(Contributed by the Thomas Tolman Family Organization. Excerpt from Judson Tolman: Pioneer, Lumberman, Patriarch by E. Dennis Tolman, Second Edition, 2004, pages 147-148).
George Calvin was born February 18, 1858 in Tooele, Utah, the third child and second son of Cyrus and Margaret. He spent his early years in Tooele with his family facing the trials of a true pioneer. His sister, Martha, described Calvin as an honest, upright man.
When they were living in Tooele the Indians were often giving them problems. On one occasion, Calvin was herding the town cows along the creek when two Indians chased him with raised tomahawks. They surely would have caught him had he not been very fast on foot. He made his way to where some other men were working. When the Indians saw he was no longer alone they left.
He met and married Elizabeth (Libby) Keplinger of Springville, Utah in 1884. They began their lives together in Springville where their first child Deora Tolman was born June 19, 1885. Over the next few years Elizabeth gave birth to three more daughters: Pearl E. Tolman, born May 23, 1887; Ruby E. Tolman, born June 21, 1889; and Myrtle E. Tolman, born May 14, 1891. After four children, Elizabeth did not want to continue having children, so she and Calvin went their separate ways.
Each of the girls lived to maturity and married. Deora married F. T. Frawley. Pearl married a Mr. Rutledge. Ruby married George T. Huling, November 15, 1922. Myrtle married C.A. Mills. The girls moved to Denver, but never received any of their father’s inheritance. As far as we know only Ruby had children. She had one son named Dean. Dean says his Aunt Pearl may never have married, but just took the name of Rutledge from her past. (Rutledge was her grandmother’s maiden name.)
Calvin became quite wealthy in the cattle and sheep business. He had a beautiful ranch just below where Palisades Dam is located today. Various family member lived on the ranch from time to time to help with the work.
Calvin met Mable Elizabeth Black from Alabama and fell in love with her. Calvin and Mable married, but took very little interest in things pertaining to the Church. This grieved Margaret Eliza and Cyrus very much. Environment had done its work.
Mable was a good wife to Calvin. When he was diagnosed with cancer he and Mable went to live with his sister, Martha, in Fairview, Wyoming. Mable worked hard and kept him spotlessly clean while he was ill. She had Martha’s daughter, Luella, sit with him while she was working in other parts of the house. Then when he awoke or needed something Luella would call for Mable, who would care for him. The cancer had affected his speech and made it hard to understand him. Mable would reward Luella with old Peak chocolates. While Calvin was sick, the Fairview Brass Band came on the morning of the Fourth of July and played two or three tunes for him. It delighted him and he raised up in bed and waved to them.
Calvin’s cancer was of the lip. As it got worse, it ate into his throat. He seemed to die by degrees, with hemorrhaging of his throat and nose. He lived with Martha for some time, and it was hard on the whole family to see him suffer. Calvin died August 3, 1912 in Fairview at the age of 54 years and was buried in the Fairview cemetery near his mother and other family members.
Mable moved to Salt Lake City after Calvin’s funeral and became a registered nurse. Mern and Nellie moved down to run Calvin’s ranch while Mable was attending school. Luella went down to the ranch and stayed with them in the summer while her mother Martha Ann was at school in Logan. Uncle Cot went down and helped them run the ranch too, which was when he met Aunt Cecil. She had been sent to stay with her aunt who lived across Snake River. Aunt Cecil was sickly and her folks thought it would help her. She was a pretty, dainty young lady and Uncle Cot fell in love with her.
When family members lived on the ranch they had to cross Snake River on a cable. They’d sit in a type of swing and slide rapidly down to the middle of the river. The cable would sag and then they had to pull themselves up to the other side. The first time some of the family met Aunt Cecil, Uncle Cot had gone over the river to get her. She looked so little and had powdered her pale face white. Cot’s strong arms were pulling them up on the cable. Aunt Cecil was frail and couldn’t pull a flea off a dog, but she was the one Cot wanted. Martha felt bad because she feared Cecil would be sickly. She had health problems through the years. Uncle Cot died in 1976, but had a good life and a good family.
Aunt Mable eventually married a man younger than she was by the name of Jesse Wheat. They seemed to think a lot of each other, then she became sick and died and was brought to Fairview, Wyoming to be buried. Jesse Wheat went down to Calvin’s fine ranch and married a woman by the name of Lillian Livingston. Jesse was later found hanging from a rope in the little shed near the house. The family did not know whether or not he took his own life, as there was never an official investigation. His wife Lilly got Calvin’s ranch.
Uncle Calvin’s daughters had moved to Denver. They kept in touch with their Aunt Martha Ann until she died, but they never received a penny from their father’s estate. The woman, Lillian Livingston, who got control of the property received a handsome sum for it, because of its location near the town of Palisades.