Mary Catherine Hull

  General Notes:

When I was a child, Aunt Mamie would occasionally show me the little shoes her babies wore. At the age of 93 she still mourned the loss of her babies. I wish I could remember whether or not they were boys or girls. -- Helen R. Hawkins

Mary Catherine Hull, my great aunt, told me that the little clay shoes that I have were brought over to American with Mary Owens (RPN #1206). Mary must have given the shoes to her daughter Elizabeth and Elizabeth gave them to Henry Watkins who then gave them to my great aunt Mary Catherine.

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Mary Catherine "Mamie" Hull1

From the reflections of Dorcas Dorothy Edson Davis
With some notes and editing by Helen Rose Davis Hawkins


For a bit I would like to talk about Auntie Mamie. She was just the opposite in character from her sister. I think she must have suffered from an under active thyroid. Poor soul, she worked very hard all of her life, but she was slow. Unlike her sister, she could not command the better paying, more pleasant jobs. The work she did was more like drudgery.

I have an old photograph of Mamie taken when she was a girl. She was a bit over weight even then but not unattractive. In fact she was a cute little thing. I believe that it was before her mother's death she married a miner, Larry Heath.. Their baby died of summer complaint.

Summer complaint is an intestinal infection caused by improper refrigeration of milk, resulting in the growth of bacteria. In the old days this disease was very common among babies being weaned or babies who for some reason could not nurse at their mother's breasts.

Shortly after this tragedy Larry was killed in a snow slide near a little mining town called Ironton, Colorado. Mamie was pregnant with her second child at the time. In his second summer, this child also died of summer complaint. By the time Mamie was twenty five years old she had lost a husband and two babies.

That was not the end of misadventure for poor Mamie.

A few years later she married again. "Her husband truly loved Mamie," my mother-in-law said. "He called her all sorts of pet names and was as good as gold to her."

Mamie, for her part, was deeply in love with him and for a time - I do not know how long - they were very happy together. They lived near Lake City, Colorado. One day there was some kind of "doings" in Lake City. Mamie and her husband happily went to town to have fun. It so happened that the stagecoach arrived in Lake City that day. His past must have arrived with it. He hurried Mamie home, borrowed a saddle from Alice's7 husband. (Alice's husband's last name was Prizendentz.) "He never saw it again," my mother-in-law said, with some satisfaction when telling me about it. She did not like Prizendentz.

Mamie's husband borrowed the saddle and took off on horseback. Mamie never saw him again. She was heart broken, truly heart broken. From then on Victoria and her husband Napoleon looked after Mamie as best they could.

In spite of their care an unkind fate was not yet through with Mamie.

Sister Alice divorced and moved to California. Napoleon, Victoria, their family and Mamie had moved to Cimmeron, Colorado. Napoleon and Victoria went to California to visit Alice. While they were gone Mamie married again - this time to a man named Spicklemeyer. Why she married this man no one could possibly figure out. I don't know if he actually beat her, but he was certainly unkind.

"One time," Mamie told me, "I had been visiting a neighbor. It was dark when I got home and he had the door locked and wouldn't let me in." She had to walk a mile or so and spend the night at a neighbors house. "I was so cold." she said, shivering at the memory.

After their return from California Victoria and Napoleon extricated her from this situation.

Sometime later Mamie married still another time. This time to Henry Watkins. Henry was good to Mamie and they spent twenty happy years together. He died in the late twenties or early thirties - the early years of the Great Depression.

I became acquainted with Auntie Mamie in 1937. At this time I had moved from Arizona to Colorado with Blackie and my baby Alice. I learned to love Auntie Mamie in spite of, or, perhaps because of her oddities.





¹¹

  Noted events in her life were:

• Move to: Arrived in Grand Junction, CO, 28 Nov 1882, Grand Junction, Mesa, Colorado. ⁵

Mary married Lawrence S. "Larry" Heath on 8 Jun 1890 in Mesa County, CO. (Lawrence S. "Larry" Heath was born on an unknown date and died on 21 Mar 1892 in Ironton, CO.)

Mary next married Harry N Hicks on 11 Jun 1895 in Mesa County, CO. (Harry N Hicks was born on an unknown date and died on an unknown date.)

Mary next married Spickelmeyer Est 1910 in Probably Lake City, CO. (Spickelmeyer was born on an unknown date and died on an unknown date.)

Mary next married Henry Watkins about 1920 in Colorado. (Henry Watkins was born on 22 Jul 1859 ⁴¹ and died in Apr 1930 in Delta, Delta County, Colorado.)

  Marriage Notes: