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By: Emmry Davidson, a student at Heritage Elementary School in St. George Utah.
I’m going to talk to you about my great, great grandmother. My great, great grandmother’s name is Elsie Stout Wood. I chose to research Elsie Stout because I have a cousin named Elsie and I wanted to learn about her. In this essay I will tell you about her life and share how our ancestors are just like you and me.
To start with, Elsie was born on July 13, 1892, in Mt. Trumbull, Mohave, Arizona. Elsie lived at a saw mill with her nine brothers and sisters. Elsie was a tomboy who loved to climb trees and swing around on the limbs, and sometimes would tear her dresses. Elsie also played the harmonica. Elsie had a bald spot on her head where she had a cancer wart removed as a child until she was in her 80s.
Elsie married a guy named Erwin Wood in the St. George temple on May 20, 1914. They lived on a 640 acre of land in Arizona. She named it Mt. Logan Farm. Elsie cleared the land and raised corn, beans, potatoes and squash. They also owned cows, pigs, and chickens. They hauled there household water four miles from Nixon Spring in three or four 50 gallon barrels.
In 1936, Elsie’s family moved to St. George to go to school. Later they built a house there. In 1965 Elsie was in an automobile accident and was almost killed. She went to hospitals for months. Erwin died Nov. 22, 1969. Elsie died March 20, 1980.
Second, I learned that my great, great grandma was a kid just like you and me. Here is a funny story about her. Elsie and her sister when they were quit young did the cooking for the men who worked at the saw mill. One day as they were making bread for the dinner meal, she dropped the bread on the floor. The floor was dirt so they decided they could not save the dough. There was not much flour etc. then, so she knew she would get in big trouble if anyone found out that she had dropped the bread on the dirt floor. So they took a shovel in the yard and put the bread in the hole. They were very surprised when they went out the next day to find a big white mound of dirt in the yard. So for several days each morning they would have to punch the dough down and rebury the bread. They thought for sure that they would get caught but, managed to rebury it without getting caught.
I learned that we should always tell the truth and not keep things a secret because lies can be a lot of work.
Elsie Stout was a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In letters to my grandmother she always counted herself rich in family even though she did not have much money. She believed that kids were a blessing and helped raise my grandmother when she was a child.
In conclusion, my great, great grandma had a great life, and she is just like you and me. I’m grateful for what my great, great grandma has given her granddaughter (my dad’s mom) which she has passed on to me. I wish that I could have met my great, great grandma because she sounds like a great person and I would have liked to hear all of her stories.
Brother Joseph
