Elizabeth Gale Kartchner

ELIZABETH GALE KARTCHNER

January 20, 1845 - March 9, 1928

Contributed By ryleychristopherrandall1 · familysearch.org, Elizabeth Gale Kartchner was the maternal grandmother of Irene Stratton Flake, and the second wife of William Decatur Kartchner.

Elizabeth Gale was the daughter of Henry Gale and Sarah Wills. She was born January 20, 1845, in Sydney, Australia. The following was copied from her handwriting. "May 8, 1952 two Mormon missionaries came to the home. My parents were converted and joined the church in 1852. In the fall they emigrated with the Elders for Zion in a sail ship. We were three months on the ocean. A baby brother was born on the ship. We arrived in San Bernardino in June, 1853. We lived there for four years. The winter of 1857 we left for Utah. A baby sister was born at Las Vegas, Nevada. She was born in the wagon. One night our team was missing. The company all hunted for them. They could not find them and they were going to go on the next morning. My mother had a dream and she saw them. She told father and he went and found them right in the spot where she had seen them. In February, 1858, we landed in Beaver, Utah. There were only two or three log houses there. We lived in a cellar the first winter with no roof except a wagon cover or quilt. We would have to shake off the snow before we could get up. My father was a farmer and I being the oldest would help him in the field in the summer. We would cut the grain with a sickle. I would cut and bind my bundles. In the winter my brother and I would braid straw for hats. Mother would sew them. The next summer Father hired a man to cradle the grain. I would follow the cradle and rake it in bundles for father to bind. I also helped to haul and stack. On November 9, 1859, my father was ordained an Elder. On July 16, 1871, he was ordained a High Priest. On December 30, 1875, he was called as a member of the High Council &the Beaver Stake. He has done work in the temples at St. George and Manti. He was a hard working man and a true Latter-day Saint. He endured all the hardships of a new country. He died December 26, 1891.""On December 5, 1862, I was married to William Decatur Kartchner. We traveled to Salt Lake by team and were married in the Endowment House. We lived in Beaver until we were called by the Presidency and Twelve Apostles to go to Muddy, Nevada. We had one little boy. We arrived at the Muddy on October 4, 1865. We lived there four years. While there we had three other children. It was a lovely country. As we traveled down, we stopped at a place called Beaver Dam. There was quite a grove of cottonwood trees. Where the seed fell, the young trees came up. They were about twoo feet long and about as large around as a pencil. I pulled up several branches by the roots and wrapped them in gunny sacks. When we got located, I set them out on the ditch bank. They grew so last that when we left there, my husband cut one down and made an ox yoke."

"We raised cotton and corn and grain and all kinds of vegetables. Our fruit trees were just beginning to bear and our grain was about six inches high and nice and green when we left there. We then settled in Panguitch. Two boys were added to our family. Then in the spring conference in 1877, we were called to go to Arizona. We started in 1877, and arrived at a place below St. Joseph, on January 22, 1878. We called it Taylor. While there a daughter was born. We tried to make a town but the river would rise and washed out the dam twice. We became discouraged and moved from there on August 7, 1878 and arrived at Stinson, on August 9th, now called Snowflake. On November 17, 1878, I moved into my little log house, one of the first built here. In due time, three little daughters were added to our family. In December, 1880, we petitioned for a post office which was granted and my husband was postmaster at the first post office in Snowflake. He continued in that office until he went blind. He had poor health for several years, and died on May 14, 1892, leaving me with a large family of ten children. Two were buried, and I have eight living, and they are all married in the temple, have families, and are all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in good standing. The Lord has blessed me with good health. I am now 75 years old and am well and strong, for which I feel thankful. My desire is to do good while I live and that I may be faithful and true to the end."
Grandmother spent the last months, even to the last days of her life, doing temple work, serving and working for others, and then slipped from this sphere into eternity. She lived nearly 36 years as a widow. She was always energetic and self-sustaining. At the age of 83, she was in Mesa doing temple work and living with her daughter, Zina. One evening as she walked by an old well in the yard, she lost her footing and slipped into the well. The irrigation water had run into it, making a slippery pathway. She was found in a short time, but was dead. She died on March 9, 1928. Her funeral was held in Snowflake on March 11, 1928. A white marble stone marks her grave.