Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Almira Hamblin

Female 1860 - 1940  (80 years)


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  • Name Almira Hamblin 
    Born 6 Oct 1860  Gunlock, Washington, Utah, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Died 23 Nov 1940  Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried 24 Nov 1940  Mesa Cemetery, Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I2042  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family George Washington Adair,   b. 26 Jan 1861, Santa Clara, Washington, Utah, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 10 Jan 1934, Bloomfield, San Juan, New Mexico, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 72 years) 
    Married 22 Jan 1879  Saint George, Washington, Utah, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1231  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Censuses:
      1880 US: Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona, FHL film 1254036, (National Archives Film T9-0036), p. 18B:
      George Adair, Farmer, age 20, b. UT
      Almire Adair, age 19, b. UT
      George W. Adair, age 5M., b. AZ
      Note: George's father's family listed as a neighbor.

      1900 Federal Census, San Juan County, New Mexico, Precinct No. 6 Bloomfield (Hammond):
      Adair, George W. Head-W-M-Jan 1861- 39- Marr-20-Utah, Ala, Neb Farmer
      ", Almira Wife- W-F- Oct 1860-40- marr-20-Utah, Ala, Iowa
      ", Roy Son- W-M-Jun 1882-18-Sing- -Ariz- Utah, Utah Farm Lab.
      ", Bertha Dau - W-F- Apr 1886-14-Sing- - Ariz, Utah, Utah At School
      ", Clarence Son- W-M- Feb 1888-12-Sing - Ariz, Utah, Utah -At School
      ", Leonora Dau- W-F- Feb 1890- 10-Sing - Ariz, Utah, Utah- At School
      ", Guy Son- W-M-Jul 1892- 7-Sing -Ariz, Utah, Utah- At School
      ", Emily Dau- W-F- May 1894- 6-Sing -Utah, Utah, Utah
      ", Betsy Dau- W-F- Jun 1896- 4-Sing - Nev, Utah, Utah
      ", Alfred Son- W-M-May 1898-2- Sing - Utah, Utah, Utah

      2. The Tuachan Amphitheater and Center for the Arts in St. George bills itself as "Broadway in the Desert." It is beautifully set in the open in a red rock canyon. From Sep. 12 to Oct. 12, 2002 it presented "Utah! The Jacob Hamblin Story. I was able to attend. It was very well done and chronicled Jacob's struggle to peacefully deal with the Indian population. It also staged the early events of St. George area including the devastating flooding of the local river.

      3. In the excerpts cited above from the book "Nutrioso and Her Neighbors," there are some things that appear to be hearsay and anecdotal. The following excellent excerpts prepared by Don Smith help clarify when the Adairs came from Utah to Arizona:
      a. From Gennett (Adair) Clark Story [daughter of Samuel Newton Adair]:
      "So on the Eleventh day of November 1879 we left Washington on our way to Arizona. I thought then that we were going so far away that we would never see Utah or our home again. At Kanab my father' s brother George W. Adair and his family joined us. In my father's family there was father, mother, my brother Charlie, myself, Abe, Minia, Mary and the baby Anna then six months old. In my uncle's family there was Uncle George, Aunt Emily, their daughter Emily, sons Daniel, William, John, Newton and baby Ruth and Aunt Emily's brother John Tyler. They were daughter and son of Daniel Tyler of the Mormon Battalion. Each family had two wagons and each had a few head of cattle besides teams and riding horses... We landed in Concho on the eleventh of January 1880. Concho was a little town, mostly mexican. One family there was William Pulsifer another Mormon Battalion man and Uncle to Aunt Emily. He had bought a place there with three small rooms, flat dirt roof and facing the north and built like this (rectangle). They let Uncle George live in the East Room, my folks had the middle room and they lived in the west room. Pulsifers had three or four children so there was seven grown people and fifteen or sixteen children, but we managed to get along until spring, then Uncle George decided to move to a place called Nutrioso. The stories he had heard of Elk, Deer and Wild Turkeys interested him."
      b. From Almira's Life Story [Almira Hamblin Adair, wife of Geo. Adair, Jr., son of Geo. and Ann Chestnut Adair]: "Both the Adair family and my family answered the call. The Adair family was to leave a few months before our family, so, we decided we would get married as we didn't want to be separated... There were 45 families in our company. Our Captain was Mr. John Mangum. A man of great courage, he had crossed the plains in earlier days.We were on the road seven days before we reached Lee's Ferry, on the Big Colorado. We were compelled to travel very slowly as we all had our cattle with us. In mother's herd there were about 250 head... The snow was about two feet deep by this time, but not so very cold. The next morning after the baby's birth we traveled on toward Sunset and arrived there the third day. This was a little Mormon settlement on the Little Colorado. The people who had come the year before had raised a crop so the travelers could get supplies. This little settlement was just across the Little Colorado from where Winslow is today. Just two weeks after our baby's birth, sister Jane's baby arrived, a girl. We stayed in Sunset two weeks and during that time my brother and brother-in-law put up a one roomed log cabin. Mother, brother Billy's family and Jane and her husband stayed there two months. As Baby and I were all right we went on after two weeks to Concho, where George's father and the rest of his people were. Father Adair and the Clark boys and George's Uncle Newton had been at Concho about two months when we came. They had put [up] cabins for shelter, planning to stay here until spring."
      c. Don's summary on Samuel Jefferson Adair: "I think it's very significant that Samuel Jefferson Adair wasn't mentioned as traveling with either group. I think he went to Arizona in early summer of 1880. If you look in the ordinance index, Samuel Jefferson was sealed to Betsy Mangum & Marie Christiane Sorensen on the 10 of March 1880 in the St. George Temple. The rest of the family (George Washington, Samuel Jefferson & George Jr.) was already in Arizona. I don't think Samuel would have made the rugged trip back to Utah so soon if he had been in Arizona. I believe he went to Arizona with his brother Thomas Jefferson Adair soon after the sealing date, as he appears on the 1880 census in Show Low Creek, the same community as Thomas Jefferson Adair. Show Low Creek was later known as Fool's Hollow, which is approximately 30 miles from Concho. As we know Samuel & Anne moved on to St. John's a little later."

      4. Father is William Haynes Hamblin (Jacob Hamblin's younger brother) and Betsey Jane Leavitt. Also noted in Ordinance Index as "Elmira".

      5. FHL film 392631 LDS "Patriarchal Blessings Index"; two blessings listed:
      A. Almira Hamblin Adair, b. Oct. 6, 1860 at Gunlock, Washington, Utah, parents William Hans Hamblin and Betsy Levitt. Blessing date Dec. 4, 1889 at New Harmony, Utah. Lineage: Ephraim. Patriarch Daniel Tyler. Vol. 262, p. 181.
      A. Almira Adair, b. Oct. 6, 1860 at Santa Clara, Utah, parents William Haines Hamblin and Betsey Leavitt. Blessing date Dec. 8, 1934 at Mesa, Arizona. Patriarch John F. Nash. Vol. 711, p. 624.

      BIOGRAPHY:
      1. Autobiography of Almira Hamblin Adair received from Don and Carolyn Smith of Bloomfield, NM:
      "Almira Hamblin Adair. Daughter of William Hamblin and Betsy Jane Leavitt Hamblin.
      I was born in the year of 1860. My father owned a farm on the Santa Clara just three miles above the little settlement of the same name. This place is in Southern Utah.
      At the time of my arrival there were two older children. The first, a boy, William Dudley, always called by the family, Billy. Jane just two years younger than Billy, with blue eyes and fair hair.
      I was the dark one, having black hair and eyes and was the smallest of the family. I think perhaps this was one reason father petted me so much. He was a very kind, loving father and husband and to me he was very tender always.
      Father was a tall, well built man and also very handsome, having brown eyes and very black hair. He was also very much respected and loved by every one who knew him.
      At the time of my arrival my mother was 23. She was slender and very graceful. She had soft brown hair and beautiful gray eyes. She was a very wonderful mother and a woman of great courage, as this story will tell.
      My father and mother were very happy and congenial together. They made a handsome couple. Father enjoyed so much the evenings at home with his family and today one of my most precious and vivid memories is of him at ease in his big chair, the older children grouped near and myself on his knee, and mother busy about some task or knitting near by. Father had a good voice and loved to sing and it was he who taught me the songs in my Childhood.
      The year I was four years old we moved to the little settlement of Santa Clara and we all went to school there.
      At that time father went to his cattle ranch at mountain meadows. The Ute Indians were very hostile at this time. They would run off all the cattle and horses they could find and the men were constantly riding to keep track of their stock.
      During the summer the men moved their families to the ranches so they could make butter and cheese for the winter. The women had to learn to handle fire arms and to be able to shoot straight, as well as the men, to protect themselves from the Indians.
      Our ranch house was built with high walls around it to keep any intruders out. I can remember one occasion when Father was leaving very distinctly. He said, "Betsy, don't let an Indian come close to this house today while I am gone. Have your rifle ready and if anyone comes over the hill and doesn't give you a signal shoot and shoot straight. I will wave to you when I come over the hill". Mother watched very carefully all day. Just before sunset a rider appeared over the hill at a full gallop. She held her rifle to her eye and was just about to shoot when the signal was given, it was father.
      Often the Indians came to the ranch and seemed very friendly, were pleased when they were treated so well and fed and would go away very quietly. Sometimes when the men happened to be away they came and ordered the women to give them something to eat and were very ugly. At such times mother always had her gun ready and would make them leave. One morning an Indian came who had always seemed very friendly. He seemed in an ugly state and ordered mother to give him food. Mother told him she had none. He told her to give him a gun then and he could kill some meat and he tried to reach for the gun, which was close to mother. She was too quick for him and snatched it up and held it ready to shoot and told him to leave at once. He looked at her and knew she meant it, so he fled.
      A few years later when we went to the ranch, three or four other families went with us. They all built their houses within the wall around our house, which made a sort of fort.
      The Indians were still very hostile and many times would come upon settlers in out of the way places and kill them. However, there were always some friendly Indians who would warn the people when one of these war parties was on. In this way they were ready for them when they came.
      At one time all the men except Uncle Thomas Leavitt, mother's brother, were compelled to leave and while they were away word came that a band of Indians were on the war path and coming to the ranch. The children were all put in one of the houses and two of the women who were timid and unable to shoot stayed with us to keep us quiet. We were all very frightened and none of us make a sound. One woman, Aunt Anne, who was very delicate and timid fainted and was put to bed.
      The other three women helped Uncle Tom to get the guns ready. They were always kept loaded. Just then they heard the whoops of the Indians who were coming over the hills. There were about 15 Indians in the party and their yells were terrible. The women stood in front of the door with their guns ready with Uncle Tom outside the stockade his rifle ready. They surrounded him and said. "you brave man you shoot?" He said, If you shoot at me, I shall." They said, "You are alone, what can you do?" He answered, "I'll kill several and the women will kill more." One brave said, ng if possible. At this they went to singing and dancing and shooting arrows into the ground. Uncle Tom stepped back and handed his gun to mother. He picked up a sharp stake and danced and sang with them and threw his stake into the ground. They were astonished at this and said, "We will kill you, you afraid?"
      He looked them in the eye and said, "No, I'm not afraid and you will not kill me. We are your friends and will not harm you unless you try to harm us." The chief said "We hungry, what you do?" Uncle Tom said, "We will give you a fat steer if you will take it and go." The Indians told him they could kill him and take all the cattle, but Uncle Tom could see they were surprised and also undecided about it, as they had only their bows and arrows and Uncle Tom and the women had their guns. They argued a long time. Uncle Tom told them the men would be there right away and that the settlers from the town would be with them, so they finally took the beef and left.
      It seemed to us children that they were there for ages and when they had gone we were all very thankful and felt that the Lord had helped us. If Uncle Tom had not been very cool and brave we would perhaps all have been killed.
      When the Indians left the chief said, "You brave man." The Indians always, above all things, admired bravery.
      Father owned some silver mines in Nevada, so we moved to Clover Valley not far from Pioche. He later sold the mines. A little later two companies had a lawsuit over them and father was, of course, the star witness, as he had been the discoverer of them. The morning the trial was to be held mother seemed very anxious and he promised he would not eat anything and she had put up a lunch for him. However, he decided to have a cup of coffee at the hotel and this was all he had. His friends had ordered breakfast. A Chinese waiter served the coffee. Father became ill just after he drank the coffee and told his brother-in-law, who was with him, he was ill and asked him to go outside with him. When he was just outside the door he fell and was carried unconscious back home, after the doctor had been summoned. The doctor said he had been poisoned and there was no hope for him.
      The next afternoon he regained consciousness and mother helped him to dress and come into the living room. I ran to him with his slippers and he said, "Betsy, they didn't get me after all." But when mother brought him a glass of water, he had fainted again and he was never able to speak again. That evening he seemed to rouse again and I was at the foot of his bed. He motioned to me and I am sure he wanted to write. I wanted to get him paper and pencil, but the doctor would not let me. He told me I must run away and not disturb father and he saw that I left the room. The third day father passed away. I was nearly eleven years old at this time. That left my sweet young mother with six children.
      Father Passed away in August and in December, just a little over four months later there was another little one, a tiny baby girl. We all worshiped her. Her name was Priscilla. The next spring mother had a nervous breakdown and was gravely ill for over two months. One day she said to me, "Little daughter, I will die unless you pray for me." I flew to my angel mother and put my arms about her and prayed to the Lord to spare our mother. She lived to the age of 79.
      After father's death Billy was the sole help mother had and he being lame was unable to ride, so sister Jane did all the riding and looking after the cattle. This left me as mother's help in the house.
      At this time Billy was barely 17, but we all looked to Billy in everything and willingly did anything he asked of us.
      The next year Uncle Jacob Hamblin, father's oldest brother came to visit mother to see how the family was getting along. He found that the settlement was a very tough one and advised her to get what little property she had together and leave. As father's deeds and papers had all been stolen at the time of his Poisoning in Pioche, all mother had left was her stock. So they gathered up the stock and together with our teams and household goods, they could take, they went to Gunlock on the Santa Clara.
      We raised a crop there and that fall Uncle Jacob came again and took us to Kanab in Cain County, Utah. We were on the road six days and near the end of the journey when a terrible blizzard came up during the night. Uncle Jacob had gone on ahead of us, but he came to meet us the next morning. He put all of us in his wagon and left two other young men to bring in the stock.
      Jane and Billy drove our two wagons and came in later that evening. They had to face the storm and nearly perished before they arrived.
      No one could imagine just how wonderful it seemed to us when we came to Uncle Jacob's house out of the cold and storm, Dear Aunt Priscilla had prepared a good hot meal and was anxiously awaiting us. Aunt Priscilla was mother's youngest sister and we had not seen her for several years. Kanab was to be our home for several years. Mother and Billy bought some lots and built a house. Here we went to school. There were about 60 families in Kanab when we first came there and among these young people we grew up and chose our chums.
      There was always plenty of amusements for the young folks. Dancing, parties and community singing, sleigh riding and horseback riding. Usually on the 4th of July we all went up to the lakes and camped out for several days. They would take lumber along and make a platform on which to dance. We had wonderful times and if it happened to rain, it made our pretty white dresses look sick. However, we didn't mind that in the least.
      Uncle Jacob was the only father we had and he was always so very kind and always so interested in our welfare. He often came to our home and would sit down beside me and put his arm about me and draw me close to him and he would say, "Don't you know the most precious jewels are done up in small parcels." (This always comforted me as I was so small I often thought maybe I didn't amount to much). Then he would say, "Now see here don't you marry any of these old smoke jacks around here".
      Uncle Jacob was the great missionary among the Indians. He it was who did so much to make peace between the white men and red men, with Uncle Jacob among the Indians, as he was a great hunter and very skillful with the firearms.
      I loved to dance, but boys didn't interest me at all until I was past sixteen. Then for awhile I wasn't interested in any certain one till young Georgy Washington Adair and I started keeping company. His hair was blonde and he had big blue eyes. He was of medium height and well built, and a very fine boy and in my eyes the finest of all.
      We were sweethearts for nearly two years. I didn't keep company with anyone else. When George was not in town my cousin Joseph Hamblin always came and I went with him.
      In the years of 1877-1878 the Church called for volunteers to go to settle Arizona. Both the Adair family and my family answered the call. The Adair family was to leave a few months before our family, so we decided we would get married as we didn't want to be separated.
      We were married January 23, 1879. Both of us were just eighteen (18) and we were married in the St. George Temple. There were seventeen other couples married that same day, all from Kanab.
      We went to stay with his parents for awhile. His parents were very kind and took me to their hearts at once and in return I loved them very dearly and we were all very happy.
      We often rode horseback to visit mother for a day or two and we surely enjoyed these little trips very much. We were indeed happy and my sister Jane used to often say, "I believe you and George are the happiest couple I've ever seen." I'm sure there wasn't a happier bride than I.
      George, in spite of his youth, was a very steady and dependable young man. He was a very skillful hunter and a wonderful marksman. He had taken care of his father's cattle from the time he was old enough to ride as his father was unable to do much riding, as he was a large, heavy man, weighing about 225 pounds.
      The next spring everyone was very busy getting ready for the trip into the wild, unsettled country of Arizona. The women and girls prepared food and clothing to be used on the journey.
      I often went to the ranch to help mother in making cheese and butter. We also made lots of jerky and dried peaches, apples and apricots. We knew we would need all we could possibly get ready. George, as well as the other men, was gathering and selling cattle, buying wagons, harness and supplies to be used for the journey. He had thirty five head of his own cattle. They were fine young heifers and cows. It took all of them to buy our wagon and harness.
      For the 4th of July, John and Mary Ann Jenny, our chums, and George and I went to Panquitch Lake for fishing and stayed two weeks. We had a fine time there together. George and I had not had our honeymoon just after we were married as it was in the winter. So this was really our honeymoon.
      After our return home we spent the remaining time getting things ready to leave.
      We started the later part of August on the long trip to Arizona. There were 45 families in our company. Our Captain was Mr. John Mangum, A man of great courage, he had crossed the plains in earlier days.
      We were on the road seven days before we reached Lee's Ferry, on the Big Colorado. We were compelled to travel very slowly as we all had our cattle with us. In mother's herd there were about 250 head.
      After reaching the river we camped there three weeks. There were so many teams and cattle ahead of us that we were unable to cross the river any sooner. when we were at last ready to cross all the women and children were taken across in the small boat or skiff, while the teams and wagons were driven onto the large flat boat. They took four wagons with one team each at a time, chopping the double trees from the wagons so as not to frighten the horses. Each driver stood at the head of his team holding the bridle of the near horse.
      When we reached the other side of the river the landing was very small. The wagons and teams went single file up the dugway which was terribly steep. Everyone except the drivers walked, it was so dangerous, the bluffs were very sheer and steep down to the river. It was the last of September when we crossed the river.
      Shortly afterward we began to have rain and snow. The winds were sometimes very high, but we had no deep snow until the last of December.
      At the close of each day's travel the wagons were formed into a circle with the campfire in the center, where we cooked our even-meal. After the cattle and horses had been cared for and supper was over we gathered around the campfire. Everyone was jolly and we usually sang and told stories. We were always up and had breakfast ready by daylight, while the men prepared, fed and harnessed the horses.
      After we crossed at Lee's Ferry, Sister Jane, who had married George Mangum, used to come to the wagon and talk to me. We were both expecting a baby at about the same time and she said one day we had better begin on our little baby clothes. We would get in the back of our wagon and cut out the little things and sew.
      George was very proud and happy and loved to tease me to see me blush, as I was very bashful. After Jane and I had been sewing and she would go back to her wagon, he would look back and say. "What secret have you girls got that you don't want anyone to know about?" Sister Jane would say, "we'll just break his neck if he goes peeking around here". She thought George the best boy ever.
      I made my first little baby dresses from my wedding dress. Everything went along very nicely until the last of December, when one cold snowy day I was very ill. Mother said, "Shall we stop here or go on?"and I answered, "Let's go on, I don't want to die in this terrible place."
      I was very ill for three days. But with the help of our Heavenly Father and the dear old doctor woman we were finally made happy with a darling baby boy. He weighed 5 pounds and we named him George William for his father and my father. The baby was born the 1st of January, 1880.
      The snow was about two feet deep by this time, but not so very cold. The next morning after the baby's birth we traveled on toward Sunset and arrived there the third day. This was a little Mormon settlement on the Little Colorado. The people who had come the year before had raised crop's so the travelers could get supplies.
      This little settlement was just across the Little Colorado from where Winslow is today.
      Just two weeks after our baby's birth, sister Jane's baby arrived, a girl.
      We stayed in Sunset two weeks and during that time my brother and brother-in-law put up a one roomed log cabin. Mother, brother Billy's family and Jane and her husband stayed there two months.
      As Baby and I were all right we went on after two weeks to Concho, where George's father and the rest of his people were.
      This was about three days travel from Sunset. We made this trip alone. The next morning after we left Sunset, about 10:00 o'clock, one of our horses took sick and died before George could get the harness off him. George dragged him out of the road and I said, "What are we going to do now, George?" He answered, "we will find something to work". I stood up on the wagon to see if I could see anything. All that I could see in any direction was prairie covered with dry waving grass. There wasn't a creature in sight, either man or beast.
      While George was taking the ropes off the dead horse and coming back to the wagon we heard a noise, and looking down the road just where the road made a turn around a hill there was a long horned steer coming right toward us. He stopped, threw up his head and snorted as if to say, "This is the very place." George said, "There's the other part of my team." I told him, "Why, that thing won't let you catch him to work with this horse". George said, "I'm going to try it, I think it will work". So he took his rope and went to the steer and put it around his neck and led him back to the wagon just as if he had always been used to being worked. George put the harness on him, but had to use his rope to piece out the harness for the steer and hitched him to the wagon. What was the queerest part about it was neither the horse or steer gave any trouble whatever, but went right along. George did not have to even touch the steer all day, with the whip. When night came we tied the steer up and fed him a good feed of grain and some dry grass. About 10:00 the next morning we saw some cowboys. They came to the wagon. George told them what had happened. They took a note to Father Adair asking him to send a boy back with another horse. We kept on traveling along and the next morning the boy came with the horse. When they unharnessed the steer, George gave him a little spat and thanked him for his help. He trotted on down the road.
      We reached Concho that evening. There were five Mexican families living there. They had a small field of barley. Father Adair bought this little field of grain to make flour. He also bought a coffee mill from the Mexicans, giving a yearling steer for it. They had used it for grinding their flour and meal.
      Father Adair and the Clark boys and George's Uncle Newton had been at Concho about two months when we came. They had put cabins for shelter, planning to stay here until spring.
      We ground meal for all the bread for five families. This was the only kind of bread we had. We had to wash the barley to get the smut and dirt out and dry it on clean cloths before it could be ground into meal.
      Father Adair was always the first man up in the morning and had his ground before anyone else was up. It wouldn't seem very good now, but it tasted fine then.
      The last of March we moved on to Nutrioso. There to make a settlement. Father Adair built the first house ever built by white man in Nutrioso. There were seven families at this time and the men built a fort for protection against the Apache Indians, who were very bad.
      The men never dared even go after wood without their rifles across their knees or right beside them. George built a one roomed cabin for ourselves. That summer the baby wasn't very strong. So George moved me to Bush Valley where Mother, Billy and Sister Jane were. So he could leave baby and I with mother and he could get out with the other boys to find work.
      While we were there the Apache Kid broke out again with 21 young bucks with him. One day some of the soldiers and Indian scouts from Fort Apache came thru and told us that several Mexican families had been killed just a few miles below Bush Valley, which is now called Alpine.
      The soldiers mustered five of our young men into the militia so they could be called out at any time to help fight the Indians. These five were sent on over the mountain to see what the Indians had done. The soldiers went another trail. When the men reached the place, the Indians had just left. There was one man there that had been out hunting and came back while the Apaches were massacring the people. He said he had hidden on the hill and watched them kill all of his family and his father and mother. He had a N - dle gun and a sack of cartridges with him and he hadn't even fired a shot. He was the only one not killed. The men buried the dead and returned home.
      During the summer some more of the Apaches broke out again and came to Bush Valley. My Younger brother, Duane, and young Bill Maxwell were grazing a band of horses in the flat just below the fort. There was 100 head in the band. The Indians rode out from the trees and waved their guns at the boys to warn them to leave. So the boys came back to the fort. The Indians rounded up the entire band of horses and started them down the canyon.
      The men from the fort had some of their saddle horses in the corral. They saddled and took the Indians trail, but never caught up with them. A few of the band had tried to break and come back but the Indians had killed them.
      That summer six of the men got a contract to put in cord wood for Fort Apache. So, Billy, Duane, George Mangum and George all left to put it in. They were gone about three months. During their absence there were just three men left to protect the women and children in the fort. They were Prime Coleman, old Bill Maxwell and Fred Hamblin.
      In August we had a siege of sickness. Sister Jane was very low with pneumonia. Both her baby and ours became very ill and passed away in just a few days. They both died the same day.
      We sent to Nutrioso for help and Cousin Lyman Hamblin, Father Adair and a few others came out to help. Lyman was Uncle Jacob's oldest son and a fine carpenter. He brought lumber and made a double casket for the two little babies. They were just seven months old. This was our first real grief and we did not even have the comfort of our dear husbands as it was impossible to get word to them for several weeks. When the boys came home, George and I went to visit the lonely little grave which held all that was left of our little darling. It was very hard to leave him here alone.
      We went back to Nutrioso in November and fenced our lot and George built a little two roomed cabin.
      Mr. Romney, who had just moved into the country was a fine cabinet maker and George had him make me a complete set of furniture. A bed, dresser, chairs, tables, cupboard, lounge, and even a washer. This was the first furniture ever made in Nutrioso and we were quite proud of it.
      By this time there were about 35 families in Nutrioso. They had a sawmill and built a good school house which was also used for church and social gatherings.
      We had a very nice winter and plenty of entertainments. George and I went to all of them and I taught the younger ones to dance.
      Our nearest neighbors were Heber Jarvis and his wife, Susie, a young couple near our own age. They were our dearest friends and still are today. We had many sleigh rides together. They built other sleighs and we had races.
      In May 1881 George got a contract to haul lumber to Tombstone from the near mountains. So we moved to the sawmill there. Cousin Olive and Abe Windsor, her husband, lived close by.
      When hauling their lumber the men always unloaded and came out of town to camp to have grass. George had a little brown mule he kept to round up the horses, while Abe did the cooking. After one of their trips into Tombstone they came out as usual to camp. After supper they hobbled the horses as usual. During the night George thought he heard a disturbance among the horses. He got up and went out but could see nothing wrong. The horses were all in plain view, so he went back to bed. The next morning just about daylight he took the mule and went for the horses. When he reached the place they were all gone. He looked for tracks and found they had been un-hobbled and driven off. He trailed them a little way and found seven head coming back. They were covered with sweat and he knew they had been driven hard. He brought them all back into camp. They ate breakfast and took the horses back to Tombstone to the stable and tried to get the officers to go with them and help get the stolen horses back but they refused.
      Abe and George took the trail alone. They followed all day and that night. The next morning they rode up on two of the outlaws where they had stopped to rest just this side of the border of Mexico. The horses had been taken on across. The two men were still asleep as the boys rode up. Abe and George had their rifles ready. One of the horses snorted and the men leaped to their feet looking for their guns. But their six shooters were hanging in the tree above them and their rifles were leaning against a tree just out of their reach. Abe said, "Don"t get excited, boys, We just came for our horses." One of them said, "Where do you expect to find them?" George said, "They are just over the hill there. That man who is guarding them is riding my bay wheelers." The man answered, "You fellows go back while your hide is whole, the ones who have the horses are gone into Mexico." The boys knew they could not get them back, so they turned back to Tombstone.
      When they came back to the mill they looked kinda sorry. Nevertheless we were thankful that it wasn't worse, for we didn't know if the boys would get back alive or not.
      We loaded up and went back to Nutrioso. We were glad to get home to our little cozy house. We had a new big range stove to bring home.
      A few weeks later the men left again to freight from Albuquerque to Flagstaff. There was just three tents there then.
      We were expecting a baby again that winter, so I went to stay with mother on the ranch as there were no doctors in the country then. Mother lived in Bush Valley.
      Our second baby boy was born the 22nd of January 1882. The snow was four feet deep. There had been no mail or any team to the ranch for three weeks.
      Ed Noble, the bishop, made a sleigh and went to Nutrioso for the mail. He just got back before the baby was born. This little baby was a fine healthy boy weighing ten pounds. I had a letter from George saying he would be home as soon as possible and was sending provisions on ahead. The baby was two weeks old when George got home. He was very proud. We named him Le Roy, but he was always called Roy. We went home to Nutrioso when the baby was six weeks old. The next summer we made butter and cheese and hauled it to Holbrook to be sold.
      The 18th of July, 1884 another little baby boy came to live with us. He weighed 3 3/4 pounds, having black eyes and dark hair like mine. We named him Don Carlos.
      George and Cy Mangum had a contract building fence for John Titchen and we were at this ranch when the baby came. The house was a long building about 40 feet by 20 feet and had no partitions. George and I used half this building and Cy and Unice, his wife, used the other half. We brought all our household goods, so we were quite cozy. We each had our curtains around our beds and of course our pretty home made rugs on the floors.
      About three months before our baby came, Unice had a baby girl and I took care of her and did all her work. And when our baby came she did the same for me. Mother had been with me, but the night just after baby came she became very sick and had to be taken home, which was about seven miles from the ranch.
      Little Roy was very proud of his little new brother and would put him in his little wagon and take him to see his Aunt Annie and her little son Mark, who was just his age and his little chum.
      When little Don was toddling around he used to watch and if he could, would slip out the door whenever he saw his daddy going toward the corral. He would follow him just as fast as his little legs could go and holler, "Daddy, hurry, hurry, mama. Daddy, hurry. mama". and would look back over his shoulder to see if I was coming to get him. George would put him up on the old sorrel mare and he would laugh and pat the old mare. He loved his daddy so. He was such a beautiful baby. His hair was curly and a soft dark brown and his eyes were so black and he had long eyelashes.
      That winter there was an epidemic of Scarlet Fever in Nutrioso and there were seventeen little children died and among them our darling little boy was taken, too. This was a terrible time for us and little Roy grieved for his little brother and would say, "Mama don't cry, Mama, I will go ask the Lord to let little brother come back for a little while." Sister Annie lost both her little ones within a week and little Roy missed his little playmate and he would go over to his Auntie and say, "Aunt Annie, don't feel bad. I'll help you and do lots of things Mark would do if he was here".
      In April of that year of 1886 our first little girl was born. She came the 10th and we named her Bertha. She weighed 8 pounds and had dark hair and big blue eyes. She was very sweet.
      We stayed at home in Nutrioso the next two years and George farmed. He raised wheat, barley and oats. It was too cold for corn. We had a good garden, carrots, turnips, potatoes, peas, cabbage and cauliflower, and by carefully putting on hot caps we had a few summer squash. We had plenty of milk and made enough butter and cheese so we could buy our own beef and pork.
      On February 17th, 1888 the stork came to our house again leaving another little boy with black hair and eyes, weighing 8 1/2 pounds. We named this little one Clarence Duane.
      George went this summer to the Zuni Mountains and hauled lumber to Gallup to be used there as they were building the town there then. He had a good crop and came home in the early fall to take care of it. That winter George stayed there at home with the children and I, and we had a nice winter.
      Next summer in the year 1889 we went back up to Gallup and George bought lumber and put up a small cabin at Wingate Station and the children and I were able to be with George. He had a contract hauling lumber to Fort Wingate from the Zuni Mountains.
      We had decided to go back to Utah on a visit and see George's sister, Emily Grant, who lived in New Harmony, which is just 10 miles from Cedar City.
      We started about the 1st of September and were over three weeks on the road. We went by way of Fort Defiance, Tohatchi and on across the Navajo reservation to the San Juan. We crossed the river right at the place where Bluff City is today. We went on to Grand River and Green River on up as far as Provo Canyon and George worked. (The Story ends here; Almira never finished her life story.)"

      BIRTH:
      1. FHL Film 2456: "Early LDS Church Membership Records for Nutrioso, Arizona": Record of the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nutrioso Ward, St. Johns Stake of Zion. Page 26 entries:
      No number 1.
      2. Almira Adair; father: William H. Hamblin; mother: Betsy Levitt; b. 6 Oct 1860 at Gunlock, Washington, Utah; blessing 1871 by William H. Hamblin; first baptism by Geo. H. Crosby; first confirmation 1871 by Bro. Terry; removed to parts unknown.
      3. Geo. William Adair, Jr.; father: Geo. W. Adair; mother: Almira Hamblin; b. 1 Jan 1880 at Yavopia Co., Arizona; blessing by Geo. W. Adair, Sr.; died 10 Jul 1880; burried at Alpine.
      4. Leroy Adair; father: Geo. W. Adair; mother: Almira Hamblin; b. 22 Jan 1882 at Alpine, Apache, Arizona; blessing by E.A. Noble: first baptism: 1 May 1890 by Jacob Hamblin; first confirmation: 1 May 1890 by L.J. Brown; removed to parts unknown.
      5. Don Carlos Adair; father: Geo. W. Adair; mother: Almira Hamblin; b. 16 Jul 1884 at Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona; blessing by Edward Noblee; died 17 Feb 1886; burried at Nutrioso.
      6. Bertha Adair; father: Geo. W. Adair; mother: Almira Hamblin; b. 9 Apr 1886 at Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona; blessing 24 Apr 1886 by Samuel Adair; removed to parts unknown.
      7. Clarance C. Adair; father: Geo. W. Adair; mother: Almira Hamblin; b. 15 Jan 1888 at Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona; removed to parts unknown.
      8. Lenora Ann Adair; father: Geo. W. Adair; mother: Almira Hamblin; b. 17 Feb 1890 at Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona; blessing 31 May 1890 by ?? Pace; removed to parts unknown.
      9. Guy Adair; father: Geo. W. Adair; mother: Almira Hamblin; b. 3 Jul 1892 at Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona; blessing 11 Sep 1892 by ?? Pace; removed to parts unknown.

      2. Ordinance Index states 6 Aug 1858; Ancestral File states 26 Oct 1860 - both are at Gunlock, Washington, Utah. Death certificate quoted below states 6 Oct 1860 in Washington Co., Utah.

      DEATH:
      1. Per online image of death certificate at website http://genealogy.az.gov/azdeath/064/10640248.pdf: Arizona death certificate no. 224, Almira Adair, 509 E. 2 Ave, Mesa, AZ, death at home, no social security number, widow, b. 6 Oct 1860 at Washington Co., UT to William Hamblin and Betty Leavitt, age 80 y 1 m 17 d, died 23 Nov 1940 at 7 a.m. of 3 days of coronary thrombosis due to 10 years of arteriaschranis, reported by A.C. Adair or Cottonwood Arizona, bur. 24 Nov 1940 in Mesa, AZ, with funeral by Meldrum Mortuary of Mesa.