Nancy Catherine Overton Holt was born October 28, 1850 in Fremont County, Iowa. At the time of her birth, her parents James and Parthenia Overton Holt, were crossing the plains with the Mormon Pioneers in the James Emmett Company in 1845 to Iowa then James Holt Co. to UT Oct 27,1852.
Nancy joined the LDS church in 1864 and came to St. George, UT where she met and married William Slade. They were endowed and sealed in the Endowment House in SLC 19 July 1869. At the time, he was 35 and she was 19. William and Nancy went to Pine Valley where they built log houses and worked in the timber. Besides working in the timber, William had the first sheep herd to be taken to Southern Utah. Their first son was born 1870 and they would go on to have nine more children.
Sometime between 1872-1874, Nancy longed for her family and when her father asked them to come to Holt's Ranch to help build a reservoir so they could cultivate more land, they sold their property in Pine Valley and moved taking their sheep herd with them.
They stayed at Holt's Ranch for about 2 years after getting the reservoir working they moved again. They went to Panguitch, UT and took up land, build homes and canals. They worked together with William's brothers Jefferson and Henry and sister Clara, and acquired much land, many sheep, cattle and horses. The Slades were hard workers. William would take loads of wool to the woolen factory in Provo, UT and bring back bolts of cloth from which Nancy and the other women in the family would sew clothing. Nancy was a lovely seamstress. She would weave the cloth for men's suits, and cut them out and make them with her mother's help. She was one of the best taylors they had in Dixie at this time. She also had evening spelling, reading and writing classes for the children. She sang well and taught the children to sing. They were a happy family.
Then came what was known as the hard winter. It snowed four feet deep on the winter ranges. The sheep lay and smothered. Cattle froze to death. Some of the horses survived but had frozen hoofs. William was a broken man, in purse and spirit. They were a happy bunch even though poverty had come to them. Nancy longed to be with with her people so in 1882, William moved the family back to the Holt's Ranch after disposing of his property in Panguitch. Nancy's health was not very good and she nearly lost her life when another daughter was born. After a year at the Ranch, the family rented a dairy known as "Gold Burgess Ranch". It was near here where the Mountain Meadow Massacre took place. The family made butter and cheese. They learned to sew and knit and read and write. They were still close to the Holt Ranch where they could get fruit, vegetable and visit. In the Winter, they went to St. George so the older kids could go to school. On April 16, 1886, Joseph Williams was born and Nancy suffered a nervous break down, from which she never fully recovered. She cared for the baby but had to have constant help and care.
William decided to take his family back to Panguitch Lake where he could fish and maybe improve Nancy's health. With their eight children,William and Nancy packed up and off they went for the summer. Nancy's health did not improve, but the baby seemed to thrive as did the other children. Money was very scarce. William paid for schooling for the children by hauling wood for the large flat stove in the schoolhouse. It was cold with lots of snow and they had no overshoes or rubbers, but their shoes were strong homemade shoes and didn't get wet.
September 1898, William prepared to go to Old Mexico where many of his friends had migrated He, Nancy, Harriet, Mary Jane, Joe and Frank left and made their way to Mexico. There William did carpentering and gardening but he was a broken man and Nancy's health did not improve.
Nancy died at the age of 79 in the home of her daughter Mrs. Harriet Knight in Bunkerville, Clark, Nevada, 25 April 1931 and was buried in the Bunkerville cemetery. They had 10 children.
Child not listed below:
1) Anna Eliza Slade (1887-1887)