posted by Sandy on Ancestors of Thomas Watrous

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Flora Louise Maiben was the ninth child of eleven born to Flora Louisa Maddison and Henry Maiben.  She was born in Provo, Utah and died in Richfield, Utah where she is buried next to her husband.  She married Nephi James Bates (Jr.) in the Manti, Temple in 1901.  Her uncle, John Bray Maiben performed the marriage.  Flora became the mother of seven children.  Six grew to adulthood while one, Irene, died as a child.  Her daughter Mildred Bates Watrous is our direct ancestor.  Flora was an excellent homemaker according to the firsthand accounts from her family.  She was a good cook and seamstress.  She made beautiful “blessing” dresses for each of her daughters.  The dress in which ancestor Mildred was blessed has been preserved by her daughter.  Her grandchildren remember her as being sober and unsmiling.  They attribute her soberness to a change that occurred in her after the death of her little daughter Irene.

Flora’s husband Nephi was an attorney of note.  As time passed, he became the 6th Circuit Court Judge which included responsibility for the county in which he lived among other counties.  Upon the death of her husband Nephi, Flora sold her Richfield home to a daughter and took turns living with her other children for three months at a time.  Thus, each family of grandchildren had the chance to get to know Flora and to help her in her old age.  When she died, she was buried in the Richfield City Cemetery, Richfield, Sevier, Utah next to her husband Nephi and her infant daughter Irene.

The migration of Flora Louise Maiben Bates

Utah

Tags: Bates, Maddison, Maiben, utah, Watrous