MARTHA BENNETT CALKINS

MARTHA BENNETT CALKINS

    Martha was born June 4, 1826 in Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee.  She was the daughter of William J. Bennett and Elizabeth Bell Bennett.  She was the eighth of eleven children.  Both of her grandfathers were Revolutionary War veterans.
    When she was three years old,, her family homesteaded in Shelbyville. Illionos.  While there, the heard the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The family gathered with the Saints in Lee County, Iowa.  They endured the persecation of the Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois.  Her father passed away on October 30, 1846.
    The remaining family members c9ntnued to make their way to Kanesville and then began their trek across the Plains.  They traveled with the Erastus Snow Company and arrived in Salt Lake on October 7, 1851.
    Martha married William Calkins on may 31, 1852 when she was twenty-six years old and William was twenty-nine.  The new family made their new home in Payson, Utah. 
    Her first child, Eliza Ann was born January 28, 1854.  Her second child, Martha Emiline died prior to her second birthday.  Her third child, William Jr. Was born August 10, 1861.  When her fourth baby, Alfred Arden was born December 23, 1867 complications set in and both the mother and baby died just one day apart.  Martha died on December 25, 1867 and Alfred Arden died on December 26.  Both of them were buried in the Payson Cemetery.
    William remained a widower for seven years and then he married Elizabeth Pareby Vest, a divorced mother of nine children.  This gave the combined family a total of twelve children.  William passed away on June 4, and 1891 was laid to rest next to his first wife in the Payson Cemetery.