Our Family Treasures: Annie Maria Dobson Alexander

Annie Maria Dobson was the oldest child of Thomas McIntyre Dobson and Amanda Gee Dobson. She was born on the 4th of November in 1878 in Kanab, Kane, Utah. Annie's parents were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and as is the custom she was given a blessing and a name on June 5, 1879 by B___Baird, in Kanab. which record was removed to Circleville, Piute, Utah when they moved there on Feb 1 1889.(Microfilm 0026061 UT LDS Kane Kanab Item 1-5 Kanab West 1879-1936; Item 6 Kanab Stake F.E. 1907-1935.) She was one of 14 siblings.

Census Record of 1880 Individual record for Thomas M. Dobson birth year <1857> Birth Place Utah, Age 23, Occupation Bricklayer, Marital Status M < married> Race W <White>, Head of Household Thomas M. Dobson Relation Self, Fathers birthplace England, Mothers birthplace Scotland. Sourrce Information:
Census Place Kanab, Kane, Utah
Family History Library Film 1255336
NA Film Number T9-1336
Page Number 443B

House Hold Record shows Amanda M Dobson as Wife -Married-Female- White-age 19-Birth Place Utah Occupation Keeping House-Father's Birth Place PA; Mother's Birth Place NY.

Annie Dobson- Daughter; Single; Female ; White age 1-Birth Place Utah- Father's Birth Place, Utah; Mother's Birth Place, Utah.The following Census record shows the family of three living in Kanab.
1880 United States Federal Census
about Thomas M. Dobson
Name: Thomas M. Dobson
Home in 1880: Kanab, Kane, Utah
Age: 23
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1857
Birthplace: Utah Territory
Relation to Head of Household: Self (Head)
Spouse's Name: Amanda M.
Father's birthplace: England
Mother's birthplace: Scotland
Household Members:

Name Age
Thomas M. Dobson 23
Amanda M. Dobson 19
Annie Dobson 1

They had moved to Piute county by February 1 1889 and so the 1900 census record shows the family living in this area. By then there were
1900 United States Federal Census

Name: Annie Alexander
Home in 1900: Circleville, Piute, Utah
Age: 22
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1878
Birthplace: Utah
Relationship to head-of-house: Wife
Spouse's Name: Robert A
Race: White
Occupation:
Household Members:
Name Age
Robert A Alexander 28
Annie Alexander 22
Isabella Dobson 16

Annie was nice about how she taught mama to clean the house.

When Mother was small she remembers her mother playing a game with her and her brothers and having them run around the house and yell Grinny grinny Grin Teeth, and then their mama would jump out from around the corner and scare them. Annie was good with a gun. She killed Coyotes with her gun when they came on the property.

She also was good to the Indian people who lived in the area and fed them. They liked our Grandmother Annie. Annie worked hard and helped assist the doctor, Dr. Whitmore, when women in the area had their babies. Often staying with the mothers for a time to assist the family needs. Annie was also called upon to come and help her sister-in-law, Sarah Delight Hancock out with her children, when her husband, Woodruff Moroni Alexander, came back from Kansas City after a Cattle drive the Spanish Influenza and Pneumonia. He died at the home in town. Sarah went into a coma for three weeks and came out losing her hair from the flu and Annie ended up getting sick from Diphtheria which was also going around at the time. She did get better, but her twelve year old daughter Amanda died with it that same year. The year of 1918.

Census Record of 1880 Individual record for Thomas M. Dobson birth year <1857> Birth Place Utah, Age 23, Occupation Bricklayer, Marital Status M < married> Race W <White>, Head of Household Thomas M. Dobson Relation Self, Fathers birthplace England, Mothers birthplace Scotland. Sourrce Information:
Census Place Kanab, Kane, Utah
Family History Library Film 1255336
NA Film Number T9-1336
Page Number 443B

All the siblings or children of Robert and Annie were present for this picture with the exception of my mother Mazie.

Annie Maria Dobson picture taken at age seventeen, She had brown hair, Mother (Mazie Alexander Nielson) Always speaks of how hard Grandmother worked, she was very tidy and very clean.

One time when Annie and Robert were first living in Altonah. Robert had to go to Roosevelt to pick up supplies. Robert was worried about Annie waiting up for him since he was not able to get back home that night. Annie in the meantime was waiting up for him with his supper ready. When she thought she heard a wagon come onto the place and then she heard Robert's voice saying; "Annie go to bed!" So she placed his supper on the table and then she went out to look for him and he was not there. So then she did what he told her to do and went to bed. It was the next day when he came home.
She had a pet prairie dog that would come up through a hole in the floor in answer to "Billie", and they would feed the little furry creature. She would call, "Here Billie, Here Billie, and up he would pop from his hole in the floor to recieve his portion of food." Grandmother used to go help Mrs. Parker, the mother of the Parker brothers that ran with Butch Cassidy (LeRoy Parker). When the boys were home the neighbors knew because the blinds were pulled.
When Annie's mother passed away in May of 1924. She took my mother , who was four years old and went by train to Circleville to her mother's funeral. The people on the train thought mother was cute and gave her pennies.
Annie kept a spoon dish for spoons on the table. It was the custom in her day. It was ornamental and shaped much like a vase. many people could buy a spoon dish as part of a set of dishes. Mother remembers taking baths in galvanized metal round tubs with handles. (When we lived in Idaho on the Homestead I can remember doing the same thing. Mother remembers bathing in the irrigation ditch, she said it was clean water right out of the well on the homestead.) Annioe made soap and bought soap. When she made soap, she did so from a butchered pig. She would heat side of pork and then scrape the fat or lard off of it and remove any meat particles then she would add lye to make soap. She cooked it and put it in molds. It would thicken and become solid.
This soap was used for washing clothes.

Minnie, Clarence, Verda, Wanda sitting in chair holding her first born child, Charlie Rich.

Annie would work after school every night as a janitor at the school in Altonah. This school had four rooms with two classes in each room. Mother remembers taking a knive and scrubbing off the gum from underneath the desk to help her mother. Annie kept the school really clean. The bathrooms were outside one for girls and one for boys. There were about three or four toilets in each of these bathrooms.
Annie would made quilts out of the wool from the sheep for bedding. She made feather ticks and pillows from the geese and chickens she raised. Annie liked to read she only went to the fifth or sixth grade. Robert went to the eight grade.

This picture is believed to be Minnie, Amanda, and Verda Alexander

Mother says that her mother never failed to raise a garden clear up to when she passed away. She canned her food and kept it on hand for when the children came home. She grew tomatoes, spring beans, peas. regular beans which she took the shells off of. Beets, potatoes. lettuce etc... friut didn't grow well in Altonah because of the cold.
Annie would take the wagon with bedding on it and take Parley and mother to get fruit from Vernal. She then would bring it home and can the fruit such as apricots, plums, apples.
Annie made excellent pies, but wasn't to keen on cooking cakes. Mother remembers as a young girl making her dad a birthday cake. She forgot the yeasr so it turned out quite small. But Howard Crapo, her sister's husband didn't seem to mind. He seemed to enjoy it and complimented mother for the fine cake.

Farm in Altonah My mother Mazie is the one third from right, with a ladies arm around her.

Annie was a midwife and she would go help the doctor when the babies came. She helped mother when she had her first three children who were born in Annie and Robert's home in Montwell, also known as Cedar View. When Annie went to help women who were having their babies she would stay about ten days. Back in those days the mothers thought they were suppose to stay down for a couple of weeks to recover from giving birth. That is quite different from our day. Annie received some pay for her work and care. She worked hard to care for the mother and baby.

Robert Angus Alexander and Annie Mariah Dobson Alexander

1920 United States Federal Census
about Annie D Alexander
Name: Annie D Alexander
Home in 1920: Altonah, Duchesne, Utah
Age: 42 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1878
Birthplace: Utah
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Spouse's Name: Robert A
Father's Birth Place: Utah
Mother's Birth Place: Utah
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Female
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Image: 356
Household Members:
Name Age
Robert A Alexander 47
Annie D Alexander 42
Annie O R Alexander 19
Wanda L Alexander 17
Clarence E Alexander 10
Verda C Alexander 8

Theo Alexander 5
Milton D Alexander 2 5/12
William M Browning 60

My mother told me that grandmother lost her teeth and her son, Theo bought her some false teeth, but she had already been without teeth for so long she was not able to use them very well. Grandmother Annie became very ill from eating wild jack rabbit. she almost died from the disease she contracted at that time. She always worked hard and served in different callings in her Church, such as Primary President.

Some of the Alexander's stand outside the home of Annie's brother Thomas Henry Dobson and his wife Sarah Alger DeWitt Dobson, from left to right in back, Clarence Alexander holding Mable, Annie with arm around brother Thomas, Sarah, Louise Wilterwood Alexander,Robert Angus Alexander, Theo Alexander, holding Sonya Alexander, daughter of Parley and Melvina Alexander. In the front left to right; Evva Alexander, Melvina Daniels Alexander holding DiAnn, Terry Alexander, Parley Alexander,

_________________________
Memories from cousin Gae;
"After Grandpa died Grandma came to Washington and lived with us for a while. She and I slept in the same bed. I remember how she had to inject herself with insulin every day, how much she loved Hopalong Cassidy on television (which was such a new thing for us then), and how much she enjoyed going out for drives in the car. She was with us when my sister Faye was blessed, and I remember how she cried when my father blessed her".
____________________

In her older years grandmother suffered from thyroid disease and Diabetes. I remember as a young child of four years of age, visiting grandmother with my mother at Aunt Verda's Apartment in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was caring for grandmother. I remember she was in bed, she was very kind and happy to see me. I remember how my Aunt fixed breakfast and we had little packages of jelly that we could spread on our toast. I loved those cute little packages. I also remember playing outside while they talked inside. I remember Mother and Verda holding my hands as we walked along a sidewalk and swinging me up and down every so often.It was after we left that Grandmother passed away on July 12 1958 in Salt lake City.