Martha Luella Thomas was born September 20, 1866, in Paris, Idaho, the first of eleven of Benjamin Clark Thomas and Sarah Ellen Sharp Mourey. In March of 1876, four brothers and one sister died within days of each other from diphtheria. Luella married Josepheus Hatch when they were both nineteen years old on March 13, 1885. They lived in Vernal, Utah and had thirteen children. When Luella’s husband died in 1915, “seven of her children were married, one had died, and five were left for her to care for. She took in washing, ironing, and sewing. She made beautiful wedding dresses … and cleaned offices. In May 1919, an offer as a camp cook came to her and her widowed sister, Maggie Rowley. They gathered up their nine children, including Luella’s two grandchildren, and Luella stayed for four years. She made a small salary plus board and room for her family. They cooked three meals a day for 80-100 men seven days a week, packing lunches for the miners each day. She began her work each day at 5 am and finished at 9 pm. The last year she was there, she and a Brother Richins were instrumental in getting a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ started in Rainbow. They held Primary, Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting. Mr. Ford, the company boss, didn’t like religion in his camp and fired Brother Richins and Luella.
“The church was always an important part of Luella’s life. She taught her children the importance of tithing and honesty. She said, ‘As long as I pay my tithing, my purse will never be empty.’ It didn’t have much in it, but it was never empty.”
Luella spent the remainder of her years living with her daughters. She wasn’t very well after the age of 75 and lived until she was 84 years old. Veola took care of her the last years. She died June 24, 1951, in Veyo, Utah, and is buried beside her husband in Vernal, Utah.
Quotes are from the following source. Read a more complete history in Martha Luella Thomas and Josepheus Hatch Family History, by Jerry Gillies Christansen Griffin, July 1985, 6.
