Author Group: Various Children of William Don Carlos Markham and Sarah Ann Markham, as compiled by Beth Ann Markham Richmond, fourth child of George Reynolds Markham (ID#98) and Anna I. Anderson (ID#97). Classification: COMPILED: FamilyHistory Location: USA, Utah, Utah, Spanish Fork Biography of MARKHAM, Othella Document Entry Number: 1
Transcription: Otella the eighth child and the sixth daughter was born to William Don Carlos Markham and Sarah Ann Warner on January 17, 1692 in the family home west of Spanish Fork, Utah. She is on many family group sheets with a middle name, but she had none. There are some interesting stories surrounding her name. She disliked her name all of her life. As the story goes, an aunt had been to see the opera 'Othello' at the time of her birth, and the aunt influenced her mother to name the new baby girl after a "male negro", Tell expressed herself in later years. It probably seemed too unusual. Tell herself says she even added a middle name to make it more acceptable. She told of a humorous incident when she was a Young woman going to a new ward in Salt Lake City, where she was attending the University of Utah. The conducting officer who read in her membership was a Scandinavian with a broad accent. His pronunciation in a loud voice was "O-teel-ia Ju-lin-ia Mark-ham" with a strong emphasis on the 'ham". No one knows when she stopped using the middle name, but probably after the reading of the membership. She always said that the church records had so many versions that there was sure to be a great deal of confusion in the next world because of her name. Tell was a tomboy as a little girl. She liked to climb trees and fences. She recalls how she and all the other little girls would have new dresses for a special occasion. They all went out to play. All the others came back, still reasonably neat and clean, but Tell would return crumpled and dirty with sashes dragging. Tell and her brothers Joe and George were the best of friends. She always felt that her mind and accomplishments were more in tune with the boys than the girls. She loved to play in the dirt, and make roads for the toads to hop on. Her sisters were all fine seamstresses, but though she understood the principles, she never became adept at the execution. At one time she taught first year sewing in 4-H. Tell attended public school in Spanish Fork, and took her teaching degree at the University of Utah. She taught school first in Spanish Fork. On a visit to her cousin, Rilla McKee in Vernal, Utah, she met LeRoy Carroll. The Carrol's homesteaded their farm in Vernal in 1876. Tell's friendship with LeRoy developed slowly on later visits. They married on September 17, 1919 in the Salt Lake Temple. Just a few days later, LeRoy left on a mission to Hawaii. There was an arrangement for Tell to join him at the end of his mission, but she learned she was pregnant so she remained in Spanish Fork. She taught school and helped to support Roy. Leland was born in Spanish Fork on July 19,1920. LeRoy was forced to return early from his mission to help his father on the farm in Vernal. After LeRoy returned from his mission, they made their home in Vernal with Grandma Esther Carroll. They were there for Don's birth on December 28, 1922. Roy built them a two room home just before Margaret was born on December 26, 1926. Fred was born November 5, 1928, and they lived in the small two room house until 1929 when they built a larger house to accommodate their growing family. Lucille was born April 19, 1932. Along with the children, they raised alfalfa, grain, corn, pumpkins beans and a large garden. It was a good place to raise children, and to teach them the value of hard work. The farm had to be intensively irrigated, but since there was no stored water, they were at the mercy of the weather. They also had a herd of Jersey dairy cattle. Roy thought it was the best farm anywhere. Tell was not sure she agreed, but she was willing to work hard to enjoy fresh vegetables, and the beauty flowers brought. Her diligence in the vegetable garden helped them to preserve food and sustain themselves during hard times. Tell was a dutiful wife and mother, and although she was not a demonstrative mother, her family felt nurtured and loved. She was a disciplined professional teacher, and she tried to be a disciplined housekeeper, but the best she managed was to be a 'regimented scrubber'. Many of the usual housekeeping tasks did not seem very important to her. She was a lot more concerned about her children's education and development. In the summer of 1927 Roy had head surgery, so they rented the farm and went on an extended trip to help him recuperate. They took Tell's Model T Ford and traveled to California where they visited with Roy's sister and brother. They visited Las Vegas, St.George, San Francisco, and Lake Tahoe. They also went to Spanish Fork to visit with Tell's family. Their trip was a big success, because Roy came home with much improved health. The next year, Tell returned to teaching. They had a hired girl named Jane, who helped out with the children when Tell had to be away. Except for the time when Lucille was a baby, Tell taught almost all of the working years of her life. Roy went to work for the Farm Bureau to help make ends meet. Memories of Tell's cooking are sweet to Leland, breakfast was oatmeal, and eggs. For supper there was homemade bread and milk, and she made lovely cakes and pies. In the summer, their main meal was at midday. Chicken was served at least twice a week. The children had new shirts and dresses each fall to start school. Tell managed to get Eff, Nean, or Ora to do the sewing. The boys had a new pair of overalls. Saturday was washday, so everyone had clean clothes to start the week. For a while the water had to be hauled from a canal. In 1924, they piped the water to an area in front of the house. They had baths in the front room. They had water piped into the new house. In the winter time they had to cut away the ice before they could get to the water to haul it. The cows drank from the canal, but in the winter, they had to cut through the ice, so the cows could get to it. Roy had a great boar pig that people brought their sows to for breeding. When the litter arrived, Roy got a piglet. Once they had 45 little pigs of various sizes and colors in back of the house. In the winter they cut ice and stored it in sawdust to use in the summer. They bought their first ice box in 1934. They had electricity in the little house, but the service was very erratic, and they had to keep coal oil lamps around to be sure they had light. Life was never easy, but it was a great place for children to grow up. Each summer the family usually went on a trip. One summer they went to Lyman, Wyoming to visit Ora's family. Going over the mountain took 5 sets of transmission bands. The brakes were bad so Roy nudged into the mountain so he could change the bands. It took over an hour, and then he bent the fender out again and they started on their way. At Lone Tree, they came to a hill they could not pull in low gear, so Roy turned around and backed up the hill and then turned around and proceeded on the way. They had a great visit with Ora's family. Tell had high blood pressure some of her adult life, and she often suffered from heartburn and indigestion. She worked a lot at trying to lose weight because she realized the weight was a strain on her heart. The trouble was, she was also very tempted by ice cream sodas. She always slept on her right side because she believed it allowed the gas to flow away from her heart. She also had a condition of slow metabolism, and picked up a practice of drinking a bottle of cola every morning to get her heart functioning. A heart specialist told Effie that it was as effective as other caffeine medication and it was a lot cheaper. She had a great sense of family and those bonds that hold us together. Lucille was in the hospital after the birth of her second son, Matthew L. Caldwell. Tell wanted to know what the L. stood for. When told it was for Larson there was an "O" that said volumes, and then,'l thought perhaps it was for LeRoy, or Leland'. Lucille named the next son Markham Lee after that side of the family. Tell had a great love for her family, and always regretted that she was so far away from them. She was never able to feel as close to the Carrolls as she would have liked to. Tell was close to the McKees who lived in Vernal, and she loved the ten years in California, partly because her sister Effie was living there, and they were able to see each other often. While in Vernal, she tried to visit her family at least once a year. Roy always went along to do the driving. There was no road across Strawberry, so you just had to drive across and try to miss the bogs. They had to cross Daniels Creek about twenty times with no bridges. They left at daybreak, taking a lunch to eat on the way, and arrived in Spanish Fork at dark. Tell was a beautiful woman inside and out. She was aware and concerned about her looks, but she did not primp or preen. She always made sure she was neat and clean. She loved wearing pins and earrings. She never had expensive jewelry, but she enjoyed costume jewelry and had some to go with every dress. She was a fine example to her family of Christlike love and devotion. After her family, her other great love was teaching. She was a natural teacher and she practiced her craft every hour of her life. One of Fred's friends referred to their, home as the "Carroll Finishing School", because Tell was always trying to impress not only her children, but their friends as well, the way to behave with "style and good manners". In Vernal, Tell got a job at the Maeser Elementary School where she usually taught 5th and 6th grades. Weekday evenings at home in the Carroll home meant homework around the kitchen table. Tell always had papers to correct so she was right there with them. During the depression, the school board did not have any money to pay the teachers, so they were going to close the schools. Tell and many other dedicated teachers decided to continue teaching without pay until they had money to pay them. It went on for nearly a year. In addition to her regular classes at the Maeser school, Tell managed to teach music to nearly the entire population of that school. She loved music and she taught every kind of instrument. If she didn't know how the instrument worked, she learned. Don learned to play the trombone. They figured out how to figure the tone changes with a tape measure. Leland played the cornet and later majored in music at BYU. He played in many dance bands and taught music in Utah schools. Don played in dance bands and loved music all of his life. Fred learned to play the cornet, but his great love was sports. Both Lucille and Margaret were skilled on the piano and Lucille played the Violin. In 1940 it appeared that the war was really heating up and the war industries were expanding. Roy was quite deeply in debt as a result of the depression and drought over several years. He decided that it would be a good idea if he were to go and get a job which would pay a good and steady income and enable him to pay off his debts. In November, the day after elections, Roy left for California to find work. Tell was teaching school and Leland and Don were at BYU until the end of the year. Tell had to care for the animals and arrange for the sale of the animals and the equipment. They had a large Ram that persistently tried to butt her as she went about her chores. She kept him at bay, by dropping handfuls of feed while she moved from pen to pen. A cow also kicked her into the gutter one day, so it was a trial. She did feel that she made one great deal. They had a brood sow which had always averaged 6 piglets to the litter, the sow was pregnant, so Tell got a very good price for her. It turned out that she only had one piglet that time. They left Vernal about the 23rd of July in an old pick-up truck with the kids in back, perched atop the meager belongings they took with them. It was just the first of many trips they took between Los Angeles and Vernal. Tell was delighted to be leaving behind the hard work and drudgery of the farm, which she never did care for. She knew she was a good and dedicated teacher, but she felt she fell short as a housekeeper. She felt that if Roy had been the housewife and she the breadwinner, maybe the family would have been better off. There was no doubt that she felt better in the lower altitude of California than at mile high Vernal. Even picnic trips to the mountains in Utah were almost too much for her. In the low altitude she felt a new burst of energy. It was no wonder she preferred it. They settled in Downey, California. Roy made good money at Vultee Aircraft factory. Tell had a good job in a nearby elementary school. She also did some home-bound teaching and in the process formed many strong and lasting friendships. She thrived on the many and varied cultural opportunities, and she never passed up a chance for herself, or to expose her children to the finer things. Lucille had a Camp Fire Girl leader whose husband was in a veterans hospital, so she had lots of time to take the young people to the many cultural activities available in Southern California, and Tell was always ready to go along as a helper. She wholeheartedly supported and encouraged all of her children's activities, but nothing with more vigor, than she did their musical pursuits. She played the violin and the piano, but neither with very great expertise, she was practicing both again in her later life and pursued it up until her death. She wanted the very best for all of her children. She considered it a special bonus of the years spent in California, that Don and Fred had both graduated from The University of Southern California before they left. Leland, Don, and Fred, all served in the armed forces. Tell was a good music director, and she excelled when it involved the young people. She was never happier than when she was directing young people in a musical. She worked mostly in the Primary organization and served as President while in California. The church in Downey was a branch at that time, people were very scattered. When she was Primary President she made Margaret drive the Buick and pick up many of the children. They met in a clubhouse near a busy highway, and sometimes the noise got so bad, that they had to stop the meeting until a big truck could get gears shifted. She worked in all the organizations at one time or another. For many years, Tell was an active member of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Roy directed music for the adults, and he always used a pencil as his baton. He never felt permanent in California and didn't want any really binding callings, though he did serve in the Sunday School Superintendency at one time. Tell always sang with the Relief Society Singing Mothers, and she joined a community chorus directed by a good friend. She sang with them for many years. Financially they were in good shape. Roy had paid off the farm debts by 1950, and as the plants had returned to civilian activities, Roy retired. He soon tired of his humdrum life. He really wanted to get back to the farm. It was hard for Tell to leave a life she loved, especially since she only had a year until retirement. As always, her family came first, and in the spring of 1951 they returned to Vernal to stay. Lucille, a teenager, was the only one of the children still at home. Two of the children, Don and Margaret had married and they stayed in California. Leland had stayed in Utah during the family's time in California. Fred was finishing college, and going into the army. When he later married it was on the east coast, and Roy and Tell were able to make a nice trip at that time. They also managed that much delayed trip to Hawaii in later years. Tell enjoyed encouraging Lucille's school activities, and Tell made sure she had any special clothes she needed. Lucille recalls a shopping trip when she couldn't decide which of three dresses to choose. Tell bought two, and she went home and made her the dress like the most expensive one. Lucille remembers wearing it many times. It gave Tell enjoyment to participate in Lucille's life in this way. Tell had a special relationship with Lucille .She called each morning and was a super buffer for the large family of ten children which Lucille and her husband Larson Caldwell brought into the world. She and Roy were able to baby sit, and allow their parents to get away for short trips. Margaret seemed to feel closer to her father, but it became apparent to Margaret over the years, that many of her dad's good ideas and generous actions were quietly suggested by Tell. After Tell returned to Vernal she taught handicapped children. For many years she taught Jo, and sometimes Kay, Payton. She taught them to handle money, use a telephone, play the piano, and write letters. They had a great love for Tell because of her loving service, and considered her a member of the family. Tell was easy to love, because she was a loving and caring person herself. During the last months of her life, Lucille went every other day to help her bath and change. She has sweet memories of a still beautiful mother, sweet and clean as ever. Tell was growing weaker, and she and Roy would sit in their chairs side by side and take an afternoon nap, read, or watch television. They particularly liked 'As the World Turns' and "All in the Family'. She also loved sports and knew all the Utah basketball players by name. She became a wrestling fan, perhaps because some of her grandsons were in that sport. It was that sweet and giving love that Tell demonstrated all her life long that made it possible for two people whose needs were sometimes at odds, to create together a family, and leave their children an understanding of what it is to live for others. The day after Christmas in 1974 Roy called Lucille. He was upset because Tell had fallen, and he had called an ambulance and had admitted her to the hospital. He was afraid she might think he was putting her in a rest home. She had in fact, had a mild heart attack. She remained in intensive care for about five days. They moved her to a room on the last day of the month. She had a lot of company on that day, and then passed away about 6 a.m..on January 1, 1975. Roy passed away in 1982. Decendents of Roy and Otella Carroll are:
1-Leland m.Geraldine A-Kathleen
2-Don Edmond m. Myrna A-Susan d. B-Donna C. m. Kenneth Davis a-Brian C-Richard E. m. Linda a-Allen b-Arwyn D-Phillip E. m. Janine E-Roger M. m. JoAnn a-Markham F-David A. m Leann
3-Margaret m. Gordon A. Ricks (dv) Elmer Giggy (dv) A-Stephen David m. Rene A. Knight a-Kevin Ryan b-Darren Wade B-Marvin Daryle m. Gail Hoistrom a-Bryan Jeremy b-Kimberly Noel c-Brent Christopher d-Aaron Jonathan e-Adam Shawn f-Kristie Michelle g-Katherine Nicole C-Kenneth Gordon m. Shannon Musick a-Amber Nicole b-Annie Michelle c-Kenneth Gordon Jr. d-Jarom Arthur D-Karen Louise E-Lorraine Carol m. Kimberly G. Miller a-Garrison m. Gudennis b-Maxwell Duane F-Cynthia Joanne m. Christopher A. Hill
4-Fred Markham m. Shirley A-Douglas m. Jan B-David m. Marie
5-Lucille m. Larson H. Caldwell A-Leslie Hina m.David W. Turner a-Davi Chanel b-Jessica Louise c-Lucas Marshall B-Carol Mohea m. Thomas Harry Sprouse a-Tyla Suzanne b-Thomas Blake c-Emiline Louise C-Mona Linette m. Curt N. Rollins a-Kassy Lynn b-Cynthia Brooke D-Lisa Patrice m. Steven Phillip Glick a-Trina Raquel b-Anthony Phillip c-Whitney Elaine d-Aubrey McCall E-Wendy Suzanne m. Floyd Buzz Morton a-William Calab b-Thomas Jacob c-Elissa Suzanne F-Heather Ilene m. Val Carter a-Quincey Cheyenne G-Larson H. Jr.m. Elaina Treasure H-Matthew L. I-Markham Lee J-William Ashley