EdnEliza

Edwin and Elizabeth Hickman

by Warren Edwin Hickman, a grandson,

as told to his daughter, Leona Hickman Peck.

These are memories of Warren Edwin Hickman of his grandfather, Edwin Temple Hickman. Easom's family was quite close in family ties with his father and came down to stay with his father during part of his later years. Edwin Temple would wander down to the garden in his old age. He would sit down and not be able to get up and it was Warren Edwin's (age 10) job to put his arms around the old gentleman and lift him to his feet.

Edwin and Elizabeth Hickman settled on good land when they built the home where they spent most of their married life. Edwin built a cabin and breezeway for the children as they were growing up with a main room where they would entertain their friends on Sundays. This gave peace and some quiet to the older couple.

At sometime during the growth of the family Elizabeth decided she needed help with the housework and the younger children. Edwin went to town and purchased two black girls in their teens. The plainer of the two girls proved a great help and learned very quickly. The other girl was surly and worried Elizabeth with vicious pranks and destructive acts. One time she cut into a new sack of flour and strewed the kitchen floor with flour. Edwin was patient and gave her time but the family felt that he must thrash her. This did no good, for the next day she found the scissors and cut Elizabeth's best dress in shreds. Edwin had to take her back to town and sell her.

The other black girl liked the family and everyone liked her. She married a fine black man on another farm and Edwin built her a cabin close to the house. Shortly after the birth of her first child, a son, her husband was put up for sale. Edwin tried to buy him to keep the family together. The owner wanted $1,000 so Edwin went to town to try to raise the money but came home to a disappointed family because he could not get the loan. Later the black woman married again but this marriage was not always harmonious. The couple had several children that were taken away from the farm by the father even though Edwin wanted to pay them wages because he loved the black children almost as much as his own. His own boys got reprimanded if Edwin caught them doing less work than the black boys. The son by the first marriage refused to go with the black family after the Civil War and stayed with Edwin till he died. The black family moved into town and many times Edwin took food to the family that he could do so little to help.

Edwin tried to send all his children to school and the boys to some type of training. He apprenticed Bill Hickman first to a doctor but Bill didn't think that he wanted to be a doctor. Edwin apprenticed him to a Lawyer Burkhardt. Bill stayed at the rooming house of the lawyer's daughter Bernetta Burkhart. They soon decided to get married. Bill was 17 and Bernetta was in her twenties. Bill brought his bride home and Edwin was so upset with the marriage that he took Bill out to the barn and strapped him. The couple soon left. When Edwin heard that Bill had joined the Mormons he grieved a great deal for everything that had happened between him and his oldest son.

In later years Bill made two trips to see his parents and Easom's family, who were living with the old folks. He brought presents for the children and was a shining image in their eyes. He tried to get his parents to go back with him to Utah but they weren't persuaded.

--Hope Hilton Papers, Ms 584, Box 1 Folder 1, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah