Parkaretta Harper was the fourth child of Charles Alfred Harper and Harriet Taylor. She was born May 4, 1863, at the Harper Ranch on Silver Creek, near Park City, Utah. Her father was one of the founding homesteaders in Park City and his first two children born there, a son and a daughter, were named Park and Parkaretta respectively, after the town. She sometimes went by Rette or Aretta. Close friends called her Torquet, for short.

Like most of her siblings, she had almost no access to public education, attending part of one year of grade school only. Her early life was spent on the ranch, where she became skilled at ranch work, and was an excellent rider. She was by far the most socially outgoing of all of the Harper children, regularly attending dances and socials in neighboring towns. She was fiercely independent and claimed to be able to do all the work that men could do in homesteading, farming and ranching.

In 1880 when the Harper family sold their ranch at Park City and returned to Holladay, Utah, seventeen-year-old Parkaretta stayed behind to marry Francis "Frank" Vernon. They maintained a ranch in a small community called Rockport in an adjacent valley to Park City. Their three children, Nathan Francis, Sarah Jane, and Ethel were all born here. And daughter Ethel died in infancy at just one month of age. In 1886 Francis and Parkaretta separated and divorced.

Parkaretta married William McClure Lemon in 1886 and with him had seven children, four of whom died in infancy. In 1897 they divorced but continued to live near each other and were both active in rearing their three surviving children.

Just a year after their divorce, in 1898, Parkaretta married a third time to Elijah Horton, a local widower and stockman. This marriage was not successful either. When they divorced in 1905 Parkaretta received a substanstial sum of property. From these proceeds she was able to live modestly but comfortably for the remainder of her life.

Following her third divorce, Parkaretta moved to Salt Lake City where she lived in the Rose Park area for several years until retiring to Ogden in 1909. At Ogden, she owned a small home, and was active in her community, serving on various callings for both church and civic organizations. Many sought her advice on sound financial planning and she was able to provide education for her children. Her son Nathan became a successful businessman in Salt Lake.

In August 1929 she was stricken with septicemia, a type of blood poisoning usually resulting from an injury. The illness proved fatal and she died August 25, 1929 at her home. She is buried at Aultorest Memorial Gardens in Ogden.

(compiled from the records of Norma Harper Morris, a niece)