Margaret J. Petty

Margaret Jefferson Petty was born Sep 13, 147 in Nashville, Tennessee to Robert and Margaret Wells Petty. She was around the age of 3 when the family went west to live in Utah. She was seven years old when her father passed away, and later moved to live in Richmond. 

While in Richmond, she became well acquainted with Almira Davenport. Margaret and Almira were very close friends for most of their lives.1

A Sense of Humor

The following story illustrated Margaret's sense of humor. "Her sister-in-law Almira Hendricks had triplets. In addition to the triplets, Almira had a 15 month-old daughter. As Almira needed help caring for her babies, Margaret would offer assistance. The fame of the triplets spread far and wide and many people came to see them. When Margaret would see someone she did not recognize coming, she would take one of the triplets into the other room and put her normal sized baby in its place. Her baby, Martha, was as big as two of the triplets combined but the same age. The visitors would be amazed to see three babies and would ask all [kinds] of questions wondering why one was so big and the other two so tiny. Before they left, Margaret would bring out the other triplet and they [all] had a good laugh. She never tired of doing this because of all the different reactions people would have. She still thought it was funny as she recounted it to her grandchildren fifty years later."1

Epilogue

On the morning of March 25, 1922, Margaret was preparing breakfast when she felt a terrible pain. She needed a chair to keep herself upright. When a doctor finally arrived, they said it was telescoped bowl and there was little he could do. She died about 18 hours later on March 26, 1922.1 She was buried in the Richmond City Cemetery.

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