Alice Ann Barlow Hart was born on September 24, 1872 in Lehi, Utah County, Utah to Amanda Morgan and Joseph Smith Barlow Sr. Her childhood days were spent in Fairfield, Utah County, Utah.

The father of Alice passed away on August 28, 1876, leaving his wife with three small children, Joseph Smith Jr., Alice Ann and Mary Emily. A fourth child, Jesse, was born six months later.

The family then lived with Grandfather and Grandmother Morgan while their mother worked to support them. Grandmother Morgan made fancy work and yeast to sell to help. People would exchange a cup of sugar or a cup of flour for a cup of yeast.

When Alice was eight years of age, her Grandmother Morgan passed away. Amanda moved to a small house and the girls were left alone during the day while their mother was at work. To keep them home and to lessen her worry of their whereabouts, the girls had to tear rug rags. A certain amount must be accomplished each day. Sometimes their friends would help them so they could play a while. They also gleaned grain from the fields at harvest time. One year they gathered a large sack of grain and took it to the mill to be ground into flour. How proud they were of that accomplishment.

The schools in those days were not graded as they are now. They were graded by “Readers.” Alice completed the sixth reader. Whenever a new student entered the class, the entire group had to start at the beginning of the book and read it again, so promotions weren’t gained quickly. Grammar and spelling were taught from the reader.

The Sunday School had only two groups, adults in one class and children in the other. The lessons consisted of each child reading a verse from the Bible.

Emily and Alice were ten and twelve years of age when they moved with their mother to Grouse Creek, where their Uncle Jesse Morgan, and their brother Joseph, were working.

Jesse Morgan went to Fairfield and helped Amanda move to Grouse Creek. They packed all her belongings into two wagons and began the journey the last part of January 1885, by way of the Utah Desert. It took over a week to make the trip. The girls walked a good portion of the way across the desert and in some places the water was five or six inches deep. Mud would roll up in big balls on the wagon wheels making it almost impossible for the horses to pull them. Once Alice saw what she thought was a drier spot on which to step, but it proved to be quick sand and she sank down into it. That was a terrifying experience she never forgot.

Uncle Jesse returned to the wagon after reprieving Alice from the quicksand, to find one wagon had mired in the mud so far that it was necessary to leave it there and hitch both teams on the other wagon to move it. They returned next spring for the wagon and found it unmolested.

It was about 5:00 p.m. on February 4, 1885 when they arrived at the home of Jesse Morgan in Grouse Creek. That day a son of Samuel H. Kimball had died of diphtheria. Amanda was hired by them immediately after her arrival and left the children to live with the Morgan’s the rest of the winter. In the late spring she moved into a one-room log cabin near the Morgan home. That fall she took the school teacher, Helen Stark, from Brigham City, Utah to board and room.

In the spring of 1886, Amanda and family moved to the West Fork of Grouse Creek, to what was later known at Etna, Utah. They lived on what was known as the Worthington place. Later they moved to the Warburton place which her father had leased. Diphtheria struck that home also and had taken its toll. Two of the children had passed away and one little fellow was so weak he couldn’t walk. Alice tended him constantly for several weeks carrying him on her back to pick wild flowers, etc.

Although Alice was very young, she hired out to do housework to help with the family budget. Joseph herded horses and would bring the boys he worked with to his Mother’s home occasionally. It was through him that Alice met Delbert F. Hart, whom she later married.

We do not know much about their courting days but when she became engaged to Delbert her mother felt very bad because he was not an LDS boy. She tried to discourage the marriage, but only succeeded in persuading them to postpone the wedding date. Dell (as he was always called) went to Teton, Idaho to homestead some land and make a home for them. He worked very hard clearing the land and getting out the timber with which to build them a house. When the house was almost completed, it burned to the ground, destroying all his belongings. He then returned to Grouse Creek and later they were married on November 29, 1892.

They held a big wedding dance in the Grouse Creek hall with the entire community in attendance. They danced all night and a glorious time was had by all present. When the dance ended, Dell invited everyone to come back in fifty years to help them celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. They looked forward to this event but when the time came, Dell was an invalid and Alice had passed away.

The Harts always celebrated their anniversary with a big dinner for their family and relatives. Those were wonderful days to remember.

Immediately after their marriage, both Dell and Alice went to work at the home of Samuel Kimball, Alice doing the cooking and housework and Dell working as a cowboy and ranch hand. After a few years they moved closer to Alice’s mother on the Phoebe Hales place where their first child Myrtle Alice Hart was born on March 31, 1895. Soon after, they moved to a forty-acre ranch that Valison Tanner, stepfather to Alice, had persuaded Dell to buy.

When Myrtle was three years old, they moved to Ogden, Weber County, Utah, where Dell took a job as brakeman on the Union Pacific Railroad.

Alice was not in favor of the move to Ogden as they were getting holdings in Grouse Creek and had a prosperous future ahead. She had been raised in the country and was not familiar with city life, but with her pleasing personality and love for people, she soon became acquainted and made many lifelong friends. The second child Martha Amanda Hart, was born on June 18, 1903 at Ogden, Utah.

Six years later the family moved to Montello, Nevada, Dell having been transferred there by the railroad. They were only there a short time when he was discharged. The family then moved back to Grouse Creek.

This was a sad incident in the life of Alice. She had learned to love the city and the many friends she had there. The little ranch was terribly run down and it was hard for her to adjust to the inconveniences of country life. She spent many long hours alone while the girls were at school and her husband was at work. However, she stood by her husband and worked very hard hoping that someday she would be able to have a nice comfortable home close to the friends she loved so much. She had very poor health and often worked beyond her strength.

The last twenty five years of her life were filled with heartaches and loneliness. She realized the sad mistake she had made when she married a man not of her faith. Although he was a kind and loving husband and father he could not understand her desire for her church activities, and did not make it possible for her to do the things she wanted so much to do.

Alice had very little formal education, yet she was an artist in her home. She was a very good seamstress, immaculate housekeeper and marvelous cook. Her motto was “anything worth doing is worth doing well.” She was loved for her hospitality and her ability to make people feel welcome in her home. Those who knew her best can remember her for her delicious doughnuts, shortcakes, pickles and jellies. She loved to entertain. The more the merrier. Preparing and serving big dinners was her hobby.

In December 1939 Alice and her husband went to Ogden, Utah to spend Christmas with their daughter Myrtle, and to see their first great-grandchild. On account of weather conditions and deep snow, their visit was prolonged. On February 3, 1940, Dell had a heart attack which was followed by several strokes that rendered him paralyzed on the right side, and confined him to his bed. They could not return to their home again. They lived the remainder of their lives with Myrtle.

Alice was a devoted nurse, as she was a wife and mother, always trying to make her husband comfortable in every possible way. She was happiest when doing kind deeds for others.

She developed a heart ailment and on November 2, 1941 she passed away in the arms of her daughter Myrtle. She left an invalid husband, two daughters, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She was buried in the Ogden City Cemetery on November 6, 1941.