Thirza’s son Ormus was ten years old when he lived in Springville, Utah with his father and two brothers. Sometime during that same year, he gained a step-mother, Thankful Lucy Pine. Family lore says Ormus felt she was “like and angel to us;” apparently he appreciated her love and attention. The family moved to southern Utah and he grew enough during the next ten years to feel confident in wedding the 17-year-old Louisa Ann Earl, a young and beautiful woman living in the same town where they lived, Pine Valley, Utah. Ormus was a miner who did a few other odd jobs on the side, and the birth places of their children tell the story of the movement of the couple, from Harrisburg, Utah to Silver Reef, both cities in Washington county and known for their mining in the late 1870’s. From the book “Nay Family in the West” comes a description of what happened next:

“At this time, a very dark and trying event occurred deeply affecting this family. Ormus was involved in a train robbery and sent to prison.  In the Nevada State prison records dated the 9th of February 1883, we read that Ormus was charged with ‘the crime of assault with intent to commit Robbery,’ occurring on January 22, 1883, near Montello, Nevada, to which he admits guilt.”

It was this very act and incarceration that led us to the next clue to Thirza’s whereabouts. As we investigated the paperwork in Ormus Nay’s file from the prison, we discovered a letter written to him from his mother, Thirza. She wrote in behalf of her son Ormus B. Nay who was there in the prison, and pled for his early release hoping that his aged father and mother could once again see their son. She was convinced he was repentant and said “He was not a bad boy but bad company has brought him where he is.” A most poignant sentiment closes the letter: “From his aged mother whose hope is in the God of justice and mercy.”

From various and sundry records, we had previously suspected and believed Thirza and her run-away husband, the soldier James, had changed their last name to Marley, and true enough, the signature on the letter is “Mrs. T. A. Marley.” The most important thing about this letter was that it was dated May 23, 1892 and it came from Monroe, Utah.  We know that she was alive and living in Monroe more than 30 years after her purported death before John Nay’s marriage to Thankful Lucy in 1860.

During the two to three year period of our search for her, we had enrolled other cousins in the adventure, resulting in a second and then third important find. A year or so after the discovery of the prison letter, Allen Nay, our second cousin, notified my sister about a “Pony Express” bible for sale on Ebay. There was an important inscription:  “Circle Valley March 26, 1887 Present from your Darling mother Thirza Angelina Marley to her Son Ormus B. Nay.”  Apparently Ormus received this gift from his mother during the time he was imprisoned, when she was living in Circle Valley, which is in Piute county, Utah, about 30 miles south of Monroe. My sister purchased the bible, and ended up connecting with the seller, who was also a cousin, but that’s another story.

We wound up with two solid pieces of evidence contributed first hand by Thirza. So when did she die?

Another second cousin, Scott Bowen, who was helping us compile the book on this Nay family, decided to rustle through a stack of old papers and forms he had inherited at his mother’s decease, and found an odd manuscript titled “Record of Family Traits” dated 1915, which had been partially filled out by Frances Ellen Standley Warren, his great grandmother. who was married to the grandson of Thirza. Part of this U.S. government-generated questionnaire had a place to write down the birth and death dates of the parents and grandparents of the individuals working on the forms, and, against all odds, the death of Thirza Angelina Hale was written in as 1 October, 1895.

It was time to cross off “before 1860” from the genealogy sheets and legitimately fill in a date that we felt could be correct. But where was she buried? We don’t really know, some old-timers from central Utah say they swear they have seen a headstone before with Thirza’s name on it there in the “old” Monroe cemetery; others just scratch their head and admit they don’t really know. At this writing we believe she was likely buried in the Nay cemetery plot there in Monroe, Utah. All eight graves are occupied, but two are unidentified, and, she spent time in that area in her later years. No further mention of the wayward James Marley has been yet discovered. Her “sister-wife” Thankful Lucy died two years after she did, and her grave is marked, next to John Nay’s grave.

As I reflect on this small uncovered portion of Thirza’s life, I reiterate her fitting words: “Hope is in the God of justice and mercy.”  Love you Thirza, can’t wait to meet up with you.

 P.S. Unfortunately, Ormus’ father never did see him again as John Nay died a year before O. B. Nay was released from the Nevada State Penitentiary, and resumed his life with his family, fathering two more children with faithful Louisa.  but that’s another story. . .

To read the full adventure stories of John Nay, Thirza Angelina Hale, Ormus Bates Nay and Louisa Ann Earl, follow this link: The Nay Family in Utah and the West