52 Ancestors: The Tough Woman

"Week 3, Tough woman — Who is a tough, strong woman in your family tree? Or what woman has been tough to research?" (No Story Too Small)

This one was easy for me. While I have other woman who were strong and endured well, one ancestress came to mind immediately. For this challenge, I've chosen Catherine Cameron Southam.

Catherine Cameron Southam

Born in Scotland in 1847, she immigrated to America at the age of one with her parents John and Margaret (Fairgrieve) Cameron, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). They lived first in Patterson, New Jersey, then in St. Louis, Missouri, all the while hoping to one day be able to afford the journey across the plains to Utah.

Little Catherine had to get used to illness and death. Her mother died when Catherine was eight. Her father remarried but her stepmother Mary died when Catherine was ten and two of her young half-sisters Mary and Margaret also died. This seems to have made an impact on her. "When she was a small girl she always pretended her dolls were sick so she could nurse them better. Her father told her that she should become a nurse when she grew up."

At the age of fourteen, in 1861, Catherine, her father John, her stepmother Alice, and her brother James, her half-brothers Robert and John, and Alice's young nephew William Parkinson had their opportunity to cross the plains. Alice gave birth to a daughter Jannette in a covered wagon in Nebraska. And then not far into the journey, something happened that endangered the family's dream--father John became ill with mountain fever. Would they have to drop out?

"Catherine was only fourteen years old, but she drove her father's oxen with Oscar Young's help. It was a very heavy load for Catherine to care for her sick parents, and the smaller children, and to take the responsibility of driving the wagon, but she did it. Catherine drove the oxen most of the way. Their company of Saints traveled throughout the hot summer over the prairies and mountains to the Salt Lake Valley, and arrived there in late October 1861."

Catherine and Jannette

She later became the plural wife of George Southam. George, a native of Oxfordshire, England, was "a kind and devoted father, and also a faithful Latter Day Saint." During their life together, Catherine was called upon to again be strong. "At one time, George Southam was called to go on a mission 'without purse or scrip'. Catherine was in bed with a new baby. They were poor, having no food stored and no one big enough to care for the money and children and home. But such was their faith that he went, leaving his wife and little ones in care of the Lord and the Saints. (Catherine C. Southam testified later in life that the Lord did provide and raise up friends in their time of need and she got along better than if her husband had been home.)"

George and Catherine

There was illness in her family and in the community and her brothers Robert and John and some of her children died. These trials made her stronger--she developed an interest in medicine. "As early as 1871, Catherine began to work with the sick, and seemed to be a natural-born nurse...she started helping the sick, and they appreciated it so much — her kindness, they never forgot her kindness."

Then, in 1885, she was widowed. George was driving his team across the Bear River on Christmas Eve before joining the family at a party. The ice broke and he was killed. For four days, his family couldn't find him. 

George

Then, her thirteen-year-old daughter Alice (my great-great-grandmother) came to her and let her know that she had been shown where his body was in a vision. "Alice told her mother about the visitation and said, 'We will find Papa's body tomorrow.' It happened like it had been shown to Alice in the night."

Daughter Alice Southam Haslam

As strong as she had been, she struggled to keep going. Her grandson John H. Haslem relates, "Before this move to Ashley Valley she was helping her father do the work for their dead the year the Salt Lake Temple opened. She told her father she would have to give up helping the sick, as she felt it was more than she could do while caring for her young family. Her father said, 'Catherine, you are all that your mother has to represent her here on earth, and you are only fulfilling your Patriarchal Blessing where it says you will be as a Well of Living Water in a desert, and people shall flow to you, and call you blessed.'"

The Salt Lake Temple, where Catherine found strength
after the death of her husband

"While in the temple some of the sisters told her it had been made known to them that she was to be called and set apart to take care of the sick in Uintah Stake, as there was only one doctor, and very little help there for sick people. She was set apart by the President of the Church, and he told her if she would go to Ashley Valley, and honor her calling, he would promise her that her wheat bin would never be empty (which was a great promise in those days when wheat was so valuable, and her large family to feed). I, her grandson John H. Haslem, can testify that her children never went hungry or cold. They lived as well, or better than most other families in the valley. Everyone was poor out there those days, and all the neighbors wondered how she provided so well for her family. The Lord surely helped her." By 1911, she had assisted in over 1,000 births and had come to the aid of many of the ill.

Her grandson continued, "She had such a desire to help others her spirit wouldn't give up. As she grew older she did more genealogy and temple work, and left a nice book of names of her ancestors, for others to do the temple work. What more could the Lord ask of one of his humble daughters. If all of her posterity can only follow in her footsteps, I am sure we will be OK in the next world, and live much happier here also."

At the end of her life, she suffered from skin cancer on her face. It was painful and fatal but she faced the end of her life with courage, faith, and a positive attitude. Her granddaughter Katie Horrocks said, “Sometimes in the summer while she lived here my mother would have me go and stay with her to help care for her and I loved this opportunity, as she was always so cheerful and considerate...We grandchildren loved her very much. I can see her now rocking in her chair, humming a tune and piecing quilt blocks."


I come from a wonderful line of strong women who have been great examples in my life. As a teen, I remember recalling the story of a teenage Catherine driving the wagon across the plain and wondering at what she must have felt. I had been asked to do something difficult and I told myself, "You are a daughter of Catherine Cameron. You have her blood in your veins. You can do this." I have had many other opportunities to tell myself that since then and I have tried my best to develop that same strength that she showed throughout her life. Her example has lent me the will to carry on many times.

For more information on Catherine Cameron Southam, see my mother's website: http://www.boydhouse.com/alice/Cameron/cameron02catherinecameron.htm


Next week's challenge from No Story Too Small: "Week 4, Closest to your birthday — Not too much to think about here. What ancestor has the birthday closest to yours? (I mean in terms of month and day, not the year)."

In Memory of 
Jean (Green) Irwin
1932-2015
&
Lawana (Green) Toombs
1928-2014

My great-aunts
&
Beulah (Green) Carey
1921-2014
Grandma
 All great-granddaughters of Catherine