Heywood, Martha Emma (Mattie) 1883-1893

Mattie is the great-Aunt of the contributor, Richard N. Heywood

Martha Emma “Mattie” Heywood,

Parents: Joseph Neal Heywood, Sr. and Sarah Francelle Coleman

Birth: 21 Feb 1883, Alpine, Apache, Arizona

Death: 24 Dec 1893, Alpine, Apache, Arizona

                                   Mattie’s Death

Mattie, actually named Martha Emma after her grandmothers, was 10, almost 11 when she became ill on a cold December day in 1893. Her tiny home in Alpine, Arizona had a leaky wooden roof and the wind blew through cracks in the log walls and sometimes snow, too. At night it was freezing, even indoors.

Mattie’s family had moved to Arizona from Utah a few years before her birth on February 21st, 1883. She was the third of eleven children. It was a hard life in Alpine. There were only a few neighbors. They were trying to clear the land for farming. They had horses, cows, chickens and lots of room to play outside, but in the winter the snow and cold made everything hard, even the ground froze.

Mattie’s room had a cheesecloth ceiling which hung from stringers stretched across the room. Rain water and dirt stained the ceiling. There were two small windows which let in some light during the day; a kerosene lamp was used for light. There was no bathroom in the house. Outside, they had to walk on paths from which snow had to be shoveled away into heaps. The temperature at night was sub-zero.

There were no doctors, only kindly neighbors and Olive McFate, a practical nurse, who gave cheerful, sympathetic, understanding, and loving, tender care. But in those days, medicines were scarce and not very effective. Mattie was anointed and blessed by the elders. They called on the Almighty to bless her and “if it be Thy will restore her to health that she might be useful here on earth, and if you live, you will live unto the Lord and if taken you will die unto the Lord. . . Thy will, not ours, be done.”

In spite of all, on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1893, Mattie faded into eternity.

The next day was a sad Christmas, the saddest the family had ever known.

The funeral was held in the log schoolhouse. The procession was small, three or four wagons driving slowly, wheels squeaking and bumping over the frozen road. The grave was amongst the pines. The frozen earth fell with heartless thuds on the lowered box, tearing at the heart of the grieving family.

Pioneer life in the cold forests of Arizona was difficult, even tragic.

Grief and sorrow endured. But so did they.

Adapted by Richard N. Heywood from Mattie’s Death written by her older brother, Joseph Neal Heywood, Jr. about 35 years after her death.