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Miriah
Louise Pickett
Miriah Louise Pickett was born 28th of November 1856 in St.
Louis, St. Louis, Missouri just before or just after her father George
Pickett died of small pox. Miriah and her mother Priscilla Clark Pickett
came west with George Pickett's brother William Pickett and his wife Mary.
They came to Salt Lake City in 1857 or 1858. Priscilla Clark married
William Pickett and then divorced him. She joined some people going to
Nevada. In Nevada, Priscilla married William Wilford and was later
murdered.
After her mother's (Pricilla Clark Pickett) death, Miriah
Louise Pickett was placed in a boarding school or an orphanage. It was here
that she was "taken advantage of" as Mary Elizabeth Tolman (her
daughter) said, and a son was born. Manny Pickett was born in Salt Lake
City, 4 January 1876. Also, after her mother's death Priscilla Clark's
property was divided. Among other things, Miriah Louise received a cream
colored wool and silk baby shawl with pink roses on it and some good
jewelry. Mary Elizabeth Tolman Glenn had the shawl until it crumbled with
age. Miriah Louise Pickett married Cyrus Ammon Tolman 13 December 1878 and
they had two children: Mary Elizabeth Tolman and George Orin Tolman.
Miriah and Elizabeth, Cyrus' first wife, were very close.
They were cousins. Mary Elizabeth Tolman said that Elizabeth Pickett Tolman
was like a second mother to her.
Miriah Louise had a beautiful bone structure and was on the
small side. She wasn't pretty in the face, but had beautiful hands and
feet. She was self-educated and quite a scholar. She taught school in
Marion, Cassia, Idaho for several years. She also taught the little ones in
Sunday School. She was one of the few adults who went to Sunday School as
adults didn't "pretend" to go then. She was active in the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints throughout her life. She had all the
Sunday School children over to her house for a party once.
Miriah Louise was drawn within herself and was a little
sharp in her talk. She always had a come back for those who would criticize
others. She liked good sound common sense. She wrote poetry and read a
great deal. She was an excellent seamstress and took tailoring classes in
making patterns and fitting while in Utah one year. She made all the burial
clothes for the people who passed away in Marion. Miriah Louise Pickett
divorced Cyrus Ammon Tolman in 1890 when Wilford Woodruff gave the Official
Declaration on polygamy in 1890. She later married Franklin Read in June
1891. They had three children: Robert Locke Read, Walderman Pickett Read,
and Ulea Jane Read.
Miriah Louise Pickett Tolman Read died on the 27th March
1930 in Twin Falls, Twin Falls, Idaho and is buried in Marion, Cassia,
Idaho now known as Oakley, Cassia, Idaho.
The above information was told to Patricia Ann Glenn Bates,
by her grandmother Mary Elizabeth Tolman Glenn.)
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