Ella -- Notes from Martineau Family

After Fred died, Mary Ella remarried 9 years later in Salt Lake City to George Albert Martineau, Sr. There isn't a lot captured in my family history after this point, due to the rift that formed between Minerva and Ella. I've looked up memoirs that the Martineau family might have had, and did discover some tidbits. From a biography of George Albert Martineau by his grandson, LeVan Martineau, there are a few notes about Mary Ella of interest:

"George moved back to Cedar City, Utah in 1927. In 1928 he moved to Salt Lake City. While in Salt Lake he met Mary Ellen [Ella] Kohl[h]epp. She was a widow who had six children. All of them were married but one. They were married December 5, 1928. (Mary Ellen was a health food fanatic and grew alfalfa in the living room window and used the leaves to make salad and juice. She had some other ideas about health that were not very sound. She believed that if a child looked directly into the morning sun for several minutes a day they would have strong eyesight. A very bad thing to do. Thouis told of having his father come to visit, after he and Mabel were married, and they were cooking beef steak for dinner. George Albert explained very carefully about how they were strict vegetarians and ate only healthy food and never red meat. He then sat down to dinner and ate all the steak. Another bit of interest, George kept the upright piano that was in her home and moved it to Arizona with him.  He shipped it to his youngest son, Thouis, for Christmas in 1954. It was given to his middle child, Carol Stoddard, who has it in her possession (1998). Mary Ellen died of dropsy in January, 1941. (Dropsy, now called Edema, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in cells or a tumor.)"

Observations:

- Notes marriage date to George Albert Martineau, Sr. on December 5, 1928.

- One child not married I believe would have been Constance.

- The belief regarding eyesight may have contributed to Minerva's description of lost eyesight in her letter to her daughter Laurie.

- It looks like the regiment reg. food consumption was instituted not only at the Kohlhepp home, but the Martineau home as well. This was the "Jewish" health code they claim to have followed. George looks to have begrudgingly followed it.

- We know Ella composed music, and it's interesting to see where her piano ended up. It would be interest to see if Carol had any pictures of it.