Martha Morris (Crosby) (Bankhead) Flake (1828-1885)

Nancy Crosby Bankhead inherited Martha when John Crosby died. Martha's parents may have been Violet (Crosby) and Morris. The Crosby probate set Martha's value at $275. Her granddaughters later recalled that she had scars on her back and a deformed hand form violent treatment by her enslavers.

The Bankhead Family took Martha to Utah Territory. Friends later told historian Jack Beller that she went to Utah with Heber C. Kimball, and Beller understood that she was enslaved by Kimball, but the report may be a late memory that she was in Kimball's wagon train. Based on a memory from William J. Flake, it is possible that Kimball hired Martha from her enslaver, but no reliable documentation remains from the Bankhead, Kimball, or Flake families.

Martha married Green Flake, probably around 1853. Their descendants remember that the couple paid Martha's former enslavers with produce until Brigham Young told them to stop since they owed the Bankheads nothing. The Flakes lived in Union and raised their children Abraham and Lucinda and at least two of Rose Litchford's daughters.

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