Item Detail
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Baker, Hannah Burns Ramsay
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1863-1909
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MSS SC 1140
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Biography and Diary
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Hannah Burns Ramsay Baker was born 23 September 1863, in Salt Lake City, Utah to Elizabeth Burns and Ralph Ramsay. She was the sixth of seven children. Her father was a skilled woodcarver who built the first Eagle Gate for Brigham Young. She married Henry Baker on 26 February 1884. They made their first home in Richfield and then moved to Manti for four years, working in the mail station as postmasters. Together, they helped settle Boulder, Utah taking up two homesteads, raising cattle, growing delicious fruit, and rearing their three boys: Charles, William, and Ralph. In 1906, Hannah suffered a severe stroke that caused them to move back to Richfield for medical attention. After two years of being bedridden, Hannah died on 27 October 1909 in Richfield, Sevier, Utah.
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This collection is a combination of various letters, genealogical materials and biographies of the Baker family. The section containing information about Hannah consists of a short biography and three typescript pages of Hannah's 1897 diary. She never writes of her personal feelings or ideas. Each entry is brief and in one or two words Hannah describes her daily chores of papering the walls, making soap, washing and mending clothing, churning the butter, baking bread, planting gardens, milking cows, making quilts, and other duties. Hannah often writes, All is well. This description usually falls on a day when she receives a letter from Liz or when friends come to visit. She also notes the weather conditions, as only one dependant on the weather for survival would do. Although the entries are short, they are very descriptive of the life of a pioneer woman. For example: Tuesday 15: Started to wash, it blew so I put it off and made my skirt. Wednesday 16: All well, I washed. Thursday 17: All well, I ironed and cut out my waist and sewed it. Mormon pioneer.
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1840-1857