When I was about 8 or 9, I had a pioneer dress that my mother had made for me in honor of the American Bicentennial in 1976. We were headed to church one Sunday and my mother got out an apron that she said was given to her by her grandmother and told me I could wear it with my pioneer dress. It was a fancy apron that a pioneer might have worn with Sunday clothes. Right away, I got the apron caught in the car door and I made a big rip in the handmade crocheted lace inset of the apron. I felt terrible and my mother was pretty sad about it. She got it fixed but the crocheted inset was very fine needlework and the woman who fixed it couldn't duplicate it exactly.
Fast forward 35 years. My mother had never figured out what to do with the apron so she gave it to me. I had no idea what to do with it either but I kept it on a shelf in my closet and there it sat until a few weeks ago. I decided the time had come to get it framed. I carefully washed it by hand and ironed it and then I took it in to a craft store that does framing. Yesterday I picked it up. The apron is folded in the middle so you can't see the spot where it was repaired. Other than that, the apron is in amazing condition. I was told by the frame shop that most clothing this old is quite yellow from stored in cardboard boxes that have acid in them. So it must not have been stored in a box. I also think this apron was hardly, if ever, used. The laundering back then was extremely hard on the clothes. My great-uncle said clothes were not worn out so much from wearing as they were from the washing.
I had thought the apron was made by my Dutch great-grandmother (which is why I chose the Dutch blue background) but when I asked my mother how old the apron was, she told me it was made by her great-grandmother Emma Larson Smith--my 2nd great-grandmother. She was born in 1863 and lived in Snowflake, Arizona, a harsh, high-desert environment, most of her life. This picture was taken when she was 71:
My great-aunt Emma, who is a granddaughter of Emma Larson Smith, lives near me so I was able to take over the apron and ask her what she knew about it. She didn't remember the apron but thought it may have been made in the late 1800's or early 1900's before fashions changed to shorter dresses. She thought this apron would not have been worn with a shorter dress. The amazing thing about these pioneer women is that they had time to do this fine handiwork when they had so many other responsibilities and so few modern conveniences.
Emma Larson Smith married at age 18 to Jesse N. Smith. Jesse N. Smith was a faithful member of the LDS church and part of his faith was having multiple wives. She was his 5th wife. She lived for most of her married life very harmoniously with the first wife (also named Emma) who was much older than she was. Her husband died when she was just 43. Here is an excerpt from a history of her, written by her daughter:
"At the death of her husband "Aunt Em" was left a widow with nine children ranging in age from eight months to twenty-three years. The new brick house for her and "Aunt Emmy" (the first wife with whom she lived) was only partly built. With faith and unflinching courage "Aunt Em" faced the many problems of frontier life. She was thrifty, industrious, resourceful. She and her boys finished the house. She took a course in obstetric nursing and served as midwife in the towns and on the ranches of southern Navajo County. She made the remarkable record of taking care of over 1000 mothers in confinement without losing a single case. This was all done without the aid of anesthetics or doctors." In addition to being a midwife, my aunt told me that she also took boarders who were students coming to town to attend the high school.
She was devoted to the LDS church and her greatest concern was to have her children grow up to be faithful members rendering service in the church. She spent her winters at the end of her life living in Mesa, AZ, working in the temple there. She died in 1943 at the age of 80, a few months after a large celebration of her 80th birthday was held.
I am proud to claim this amazing woman as my 2nd great-grandmother. Her example reminds me to be a better person.
Fast forward 35 years. My mother had never figured out what to do with the apron so she gave it to me. I had no idea what to do with it either but I kept it on a shelf in my closet and there it sat until a few weeks ago. I decided the time had come to get it framed. I carefully washed it by hand and ironed it and then I took it in to a craft store that does framing. Yesterday I picked it up. The apron is folded in the middle so you can't see the spot where it was repaired. Other than that, the apron is in amazing condition. I was told by the frame shop that most clothing this old is quite yellow from stored in cardboard boxes that have acid in them. So it must not have been stored in a box. I also think this apron was hardly, if ever, used. The laundering back then was extremely hard on the clothes. My great-uncle said clothes were not worn out so much from wearing as they were from the washing.
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| We think the apron was made in the late 1800's or early 1900's when dress styles were long and full. |
I had thought the apron was made by my Dutch great-grandmother (which is why I chose the Dutch blue background) but when I asked my mother how old the apron was, she told me it was made by her great-grandmother Emma Larson Smith--my 2nd great-grandmother. She was born in 1863 and lived in Snowflake, Arizona, a harsh, high-desert environment, most of her life. This picture was taken when she was 71:
 |
| My great-aunt said that the custom back then when pictures were taken was not to smile but to have a natural expression of "repose" on your face. This picture was taken at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Jesse N. Smith's birth in 1834. Emma Larson was the last wife still alive. |
My great-aunt Emma, who is a granddaughter of Emma Larson Smith, lives near me so I was able to take over the apron and ask her what she knew about it. She didn't remember the apron but thought it may have been made in the late 1800's or early 1900's before fashions changed to shorter dresses. She thought this apron would not have been worn with a shorter dress. The amazing thing about these pioneer women is that they had time to do this fine handiwork when they had so many other responsibilities and so few modern conveniences.
Emma Larson Smith married at age 18 to Jesse N. Smith. Jesse N. Smith was a faithful member of the LDS church and part of his faith was having multiple wives. She was his 5th wife. She lived for most of her married life very harmoniously with the first wife (also named Emma) who was much older than she was. Her husband died when she was just 43. Here is an excerpt from a history of her, written by her daughter:
"At the death of her husband "Aunt Em" was left a widow with nine children ranging in age from eight months to twenty-three years. The new brick house for her and "Aunt Emmy" (the first wife with whom she lived) was only partly built. With faith and unflinching courage "Aunt Em" faced the many problems of frontier life. She was thrifty, industrious, resourceful. She and her boys finished the house. She took a course in obstetric nursing and served as midwife in the towns and on the ranches of southern Navajo County. She made the remarkable record of taking care of over 1000 mothers in confinement without losing a single case. This was all done without the aid of anesthetics or doctors." In addition to being a midwife, my aunt told me that she also took boarders who were students coming to town to attend the high school.
She was devoted to the LDS church and her greatest concern was to have her children grow up to be faithful members rendering service in the church. She spent her winters at the end of her life living in Mesa, AZ, working in the temple there. She died in 1943 at the age of 80, a few months after a large celebration of her 80th birthday was held.
I am proud to claim this amazing woman as my 2nd great-grandmother. Her example reminds me to be a better person.
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