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| Thomas Corless |
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| Children of Thomas and Eliza Corless (L-R): Alice, Mother Eliza, Rhea, Kate, John, Thomas A., Os, Mamie |
In May 1858 Thomas and Eliza welcomed the first of ten
children into their circle: Thomas Alonzo. Seven of the children grew to
adulthood, and in the early years Thomas provided for the family by farming.
The sixth child, Alice, once fiddled around in the back of the family wagon
with her siblings and found “some kernels of corn.” As Alice played with the
kernels, she remembered, “I got one up my nose and I couldn’t get it out.”
Thomas and Eliza took her to a doctor who pushed the kernel up the nose and
subsequently down her throat (KS, 86).
Alice also recalled: “As for dolls,
we had to make them. My first doll was a large pumpkin that my older brother
cut a face in for me. I make some dresses for it. I thought it was the best
doll around. But the day came when I had a sad time. I fell down with my doll
in my arms and that was the end of it” (KS, 88).
In the
1880s Alice and Sarah attended a mid-week church meeting at the Assembly Hall
on Temple Square. On the way to the meeting they ran an errand for their mother
by picking up a repaired alarm clock used at home. The repairman “set the clock
[to] the right time” and the girls dashed to the hall. While the meeting
progressed the alarm clock sounded. Embarrassed, and unsure of what to
do—despite the whispered insistence of at least one fellow congregant to take
it out—Alice, at least, “sat there looking straight ahead” (KS, 88–89; modern
portable phone noises and human behavior demonstrate that little has changed).
In 1877 Thomas, the father, was
first called and then continued to serve as a bishopric member for twenty
years. In the early part of his service it was expected—though he never did—to enter
into plural marriage. The bishop queried: “When are you going to take another
wife?” Thomas simply stated: “Not until I can make enough to take care of …
one” (KS, 91).
Father Thomas, while in his
sixties, attempted to free one of his horses from some swampy land. Though
muscular and no stranger to hard labor, his efforts in this instance produced a
lamentable result—paralysis. “He felt something snap in his back and instantly
he lost the use of his body from the waist down” (KS, 91). An extremely heavy
“cane chair” provided his only mobility unless carried by another individual.
His condition led to his 1897 release from the bishopric, and in that same year
he received his patriarchal blessing which counseled: “Although thy body may be
afflicted, thou shalt be strong. … Thy mission is thus far complete” (KS, 92).
He died in 1903.
Tragedy struck the family again in
1907 when Kate, then grown and married with children of her own, lost a
sixteen-year-old boy. Her son, LeRoy, was “injured playing rugby.” Distraught,
she suffered anguish for some time wondering why such a thing was allowed to
happen. “Had she not served the Lord faithfully all her life?” Despite the
discontent and grief, Kate continued to attend her meetings. Sometime later, at
a Relief Society testimony meeting, a sister by the name of Minnie Preece spoke
in tongues. Sister Preece “placed her hands on Kate’s head and said that the
Holy Spirit had told Kate the feelings were all wrong and that the Lord was
displeased.” To her credit, “Kate immediately repented and finally accepted the
death of her son” (KS, 94).
Alice married a man, John, who called
her, “Little Half Pint.” The couple loved to attend dances and continued even
after they had children of their own. “During one dance, when Alice stopped to
nurse her baby, someone made fun of her. Instantly John knocked him down—John
was the strong, silent type who liked action and work better than talk” (KS,
96).
As an adult Mamie served as Primary
president for twenty-five years. On of her bishop’s observed, “Her patience was
inexhaustible … the children worshipped her. Mamie’s daughter, Grace, recalled,
“Mother loved children and they loved her” (KS, 98–99).
Os lived with and cared for mother
Eliza after father Thomas died. Os not only cared for his mother, but he
continued to watch over his father’s beloved white horse. For a handful of
years, Mamie and her family stayed at the old homestead as well. During those
years Os would come home from work at night and set the horse to water at a
trough while he collected Corless, his nephew, Mamie’s son. Together
they—horse, Os, and Corless as a rider—would head to the barn and corral the animal.
This pattern was interrupted when Os one day returned home late from work;
Corless was already asleep. After the horse had drunk its fill the animal would
not move. Os recognized the problem: no nephew. The uncle retrieved the
sleeping boy, placed him on the horse, and together they went to the barn (KS,
99).
Rhea’s “playmates called her
‘Sar-ree’ instead of Sarah, so Rhea was the name most people called her all her
life.” She was a professional actress (KS, 94, 101).
As an adult Thomas Alonzo generally
made a living hauling sand or pea gravel to various customers. As a father he jokingly
asserted to his children that he was part-owner of the Catholic Cathedral of
the Madeline, located in Salt Lake City. He claimed that he was never paid for
hauling building material to the work-site in the first decade of the
twentieth-century; and since he never saw any of the approximate $450,000 doled
out for construction of the sanctuary, he owned a piece of it (KS, 179–180, 185).
John eventually served as a county
sheriff for three terms (KS, 104–113).
Sources:
KS = William G. Hartley, Kindred
Saints: The Mormon Immigrant Heritage of Alvin and Kathryne Christenson
(Salt Lake City: Eden Hill, 1982).
DO = William G. Hartley, “Dangerous Outpost: Thomas Corless
and the Fort Limhi/Salmon River Mission,” Mormon
Historical Studies 2, no. 2 (2001): 135–162.
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