Originally posted by Layne R Carter on: December 17, 2007, 09:42:28 AM

Here is a Journal entry from Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy
Source: Life History of Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy, Written by Herself, (1865), typescript copy, Special collections, Harold B. Lee Library, BYU, Provo, Utah.

The great thing about this history is that it mentions William Carter (William Furlsbury Carter Sr.), His wife, Dominicus Carter and his wife.

“The second winter here, on the 25, of February, 1849, my seventh son was born. We called him Helon Henry, a name to be long remembered, but now he is dead and gone before me and has left a large family. In the fall before the birth of this child, there was a circumstance that cast gloom over our settlement. William Carter married a young and beautiful girl by the name of Meekham. One afternoon she went home one mile to see her mother. She did not return the next day, and so they went over to her mother’s where they discovered that she had net even been the day before. Therefore they instituted a search. There was a stream of water to cross on the way she should have gone. Above the bridge a short distance, they found her shawl and bonnet on the bank, and in the stream they found her dead body, drowned. No one ever knew why she committed this deed, fer she seemed all right when she left. My husband helped to take her body out of the water, and she was buried by the side of my boy.

Diminicus Carter also buried a wife there, and before we left this place there was quite a little burying ground.”

According to Naomi… Hannah Cordelia Mecham committed suicide. Does this mean that is what happened? No, but add this to the notes from Robert Givens. I would like to know why she wanted to raise her sister Caroline, and why her father refused and stated that she shouldn’t have married William?

It seems to me probable that if she was denied the opportunity to raise her young sister and add this to her father telling her that she should not have married William that this would have had upset her mental state.

Bob then states that she went back to patch things up, this is probably the same instance of when Nancy in her memoir states that “she went home one mile to see her mother.”

What needs to be added to the story is who instituted the search for her?
Who was in the search?
Who found her? Possibly the husband of Nancy “My husband helped to take her body out of the water”
How deep was the water?
How did William react to her death?

This would be an interesting thing to keep looking into for those who are doing research.

[Layne R Carter]

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Reply by Robert E Givens on: December 22, 2007, 11:29:03 PM

Layne – Here are my comments about Hannah in Red:

Here is a Journal entry from Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy
Source Life History of Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy, Written by Herself, (1865), typescript copy, Special collections, Harold B. Lee Library, BYU, Provo, Utah.

“William Carter married a young and beautiful girl by the name of Meekham of course Mecham. One afternoon she went home one mile to see her motherFrom the maps I saw last summer – more like 4 miles and her mother was dead so it was to her father’s house. She actually went to the house with her step-son – William Aaron Carter (oldest child of William F by Sarah York) She and her father had words and on the way home she asked William to return home and she would go back to her father and try to make things right.. She did not return the next day, and so they went over to her mother’s where they discovered that she had net even been the day before Correctly – had not returned to her Father’s – as her father always contended. Therefore they instituted a search. There was a stream of water to cross on the way she should have gone. Above the bridge a short distance, they found her shawl and bonnet on the bank, and in the stream they found her dead body, drowned. No one ever knew why she committed this deed, fer she seemed all right when she left. My husband helped to take her body out of the water, and she was buried by the side of my boy. There is a record that there was a cemetery in Carterville but I have yet to find a record of who is buried there.
According to Naomi… Hannah Cordelia Mecham committed suicide. Does this mean that is what happened? No, but add this to the notes from Robert Givens. I would like to know why she wanted to raise her sister Caroline, and why her father refused and stated that she shouldn’t have married William? The following is my conjecture – Hannah had a difficult life – her mother had died and when her father remarried the new wife (I think) lived only for her blood children. Hannah’s mother had given birth to a large family, several died young and all but one ended leaving the church. Hannah probably felt she was the mother of her little sister – and the step-mom probably did pay little attention the child. Her father gave permission for her to marry William F and on this day complained to her that he shouldn’t have given her permission to marry. He probably needed her back to help raise her siblings but he wasn’t about to give one to her to raise. Plus, remember she had only been married for a couple of months and William had just married yet another young woman (also 18 years old.) That could be a real threat to her relationship with William or possibly she simply wasn’t happy with polygamy. We just never will know.

It seems to me probable that if she was denied the opportunity to raise her young sister and add this to her father telling her that she should not have married William that this would have had upset her mental state. I just hate to accuse her of killing herself, but that does make the most sense based on the evidence. The only other possibilities would be 1) She somehow fell into the creek – slipped? but why? or 2) some one attacked her and dumped her body into the creek. If it had been an Indian they probably would have taken her hostage. Of course there is one other remote possiblity – 3) her father did her in.

Bob then states that she went back to patch things up, this is probably the same instance of when Nancy in her memoir states that “she went home one mile to see her mother.”

What needs to be added to the story is who instituted the search for her? I think the Carters as my story states that when they went to the father he denied she ever came back.
Who was in the search? We probably never will know.
Who found her? Possibly the husband of Nancy “My husband helped to take her body out of the water” Sounds likely to me.
How deep was the water? Miller’s Hollow – where this happened is a major land form there but I don’t know how deep the water was. From the size of the canyon the creek has carved it was probably was sizeable.
How did William react to her death? Good question – he had no journal at that time.
Was there an inquest? That is a record I would sure like to know.
Was she really sealed to William F or just married for “time” at that time? I can find no record of this marriage in the early sealing records. Maybe the record of it doesn’t exist.

This would be an interesting thing to keep looking into for those who are doing research. I agree, nothing like a mystery.