Ellen Rosenbaum Tippets
Nellie
Ellen was born 17 November 1862, the third child of Morris David and Alice Neibaur Rosenbaum. The family had recently moved from Salt Lake City to Brigham City, Utah. Her father was a merchant in that city. Her oldest sister Sarah was born 23 September 1859 and died 7 September 1868 in Salt Lake City. She was so sick that they took her to a doctor there. Ellen was 6 years old. Her older brother, David was born 11 March 1861. The others brothers and sisters were: Fanny born 6 November 1854, Alice born 22 January 1866, and died in 21 October 1866. Morris was born 30 July 1867, Alexander 13 September 1869, Aaron 17 October 1871 and he died at the age of 22. Joseph was born 21 January 1874 and died 21 July 1874, Margaret born 15 May and died April 1879, Leah born 16 November 1879 and died 12 June 1883. Abigail was born 30 March 1882 and Bertha born 26 December 1883 after their father returned from his mission to Germany.
We know very little of her early life. We can assume she grew up learning housekeeping skills from her mother. She, no doubt, helped in the store her father owned. Her father left for Germany to serve a mission for the church, in June of 1880. She must have been a great help for her mother. Because her parents had strong testimonies of the gospel she surely must have attended church meetings and learned about the gospel.
At the age of nineteen she married Joseph William Tippets in Brigham City on 2 March 1882. This was after her father had returned from Germany. She moved to Perry and lived on a farm near Joey's parents. Her first son was born 9 January 1883 in Brigham City. They named him Joseph Maurice.
In September 1883, she got word her husband had been shot while hunting. He had accidentally shot himself in the chest. It was on a Sunday. When he was brought in, he asked for a Priesthood blessing. A doctor was called from Ogden. He did not give them much hope for Joey to live. He left some medicine to make him comfortable and left, thinking Joey would not live very long. This must have been a hard time for Nellie. It took a lot of time and many prayers before he was able to be up and doing quite well. For a time the wound caused much pain, but was slowly healing. He was soon able to get around and do some work. In September 1884 another child, William Harrison, was born. Edgar was born 8 April 1886 in Brigham City. In October of 1886 his father Mahonri wrote, "Joey is quite well and weighs as heavy as ever did before he was hurt." Later when the doctor saw Joey he couldn't believe he had lived.
They were active in church activities in Perry. In Mahonri's journal he tells of some of the family, including Joey, going to do sealings in the Logan temple. All the Tippets families living in Perry seemed to be active in church affairs as well as in building the community
Joey's mother was called to go to Salt Lake City to learn to be a doctor. She was anxious to do this because she felt Joey would need special care throughout his life. Although he was able to live a fairly normal busy life, the wound never completely healed. This was always a concern to Nellie.
Mahonri, Joey, and others of the family went to Bear Lake area. They had heard of the beautiful valley and that there were farms to homestead and some to buy. They liked the area and decided to move there as soon as possible.
Joey and Nellie prepared to move to Georgetown, Idaho near Bear Lake. Their journey began 10 June 1887. They had two wagons and teams, five colts, a cow, a yearling calf and some chickens. They also had three small children. Joey's parents helped make the move. They arrived at their destination 15 June about 7:30 P.M. They soon had a garden planted and the menfolk were getting logs from the canyon to build a house. By the first of July they were able to start moving in. It must have been good to finally move into a house. She was never one to complain. Her first daughter was born 11 December 1887 in Georgetown. They named her Louisa.
Nellie worked hard raising the garden and preparing food to be put away for the winter. She was a good cook and loved caring for their children. More children were added to the family as the years went on. Fannie born 11 June 1898, Alice 16 February 1891, Walter Aaron 14 December 1892, Claudius 19 September 1894, Ellen 26 April 1896, Henry Lewis born 5 March 1898, Wallace 25 January 1900, Mary Catherine 29 November 1901, Leah Jeanette 21 December 1903 and Rebecca Violet 30 March 1906. She was the mother to fourteen.
Her life was not without problems. When her son Aaron was a youngster, he had his toe cut off with an axe while chopping wood at the wood pile. Nellie sent for Grandma Alice Jeanette, who went to the wood pile found the toe. While Nellie held the screaming child, Dr. Tippets sewed the toe back on. Then she took a soup can and mashed it and placed it over the foot to act as a cast and protect the toes. It grew back together just fine. (Aaron later walked without a limp.) He later had a finger cut off and it was sewed back on. He was able to use his hand as well as anyone.
Her son William died at age 23 in 1907 and his young widow died four years later. Her son Wallace was serving in the Marines during the first World War and was killed in an accident.
We know very little about what she did and how she survived the pioneer life. We can imagine the hard work she had to do raising a large family, with a husband who was not really healthy. Her husband died 18 August 1911 when her youngest daughter was only five years old. Nellie had the help of her older children to take over running for the farm. Maurice had married and had his own farm, but helped run his mother's farm. The family seemed to be happy and grew up learning about the gospel and serving others.
Nellie died 28 March 1932 in Georgetown, Idaho and was buried in the cemetery there. She had 96 grandchildren, some born after her death. We can be thankful for the wonderful example she was to her children and even to us that never knew her.