Family History Friday: Great-Grandma Lewis

It has been a rough week here in the Clawson home. We are still trying to get everyone healthy, but I would hate to miss my post this week. I hope you enjoy learning about Grandma as much as I have!

Note: The two sources I used in this article are: "The History of Erma Elizabeth Hiatt Lewis" compiled by Jennifer Bradshaw Powell in July 1995. Anything from this history will be indicated in italics below. I also included some excerpts from "The Personal History of Dorothy Ann Wilde". Both of these sources along with anything else I gather can be found by clicking here or by going to familysearch.org under Erma Elizabeth Hiatt. If anyone knows of ANY additional histories, journals, interviews, pictures, etc regarding Grandma Lewis, pretty pretty please respond in the comment section below. It is sad how little I was able to find about Grandma Lewis and I am convinced that there is more out there!

Erma Elizabeth Hiatt 

1911-1998

Left to Right: Earl, Erma, and Beatrice

"I was born in Salem, Utah on February 24, 1911 not far from my Grandmother and Grandfather Hiatt's home. This area was known at that time as the Salem Fields. However, my birth certificate records my birthplace as Payson. Mother was attended by a widwife who delivered me at home. I was the third child of William Luther Hiatt and Mary Jame Moore Hiatt. My grandmother Moore stayed with us for the ten days that new mothers stayed in bed after giving birth."

"When we first came back from Idaho [after living there from approx 1913 to 1917] we moved close to Dad's parents in Payson. One thing I remember was that my mother's youngest brother, Leonard Moore who lived in Spanish Fork, came to tell us goodbye. He was going to WWI and he didn't feel he would be back. He was killed three days before the peace treaty was signed. He dies in the Argonne Forest battle. He had been engaged before he left for war. His sweetheart later married his older brother Hugh."

Left to right: Friend and Erma

"In 1918, we moved closer to Main Street in Payson. At this time there was a flu going around. We had to wear masked over our mouths. When the terrible influenza epidemic of 1918 hit. Our family all got it except my mother. My, were we all sick! Mother had us all in bed and how she took care of us all I will never know. The doctor gave us pills to take and I couldn't take mine until mother mashed them up for me. Mother couldn't leave to get food so her brothers from Spanish Fork, Thomas and Hugh Moore, brought food and left it on the porch. After they were gone, she would go out and get the food. The illness was so contagious that all who had it were quarantined. Many people died during this flu epidemic."

"During the eighth grade, my friend and her family brought me a birthday cake for my birthday. This is the only time I remember having a friend do something so special for me. Birthdays were not celebrated too much, yet sometimes my mother would make homemade ice cream and invite all the neighbors. Once my grandma gave me fifty cents for my birthday. What a thrill!"

Left to right: Mary Moore Hiatt and her daughters Beatrice,
 Erma, Donnaand Norma (not sure if this picture includes
Helen, Renee, and Barbara)

From the Personal History of Dorothy Ann Wilde:

“Mother [Erma Elizabeth Hiatt] was the third oldest of fourteen children, two younger children died in infancy.  The Hiatts were farmers and lived in a small two bedroom house that had no water or plumbing until years later.  Mother worked very hard as a child and young girl since she was one of the older children.  She helped Grandma at home, but in the summer Grandpa would take all the children that could work to the fields.  She was expert at thinning sugar beets!  When she was a senior in high school, Grandma had another baby and Grandpa told mother that she would have to quit school and help at home.  She told him she would get up early and do all she could do and come home right after school and take care of the family and house work, but she didn't want to quit school. She did graduate, but had to work very hard in order to do it.  It seemed her family always depended upon her.  Her older sister and brother left home at earlier ages."     

"I married Max Wilde in Nephi on January 18, 1932. We had some hard times in our marriage and also the depression years were a very difficult time in my life. Both of our children were born during this time. Betty Jean on August 19, 1933 and Dorothy Ann on July 3, 1936. We had only the bare necessities. I worked were I could. My jobs included working as a telephone operator, for the school lunch program, in a canary, and picking fruit. When my marriage ended, the girls and I moved in with my parents for a while and then into a small home not far from them."       

Erma and C.B. on their Wedding Day

"Then came the Second World War and with it the need for steel. Clarence (known by the name "Red" in his younger years) Lewis came as a foreman over the crane operators to help in the construction of Geneva Steel. Dancing continues to be a very popular activity. Each Saturday night I went to a dance with my friends. I met Clarence or as I called him C.B. at an open-air dance at Provo. He was fourteen and a half years older than me and had traveled around the country some so I was quite impressed. He had been married before and had a grown daughter, Constance. C.B. treated me like I had never been treated before and showered the girls with gifts of fruit and candy witch made him an immediate favorite of theirs. He was handsome and had a friendly personality and a wonderful sense of humor.  Even though he wasn't from Utah or a Mormon, the whole Hiatt family fell in love with him. We were married February 14, 1942 in Superior, Montana. We had gone there to meet his family."

"For many years, C.B. had to work six days a week and so had only Sundays off and expected me to spend it with him. Later on, I was able to participate more in church. I was a visiting teacher for many years and also was a counselor in the primary presidency for a time. After the girls moved away C.B. would drive me to church and once in a while attend with me. He was always very friendly to the ward and home teachers and others he met. Several sets of missionaries visited him over the years. After he passed away, I went to the temple for myself and also had the ordinances done for C.B. In 1995, I was sealed to C.B. with the help of my grandson Michael who acted as proxy."

I love you Great-Grandma Lewis! She lived in Payson Utah during the years I knew her. She lived alone in a cute little duplex. I remember she always had sugar free candy in a dish on the coffee table. We would try to visit her once a month or so. There wasn't a lot for a kid to do at great grandma's house so we would go to this great park by her house and eat KFC. Sometimes we would take her shopping and she would buy us those huge foot long tootsie rolls. She was a wonderful woman!

Grandma with Dorothy and Jean at her 80th birthday party!

What are some of your memories of Grandma Lewis? I would love to hear them!