WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
ADALINA ELIZA ("ADELIZA" or "ADDIE") ALGER (McARTHUR/PRICE/BRACKEN)
(aka ADDIE E. PRICE)
(businesswoman)
BIOGRAPHY
Adalina Eliza "Adeliza" or "Addie" Alger was born on August 9,1851, not long after her family arrived in Salt Lake Valley from the east.They moved to St. George in the Cotton Mission in the early 1860s.
Addie married Daniel D. McArthur's son, Andrew Bird McArthur, in 1869. Since they didn't have children Addie helped her husband in his freighting business. They saved and were able to buy a farm in the Washington Fields. Later, they bought a cattle ranch in Dameron Valley. They bought the home of Addie's parents at 185 Diagonal Street and built a large addition onto it. They also bought a piece of land across Diagonal street from the house where they built a barn and feed stalls to care for their own stock and others. Addie started a millinery shop.
Andrew died in 1882, leaving Addie a young widow to manage their substantial assets. She rented out their Washington Fields farm. The Dameron Valley ranch was taken over by Addie's sister, Ann, and Ann's husband, Joe Price. And Addie's mother, Sarah, came to live with her and help out.
The next year, a mother in the neighborhood died leaving a family of small children in destitute conditions. Addie took one of the little girls, Emma Rhoner, and raised her as her own though she never formally adopted her.
Four years after the death of her first husband, Addie married Joe Price's brother, Tom. He was a widower with two small boys, ages 7 and 9. Tom and the boys took over the farm while Addie focused on her millinery business. Tom & Addie were participants in the Washington Fields Dam project. When Silver Reef became a ghost town, Addie bought a store over there and had it moved over on her lot. She then added groceries and dry goods to her millinery business. At one time during the operating of the Apex mine, she contracted to furnish food to the boarding house. She also furnished Preston Nutter supplies for his employees on his cattle ranch at Parashant. She was on the alert for business; any new enterprise interested her. She invested in a new bank and in a telephone system. She helped organize an ice manufacturing plant.
William & Ernest Nelson, two progressive young business men saw the need of an up-to-date meat and grocery business. They interested Addie, who financed the young men. They purchased the Henry Riding carpenter shop on East Tabernacle street and carried on a thriving business. Ernest added a lunch counter and confectionary for the benefit of the traveling, as well as the local people. In 1912 they installed a cooling system, by using water from the city water system. This was the first such improvement in this section. They were then able to supply ice to their customers. When Addie was retiring from so much business responsibility, she sold her interest to Wallace B. Mathis who acquired all the stock and operated the store as the Mathis Market. To Addie is due the originating of this thriving business for St. George.
St. George was badly in need of a hospital. George Morris and wife, Mame (Addie's sister), had a large home and had been running a hotel in it. Addie purchased the building and gave it for a hospital, taking stock to the amount she had paid.
In 1896, tragedy struck again when Tom was killed in a wagon accident. Addie was a widow again, this time with children: Emma, Don, Bert, Andrew, Lawrence, and Erma. But she carried on. She hired a man to help with the farm and other enterprises. She invested in the construction of the Enterprise Dam.
Addie must have been a real character. She seems to have taken the lead in many of the activities that a small town was forced to devise for its own amusement. The shivarees she planned for the newly-married were the horror of the nuptual pair and the delight of the town. The story of the night Addie managed to get herself and her cowbells under the bridal bed lived on long after she had gone to her reward.
In 1908, Addie married James Bennett Bracken, Jr., a prosperous farmer and cattle man from Pine Valley. His wife had died and he wanted a companion. Addie closed out her store and they lived a relatively quiet life.
After the death of Bennett, Addie decided to leave St. George. She bought a home next to her sister, Ann, in Salt Lake and spent the rest of her years there.
Addie died on July 7, 1925 and is buried in Block 8 Lot 10B of the Provo City Cemetery.
FAMILY
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Parents and Siblings:
John Alger Sarah Ann Pulsipher Alger Nelson Alger Sarah Ann "Surry Ann" Alger Olivia "Ollie" Alger Adeliza "Addie" Alger John Zera Alger Martha Ellen "Ella" Alger Ann "Annie" Eliza Alger Samuel Nelson Pulsipher Alger Alva Don Pulsipher "Don" Alger Willard Edgar "Will" Alger Mary Edna "Mame" Alger |
(11/5/1820-2/4/1897) (married 2/13/1842) (11/2/1824-1/1/1909) (xx/xx/1843-xx/xx/1848) (4/13/1845-xx/xx/1933) (married Joe Price) (6/23/1847-xx/xx/1930) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (8/9/1849-7/7/1925) (married as shown below) (1/15/1852-xx/xx/1933) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (12/4/1853-xx/xx/1934) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (12/20/1856-7/22/1945) (married Joseph Smith Price) (4/26/1858-xx/xx/1911) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (1/21/1860-xx/xx/1898) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (4/11/1862-xx/xx/1947) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (12/9/1865-xx/xx/1946) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) |
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First Husband: Andrew Bird McArthur |
(12/23/1841or1842-3/25/1882) (married 10/4/1869) |
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Second Husband and Children: Emma Rhoner George Thomas "Tom" Price Don Carlos Price Bert Joseph Adelbert Price Andrew Bird McArthur Price Thomas Lawrence Price Sarah Erma Price |
(7/8/1847-11/13/1896) (married 10/23/1886) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (informally adopted) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (stepson) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (stepson) (9/29/1887-10/6/1924) (married Annie Charlotte Rencher) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) |
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Third Husband: James Bennett Bracken, Jr. |
(9/4/1845-1/19/1918) (married 6/30/1908) |
PHOTOS
TBDREFERENCES
Biography of George Thomas Price & Adeliza AlgerBiography of Andrew Bird McArthur Price & Annie Charlotte Rencher
Addie E. Price is listed in the Utah State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1903-1904, Volume 2 on:
Page 293: Milliner
Page 612: For owning or farming 20 acres upwards
Biography of John Alger
Biography of Sarah Ann Pulsipher Alger
Find-A-Grave entry for Adeliza Alger Bracken
Find-A-Grave entry for John Alger
Find-A-Grave entry for Sarah Ann Pulsipher Alger
Find-A-Grave entry for Andrew Bird McArthur
Find-A-Grave entry for George Thomas "Tom" Price
Find-A-Grave entry for James Bennett Bracken, Jr.