A mystery concerning the baby of one of our ancestors had puzzled the family for many years. Ruth Waite's Great, Great Grandmother Martha Hunt Wilke's sister, Charlotte Hunt was born in Salt Lake, Utah 2 Feb. 1861, the youngest daughter of Daniel D. Hunt and Martha Eynon. The family moved to St. Charles, Idaho, where Daniel died when Charlotte, known as Lottie, was four years of age. Lottie and her widowed mother grew very close, and when Lottie was nineteen, she married a William Beers, a freighter, in St. Charles 8 Sept 1880.

William, or Bill moved with Lottie to Manassa, Colorado, where his family, the Beers were located.

Being young, and so far away from her mother and all she knew, in spite of being treated very kindly by the Beers family, Lottie became very homesick and missed her mother terribly. On 2 January 1881, she wrote to her married sister, Martha Elizabeth Wilkes, whom she called Lib, "Bill says he will bring me to see you next fall. I know he will. If he doesn't, I will come on the cars (railroad) for nothing will stop me from seeing you before another winter. Bill has been kind to me and says he will do anything to make me happy. I call Mother in my sleep. Oh, how I love Dear Mother. I would give the world to be with her. I love you better than myself. I know how good and pure you are, and your children are as dear as life to me. I expect to see you all soon in a few short months and I will be with you. Write soon. From Lottie."

On 22 February, she wrote" Dearest Mother", and told her about some of the families in the area who were members of the Church. She signed her letter, "From your child to her dearest mother. Write soon, I long to hear from you."

A letter of 20 April, she tells her mother she and Bill are not happy with the decision to move to Manassa. and that they were moving to another town about 100 miles from there. Bill has left her alone as he is hauling a load of fruit and she will be alone for 3 or four days. With Bill being a freighter, he often had to leave her alone many times.

By June, Lottie wrote, "Bill has gone with a load of fruit to Durango and Silverton and will be gone fifteen days. I can come home by rail any time, but I don't want to come alone. I have the cash in my trunk, but I don't think it is safe to go alone, but I am liable to be home anytime so don't be surprised to see me any day. I would like to see you all and bless those sweet children of Lib's. It is Sunday today. Oh how I would like to be home. Well may heaven bless you all. My love to you and all. Write soon. From your Dear child to her Dear Mother.

June 19, Lottie wrote to her sister Martha Elizabeth, "Bill will be home today and as soon as he gets back we will start that way a hundred miles and will be home sure. I have got my things packed ready to start as soon as he gets here. Don't write until you hear from me again."

However, in Charlotte's letter dated 5 July, they are back in Manassa and she announces she is expecting a baby. "I expect to be sick in about three months and will stay here if I don't come home." Typical of women in those times, they seldom used the word "pregnant" and spoke little about their conditions.

hen, on 17 July, "It is Sunday morning, and I wish I was there." She even suggested to her mother and Lib to sell their places and move to Manassa, as life would be easier for them there. After a few more letters, she wrote on 9 September, "Dear Mother, I love you more than I can tell and expect to see you soon. I will not stay in this country and that is a settled thing. I am coming home as soon as Bill can make the money. He says I can come and stay until next fall. I never close my eyes before asking Father in Heaven to spare your lives till I can meet you again. I pray that He might guide me safely home again. Now Mother if we all have faith in Him I will be home in spite of everything. Now don't say that you don't think that I will never come back. Dear Lib, I thank you for your nice present. Dearest Mother and to you Dearest Sister, Write soon."

This appears to be the last letter sent from Charlotte Hunt Beers. Two additional letters arrived in St. Charles from Manassa. The first was sent to the neighbor and friend of Lottie's mother.

"Dear Friend Sister Pugmire, to you are entrusted this sad message, and ask you to deliver it to Sister Hunts own hand and to break it to her with the mildest way you can. It conveys the news of her daughter Lottie's Death. Please go to Sis. Hunt yourself and tell her before giving her the package so as to avoid a sudden shock. Please grant this kindness to a grief stricken family for the sad news falls on us all. Please answer this and let us know how they seem to feel. Your friends and Sisters in the Gospel, Hettie M. Beers and Annie Young" (Annie was Bill's married sister).

The 2nd letter enclosed with the first, was written by Annie Young and told how Lottie had died "Oct 22 in child bed. She was taken sick on the morning of the 21st but was not very sick until about 8:00, when after hard labor was delivered with an 8 and 3/4 lb girl."

Annie went on to tell about how Lottie had a midwife, Sister Tottie, whom she had become friendly with, and wanted her to be with her. "She was seemingly alright after the baby was born, but the afterbirth didn't come, and she took to bleeding very bad. Her hands and feet went perfectly cold. The midwife sent for the doctor and he got there in 2 and ½ hours. He took the afterbirth from her and said it was the worst case he had ever seen. After he removed it, she seemed to revive, but gradually kept growing weaker and weaker. I do not think Lottie knew she was dying until the very last when she called me and asked me to lay my face beside her and asked if I did not think she was dying. I told her I did not think so. She asked what the baby was and it alright. She held the baby a few moments. She asked Billy to turn her on her side, which he did, and she died immediately."

The letter went on to describe their deep shock and sorrow, and told about the funeral, and how lovely she looked, and described her clothes. How Bill had just moved her into a new home with many comforts. They were sending some of her things along with a lock of her brown hair. Annie who had a young child was nursing the baby. Bill wanted to name the little blue-eyed light haired girl after her mother, but wouldn't do so until he heard back from her family.

After that letter, there seems to be no further record we know of about the baby. If Bill named her after his wife Lottie, she would be known as Charlotte Hunt Beers, but searches of the records of a child of that name doesn't appear on the Church records of the Manassa, Colorado ward. No little girl born on 21 Oct 1881, appears on any census records that can be found of the Beers family. There are no records we can find of her death or burial. Her father, William Beers married a Lelia Pinkerd in Manassa, in 1890, but there is no record of him having a daughter that fits the age of Lottie's baby. He died in 1910 in California.

Such a sad story of a young woman who left her beloved widowed mother and sister to marry and to travel so far away, and who longed to be back with them. I have inherited Lottie's letters, and the brown lock of her hair, which I have shown to many of our family members. There seems to be no way left to trace what happened to Lottie's little baby girl. There are some things we will never know in this life.