May Kendrick: A Life of Service, Stitching, and Strength in Early Granger
Josephine May Livsey Hudson Kendrick: A Life of Quiet Strength
Early Years of Loss and Hard Work
Josephine May Livsey Hudson, known simply as May, was born in 1875 in Salt Lake City to Joseph Livesy-Hudson and Jane Smith. Tragedy struck early — her father was killed by a lightning strike in September 1874, shortly before her birth. With too many children to care for alone, her mother sent young May to live with the Hudson family when she was about five or six. There, May’s childhood was marked by daily labor: sewing carpet rags, completing schoolwork at St. Mary’s Academy for three years, and doing household tasks to earn her keep. By age nine, she was living with Edward and Caroline Duncombe Kendrick, where she learned to read, write, sew, crochet, cook, and nurse the sick — skills that would define her life.
Marriage and Motherhood with Tom
At age 21, May married Thomas Duncombe Kendrick in 1896. Together, they built a home near his parents’ homestead at about 3100 South and 2700 West, an area that included Decker Lake. May’s life as a young wife and mother was a testament to unending hard work. She milked and herded cows, tended sheep, churned butter, irrigated fields, sewed clothes, raised poultry, gardened, and hauled water to the family’s dry farm in Kearns during harsh winters. She sold eggs, butter, chickens, asparagus, and currants to prominent Salt Lake families, delivering by buggy with a baby in tow.
Her Husband Tom died
When May’s beloved husband Tom Kendrick passed away, their youngest child was only eleven years old. With her husband gone, May shouldered the full burden of keeping the family together and the homestead running. She continued raising her children and caring for the land with remarkable determination. She kept the cows milked, the gardens tended, the animals fed, and the butter, eggs, and produce flowing to her customers in Salt Lake City — just as she and Tom had always done. Even in her later years, crippled by rheumatism, she refused to be idle, continuing to mend clothes, nurse sick family and neighbors, and manage the many tasks needed to hold her family steady through hardship. Her resilience and selfless devotion left a lasting legacy for her children and grandchildren
A Life of Industry and Devotion
May was known for her thrift and skill — every scrap of cloth was reused for clothing, quilts, or carpet rags, and nothing was wasted. She made her own patterns, patched clothes until they were mostly patchwork, and sewed well into the night by coal oil lamp. Even as she raised eight children, she found time to nurse neighbors and family, deliver babies and grandchildren, and craft canvas dams for local water ditches and Decker Lake.
Steward of Family, Land, and Animals
May and Tom’s land included the north side of Decker Lake, where they raised hundreds of ducks. Each autumn, May would help Tom herd the ducks across the water by boat, round them up near Buckholt’s Point, and drive them into the barnyard to fatten for market. She was patient and gentle with animals, even teaching a stallion to obey her like a loyal dog. Though often crippled by rheumatism, May pushed through pain by washing dishes in scalding water and forcing her hands and feet to work again. She knew how to care for every cut, bruise, or illness — using castor oil, steam baths, or remedies made from the arnica plant, always combined with prayer.
Through every hardship, Josephine May Livsey Hudson Kendrick remained kind, forgiving, and devoted — to her family, her animals, her land, and her faith. Her legacy of endurance and quiet service lives on in the stories her family still shares today.
