Martha Ann Mills Wilkinson biography

Martha Ann Mills was born to Robert Mills and Nancy Whitehead Mills November 1, 1851, in S10 Louis Missouri. Her mother passed away when Martha was only nine years old. Her father married Ann Hamilton who helped raise his family.          Her family came across the plains with an Independent Wagon Company, her father brought stoves and other furniture across the plains. Martha rode on top of a stove all the way arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in September of 1863. Martha had very little schooling, but was very good at reading, spelling and writing. She was baptized into the LDS Church when she was 14 years old. She married Joseph Wilkinson 29 May 1871 in the Endowment House. Joseph and Martha became the parents of ten children, Mary Ella, Sarah (Sadie), Joseph, Ann, Estella, Pearl, Martha Ann, Cora Mae, George Willard and Lawrence Wilmer. She became a practical nurse, going out to care for the new mothers and their babies. She trained her children to read and spell as she went about her chores of cooking, knitting and churning butter. Martha was very devoted to her father and in the evenings she would visit him and read the paper to him or write letters for her step-mother. Martha's strong characteristics were dependability, hospitality and punctuality. She served 36 years in several Relief Society callings, visiting teaching, secretary, counselor, instructor and president. She was a counselor in the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association. She also served three years as a school trustee in the Hoytsville School District. Martha passed away 23 November 1931