Mary Ella Hickman Shortly after Fred's Death

Documentation of Fred's life after his mission is hard to find. It is especially difficult to find information on Mary Ella once Fred passes away. We know she eventually remarried into the Martineau family, and became estranged from my great-grandmother, Minerva Teichert. The general story is that they became contentious over the parenthood of Constance. Minerva did not believe Constance was her biological sister, while her mother insisted it was so. I don't want to spend a lot of time in the dispute here, but this conflict is definitely an important event for the relationship of Minerva and Mary Ella.

What interests me here is a few news article I discovered regarding an accident Mary Ella had. I'll post the articles throughout in chronological order. Since Fred died in September 1919, this lets me know a litte bit about Mary Ella's life following her husband's death. The first article is from December 25, 1919 from a notice in the Rigby Star:

"Mrs. Ella Kohlhepp, 54 years of age, of American Falls, who is visiting relatives in Salt Lake, suffered a fracture of her left collar bone, lacerations and bruises about her head and probable internal injuries, when she was struck by a street car."

This sounds like a very painful incident for Ella. Given the injury, it's no surprise that months later, a notice appears in the Deseret News on March 17, 1920 that she is suing for damages.

This states, "Woman Asks $20,000. Ella Kohlhepp has begun suit in the [ard] district [ours] against Utah Light & Traction company, for $20,000 damages for injuries suffered from being struck by a street car. She alleged that as she was walking north on State street near Twenty-first South street. Dec. 19, 1919, she was run down by a street car through failure of the motorman to give warning and that she suffered body bruises as a result of the accident."

The following day in the Deseret News in the March 18, 1920 issue, another article reads:

Accident Victim Will Resume Literary Work

Mrs. Ella Kohlhepp who was struck by a street car last December 19, suffering a broken collar bone, will leave soon for her home in American Falls, Idaho. Mrs. Kohlhepp has been working a numbers of years, on a collection of Indian traditions and stories, she knew Chief Pocatello, and from him was able to obtain much data[.] At the time of the accident she was taking a course in English at the University of Utah. As soon as she has arranged her affairs at home she will move to Salt Lake. Two of her lyrics, "Joseph the Prophet" and "His Glory," which Prof. Lund has arranged to the music of "Sweet Afton" and "Oh, My Father" will be sung at general conference in April, she says.

Now, to review what is interesting in these article:

1. Ella must have been having a hard time with a husband that passed away in September and then getting hit by a car in December. It is interesting that the article mentioned her as "Mrs. Kohlhepp," as if she was still married. Perhaps she did not want it known that she was now a widow, or the reporter was not aware that she was?

2. The accident and the course being taken at the University of Utah show that she was dwelling in Salt Lake City following Fred's death in September. At least, I hope it was following, since Fred died in American Falls in mid-September. When did coursework for the University of Utah start in 1920? I imagine it is similar to today, when coursework starts in early September. I hope she was there for Fred's death and funeral! Did she start late into the semester or what? This is interesting. I know Ella had a habit of leaving the home and living different places for long periods of time, so I wonder if she was even there for Fred's final hours. If anything, we at least learn that she was moving on after Fred passed away (or at least planning to do so). She was going to head back home, settle the affairs, and move to Salt Lake.

3. It shows Ella's interests. She was taking a course in English at the U, suggesting she was trying to work on her composition skills for the Indian traditions and stories she was collecting (and perhaps just for general interest). She had received education earlier at the Sacred Heart Academy when she was young (the only one of her siblings to get an education), and this shows she pursued it a bit further. The article mentions that she had been working on collecting the stories for "a number of years," making it a passtime of hers while Fred had been alive. I wonder if some of these tales made it into Minerva's A Romance of Old Fort Hall or Drowned Memories. We also learn that was writing poetry, much as Fred had done (and likely something they did together). While this article claims that two of Ella's lyrics would be sung during the April Conference (quite a venue in Mormon circles), conference reports of the April 1920 General Conference do not suggest they were sung.

In April 1920, the following were sung:

"O say, what is truth?"
"Come, O Thou King of kings."
"Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah."
"Lift Thine Eyes" (Mendelssohn).
"The Spirit of God like a fire burning."
"Hallelujah to the Father" (Beethoven's "Mount of Olives").
"The Lord's Prayer."
"The Lord Victorious" (Mascagni).
"O, Love Divine."
"Now Jesus Loved Martha and her Sister and Lazarus."
"Earth and Heaven."
"As the Earth Brings Forth Her Bud."
"I Will Greatly Rejoice in the Lord."
"Blessed Be the Lord God of Israel."
"I Bring You Glad Tidings."
"Is This the Messiah?"
"Let the Lower Lights be Burning."
"The Palms."
"Do What is right."
"We thank Thee, O God, for a prophet."
"How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord."
"High on the mountain top."
"Guide us, O thou great Jehovah."
"Redeemer of Israel, our only delight."
"Do what is right, let the consequence follow."
"Now let us rejoice."
"O ye mountains high."
"Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear."
"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow."
"Come, let us anew our journey pursue."
"One Hundred Years."
"O My Father."

None of these songs resemble those described in the article. Of course, the article claims that "His Glory" would be sung to "O, My Father," but Eliza's hymn was not a tune at all. It, in fact, was sung to many different tunes (in the April 1920 Conference it was sung to the old English tune that Eliza R. Snow preferred), so it is difficult to know which tune Mary Ella was planning/hoping to have her lyric sung to. Now, I don't think Ella was making these songs up. I have located some copyrighted lyrics of hers that were placed to music, which I will post up later. It is likely these were real lyrics she wrote. As for the Mr. Lund, I am not sure who he is. I will have to some investigative work here.

4. She knew Chief Pocatello. Whenever someone claims they knew someone famous, I get suspicious. I haven't read on Mary Ella's childhood in a while, but I don't remember her spending much (if any) time in Idaho before she married Fred. I will have to investigate this. However, Chief Pocatello (the leader of the Shoshoni people of Pocatello, Idaho) died in 1884. He was known for leading attacks against settlers when there was strife between the tribe and the emigrants. Eventually, he made peace with America, and moved his people onto the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, where they strived to survive relocation (dealing with intense starvation in 1875). Mary Ella had her first two children, Marie Elizabeth and Minerva Bernetta in North Ogden, Utah from 1887-1888. Her first child recorded as being born in Idaho is Frederick William in 1891. It seems unlikely that she ever met Chief Pocatello (having died 7 years previous), and if she did, extremely unlikely that she knew him on any sort of deep level. No doubt she eventually knew of him, but that is a completely different kind of knowledge.

5. Her injuries were not insignificant. I am curious if there are any court records associated with the damages she felt she was inflicted (the $20,000). Did the injuries have any lasting impact on her?