Martha Eliza Bennett Smith
daughter of Hiram Ball and Martha Smith Bennett
I was born at Karresville, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, 24
January
1850.
My
people
were
school
teachers.
They
established a school in New York known as the
Smith school and it
was recognized as the best school in that locality.
My
parents planned to
come to
Utah in 1847,
but
a
short time before the
company
was ready
to
start,
their
home
and
all
they possessed was
destroyed by
fire,
and it took them a number of years to
accumulate
means
sufficient to bring them to the Salt Lake Valley.
On arriving
in Salt Lake, they went to Fillmore where they lived in
a fort for years.
During that time the Indians were troublesome, and guards were
placed at night.
The men went in companies to
work their farms,
carrying their guns
with them against Indian attacks.
After the
danger from Indians was over,
my
father moved his
family to
Meadow,
where
he
was
called to
serve as the first bishop in which office he
served for twenty years.
My
mother
taught
a
private
school
before
there
was
one
provided in that section of the state.
After she was sixty years old, she taught many years in public school.
I
was married
to Silas S. Smith,
July
19, 1865, and
moved
to Paragonah
during
the time my husband
was engaged
in the Black Hawk
War.
I
was alone
with
the small
children
a great deal
of the
time.
We sat
by our upstairs
windows and
watched
the smoke from
the rifles and
heard
their reports during
battles
with
the Indians.
Those
were anxious
days.
One
morning
after
an all night
battle
in
the
canyon
nearby,
several
riderless
horses came
into
town.
They
were all
wounded
and
the sight
of them threw
us into
a
terrible
state of anxiety;
but
my husband, who was
in
command,
discovered
the
horses
were
gone
and
dispatched a
messenger
in
haste
to say no one
was hurt.
In 1882 my husband was called to
Colorado and we left our
comfortable
home,
surrounded
by
orchards
and
gardens,
traveled for six weeks in wagons, only to find on
arrival, a small frame house with no trees or
other vegetation in sight.
This
was
a
trial to
me,
but
such experiences as
this
have been the lot of my ancestors for generations back,
so I suppose it was natural for
me
to
make the
best
of
it,
which I
did.
I
was
Stake
President of
the
Relief
Society in
San
Luis
Stake
for seven years.
In
1900
we moved to Layton, Utah,
where we lived until my husband's
death in
1910;
and
since
my
youngest
son's
marriage,
the farm is more than I
can manage.
The farm has
been sold and I expect to move to
Roosevelt, Utah, to be near the boys,
My life has been
spent in rearing my
own twelve and the eight motherless children who
fell to my
care when I
married their father.
I have tried to
do good to my
associates as I passed along through life.
I
have
had
many
friends
and
have
sought
to reciprocate their
kindness
and
affection.
I
have
endeavored
to teach my
children the
Gospel
by
example
as
well
as
precept.
My desire is that they will all remain true and faithful
and follow the teachings of
the
Saviour, regardless of the
actions of
men.
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Mother,
affectionately
known
to
everyone
as
"Aunt
Eliza, was ever ready to minister
to the
sick,
share her worldly goods with those less
fortunate, comfort those in
distress, and
was steadfast
and
true
to
everything she
held
dear.
Her home
was
a hospitable one
wherein
all
were
made
welcome.
Many
notables
of both Church and State were entertained within its
walls.
She was
a
well-educated woman,
a great reader,
conversant on every subject,
keeping well-abreast of
world affairs.
She
remained young in heart, loved by
children and adults alike.
Martha Eliza Bennett Smith,
direct descendant of
Pocahontas (through
the same line
as Archibald
Bennett), died in Salt Lake
City
on
May
6, 1924.
She
was
buried beside
her
husband in Kayesville-Layton Cemetery.