Life History of Lucy
Alice Woolstenhulme Williams
Lucy Alice Williams was born 12 Mar 1864 at Bountiful,
Davis County, Utah to William Woolstenhulme
and Jane Davis.
At the age of three she moved with her parents, her older
sister Jane and a baby brother William, then six months old to Marion, Summit
County, Utah, then known as Denmark (on the Lundberg farm).
Those were hazardous days for the little pioneer families
for the Indians were hostile. They often
entered the valley in their war “togs” and drove the horses and cattle
away. At such times Grandmother Woolstenhulme with other mothers gathered their little
families together and hurried to the fort in Kamas to stay until the men
returned from following the Indians in an attempt to regain their precious stock.
Little Lucy played in and near the fort with the other
children always mindful of the danger, should they stray from the fort. When she was old enough to go to school and
could be spared from helping at home, she entered the little one-roomed log building
located across the meadows and through the fields east of their home. Their school only lasted two or three months
each year and the children were kept memorizing their ABCs for several years. They attended school in home spun clothes and
bare feet. Lucy’s early teachers were
James Fricknight and Abner
Keeler. She was expected to do a great
deal of the family work, her mother being ill a great deal and had younger
children to care for. Jane, the older
sister enjoyed outside life so spent much of her time going outside work for
her father.
At the age of eight, Lucy made her first dress alone and
from then on did most of the family sewing.
She assisted in making cheese and butter which she often walked several
miles to Kamas to trade for family necessities.
Grandfather bought a tract of land from Finis Young, now
known as the Laney farm and moved his family to Kamas. They later moved to another home on the main
street of Kamas now owned by Ellen O’Driscoll where
another daughter Ellen was born.
While still a small child she lived with her Grandmother
Davis a good deal, in Ogden,
Utah and attended school there
and still knowing much of the sacrifices of pioneer life.
While she and her little son John were staying with her Aunt
in Grass Creek, Utah
she met her future husband, Abednego Williams, a coal miner who had recently
arrived from South Wales with his little son Spencer, he wife and other two
children having died before his departure from Wales.
They spent their early married life in Grass Creek where
their first two children Abednego, and William W. were born. Her husband was a fire inspector of mines and
was transferred to Almy,
Wyoming where their
next two children were born, George Thomas and Zina
Jane. She was very anxious to get her family away from the mines to a safer
future; she induced her husband to purchase a small piece of ground and
two-roomed log home in Kamas where she lived when Lucy Alice was born and died
when two months old. Their last child
Gwendolyn was also born in this little home.
Her husband remained in Almy until his health
was impaired but not until he paid for the little home.
He suffered eleven months with Diabetes and then passed away
leaving his wife with the entire responsibility of directing and supporting her
family. She was ever loyal and faithful
to her children, supplying them with the necessities of life and school
privileges. This she
did with very little or no help from anyone, doing any kind of work she was
able to find, often beyond her strength.
For about thirty years she carried the mail to Francis and Woodland in a one horse
buggy or sleigh. She cooked suppers at
amusement hall and served them to the dancers in the winter, made ice cream to
serve in the summer, often doing this after doing a hard day’s washing for
other families. She purchased the home
of her father’s after he mother passed away and operated a hotel there for many
years. Later she built a larger building
for a hotel in the south end of Kamas after selling the old home to John O’Driscoll.
She continued to assist her children and others whenever
possible until her death on 7 Feb. 1938.
