Frank and Lucinda Tyler Carpenter, from Mt. Graham Profiles

Frank and Lucinda Tyler Carpenter

another version of an already posted history

Submitted by Bertha C. Burkett to:

Mt. Graham Profiles Vol 1: Graham County, Arizona, 1870-1977

published by Graham County Historical Society, 1977. p. 67-68.

Frank Carpenter was born 9 May 1886, in Thatcher, in a little log house on the street that is now called North First Avenue. His parents were Erastus Snow and Julia Van Orden Carpenter, who came to Arizona from Utah in a covered wagon in 1883. The children are: Edmond, Julia and Joseph, all born in Utah; John, Frank, Lester, Emma Lillian, Margaret, James Harley and Raymond Knight, all born in Thatcher.

At the time Frank was born, the Gila Valley had plenty of good farm land, but most of it was covered with mesquite and other desert plants. The mesquites had to be cut with an ax and the stumps dug out with a pick ax. Then the ground was plowed with a walking plow and a team of horses. It took a lot of work to get the ground ready to plant. Everyone had to help. Before Frank was old enough to handle the plow he and his brother, John, were given the job of herding the milk cows through the mesquite brush.

As soon as Frank was big enough to drive a team of horses he had to help with the farm work. One job connected with the farming was to work on the dam in the Gila River. Every time there was a flood down the river the dam was washed out. It was hard work to have to load and unload the big rocks required to rebuild the dam. Without this river water nothing would grow.

In 1902, when Frank was sixteen years old, he helped with the construction of the Thatcher Ward Church. He helped in the digging of the basement and the trenches for the foundation for the rest of the building. This all had to be done with picks and shovels. Then later he helped haul gravel and the large sandstone blocks from the quarry. The quarry was south of Thatcher near the foothills of Mt. Graham.

Lucinda Tyler was born 4 April 1888, in Thatcher, also, in a little log house on the street that is now called First Street. Her parents were Frank Newton and Mary Adelia Pace Tyler, who came to Arizona in a covered wagon from Washington, Utah, in 1882. The children are: Amanda Norena, Viola Ann, Lucinda, Frank, James Bliss, Delbert Fernando, Jesse LeRoy, Flossie and Adelia. By the time Lucinda was two years old her father had built a three room brick house. There was a fireplace for cooking and heating the house; water was carried from a well and candles and kerosene lamps were used for lighting. This house was considered a mansion at that time.

Because there were so few doctors and immunization against the dreaded diseases had not yet been discovered, Lucinda’s sister, Viola Ann died of Scarlet fever in 1887 and Norena died of Measles in 1890. This left Lucinda as the only child. Diphtheria claimed the lives of the two boys – James Bliss on December 4 and Frank on December 5, 1895.

The Tyler farm was next to the Carpenter farm. During the summers Lucinda’s family went to the Graham Mountains where her father helped operate a sawmill. Frank always managed to spend the weekends there.

Frank and Lucinda were married 2 April 1909, in the Salt Lake Temple. They made Thatcher their home.

The lived fro a short while in a little house belonging to Frank’s half-brother, William, but their first real home was a tent on the lot Lucinda’s father had given them as a wedding present on First Street. There was a well in the backyard and the water was pumped by hand and carried into the tent in a bucket. An iron stove was used for cooking and heating and a kerosene lamp furnished the light.

While they were living in this tent their first child, Bertha, was born, but Lucinda went across the street to her Mother’s bedroom for the birth. The birth was attended by midwife, Sarah Elmer. Mrs. Elmer had also attended Lucinda’s birth. Other children born to Frank and Lucinda are: Ora, Florence, Ivan, Afton, Floyd and Reid. All were born in Thatcher.

Before her marriage, Lucinda attended a Kindergarten training course at the L.D.S. Academy. The instructor was Serena McGuire Pomeroy. During her lifetime Lucinda spent twenty-five years working in the Primary Organization of the L.D.S. Church. She spent seven years working in the Y.W.L.M.I.A. and several years on the Stake Relief Society Board. She served as a Stake Missionary for six years.

Although Frank had only a few years of formal schooling, all seven of his children finished high school and went on, either to college or some type of vocational training.

Frank engaged in many types of work during his lifetime – freighting with a team and wagon with his father from Globe to Morenci, working on the Southern Pacific Railroad from Globe to Bowie. But Farming was his great love. He rented farms and worked for other farmers for many years, but finally, with the help of his four sons, he was able to clear and homestead a farm of his own on the river bottom land just north of the Frank Tyler farm. He farmed here for many years. When Frank retired from active arming he kept busy with his garden and orchard up to the very last minute of his life. He died 2 September 1972. Burial was in the Thatcher cemetery.

Lucinda died almost two years after her husband’s death, May 2, 1974. Burial was in the Thatcher Cemetery, beside her husband, Frank.