This
is one of my very favorite family tales. It is about a relative named Joseph
Hyrum Bateman. How is that for a solid Mormon name?
Unfortunately, it is
challenging to define his family connection. He is the son of William and Sarah
Lavender Bateman. William is my Great, Great Grandfather. However, from there
it becomes complicated. I descend through a different wife of William,
Elizabeth Lavender, who is actually a cousin to Sarah Lavender. Confused? Does
that make Joseph Hyrum a cousin, a step cousin, a step uncle, one of these
options once or twice removed? That will be a puzzle and a story for another
day. Stay tuned.
Joseph Hyrum was born March 7, 1853, in Cedar City. By
the winter of 1876 he was living in Richmond, Utah. He told the following
story of how he decided to get to get married.
 |
| Too cold to sleep alone |
Evidently he had been “keeping
company” with Sylvia Amelia Glazier (the 1880 Census spells her name Silva). He
related that one night he slept extremely cold. When he got up the next morning
he decided he wasn’t going to sleep cold and alone ever again. So he trudged
through the snow to his girlfriend's house and asked her to marry him. They
were married that day, December 28th.
