Mrs. Jane Hacking Southam

George Henry Southam began working for Jim Hacking in March of 1888 and in May or June, Jane Elizabeth Hacking, who was Jim's sister, came to help Jim's family when a new baby was expected. George met her and it wasn't long until they began to think seriously of each other and decided to be married in October. Jim arranged for her to go home and a short while after she left Grandpa and Grandma Hacking arrived. They had missed each other somewhere between Vernal and Ft. Duchesne.

In early October, George left Vernal in a two and three- quarter wagon, a light team, grain enough for their horses and thirty dollars in their pocket to go to Cedar Fort. He reached there one afternoon and George went in the blacksmith shop where Grandpa Hacking was at work. When he came out of the shop, Jane was at the gate to meet him. He stayed in Cedar Fort three or four days, then they started for Logan. They camped near the Point of the Mountain the first night, then stayed with his aunt in Salt Lake the second night. When they reached Logan, he went to a friend's home, an ex-bishop who had lived in Evanston, and told him the situation and that they were looking for a place to stay. They took them in and treated them well and accepted a little for us staying there. They were married the next day (10th October 1888) in Logan, Utah and when they reached their place, the women folk had planned a party for them for that night, but they started home and camped on the way.

When they reached Fort Duchesne, there were four inches of snow on the ground. They had been sleeping in the wagon, but George met some men that he had worked with, and one of them gave them his bed and then he went somewhere else. That wasn't too good, but was much better than what they had, and they appreciated it. The next day, they went on to Vernal and found that Jane's brother, Jim, was beginning to worry about them. He knew when they first left Cedar Fort to go to Vernal, but did not know what had caused their delay. George's sister, Alice, and her husband, Josh Haslam, lived down on Ashley Creek in a one room, 14 by 16 foot log house. They lived with them until he could get logs out and build a house on some ground. He had homesteaded on the Creek. They were as happy as young people could be under those circumstances. They moved into their house just before Christmas and were invited up to Uncle Jim Hackings for Christmas dinner.

Their house was a one room log house 12 by 16 feet with a dirt roof and board floor. He had put 1-inch lumber on the roof and battened the cracks and put dirt on that. George Merkley gave them a window for the house as a wedding present. It was a six pane 10 x 12 inch double window. The door was homemade with a bought lock and hinges. Jane had quite a few things like preserves, candies, some quilts, pillow cases, sheets and probably one pair of blankets. He traded for a second-hand cook stove. John Chivers lived next to them and helped a lot on their house.

Their first child, Alice Adaline, was born 20th July 1889 when they lived down on the Creek. They had no doctor, but his mother, Aunt Laura Hunting, Bishop Hunting's twin brother's wife, and Carry Chivers helped them out. George had left Jane and the baby at home but later sent for her and they lived in a large government tent just north of the Fort and near the river. Jane got very sick and died in 1890.

Her thirteen siblings are: Harriett Ambrosine Hacking, James Hacking, Phebe Ann Hacking Merkley, Jane Elizabeth Hacking Southam, Eleanor Hacking Anderson, John Sampson Hacking Jr., Henry Franklin Hacking, Charles Lorenzo Hacking, Joseph Pearson Hacking, George Alfred Hacking, Mary Emily Hacking, Martha Caroline Hacking, Orson Ezra Hacking and Thomas William Hacking.