Biography of Ora Christine Markham Document Number: 119
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, Ora Christine Document Entry Number: 1
Transcription: Ora Christian Markham was born March 13, 1899 to Sarah Ann Warner and William Don Carlos Markham. She was the seventh girl and eleventh child to bless the family. They lived, at the time, in the farming community of Leland, a mile west of Spanish Fork, Utah. Her life, as one of the younger children in the family, may have been more carefree than some of her older brothers and sisters, but her parents taught her the value of hard work early in life. All of the children were required to learn all of the kinds of work required on a farm. Her parents set the example by working hard and by sharing all the skills they had to share. In the spring of 1906 when Stephen got his mission call to the Netherlands, Ora's mother decided that they must have a family picture taken. Ann came clown from Salt Lake with Christy, Thora and Donna, and Bertha and Mary were still living nearby. They congregated at the photographers. Sarah had given Ora and Nean some Easter eggs, and they were very possessive of them. While they had their pictures taken they had to let their little cousins hold the eggs, and they didn't entirely trust them not to take a bite. All in all it was a rather wild occasion. The little girls were fussing about their eggs, and Joe and Tell had trouble getting their hair to lay just right. After several tries they did manage to get a picture of the entire family. The eggs were also returned uneaten. Ora attended the lower grades in the Leland area, and then went to Spanish Fork for her high school years. When Ora was a Junior, her sister Tell brought home a catalogue from BYU, where Tell was attending school. The catalogue stated that in order to enter BYU, you must have a diploma from high school or sixteen high school credits. Ora already had sixteen credits, so she saw no point in attending another year of high school. In the fall she went to BYU and applied for entrance. They asked for her diploma, but she showed them the catalogue requirements and her sixteen credits. They agreed to allow her in if she could pass the entrance examination. She passed the exam, and started her college without graduation from high school. After two years at BYU, she transferred to the University of Utah, where she felt she could get a better selection of classes. She graduated in Home Economics, with a certificate to teach. Ora's first teaching position was in Lyman, Wyoming, where she taught Home Ec. and Biology at the high school level. It was while teaching in Lyman that she met Claudius Hugh Hamblin. Claude's parents had moved to Lyman in 1896. They came from Minersville, Utah where Claude's grandparents were buried. The move resulted from the closing of a lead mine in Minersville. To assist the saints there, the Church had encouraged the people to homestead land available in nearby Lyman. Many of the people on homesteads continued to work in the mines, and Claude's father was killed in a mining accident in one of the mines, which was a part of the Cumberline mines near Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1906. Some of the towns in the area had been of considerable size, however after only a few years, all the wood had been used to build or burn, and only the foundations remain. Ora did not stay in Lyman long. She had an opportunity to teach in Snowflake Arizona her second year. She took the job so she could gain experience and broaden her horizons. They really liked her in Snowflake, and they wanted her to come back and offered her a big raise. The pull to Claude and Lyman was strong, and Ora felt like it was time for her to have a family. On June 5, 1924 Ora and Claude were married in Salt Lake City, Utah. Married women were not allowed to teach in Wyoming at that time, so love put a temporary stop to her career as a teacher. They settled in Lyman, and over the years, they moved about from one house to another. Of interest, Dot remembers having a phone most of the time, but on the farm, they never got electricity until 1941, and their drinking water was carried from town until about 1940, when a well was dug and a pump put outside the kitchen door about 1940. In 1942 they moved to town. All were rented homes, until Ora finally convinced Claude to buy one. The farm land in that area was mostly covered with greasewood, and sagebrush. There was some farmland, but much of it was used for the grazing of sheep. The January following Ora's marriage, her mother died, and Effie came to stay with her in Lyman. While she was there, Ora convinced her to go back and finish her high school education. Over the years they often had members of the family drop in for both long and short visits. They loved company and always made them most welcome and comfortable. Ora's education was to hold her in good stead even though she could not at that time teach school. When the depression hit during the early years of her marriage, she worked for the WPA. Ora was the only one in that part of the state who was qualified to teach in her field. She established and supervised a clothing manufacturing plant in Lyman. Anyone who needed work had to be hired, even if they had never used a sewing machine before. The workers were taught sewing skills and earned one dollar a day. Ora earned two and a half dollars a day to oversee the project. At one time, she had as many as seventy women working for her. The project lasted three or four years. During these years many of the farms in this area were taken over for the non payment of taxes, and Claude was able to buy up quite a lot of property at little cost, because of Ora's steady income. It made it possible to increase the flocks of sheep they ran on the grazing land. About a year after the sewing project was discontinued, the state came to her and asked her to begin a school lunch program. Ora got two or three older women to help her, and started the lunch program in an old lumber yard building across the street from the school. She ran the lunch program until WWII began. At this point, the policy of not allowing married women to teach was abolished and Ora decided to go back into teaching. In order to do that, it was necessary to recertify. She did it by correspondence with the U of U. She studied in the kitchen late at might by the light of a lantern. Dan's room was next to the kitchen and he can remember hearing her studying out loud in the middle of the night. She got straight "A's" for her effort, in all of her re-certification courses. She started back teaching in Lyman in the fifth grade. During the years of work, Ora found time to work in the 4-H program and with the youth in the Church. Dorothy remembers the Taffy pulls and the quilting bees. Her family was always very important to her, and there were many trips to visit her sisters in Utah. One memorable trip with the entire family was in 1936 to Yellowstone. Ora was always a very gifted seamstress. She often looked at a garment or a picture, and then went home, cut out and sewed the garment, without help of a pattern. All her life she used a treddle sewing machine. She said the electric ones went all too fast. She constructed several wedding dresses from viewing a a picture of the garment including Dorothy's. Ora loved flowers and she always had lots of them outside and inside. On the farm, they had to carry water to keep them growing, but she was willing to do whatever it took. She also enjoyed getting out and working in the yard. As she continued to teach, she switched back to high school classes in Home Ec. and Biology. Dorothy can remember being in both of her classes. Claude had developed a bad heart condition, and the doctors warned him to get out of farming, so they sold the farm in 1946, and took a two month trip through Utah, Idaho, Oregon and down the coast of California. They visited Nean, Joseph, and Stephen in Utah, Bertha in Idaho, Mary and George in Oregon, and Effie and Tell in California. They were trying to decide where to live and what to do for a living. They were able to take Dot and Dan along on the trip, but Paul was in the army in 1946. He served in the second World War in Germany, England and France. They spent a month in Oregon with George, and during that time, Tell and Roy Carroll and Lucille also came to Oregon for a visit as they were in the process of returning from California to Vernal to live. The result of all their travel was the purchase of a motel in Willard, Utah. They also raised tomatoes, corn, grapes, and fruit on the motel property in Willard, and in the summer they sold some produce at a roadside stand. It was hard to take all of the farmer out of Claude. Ora began teaching again in Utah. Her first position was in a small school in Perry Utah. She was the principle and she taught the third grade. Ora was only in Perry for a year or so, and then she transferred to the new Central School in Brigham City where she taught third and fourth grades. In 1948, they traded the motel in Willard for an apartment house in Salt Lake City and a home in Sandy, Utah. Ora had a great way of getting near to people, of being a friend. People who rented from her were more than just renters. At Christmas time she made many kinds of candy, and took big boxes to each tenant as a remembrance of the season. In 1949, her lifelong partner, Claude, died of the heart attack threatened some years before. They were thankful for the additional years they had received together. During the Korean Conflict, Dan did a tour of duty in the army. He and Paul and Dorothy all married and provided loving families for Ora to enjoy. In her summer breaks from school, Ora managed to travel a little. She took a tour to the East Coast, and the year before she died, she went with some other teachers on a trip throughout Mexico. The last two years of her life, she lived with her daughter Dorothy. She loved her children, but in later years, she seemed especially to enjoy her grandchildren. Her teaching in church was in Primary, and in her work she opted to be with the younger children. She continued to teach until April of 1957, when she had to be admitted for, treatment of cancer. She died in July of that year.
Descendants of Ora and Claude Hamblin are:
I-Paul Hugh m. Geneal div, m. Shirley A-Lamont Paul m. Theda Madsen a-Bret b-Stacy B-Micheal Reed m. Cristy Payne a-Micheal Dru m. Patty Platt 1-Trevor Dru b-Holly C-Kenneth Wayne m. Diane a-Chad b-Travis c-Wendy d-Gary e-Scott f-Tina D-Vickie m. Mr.Evans a-Jessie b-Courtney c-Tawnie E-Richard m. nobe Raine a-Tiffany b-Kevin F-Roger m. Kris Peterson a-Paul b-Emily c-Chase G-Lori m. Rich Peterson a-Jennifer b-Eric c-Melonie d-Christopher H-Karen m. Buger Jensen a-Heather b-Brandon G-Kim m. Rich Pellum a-Chad b-Brian c-Michia d-Jordan I-Rex m. Tamra Meyer a-Tyler b-Timothy c-Thomas
2-Dan Carlos m. Emma Jean A-Janis m. Danny Handcock a-Jessica b-Rabecca B-Amy m. Michael Montoya a-Derrek
3-Dorothy m. Ray E. Bitters d. A-Gary R. m. Janet Jackson a-Michelle Dawn b-Stephanie Lynn B-Sandra m. Jack Tsushima a-Nicole T. C-Tamara S. m. Marvin Murri a-Laupen Ashley