21 May 1866 – 2 March 1953

daughter of

Philip Louis and Olivia Alger Oakden

Florence Mae Oakden was born Monday 21 May 1866 in Beaver, Beaver, Utah to Olivia Alger and Philip Louis Oakden. She was the oldest of four children. Her siblings were a sister and two brothers:

Her grandparents, John Alger and Sarah Pulsipher Alger, along with Sarah’s parent’s Zera and Mary Ann Brown Pulsipher, were called to the Dixie (St. George, Utah) Mission by President Brigham Young. Her grandfather, John Alger, took a contract at Beaver of building a gristmill and also a sawmill.

Her mother Olivia Alger states in her own journal that her father (John Alger) had not approved of her choice of sweetheart. She ended up marrying a man ten years her senior, who she describes as "not of energy enough to provide for a family. He was by nature a wanderer and I think I can say idler." This marriage ended in a divorce and great-great grandma remarried to a man by the name of Hyrum Smith Bryson. They were married in the St. George Temple shortly after it was dedicated. From that union great-grandma had the following siblings:

At some point during great-grandma’s growing up they lived in St. David, Arizona. The birthplaces of her siblings show that Olivia, David LeRoy, and Charles were all three born there, so it would have been around 1882 to 1888 or so. Great-grandma told stories of the Indians and the love she had for them. She said the squaws could be working in the field one minute, take a break, squat down, have a baby and be back to work.

I don’t know where or when great grandma met George Wesley McMullin. They were married 19 October 1887 in St. David, Cochise, Arizona His father, Willard Glover McMullin, had also been called to settle the St. George area. An interesting sideline is that great-grandma’s great-grandfather, Zera Pulsipher, baptized Wilford Woodruff (who later became the prophet). Wilford Woodruff then went on a mission to Maine and converted Willard Glover McMullin to the church. The Pulsiphers, Algers and McMullins then all ended up in the Dixie mission.

I don’t know how long great-grandma and grandpa lived in St. David, Arizona. Their first child was born in St. George in 1890.

Their children:

I don’t know the detail of great-grandpa’s work. Grandma always said that he died of Delamar Dust.* Uncle Doug’s history makes reference to the Delamar Mine. There is a Delamar Mine southwest of Caliente, Nevada. I’m making the assumption that he worked in that mine and died as a result of the dust he breathed. He was a young man of 38 ½ years when he died in April 1898. Great-grandma was left with five children, the youngest barely eight years old. She had buried her five month old son just two months before her husband’s death. She was expecting another child in November.

In September of 1898 she and her children went to the St. George Temple and were sealed as a family to George Wesley McMullin. At some point prior to this date, some of the Algers, Brysons, and Pulsiphers had migrated to Emery County. Great-grandma’s brothers helped her to relocate her young family to Cleveland, Emery, Utah to be near her mother and family. They traveled by horse and wagon. Here she supported her family by being a seamstress, making hats, and operating a hotel or boarding house. The main patrons were U.S. Mail carriers, peddlers, salesmen, and politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties. Two or three dentists roomed with her while doing work for the town people. On one occasion she fed seven of the members of the Robbers Roost gang and their horses. (The location in Cleveland is 10 S. 100 E.) For this she received $15.00. She baked her own bread, raised her own garden and meat, cooked and served too. There was one room in her establishment, however, which she reserved for sewing, and there made the dresses and hats she sold.

Again, I don’t know the detail, but she remarried a man by the name of Thomas Evan Davis on 02 December 1902. He was a widower with a young family, four daughters and one son. In looking over the detail of his family, it appears that his wife died in February of the same year following childbirth leaving him with a young family. The baby died a few months after her mother. The marriage merged two large families and resulted in the following births:

Mr. Davis’ family consisted of:

The fact that great-grandma was mother to 13 children probably accounts for the comment she is known to have made. Upon hearing the common "Ma" phrase called once too often she said, "for Hell sakes call me Peter."

Another interesting tidbit is that in later years great-grandma’s step-daughter, Clara, married her half brother, Samuel Conrey Bryson.

Great-grandma was called Grandma Davis because she was married to Mr. Davis. Some people also knew her as Flora Bryson instead of Oakden as she was raised by a Bryson step-dad. Therefore, occasionally there is some confusion about her name. I have noticed on some records in the church that George Wesley McMullin was married twice. Once to Florence Mae Oakden and once to Flora Bryson. They are, indeed, one and the same person. Her legal and true name is Florence Mae Oakden McMullin Davis.

I will now go to my memories of Grandma Davis, keeping in mind that I was not quite 8 ½ years old when she died and she nearly 87. I remember that she had brown eyes. When I knew her she and her son Loraine, or Chris as we sometimes called him, lived in Cleveland. The house was located west of us up just past where the road forks, across the road from Loren and Vernice Wells and just east of her daughter, Florence Jensen and family. The address is 815 W. 100 N. although at the time street addresses were not used. Her original house is no longer there, but has been torn down and a new house built.

My first memory of a dead person is of Grandma Davis’ brother, John Alger (Jack) Bryson. His funeral was in the Price Tabernacle. I remember walking down the long aisle to the front and seeing him.

I believe that she was the midwife in attendance at my birth. She also did ear piercing for people. My mother tells of her putting a clothespin on her ear to numb it prior to having it pierced by Grandma Davis. Shirley (Arnold) Mangum tells me that great-grandma also pierced her ears. She pinched her earlobes prior to the piercing.

I remember going to her house. She had a jar of pennies that I would play with and count and stack. I remember her bathtub was put in backwards and the drain was at the back and the faucet at the front. I remember her stove. I don’t know how to describe it. It was electric, and considered "one of the old type" now. I’ve seen one like it in the museum in Helper. There were ornate egg-shaped doorknobs on the front door, and a worn down concrete step outside the door. There were apple trees in the orchard in the back, and a lift up cellar door on the east side of the house. The upstairs was closed off so I never went upstairs. It seems like she had a ouija board.

At Christmas time great-grandma and Loraine would give me and Joyce one of those red net stockings filled with candy. Red and green ribbon candy and large pink and white mints always remind me of her. She liked to go for a ride in the car. She’d ask to be taken for a trip around the world. That meant a ride around South Flat. When she died I got a small picture that Uncle Sam and Aunt Caroline had given her, and some bubble bath in small cardboard containers wrapped in green cellophane that came out of the wardrobe she had in her bedroom. I remember going to see her when she was sick in bed. She dearly loved all her family. Large as it was she knew us each by name. She said that dying wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t have to leave us all behind. There were racks of bottled coke in the kitchen. She got so she was addicted.

Grandma died on Monday, 2 March 1953 in Cleveland, Emery, Utah. She was nearing her 87^th birthday. I was baptized the day before her death. Her funeral was on the 5^th. I skipped up to her house for the viewing. I remember it was a nice, warm day and I wore a green and white pinafore and white anklets. When I got there I saw her in her coffin in front of the south living room window. I wondered about her feet and so Lou Whimpey opened the lower section and I saw her legs and feet dressed in her white slippers.

She was buried 5 March 1953 in Cleveland, Emery, Utah, following a funeral in the Cleveland Ward Chapel.