William T. Morris

William Thomas Morris was born in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England on 17 May 1861 to William Morris and Sarah Durham. He weighed 11 lbs when he was born. Father William was a farmer and later was a coal miner. He was a baby as his family traveled from England over the sea and across the plains to settle in Parowan, Utah.

Parents, Sarah and Will

The family traveled from Liverpool to New York on the Mancester.

William T. with his parents and siblings on the register of the ship, Mancester.

They traveled to Florence, Nebraska (now Omaha) and then from there to Utah in the John R. Murdock company. His father, William, carried his one year old son most of the way. Baby Will was not well most of the trip, but made it safely with his family on 10 October 1862.

While in Florence (before leaving with the ox team en route to Salt Lake), Will learned to walk. Will was the only young child in that company who survived the trek, except for a few babies who were born on the way. His sister Sarah Jane died in Wyoming of Mountain Fever.

When on their trek to Utah, Will’s mother sang to him and she nursed him. One day, he threw back his head and sang the whole lullaby back to her. She was startled and a little unnerved at the experience, but it was a sign of the influence that music would be in William’s life. He eventually sang and played the violin very well.

Will had 5 sisters, all born in England, and three brothers, each born in Parowan. Of this family of 9, four died before adulthood. One baby sister died in England, Sarah Jane who was 10 years old when she died on the plains, and twin brothers who died of Cholera when Will was three. One of his first memories was of his mother setting him onto her lap and weeping bitterly after burying the last baby.

When Will was a boy, President Brigham Young was on his was to St. George and stopped in Parowan to attend a meeting. President Young asked Will’s uncle, Thomas Durham to sing. Will remembered the Prophet standing with his elbows on the pulpit during the song.

Will started school at 7. At 10 he started his first job in a lath mill. This may have started his love for working with wood. In his later years, he made and sold inlaid furniture so well made that the joints could not be detected by the eye or the hand.

At 13, Will joined the Sunday School Choir. He sang alto with the girls until his voice changed, when he started singing tenor, and he didn’t care when the other boys teased him about it. He did so well in this choir that he was asked to sing in the ward choir. Later in life, Will and his wife sang quartets with William T. Jr. and his wife and were invited all over Southern Utah to sing.

Will was baptized on 22 July 1877 when he was 16 years old. "He had gotten the idea that it would be a most awful thing to do anything wrong after being baptized and didn't want to be baptized at 8. So his wise parents waited patiently until he was ready." Will also took our his own endowments at 16.

At this time Will learned to shear sheep and was making good money. With his earnings, he bought his first real violin. Previously, he had been teaching himself to play on a toy violin. He had aquired this toy from a friend in a trade. Toy violin for a pocket-full of marbles. Sensible little Will made a good trade that day.

William on the 1880 census with his parents.

William and O’Lena Christina Mortensen were friends growing up and their friendship grew over the years. They were married in the St. George Temple on 24 March 1882 when Will was 20 and Lena was 18.

1887

The couple had their first 2 children in Parowan: William T. Jr (1883) and Anders Marion (1885). Then the family moved to Colorado where Lena’s siblings and mother had lived for almost 2 years. (See Lena’s post for more information.)

In Colorado, the Morris family found the land to be uninviting but soon made some precious associations. The family introduced the May Day celebration to the San Luis Valley. Also, Will played his violin for dances, weddings, and funerals, was involved in choirs and he acted and directed community productions.

Five more children were born to Will and Lena while they lived in Colorado: Lena Isabella, known as Isa (1888), Cora May (1890), Earl Raymond (1893), Una Millicent (1896) and Alfred Serenus (1899).

Anders was not well since the family left Utah and in 1895, he became ill with pneumonia. Just a few weeks after he turned 10, Anders died and was buried in Sanford, CO.

In 1900, the family experienced another shock when Will suffered a severe heart attack. He was told that he needed to live in a better climate. The family was grateful that he was alive. He and teenage Isa took a train back to Utah and Lena stayed behind to sell their home and belongings in order to get enough money for the rest of the family to travel to Utah.

Back in Parowan, the family needed a home. Will accepted his parents’ offer to build an addition onto their home so the family could be close. Will’s father William was blind and in his 80s at the time. Will made adobe bricks out of clay with the help of his daughter Isa.

1900 Census in Parowan shows William and his daughter Isa.

1900 Census in Colorado also shows William and Isa with the rest of the family although both census records were recorded in June of that year. Lena must have had them add Will and Isa although they were in Utah.

1900 Census, cropped.

In Colorado, Will had done anything he could to earn money for his family. He did field work, mill work, and contracting. He even did some carpentry work for a man named Fred Meyer who owned a couple of big stores in New Mexico. Back in Utah, he did the same. He also was hired on occasion as a professional musician for extra money.

At this time, Parowan was almost totally democratic, politically. Will decided to run for County Clerk on the Republican ticket. He put together a singing group and went through the county campaigning to music. He won the election and remained in the job for 12 years. He was the third County Clerk in Iron County after Utah became a state. The steady income allowed the family to get out of debt and to begin to invest in the future.

Their last child, Angus was born in Parowan in 1903.

Morris family in 1903.
Rear: Will Jr., Cora, Earl, Isabelle.
Front: Will, Una, Alfred, Angus, Lena.

In 1904, Will bought 115 acres of fenced land with a house, a barn, and a flowing spring for $350. He and his boys Will and Earl worked every spare hour they had to clear, plow, sow, cultivate and harvest the land. They drilled a well and made a holding pond for irrigation water. Eventually they bought more land and worked it. Lena and the girls kept the house and helped with chores on the land. Over time the farm prospered. They also raised dairy cows and sheep.

This was a very busy time for Will. He was working eight hours a day as County Clerk and at least that much more on the farm five days a week. Saturdays he worked on the farm from dawn to dusk. He also was still involved with his music. He played his fiddle with an orchestra, taught music lessons occasionally and had many music related callings at church as well as other leadership positions.

Will and Lena in 1907

Will still had some heart “spells.” He would put a nitroglycerin pill under his tongue and wait. When the pain subsided, he would rest for a time and then go back to work.

1910 Census

In 1912, Will chose not to run for County Clerk reelection. The farm was prospering and the family was growing up. He was enjoying teaching music and found that it was too much. He took the position of Assistant County Clerk to help train the new clerk.
In August of 1912, Will and Lena’s son Earl died in an accident while working at the sawmill in the mountains above Parowan. He was 19 years old.

In June of 1913, Will was returning a cultivator to a neighbor when a sudden storm came in. Rain was falling so heavily that he had to stop the team and wait for a few minutes. When he started again it felt as if someone had hit him on the head with a club. He thought to himself, “That settles it.” When he came to, he was lying in the mud in the road. The wagon’s wheels had passed over him and the team was a quarter of a mile down the road. He struggled to get up but finally did. He got the horses , returned the cultivator to its owner and went home in pretty bad shape.
He had been struck by lightning and for years afterward, Will could tell when a thunderstorm was coming by the ache in his head.

Christmas was always special to the Morris family. Lena grew with Danish traditions and Will with English traditions. The family got the best of both worlds. It was a time for family and Blue Bell Farm was the gathering place and many families would stay overnight for several days.

The winter of 1919 was very cold. In fact, two feet of snow had fallen early in the year and did not completely melt until late spring. That was the year of the flu epidemic. Lena caught the disease and became very ill. One morning, after Will have been out all night caring for the animals, Lena voiced her concerns about Will wearing himself out. She had never wanted to sell the farm until then. They sold the farm for $24,800.

1920 Census

They used some of the money to visit friends and relatives in the San Luis Valley and then stayed with relatives in Mesa from November 1920 to May 1921. Angus was the only child at home and this point and he went to high school in Mesa that year. In the warm climate, Lena’s health improved.

Back in Parowan, the couple was looking forward retirement. On August 24, 1921, Bishop Hugh L. Adams asked them to serve a mission in the St. George Temple. They accepted and began work there five days later.

One of the first things Will did at the temple was work for his two sons who had passed away.



Within a few months of their temple service, Lena became ill with pneumonia. Although it seemed she was recovering, she passed away on 4 February 1922. Will stayed with relatives for a short time but his family could find no way to comfort him. So, he returned to the temple where he found some sense of peace.

Will: "Then for the first time I realized how utterly helpless and alone a man can be when his life's companion is taken away from him."

In the temple, he was reacquainted with Wilhelmina Cannon Sullivan, a friend of Will and Lena’s and Temple Matron when they served together. This friendship quickly turned to an engagement. They were to be married in October but when they spoke to Mina’s father, David H. Cannon, who was also the Temple President at the time, he simply asked, “Why not now?” The couple married in May 1922 in the St. George Temple.



This attachment may have been helped along by Lena herself. During her battle with pneumonia, Lena told Will that if anything should happen to her, he was to take care of Mina.

Mina had three children from a former married. At this time they were 23, 20, and 17 years of age. All three were sealed to Mina and Will on their wedding day. The families were close throughout their lives. In fact, Will’s son Alfred married Mina’s youngest daughter in 1923.

Will lived in the “Cannon Home” in St. George from 1922 to 1944. Will and Mina purchased the home from her father with the stipulation that her father live there and consider it his until after his death. Mina was delighted because she and her three children had all been born in that home.

David H. Cannon died of a heart attack on 24 December 1924. His new son-in-law, Will, held him in his arms as he died.

The couple had almost five happy years. Mina died 22 March 1927 due to kidney problems.

Again, Will was alone. All the children were married and settled. A man with a great capacity to love and be loved, Will was alone and desolate. Again, he could peace in the temple. Work there as well as music helped filled the emptiness that he felt for the next year.

One day as Will was working at the Doorkeeper at the temple, he took the recommend of a lady from Paragonah. Her name was Eliza May Robinson. She continued to come to the temple and they became better acquainted. Eliza was 56 year old woman who had never been married. When Will asked her brother if he thought she’d be interesting in “going out” with him, her brother told him that Eliza ran away every time a man came to the house.

Will and Eliza were married in April 1928 by George F. Whitehead, the Temple President. For the next 18 years, Eliza May gave Will all the love and affection she had.



On 2 September 1929, Will was appointed Assistant Temple Recorder. Six months later, on 25 March 1930, he was made Recorder. He held that position for almost seven years.
In 1935, Will became seriously ill. He was in bed for three months and unable to feed himself for seven weeks. He attributed his recovery to Eliza May and her constant care.



In 1941, Will suffered a severe heart attack that kept him in bed for several weeks. Again, Eliza May nursed him back to health. This attack, however, was the beginning of failing health that would plague him for the rest of his life.
Will had always had a workshop next to the house, where he did beautiful woodwork. As he was recovering from his illnesses, he found himself working in the shop more and more. During this time, he and Eliza May also enjoyed several vacations.

Four generations in 1943: William T. Morris, daughter Cora,grandson G. Morris Rowley and great-granddaughter Audrey Lorraine.

In 1944, Will sold the “Cannon Home” and bought another home. It was renovated before they moved in and Will immediately set out building a new workshop where he worked until the last few weeks of his life.

As a baby, Will was almost too frail to make it across the ocean and the plains, but his body grew into a strong, industrious man who lived to within a month of his 85th birthday. William T. Morris died 18 April 1946 in St. George, Utah. He was buried on April 22nd in St. George, Utah.

William's death certificate. There is a note that 14 days before his death, a doctor removed a mass from his neck, but he died of intestinal obstruction.

Obituarty

Eliza May lived another two years.

Grandson, Richard M. Rowley wrote:
“Grandpa Morris was always up with his times or ahead of them. He read novels and collected them…New gadgets intrigued him. He had the first folding Kodak camera I ever saw. In his workshop, along with his old wooden joiner’s plane were power tools of many kinds. He owned a typewriter at a time when they were not household items…He engaged in many activities straight-laced people of his time frowned on [including] play-acting and popular music…He even published a popular song, "Marching to Victory."

“But as much as he enjoyed the things of the world, he kept his perspective. He used his musical talents to praise the Lord and to promote the highest human virtues.”



Click HERE to see William's headstone on Find A Grave.

“Dificulties” Written by: George Samuel Rowley

This comes from a copy of a handwritten document. George wrote this in his older years but didn't mention his missions with Cora so I assume it was written sometime in the 1950s. Some punctuation has been corrected for easier reading. Some spelling has been corrected but most is as written and corrected in parentheses.

As we grow older and look about us the picture we see is not a pretty one. When we see those of our own age and older becoming gradually more and more helpless and burdensome we are inclined to wonder what the near future holds in store for us. We know full well, so far as our family are consured (concerned) we are no longer needed but are becoming more and more dependant and burdensome to them.

So let us turn back and in memory live again the experiences of yesteryears. My parants (parents) along with other good people of the Church, taught me the gospel faith and the power of prayer. This has been a help and a guide to me through my life. My folks were apposed (opposed) to our marriage but I knew thru prayer that it was the will of the Lord and I learned at a very early age to heed the promptings of the spirit and it was but a very short time before my folks agreed that I had done the right thing for they loved your mother dearly even as their very own.

It seem the bright spot that stands out above all others is the years with their ups and downs while we were raising our family, the first a little girl with lots of black hair and brown eyes, a tiny fragile little thing to bring so much joy and love to a home. We watched her grow and develop it seems she developed almost too fast, in no time at all walking all over the place she could run under the table without even bowing her head, and talking a streak.

Soon came the school days most of them pleasant ones with a few exceptions as I think of this insidend (incident) my blood still boils up in my vains (veins). One evening Raymona “as you may have already guessed” came home late trembling like a leaf and as white as a sheet. Her mother met her at the door asking what in the world had happened. She held out to her mother several sheets of typing paper covered with some kind of scribbling. We found after she had recovered from this unpleasant experience that she had miss spelled a word and her teacher had kept her after school and had ordered her to write the miss spelled word 200 times after the first few words no one could make out the letters let alone the words. I took the papers to the principle (principal) and ask him if that was their method of teaching and a few other things that shouldn’t be written.

We had some trouble with her helth (health), she used to have sick spells about every 2 weeks. We had her to every doctor in Parowan and Cedar and no one of them could locate her trouble. About the last bad spell she had, we took her to Dr. Green. He didn’t say much but gave us 2 perscriptions (prescriptions). I had them filled, took them home, handed them to mother and she just stood there and looked at me. Then I felt impressed to tell her I don’t feel we should give her this stuff and mother said neoter (neither) so I, but what shall we do, and I said I think we should take her to St. George and that is what we did and Dr. McGreogor found her tonsels (tonsils) were the cause of it all. We had them removed and she never had another spell.

Then there was the time she had pneumonia, a type considered almost incurable. We had the elders come in every evening for some days. She didn’t seem to respond too well to the Dr’s treatment and then one night mother felt that they should use onion on her feet and chest. Aunt Minnie helped mother apply the onions. The next morning when the Dr came he could hardly believe the change, her temperature was normal and she was soon on her feet and well. There are just a few of many such experiences.

Then a little boy, a chubby, fat, little chap slipped in while I was away from home working on the road, so he was two or three days old before I saw him. Now we had as many kinds as any one had, and we were proud of our little family as we saw them grow and develop. Morris too had his misfortunes. The time he fell from Grandma Rowley’s (Mary Ann Ray) window on his head and cut a place on his head that took several stitches to close up. Then he ran his arm into the wringer up to his elbow and cut the end of his finger off in the lawnmower. I shall never forget the night when he had flew (flu) and it settled in his throat and almost choked him to death. You could here (hear) him breath it seemed to me a block away. He was frightened and his Grandpa Rowley (Richard) took him telling him that he should relax and not be afraid because being frightened made things worse and at that early age he took himself in hand and did as his grandfather ask (asked). Then Grandpa bowed his head still holding Morris in his arms and ask the Lord to make him well and his prayer was answered. The ability to take himself in hand and do a thing that he knew was for his bes (best) good has been and still is a great blessing to him and to those with whom he associated. We all know how when he was preparing to go into the mission field the evil power had to be pushed aside and overcame. It was not easy but was done.

Now we come to another baby boy (Richard Melvin). His first few hours of life was quite a struggle. In the first place the Dr was out of town and his wife had to take over. The baby was tiny and fragile, his first introduction into this world was to be doused first into a pan of warm water then into cold several times before he began to breathe normally. This resulted in a cold and took several days of carefull (careful) nursing to get him started off normally. It seemed that the first few years of his life was spent with wet and mudy (muddy) feet. As soon as he had learned to walk he knew how to turn the tap on and it became his faverite (favorite) passtime (pastime). In the very early years of his life he had what we call rumatic (Rheumatic) fever, something they knew little or nothing about, and he had quite a struggle for a number of years, during that time he developed a hobby of clay molding and writeing (writing). He wrote a little book of poems for me which is priceless to me and we still have several samples of molding, each with its story of days gon (gone) by. He was not interly (entirely) well when he went on his mission and it was only thru his faith and determination that he was able to stay and finish his mission and we know that his mission was the greatest blessing that could have come to him both physically and otherwise, and that faith and determination still carries him over many rough spots on to success.

And then there was another lad with black and curly hair, a chubby little chap (Leonard). The fact that there were three others didn’t lessen out love for him as he came along. As the others had done we found he had a hart (heart) of gold and he also had his difficulties in growing up. When he was very small he used to like to follow me as I drove the cows to the field. Then it was that I noticed that he became slow and I used to scold him for not keeping up with me and then I noticed that the back of his hands were swollen and then his feet and I felt very sorry for having scolded. When we took him to the Dr we found his kidneys were bad but he soon recovered from that. Then came the measles and they seemed to be more rough on him than any one of the others and we were very much worried for some time and again came the blessing of helth (health) until he came home from U.S. service with a ruptured appendix. We have always felt that his life was spared because of faith and prayer and that same faith and goodness still carried over into his own family life and he is looked up to and honored by those who know him best.

Then there was the baby of the family, a little girl (Shirley)with red hair and bright brown eyes full of love and goodness. It seemed she grew up almost before we knew we held baby. She was so much grown up when she was a tiney (tiny) little thing that she went to the well to get a bucket of water and the force of the water in the bucket pulled her into the pond and she received her first swimming lesson with her cloths on with her mother to the rescue. And the time she fell out of a tree on her head with many unpleasant results. Then came the bad ancle (ankle) with an operation which the Dr’s said would result in at least a stiff joint but the Lord stepped in and she has nothing unnatural at all for which we are very thankful. Now her good humor and love for people along with her tale not wins a place in the hearts of all who know her.

So you see now we have five talented men and women all with outstanding leadership in his or her line, each with wonderful companions who work and pull together to make this world a better place to live and a better people to live among.
Thus we are reaping a reward that all to few parants (parents) enjoy.

The Lord said “Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God has given you.”

No parants (parents) have been more grately (greatly) honored by their family than we have.

O'lena Christina Mortensen

O’Lena Christina Mortensen was born 25 February 1864 in Parowan, Utah. She was the fourth child born to Anders Jorgen and Christine Andersen Mortensen who had traveled to Utah from Denmark in the Willie Handcart Company. The family had 11 children, 10 of who lived to adulthood.

(O’Lena’s middle name, Christina, is after her mother, but spelled with an “a” at the end. In Danish, Christine sounds like Christina, so her parents wanted to spell her middle name the way it sounded in English.)



O’Lena was baptized on 22 June 1873.

Lena grew up in Parowan. She attended school which was taught by Mary Ann Barker. One day, a group of children were playing “Ring Around the Rosy” and she was invited to play by a schoolmate who broke the circle to take her hand. It was the first time that Willie Morris had noticed her. They were good friends from then on.

O’Lena grew to be a sober, caring girl. At the age of 16, she went through the temple for her endowments. As a young woman, she enrolled in a class taught by a French tailor and she became an expert seamstress. She did not finish the class because, as her daughter Cora put it, “he became too friendly toward her.” O’Lena had purchased the Norman Chart from the class and was able to make patterns to fit any shape or size.

Her friendship with William developed and they were married in the St. George Temple on 24 March 1882. William was 20 and she was 18 years old.

1887

The couple had their first 2 children, bother boys, while living in Parowan. Their names were William T. Jr. (1883) and Anders Marion (1885).

In April 1884, Lena’s married brothers and their families were called by the Prophet to help establish the pioneer settlements in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. Near New Mexico’s border, the valley is a windswept high mountain plain with sunny, hot summers and frigid winters. That October, Lena’s father Anders suddenly died living two widows and 10 young children. The families sold their property and went to live with the older boys in Colorado.

After almost 2 years, Will and Lena decided to join the others in Colorado, so they too sold their property and moved.

When they arrived at the LaJara railroad station, Will said that Lena was not impressed with the country and would have returned to Utah if they had enough money. They didn’t, so they stayed and tried to make the best of it.

One of the first things Lena did was hang lace curtains. She loved beautiful things and tried to surround herself with beautiful things. In fact, at first the neighbors labeled them “aristocratic” and were nervous to make friends, but soon found that the Morris family to be genuine and sincere. A great circle of friends began to form.
Lena used her skills as a seamstress by making the valley’s first American flag. She also made ice cream and shared it with her friends, many of which had not ever tasted the new delicacy.

Morris home in Sanford, CO. Housed nine.
Sanford Church built by the members in the San Luis Valley.

Another thing that the family introduced to the area was the May Day celebration, Maypole and all. Although the country was uninviting, the associations were priceless.

Five more children were born to Will and Lena while they lived in Colorado: Lena Isabella, known as Isa (1888), Cora May (1890), Earl Raymond (1893), Una Millicent (1896) and Alfred Serenus (1899).

Anders was not well since the family left Utah and in 1895, he became ill with pneumonia. Just a few weeks after he turned 10, Anders died and was buried in Sanford, CO.

Early in 1900, the family experienced another shock when Will suffered a severe heart attack. He was told that he needed to live in a better climate. The family was grateful that he was alive. He and teenage Isa took a train back to Utah and Lena stayed behind to sell their home and belongings in order to get enough money for the rest of the family to travel to Utah. The family was reunited in October 1900.

Their last child, Angus was born in Parowan in 1903.

Morris family in 1903.
Rear: Will, Jr., Cora, Earl, Isabelle.
Front: Father Will, Una, Alfred, Angus, and O'Lena.
(Anders had passed away 8 years earlier.)

In 1904, the family bought over 100 acres of land which Will and the boys farmed. They named it “Blue Bell Farm.” It was the first farm to be registered in the state of Utah (after it became a state). Lena and the girls kept the house and helped with chores on the farm. One of the first things Lena did was plant a flower garden in front of the house. They also kept dairy cows and soon Lena became famous for her “Blue Bell Butter” which was wrapped in crisp blue and white butter paper. She had more customers than she could supply.

Lena, 1904, with milk cow. Cora's bonnet shows and Will is holding Angus behind the cow.

Lena loved to garden and took pride and comfort in her flower garden.

Will and Lena in 1907. Ages 46 and 43.

Lena served in many different callings in the church. She was particularly good with children and spent much of her church service with the Sunday School (what we would now call Primary).

In August of 1912, Will and Lena’s son Earl was working at the sawmill in the mountains above Parowan. When he was felling a tree, it unexpectedly turned and struck a dead tree next to it. The dead tree fell and crushed Earl beneath it. Workers rushed to tell his parents, but Earl died at the mill. He was only 19 years old. Will and Lena met the wagon bringing his body down the canyon. Lena was told that Earl had been calling for her as he died. This was something that she never got over.

Lena's hair was almost completely white 3 years after Earl's death.

Christmas was always special to the Morris family. Lena grew with Danish traditions and Will with English traditions. The family got the best of both worlds. It was a time for family and Blue Bell Farm was the gathering place and many families would stay overnight for several days.


One Christmas was particularly cold. Will brought several baby lambs inside to keep them from freezing. Grandma Lena was going from room to room making sure everyone was comfortable and ready for bed. One room was filled with excited, giggling girls and one little lamb. Grandma Lena spoke gently to each child in the room and was about to leave with the lamb bleated. As she walked out the door she murmured, “Good night, dear. Go to sleep now.” The room was not quiet again for some time.

The winter of 1919 was very cold. In fact, two feet of snow had fallen early in the year and did not completely melt until late spring. That was the year of the flu epidemic. Lena caught the disease and became very ill. One morning, after Will have been out all night caring for the animals, Lena voiced her concerns about Will wearing himself out. She had never wanted to sell the farm until then. They sold the farm for $24,800.

They used some of the money to visit friends and relatives in the San Luis Valley and then stayed with relatives in Mesa from November 1920 to May 1921. Angus was the only child at home and this point and he went to high school in Mesa that year. In the warm climate, Lena’s health improved. Illness and sorrow, however, robbed Lena of her singing voice.



Back in Parowan, the couple was looking forward retirement. On August 24, 1921, Bishop Hugh L. Adams asked them to serve a mission in the St. George Temple. They accepted and began work there five days later.



In the Autumn, Lena caught a cold which turned into pneumonia. By the first of 1922, she was responding to the doctor’s treatments and the pneumonia was almost gone. But in the end, her heart failed and she passed away on 4 February 1922, three week before her 58th birthday.

Will wrote, “She had been everything that a good and faithful devoted wife could be to a man…very patient and charitable towards my many faults and generous in her praise for my good deeds and efforts, full of hope and encouragement when things looked dark…God bless her memory."

Click HERE to see Lena's gravestone on Find A Grave.