My grandmother Cina Denton Deese, or Denty as she was called, was born on  August 1, 1887 in Wheeler,  Arkansas.  She was the daughter of Ellender (Eleanor) Helton and Elcana (Caney) John Dees.
 
[NOTE:  All of the Dees family (that I've found) down through Elcana spelled the name D-E-E-S.  All of  Elcana's children added an 'e' and spelled it as D-E-E-S-E.  The Dees came from Scotland and the name comes from the Dee River.]
 
Denty was the youngest of eight children.  When she was about 17 years old her aunt, Luecinda (Lou) Helton Chase sent for her.  Lou was living in Salt Lake City, Utah and was apparently the matchmaker of the family.  Through Lou, Denty met my grandfather William Nolden.
 
Granddad was a cook (or chef) and would have been considered "a catch" for Denty whose prospects, without the intervention of her aunt Lou, would have been to become a farmer's wife in eastern Oklahoma or western Arkansas.
 
 William and Denty were probably married in 1905 in Salt Lake City.  At that time William was about 30 years old and Denty was 17.
 
 After their marriage, William and Denty opened a boardinghouse in Bingham Canyon, Utah which was the site of a large copper mine just south of the Great Salt Lake.  At one time they had 19 men (miners) in residence.  William cooked for the men and Denty took care of the rooms.
 
On April 22, 1906 my mother Katherine Eleanor Nolden was born.  The boardinghouse was apparently not yet a success and the hard physical work was taking its toll on Denty.
 
On July 8, 1906 she wrote the following letter to her sister Mary (Deese) Ketcher.

 

 

My Dear Sister Mary.
 
    I received your good letter & was glad to here from you & glad to here you was all well.  We are all well & I hope this will find you all the same. 
    Well Mary I got a letter from Ella [Denty"s sister Eleanor Wright] the other day & she said the baby [Claude] wasn't well.  My baby [Katherine Nolden] is fat as She can be. 
    Well sis did you say that Jonah would be sick about Sep.[?] how is her bad breast[?]  has it botherd her any more[?] 
    I don't know whether you can read this or not [as] I feel pretty tough today[.]  I am so sleepy I cant heardly write but I guess you will excuse it for once. 
    [So] Allice and Tolo have got a baby have thay[?]  dont you think that he was bad off to marry her[?] 
    we are not doing as well with this business as we hoped to do so you can just wait till you see me coming before you look for me[.]  I am not going to make any more promises & then break them[.]  it is all noncence[!] 
    well Mary I wish I could see you all[.]  wouldent we have a picnic though it is pretty warm here today[.]  I cant heardly write did you  have a  good...

  
Less than three weeks later Denty was more optimistic about the success of the boardhouse and wrote the following letter to her mother Eleanor Helton Dees Bailey.
 

Bingham Canyon Utah
July 26, 1906

 

My Dear Mama & all.
 
    I received your always welcome letter & was glad to here from you [and] glad to here you was all well.  this leaves us all well & hope it will find you all the same.  Now mama you must not work so hard for you will make yourself Sick & then you will be worse than if you had not worked so hard. 
    I got a letter from Lovey [Denty's sister Orranah Deese Neale's daughter] the day I got yours & she said Oh I wish I was dead for none of my kin folks think any thing of me[.]  I give her a good talking to in that letter & it made her feel bad I guess[.]  I told her I wouldent wipe my foot on him only I put it stronger than that[.]  she said she had been up to see you 3 times since she left.  well mama what did Oranah say about it[?]  she will be mad I guess. 
    Well Mama Aunt [Lou Helton Chase] is Coming to see me about the first of August & I will be glad. we are doing better here now[.]  we have got 19 men & we have got a girl [to] help us with our work.  well mama I wish you could come out here[.]  well mama I will try & finish your letter now.  you had better not work so hard for you know that it will make you sick[.]  I wish you would come & live with me[.]  I wouldent let you work then[.]  it is pretty nice up here on the Mountains.  I guess you are glad when some one does come. 
    Yes I have eaten jam, strawberries & rasberries & goozeberries but not blackberries.  I am glad Sammie [Sam Neale maybe] is with you.  Yes I can read your letters fine.  Well mama we are doing better with our boarding house now.  We have got 19 men.  I am sorry your cucumber vines are not doing well.  I hope they won't die.
    Yes we have every thing to bye[;] potatoes, cabage, letuce, radishes & corn, peas, meats & every thing else.  Potatoes are 3 cents a pound or 2 dollars a bushel[.] 
    My dear Mama I will try to finish your letter[.] today is the 1st of Aug. Did you think of my birthday[?]  I am 19 teen[!]  pretty oald[!] 
    well mama Aunt hasent come yet but may be she will come on this after noon train[.]  I must close now[.]  hoping to heare from you all soan[.]  I send love & kisses to you all from your loving Daughter & family[.]  good Bye & May God Bless & take care of you.  
    your Daughter
    Denty

 
About January 1907, an epidemic of Spinal Meningitis hit the mining camp at Bingham Canyon and Denty contracted the disease.  At that time doctors had no medicine to combat the disease and it was usually fatal.
  
The following letters/telegrams were sent after Denty became sick and was hospitalized in Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City. Dent is Denton Chase the son of Lou Helton Chase and Sam Chase.  The letters/telegrams are to Eleanor Helton Deese Bailey, Denty's mother.
 

 

Dear Aunt,
 
Denty is about the same.  She is very low but of course we [have] hope yet.  Have to go out on the road so will close.
  Dent

 
 

[the doctor] had just left her [Denty] and he told her to phone me that he was Very Well pleased with her condition this morning.  So keep a brave heart sister, and rest asured that we are all going to get out of here if we all get well enough at one time. 
    Yes Dentie has intended all along to go home as soon as she was able to travel.  Billey [William Nolden] says he will never take her back to Bingham [Canyon]. Billey looks all most as bad as Dentie does and his devotion to Dentie through this sickness has made me think more of him than anything else ever would have done. 
    Denton wrote to Mama and asked her to go and stay with you till Dentie is out of all danger and I hope some of them will stay with you till then.  I am glad that you are better but sorry that Orranahs [Orranah Deese Neale] folks are all sick.  every one is teroised here over the Spinel meningitis[.]  the City is full of it[.]  some of them only live three or four hours but some how or other I dont feel afraid.  I guess I am turning to stone[.]  I feel dazed all the time. 
    Well dear sister I have told you all I can this time[.]  I will try and write when I get a letter from you but Dent will send a letter every other day.  Sam is not very well a gaine[.] this second attact of Denties has been a grate blowe to have. 
    remember dear[,] what ever happens you are not a lone in your trouble for our darling girl is like a daughter to us.  The Superintnedent and his wife from Bingham [Canyon] and his wife has been here to see me twice but they could not see Dentie[.]  every body loves her.  good bye and god bless you all. 
 
Your loving sister and Aunt
  Lou

Salt Lake Station
2/20/1907

 

 

My dear Aunt,
 
    Today Denty is practically the same.  She seems to want more to eat and I guess that is a favorable sign. 
    The rest are alright.  We do not get to see Denty and I think she will get well because she has been sick so long.  Her condition of course is very grave but then, as a rule with this disease, they die within a couple of days.  The one thing now is to keep her strength up.
         Dent

My Darling Sister
 
    Denton had to go to Caloenta this afternoon and I don't know whether he wrote to you or not to day so I  will write a little.  Dentie is just a bout the same as she has been for several days.  We got your letter yesterday.  Oh my precious sister I wish you was here or if one of the girls or Stockly [Stokely Deese] could be here.  Some times I feel that my heart would brake. 
    Denton is not a bit well and I am so sorry to have him have to go away[.]  he hated to go so bad but the road is all washed out and they telgraphed for him and he had to go. 
    Babie [Katherine Nolden] is well[.]  Billey [William Nolden] and I took her up to see her mother [Denty] yesterday. 
    I am all most down with  my side[.]  the babie is all that has kept me up for weeks and it is a blessing that I have got her.  I can't  write much sister dear[.]  will write a gaine to morrow.
  Your loving sister and Aunt