren. Thus the name of Alice Hanson Hatch will long be remembered among the children of men.

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Shy Alice

BY JO ANN F. HATCH
FROM "WILLING HANDS: A BIOGRAPHY OF LORENZO HILL HATCH"
PPS. 284-297
     Lorenzo Hill Hatch met Alice Hanson while on his mission to England in 1856. He describes her as a "poor, bashful girl" (Journal 167). Lorenzo mentions taking meals at the home of a Sister Hanson several times in the course of his missionary journal, but it is not known if he speaks of Alice's mother.
     Alice was born at Little Horton Green near Bradford, Yorkshire, England in 1837. Little Horton Green was in a manufacturing district and child labor was still an accepted way of life in England. At the tender age of six she was set to work in the factory. Alice grew up with little knowledge of the world outside the great manufacturing plant. She was never privileged to attend school and only learned to read in her later life, through self effort. She never learned to write. This was her lot until the journey to America with the Saints when she was twenty-one (Biography of Lulu Jane Hatch Smith, on file at Snowflake Family History Library).
     Alice was the second child born to Caroline Barker and her second husband, Thomas Hanson, who were both natives of Yorkshire. Baptism dates into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the mother and father are given as 1850, and for Alice as 1854 (Ancestral File Family Group Records). As a young woman in Yorkshire, Alice and her sister Jane enjoyed helping the missionaries with the singing during meetings. The sisters, though shy, had lovely singing voices.
     By 1859 the Hanson family made preparations to sail to America with other Saints from England. Lorenzo says in his journal that Alice came to Utah with her mother, two sisters and brother John Hanson (167). The father, Thomas Hanson, preceded his family to America, with the idea of preparing a place for them. However, the vessel on which he sailed traveled around South America and docked on the west coast of the United States. He failed to make contact with his family until years after his wife and children had made their own way to Utah and his wife, Caroline, was dead. Records in the Ancestral File at Salt Lake indicate the father, Thomas Hanson, died on June 18, 1879, in Burntfork, Sweetwater, Wyoming (Ezra Taft Hatch Family, compiled and published by the Hatch family, Show Low, Ariz., 1978).>
     The Hanson family, Mother Caroline, her three daughters (there is confusion between Lorenzo's journal entry and the Ancestral File in that one says Jane and Maria were the same person, yet Lorenzo notes that Alice had two sisters who came to America), Alice, Jane and Maria and her son, John, who never joined the church, sailed for America on April 11, 1859, on the vessel "William Tapscott." The company of 725 Saints was organized into ten wards, five English and five Scandinavian. Nine different languages were spoken by the passengers.
     They arrived at the port of New York after a thrity-one day sea voyage, and on May 14 took the steamer "Isaac Newton" to Albany. Boarding a train, the group traveled to St. Joseph, Missouri. From that railhead they traveled to Florence (Winter Quarters), Nebraska (Handcarts to Zion, Leroy and Ann W. Hafen, 166-67).

Handcart pioneer

     From Florence, the Saints were advised by church leaders to walk to Utah, pushing and pulling their possessions across the 1,000 miles of plains in handcarts. Each group arriving at the railway terminus was outfitted with handcarts and supplies, along with a few wagons to carry heavier baggage. The church also supplied a knowledgeable guide.
     This method of travel had first been tried in 1856 and met with success, as well as tragedy. Some of the handcart trains did not leave Nebraska early enough in the spring to make the three-month trek to Utah before the severe snow storms in the Rocky Mountains began. However, those trains with an early start were successful in making the journey with minimal problems.
     It was nearly three weeks after the arrival of the Hanson family in Florence before their handcarts were available and everything was arranged for the journey. Each one received a water can, some bedding, a tent for each ten persons and a few other utensils. The company included 235 persons with sixty handcarts, and six ox-drawn wagons to haul provisions and the sick. Each cart had a cover of bed ticking stretched over three bows (Handcarts 168).
     The company was under the direction of Captain George Rowley as it began its trek on June 11. Alice's brother, John Hanson, drove one of the supply wagons in which his mother rode. The sturdy Hanson sisters did their share in helping push and pull handcarts through streams, and over dreary stretches of flat plains, sometimes suffering lack of food and weary bodies.
     The handcart, a small two-wheeled vehicle with two shafts and a cover on top, was made of wood without an iron rim on the wheels. Most emigrants found they had more belongings than they were able to pull in these small carts. Many families, like the Hansons, had no idea of the items most necessary on this heroic trek. They didn't think of it as a heroic trek. They were going to Zion.
     It was difficult for the carts to keep up with the provision wagons drawn by mule teams. Often those pulling carts would take shortcuts through the brush and sand. Many of the emigrants, usused to walking distances, suffered swollen feet and sore muscles, while the pale faced factory workers from rainy England were victims of sun and wind. At their Elkhorn River camp on June 12, they met swarms of mosquitos that made the night miserable.
     The company did not stop traveling when rains came. There was no shelter, and most found it more comfortable moving than standing still in the drizzle. "In fording streams the men often carried children and weaker women across on their backs. The company stopped over on Sundays for rest, and meetings were held for spiritual comfort and guidance. At night, when the handcarts were drawn up in a cirlce and the fires lighted, the camp looked quite happy. Singing, music and speeches by the leaders cheered everyone" (Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860, Mary Ann Hafen)
     On July 3, the company met a large band of Sioux Indians, the first Indians that most of the people had ever seen. The Indians followed the handcart train for several days, staging dances at night, and one of them tried to bargain for a wife among the girls, making everyone uneasy.
     As the company arrived at laramie on July 26, they realized their rations of food would not see them into Salt Lake Valley. Rations were reduced to one pint of flour for each person, then finally to one pint for each two people. Indians again appeared in the Devil's Gate area and fightened and annoyed the emigrants.

Sister quits company

     With the company in this condition, an incident occurred that matches an oral story told among Alice's descendants, making us believe it may have been at least one of the Hanson sisters who was involved.
     Mrs. Ebenezer b. Beesley writes that the incident happened just before the company reached the Green River. "We were all literally on the verge of dying of starvation. Some of the people could go no farther, and we were in the heights of despair when we met some rough mountaineers." William Atkin also recorded this incident, though he says it happened when the handcart people arrived at Big Sandy. Atkin continues the story, "At this place was a mail station. There were three or four mountaineers and traders, a stage driver and mail agent at the station, being six or eight men in all, with more whiskey in them than good sound sense, and when (we) stopped to get water, two of (them) ... yelled, 'we want to get a wife; who wants to marry?' To our great surprise two of our young women stepped out and said they would marry them" (qtd. in Handcarts).
     It is told by some of Alice's descendants that at least one of her sisters never made it to the Salt Lake Valley but married a mountaineer along the way. This may account for not being able to find information of the other Hanson sister, or sisters, in the LDS Church records.
     When the George Rowley handcart company rolled down Emigration Canyon on September 4, 1859, everyone turned out to welcome them. They were escorted to Emigration Square where the Utah farmers placed baskets of tomatoes for the emigrants to eat their fill. Mrs. Ebenezer Beesley recorded the arrival in her journal, remembering that it was a Sunday afternoon. "I never shall forget how clean (everyone) looked. Oh, they all looked so fresh and clean and nice. The women were all dressed in calico dresses and wore sunbonnets. Oh, it was so good!" The newly arrived Saints were place with families or in campgrounds until they could be permanently located.

Three wives, one roof

     Very little is known concerning Alice's family, where they settled or what became of them after arriving in Utah (Letter from Lorenzo Hill Hatch in Coveville, Utah, 14 May 1886, says: "I found a nephew and two nieces of Alice's who is much respected living in gentile valley"). The Ezra Taft Hatch Family book says that Alice went to Lehi to work in the household of Lorenzo Hill Hatch; however, that is doubted after reading Lorenzo's journal. On January 2, 1860, four months following their arrival, Alice was sealed to Lorenzo by President Brigham Young as his third plural wife. Soon she joined Sylvia and Catherine in their Lehi home.
     Shy, bashful Alice may have had a very difficult time during her first years of marriage. She had no background in pioneering methods as needed in this new rugged land, and probably very few homemaking skills. Sylvia and Catherine were her examples and teachers.
     The three wives lived under the same roof until a call for the Hatch family to move to Idaho came in 1863. By this time Alice had two sons, John and Willard. This young family was first to go to Franklin, Idaho, with Lorenzo. Here the Saints lived in fort-like conditions and Lorenzo settled Alice in a small cabin on the east side of the fort. She would never again live with her sister-wives for any length of time.

A home of her own

     In 1864 Alice had her third son, Ezra Taft, who was named for Apostle Ezra T. Benson, a missionary companion of Lorenzo's and a neighbor in the frontier country of Idaho. In October 1865, Alice's mother, Caroline Hanson, died at Coalville, just north of Salt Lake City.
     By the time the 1870 census was taken, thirty-two-year-old Alice had five sons. Lorenzo is listed in the household of Sylvia, with Catherine and Alice each being shown as separate households. All children who were of age were attending school (1870 U.S. Census, Cache County, Utah -- Franklin was thought at this time to be in Utah). In October of this year Alice had her sixth child and first daughter, Marie Annettie.
     From Lorenzo's journal: "November 12, 1872. Alice bore a son. It was born dead. On the 13th I made a coffin and got a lot in the burying ground on the west side of the plot. About four P.M. Brother Biggs went and helped bury the remains of my son. Alice is doing well as can be expected."
     Under the date of June 27, 1873, Lorenzo writes: "On the night of the 24th I had a son born to me (Joseph Lorin, the seventh son of Alice). I have been greatly blessed in my family. I would that they would grow up to be great and good men. ... I have to date twenty living children, ten sons and ten daughters."
     In late 1875 the pressure of persecution forced Lorenzo to leave Franklin and travel south to refuge in St. George. Alice and her family remained at Franklin and on May 22, 1876, Alice bore her ninth child and second daughter, Lula Jane. Her older sons were the main work force on the Hatch farm at Franklin under the direction of their half brother, Lafayette, who was now a married man of twenty-five.

Never sees son again

     In the autumn months of 1878 Lorenzo returned to Franklin and made arrangements to move Alice and her family into Arizona Territory where the Saints were struggling to establish homes in the desolate land along the Little Colorado. Lorenzo encouraged Alice to leave her four-year-old son, Joseph Lorin, with Sylvia, since the would would be long and hard and Alice had Lula, less than two years old, to look after. Alice never returned to Utah or Idaho, and never saw her little son Joseph Lorin again. After the hard trip to Arizona Territory, Alice and her family lived for a time at the settlement of Sunset on the Little Colorado River before moving to the small village of Woodruff, where the Saints were organized under the United Order. Lorenzo also moved Catherine and her family into the fort at Woodruff.
     In March 1879 Alice and her family moved to a farm twenty-four miles south of Woodruff near Bagley (Taylor). On March 24 Lorenzo records, "Took Alice and family and started to the farm (at Taylor). Arrived about dark. Wednesday I fitted up the house and prepared to leave for St. Johns." Lorenzo was a counselor in the Little Colorado Stake and later in the Eastern Arizona Stake, so spent much time traveling to the various wards and branches.
     On June 18 of this year Thomas Hanson, Alice's father, died in Burntfork, Wyoming. She very likely did not know of this incident.
     Though Lorenzo enountered problems with the United Order brethren concerning the farm at Taylor, he continued to build a place for Alice and her family. On October 6 he recorded the first heavy frost of the year and says, "Willard (son) made adobes and on the 23rd I made adobes and commenced my chimney ... On Monday as I was topping out my chimney it fell ... the foundation ... I cleared out the dobies and dirt ... got some rock and laid up a good foundation. On Friday finished the chimney and laid the hearth."
     Lorenzo maintained two households at Woodruff and Taylor with difficulty. On January 28 he says, "... started for the Farm (Taylor) from Woodruff at two P.M.. It was snowing fast and continued to snow. We traveled fifteen miles and could follow the road no farther. Camped, but failed to get a fire and laid down on blankets in the snow. ... with light of morning proceeded on through fourteen inches of snow ... arriving a little after dark at my home (in Taylor). Found the family well and a good fire. I felt we had been wonderfully preserved and to God be the praise. The family had just run out of supplies. I brought some graham flour, corn meal, and twenty three pounds of flour."
     In the 1880 U.S. Census, forty-two-year-old Alice is listed as the head of household at Taylor, Arizona Territory, under the name of Alice Hanson. Lorenzo was enumerated in the Woodruff census with Catherine and her family. Alice's children were nineteen-year-old John, whose occupation was given as "herding," Willard, 17; Ezra, 16; Jeremiah, 14; and Albert, 12, were listed as "on the farm." Nine-year-old Annettie and four-year-old Lula J. were "at home."
     This was the first time in her married life Alice had been given the responsibility of making a home beyong the shadow of either Sylvia or Catherine, or both. She did well, for Lorenzo said, "Alice is one of the best cooks when provided, and begins to be noticed in good style. I am glad to say this in her favor. She reads considerable" (Letter to HEH, July 1881).

'Hardy race of careless boys'

     Lorenzo was not as encouraged about the future of Alice's boys. After three years in the Territory of Arizona, he felt they had gone a little wild on the frontier. "I believe (Alice) could do much more with the boys if she chose, but she is the mother of a hardy race of careless boys, and if any of them make a mark in society it will be self made as they take no stock in (what others say)." It should be noted that all of Lorenzo and Alice's Arizona sons remained faithful to the church. John, their oldest, became a much beloved patriarch in Snowflake Stake. A grandson served as counselor to Spencer W. Kimball in the Mt. Graham Stake, Safford, Arizona. Another grandson became the sixth bishop of Woodruff, Arizona Ward. Willard, Ezra, George Jeremiah and Heber Albert all held responsible positions throughout their lives.
     Alice's boys were shaving shakes, chinking walls, plowing fields, hauling wood and wild hay, and freighting. Lorenzo was teaching them to work, but had fears they were not humble enough. Before the year was out they were working away from home, some of them on the coming railroad and John in the Gila Valley. They returned in August and Lorenzo was grateful. "I was truly glad to get my boys home once more as I had had much anxiety about them. I do not want my boys to labor among the wicked" (117).
     Alice traveled with Lorenzo toward conferences and he took her the four miles into Taylor or Snowflake with him often. In April of 1880 Lorenzo made note, "Took the mules and Alice and went to Reidhead. Held meeting."
     Alice visited in the home of Catherine at Woodruff, as in May 1881, Lorenzo notes, "... loaded up some pigs, took Alice and started for Woodruff. One of the tires ran off and we lost one of the pigs. Fixed wagon at Woodruff. Friday I took Alice and Adeline (Catherine's daughter) and went to St. Joseph to attend conference."
     In 1882 Lorenzo notes the harvesting at Taylor by Alice's boys and also that Willard dug a well at the place. On November 9 he dedicated Alice's house in Taylor (133). Forty-five-year-old Alice was now quite gray, with a sad and melancholy countenance. She still struggled with her shyness but was a dedicated mother and had learned the skills of a pioneer homemaker. Lorenzo says in one letter, "Alice is out smoking some hams, so I am alone this evening" (LHH to HEH, 24 Mar 1888). Her children ranged in age from twenty-two-year-old John to six-year-old Lula.

Alone in Arizona

     In December 1884 Lorenzo was at home with Alice and her family in Taylor when he received word from President Jesse N. Smith to leave at once since the federal officers were diligently seeking and arresting polygamists in the area. At this leave taking, Lorenzo called the family together and in an emotional prayer committed his family to the care of the Living God before he left (145). Lorenzo and Catherine traveled to Utah, where they stayed until July 1885 and had only just returned to Arizona when Lorenzo was advised by Church President John Taylor to divide his families and bring them to Utah. Alice declared she would stay in Arizona with her grown boys: "Alice feers (sic) that the boys will all forsake her if she goes from her home. She will stay where she is" (LHH to HEH, 4 Sep 1885).
     During much of 1886 until Lorenzo returned to Arizona in January 1887, Alice and her family were alone in Arizona (Jesse N. Smith Journal 335). Catherine remained in Utah and by August 1888, Alice was moved into the more comfortable Woodruff home.
     Many times in his journal Lorenzo refers to writing letters to Sylvia or Catherine, but never does he mention writing to Alice, even in his long absences. She did not read or write well enough to exchange letters.

Lost and found handkerchief

     In an 1888 letter to Hezekiah E. Hatch, Lorenzo thanks him for sending presents and says, "Alice is very proud of her handkerchief. She has had two quite severe sick spells of late" (1888).
     This may be the same handkerchief referred to by Pres. Jesse N. Smith when on February 10, 1890, Lorenzo and Alice went to St. Joseph with him to attend a celebration of Brother and Sister John Bushman's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. "The morning was fine but a high wind arose increasing to a hurricane. We stopped at the Co-op store in Holbrook hoping the wind would go down; our hopes were in vain. Started on about four P.M., the hurricane still raging. Sister Hatch lost a fine silk handkerchief."
     Having so few fine things, this was a great loss for Alice. Two days later as the party returned to Woodruff, President Smith notes, "On the return we found Sister Hatch's handkerchief near the road, which seemed remarkable considering the strength of the wind when it was lost out of the carriage" (JNS Journal 376).
     In September 1890, Alice and Lorenzo gathered over one hundred pounds of wild grapes in a canyon near Woodruff. Alice either dried them or made them into jelly over the next days.
     On the 14th of September Alice accompanied Lorenzo and the rest of the stake presidency, along with their other wives, to Tuba on the Navajo reservation for conference. After much rain, bad roads and a broken spring on the Hatch buggy, the family finally arrived at Tuba. Meetings were held Sunday and Monday. At the Monday meeting the women were expected to speak to the crowd. Alice became ill and was unable to fulfill this obligation, perhaps from fright, or she may have experienced a recurrence of her earlier sickness.
     In 1890, Lula Jane, Alice's youngest child who was fourteen years old, went to Taylor in November to help her married half sisters who lived there. Her full sister, Annettie, also was in Taylor, having married James J. Shumway in 1887. On November 1, Lorenzo returned from a conference in St. Joseph and found Alice alone, which must have been an unusual occurrence for him to make not of it.

Declining health

     Alice was not well over the next months, but traveled with Lorenzo to Taylor and Snowflake, usually staying with her daughter, Annettie Shumway, while Lorenzo attended stake business. On December 7 Lorenzo made a plea, "May heaven inspire me in my high calling and heal my sick grandchildren and Alice" (156).
     The weather was cold and snowing much of the time during January 1891 when Lorenzo took Alice with him to St. Johns and Erastus. He stopped at several homesteads along the way and gave nine patriarchal blessings on the five-day trip.
     On January 31 Lorenzo and Alice went to St. Joseph for conference. Returning home they ran into a deep wash and broke a wheel. Sixty-five-year-old Lorenzo and fifty-five-year-old Alice unhooked the horses and rode them on into Woodruff. Lorenzo says, "Got home much disheartened ..." (158).
     On March 6 Lorenzo records five inches of snow at Taylor and ten at Woodruff. The storm caught he and Alice in Taylor where they had gone for stake conference and to attend Water Board meetings and make a visit to the grist mill. After a week they started for home in Woodruff and were on the road by eight A.M. It was beautiful overhead but the melting snow and sticky mud made the road almost impossible. Lorenzo got an extra horse to help them along, and to lighten the load he walked most of the way. Alice and Lula walked at least five miles, and after twelve hours the weary travelers arrived in Woodruff (159).
     On July 24 Alice and Lorenzo went to Wild Cat Canyon for the Pioneer Day celebration. On August 13 Lorenzo records, "My dear companion, Alice, was taken sick, cramping and vomiting. Friday, still very sick. Lula was in Taylor. She came home Saturday. Alice still no better. We have administered to her. At six P.M. I called the Bishop and three others to administer to dear Alice. She suffered much during the night. Lula and I fasted and prayed for dear Alice as she has been terrible sick. The Lord heard our prayers and Alice recovered." These events must have taken place over a period of several days, though they are all under the date of August 13.
     On Sunday, August 23, Lorenzo went to a conference in Pinedale, and when he returned, found Alice "much improved in health." She accompanied Lorenzo to Taylor for stake conference, and on October 26 went with him to Fort Apache with a load of freight. They stopped at the sawmill for lumber on their return trip and Lorenzo held meetings in Pinetop with church members. On Monday the two old folks, with their wagon load of lumber, started home. Five miles out of Pinetop a wheel broke. Orin Kartchner came along and happened to have what was needed to fix the wheel. They drove into Woodruff on November 4 after a nine day trip. Lorenzo pronounced it a "good and glorious time." Alice, in her sickness, may have not enjoyed it as much, for when he went again to Fort Apache late in November, she stayed home.
     In early December Lorenzo says, "Our prospects are brighter than at any other time in our history. ... Sunday, December 20th, I read the Juvenile to Alice as usual and we went to meeting" (166).
     The next day Lorenzo hauled wood for the dam. Before he returned home with the last load, it began to snow and darkness fell. His son (Heber Albert) came looking for him since it was late and the storm severe, and Lorenzo says, "Dear Alice was waiting my arrival and had a good supper and fire waiting for me."
     After a cold and bitter night, Lorenzo and a Mr. Hanson killed one of his hogs, cut it up and salted the 234 pounds of meet. He recorded, "Alice desired to make her sausage and Hanson prepared the meat while she made the other arrangements. At seven P.M. we were busy filling the sausages. At half past ten we ate our supper and retired to our bed."

On her death bed

     Two days later Alice was on her death bed. Lorenzo tells of their struggles during the next few days. "Dec. 24th ... Dear Alice was quite poorly. I greatly feared she might leave us soon. I prayed earnestly for her. At six P.M. she told me she felt too bad to prepare the apples and oranges for the Christmas tree. She got them and requested me to take them to Nora, my daughter, to be prepared for the grandchildren. Christmas, Friday, 25th ... Alice was no better, but got up and tried to stay up, but had to go back to bed. Heber (Albert) and Addie came to see her. She said she was no worse and would soon be better and they left for Snowflake.
     "I felt greatly distressed and sorrowful being alone with a dear mother and companion who was failing fast. Christmas was indeed a solemn and lonely day. Nora (Catherine's daughter) came on Saturday and worked diligently to sweat her and bring some relief. At half past eleven P.M. she was in a most critical condition. Brother Dexter and I administered to her but her hands and feet were cold. I had two warm flat irons at her feet. Again I prayed earnestly for her, hoping that Lula would come before death should take her away. President Smith spent the evening with me and prayed earnestly for us.
     "I wished to send for Nora but did not dare to leave her. O, what was my feelings! I held her until morning ... plead for her life, but at eleven P.M. she left us. I dedicated her to God. (When she died) Brother Dexter was with me, Sister Lillywhite and my daughter Lula. ... Lula, heart-broken, went to Dexter's for the rest of the night" (166-67). Lula was fifteen years old.
     Lorenzo felt the last few months had been "the most cheerful and pleasurable time of (Alice's) life," perhaps because their home was as comfortable as any Alice had enjoyed, and the children, excepting Lula, were all making their own way. Alice had been able to travel with Lorenzo often and he seemed more solicitious of her than in earlier years when he must scramble from morning till evening to carve out a home for the large family in this hostile Arizona Territory. At her death Lorenzo told his journal, "Her love for me was unbounded."

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Patriarchal blessing

PATRIARCH JOHN YOUNG
BLESSING GIVEN 7 FEBRUARY 1860 AT LEHI, UTAH
     Sister Alice: In the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I lay my hands upon your head to bless you with the blessings of this Gospel. You left your native land for its sake. Therefore, you shall be blessed with the blessings of the New Covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for you are a lawful heir, a literal descendant of Ephraim. You shall be a blessing to your Father’s House and to your husband, for your heart is honest and you will be willing to abide the Celestial laws.
     You shall be a mother in Israel, having a numerous posterity on the earth. Do much good in your day and generation and see good days in the land of the living. Be a blessing to all associated with you. It is your privilege to hold a portion of the Priesthood in connection with your husband, that you may have the privilege of administering with your husband. Your heart shall rejoice the abundance of good things of the heavens and the earth. No good thing shall be withheld from you. You shall have power over all weakness to conquer self and all that may be under your supervision. You shall have the knowledge of the principles of salvation, even all that is necessary for your exaltation. You shall live just as long as life is sweet unto you. In all times of danger and disaster, the Lord will not forsake you, but his fostering hand will be round about you and you shall live to be gathered up to the Center Stake of Zion with your husband and rejoice with the Saints of God, and no good thing shall be withheld from you if you walk uprightly.
     And you shall have dreams unto you, and your heart shall rejoice while on your earthly pilgrimage. Sister, be faithful, for thou shalt overcome and enter in through the gates into the City and have a place in the New Heavens and New Earth. Oh, rejoice with the Saints of God. You have forsaken all for the Gospel’s sake.
     I seal these blessings upon you by virtue of the Holy Priesthood which is given to the Servants of God on the earth. And in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Caroline BARKER
Alice HANSON
Thomas HANSON

CHILDREN WITH LORENZO HILL HATCH