Mabel Pett

• Mabel Arminta Pett 
• Born: October 15, 1898 Ogden, Weber, Utah
• Died: January 5, 1935 Tremonton, Box Elder Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy

Mabel was born in Ogden at home. Her family moved to Ophir, Utah when she was two years of age. Her father went to work at Edwards Dry Good Store as a butcher. George and Dell Pett Edwards owned and operated the store for many years. Dell was Mabel’s aunt. The store was a typical old time country store having hardware, groceries, clothing and everything else that the miners would want to buy. Ophir was a busy mining town located up one of the canyons southeast of Tooele and east of St. Johns which was the nearest railroad stop.

Mabel always had the responsibility of tending her younger two sisters. There was a small creek that ran close by their small frame home that they played by and washed in during the summer. In the spring there would be a large amount of water run off the steep mountains.

When Mabel was eight years of age the family moved to Brigham City. They bought a half block of land on 6^th North and 4^th to 5^th East. They built a small frame house on the corner of 6^th North and 4^th East. The barn and pigpen was on the 5^th East side of the lot. They planted all kinds of fruit trees and grew all kinds of berries. The girls hated to pick the gooseberries, they had so many thorns on the bushes and the berries were so small.

Her father opened a grocery store and butcher shop on North Main between 2^nd and 3^rd North on the west side of the street. Mabel didn’t work in the store as she preferred doing the housework at home and the cooking. Her mother was a very good cook and she passed this art on to Mabel. Mabel was on of the best cooks I know of. Many a good meal I have had to her and Austin’s home.

Mabel was baptized in Brigham in the old Tithing Office. They had a baptismal font in this building where all the children went to be baptized which was a big improvement over the North Pond.

She first went to school in the old 4^th Ward Amusement Hall, which had one large room made of adobe bricks. Wires were strung across and curtains pulled for different classes and rooms. This building was located on 3^rd North and 1^st East.

For Junior High she went to the Whittier School that was located on 2^nd South and 1^st West. It had rooms and two floors with a steeple on top and a bell. She went to the old Box Elder High School that was located on 4^th East and Forest Street. She walked to all her schools in all kinds of weather. When the snow was deep a neighbor, by the name of George Freeman, made a snow plow with two boards and made a path for all the children in the area to walk in. They used to have a lot of snow blizzards on the flat that would fill in the path and make large drifts to climb over. But they had fun doing it.

Mabel had all the childhood diseases that were common in those days, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox and diphtheria. Her sister Lucille had scarlet fever but she escaped that one. She and Lucille both had typhoid fever, Mabel having a severe case. There was no city water down that far out of town so all the people living in the flat (as it was called) got their water from an irrigation ditch. They people had asked the city to put water down there but refused. While Rae Pett was nursing here two sick little girls she decided she would fight to get the city water down there to them, so she and Dr. Pearse put up a fight and won the battle. A hydrant was put on the outside of the house and they were very thankful for it. Her mother was a very talented practical nurse and it was all that good nursing that brought all her children through these diseases.

After Mabel graduated from high school she went to work in the County Courthouse as the Assistant County Recorder. Her cousin Rilla Pett was the recorder. When Rilla moved to Salt Lake City wither family, Mabel was appointed County Recorder until the next election. She ran on the Republican Ticket for County Recorder and won the election. 

By the time she went to work her brother had grown up, so her drover her to and from work in a one seated buggy they had purchased to deliver groceries in. They had a horse named Nell for many years, she pulled this buggy around for them. They all loved this horse like a member of the family.

While Mabel was attending high school she met a good-looking man from Riverside, Utah named Austin Udy. He came to Brigham for his education as Box Elder was the only high school in the county at the time. They started dating and going out together. After graduation and while she was working Austin continued to court her driving in from the Valley in this Page automobile.

When they were first married they lived in a small three-room frame house in Riverside with a water pump in the pantry, but no bath and no electricity, but they were very happy.

Mabel and her mother were very close and they missed each other very much after she moved, but they talked on the phone and visited each other often. The Pett family was very close, they all got together for all the holidays and it was usually out to Mabel and Austin’s for Thanksgiving. In fact, after I got in the family it seemed to me every Sunday dinner was like a Thanksgiving feast at either Mabel’s or her mother’s, both of them being such good cooks without much effort.

Mabel and Austin moved into the south side of the Udy home and his mother lived on the north side. Mabel was very good to her mother-in-law and helped her in many ways. After her death Mabel and Austin rented her side for a year and then used the whole house themselves. I remember how excited and thrilled they were when they got electricity.

Mabel’s first child was born in the little house and it was a most difficult birth. The doctor has such a hard time delivering the baby that it died during the delivery. Mabel was ill for quite some time after. Austin took her to her mother to nurse and take care of her. Between her mother and a doctor her strength returned, but it took quite some time for her sciatic nerve that was damaged to heal. She had a limp for quite some time.

When Margaret and John came along she went to Brigham and stayed with her mother and Dr. Pearse delivered the babies without much trouble. When Joyce was born it was another difficult birth. She was born in the hospital in Tremonton. However, Mabel died of complications following childbirth eight days after Joyce’s birth. 

Mabel and Austin were very much in love and lived a very happy life. They both liked the farm and the raising of animals and produce. Mabel always kidded Austin about having such an easy life sitting on a tractor and riding around all day on the dry farm. Once when his alfalfa was ready to harvest his brother-in-law, Carl, came over and asked him to harvest his that day. Austin was so good natured he said yes and did Carl’s.  That night a hail-storm hit Austin’s place and wiped out his crop. He swore never again would he be such a good Joe.

One day we went out and Austin started laughing and said they had started a new fad of serving parsnips with ice cream. They had a Farm Bureau dinner and each of the ladies were to bring something. Mabel and Clara Welling were in charge of it. When they served the dinner the had overlooked the breaded parsnips a lady had brought so when they served the ice cream and cake they put the parsnips on the plate too. Austin was sure teasing her about it.

Mabel and Austin both had a great sense of humor, love and compassion. They always made you feel welcome in their home. Bud and I both loved them very much.

This history was written and compiled by Viola Pett, sister-in-law and Lucille Pett Rees, sister. Copied and printed by Christine W. Mooney, granddaughter, June 1978.

Burton Pett

• Name: Burton Pett
• Born: January 27, 1870 Brigham City, Utah
• Died: February 9, 1943 Brigham City, Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy

Burton Pett was the son of James Pett and Elizabeth Jane Brandon. He spent his early years in Brigham City and then went to Park City, at the time a thriving mining town, and worked for several years. Later he moved to Ophir, Tooele Couty and was employed by a mining company. He delivered the pay roll for quite some time by horseback from Mercur to Ophir with no loss of money nor any police escort. After his mining work he helped George Edwards with his Mercantile Store. A few years later he returned to Brigham City where he owned and operated a very successful meat and grocery business. His honesty and cheerfulness were a great asset. No on could cure meat or make sausage that tasted as good. He was also musical and played several stringed instruments.

His first wife was named Sarah Ellen Micksell who died in childbirth. The child Lillian Pett was raised by Eva Pett Streng, Burton's sister. He later married our grandmother Rachel Burton Pidcock. They always maintained a hospitable home and everyone enjoyed their visit there. They reared two sons and three daughters — Leonard, Mabel, Lucile, Geneva and Burton.

Thanks to Grandma Margaret for sharing this little bit of history with us. 

Top: Burton Pett, Imer Pett, Frank Pett
Bottom: Lorenzo Pett, James Pett (father) and Henry H. Pett

William Hazelgrove Pidcock

• William Hazelgrove Pidcock
• Born: January 18, 1832 Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England
• Died: November 27, 1906 Ogden, Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy 

William Hazelgrove Pidcock was born January 18, 1832 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. He was the only child of Thomas Pidcock and Martha Hazelgrove. Thomas Pidcock was a military officer, so during the war between India and England he took his wife Martha to India with him. After their return to England their son William was born. Both parents had been married before and had older, grown children from these previous marriages.

William’s father died when he was 12 and at 13 he became an apprentice to a man named Sam Vickers to learn the trade of whitesmith. The contract required him to stay until he was 21. In his journals he stated that the family he apprenticed with starved the help and he would go to his mother’s each day for food.

In 1847, when he was 16 years old, he stopped in the town square to hear some preaching. He listened to two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He liked their message and attended Sunday night meetings. After reading and studying he soon knew the doctrine they preached was true and on May 2, 1848 he was baptized.

There was persecution and oppressive antagonism at work which he endured patiently until he was 20 years old. Then it became intense and he broke his apprenticeship and left with the approval of a lawyer and the owner’s son, George Vickers.

He left Mansfield on foot with two pence and his spare clothes in a box. At Chesterfield he stopped at a lodging house and found an LDS family that helped him. He soon had work and preached in different towns. After two years, having saved enough, he bid his mother goodbye and left for America on the ship “Marshfield” The ship left Liverpool, England on April 8, 1854 and were bound for New Orleans. Four days after setting sail he married Hannah Blench, an LDS girl he had been courting for awhile.

From New Orleans, they traveled up the Mississippi and traveled emigrant style in covered wagons to Salt Lake City in the William A. Empey Company. They arrived in Salt Lake City October 23, 1854.

He started a blacksmith shop on Main Street in Salt Lake City and lived there for a year before the family moved to Ogden. Here he purchased a lot on 27 Adam Street and a tent to live in. He eventually built an adobe house on this property.

He was a member of the Weber County militia and was involved in the Utah War of 1857. In 1860 he was among the volunteers to drive an ox team to Omaha to help bring more emigrants to Utah. In Omaha he met George Q. Cannon who asked him to return with a handcart company, which he did. There were 21 handcarts and eight wagons in this company. They arrived in Salt Lake City September 24, 1860. Then he joined his family again in Ogden.

In Ogden, they started a store and sold all kinds of medicinal herbs. Hannah had training as a nurse and William became knowledgeable in the use of herbs. Their store was very successful and William also became manager of the Ogden branch of the ZCMI store when it was run a co-operative store. He proved to be a very successful merchant.

William returned to England in 1869 and 1870 for another mission. He labored in the area where he had lived and helped many of the converted families come to Utah.

Both William and Hannah loved the gospel and had gone through much for it. After talking it over, they decided to live the law of polygamy and Hannah gave her consent for William to take other wives. He married Fannie Branson August 5, 1870. On October 31, 1870 he married Annie Burton and on December 23, 1872 he married Annie’s sister Sarah Burton. Each family had their own home. We are descended from Sarah.

Both Burton sisters married William just after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. They were also from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England, where William was from. He made rooms from them in the upper level of his store on Washington Avenue. In 1873 the balance of the Burton family came to Utah including their mother and father and some brothers.

When the government started cracking down on polygamy, William was sent to prison for “unlawful cohabitation.” He was sentenced for 13 months but was released after six months possibly for good behavior.

When the Manifesto was given and approved my members of the Church in 1890 Hannah met with the other three wives. At her suggestion they decided that William should stay with Annie since she had the youngest family. She also advised them to each get her home in her own name before having the marriage dissolved.

Annie and William decided to move to Cardston, Alberta, Canada. They arrived there in 1885 and remained there for seven and a half years before returning to Ogden. In Ogden, William acquired a small store and adjoining house where this family lived. He died at his home on November 27, 1906.

This article is based on two articles I found in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers archive. One was written by a granddaughter Mary Pidcock Jordan and I don’t know the name of the other author.

George Washington Brandon

• Name: George Washington Brandon
• Born: 1809 Spartanburg, South Carolina 
• Died: 1849 Council Bluffs, Iowa
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy Hanni

His short autobiography:

The son of John Brandon who was born in the State of Virginia, Albemarle Co. immigrated from thence to North Carolina, married a wife named Carter, immigrated from thence to East Tennessee, Knox County. After burying his first wife he married my mother whose name was Dinah Scott, the daughter of a Mr. Scott whose wife’s name was Evans. Grandfather came from Ireland, emigrated from there to North Carolina, Spartansburg County from there to Greenville County where I, George Washington Brandon, was born in 1809.

My mother died in 1813 and my father being stricken in years I went to East Tennessee, Jefferson County to my uncle Patrick Scott a year or two after my mother’s death. From there I was taken to Blount County, Tennessee where I lived about nine months with my half-brother Lewis Brandon, from there to Rowan County where I lived with another half-brother, Pleasant Brandon. After this I went to live with my youngest half-brother George Brandon until I moved to Albino, Jackson County and then to Rowan County, Tennessee. Then I made my home at John M. for five years before moving to Henry Co. Tenn. in the spring of 1826 where I married Keziah Fowler in 1830, she was the daughter of of George H. Fowler.

I was baptized by Elder Wilford Woodruff on March 25, 1835. My wife was baptized by Wilford Woodfruff in September of 1835. I was ordained a teacher August 18 by Samuel M. Clantha, ordained an Elder by E. Wilson January 13, 1838, moved to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1842 and ordained a Seventy by Joseph Young April 12, 1843.

On July 6, 1842, George wrote the following letter in Nauvoo.

Dear Brother:

In as much as I have lately arrived at the place from Tennessee, I feel it a duty that I owe to God and myself and also my brethren to give you a short account of the state and condition of the Church and brethren in the counties of Henry, Stewart and Mongomery, Tennessee, as far as I have knowledge of their standing.

I will give a short account of the Charity Branch which branch was raised up by myself in 1839, and was organized with seven members, some of whom lived in Henry County and some in Benton County. Our most usual place of holding meetings was in a few hundred yards of the county line between the aforesaid counties and near to where they cornered.

My labors since I was ordained an Elder have been extended from Joseph Chunness on Blood River, Henry County, through the northeast corner of Benton County, thence across the Tennessee River in a southeasterly direction to Wills Creek, thence north across the Cumberland River at the Cumberland Iron Works. Thence a little east at north nine miles to Nathaniel Abners, in Montgomery County . . . My labors were extended, as before stated from Blood River, Henry County, to Montgomery County, Tennessee. Although Benton and Stewart Counties, making a circuit of 80 miles in length. Throughout this circuit I have preached all I could. My circumstances being very limited I suppose I have preached about 500 sermons in the last three years and baptized some 26 persons. My circumstances have been such that compelled me to labor all the while for the support of my family and not only this, I was near $200 in debt, which I had no way of paying only by my labors, which I have paid, excepting a few dollars that was given to me this last spring by my sister, Abigail Brandon. I suppose she gave me as much as $15 in money. A good many of the poor sisters and brothers have helped me to a little provision as they could spare. I have suffered some loss by the mobs of Brenton and Henry Counties, Tennessee. But out of all these troubles the Lord has delivered me, for which I thank and adore His name. . .

A short time before the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and Hyrum, George and his brother, Thomas Jefferson Brandon, were appointed to go to Alabama to preach the gospel and to teach the prophet’s viewpoint on politics. This mission was cut short and he returned home to Nauvoo.

Seven children were born in Tennessee and two more children were born in Nauvoo. He received his endowments on October 31, 1846 and on December 13, 1847 he got a patriarchal blessing.

When the exodus from Nauvoo began they were not prepared to make the long trip to Utah. They took up residence for a few years at Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, were two more children were born.

George Washington Brandon apparently died in 1849. While working in the timber on Cow Creek in 1849, George was stricken with cholera and died. Keziah was not allowed to see him or to bring his body home for burial. So the exact date of his death isn’t known by any of the family.

After George’s death, Keziah came to Utah in 1851 or 52 with seven or eight (available sources do not agree) of their eleven children.

This history was put together based on various books and notes I found in the Family History Library archives and the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.

Keziah Fowler

• Name: Keziah Fowler
• Born: June 19, 1815 in Gibson County, Indiana
• Died: February 3, 1899 Centerville, Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy Hanni

Keziah Fowler Brandon was born June 19, 1815 in Gibson County, Indiana. She was the daughter of George H. and Rebecca Stillwell Fowler. It is not known how many brothers and sisters she had but the 1820 census listed her parents with six children. Her father was named as one of the executors of this father-in-law David Stillwell’s will in 1822 in Gibson County.

We don’t know where she met her husband, George Washington Brandon, but they were married October 6, 1831. They took up homemaking in Henry County, Tennessee.

According to church records, there were missionaries in the area as early as 1834. George and Keziah were undoubtedly some of the earliest converts. George did missionary work himself, baptizing several people. He stated in a letter written to church headquarters that he had preached as many as 500 sermons.

Keziah and George were the parents of eleven children, seven of whom were born in Henry County, Tennessee before the move to Nauvoo.

Sometime between 1842 and 1844 Keziah and George moved to Nauvoo, no doubt to be near the prophet and other members. In 1844, a short time before the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and Hyrum, George and his brother, Thomas Jefferson Brandon, were appointed to go to Alabama to preach the gospel and to teach the prophet’s viewpoint on politics. This mission was cut short and he returned home to Nauvoo.

When the exodus from Nauvoo began they were not prepared to make the long trip to Utah. They took up residence for a few years at Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, were more children were born. In April of 1848 Keziah received a patriarchal blessing while they were living in Winter Quarters.

While working in the timber on Cow Creek in 1849, George was stricken with cholera and died. Keziah was not allowed to see him or to bring his body home for burial. The exact date of his death isn’t known by any of the family.

After George’s death, Keziah came to Utah in 1851 or 52 with seven or eight (available sources do not agree) of her eleven children, including our ancestor Elizabeth Jane. Our grandmother must have had a strong testimony and great determination to bring so many children so far, not knowing how she would feed or clothe them. She died in Centerville, Utah on February 3, 1899. She is buried in the Centerville City Cemetery.

This article was written by Gertrude Jackson for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.

Elizabeth Jane Brandon

• Elizabeth Jane Brandon
• Born: March 10, 1837 Nashville, Tennessee
• Died: June 9, 1897 Brigham City, Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy Hanni

Elizabeth Jane Brandon Pett was born near Nashville, Tennessee, March 10, 1837. She was the daughter of George Washington Brandon and Keziah Fowler. Her parents were among the first families in that vicinity to embrace the gospel and soon moved to Nauvoo and then to Utah. They endured many hardships on the way to Utah and had to walk many miles each day. Her father died in Winter Quarters and her mother brought her large family to Utah as a widow. In company with other saints they arrived in Salt Lake in the fall of 1852. She traveled in the James McGaw company. They first settled in Provo and then Grantsville and eventually Centerville.

She once told of an incident which happened while living in Grantsville, Utah. A neighbor’s young son ran away with a band of Shoshone Indians for a pinto pony. Two years later she met the boy camped at Black Rock on the Great Salt Lake. He was clad in Indian clothes and still had his pony. Elizabeth Jane recognized him and reprimanded him for the worry he caused his mother and they had a good reunion.

Elizabeth Jane was married in 1860 in the Endowment House to James Pett, a young architect. She was 23. According to one of her daughters Jane was a real Southern beauty with beautiful dark hair, blue eyes and fair skin.

Brother and Sister Pett raised a large family, fourteen in all. She was married twice before, and James also had two children from a former marriage. (Elizabeth was married very young as a polygamist wife to two different men. I am not sure what happened to those marriages. James was a young widower.)

Sister Pett was a good wife and mother, and wonderful help to her husband in those pioneer days. She not only made the children’s clothes, but spun yarn to knit socks and hose for the whole family. She made soap and candles for their needs. Besides many household tasks she went to the river during the summer on their farm.

Brother Pett had a farm at Three Mile Creek (now Perry, Utah) and made a home there until President Lorenzo Snow had them move to Brigham City in 1862. He felt Brother Pett could be more useful in Brigham City as the courthouse roof had blown off. He helped in the erection of many buildings.

Sister Pett was a member of the First Ward Relief Society and a block teacher for several years until her health failed. She remained a faithful Latter-day Saint until the end of her life. She died June 9, 1897 and was buried in the Brigham City Cemetery.

This article is from the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers archive.

James Pett

• Name: James Pett
• Born: March 31, 1827 Eatington, Warwick, England
• Died: April 12, 1908 Brigham City, Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy Hanni

James Pett was born March 31, 1827, in Ettington, Warwichshire, England. Only five years of his childhood was spent in school, as his father died while he was young and he left school to help support the rest of the family. As was customary at that time for all men to go out as an apprentice for some future trade, he entered the carpenter and architecture trade as an apprentice which line of occupation he followed most of his life.

May 12, 1851, he was baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church doing much local missionary work before he left for the United States in 1853. Just before he left for America, Queen Victoria asked him to be one of her guards, quite an honor in those days, but his religion meant more to him so he declined in favor of coming to America.

During the voyage small pox broke out and many people died and were buried at sea. After six weeks of troublesome journeying their ship finally arrived in New Orleans. From there he and his wife, Mary, migrated to Iowa where they spent three years working to get enough money to buy a team of oxen to come to Utah. Most of his earnings came from chopping wood.

They came across the plains with a company of Danish saints. Due to his marksmanship with a gun, he was appointed with one other man to furnish the company with meat. Elder Canute Peterson was captain of the company, which arrived in Salt Lake City Sept. 20, 1856. They settled in Cottonwood Creek for one year. The following year he bought a farm and moved to Three Mile Creek, now Perry, Utah.

The next year his wife died and in 1860 he married Jane Brandon in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Around this time the Courthouse in Brigham City was under construction and much trouble had arisen because the roof had blown off. President Lorenzo Snow asked him to put on a roof that would stay, which he did without nails — using wooden pegs and horse hide.

While he was working on the roof, President Snow had a crowd of men go to Perry to move him to Brigham without asking him about it. It was a surprise to James and he objected. The men tied him hand and foot, loaded up the furniture and him on top and moved him to Brigham.

After he completed the work on the Courthouse he designed and built many structures in Brigham City. The old stone bridge on north Main Street was his creation – he designed it and over saw its construction. In addition he designed the Tabernacle, the First National Bank building, the original Baron Woolen Mills and the early suspension bridges over the Bear River.

He was ordained a Seventy by Pres. J. D. Reese in 1865, and became a member of the 58th quorum of Seventy; remained a member of that quorum until the organization of the Box Elder Stake of Zion, August 19, 1877, when he was ordained a High Priest and set apart to be a member of the High Council by Pres. Lorenzo Snow. During his residence in Brigham City he assisted in building up that place in particular and Box Elder county in general, being a builder by trade. He has been connected with the erection of public as well as a great many private buildings, roads and bridges, which are seen in Box Elder county on every hand. He was superintendent of the Woolen Mill for seven years, served as a member of the city council for one term, and was county commissioner for twenty-two years. He worked in these various offices and callings under the direction, counsel and advice of President Lorenzo Snow, whom he calls "a brother and a friend indeed."

This history was written and compiled by Jane E. Compton in 1931 for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Some additional information was taken from Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 vols. Salt Lake City 1:390 I found the excerpt at this site.

Rowane Moon

• Name: Rowane Moon 
• Born: December 20, 1865 Farmington, Utah
• Died: September 4, 1932 Tremonton, Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy Hanni 

I, Rowane Moon Udy, am going to attempt to write a short sketch of my life. My father, Henry Moon, was born March 29, 1819 at Eccleston, Lancashire, England. My mother, Temperance Westwood was born August 19, 1839 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. This date being my mother’s birthday, I have been thinking of a great many things pertaining to life and how I would like a written history of my parents’ life as they joined the Mormon Church in England and were among the early pioneers of Utah. I was born December 20, 1865 at Farmington, Utah of good parents. I had seven brothers and five sisters: Robert Henry, Joseph Hyrum, Hannah Temperance and Elenora, (I, being the fifth), Henry Moroni, Edmund, Phillip Westwood, Lelia Olive, Mercy Eveline, Louise Westwood, Albert and Franklin Everett.

As I am now 63 years and eight months old at this data and hope my children will start earlier in life to write something of themselves, and not be as neglectful as their mother. This is a busy world, and we do neglect so many important things which we will be held responsible for. And as a great many dates have gone from my memory, I will not attempt to tell very much but hope my children will take the time to look this over.

I being born on a cold December night and have heard my parents mention it. With two feet of snow on the ground, father had to break a road with an ox team to the nearest neighbors for help, which was Sister Margaret Lenord, who never had any children and no experience. But they were good Latter-day Saints and had faith and trusted in the Lord, and I got here all right but not without much suffering for my mother who did [not] have many comforts in the home as we have these days. But she always trusted the Lord to help her, and by her faith in him she was blessed.

A few years of my early childhood was spent in Salt Lake City, where father was bishop. I can just remember living there and moving to Farmington, where my girlhood and happy school days were spent. I always loved the Sunday School and was a teacher when I was fifteen. The primary, I remember so well when it was first organized, and I was one of the first members. Also the Mutual Improvement association [in which I] was a member.

Mural depicting first LDS Primary — Farmington, Utah

Our home was in the north part of Farmington so we had to walk two miles to meetings in those days. It did not mean very much to walk; but in these days the young people would, I guess, think it a long walk. My girlhood days were very happy. I had many good friends, good parents and good brothers and sisters, all of whom I loved dearly. I loved all the beauties of nature, the trees, birds, flowers, the meadows and hills. I loved to wander by the beautiful streams of clear water, bathe in the water of the Salt Lake, and dance on the grass in the grove of trees where we held our celebrations. All this comes back to my mind, and I think I did make good use of my time. Father owned a good farm and among other good things was a peach orchard [from] which we were supposed to dry the fruit to buy our clothes. We sure worked hard picking, cutting and spreading out to dry. In the fall of the year we would haul them to Salt Lake in a wagon and buy our clothes for winter, not like the clothes we buy now, just the material to make them. We had to do the sewing, so it was all interesting. I worked out some, helping people with housework for $1.50 a week to help buy my trousseau, for I was thinking of getting married.

Thomas James Udy

On the 19th of July 1883, I was married to Thomas J. Udy at Farmington and was very happy, but [we] made a great mistake when we did not go to the Temple to be married. This is something I always regretted and worried over all my life. I loved my husband, and he loved me in return and promised that he would go to the temple and be sealed.

But time went on, and it was neglected. Oh that word neglect. My eyes fill with tears; I can hardly stand to think how I worried over it. We were so happy with each other, but there was always that feeling that we had not done as we should.

October 19, 1884 our first darling baby boy [Thomas “J”] came and the joy he brought to our home we surely did rejoice. We named him after his father. Time went on, and still [I had] that desire, stronger than ever, to have our temple work done. [On] September 15, 1886 another dear baby boy was born to us. We named him Edmund. How our family was increasing. My husband thought we better be getting some farmland. He had worked up to this time in the blacksmith business with his father.

The spring of 1887 he went to the Bear River Valley and made a homestead entry on 160 acres of dry land covered with sagebrush. He went to the hills, got logs and built our first little home, just one room [and] we were happy to have that as our own. It was sure hard to make a living — a well 60 feet deep and the water not good, the land to clear of brush, no fence to keep out the range stock, one team of horses to do the work with a walking plow. So much different now, with the tractor and modern machinery. There were many drawbacks: grasshoppers, drought, our first crop did not amount to much, a lot of hard work, some sad experiences, etc. My husband worked wherever he could get it for one dollar a day. I sure felt sorry for him, with a family to keep; and he had to leave me and our dear children in such a lonesome place with the howling wolf and roving Indian and neighbors nearly two miles away. We were happy when he would come home. As winter drew near, we knew we could not stay there, so [we] went to Farmington where there was more chance for work. By this time we were further away from having the temple work done that I so much desired. We were not attending to our duties as we should, [and] we did not have the money to fix up to go. When spring came, we were ready to go back to our dear little lonesome home. We were glad to be in our own home again. We had enjoyed the winter with our folks, and they were very good to us. The summer of 1888 was another hard time to make a living out. In a way we were happy, and the Lord blessed us with good health, which we were very thankful for. As winter drew near, we could see we could not stay in this place, so [we] made our way back to Farmington and rented a room for the winter.

On January 12, 1889, my sweet little brother, Franklin, died very sudden from croup. He was the baby of the family and the first to go out of a family of thirteen children. We sure mourned to lose him and such shock to us all, but we had to say the Lord’s will be done. I was too sick to go see him. The day after his death, on the 13th, our first sweet little girl [Rowane] was born. We were happy over the birth, but it was such a sad time, mother and all feeling so bad. In seven more weeks (I haven’t got the date) [7 March 1889], my brother, Robert, the eldest in the family, died very suddenly of heart trouble. [It was] another sad time for us, and we could not go see him as the winter was bad and his home was at Woodland, Summit Co. When spring came we went back to our home, dear to us, for it was our own. We were ready to start in and work harder than ever to try and get a start, but it was a hard struggle to get anything ahead but a scant living, but with saving and trying we kept a going. This summer’s crop was some better, but the grain had to be hauled about 40 miles to market and sold for 35 and 40 cents a bushel. So much different now, and still I don’t think people appreciate the difference that haven’t went through it.

As winter drew near, we decided to stay home and try it out on poverty flat, as this place was then called. The wood for fire had to be hauled from the hills, which was hard work. We did not have money to buy coal, if there had been any to buy. We spent a happy winter together with our three dear little children, and we kept well. It was very cold — the snow about three feet deep and lots of wind. I am just writing this down from memory of the past and hope you, my children, will not complain but will appreciate your homes and families and be as thankful as we were. Be honest with everybody, do what is right, live good clean lives and it will all help to make you happy. I know you can live better lives than we have and can attend to the duties of life as going to church etc., as we did not have the clothing and the ways to go as you have.

In the years 1890-91 the Bear River Canal was built. There was plenty of work and times were some better for us. The winter of 91 was very cold, with lots of snow. Our three children all had the whooping cough and were very bad with it and were just at the worst, when on the 2nd of March, our fourth child, a dear sweet boy [Henry], was born. When I think of it now, what we had to put up with, I wonder how we did it. I had faith in the Lord and my prayers were answered. We got along all right, without doctor or nurse, just a neighbor lady who lived about four miles away, and the elders who were sent for who prayed for me that I might live and raise my family. I am thankful our prayers were answered.

I was always praying that the time would come when we could go to the temple and have our temple work done. Little did I think then that I would have to go alone with my children to have it done. And I wonder why did it had to be this way, for husband and wife were never dearer to each other than we. But it was neglected — put off too long. Oh, why do we put off important things? I do hope it will all be made right in the end to come. Time went on. As usual, each year our harvest was some better, we were picking up and buying more land so there was more work and we were rich because we were happy trying to make a living for our dear family. The boys were getting to be so much help.

The winter of '92 and '93 was coming on, and we were expecting a new arrival in our family. We were wondering what to do, as there was no help to be got here, when a letter came from mother saying: don’t think of staying there, come to Farmington and we will take care of you. Just like a mother, so thoughtful and wanting to do all they can for their children. To Farmington we went on January 1, 1893. I stayed with my dear sister Hannah King. She and her husband were sure kind and good to me. My husband helped his father in the shop and kept the older boys with him. On the first day of April 1893 a dear baby boy [Horace] was born to us. A sweeter faced baby was never born I don’t think. We were nearly broken hearted when we discovered his little feet were deformed. We had doctors come and look at them. They did not seem to know what was the best thing. A dear lady at Kaysville, hearing of our baby, came to see me as she had a baby with feet the same, who said the doctor wanted to cut the cords, but she would not let him. She advised me not have them cut, as her son was now 16 years old and all right. She told me and showed what to do to rub and bandage and pray and ask the Lord to help. I was willing to do anything to make them as they should be. It seemed to me very slow progress and a long time before they seemed to get much better. As he grew older, I worried and wondered if he would ever be able to walk. But my faith in the Lord was strong that my prayers would be answered, and I [knew I] must not give up but keep on working and praying. In November 1898 my mother-in-law died very suddenly. Grandpa wanted us to stay with him throughout the winter, which we did. He took so much comfort with our darling baby. Horace is what we named him. He would crawl all over the house to find grandpa who would hide and play with him.

When spring came we went back to our home, and as usual, were glad to be home again. Be it ever so humble, there’s is no place like home - just one room and five little children and a loving husband and father who had to work hard to support us. We were thankful for it all, and we were blessed with good health. The summer was more prosperous. We had another well dug, but not much better water. [We] built another room on to our little house, which was a welcome addition, as was the darling baby girl born September 17, 1894. We named her Mabel. Horace was just beginning to try to walk. I was sure thankful to have him walk, but oh how pitiful to see his poor little feet so deformed. He was so good-natured and seemed so happy. I, having so much work and another baby, was afraid I was not caring for him as I should. As time went on he improved slowly. We had braces and shoes made for him which seemed to help some. October 17, 1896 another darling baby girl was born and was welcome at our home. We named her Abbie Louise.

The summer of ‘96 was hot with lots of work to keep us busy. We were getting more land cleared and buying more land and getting more horses, cows, pigs and chickens. We were making a pretty fair living, but our house was small for our family. We could not think of building and always lived on a dry farm and hauled water. The winters were cold with lots of snow. The children had a long way to go to school. We tried to make the best we could out of what we had, and [we] were happy with our family. We would load them all in a wagon and take them with us everywhere we went, for it was not safe to leave them in this lonely place. I don’t recall very many important events that happen along this time. But think if I had written them down there would have been many things worthwhile. I was always wishing we could be where we could go to meetings more often and live nearer the gospel teachings. My constant prayer was for my family, hoping they would grow up right but a poor hand to teach them; hoping and praying that some day we would do better and go to the house of the Lord and do as we should do.

We decided to buy a home and some land at Farmington, but it was hard to know how to leave. I did not want to be separated from part of the family as I knew some would have to be on the dry farm part of the time and I would rather stay here and be all at home together. So in a few years, we sold the Farmington place and continued to exist on the dry farm. There was always plenty of hard work, and we had to be contented. The children were growing up, and how I longed for something better and wished for something better for the children than to grow up here and not be educated as they should and not have much house room nor any conveniences. There was no use to complain. It was all we had, and all we could do was to live in hopes that we would someday have things more convenient and more room for our family and friends and relatives when they came to see us, which they did during the summer. We enjoyed having them come, and they also enjoyed coming. For where there is a will, there’s a way, and there is always room for more and where the room is small you can draw closer together and where there is love in the home there is happiness. We now had our farm fenced and cleared of brush. It seemed more civilized. We had close neighbors one half mile away, a pretty fair school two miles away. Sunday School meeting and of different organization. The children attended these pretty well, but their father did not care to go very often. I thought as we both did not go, I felt like my place was home caring for the family, always praying that some time we would do better and attend to our duties and keep the commandments of the Lord and strive more diligently to serve him as he had blessed us in so many ways. I have always been thankful that I believed in the Lord. [I am] thankful that I belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ, and if my children can see that I have done any good, I hope they will follow that example and the example of their father in being honest, charitable, courageous and try and treat everybody right. Love one another and do all the good you can.

I am forgetting what I started to write. The winter of ‘98 and ‘99 was very, very cold with plenty of snow. Mother came to stay with us during the winter, and we were very thankful to have her with us, although it was not so pleasant for her as our home did not have the comforts I would of liked her to have had, not caring for myself so much, but hoping that some day we would have more room for our family for they were growing up and it sure was hard for us to live like this. On 16 of February 1899, a dear baby boy [Austin] was born to us, and how thankful we were to get along so well and have my dear mother with us who was always so faithful and good. The weather was terrible cold, but we lived through it all, and my biggest worry was my thoughts, “Oh will we ever go to the house of the Lord and have our temple work done.” [I would] think of the family we were raising, how dear they were to us and still how neglectful we were. The tears I have shed and the hours I have laid awake thinking of this no one will ever know. Of course, every one can’t see these things alike; thus we have to suffer. Time went on about as usual as far as I remember. Hot summers with fairly good crops and cold winters with plenty of hard work which kept us healthy and happy—happy because of the love for each other and our family of good children. In the spring of 1903 there was quite a lot of sickness with colds. Everyone in my family had the colds except m self, and I had other ailments but not so serious as I sometimes thought.

On the 23 of March 1903 another sweet baby girl was born to us. We were happy for the safe arrival, and she was welcomed by the whole family. I certainly was thankful to have a good nurse to take care of me every day, for that is the way they did those days. She lived five miles away, and we had to send a team outfit to get her. The nurse was very good to doctor the children's colds. They were soon well again. We named our baby Effie. I can’t recall any thing very important for a year or two. On 2 day of Feb. 1905 our oldest son Thomas was married to Charlotte Archibald and went to live at Plymouth. As usual life went on, and Tommy worked for his father. Their father told the boys if they would work for him and all work together, they could buy more land which they did. They bought some irrigated land at or north of Riverside, which they farmed until in the spring of 1907. [Then] we started to talk of building on the irrigated farm.

On the 28th of May 1907, another dear baby girl [Rhea Mae] was born to us and as usual was welcomed by us all. This was our tenth child. We now had five boys and five girls. We were proud to be the parents of such a good family. So we decided we could afford to build a new home north of Riverside where there was plenty of water to irrigate, and plenty of good water for drinking, and a house which we were looking with thankfulness to get there to live and enjoy that which we never had at the dry farm where we had lived so many years. All summer we were anxious to get to our new home which was being built. I was busy sewing carpet rags to make carpet for the floors and getting ready to move by fall.

Home in Riverside about 1913
Left: Effie and Rhea
Center: Thomas, Temperence Westwood Moon and Rowane
Right: Abbie, Mabel, Horace, Austin (sitting) and Henry.

In October we moved in to our new home. [It was] so much different than our little log cabin which had served us so many years where we had spent so many happy days. I will say nothing of its discomforts, but it served us well, and we could not help shedding a few tears when leaving. [We left] Tommy to move in the old place. I sure felt sorry for him and his young wife and baby, Glenn, our first grandchild to live there. They had buried their first child, a dear little girl. But I think Tommy was glad to move in and take care of the things that had to be left on the farm.

We were very busy at our new home getting ready for winter, which was drawing near with plenty to do finishing and building out buildings. On November 6, Edmund was married to Mary Buxton. Shortly after, our whole family were taken down with the measles and were all very sick, nine here at home with it and Tommy and baby at their home. [This was] the first serious sickness we had had in the family and we were sure thankful to have more room with so much sickness. We were thankful when they were all well again. We spent a very pleasant winter. We were nearer to school and meeting and getting acquainted with now friends, which we enjoyed.

When spring came we were busy with a new kind of work for us: planting trees, gardens and flowers. We were real successful with them all and enjoyed watching everything grow so beautiful. We were enjoying being so comfortable here, but to me there was that longing to have our temple work done, which I had worried about all my married life and did not seem any nearer to having it done. This had been the biggest worry of my life and wondering if we would have it done.

The next fall, after we moved here, our daughter Rowane was married to Robert MacFarlane. We sure missed her in the home, being the oldest now. The two older ones were married. She was so much help which I felt I needed so much. But I knew it was the right thing for her to do if she wished to, and there were others growing up which were very good help also. We were getting along fine financially in our now home with good gardens of what we needed, trees and everything we planted all grew so nicely. By this time we had bought a home in Riverside for Tommy. And Eddie moved to the dry farm for a short time. Then we bought a home at Riverside for him, so we were getting close together again.

Thomas and Rowane Udy Family about 1914
Back row: Horace, Thomas J., Rowane, Edmund and Henry
Front row: Abbie, Thomas James, Austin, Rowane, Effie on lap and Mabel

On the 6th day of November, our next eldest son, Henry, left to fill a mission to the Northern States. It was sad to part with him, but knew it was a duty when we are called or asked to do anything in the church of Latter-day Saints, to respond and do the best we can and trust in the Lord to help us. With faith and prayer we will be blessed. Henry was pleased to go and was interested in the mission work and for eight months was doing fine. But the climate did not agree with him, and he was taken suddenly ill. He was so bad that the president of the mission thought it best that he return home, which he did to his sad disappointment. [The president] realized that he was in a condition that he could not do very much work. But he was faithful and worked in the Sunday School and other duties in the ward. When his health improved some, he worked in the temple, helping mother with some work she was doing in the Temple and which she was thankful to get done. He married Ethel Hales two years after his return home, built a home near ours on the south and was very happy. But his health was getting poor again and shortly after he passed away on the 21 of June 1915, leaving his dear wife and sweet baby girl which was so sad. We all surely mourned his passing away in early manhood and missed him so much. But the Lord knows what is best and knows whom to call, so the Lord’s will be done, not ours. We should trust in the Lord for consolation and pray for his comforting blessings, which I am sure he will give if we ask in faith and believing. In the meantime Horace, our next oldest son, married Ella Pet and built a house on the north of us. We were pleased to have our children near us.

Times were fast changing in many ways. Our boys were still working together on the farms, which were doing well under their good farming and congenial work. The time of the auto cars was here. We were enjoying riding in them, and we were getting other conveniences but with all this there was that longing to have our temple work done and which I feared would never be done as our children were marrying off so fast it seemed to me. On the 14th of February 1917 our next two oldest daughters were married, leaving a large gap in the family circle. Mabel married Frank Munns and Abbie [married] Vern Wood. Our family was sure getting small — just three left to marry of our ten. We were taking care, and living with us was Henry’s little girl, Doris, which we were glad to have. It was so nice to have another baby. Her mother was learning nursing at the hospital.

Now comes the saddest part of my story. I feel like I can hardly write it, for tears blind my eyes of memories gone by. On the 27th of May 1918 my dear husband Thomas James passed away. He was taken suddenly ill and was soon gone. I shall not attempt to say much of this sad event, as you, my children, know all about it, and I cannot control my feelings. It is thirteen years and one month from this day since this sad death happened and the sorrow I have passed through since then no one will ever know. I have tried to keep it to myself as much as possible so as not to make others unhappy too. The Lord’s will be done. I have tried to make the best of it, have prayed for comfort and I know the Lord has blessed me in many ways, blessed me with a good family of sons and daughters who have been very good and kind to me. But, Oh the thoughts of your parents being so neglectful as to put off the most important part of their lives, their temple work. I pray that the Lord may forgive us, and that it will be made right in the time to come.

To start on my story again, after this sad happening my thoughts were what can I do for the best a widow with three children partly grown up and the responsibility I felt like I could hardly endure it. Would that I could train them in the right way, for I was always a poor teacher but always loved the right and want my children to be better teachers to their families than I have been. And forgive me if I haven’t done right by you, for my intentions were good. Time went on. We were doing the best we knew how, and the Lord was blessing us in many ways. The bishop, Brother L. R. Kennard, was very kind to us and gave us good advice in many ways. In the fall of the same year that dreadful disease, the flu, broke out all over the country. Twenty-two of my family were down at once and were very sick. But thank the Lord, they all recovered some after a long time, for it was so bad. We were blessed with means to have them taken care of which we were also thankful for. We did the best we could, and the Lord added his blessings. As time went on we got along very well.

Winter came and oh how lonely for me. The first winter we, my dear husband and I, had ever been parted. I hardly knew what was the best thing to do, but I asked my Heavenly Father to help and comfort me, and I know my prayers were answered. In the spring of 1919 the bishop advised me to go to the temple and have our work done, which I had worried over so much and longed to have done. I had hoped the time would come when we would all go together to the house of the Lord and have that work done which we had neglected for so long. How happy we would be to have it done! But time changes our lives in many ways and all we can do is try and make the best of our lives. On the 28 of May 1919 we went and had the temple work done, which I realized was the best thing we could do now. But how sad that Father could not go with us in life. I was thankful that my children and myself were all counted worthy to go to the house of the Lord and do this great work, and I pray that it will be accepted, Effie was the first to marry after her father’s death. She married Karl G. Welling on the 12th of October 1921. I sure felt bad to see her go, but think it was the right thing to do if she thought so too. On the 19th of December 1923, Austin was married to Mabel Pett. This was my last son to marry, so again I sure felt lonely with only one of my family left at home. I expected all these things to happen and knew it would not be long before I would be left at home all alone. So such is life, and I am thankful that it is no worse, and that I have a good family and a good home, but Oh so lonely. I am thankful for means to live on and don’t suffer for the necessities of life. On the 14th day of October 1927, Rhea was married to Vernon Hess. The last of my family married. The thought came, how, what am going to do, left in the house alone? Something I can never do. So I asked Austin if he would move in part of the house, and I would go to Salt Lake for the winter and work in the Temple. I sure enjoyed the temple work. But to come back home, it all seemed so different and so sad for me. No one will ever know how I felt. I always tried to look on the bright side of life. Now I wondered if there was any brightness for me but with faith and prayer I could see there was much to live for yet.

I came back home in the spring but home was not like the home it use to be. No husband to tell or to advise me what to do. All of my children married — so lonely and wondering what was the best thing for me to do in life. Summer passed away, then fall came. I decided the best thing for me to do was to work in the temple where I could do a little good. In October I went to Logan and enjoyed the temple work very much all winter. I made lots of new friends which I learned to love and enjoy. They were so kind and good to me. I enjoyed being where I could attend meetings of different kinds. The winter passed much more pleasant than I ever thought it possibly could. When spring came, I was ready to come back home again, work outside a little to try and keep things up around my home, but it was hard to do. Everything was getting run down and looked discouraging to me. I worked hard but it did not amount to much. I just kept the burs from going to seed and keeping the place from getting any worse. As fall drew near, I prepared to go work in the temple at Logan again. This was a very early fall and a very cold winter with lots of snow. I had five blocks to go to the temple but never missed a day and attended some of the night sessions and enjoyed it all, for I believed I was doing my duty.

But as usual, I came home in the spring to trudge my weary life away on the farm. And in the fall was ready to go back to the temple work, which I enjoy better than anything else and enjoy the city much better than here at home where I would not be able to go anywhere very often. I love my home and family and love to be among them and enjoy their company, and it is natural when spring comes I want to be nearer to them. This summer, 1930, was a very pleasant one— the centennial year of the church. I went to the grand pageant at the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

I remodeled my house a little and made it a little more convenient for me. My granddaughter, Doris, came to see me. I had not seen her for several years. I was sure pleased to see her again. I went on a number of pleasant trips during the summer. I went to the Moon reunion at the park in Weber Canyon, to the Yellowstone park and several other enjoyable canyons and scenes. I have been very neglectful and haven’t written in my diary for over a year.

In the fall of 1930, I went as usual to the Logan temple to work. There is nothing I enjoy so well, and I am thankful I have been blessed with means to go to Logan to live in the winter, which is very pleasant for me. In the spring I enjoy coming home. 1931—the summer has been very dry, but our crops have been fairly good—something to be very thankful for. I made a very pleasant trip to the Cardston temple, Glacier National Park and Yellowstone Park. It all was so wonderful and beautiful. I surely did enjoy it all. In October, I went to Logan to try and locate and rent a room to stay in this coming winter. I am very shaky and can hardly write. My health hasn’t been very good this last summer, but I hope I will be all right when I get to working in the temple.

Rowane Moon Udy died September 4, 1932, in Tremonton Utah.

This history was dated August 19, 1929 at Riverside, Utah. The history was copied by her daughter Effie Udy Welling. The spelling and the entire content were copied exactly as Rowane had written it. It was then copied for the James Udy Reunion, August 1978, and the Moon Reunion, 1978, by Christine Weese Mooney, great-granddaughter of Rowane’s. To make the history more readable for publication, Richard N. Moon made spelling and minor punctuation corrections to the document. Very long sentences were shortened and a word or two were added in a few places for clarification. Every effort was made to retain the style of Rowane’s writing. It can be found in the book The Family of Henry Moon: Mormon Pioneer 1819-1894.

Henry Moon

• Name: Henry Moon
• Born: March 29, 1819 Eccleston, Lancashire, England
• Died: November 14, 1894 Farmington, Utah
• Related through: Erin's grandmother Margaret Udy Hanni

On a spring day, March 29, 1819, Robert and Ann Walton Moon welcomed their second child and first born son, Henry Moon, into their family at Eccleston, Lancashire, England. The Robert Moon family lived in the Horse Stone estate. Henry’s father, Robert, had inherited it from his father, Henry, and the estate had passed down through the Moon family for years. It was later sold a few years after Henry left England.

The names on Henry Moon’s genealogical pedigree alternate between Henry Moon and Robert Moon from father to son for the eleven generations preceding him. These eleven generations were all born in Lancashire, England from the mid-1500s down to Henry Moon, born in 1819. (Henry had a son named Robert, but this Robert Henry Moon had no sons, so the chain was broken.) The small English village of Eccleston, Lancashire, England where Henry was born lies about seven miles south of Preston and about five miles west of Chorley. Lancashire shares common boundaries with other English counties on the north, east and south, but on the west the Irish Sea defines her boundary.

Eccleston Church

Henry would have had no memories of his mother, Ann, because she died just thirty-six days after Henry was born, May 5, 1819 in nearby Chorley. Ann Walton Moon’s family buried her at Eccleston in the family’s burial place near the pulpit of the north aisle in St. Mary’s, an English church which dates from the fourteenth century. Henry had only one sibling, an older sister named Hannah, born sixteen months before him on November 20, 1817. Nothing is recorded of Henry’s younger years in England.

After Ann’s death at the age of thirty-two, Henry’s father, Robert, age thirty-four, married a second time to a lady named Hannah. It is not known when the marriage took place nor if there were any children born to them. The family lived in Horse Stone House.

Horse Stone House

“On Sunday, 4 June, 1837 an event occurred in Kirtland, Ohio, which determined the fate of many English families. Latter-day Apostle Heber C. Kimball says in his autobiography, “. . . the Prophet Joseph came to me. . . in the Kirtland Temple and whispering to me said, Brother Heber, the Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me, ‘Let my servant Heber go to England and proclaim my Gospel and open the door of Salvation to that Nation’. The Prophet Joseph sent Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, and other missionaries to England. Not quite two months later, the group landed in Liverpool, July 20, 1837.

Heber C. Kimball stayed at the house of Matthias Moon (first cousin to Henry’s grandfather and father of Lydia) One evening while in England, Heber C. Kimball and Amos Fielding, by request, stopped at the home of Matthias and Alice Plumb Moon in Penwortham, a few miles north of Eccleston. Matthias belonged to the Methodist religion, and, prior to that, the Church of England. They had nine adult children, five boys and four girls. The two Elders were kindly received by the Moon family and they had a considerable conversation on the subject of the great work of the Lord in the last days.

From the Autobiography of Heber C. Kimball, we gain the following insight into the conversion of the Moons who lived in that area: “Having an appointment to preach in the village of Wrightington, while on the way I stopped at the houses of Brothers Francis Moon and Amos Fielding, when I was informed that the family of Matthias Moon had sent a request for me to visit them, that they might have the privilege of conversing with me on the subject of the Gospel. Accordingly, Brother Amos Fielding and I paid them a visit that evening. We were kindly received by the family, and had considerable conversation on the subject of my mission to England, and the great work of the Lord in the Last Days. They listened with attention to my statements, but at the same time they appeared to be prejudiced against them. We remained in conversation until a late hour, and then returned home. On our way Brother Fielding observed that he thought our visit had been in vain, as the family seemed to have considerable prejudice. I answered, ‘be not faithless but believing; we shall yet see great effects from this visit, for I know that some of the family have received the testimony, and will shortly manifest the same; at which remark he seemed surprised…

“I returned by the way of Brother Fielding’s, with whom I again tarried for the night. The next morning I started for Preston, but when I got opposite the lane leading to Mr. Moon’s, I was forcibly led by the Spirit of the Lord to call and see them again. I therefore directed my steps to the house. On my arrival I knocked at the door. Mrs. Moon exclaimed, ‘Come in! You are welcome here! I and the lassies (meaning her daughters) have just been calling on the Lord, and praying that he would send you this way.’ She then informed me of her state of mind since I was there, and said she at first rejected my testimony, and endeavored to think lightly on the things I had advanced, but on trying to pray, the heavens seemed to be like brass over her head, and it was like iron under her feet. She did not know what was the matter, saying, ‘Certainly the man has not bewitched me has he?’ and upon inquiring she found it was the same with the lassies. They then began to reflect on the things I told them, and thinking it possible that I had told them the truth, they resolved to lay the case before the Lord, and beseech Him to give them a testimony concerning the things I had testified of. She then observed that as soon as they did so, light broke in upon their minds; they were convinced that I was a messenger of salvation; that it was the work of the Lord, and they had resolved to obey the Gospel. That evening I baptized Mr. Moon and his wife, and four of their daughters.

“The same night I went to Leyland, and stayed with Francis Moon, and the next morning I went to Preston where I stayed about three weeks with Brother Hyde. “I visited Mr. Moon again, and baptized the remainder of his family, consisting of thirteen souls, the youngest of whom was over twenty years of age. They received the Gospel as little children, and rejoiced exceedingly in its blessings. The sons were very good musicians, and the daughters excellent singers. When they united their instruments and voices in the songs of Zion, the effect was truly transporting. “Before I left England there were about thirty of that family and connection baptized, five of whom Hugh, John, Francis, William and Thomas Moon, were ordained to be fellow laborers with us in the vineyard, and I left them rejoicing in the truths they had embraced.”

Lydia Moon, the third daughter and sixth child of Matthias and Alice Moon married Henry not too long after they arrived in America. Lydia and Henry’s father, Robert, were second cousins, thus making Henry a second cousin once- removed to Lydia. Lydia’s two oldest sisters, Hannah and Dorothy, were later sealed to Heber C. Kimball in Nauvoo.

Lydia was born eight years before Henry on October 9, 1811 in the same village of Eccleston. Lydia grew up in a religious and musical family in Pentwortham. Her parents were careful in teaching their children from the Bible. Her father and mother had a custom of leaving their duties and praying to God in secret every day at noon. They called the family together night and morning for family prayer.

Henry first heard the gospel in 1838 from Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards and Joseph Fielding. Amos Fielding baptized Henry and his sister Hannah at Chorley, England on Friday, October 12, 1838. Quite a few Moons from various families embraced this new religion. Lydia’s first-cousin, Ruth Moon Clayton, joined the church there in Penwortham prior to her husband, William, who soon became a prominent player in Mormon Church history and wrote the notable pioneer anthem “Come, Come Ye Saints”.

Lydia’s father wanted to go to America but died November 12, 1839, prior to their departure from England. The family sold all the belongings they could not take with them and made preparations to leave. Lydia’s immediate family made up the nucleus of the first emigrating Saints. Henry Moon traveled south with his cousins to Liverpool where they boarded the ship, Brittania on Saturday night, May 30, 1840. They spent Sunday aboard the ship, but went back out into the city on Monday to buy more provisions. Early Saints had to provide their own food for the trip. At Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball’s requests, Henry purchased calico for their wives in Nauvoo. Henry’s sister, Hannah, who was married and had a young son less than one year old must have remained in England.

There were at least 13 Moons on that first boat including Lydia (28) her mother and siblings, Henry (21) and some uncles. Brigham Young admonished Lydia’s brother, Hugh Moon, to keep a record of their journey. Since Henry traveled with this group, we get a good account of what Henry and Lydia experienced from Hugh’s journal entries.

Tuesday, June 2, 1840. They bought Richard Moon, [Lydia’s oldest brother] 36 yards of linen for a tent. When they returned to the ship, they found Elders Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball aboard. They had stretched a curtain across their cabin and commenced blessing the company. They bid them to walk in. They laid their hands on their heads and blessed them in the name of Jesus Christ. They showed them a map and gave them directions about the route they should take to Commerce [earlier name for Nauvoo]. Friday, June 5, 1840. They went out into the [Mersey] river about 2 o’clock.

Saturday, June 6, 1840. They were let loose in the river about 4 o’clock and set sail. The Brittania, a packet ship flying the American flag, sailed out of Liverpool harbor bound for New York. She was captained by Master Enoch Cook. Her hull was black with a white strake running the length of the vessel. Black squares were painted on this white band to denote gun turrets to any hostile crafts. The ship’s fore-topsail may have had a painted black ball, the emblem of the famous Black Ball Line. As a side note, two years later, she was lost at sea. The Britannia was very much like many other ships sailing at that time - except for one historic difference. Among her passengers, she was carrying the first organized emigrant company of Latter-day Saints. Captain/Elder John Moon (Lydia’s brother) presided over those forty-one British converts. Some accounts say forty passengers and others forty-one. The History of the Church records under Saturday, June 6, 1840, “Elder John Moon and a company of forty Saints, . . . sailed in the ship Britannia from Liverpool for New York, being the first Saints that have sailed from England for Zion.”

Sunday, June 7, 1840. Most of them were sick. Monday, June 8, 1840. They had strong and boisterous wind. Tuesday, June 9, 1840. Some of them began to be a little better. From about this time to [the following Thursday] the June 18, they had much sickness; sea sickness “flucks” – had a strong head wind. For forty-two days, the small craft pitched and rolled across the Atlantic Ocean. Travel on these ships was unpleasant and uncomfortable.

Most Saints could only afford to sleep in cheap, overcrowded spaces. Overcrowding added to the misery of seasickness, dysentery, cholera, and other diseases. Between decks, these men, women and children had no choice but to crowd together as the ship rocked back and forth day after day. These crowded conditions created a fertile environment for the spread of diseases. A ladder or steep stairs provided the only exit. During a storm, the quarters were “hatched down” to prevent water from flooding the hold. The poorly ventilated constantly rocking cabins soon filled with smoke from a few dimly lit lamps. The terrible smells from seasick passengers only added to the suffocating smoke. Buckets or chamber pots took care of personal needs if they could be reached in time. Groaning land-lovers, whining babies, crashing waves and howling winds added to the seemingly endless journey. Passengers remained hatched down until the storms ended. The 630-ton ship weathered three severe storms.

Thursday July 2, 1840. They got to the banks of Newfoundland, saw a fishing craft, and bought some fish etc. As they sailed by Long Island all covered with green trees and white houses, they were thrilled. John Moon wrote to William Clayton, “Such a beautiful sight I never saw. Yea, I thought it did pay for all the hardships which I had gone through.”

On Friday, July 17, 1840, they cast an anchor in sight of the city of New York. They stopped in the [Hudson] river two days then came to the City. These foreigners spent three additional days in quarantine before they landed, “safe and in a tolerable state of health,” in New York, according to the report that went to Brigham Young.” They stayed in New York for eight days. The group may have split up at this point and traveled a different route to Nauvoo because Hugh wrote the rest of the group started moving again on Wednesday, July 29. They took a steamboat for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They sailed two hours and fifteen minutes then took railway two hours and twenty-two minutes and then steam again. They reached Philadelphia at three o’clock and spent Wednesday evening. On Thursday, July 30, they left from Philadelphia for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After eight more days of travel, the group arrived on Thursday, August 6, about ten o’clock at night. The next day, they rented a house in Biras Town, Pittsburgh. They spent two weeks there and then, on Friday, August 21, they crossed the Allegheny River and rented a house in Allegheny City just across the river from Pittsburgh.

Six weeks later, on Friday, October 2, Thomas Moon (Lydia’s Uncle) died at twenty-five minutes past ten o’clock p.m. of bilious fever. To add disappointment to sorrow, a week after Uncle Thomas died the group was informed the waters were too low. They had to remain until spring so they went into the country to thresh grain. Their hopes of reaching Nauvoo that year were dashed. A week later on October 9, 1840 they moved out into the country about fifteen miles north of the city and rented a house in Pine Township.

Just after the New Year, Lydia lost another uncle, Henry Moon, who was seventy-one years old. He died on Tuesday, January 19. Eleven days following his death, Lydia’s brother Captain John Moon performed a marriage for Lydia and Henry on Saturday, January 30, 1841. Lydia didn’t have to change her name because both her maiden and married names were Moon.

The next spring after the weather warmed and water was in the river again, the group traveled back down into Pittsburgh. They put their things on a boat by the name of William Penn on Saturday, April 3, 1841, and started floating down the river on Sunday. They reached Wheeling, West Virginia at 6 o’clock. Three days later, on Wednesday, April 7, they touched down on the riverbanks of Cincinnati, Ohio. Five days later, on Monday, April 12, they landed at St. Louis, Missouri. From St. Louis, they took a river steamer up the Mississippi River and were thrilled to finally reach Nauvoo, Illinois on Friday, April 16, 1841 after two weeks of river travel. When Henry shook hands with the Prophet Joseph Smith, “he was convinced more than ever that Joseph was the Prophet.”

After exchanging greetings, the group probably heard the news about a new temple to be built in Nauvoo. A temple built where they could “be baptized for those who are dead.” The prophet received this revelation a few months prior to the Moons’ arrival. These words penned by Henry years later may have been some of his thoughts at that time. “I think of what I came here for. I came here to keep the commands of God, to learn His will and then do it to bless myself and my parents. Although my mother I never knew, yet I shall see to her interest. Mother died before she had a chance of obeying the gospel. She will have a chance and everyone else since the priesthood was taken from the earth. Saviors shall stand on mount Zion in the last days. The work of God will roll on. No power can stay His hand.”

The Moons went to Montrose across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo the same day they arrived. William Clayton helped them move their luggage to a log house a half-a-mile from the river. While John Moon’s company was the first to leave England, it was not the first to arrive at Nauvoo. They were actually the third group to arrive. William Clayton’s group left Liverpool on September 8, 1840 and landed in New York. They traveled up the Hudson River, crossed the Erie Canal, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan, landed in Chicago and took a boat down the Rock and Mississippi Rivers to Nauvoo. William Clayton greeted Lydia Moon’s family, so John’s group would have been the third group to arrive. Church leaders found the southern route via New Orleans to be more direct and less expensive because they could travel the whole distance by water. It became the main route after 1840.

Four days after Henry and Lydia arrived in Iowa, Henry along with his brothers-in-law, Hugh and John, went to work ditching for a man by the name of Bosher. They didn’t work long before they all got sick with ague. Lydia’s mother, Alice, “did for those who were sick while she could possibly get around.” She too had a heavy chill. She finally “gave up and took to her bed. She had a short but severe illness. She died Saturday, August 14, 1841 in Montrose, Iowa. The extremely hot humid August air must have added to their affliction and sadness.

A year later Henry and Lydia’s first child, a daughter Alice Ann, likely named after her two grandmothers, was born in Montrose, Lee County, Iowa on September 17, 1842. Her parents possibly worried over her from the beginning because she was blessed by Bishop Dabrimple the same day she was born. Her life on this earth was short lived. She died the next day on Sunday, September 18. Two years after the birth of their first child, Henry and Lydia welcomed a little baby boy on September 13, 1844, just months after the prophet Joseph and brother Hyrum were martyred. John Thomas Moon was born in Des Moines Township, Lee County, Iowa Territory west of Montrose. He was blessed in Nauvoo in 1845.

In the latter part of 1845, Hannah, Henry’s sister, with her husband John Wane and their two children, James and Margaret, came to the United States. They visited Henry and his family in the Nauvoo area. Perhaps their intent was to remain in the United States, but for some reason, they decided to return to England. Henry was disappointed when Hannah did not stay. In a letter Henry wrote to Hannah in 1858, he indicates there might have been contention with John, her husband. Henry wrote, “I must say that I have ever been sorry that I let you go back. John never had a mind of his own two hours together . . . One thing I must explain to you, sister, I wish I had not let you go back to England, I mean if you could have stopped here and felt happy. I know that to be a Latter-day Saint and not have the spirit of it is a hard case, but if we live for it we shall have it. Some may imagine that we have forgot them what we have left behind. I very often let my mind loose to think about things at home (once my home).”

Mobs continued to threaten and torment the Saints after their prophet was killed, but the members wanted to finish their temple and receive their sacred ordinances before leaving. The workers placed the vane on the Nauvoo Temple on Friday, January 30, 1846. This was the same day Henry and Lydia, in the Third Company, partook of their own Washing, Anointing and Endowment.

Three years after Thomas’ birth, Henry and Lydia’s third child, another son, Joseph Henry was born yet further into Iowa in Van Buren County, on July 30, 1847. This was four days after the first Mormon pioneers entered the Great Salt Lake Valley and seven months after Iowa attained statehood. Little Joseph was blessed by Elders John and Henry Moon, October 6, 1847 in Van Buren County.

The Moons left their home in Van Buren County in southern Iowa and started for Utah on Tuesday, May 28, 1850. It was a day after a tornado blew down the remaining north wall of the burned-out Nauvoo Temple. They also would have been very aware of the thousands of Mormons passing through the county with their animals as they moved westward. Henry packed up their two little boys, ages six and two, and left their farm, two years after Lydia’s brother Hugh had gone.

Henry and family traveled as an independent company with Lydia’s brother, John Moon, as their captain once again. Very little is recorded about their journey except a few journal entries by Henry. They crossed the Missouri River on June 21. On July 12, ten miles east of Fort Kearny, Lydia’s brother John died of cholera. Henry wrote, “This was a sorrowful time.” They passed through Laramie, Wyoming on August 13 and finally “reached the Valley of the Great Salt Lake City, October 5, 1850.”

Henry and Lydia settled in the Salt Lake City 1st Ward near her brother, Hugh Moon. Hugh lived on 700 South on the corner of 800 East. Henry also lived on 700 South between 700 and 800 East. This area was fairly close to the city center and quite densely settled by 1850. The 1st Ward was one of the original nineteen wards organized by Brigham Young on February 22, 1849.


Map of Salt Lake Moon homes


This area was famous for its flowing wells and pure water. Some thought it was the best area of the city to feel the “invigorating canyon breezes” which felt so cool and refreshing on hot summer evenings. Only a lone pine tree stood in the Valley when the pioneers arrived, so many of the homes were made from adobe bricks. Settlers tramped mud with bare feet, molded bricks and left them in the sun to bake. Henry said when he entered the Valley in 1850, “the only thing that greeted the eye was a barren sage brush plain.” He later mused, “truly the desert has blossomed as a rose and truly we have much to be thankful for.” Being a farmer, Henry started breaking up farmland so he could grow crops as soon as possible. The family lived on roots or any wild foodstuff that was palatable the first year because there was very little to eat. Later, Henry grew wheat on a 160-acre farm in the Sugar House area.

Henry married his second wife, Temperance Westwood, six years after he arrived in Salt Lake City, on March 18, 1856. Henry Moon entered into plural marriage with Temperance in the Endowment House. Henry was thirty-seven years old and Temperance sixteen. To the union between Henry and Temperance were born thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters.

The same year Temperance and Henry were married, Henry was ordained to the office of High Priest and Bishop of the Salt Lake 1st Ward. This took place on October 21, 1856 at a Bishop’s Meeting held in the Council House. His counselors were Hugh Moon and James Houston. Henry was sustained by the Saints to his new position at General Conference, April 1857.

LDS Bishops had sole responsibility for the schools in their wards and almost every ward had one. School buildings were used for both church meetings and school classes. The 1st Ward adobe school house was built soon after Henry arrived and was located on 800 East between 700 and 800 South just around the corner from Henry’s home.

Henry Moon's shed in Farmington

Temperance lived in Salt Lake for a time and then moved to a log home located at 1428 North Main on the farm Henry owned in North Farmington. The home had one large room with a shed on the north side and one enclosed bedroom for the boys. It no longer stands, but the original cellar is still there. Henry’s great-granddaughter and husband live in a home on the site today (2006). An adobe home on the west of the highway at 1199 North Main housed Temperance and the family after they moved out of the log cabin.

Henry started keeping a journal on Sunday, January 1, 1860. Almost every Sunday thereafter had an entry stating he went “for Circle Meeting and thence to the Tabernacle” to hear one of the brethren speak. (The current Tabernacle wasn’t completed until October 6, 1867.) Some of the speakers were: Brothers John Taylor, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Joseph Young, President Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and Heber C. Kimball. On Sunday evenings, Henry attended a ward meeting held in the school house. He either taught on the subjects he had heard that day or had guest speakers. Some days he spent taking care of tithing. On the first Thursday of each month, he attended Ward fast meetings inaugurated in 1855. It looks like he attended Bishop’s meeting twice a month at night and about once a month on Saturdays he attended a Priesthood meeting. Henry also presided over the meeting organizing the first Relief Society in his ward.

He wrote that he “went north” almost weekly, meaning he traveled to his farm in Farmington where Temperance and the children lived. He took John Thomas, Lydia’s oldest son, back and forth possibly to help Temperance with the farm. A fifteen-year-old would have been a big help doing chores.

On Saturday, January 4, 1868, Henry married his third wife, Mary Ann Thayn(e) in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Mary Ann was nineteen years old and Henry forty-nine. She bore Henry nine children. Mary Ann, the firstborn of eleven children, was born in Ontario, Canada to John Johnson and Sidney Boyer Thayn(e). Mary Ann’s father, John, immigrated to Canada from Glasgow, Ayrshire, Scotland as a young man. Her mother, Sidney Boyer, was a Pennsylvania Dutch girl of German descent. Her father bought and ran a saw mill there in Iowa. After arriving in Salt Lake, he set up a saw mill in Thayne Canyon east of the city. Thayne Canyon extends south from Mill Creek Canyon not too far up from the mouth.

Henry married Mary Ann in January, welcomed Temperance’s son Henry Moroni into the world on March 22. He also bid farewell to his first wife, Lydia, who died of breast cancer on July 9 at 9:10 a.m. in Salt Lake City (age of fifty-six ) — all these events within the first seven months of 1868. Temperance helped nurse Lydia during her illness. Henry’s descendants said the three wives got along well and helped each other. Temperance told her daughter, Olive Moon Potter, that Lydia always treated her with love and kindness and was like a mother to her in teaching and helping her in many ways.


Map of Farmington Moon homes.


Henry moved from Salt Lake City to Farmington early in 1870, but his counselor Joseph Warburton wasn’t appointed Bishop until November 14 of that year. Henry owned a large fruit orchard in Farmington. Fruit trees were among the first things planted in that area. Lots of mulberry trees were planted in Farmington in 1870 west of Main Street and south of Shepherd Lane, which would have been next to Henry’s land. The LDS Church experimented with the silk making process for a number of years.

Henry was called and set apart to serve a mission to the United States, October 9, 1871. He was gone for four and one half months. During the cold winter months of 1871 and 1872, Henry served his mission in Iowa and Missouri. He returned home to Farmington, February 22, 1872. His journal records his travels during his mission.

In the Wednesday, April 10, 1872 edition of The Evening News, the fourth day of General Conference was reported. Henry Moon was the first speaker in the Tuesday afternoon session, and he said: “I was one of the missionaries who were called to go to the United States last fall. In my travels I met with Mr. David Whitmer, one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. What made me visit him was, I was reading the testimony of the witnesses to some people on Shoal Creek, in Caldwell County. One of them, Mr. John Lefler, was very anxious to see one of these witnesses, and to hear his testimony. I went down to Richmond with him. We got to Mr. David Whitmer’s a little after dark. I told Mr. Whitmer that I was from Utah. ‘From Utah?’ said he. ‘Yes Sir.’ ‘Well, you have a good deal of trouble, I suppose, in Utah?’ Oh, not very much, I told him. He got up from his supper and went out of the house, and I followed him. I told him I wanted to have a few moments’ talk with him. He said he had not time, he wanted to see after some horses, and his son was sick. But I hung to him, and followed him in the street, and told him that this gentlemen, Mr. Lefler, who was with me, had come from Caldwell County, to see if that which was written in the Book of Mormon — the testimony of the witnesses — was true. Mr. Whitmer turned round to the Gentleman and said: ‘God Almighty requires at my hands to bear record of the truth of the Book of Mormon. That book is a true record; it is the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, translated by the gift and power of God through Joseph Smith.’ He then talked to Mr. Lefler, who also asked him a few questions. Then Mr. Whitmer talked a little to me about Utah. I asked the gentleman if he wanted any more conversation with Mr. Whitmer? He said, ‘No,’ he was quite satisfied, and we got on to the cars and went back to Caldwell County the same evening; “I am glad that I, with my brethren, can also bear witness with regard to the truth of the Book of Mormon and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth, and that this is the kingdom established through Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. I am as satisfied of it, and I know it as well as I know that I am talking to this large congregation. Amen.”

Moon Park in Farmington, Utah

The Primary was organized for the children of the church on August 25, 1878 right there in Farmington by Aurelia Spencer Rogers. Sister Rogers recorded the names of all 224 children who attended the first meeting. Temperance and Mary Ann both had children who attended this historic event. The names of Temperance’s children who attended are: Rowene, 13; Henry, 10; Edmund, 8; Philip, 6; and Mary Ann’s children: Orson, 9 and Amanda, 8.

Henry moved Mary Ann and her family to Woodland, Summit County, Utah in 1881. Henry’s second son, Joseph Henry purchased land there in Bench Creek in 1874. The family had another farm to start so the whole family — Lydia and Temperance’s children along with Mary Ann’s — worked together cutting brush and picking rocks to clear the land. Henry claimed a homestead in Woodland for the purpose of going into the stock business. His land lay along the Provo River in Summit County. It was the ideal place for cattle and sheep because of plenty of free range grass. Woodland proved to be better for ranching and timbering than farming because of its short growing season. The 6,580 foot elevation meant hard cold winters. It wasn’t rare to have the fences covered up with snow.

Getting back and forth from Farmington to Woodland was sometimes very difficult during the winter months. The first families in the area took up land claims on the south side of the Provo River called Bench Creek in Wasatch County. Before long, people lived on both sides of the river that ran down through the valley, which acted as a dividing line for the two counties of Wasatch and Summit. Woodland was a six-mile strip of farmsteads on the north side of the Provo River. The mile-wide valley provided fertile ground to raise feed for their animals. Mary Ann’s parents, John and Sidney Thayn(e), probably moved from Salt Lake to Woodland sometime during this time. Many of the same family names in the Salt Lake 1st Ward Records show up in the Woodland Ward Records. Woodland was near the forested mountains that supplied trees for John Thayn(e)’s steam saw mill and the lumber business.

When the time came for a ward to be organized in Woodland, Daniel H. Wells presided at a meeting held in a two-room cabin on Sunday, July 24, 1881. He created the new ward and suggested they name the ward “Woodland” because of all the cottonwood trees that covered the valley. Elder Wells ordained and set apart Henry to the office of Bishop. John Thomas Moon, Henry’s oldest son, and William R. Smith were sustained as his counselors.While Henry served as Bishop in Woodland, he organized the Sunday School, YMMIA, and Primary. The Relief Society was already functioning.

Moon Circle, Farmington, Utah

At one time Henry wanted to move Temperance and her family to Woodland so he could have the two families together, but Temperance was comfortable in her four room adobe home in Farmington. She loved her roses, trees and garden and couldn’t bear to leave. Even though Temperance chose to stay in Farmington, it is likely that Henry took the children back and forth from Woodland to Farmington on his various trips. Temperance’s son Phillip said in his later years, he would rather go to Woodland than Disneyland. He had very fond memories of his early adventures in Woodland.

Henry owned big orchards and lots of land in Farmington and Woodland so his children were all taught to work in their youth. There were no idle hands around the homes. Hours were never set for the children, but they worked early and late. In Woodland, the children attended school in one room log building with one teacher. Amanda said, “I think it is a wonder one did secure any education at all under the circumstances.

The Edmunds Act was passed in the U.S. Congress on March 14, 1882 aimed at trying to stop the Mormons from practicing polygamy. Polygamy was now officially against the law and U.S. Marshals were sent to arrest those breaking it. The fact that Temperance and Mary Ann lived in distant towns at that time was probably good.

Henry suffered a stroke in 1888, a year after his last baby, Nephi, was born and a year before the Manifesto was issued. The stroke rendered Henry an invalid for the last six years of his life. All Nephi remembered about his father was “he was quite feeble.” What a hardship this must have been for the two wives who still had young children in their care. No government aid such as Social Security was available to them. After Henry had the stroke, he remained in Farmington with his wife, Temperance, who nursed him. Henry Moon’s undaunted spirit finally gave up and passed from this world to the next on November 14, 1894 at the age of seventy-five. Henry was buried in the Farmington City Cemetery next to his son Franklin.

Henry told his daughter Amanda, “All my life has been spent in service for others and I am not sorry for it, for after all we get the most pleasure in doing good.” In Henry’s words, he says, “I am happy and I want you to be happy. I am for peace, rightness, happiness and every other principle that is for the happifying [sic] of the human family and to increase and grow in the knowledge of the truth and to rise until I attain to the perfect stature of a man in Christ. How can that be done? By being faithful obedient to those holding the holy priesthood, keeping the commandments of God in all things. We are only sent here on a mission. We ought to fulfill that mission aright. The old ship Zion will land us safe if we will keep on board, but a great many jump off and that is the reason they get lost. If I had jumped off when I came to New York, the captain could not have landed me safe. It is just so with those that obey the gospel.”

Written by: Maureen Moon LaPray December 1999. It can be found in the book The Family of Henry Moon: Mormon Pioneer 1819-1894.