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.

Ella's Obituary (1941)

Document Type: Obituary
Document Date: January 13, 1941
Created by: Deseret News
Addressed to: Newspaper readership
People referenced: Mary Ella Hickman, George Martineau, J. Grant Iverson, Williams Adams Hickman, Minerva Wade Hickman, surviving descendants via Fred and stepchildren

Fred's spouse, Mary Ella Hickman ("Ella"), lived another 22 years after Fred passed away in 1919. 9 years after he passed away, Ella married George Albert Martineau, Sr., who was also a widower. George would outlive not only his first wife and Ella, but 2 others (Emeline E. Ellsaesser and Ida Billingsley). This was a man that did not like to be alone. When Ella passed away in 1941, an obituary was printed in the January 13th issue of the Deseret News (page 5), which read:

"Martineau Funeral Set

Active Church Worked Passes at 75

Funeral services for Mrs. Mary Ella Martineau, 75, of 270 Vine Street, who died Saturday morning in a local hospital, will be held tomorrow at 11 a.m., at 36 East Seventh South Street, by Bishop J. Grant Iverson of the Capitol Hill Ward. Burial will be in the North Ogden Cemetery. Friends may call at the place of funeral prior to services.

A daughter of William Adams and Minerva Wade Hickman, she was born in Murray, Sept. 28, 1865. An active Relief Society member, she has been an active Temple worker for the past 15 years. She had also been recognized as a writer and artist.

Surviving are her husband, George A. Martineau; a son, Frederick Kohlhepp of Plymouth, Utah; six daughters, Mrs. Marie K. Nash and Mrs. Constance Shivley of Salt Lake; Mrs. Eda Lisbonbee and Mrs. Sara Bird of Mesa, Ariz.; Mrs. Minerva Teichert of Cokeville, Wyo., and Mrs. Annallee Averill of Los Angeles, Calif.; four stepsons, George A. Martineau Jr., of Sandy, T. Louis Martineau of West Jordan, Ernest Martineau of St. David, Ariz., and Douglas Martineau of Moapa, Nev., three step daughters. Mrs. Elazadie Hurst of Payson, Mrs. Nola Bauer of Mesquite Nev., and Wilma Luke of Junction, Utah; 76 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren."

Observations:

• This puts Ella's death date at January 11th, 1941, and burial on January 14th.
• The North Ogden cemetery was apparently a family plot for the Wades.
• Ella is described as quite involved in temple work (15 years), prior to when she would have met George.
• Recognized as an artist -- this goes along with the musical compositions, stories, and art contests I'd seen her involved in.

1919 -- Fred's Death

Fred Kohlhepp died on September 14, 1919. While I have not been able to find an obituary for Fred (the American Falls Press records I have reviewed end just prior to his death), I have located his death certificate.

Of note:

(a) Occupation at this time is listed as Rancher. I find this somewhat surprising as Fred at this time was also a business operator and real estate owner, who rented out some commercial properties. I'll share more on this in a future post.

(b) He was treated by a doctor from September 13th to September 14th, and died that morning of the 14th at 4 AM. The cause of the death at this time is listed as "Tuberculosis of lung," which was the common form of tuberculosis. It was commonly known as consumption, due to the weight loss it often caused. Fred's old photos show that very thing. Some have called tuberculosis as man's oldest infectious disease, and today (while treatable) it is still the #1 cause of death by an infectious disease (transmitted by bacteria). Many people today are carriers of "latent tuberculosis", not manifesting the symptoms of active tuberculosis. Some family records claim that Fred gained tuberculosis on his mission, and while that's possible, I don't know if it's probable. The bacteria do multiply at slow rate, but 12 years later seems to me like a long time to question if it was contracted on his mission. Also, Eda's earlier account claimed he was diagnosed with tuberculosis in his childhood. Fred seemed to be fighting lung problems during a good chunk of his life. On January 28, 1915, the American Falls Press contained a note on his poor health, which was likely related to the pulmonary tuberculosis that did him in, and at the time described as pneumonia:

"F. J. Kohlhepp, one of the oldest residents of American Falls, and a pioneer of southern Idaho, has been bedfast a month with a severe attack of pneumonia. He is improving at present but will be unable to be out again for several weeks."

It would be interesting to know if tuberculosis was a common cause of death in the American Falls area at this time. I'd need to do some study of the death records to determine that. For another day!

(c) Fred is noted as having been buried the very next day (September 15th) in the Falls View cemetery. This cemetery fortunately was not buried under the flooding of the American Falls reservoir, and can still be visited. Below is a picture of his grave:

While the head stone notes Ella Hickman, his wife, she is not actually buried here. Ella had remarried (George Martineau) and when died, she was buried in the Ben Lomond Cemetery in North Ogden, Utah, in a family plot her mother purchased. There's a sadness to this -- and my family lore claims George refused to let Ella be buried next to Fred. A little surprising given that she was his second wife (and he'd have 2 more). I admit there may have been a practicality in not carrying a body back up from Utah to Idaho.