Hezekiah Carter
Hezekiah married Elizabeth Morris, who was born November 11, 1841, in Rhuddlan (OR) CWM, Flint, Wales. Her parents were Edward Morris and Mary Ann Roberts. They were married December 5, 1863, and were blessed with seven children, Thomas "H", Mary Elizabeth, Jane Ann, Rose Ellen, Francis A., Hezekiah Morris, and a girl baby. She died December 30, 1878.
When Thomas "H," was a little boy, in his early teens, he went down to the farm to see how the cattle were doing. They had a high board fence around their stockyard. He climbed up on this fence, and saw a mountain lion in side the enclosure there. He had his shotgun filled with bird shot. The lion started toward him and he fired the bird shot right into the lions face, jumped down from the fence, and ran to the house for his father. When they got back down to the stockyard, they found a dead lion!
When the railroad was being built from the East, they needed men with teams to work in Colorado. Thomas, along with several other young men from Nephi, took their teams and left to work on the rail road. While he was gone, his father Hezekiah married Betsy Ann Crawley, who was one of the oldest girls in her family. She had one of her younger sisters there working for them when Thomas came home from Colorado. He and Mary were attracted to each other, and soon wanted to marry. When they left for Salt Lake City to be sealed in the Endowment House, Hezekiah and Betsy went along as chaperones, and Hezekiah carried the purse. He paid all the expenses on the way to Salt Lake.
Thomas and Mary were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on April 3, 1883. That made Thomas his step-mother's brother-in-law, his father, his brother-in-law, and his half- brothers and sisters, his nieces and nephews, and etc. etc. It was always a family joke about the myriad relationships that came from that union.
Hezekiah and Betsy were blessed with nine children: Mary Ann, Florence, James Edward, Elva Cannon, Alta Levirn, Loran William, Theresa Fern, Algean McKay, and Lindon Leroy.
Thomas "H,'
and Mary were blessed with eleven children, Edward Washington, Mary
Bertha, Eva Dell, Clyde Avor, George Herman, Loyal, Thomas
Leon, Raymond Crawley, Clifton, Ernest
McKay, and Thelma Elizabeth.
Thomas and Mary Carter were a very devoted couple. Thomas was a tall man, who was very strict. When he said anything, that was the word with the bark on it, as the old saying goes. Mary Carter was a very devoted mother, and an immaculate housekeeper. Their meals were regular, and on time. Everyone was expected to be there too, if they wanted anything to eat. One time they had a dinner for the married children. When we were all seated Father Carter looked at George and Cecelia, and said, "Look at our offspring, Where are yours" George and Cecelia only had one daughter, Thelma. Later they had a baby boy that died at birth. Their oldest son Edward's first wife died at the birth of their second child, Arden, so Mother Carter took this little boy and his older sister Thelda, and cared for them until they were grown. She also went to California when Toms' first wife died and took care of him and his three daughters, Alice, Lela, and Leona, until Tom married again.