Mother was the tenth child of Joseph Keep and Ann Miller.  She was born Oct. 17, 1854 in Holloway, London, England.  Her parents had just joined the church and her father had lost his job, so they were in very poor circumstances at the time of her birth.  Their friends turned from them too.  Mother tells of hearing her mother relate the following incident that happened about that time:  One night while grandmother Keep was in bed her oldest daughter, Mary came to her bedside and asked what she could get for supper as there was nothing in the house to eat.  Grandmother answered: "Set the table child and the Lord will provide."  Just then a knock came at the door.  When Mary opened it and old gentleman friend of Grandfather Keep's came into the room.  When he learned the condition of want that they were in he put his hand into his pocket and handed Aunt Mary money to get them all something to eat.

Mother started school when she was four or five years old.   Her teachers said she was quick to learn and was at the head of her classes in spelling matches.  But she had only six years at school and then at the age of ten she had to go to work.  She did odd jobs at different places such as scouring knives and forks, blacking boots, cleaning windows or scrubbing steps.  She got but little pay for this work, but it aided a little at their home.  Then when she was a little older she worked as a nursemaid.

At the age of eleven years and seven months, Mother started with her parents for America.  They set sail on a sailboat called the American Congress, May 23, 1865 and spent about seven weeks on the water, arriving in New York near the 1st of July.  she stayed here with her sister Lucy for two weeks or more, and then began the trip to Utah in a company composed mainly of Danish people.  On the way cholera broke out among them and almost every day it was necessary to roll a dead body in a blanket or quilt and pass on without them.  Grandfather Keep had mountain fever on the way and was sick for sometime, but finally regained his strength again.  Mother walked most of the distance across the plains for the wagons were heavily loaded.  She says sometimes a teamster would jump down and toss her up into the seat of the wagon and she would ride a mile or two.

Grandfather Keep and family were met at Emigration Canyon by Mother's sister Ann's husband.  Mother says he was a good singer and when Salt lake came in sight he sang, "Let Zion In Her Beauty Rise", and it was a joy to them all after their long journey.  They reached Salt Lake City October 22, 1866.

Mother stayed with her sister all that winter and then in the early spring she went to work aiding people in their homes.  She tells of working for a family by the name of Muser.  While here she was given the responsibility of taking charge of the home and remembers particularly of being praised for her good bread making.  She learned to care a great deal for them and they for her and stayed with them until about the middle of December, 1869 when she came to Clarkston to visit her sister Sarah.  Here she met my father, John Griffin, and became his wife February 22, 1870.  The marriage was performed in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City.  They made the trip to Salt Lake in a wagon and were five days going the hundred miles that we go now in cars in three hours.

After a short stay in Clarkston on their return, they moved in March to Newton where they lived in a one room log house with nor floor and just a few pieces of home made furniture.  The bed and table were laced together with rawhide.  They lived in this home for seven years and then moved into the old rock house that now stands.

The first summer of their married life, Father worked some in Clarkston with Grandfather Griffin.  Mother used to walk up there at times and come back with him.  The first time she tried to go across the fields but run into sloughs and had to come back, short cuts don't always pay.

When Mother was about twenty years old she lost her hearing.  This is perhaps the reason why she did but little public work and had as her soul mission that of being a loving wife and mother and a good home maker.

Father went on a mission to England, October 8, 1883.  Mother says she thinks this was the coldest winter she has ever gone through, unless it seemed so because of other things.  She had seven children and the oldest was but thirteen years of age.  Their stove was old and the wood green that they had to burn.  All the water that they used had to be hauled from the creek in a barrel and it would freeze solid in the barrel.  Mother says our nearest neighbor, Peter Larsen, was very good to help the boys to get the water and other things and Father always thought lots of him for his kindness to the family while he was away.

Sickness and disease came to our home at times but Mother met it with courage and loving labor.  In 1892 three of us were very seriously ill with typhoid fever at the same time, but all recovered.  Her first real sorrow was when two of her boys, Walter and Ben, were brought home shot in the legs, when a gun they had with them in the wagon was accidentally discharged with the jolting.  Ben had to have his leg removed above the knee but Walter got better.  On September 17th 1900, she was called to part with her daughter Hattie and two years later with her son William who was then eighteen years old.  In 1911 she slipped on the ice and broke her wrist and the doctor who set it for her was the first to give any medical attention to her.  Mother was always a hard worker.  She did all her own sewing even to the making of Father's and the boys suits by hand, until after the third or fourth baby came, then she got a sewing machine.

She loved to work in the wonderful out doors.  She was the gardener of the family.  Flowers couldn't help but grow for her with the care she gave them and they have always been one of her greatest sources of joy.  She liked also to churn and prided herself on her butter.  It seemed that her hands couldn't be idle for when resting or visiting she always had some patchwork, knitting, crocheting near enough to pick up.

Mother has been known for her smile and sweet voice.  She loved to sing and even now she sings the old songs and hymns.  She was fond of dancing, especially the square dances such as French Four and Old Dan Tucker.  She tells of the good times they had at the rag of bees, quilting parties and wool pickings.  They all seemed as one family in their joy and sorrows.  Mother says she never remembers not having anything to eat.  It was often the same thing in their first married years but with gardens, milk from the cows and pig to kill in the winter they were not without food.

Mother's health was good until about seven years ago.  About then she began to have rheumatism which has gradually become worse until now she is able to do very little for herself.  Of course she has her discouraged moments but she always enjoys a joke and is ready to laugh with anyone over such.  With all her pain she is ready to remind us of the Lord and tells of the things we should do for His blessings.

Today is her seventy-fifth birthday (17 Oct 1929) and she has the following posterity: thirteen children, fifty-one grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren.

Note:  I very vaguely remember that my parents took me once when they went to visit her in the old rock house.  She was sitting in her rocking chair, which I now have.  I must have been very young then because she died when I was only 2 years, 1 month and 1 day old.  She lived just one block due east of us.    -- Eldon R. Griffin
 

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