History > The Story of Moroni Dunford

by Ruth Nelson Baker

In 1856, Isaac, Leah and their surviving children, William, Alma, and Moroni journeyed to the Salt Lake Valley. This was their home for only that winter because for reasons unknown, they returned to St. Louis the following spring. There Moroni spent his early childhood.

Quoting from Moroni's Journal (all quotes in this history retain the original spelling and punctuation as far as possible. The following journal entries until May of 1884 were written by Moroni as he looked back on his life. In May of 1884, he started a daily journal):

Earley in the Summer of 1860, My Parents saw fit and sent me to School...At this time we lived on what was then called broadway, one of the principal Streets in St. Louis and above what was then called the hat and horses....

During the year of 1862, we mooved from the hat and horses to Second Street. This place of liveing was a beautifull place, and the building was a very large one three stories high and suitable for Some eight or nine families. When we first moove there we lived on the Second floor. Soon after, we mooved to the third floor. This was a nice place to live having three rooms, kitchen and a back porch, this building being situated on or close to the banks of the Mississippi River, our back porch was an excilent place to Sit and view the river and its many boats and Steamers landing and passing to and from....

Moroni recalled times he got in trouble at school when he was only 6 or 7 years old:

...on one ocasion for Some little wrong I had dun, She [the teacher] got vex at me and as it happened, one of the little girls of the Same class had dun wrong, So She had us both to punish togeather. So instead of whipping us on the flat of the hand as She usuley did with a Strap rule or roap, She taken the roap and had us two Schollors, the girl & myself Stand in front of the School back to back & tied us togeather in that Shape, & of course all the School laugh and thought it was fun...

...On some ocasions my teacher would send a note to my Father if I Should happen to do a wrong Stating of my actions in School, and Sometimes my Father would not smile at me, when I got home, after he would receive one of these notes from my teacher.

... after I would get out of School I would feel so free that School Seem to be the wrong place for me...I would with other boys stay out of School. This I would do unbeknowing to my Parents. So the last week at this School, insted of going as a good boy Should do, I taken the liberty to lay off all this week. I dun so not even went back for my books. So the last day my Father got a note from my teacher Stateing my absent from School. This of course did not please me, nor my Father. So it ended in a severe punishment which I greatley deserve....

On one occasion it was quite Stormey...so my Mother thought best and had me to take an umbrella with me...After School it rained tarable fast so I Started home with my umbrella in Shape. I then thought it was large enough to keep the rain off of two so I thought I would wait for a little Girl who lived next door to us. She Seemed please of my offer, so we walked home togeather & kept ourselves dry, & when we got in front of the window of my partner's home, we both being fond of kissing, we kiss each other before parting & as it happened, the little girl's Mother was sitting by the window a Sowing [sewing] which of course we had no idea the old lady would care. I certainly thought not as I had fetch her daughter home Safe and dry.

[I] thought it was all right till after I had got through the hall and part of the way up Stairs when the Old Lady, my girl's Mother, came a charging & gathered a hold of me, boxed & pulled my ears & pulled my hair till She pull it out by handfuls...but Since then my hair has never been So thick and now I keep it much Shorter perhaps it will avoid any Such a game.

I would want to be out a doors a great deal. My Parents would want me to Stay in more and sometimes of an afternoon would want me to lay down & take a Sleep, & Study my lessons...When I would not do this as my Parents would want me to, & would be out to play too much in order to keep me in, My Father took to tieing me up by the leg to the bedpoast or Some Suitable place.

So on one occasion after playing a great deal the day befour, & after my Father telling me to Stay in more, on this occasion he ties me with a roap at the head of the Stairs to the railing or banisters in the afternoon just before going to the Store to work. So during the afternoon the boys that I played with come around & I could See them from the head of the Stairs & I did ache to get with them so bad did I that I was compell to untie myself. This I dun and went down to play with them till about the time I thought Father would be comming home from work, then I went back to my hitching place & tied myself up again & waited till Father arrived from work. When Father got home, he thought I had been tied up long enough so he untied me which was not long from the time I had tied myself. All of this I Suppose was for my own good.

. . .boys could be Seen in large crowds almost dailey during the Summer in bathing and Swimming & Sometimes they would get permition on some of the large steamboats to go to the utmost top of them which would be some 80 or 100 feet high or over & from this highth boys would go in a purfect String. Sometimes hundreds of them & dive off into the river. Some of them would be Seen comming down feet first, & Some head first....

The following winter of '63 this great river altho it run so Swift it froze over Solid that large freight teams with from two to six pare of large mules to the team was known to cross...One Sunday after Church My Father in company with another gentleman took me & we walked across the river & back and Spent a little time on the ice looking around and viewing what could be Seen. Many tents were pitched on the ice for restaurants, Saloons & etc. & of course they would have Stoves to keep fier in these various places, & on one occasion a place where we Stop for a little information, the person to whom we were Speaking told us of a little circumstance that had happen a day or two previous of a proprietor of one of the firms who was Siting in one of his back rooms...while his clerk was tending to his buisness, the clerk wanting to Speak to him step back to do so, but he had disappear, leaving nothing but a hole in the ice where he & his Stove went through & was Seen no more.

Many large fiers have I seen while in St. Louis. three Steamboats were burned to ruins one Sunday morning...also many large houses, dwellings & homes have I seen destroyed by fier, & large fier company & fier men runing to the seen of destruction.

One of my greatest trouble was the last few years in St. Louis to Shun and keep out of the way of kinnappers, as they use to tell us they were men that were around after dark & pick up little boys or girls that would be out late at night or after nine oclock & would carry them off & at times when I would happen to be out a little late at night on little errand for My Mother & so on I would rush myself to get home & Sometimes I would go a block or two out of my way thinking that there would be one down that Street or one down the other, & Sometimes I would Stand on a corner & wait till Somebody pass & I have ask is they would go a little ways with me. Sometimes I would be left a crying till another person would pass, when I could get no one to take pity on me, I would run, crying with fear untill I reached home.

...At the front door of the Hall down stairs, many young men & girls would geather at times & Sing, tell riddles play games & etc. Many times I have listened to them, When I have not been counted large enough to take part with them. Some beautifull peaces that I have heard on these occasions are still fresh on my memory.

In our backyard we had quite a nice play-ground & a very large swing with a flyendutchman or whorley-gig. Many of these Sports I have taken great part, the many hours I have spent in that back yard will long be remembered. & also the time we used to have a coasting in the alley not far from home, & on the Street north of where we lived we would coast down the Street to the river which was some two or four blocks.

Summer time, many hours I have spent in the evenings with other boys catching lightening bugs, & putting them in large clear glass bottles, when they would light one & all would make quite amusing Sight.

...We spent the most of our time a playing togeather having plenty of watermellions, nuts, & fruits of different kinds. While there I was trouble with Some flying insects flies, and musquitto till they cause my face to look as thoe I had the Smallpox...When Mr. Powell taken me home my folks ardly knew me. After I had been home for a Short time I was taken very Sick with the chils and feavor & was very Sick for Sometime. On the morning of the 12th of Oct '63 I commence to get better, this was the most Severe Sickness of my life.

A week later they landed and preparations were made to cross the plains. William was then 17 years old, Alma almost 14, Moroni 9, Albert 6, Eliza 4, Parley 2, and Oliver just 7 months. "...We started the whole of the train with captain Holladay in charge. George Dunford, my uncle was in the train coming out to Utah." Three hundred miles into the journey, George had some trouble with his teamsters and returned to St. Louis where he stayed until 1868 when he journeyed to Salt Lake and made it his home.

...the train & us traveled on very nicely till Some of the cattle commence dying off. We lost one of our best oxen that taken Sick long in the afternoon while traveling, the poor fellow realed as he walk. My Father unyoked him & turned him out almost the Same minute he laid down & never got up again, his mate feeling so bad to see him there went to him and hooked him to get him up, but he could not. he laid there and died. all that night, the poor ox that had lost his mate could not & did not rest, he Seemed to feel bad for Several days.

Soon after to fill the place of the lost ox, My Father bought a cow, as oxen were so dear, this cow we called Plum we hitched her up with one of the oxen & She worked very well.

That November, Isaac took his family and with the James H. Hart and James Nelson families left to help settle the Bear Lake Valley in Idaho. They traveled north through Cache Valley, camping at intervals.

"...at the foot of what is known as the big dugway, hear we Seperated, James Nelson, Mrs. Hart & her Son James, My Mother with two or three of the children & Myself, went over the mountain through emegration Ca–on into Bear Lake valley, making one camp over night in this cold disagreeable ca–on...This trip...was a very cold & disagreeable one, plowing through Snow through the ca–on...."

"...Some little dispute arised between James Hart and I, So we had quite a fight, we would throw fier sticks or anything we could get a hold of at each other. So finiley Mr. Davis, the man we was traveling with, Separated us this ended the quarrel."

Moroni continued, "at the same time, Brother Hart, Father, two of my Brothers, Alma & Albert went around by Soda Springs with the teams. Some day or two later, they arived in Bloomington, all of this was after a journey of about four weeks [now a journey of 2 1/2 hours] for we arrived...just before Christmas...Snow on the ground."

For some time, Isaac and his family lived with the James Nelson and James H. Hart families, 13 people in all, in one log room. "This room having no floor in it, we used hay for floor. When this hay would wear out, then it would be renewed."

As soon as possible, Isaac got a room that was not completed. He finished it as far as he could with material available.

"This place was little better than camping out. we had no floor nor any door. hay and frosted straw we used for a floor & a piece of carpet for a door. this house or place was of logs with a dirt roof. here like this we spent the first cold winter in this valley...I know of only one house in this town that had a floor in it & not many of them had a door...."

On June 11, 1865 Moroni was baptized by Elder Sant and confirmed by James H. Hart.

In September of 1865 when Moroni was 10 years old, the family moved into their own home on the state road, another log house with a dirt roof. During one winter [1868], "it not only rain out-side but it rain inside, the roofs of houses was not water proof they being of dirt roofs, all Suffard alike, this wet time last for nearley two weeks."

Due to the hard winters, late and early frosts, and devastation by grasshoppers in the summers, several years resulted in very little harvests. Letha recalled, "Father used to tell us of one time when he was very hungry he tried to trade a pink match box he had to his sister Leah for her bread."

During the first four years in the Valley, Isaac and Moroni worked out on shares for what hauling of hay and firewood they had to do. They herded sheep for a couple of weeks in return for use of a team. "...by this time Father had got two or three head of Stock by tradeing around. One trade he made was with Tim Lish, trading a revolver & Some amonission for a cow. This was a very good cow for milk & butter & also a good one to kick. for three or four years, She would kick me plenty while trying to milk her."

In September of 1868, Isaac traveled to Salt Lake City and returned with a wagon and yoke of oxen from his brother George who had settled there. This made their work much easier as they no longer had to work shares.

In 1870, Moroni visited Salt Lake City for the first time since leaving there in 1864. "...I enjoyed this trip very much, while there I had my picture taken for the first time in my life."

The first of June in 1871, his sister Eliza became sick. Moroni recalled seeing her

...walk along the ditch bank toward the house. Her footsteps I now plainley see, knowing at the time she was not feeling well. Soon as She reach the house she said, "Mother, I am so Sick." this was the last time I remember of seeing her out a doors...On the 15th while I was watering grain...all by myself Steadily thinking of my Sister at home, I thought I would pray for her that She may get well. leaving my Shovel where I was watering, & went up to the fence that crossed a revene [ravine] & by a post, I nelt down & prayed to the Lord that my Sister may recover and Speediley get well. but I supposed she was appointed unto death for our prayers did not save her. on Sunday morning, [June 18th,] She died.

Moroni was sent across the mountain to Franklin to telegraph William and Alma who were living in Salt Lake City. They were met in Evanston by a friend. On the 23rd, Isaac's birthday, Eliza was buried.

The grasshoppers devoured all of their grain crop that year so in the fall, Isaac and Moroni "...went to Cache Valley with our team & wagon with some lumber to trade & to work for wheat and flower for winter bread. our lumber we soon traded off for wheat. Father and I got work across the valley from Logan quarying and hauling rock..."

Schooling was a priority for the settlers and except for the first winter they arrived in Bloomington, Moroni attended school. For at least one winter, Moroni and his brothers were schooled at home by a teacher.

Each spring brought with it the hopes of a bountiful fall harvest. 1872 was no different and the spring seeds were planted.

As the weather begin to get warm, the grain growing nicely, our Seven years plague [grasshoppers] begin to hatch out, till they covered the ground...when they would be flying in the air, they would be so thick that they would darken the Sun.

In the month of June, the cricket army cross the mountain from Cache Valley to our place, So we had these to contend with. these we would drive in creeks & ditches & catch them in sacks & burrey them...As the crickets and grasshoppers would pass over the land we would go to work & water what they had left...Soon after watering it would come on & if it was not eaten down the second time, it would make a light crop. this season we did manage to raise our bread and potatoes.

...after you left here, I went to work at the cooprative store in the grocery department. I work there 12 days. this 12 days I got 24 dollars. I would have stop there all winter if they could give me work, but they could not, and so I hat to do the next best. This length of time I stop to Aunts and out of this 24 dollars i hat to pay 6 of it for board and I also baute [bought] me to pare of draws [drawers] and to under shirts and to white shirts, and to pair of stockens and to white handkerchief and a box of Collars and a necktie and a pare of sispenders and I also baute me some writing paper and some envelopes and ink and I also got som money left....

He then spent some time mining up East Canyon with a Dr. Sharp where the work was "...very hard & long days I had to put in. this I did not mind so much but my wages was very low, only thirty dollars a month...." After about 6 weeks of this work, he returned to the City and then on July 13 left for Bloomington.

During this first extended trip to Salt Lake, Moroni evidently received counsel from his father, Isaac, about what was expected of him. In a letter home he wrote,

You said in your letter that you wanted me to keep my promice when you left me. I do it as near as I can all but going to School, and i told you all about it. I take no strong drink atall. now and then I take a drink of sodar water, and a drink of cider and a drink of milk and a drink of water.

Being away from home for the first time, Moroni seemed anxious for all and any news from home. Each letter home contained such phrases as "...hoping you will continue writing to me", "pleased write soon," "...my Dear Father, pleased write to me often." And in one letter, "I dont know weather you like for me to wright to you so often are not, but I do it."

Living on a farm, Moroni enjoyed having his own animals and became adept at taking care of them. He especially took pleasure in having good horses and became an excellent horseman. However, all was not always fun. He told of one experience with "Noble."

Early in the spring [1875] I traded for a horse...He was not very well broke or gentle and was quite a firey horse which I liked and took great pleasure in a horse of this kind. This horse I called Noble. While rideing him in company with a friend...was going quite fast when my horse run against a cow that was crossing the Street knocking the cow over & my horse falling & throwing me head first falling on my head and Shoulders...I was knocked Senceless so they say & [was carried] to old Father Patten's place doing all they could for me, sending for Brothers Hart & Osmond. According to the principal of our church and beleaf, they administered to me in faith, beleaveing for my recovery.

about one hour or so after then they taken me to my home as some thought to die...Brother Hart and my Father administered to me. about this time I began to come too, & feeling very sore at the back of my head neck & shoulders. by the faith of the people & the administering of oil I soon got so I could walk out of the doors, this was before night of the same day. Old Father Patten, with several more said they never seen a man or beast thrown in the agony of death, looked & act any worse than I did & recover. I have heard many of them say since that the power of man could not have saved me, which I realize myself.

The Centennial year of 1876 was peaceful and prosperous. Moroni traded William for his place on the corner, "...two city lots with an old house...this is in front of our place or joins it...For this place I gave my horse Noble at what I gave for him, seventy-five dollars, with him, fifty dollars in cash...then payed it as fast as I got it..." That summer he built a stable, shed and corral for his stock. He later bought the rest of William's land.

Moroni turned "21" during this year. In a tribute to Isaac he said, "...Not many young men at this age of twenty-one had such a good & as just a Father as I had. a man more honest, true & perfect than him never lived..."

Moroni, 1884

Throughout his life, Moroni took pride in his work, and what was done was done well. The fence he built around his new place was "...considered the best fence of the kind in town. it was even refered to in public from the Stand by the bishop...."

Work continued on the family home and on August 12, 1876, at 9:00 A.M. "...the first brick was laid on the Northeast corner of the house, and was laid by my Mother in the presants of Father and several of us boys & the bricklayer. Was also the first brick laid in Bloomington towards a house." During this summer, Moroni worked for William Hulme "for a dollar a day." Little did they realize that in many years to come, William's daughter, Ruth would marry Moroni's son, Jefferson.

A call was made in 1877 for help to begin the construction of the Logan Temple. Moroni was one of the first to respond to that call. He left in June and worked building bridges and roads, and in the timber mill and quarry. As his farm work permitted, he continued to work there, "putting in most of the winter in Logan Ca–on at the Temple Sawmill...."

On New Year's Eve 1878, Moroni participated in what he called "...the worst little act of my life." He recorded:

Myself with several more of the boys were trying to have a good time...in hitching up a team & several get togeather & get something to drink to have fun...More soon joined us & we had a time, a time I have since been sorry for & thought then I would try and never let the like accur again. That was in getting full or drunk & having a row with Ellar Welker. thinking he did not act right, I wanted to lick him but they did not let us fight so we quarreled till next morning we settled it. this rumpus disturbed the peace of many...[we]did not have as good a time as we ought to have had...I beged pardon of my Father the next morning as he seen me & my actions, & I thought of doing better. Father said he would look it over & pass it by if I would try & do better in the future.

This was the last Spree of this kind I was ever on. Since I have tryed to lead a morell life, trying to be honest and uprite in all doings, trying not to leave behind a wrong of any kind. for this reason, I shun bad company not allow myself to be seen in places where I ought not to be. Liquor I dont crave for, tobacco I disspise & warm drinks I never take. This way of liveing I find is the best, Should I not be liked so well by some.

That fall Moroni saddled his horse and left for Malad City where he was "...clurking [clerking] in the store & meat shop & helping at times to kill the beeves [beef]." He spent the winter there and enjoyed it very much. "...I never felt better in my life than there, weighing the heavest I ever weighed, one hundred & eighty three lbs. This of course denotes health, peace contentment & etc." In a letter home he wrote, "..Still againing in flesh, weighing at 181 1/2...the heavest I ever heard of a Dunford weighing...." The next spring he returned to his farm.

In the fall of 1979 after the harvest, Moroni made preparations to go to Salt Lake City. He wished his parents good-bye. This was to be the final time he would see his father. Moroni wrote:

...he got up out of his chair that he was sitting in side of the stove and in Shakeing hands with each other he said, Goodby my Son may God bless you & if you dont get a Situation or Something to do come home. You have a home to come to & you are always welcome. These are the last words of my Dear Father to me...

I started down the path side of the fence & trees got nearley to the ditch I stoped, turned around & looked back at home not knowing for a minute weather to leave that day or not. I seemed bothered...Just before leaving the dooryard, Mother called me back to tell me to be carefull of what girls I got acquainted with & not allow myself to be led astray. I told Mother I would and always be careful & go slow. This I have done to the letter....

During this and other trips to the City, Moroni and others would travel part way by wagon if someone could give them a ride, part of the way by foot and sometimes by horseback. Usually at least two camps would be made on the way. Moroni stated that "several times [I] was taken for a tramp this I cared but little for."

Upon arriving in Salt Lake City, Moroni stayed with his brothers William and Alma. He had not been there long when news came of Isaac's death in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. "...At this time of the arriveing of the Sad news, I was Sitting in my Brother's office in the front room on the sofa. I cannot here disscribe the thoughts & feelings that passed through me at this moment."

With his brothers and Uncle George and Aunt Sarah, Moroni returned to Bloomington as soon as possible.

...here laid our lifeless Father, one whom I loved & to think that when I left him sitting by the kitchen stove, that when I meet him or see him he would be speechless & lifeless. O but the weeping tears I shed over him are countless. His winning & Fatherly says I will long remember & can never die out...This sad experence it seems as thou time cannot heal it.

The next few years were spent in improving his farm and lots by building barns and sinking a new well. Being a very accurate and particular worker, Moroni's construction was always well done. Moroni had a close relationship with his brothers and sister. Oliver recorded, "Moroni, being the oldest at home, was our wise counselor and the leader in all things pertaining to the interest of our family, and his brotherly advice was always replete with wisdom."

In his journal, Moroni tells of numerous times he, Parley and Albert worked together on their farms and in the canyons cutting and hauling lumber. One event he related:

...While working in the ca–on one day, My Brother Parley were with me. We were both getting a load of firewood. While working together he, my Bro. was up the hill above me & was both chopping. Parley, throwing his tree down hill, it being dry quakenash, about ten in. through & thirty-five ft. long. I being below when it was falling, Parley crying lookout. I look & as I thought to run from it, but as it happened [I] run in the way of it, it striking me on the head....knocking me senseless for sometime. Parley running for help as there were some working...bathing me with cold water. Soon allrite.

When Moroni was twelve years old he wrote a letter to his brothers, William and Alma who were living and working in Salt Lake City. Evidently this pleased his older brothers greatly for each responded. Alma told him that "seeing that you wrote to me, I will give you that Pistol, but I want you to continue to write to me...."

William was more profuse in his praise.

Allow me my Dear Brother to congratulate you upon your Success, attending your first attempt at corresponding...If I had the wisdom of President Young, or the eloquence of a "Burke," Curran, Cooden, Lord Brougham, Bancroft, and others, I could not eulogize you too highly for writing that note...I would urge you Dear Moroni to continue writing, take time, be sure you have every word spelt correct, copy and Study my letters and write like them until you can do better. Moroni be a good boy, be good and help your Father, Mother. Also be good and kind to your Brothers and Sister and you will live to be a good and great man...

When Moroni spent time in Salt Lake he would send letters to his brothers at home asking for advice from them on various items and giving his to them. In a letter to Parley in 1883 he told him, "Now what you do, do manley & honestley & keep your conchence clear & your mind will be at rest." He then asked Parley to tell him what he thought about him [Moroni] getting a new watch.

Not long afterwards he wrote to his 17-year-old brother James in response to a letter he had received:

...also have woundered if you was always trying to do what is right & trying to instill in you the spirit of goodness, so when you grow to manhood you may be a noble one such as it is best to be. for you know good things & good people is far ahead of the contrary & if we all create a spirit that is admired by all, we have gained a great deal, & it all lays in our reach...& Jimmie, try & seek for wisdom & not for riches or pretense to riches, for riches is very good, but knowledge first.

During the years of 1881-1882, Moroni recorded that he was acting as secretary of the YMMIA and also secretary of the Second Quorum of Elders of Bloomington.

As the years passed, Moroni's lots took on shape and beauty. "...On the north side...I have a very nice lucern patch...In the northeast corner of my lots I have my current bushes & a good large Strawberrary bed...in front I have a row of shade trees...."

The little old house that stood behind the shade trees was used as a home for the blacksmith in one room and the blacksmith shop in the other. A Mr. Painter whom Moroni always referred to as "Friend Painter" used it this way for several years. Moroni was a good friend to many, and none so better than to "Friend Painter". In exchange for the rent, he did all the "smithing" for the family. "...I also let him have a piece of land at the back of the house for a garden where he raised & tended his vegetables for his own use."

In 1885 Friend Painter's anvil was stolen and his bellows cut to pieces. "...after supper I took a paper & pencil & started around for to raise a colection to replace the damage property. by 9 [o'clock] raised 11 dollars." Moroni spent time during the next few weeks in this collecting. With this money he went to Paris and sent a postal order for bellows and a cast iron forge.

In June of 1883, Moroni left for the City "...at the time did not know weather I would remain long or not...." Five days later he surprised his brother Alma:

Finding him in his garden a watering with his back towards me, I calling, Doctor, how are you, He turned around to see who was calling. Seeing it was me, droped his hose that he was watering with...& with a harty kiss & a welcome he greeted me. This meeting with my Brother I will long remember. It had been about two years since we saw each other & we were both glad to see each other.

Folsum Builders' Carpenters, 1884 - Moroni is in the middle

During that time, Alma had married Vinnie Clayton [Alma and Susa were divorced], and so Moroni now met his new sister-in-law and their baby boy. "This gave me great pleasure to see & know my Brother was once more settled down with a good wife & a comfortable home."

Moroni spent the rest of the summer, fall and winter living with Alma and Vinnie and learning the carpenter's trade with Mr. Folsom with whom he had worked years ago. "...as it was agreed between us for fifteen cents an hour or a dollar & a half a day..long in the summer or fall when he raised to twenty cents an hour."

Since a small boy, Moroni had wanted to learn the trade of blacksmithing and had tried several times to get started in Salt Lake and elsewhere "but all in vain."

"I finally concluded if I could get to learn the carpenter trade or understand the use of tools enough so I could do some of its work, I would like it & would be a great help to me...."

In the fall of 1883, Moroni and Alma ordered tombstones for their father and sister, Eliza. The marble was shipped to Logan, and Moroni and Alma took the train. Albert met them in Logan with a wagon, and they traveled to Bloomington, camping at a "shanty by the side of Logan River" on the way. The next night was spent at Garden City and then on home.

New plots were dug, and the remains of Isaac and Eliza were moved. "...was done verry nice considering & after finished us five boys felt well pleased with our work...we taken Mother up & shown her what we had done, & she also thought it was verry good."

While at home, Moroni "...bought an organ for our home & also for my only Sister [Leah] to learn & try to play & understand music which she promised me she would do...."

Alma, Moroni, and Oliver, who now was going to school for the winter, returned to Salt Lake by train. Moroni greatly enjoyed this time spent in the City. "This period of my life will ever be fresh on my memory for the pleasant time I am haveing away from home, but surrounded with relations & friends and also for our good Sunday schools...." Moroni attended the 13th Ward with Oliver. It wasn't long before he was asked to teach in the Sunday School.

He learned his trade well and rapidly and made himself a toolchest and a "little medicine cupboard for Vinnie as she was wanting a place to keep her little articles of special use togeather...when finished [it] looked very well & the best of all, it pleased the one I made it for."

Leah surprised her sons and came to Salt Lake for General Conference in April of 1884. Moroni and the others had a good visit with her.

Home in Bloomington was certainly different now. This is reflected in a letter Moroni wrote to his sister, Leah, January 24, 1884:

...I suppose Ma & you have it quiet enough at home now as Ma has said before now she would like to have it dont Ma ever feel like saying anything a word of any kind when you write or does she always think the more & say the less but a word sometimes would sound good if she felt like saying anything.

At this time, Moroni began a daily journal. May 11, 1884 was the first mention Moroni made of his back trouble "Rheumatism at times so bad that I can ardly move...." The doctors and others prescribed different remedies, pills, rubs of turpentine and oil, soaks in the warm springs, and eventually he was placed in a plaster jacket. Five days later, Moroni records, "Jacket taken of done no good."

Due to the tremendous pain and unable to continue with his construction work, Moroni returned to Bloomington that August. Albert and James took over his farm work. He tried more remedies but still continued in much pain. In a blessing he was told that "...if I would have faith enough, I would recover." Stake President William Budge also advised him to go through the temple.

On October 28, 1884 he followed their advice, and in his journal he wrote:

At 8 A.M. went to the Temple [Logan] & about 9 were baptised 7 times for the restoration of my health & strength & confirmed by Bro. Edlerson...was then Shown into a private room & by three of the Brothern was anointed & administered to with faith believeing that I would recover.

Many years later at a Dunford family reunion, Brother Edward Mckay Pugmire who had baptized Moroni gave the following testimony:

Brother Moroni Dunford, being ill and sick with a back ailment, came into the Temple that day to let the spirit of the Lord heal him. He was so wrought with pain that he could not walk, and was carried by two men into the Temple and into the Baptismal font. There I baptized Brother Dunford seven times. This was after the pattern of Elisha and the healing of Naaman. I then pronounced the ceremony after the seventh immersion. We carried him into a small dressing room where he was washed and annointed, and he then arose and walked out of the Temple himself, unaided. He had come into the Temple on a stretcher, and after the ceremonies, walked out himself and climbed into the buggy, a well man with no trace of pain. All this was due to his faith in the living God and the power of healing. I had not seen Brother Moroni for five years when I met him one day in Laketown Canyon. I made use of the occasion to ask him about his illness. He informed me that he had experienced no back trouble from that time on. His testimony was so strong and impressed me so, that we both sat there and wept. I have not forgotten a single detail of that healing. I consider it an honor to be here with the relatives of Brother Moroni. He was a great and humble man, showing what extreme faith he had when he came into the temple full of the spirit of the Lord and was healed.

The day following his baptismal healing, October 29, 1884, Moroni returned to the temple to receive his endowments. A few days later he returned to Bloomington and his farm work. His health continued to improve. On November 29th he wrote, "Made stakes to stake off the telephone line which we are about to have through the settlement." And on December 11th, "This morning shed tears of praise & my heart is overflowing with gratitude for the great improvement in my health for which I feel to praise God all the day long."

In December of that year Moroni was called to be a Home Missionary. He and his companion, Brother Piggott would travel throughout the stake visiting the wards and giving messages. These visits took place by buggy and often occupied all of Sunday. He enjoyed meeting with the people and preaching. Frequently he was called from the audience to talk in Sunday School or Sacrament Meeting. On one occasion while visiting in Franklin, he was "called on to speak to the people did so for 15 minutes or so...."

Evenings were often spent in studying the scriptures and other Gospel materials in preparation for his talks and for other gospel classes he attended.

Moroni was known for his good nature and friendliness. His friends were many. While the days were spent in long hours of farm work, the evenings were often devoted to visiting friends, many times staying for dinner. At other times, friends would be at their home for an evening of singing and visiting.

Moroni's friends stretched from Salt Lake City to Bloomington and included many ladies. Numerous times throughout his journals, he mentions exchanging letters with them, taking one or more to a party, for a ride in his buggy or sleigh, or escorting them home. He often traveled throughout the valley to visit one or another. However, not one in particular seemed to be his favorite.

The schoolhouse was used as a gathering place for dances, which Moroni attended frequently. Most often he was asked to "call," not only for the adult dances but also for the children's. A typical journal entry of these times reads, "At home reading writing and answering Miss MJB letter of Logan. Evening went to a dance in the schoolhouse calling part of the time and danced all I wished...."

The principle of tithing was important to Moroni. Several times he mentions taking his tithing to the tithing office or settling with the bishop. Tithing at that time included " ...3 chickens, "...load of grain," or "...load of hay."

In 1885 Moroni and his brothers started to build a new kitchen for the family home. With Moroni's carpenter experience the work progressed well, and they moved into it just before Christmas.

While living with Alma in the City, Moroni had learned some basic dentistry and was called on frequently to pull teeth for people throughout the valley. A typical entry concerning this reads, "...A Bro. Mattsen from St. Charles called in with his wife that was & had been suffering with the teeth-ache & in a short time I pulled 3 for her, he paying me 50 cents each for it, as that is generley my charges." One time Oliver held the lamp for him as he pulled a tooth. Later, Moroni took his dental forceps with him on his mission and performed that service for many there.

During these years Moroni was involved in the Church and the community having been called as a Seventy and also being a shareholder of the store and the co-op sawmill. He helped gather contributions for the Paris Tabernacle and hauled the first load of rock for it.

Moroni was a great friend to the children, those in town and also his nieces and nephews. On a blizzardy January 21, 1886, he wrote that he "...hitched up the horses on the bobs & drove through the wind & Snow to School & waited till it was out then drove all the Scollars living west home first, then all living East South, then East North as it was so disagreeable." This was repeated the following day.

On another winter's day, February 19, 1886, he recorded, "A jolly time Spent with Bro Alma & boys coasting on the hill sides." His brother William's daughter, Daisie or "Star" as Moroni called her, would come for visits and he would correspond with her after she left.

Years later in 1904, Alma's daughter, Margaret, wrote to her Uncle Moroni, "I do hope that you are enjoying yourself. If I were only with you, what a glorious time we would have...."

Another letter to Moroni from his niece Leah Eudora read:

...hoping that you will come down here to work. I long to see you so much and was so sorry to hear that you had come while I was away. It made me feel worse when I saw the picture you left Papa of yourself. It is just like you, and yet it is one of the handsomiest I ever saw. I want one so badly...I do hope you will come down here, for then I can see and talk with you all I want. If you do not come down, write to me and I should be ever so pleased to hear from you...

In the fall of 1886, Moroni laid the foundation for his granary and work shop. Also he started on the new blacksmith shop he was building for "Friend Painter." Parley quarried for him to repay a trade on a mare.

Numerous wagon trips were made to Evanston, Wyoming, to sell or trade their grain. This round trip would usually take four or five days. Arriving in Evanston on one of these trips on May 26, 1887, word was waiting that Alma and his mother were going to England. By the time Moroni and Parley returned home two days later, "...Ma had gone."

In May, Alma had bought "the Jensen ranch in Ovid." July 26, 1887, Moroni recorded, "Got ready & with 2 of the boys, Oliver & James & 3 girls, Sister Leah, Leah E. [Alma's daughter] & Verona [William's daughter] went to Ovid to comence haying." This was done with wagons and horses. Thirty-eight large loads were hauled.

After the haying was done on the other lots, the brothers cut, bound and shocked the wheat, and then the oats. When they were working "below the mounds....dinner was brought to us by the girls." One night, Moroni, Parley, Oliver and James spent the night in the field they were thrashing.

Oliver later wrote, "As a wielder of the cradle in cutting grain, Moroni was second to none. He would cut the grain, and by a dexterous swing of the cradle place it in an even windrow with all the heads even in one direction. It was my task to rake the grain into bundles, then Albert and Parley would bind it into sheaves and we would all shock it."

As hard as they worked on week days, Sundays were a day of rest. Meetings were attended, friends visited, and sometimes for Moroni "...spent afternoon under shade trees in front of kitchen door on 3 chairs...."

On September 3rd, Moroni received a letter of inquiry from the Council of Seventies regarding the possibility of his serving a mission "...should your services be needed within the next three years." In his journal Moroni wrote that the letter was "...quite a Surprise & will answer it Soon."

He answered saying "...I can say that my feelings are I go when wanted & as to my ability, I leave with my Brotheren. My family & affairs I think will be cared for...."

By this time, Leah and Alma were returning from Europe, and Moroni left to get his mother in Salt Lake. While there they attended conference and Moroni visited "friends and folks" and saw an opera. The morning of their departure for home, they left "...with the hack for the depot...Ma thought of her hand satchel which she had left & sent me back for it, a good run down & back on time."

On November 4, 1887, a mission call signed by Wilford Woodruff arrived. Moroni wrote, "..a call to the Mission field, Southern States, requiring a soon answer...also requesting me to [be] in Salt Lake so as to leave on 15 inst...now making all preperations for the Call."

Two days later he gave his departing remarks as it was his last Sunday home. In the next week, all of his affairs were settled. He sold "Ned" his horse to Oliver for $60, "...thirty now & thirty in six months." He hauled 900 feet of lumber for his future home, "...making 1800 ft. of rustic for my house. placed it all in a neat pile to a-wait my return home. Before useing, will then have it nicely Seasoned."

A ward and town party was "...gotten up for my benefit & in honor of my departure, the house crowded with friends & people & some thirty-five dollars were handed me by the folks to help me along on my Mission...."

On November 10 he wrote:

Up Sometime before the Sun, got all ready, had breakfast & wished all good-by, leaving my crying Mother, Brothers & Sister...wishing Some of my friends good by on the road as leaving friend Painter at the Shop...and with Brothers Albert & Parley rode up the canyon & over the mountain...leaving Albert on the Sumit at about 12 or 1. After a good by, down the mountain carying my 30 lbs Satchel.

Part way down taken my hat off & prayed to my God for health & Strength on my journey. walked on down Cubriver for 7 or 8 miles calling on brother H. A. Thomas & put up for the night & was kind to me.

Brother Thomas loaned him a horse to ride a ways, after which by walking and later getting a wagon ride, Moroni arrived in Logan. There he bought a train ticket for Salt Lake City.

He stayed at Alma's as he finished up his preparations, which included buying a pen and pencil set and 14 books. He bargained a cow to Alma for a watch. On November 14 he was set apart for his mission by Brothers H.S. Eldridge, President of the First Council of Seventies, and A.H. Cannon. On the 16th, "...in company with Bro. Wm & Alma & friend Dawn Clayton, walked down to depot & after a good-bye with a hearty kiss to both Bros. & Bro. Alma giving me $5 dollars the train left...."

On his way to his mission headquarters in Chattanooga Tennessee, Moroni spent 10 days visiting his Uncle Charles Simeon Dunford (Isaac's brother) and family in St. Louis. They visited his birthplace and also the birthplaces of Albert, Eliza, and Parley, along with the schools he had attended. These old but familiar places were dear to him and returning to them brought much pleasure.

He spent Thanksgiving here in St. Louis and on that day Uncle Simeon accompanied him to have his picture taken "cabinet-size in Enamel finish, the best."

Simeon's family were not members of the Church and Moroni took this opportunity to teach them of the Gospel:

...They tell me they never hard [heard] them explain the way I do, for is far diferent to the teachings of the people here, but think our docturn is plain & Seems true. The Sealing ordinance, the Resirection of the dead, the Word of Wisdom & others have been Spoken of....

Leaving St. Louis the 30th of November, he arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, December 1st. Here he met an old time friend, Heber C. Rich. He and Elder Rich were assigned to Georgia with headquarters at Dawson. Here he began his mission labors.

The day of his arrival in Dawson, December 11, he wrote in his journal:

To get the spirit in full of my mission, I have fasted three meals & have prayed earnestle to our God for his blessings to be with me that I may do rite & do much good among the people here to whom I am sent....

Moroni was indeed blessed with the spirit of the work and had great faith and trust in the Lord that all would be well. He recorded, "I landed here last night with two fifty cents peaces in my pocket expecting to travel as did our Saviour & his teachings without purse & scrip."

On December 18th Moroni wrote, "Elder Rich & I walked out towards the creek & selected a secluded place & held prayer." This special spot they "dedicated it as a sacred place for our devotions when we are in this part of our field."

Moroni spent many hours here in prayer and meditation. January 13th he recorded:

...off in the trees to our dedicated spot & had my Sacret Prayers. While praying never felt better in my life. Apearantley the old dry leaves would rattle in pleasure & in peace & quietness & as though angels were Hovering around. This spot for devotions is under a large yellow pine tree that leans to the southeast...This noble pine... shields us while we kneel facing the northwest where the Temples, Priesthood, our homes & the homes of the Saints [are]....

Moroni and his companion made many friends, "warm-hearted people of the South," who provided them with comfortable quarters and good meals. Although they were not members of the Church, these people developed a genuine love and respect for these Mormon missionaries, defending them and protecting them from the detractors and even mobs. "These people are surely kind to us. At first, one or two thought when they heard of us first we ought to be drummed out of the country." He also wrote, "The beds in this country are good and mostly feathers & are very clean & the people that are friends to you are friends in very deed...& if you find them the other way, they are the other way indeed."

Moroni recorded, "friend Garrett...at times have sit out under the tree & fence with his gun watching while we were a sleep...." When it was learned that Moroni would be without a companion for an extended period of time after Elder Rich was released, a friend "...expressed himself as some others to stay around with them and feel at home. Would go through thick and thin for me if necessary..." Another man said "he would help keep the wolves off...."

Time was spent in preaching the Gospel when possible, using schoolhouses or even homes. At one time a directive came from the Mission President, President. Smith, to "not hold too many meetings" due to the fact that anti-Mormon sentiment was "red-hot." Instead, they were to visit and talk at home.

Those who opposed the Mormon missionaries opposed them bitterly and openly. On January 25, 1888, Moroni quoted from the Dawson Journal of January 19: "It is reported that Mormon Preachers are in our County & if such be the fact, the quicker we get rid of them, the better it will be for us. Several years ago a band of these libertines appeared in, Terrell County & made some converts to their iniquitious doctrines. Get rid of them at once if they are in our midst."

Other entries in his journal reflected this mood:

March 26, 1888
Willie Coxwell came in acted strange to me...I felt as though something was up. Soon Willie Coxwell said, we have been told to warn you to get out of the settlement... We said we shall go now. no wait till the rain is over they said, we don't want to see you going in the rain, But the whole neighborhood are aradid against you. They say & up to Henry Davis's 25 or 6 men were there thinking of coming down to night, but told us to tell you they give you both twenty-four hours to leave in. Elder R. and I walked out, still raining....

In the margin of this journal page Moroni wrote, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad and so on...."

Persecution continued to threaten.

April 14, 1888 Dawson Journal, another scandlas peace about us. Mentioned taring & feathering us....

July 23 Heard some talk in town of trying to get up something or sware to a lie to get me arested & impreasen [imprisoned].

August 3 ... Word came if the Mormon Elder came down to the crossroad settlement they would hang him....

The following events are taken from a history written by Letha D. Madsen, Moroni's daughter:

On one occasion while staying at a Brother Goar's home, he wrote: "Between the hours of 1:00 and 2:00, the house was surrounded by a howling mob. Brother Goar did all in his power to keep them out. They broke in at the back door. Some dozen came in & ordered my companion and I out & waltzed us off. I got a little stubborn, but they took us down the road to their buggies. I was number one & put in the first buggy, my companion number two, behind.

"We reckoned there were about twenty in all in the mob. We were taken through part of Dawson and westward to a side road, four or five miles, where the captain cried 'halt', and we were ordered out to the ground. Hickories were cut, but they decided instead to use the buggy trace. We were to take all off but our pants. The mob was not agreed some wanted us to have fifty to one hundred lashes, finally one apiece, with force, and orders to leave the county at once."

As he lay stripped to the waist and across a log, Moroni took from his pocket a small pen-knife and said to the mob, "I am at your mercy. All I have for my protection is this small knife and my God."

They stayed the next day and night, all friends and Saints of the neighborhood stayed with them. The men were in one room with heavily loaded guns and pistols, and the women in another room.

The next day they left for Southern Alabama. They read from many papers of the mobbing in Terrell County, but "walked on teaching the gospel, for we ceased not...."

In Virginia they met the same threat, mobs on their track, "some thirty, they say, just around the hill. Another house filled with armed friends."

Through all of these trials with dissenters and mobs, the blessing given to Moroni as he was set apart for his mission was fulfilled:

...The angels of the Lord shall be with you and fill you with wisdom if you see to do his will, and they shall be your reward inasmuch as you are faithful and will be your constant companion and a monitor within you to guide and direct your foot steps aright; and preserve you from dangers and harm and give you power to overcome every opposing influence that comes in your way, and that you may be blessed to escape the snares and pitfulls that will be laid for your feet....

Moroni's farm background was greatly appreciated by his friends in the South as he spent time helping them in their cotton fields, planting crops, cutting wood, pulling weeds and helping build. No doubt this willingness on his part to be one with them, helped cement their friendships.

One special experience concerned the Alfred Collum family who had befriended Moroni and Elder Rich. After months of association with them, they asked for baptism. Mrs. Collum told the elders that two or three years ago she had prayed that better times would come to her. It was "revealed to her that two persons, a tall & a short man was coming from the North & would bring to me the truth. Now felt confident we was the ones...."

Moroni loved to teach the gospel principles, whether in a meeting of strangers or at home with those with whom he was staying. Often he would spend time "reading and explaining the scriptures" and "singing hymns" with them. Most often, family prayers were offered. A favorite song they all enjoyed was In Our Lovely Deseret.

As the Subtropical Exposition was held in Florida, the missionaries were permitted to attend in March of 1888. Moroni recorded, "Went to sleep in a mud-hole, woke up in a garden of flowers." In Florida, Moroni met President Grover Cleveland and his wife and shook their hands. He and Elder Rich saw the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe and visited the ancient city of St. Augustine, all of which greatly impressed him.

Having spent most of their money in Florida, there was little left for riding, and so "...with our satchels on our shoulders we were off a foot counting the ties & walking the track..." on their way back to Georgia. Many miles were walked, some barefoot after their feet blistered from their boots. By means of much walking, hopping a freight car, riding a section pole car, and finally a passenger train, the missionaries arrived back in Terrell Co. Georgia, having completed their three week, "1000 mile out to Florida."

The friends Moroni had took good care of him, nurturing him when ill with pills, mustard plasters and special foods. In June of 1888 he developed severe headaches, the pain of which "makes me almost howl at times." A few days later he wrote, "All here say to get up earley before sun up & smell fresh earth from my hand. do my head good." This he did faithfully for the next week, after which no more mention was made of the headaches.

Having taken his dental forceps with him, Moroni was called upon many times to extract teeth. After returning from his trip to Florida he had need of the same service:

Walked ...through the trees to a Nigro plantation. Bill Huckleby, a large man 210 lbs. to get him to pull my acheing tooth. Heard he was a good hand...He cutting around my tooth, pulled twice, his best apearantly did not pull it, paining some. He the Nigro gave me some Magic Bolsum, put in the tooth. Treated me well, asking us to call again...

A few days later: "Called on Dr. W.C. Kendrick...He pulled three times at my tooth, finiley pulled the top off in two parts." Finally five months later in August a friend "hooked mule on buggy and carried me to town for to get my acheing root pulled off wisdom tooth that Dr. Kendrick pulled top off. Dentist T.H. Thurmond cut around it & pulled it out O.K."

Moroni's close relationship with his family continued despite the great distance between Idaho and Georgia. It is evident that letters from home meant much to him as each one was mentioned in his journal and listed in the margins. He wrote to them also and at times included little gifts for the nieces and nephews. One evening "with thoughts of home & the little folks," he wrapped up some syrup cane in newspaper and sent it to Albert's little girl, Florence, little Moroni Jacobsen and to Alma's son Isaac. Another time, he sent goober peas.

In September of 1888, after having been without a companion for over three months during which time he felt "lonesome sure," Moroni received instructions to go to northeast Georgia. There he spent time with President Smith, the Mission President, and eleven other missionaries, among them John M. Browning. On October 22, these two elders "got our pictures taken in a running position."

In Augusta and Atlanta, Moroni became acquainted with Sarah (Sallie) Bridwell and her relatives. This young Southern woman would later become his wife. He met John Little, George Bridwell, Thomas Bridwell, the Langstons and Reardons, John Williams and John and Mack Little, all of whom would later become his relatives. Meetings were often held at the George Bridwell home. Friendships were formed which would continue after his mission.

On October 28, a meeting was held with all the missionaries and "...our various fields assigned us...." Moroni was to return to southwest Georgia with Elder James Lawson. He wrote, "I shaken his hand & we aggreeing to walk, ride, sleep, talk, sing, preach, run, & if we hang, hang together...Felt as though I would rather go in any other part of Ga. than back there, but are willing to go & do the best I can...."

Little is known of the next year of Moroni's mission as Volume 3 of his Journal is lost.

In a letter dated October 5, 1889, Moroni was notified that, "you are honorably released from your labors in this Mission, and at liberty to return to your loved mountain home, and the association of your kindred and the Saints in Zion, as soon as you can make the arrangements...."

He left on October 15 for New York. From here he went to Rockville, Connecticut, to his Uncle Levi Bailey's home. Next he traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, to visit many Dunford relatives there, including his Uncle John Dunford. On December 5, he left by steamboat for Long Island, New York, where he visited his cousin John Barrington. The last part of his journey included a visit to New York City, Chicago, Niagara Falls, and then on through St. Louis.

He arrived in Salt Lake City December 29, and after visiting with Alma a few days, traveled to Ogden where he met some missionary friends, Elders Browning and Spry. Also he called upon the Littles and Bridwells who had migrated from Georgia, renewing his association with "Sister Sallie." In a letter to her dated January 16, 1890, we learn of his homecoming. He visited in Brigham City a couple of days as the train he was on became snowbound. While there he "called on a familey of Apostle Snow as I was acquainted with them & one or two of the boys & spent a pleasent time for two nights & days. To add to my pleasure, President Snow was please to see me & bid me welcome, & made me a present of his Biography & family record."

He arrived in Montpelier on January 9th:

...our rig came for us. So our horses soon troted us home the l0 miles...As you may know my Mother, Brothers, & Sister looking for me & more than please to See me...."

In his journal he recorded,

...a beautiful day, but a huge winter. All well at home. It was 26 months this morning, January 10th, since I left home for my mission. Never experienced one so welcomed home as I am. My own folks, my many friends of Bloomington and the Valley, all with cheerful greetings which is priceless to me.

Continuing with his letter to Sarah, he wrote that on Sunday:

the return Elder was assigned to address the people who geathered as it appeared to hear him. I no need say your correspondent felt well & at home...after 26 month absence. By the Elder one hour & a half was occupied & the people seems to be well interested...After the meeting many were the invitations I receive to call on my folks here, Neighbors & friends. This has the means to make the returned one happy & that his travels & labours has not been in vane....

That Moroni had left many friends in the South was evident by the "19 letters from diferent Elders, Saints, friends, relatives & so on...that I had left behind...is a proof to me, also my folks here that I have not returned home forgotten."

He summarized his mission in his journal:

Miles walked 2349
Letters written 269
Letters received 274
Rec'd papers 411
Sent papers 107
Held meetings 73
Attended others 30
Companions and self baptized 16

He concluded with "Of the scenes and travels of past 26 months, the scenes and travels of home are best."

In the aforementioned letter to Sarah J Bridwell he stated, "I will hope that the future will bring us closer togeather, that our Joys may be more connected." This was certainly to be the case, and for the next several weeks they corresponded between Bloomington and Salt Lake where Sarah was staying with her aunt.

Moroni left Bloomington the first of April and traveled to Salt Lake with people going to Conference. He lived with Alma, and in a letter written to Sarah wrote that he was "with my Same employer whom I worked for Some time before I left home for the South...."

Sarah was back in Ogden and their relationship had progressed to the point of talking of marriage. Letters continued, and as often as possible they visited each other's homes. Moroni wrote:

Yes, please come down Wednesday, 21st inst. if convient or Posible. I will cheerfuley pay your round and alow me to Say, leave word if all is agreeable, that you Stay here over Sunday & not go back till after that night, as it is my onley day off...in regards to my run up Some Sunday and Spend the day, I thank you for Sejesting it, & nothing please me much more....

As Sarah's parents were both dead, Moroni wrote to her oldest brother, George Bridwell who had returned to Augusta, Georgia and asked for his permission to marry her. April 16, 1890:

...I am desirous of your Sanction in regards to me in the near future makeing your Sister my devoted wife. We, Sallie & I have chatted on this subject & to make a long story short, I have her word that She will be, also her affection...

...I have not Spoken to any of the folks, & Sallie thinks if I mention of it to you is Surficient, I must say, in all my travels, home & away with all my acquaintences &c. &c. I have not met with the one who Suit me for a loving & devoted wife as do your Sister...If we Still endeavor which is my urness intention, to make life happy, I can See our path through life very pleasent & as you know we as a people and know for assuriety that our existence is more than this life, for the future one is far grater. So we unite not for this life onley, but the life to come...Please write me...& contemplate on what I have written & give me a soon reply....

The letter was signed M. Dunford. A note on the bottom of the page states, "Name in full Moroni Dunford, as you remember."

Sarah had also written her brother and to her he answered first:

May ll, 1890 ...Well about Brother Dunford and your self. Sallie, i can't say any thing about it onley for you to be your own judge. he is a good man so far as i know. i don't know eney thing about his reckerd or what his people or, or whether it would be well for you or not. you must be your judge. if you think you love him and wannt to marry him, i will not ob ject but remember if you marry in Utah, that will be your home for ever.

George was aware of the controversy between the Church and the government about the practice of Polygamy and was concerned about it. He continued:

i have one request to make that you have it onderstood that you dont have to go to Mexico if he wannts another wife. if you do marry him, i wannt it understood that you will have your home in Salt Lake City...i dont wannt you to ever give your consent for him to go to Mexico or eney other place to marry again. if it is a law of god, stay in Utah and if you cant practis it in Zion, you will not be held acountible for it....

...find out all you can of the man and whether he will be the man that would make you a true devoted Husban, & whether his means is suficint to make you happy or not...i recived a letter from Brother Dunford telling me all about his intentions. if he will onley do as he propose to do, it would be all right if you love him and wannt to make Utah your home...i wannt you to tell him before han that when ever [he] gets redy to take another wif to start you to me and he can go on to Mexico....

In a letter to Moroni postmarked May 20, 1890 George wrote:

You ask me consearning my Sister and your self. i hardley know what to say to you in answer to your request.... it was some what a suprise to me to recive a letter of that nature from you as i had never dreamed of you thinking of such a thing or her eather. so i will say to you in this way that i allways thought a grate deal of you from the first time i ever met you but never thought of you becoming eney more than a friend & a brother in the Gospel, but if you or Sister Sallie's choice & She is your choice and you and her is willing to take the crossis of this life on you selfes, it would be my duty to give my cosent and not put a cross betwen two that god has lotted together.

if you and my sister should carry out your presant intenion [intention] i feal that it is the will of god for i know that she has had offers before now, more than one that she could have excepted and she would not except them so i gess that it was not to be so....

George then told Moroni his concerns, "i would ask you never to require her to obay eney princible of the Gosple that could not be practist in Zion..." He asked that they make their home in Salt Lake where Sarah could be near some family.

In response to this letter, Moroni wrote to George on July 18th, and told of their plans and also his personal philosophy on life:

...You spoke of Sarah or Sallie, I prefer her proper name as it is more gentele & honorable. As to her having many chances of matrimoney, this I knew to be true & had I not thought So, I Should not have the likeing for her that I have. It is ardley likely that a person would want one that nobody would have. This I knew of your Sister is one reason I formed Such a great likeing for her, & were this not So I would not do So much for her joys & happiness as I now take pleasure in doing & live in hopes it will be this way through life.

I Sometimes think it Strange I have lived So long & quite widely acquainted & traveled some, & have had a few admiries. Still as you see your Sister is my choice, & had to go down in Georgia to get her...and Since then have made up my mind to drop others for her. Our meetings & times togeather is Spent in happiness.

My folks here in the City thinks well of her, & as you know I have a good Name with you & all your folks, which I Strive to merit. I have learned to know a good name, a charicter is worth all to a person & this I glory in....

He then broke the news of wanting to take Sarah to Bloomington to live.

You wish us to live here in the City & not willing for me to take her away even to my home. Much could be Said about this but I must make it Short. first Nature teaches us where the man can do the best, the Wife is with him...Now my home is not So far away. 140 miles from here & is where all my intress is. My home where I have made for years Since my parents taken me there Since the year 1864 when but a little boy. I have many friends there, besides my Mother, Brothers, & Sister, & I find it far more independent life there on the farm than here or else where hired out So much per hour...I think it is worth a great deal to one to be his own boss. Our town Bloomington has about 75 families...Is very pleasent in the Summer, cold at times in the winter. Health of People generley good.

The way I live now very good. Carpentering wages every Saturday night which is handy & good, but one is not always Sure of work, but the farmer, or Stock raiser, is generley Sure. A Song Says, Stay on the farm if profits do come in slow.

Again, you Stated for me not to ask or to do anything contrary to the laws of the goverment...I do intend to live it laws or Suffer the consequences. My object is to live that I may know what is right & do it....

Wedding arrangements continued to be made and the date was set for December 17, 1890. They got their certificates signed by President Woodruff which was the practice of the day "making them leagle." Moroni quit his carpenter work, picked up Sarah in Ogden, and then they traveled together to Logan where they were married in the Temple. They then stopped in Soda Springs and Montpelier. On December 21 they finally arrived at the old Dunford home in Bloomington where they met the rest of the family and began their lives together.

During the next two years, they lived in the northeast room of Leah's home while Moroni was building their home on his corner lot. Their first child, Letha was born October 12, 1891. She was a delight to her father and in letters he referred to her as "our charmer."

Sarah was able to take extended trips to visit her family in Ogden and Salt Lake. Her brother, GeorgeÊreturned to Utah and Sarah spent time in his home. During these absences, she and Moroni corresponded frequently and expressed their love and affection for each other.

In a letter dated Sept. 30, 1892, Moroni was concerned because he had not heard from Sarah for awhile. He wrote:

Did you receive my last letter? Or are you sick? O. I hope not. You know, my Dear, I love you if ever a man loved his wife I do you. Also his lovely babe...Please let me hear from you soon, & if sickness is handy there, I will soon drop my hard work & it as quick as a hot peace of iron. if I cannot have my love ones comfortable, happy, and with a home of ours.

One who loves you and our dear Baby as he does the Sight of his eye.

WRITE, WHEN YOU GET THIS.

...my darling as long as we know it is no fault of ours that these things happen thus we will not worry about it, for you know my dear that I can truthfully repeat your words. You know I love you, so if these little things come along we cant help it...

With pure true love I remain your affectionate wife.

In the fall of 1892, Moroni was considering going somewhere to feed cattle for the winter to earn extra money for the home he was building. When he wrote to Sarah who was still in Salt Lake City, she responded, "...as for you going off feeding cattle this winter, I would not feel very well about it, we having to be separated, but if that is for the best, and the best you can do, why of course I am willing." She offered him another choice, that of coming to Salt Lake and working on the Temple for "3.85 a day, two thirds in money and the other in store pay...."

This must have sounded inviting to Moroni, for in the latter part of October he took his team and traveled to the City with plans that if he and Sarah "conclude to stay the winter," a friend would bring the team back to Bloomington. According to his daughter Letha's history, Moroni at this time worked "...on the Salt Lake Temple where he laid many of the inch square hardwood blocks in the flooring and did other fine finishing work."

A month later, word was received that Mother Leah was ill and Moroni left for home. The following excerpts are letters written to Sarah:

November 26, 1892 Hyde Park, Utah, on way to Bloomington Hope to find our Dear Mother better So I may leave again as Soon as I can.

Nov. 28 My Dearley beloved Wife and Sweet babe, ...Our Dear Ma is little better they say, but Oh! such a diference in her & a change to what she was when I left her standing side the kitchen stove.

Nov. 29 I was all night last night with Dear Mother. She is indeed very Sick, very low...She has her bed next door here to the kitchen & we go through the hall to her room. Everything is done for her...Many fast & pray for her, even the Primary Children....

December 3 You find by this I am still here & by my Dear Mother's side & with her painfull sounds grinding on my ears for it do make me feel so bad to hear, see & know the one that has cared so much for me & done for me when I could not do for myself to suffer so for she, Our Dear Mother is in such heart-rending pains. Now Dear Sarah, you know I must stay here, thinking it will be a source of comfort to Ma, & doing what I can. I feel that any amount of money cannot take me far from her, for My Dear Sarah, I feel that Ma cannot last long & I am so glad I am with her in her severe sickness and apparantly last days.

We are all please to see Bro. Oliver return home. This has been & is a comfort to Ma...My Dear, write to the one who loves you so much.

December 5 We had the pleasure Last evening..of having Bro. Alma coming...The meeting gave us pleasure in one way & to know Ma could recognize him, but did seem hard. I am now in the front room with Ma. Bishop Hulme & number of the familey are present. Ma still alive, groaning heavy, have not spoken for some time.

She is in a sinking State. Can do nothing, only moisten her lips with water. It was hard on Alma, but he stood it well as he could. Now & again, we break out in sadness & cannot help it. Oh, my dear, when I see the articles she has done, fruit, pickles &c she has put up, & to know Grandma's chair is vacant, I can ardley contain myself...

Oh! Sarah, what a sorce of comfort if seems & has to Ma to have us absent boys come home one at a time. My arrival, Bro. Olivers, then Almas & Ma seem so please to see us all. Then having her giveing us the names of her relatives & folks for Temple work. Her dieing request to be written down in regards to what she leaves behind. This is all touching to receive from a kind & affectionate Mother, from a mother whom I have not been as kind and good to as I ought. Oh! had I time & acts to recall...

December 6 My Dear Girl, Oh! our home. My darling Mother, I watch this beautifull clear morning with my watch in my left hand & seen her breathed her last twenty one minutes pass nine. She did pass so peaceable & quiet, we all by her side but Albert & James who had just left to go up home to do their chuers. We all feel recondsile to our fate but Sister Leah. Dear Wife, please pen a few lines to her.

Ma is now nicely clean and laied in north room where it is cool. We have not set the berial day yet, but perhaps about friday...Our Dear Mother bore her sickness with patience. Glad to see me come home she was & so glad to see Bro. Oliver come, a sodden change 12 hours afterwards. Again glad to see Bro. Alma come, could then just see & speak. Mother expressed herself sattisfied. Bro. Edward Patterson now in who is our section [sexton] and coffin maker, will finish up our doings then I will tend to my little affairs & will aim to meet you about Sunday or Monday next....

After the funeral, Moroni returned to Salt Lake City where he and Sarah remained until March when they returned home to plant fields and gardens.

On April 10, 1894, Moroni's and Sarah's first son, Charles Moroni Dunford was born and died the same day. Years later, their daughter, Lillie, recalled, "I often heard Mother remark that Father picked up the little baby hand and in his grief said, 'This is the little hand I thought would hand me the hammer, and be with me.'"

Two years later on June 7, 1896, a second son, Thomas Jefferson, was born. This son would grow up and work side by side with his father. On July 30, 1899, David Fillmore was born, but died April 2,

1900. Their last child, a daughter, Lillie Elizabeth, was born January 14, 1902.

Little details are known of the following years. Moroni and Sarah moved into their own home on the corner and continued farming and raising their family. Through letters written while Sarah was spending some time with her family in Salt Lake City in 1901, it is obvious the great love she and Moroni continued to share. Sarah said in later years that her wish was all Moroni needed to spur him on to try to satisfy it. "I came to find that my wish was his command, so I tried to be reasonable in what I wished for."

Although he hated being apart from her, Moroni knew that these visits with her family were important to Sarah, and he was determined that she enjoy them as the following excerpts from his letters during this time in 1901 show. "I want you to have a good long out and enjoy it. I rather have you have it than kitchen enlarged." "I am delighted that you are having such a good time...Hope you can keep it up...so when you return you will feel satisfied and paid for the out."

He often sent her some extra money to buy some special things, "I thought you would like a couple Dollars. I know you will see more to get or buy there than you will here. Make use of it. have a big time. You know I will not hinder you...[I] wish it a $20. Have 20 when you go again." Another time he wrote, "I would like you while there get yourself a jacket or cape or a dress so you will have little different to what they have here...."

Moroni missed the children and was concerned about them while they were gone. He wrote, "Sweet Jeffie take care of him don't let him wearry the folks...." And another time, "...be careful of him [Jefferson] for he is presish for his Old father. I suppose Letha is not much trouble to you & is a good girl...."

Having his family together again was a joy Moroni looked forward to. "Expect a week from this P.M. Tuesday next to meet my three cheerful faces. Will make a holiday of it for the old field hand...The meeting of you three will be the sweetests moments of my life."

Moroni enjoyed having pictures of his family and would encourage Sarah to have some taken whenever she was in Salt Lake. He encouraged her to "look cheerful & tell Letha to then act that way."

In 1904, Moroni and Sarah took a trip together to the World's Fair in St. Louis. They visited his Uncle Simeon and sites from his boyhood.

Although Moroni seemed to enjoy his farm life and was very good at it, his writings suggest that he had desires to perhaps do otherwise. In one of his letters to Sarah when she was in Salt Lake City, he wrote:

I know I would rather be there than here even the year around. Here is but little sunshine for me for you know the way I have it. I will make a break someday.... Farming at that time was a very physically demanding work. Moroni hinted that he had knee problems and said that "I would go through two Temples if it would help me...."

In another letter he wrote after a long work day, "...if I have one wish that is greater than another it is Peace quietness & Rest the latter I am going to have Sung at my funeral Rest weary one Rest." According to his daughter Letha's history, Moroni "had anticipated a change of climate to make his home during his remaining years..." and in 1905 traveled south to Arizona and California, then on to Oregon and the World's Fair in Portland.

Due to illness, Sarah remained at home. Now she offered her support to him while he was away. Excerpts from her letters read:

I hope you are well and enjoying yourself where ever you are and I hope that you will take all the time you want every where you go, and not hurry through your trip and then wish after you get home that you had taken more time somewhere. See all you possibly can. The more pleasure you get of your trip, the more pleasure it will be to me to know of it. We are getting along alright, if we are a little lonesome. The bed seems quite wide and lonesome when I go to bed, and when I wake in the night, but as long as I am looking for you to come back that is alright....

Another letter ended:

... now 20 minutes to 11. Bedtime, so good night dear heart. Sweet dreams to you wherever you are tonight. May God protect you on the remainder of your trip and bring you safely back to us again is the wish of your loving wife....

During this trip, his son, Jefferson, turned nine years old. Moroni wrote to him saying:

My Dear Boy, as it was your birthday yesterday & mine today I thought I would write you a few lines See how you are for I want you to write to me. & I want to let you know how I am. I hope you are a good boy in everyway & Spent your Birthday hapiley I Sent you a little rool the views of this Country Cal. & a pencil & a Sharpner. also Rubber with little brush atatched for Birthday & the Times a paper printed on your Birthday... Please tell Sweet lillie I Sent her a little pamplet today. I want you to all keep well, & bye & by I will See your Sweet faces again with oh! so much to tell you.

Goodby Sweet-heart 9 years old. I think So much of you & bye & by my boy may go off & Father take your place & look after things as you are doing....

Upon his return, Moroni declared that "every place has it's drawbacks and none are better than home." He continued living in Bloomington and improving and beautifying his home and land. Letha wrote:

He was not satisfied with the common, but every room was a picture of meticulate planning as shown by closet, nook, and corner. The plaster of paris ceiling center pieces were the base for the best hanging oil lamps available until electricity was brought to Bloomington and the chandeliers...replaced the oil lamps. Shortly before his death, he made the comment that if he knew where to drive one nail or use one tool to make his home more beautiful or comfortable, he would do it.

The ornamental trees and shrubbery which surrounded the home showed his keen eye for landscaping. He loved music and provided the home with an organ, followed later by a Baldwin piano. His singing was common music about the home, yard, and farm.

Home life for the family was ideal. Love and harmony characterized each day. Whenever Father went to a store or out of town, he would bring home something to please his wife and children...His supreme aim was to make us all happy and comfortable.

From Alma, Father learned the [dental] profession well, so purchased forceps and other tools, also a chair, and for years was the only dentist in Bear Lake Valley. People came to him from every part of the Valley to have their dental work done...

Father was a very public spirited man all of his life. He worked for betterment of the community and it's organizations, it's roads and buildings. He was prominent in religious and social life. As a member of the school board for many years, he enjoyed hitching his team to the bob sleigh, decorating the horses with sleigh bells and flags, arranging blankets and quilts in the sleigh, and taking the school children riding on Washington's birthday. Other board members and parents followed...Father loved all children and liked to please them...

He was secretary of the first Young Men's Mutual and served that organization as teacher many years. He was also secretary of the Second Quorum of Elders, a teacher in the Seventies Quorum and a teacher in Sunday School for many years...

After a short and very busy, productive life of success in many fields, and one of love and service, he sought help for a health problem which doctors of that day didn't understand. He was ailing for many months, but wouldn't give up to leisure and rest. When he was forced to do so, his boots had to be cut from his swollen feet. He was confined for one week to his bed. Death came early Saturday morning, January 29, 1910.

Moroni's obituary read,

Moroni Dunford, a widely known and highly esteemed resident of Bear Lake County, Ida. passed away at his home in Bloomington, Jan. 29, 1910, after a few weeks of intense suffering from a complication of ailments with which he battled heroically.

Elder Dunford, son of Isaac and Leah Bailey Dunford, was born in St. Louis, Mo. June 8, 1855, where he resided with his parents till 1864. At that time, the family came on to Salt Lake, and in December of the same year entered this valley in company with James H. Hart and others.

He was a party to all the trials and hardships incident to pioneer life in this county. He was a faithful Latter-day Saint with a heart full of sympathy for the poor and a hand ever extended toward the needy.

From 1887 to 1889 he labored as a missionary in the Southern states. It has been said of him. 'No missionary ever worked harder in the defense of truth than he.'

Returning from the south in 1890 he married Miss Sarah J. Bridwell, a Georgia girl whom he met while in the south. They have two daughters and one son living, having buried two sons.

Moroni Dunford will always be remembered for his honesty, integrity and industry. On many occasions his judgment was sought and his counsel heeded.

He leaves one of the best, most modern and well kept homes in the country, practically all the workmanship of his own hands. His farm also reflects his frugality and good judgment.

Mr. Dunford was a man of much force of character and always took a prominent part in the building up of his town and county.

The funeral services were very impressive. Besides the music furnished by the ward choir, appropriate quartets were rendered by Thomas Wilks and company, also William Gardiner and company of Fish Haven. The speakers were President J.R. Shepherd, Bishop E.M. Pugmire of St. Charles; Supt. John A. Sutton, Bishop Alma Findlay and Adam P. Welker.

The interment was in the Bloomington cemetery."

Moroni was only 55 years old when he died. His life had been one of hard work, service, and much happiness. He loved and was loved by many. In a letter of condolence written to Sarah after his death, his cousin Annie Dunford Martin said,

Moroni in his later years

...He had such a sunny, kind nature, that we all loved him. And my dear Mother feels his death very keenly as well as us all... I like to think that our dear Cousin and my dear Father [John, Isaac's brother] have met now and there has been a joyful reunion, for they were very fond of each other in life.

Moroni's journals and letters offer insights which would otherwise be unknown about him. The cheerful attitude with which he faced life's daily challenges, his unwavering faith in the Lord's promises, and the unconditional love which he had for his family are all part of the legacy he has left his posterity. It is a legacy to be remembered and cherished.

On the last page of his journal he wrote:

Our lives or journals written through With good or evil, false or true. And as the blessed angel turns the pages of our years, Oh! May they keep the good we do and blot the ill with tears.

Moroni's epitaph is a fitting conclusion of his life:

An amiable father has gone to rest As ever God with his image blest. The friend of man, the friend of truth The friend of age, the guide of youth

*** Sarah Jane Bridwell Dunford

1865-1929

(Condensed from a history written by Lillie Dunford Mecham, Sarah Jane's daughter, assisted by Merle Mecham Jorgensen, granddaughter; Karma Rae Rex Mecham, granddaughter-in-law; and Joyce Jorgensen Jensen; great-granddaughter)

A loyal son of the South returned from the service of his country to his small plantation home twelve miles from Augusta, Georgia, just a short time prior to the time that he, Thomas Jefferson Bridwell, and his wife, Sarah Jane Little Bridwell, became the proud parents of a little daughter to whom they frequently referred thereafter as their "little dove of peace". This title she received for coming in the month and year the dreadful Civil War ended, when the peace dove was again singing in the hearts of the weary, war-torn people of both North and South.

In the glory of springtime and peacetime, May 21, 1865, Sarah Jane Bridwell, named for her mother, entered her earthly career. A sister, Mary Ann, and two brothers, George M. and Thomas Jefferson, welcomed her. Mary Ann's twin sister, Manemie, died in infancy. Sarah Jane, "Sallie" as they called her, found herself in a happy family where affectionate parents were devoted to each other and to their children. The sixth child to bless their home, William Henry, was named after his uncle, William Henry Little, who became a defender of the Mormon missionaries and later the first missionary permitted in the Home of the Confederate Soldiers, having been a soldier and bugler in Stonewall Jackson's Confederate Army.

When Sallie was only three years old, her mother died from quick pneumonia, leaving a loving husband and five children. The next year her father's life was suddenly cut down when his sister's husband in a flurry of anger shot and killed him.

Sallie's aunts offered to take her and her baby brother, William Henry, into their homes to rear them with their own children; but Mary Ann, now 16, envisioned the time not long distant when she would marry and could care for her little brother and sister. She visited the Isaac Newton Tuttle Home for Children and consulted with the matron, teachers, and authorities on several occasions before deciding these two cherished children would receive excellent care and supervision there until she could take them into her own home.

Sallie remembered the large white pillars of the Home where she lived until she was nine years old. The trees and many flowers were a special delight to her. She loved her teachers and school and soon became a labeled "teacher's pet", because school was just naturally a delight to her, and she needed no urging to do her work. Lessons, play, and simple duties kept the children occupied, and time passed rapidly.

Theodore Gustavus Adolphus Willis, an immigration agent sent from Smith County, Texas, to Georgia to inform the restless Georgians of the fine opportunities, country, and welcome awaiting them in Texas, was directed to the Home by a Mr. Palmer. Mr. Willis had expressed to him his wife's last request before he left her that he bring back with him, if possible, a boy and girl, a brother and sister for them to love and rear. They had mature children of their own, but due to Mrs. Willis' poor health they expected no more--thus their desire to adopt a brother and sister.

To Sallie and Henry the striking "gentleman" with his promises of an exciting trip and the description of the yearning, waiting "second mother" appealed to their childish fancy. Not realizing the heartache and despair they would be creating for their loving sister, whose every concern was for their welfare, and not giving any thought to the lawfulness of the transactions, they made joyful preparations for the journey with keen anticipation.

Sarah later related:

So we were taken from the Home the fall of 1874 when I was 9 years old, without knowledge or consent of any of the relatives. We went out of the way to avoid passing an uncle's store. We went on to Atlanta and stopped at a hotel for a few days while Mr. Willis tended to his business as immigration agent. While there I played with a little girl in the hotel who gave me some doll scraps, which I used and saved through the years.

Then Sallie and little Henry went on to Texas in November 1874 to the ranch home and spacious grounds of Mr. Willis. They were fascinated with all the farm animals a child delights in seeing, petting, and tending. They were soon encircled with the love of Mrs. Willis, who had yearned for more children. The ranch home was just a few miles from Troupe, Texas, at a place called "The Beaver Ruins".

Sarah Bridwell felt that throughout her life there was a Higher Power, a guardian angel, directing the course of her life and that the experiences which came to her were in one way or another for her own good. Her belief that she was just supposed to go to Texas with Mr. Willis was the only way she could explain the fact that, contrary to the rules of the Home, Mr. Willis was permitted to take her and her little brother without receiving the consent of any of her relatives, who undoubtedly would have objected to their going so far away. When Mary Ann went to the Home for her usual visit with Sallie and Henry and was informed by the officials that her treasured sister and brother, whom she had so prayerfully endeavored to protect and have well-tutored, were no longer there, she was stunned, grieved, then indignant that the authorities had disregarded their promises to her and had overstepped the acknowledged policies of the home. Evidently they had sensed Mr. Willis' sincerity and his ability to provide a suitable home and loving guidance for the chosen, well-behaved, alert, and "well-born" orphans. Sallie believed in years to come that this and other events in her life were providential.

Following are some excerpts from a letter written by Sallie to her brother on May 23, 1875, two days after her tenth birthday:

My Dear Brother, I believe that I will write you a few lines to let you know how I am. Henry, myself and all are well. Thomas, I have moved to Texas and Henry is with me. I have a good Father and Mother. We have a good many plum and peach trees. There are a good many pretty flowers in Texas. I expect that you have, too, haven't you. We have berries of all sorts.

I hope you have good friends. I wish I could get to see you very much. I send very much love to all. I hope that you have a good home. Henry goes with Papa in the woods to drive up the horses and cows....Henry loves to feed the pigs and chickens. Henry knows his letters and can spell in three syllables. I am going to school and I am learning fast. We have a pretty bunch of calves and little chickens....I am learning to read music. I go to Sunday School and Church every Sunday. Sometimes I think of you and it makes me sad to think that we are so far apart.

...If you have any chance you must come out to see me. Mama is very sick and feeble....Now I have written you a letter, and I believe I will close in a piece of poetry....From your affectionate sister, Sarah J. Bridwell.

One Saturday, the men folk took William Henry rabbit hunting with them. That night, he woke up sick, and by morning he was unconscious, breathing laboriously. The doctor diagnosed his illness as ptomaine poisoning. Anxiously they kept a constant watch by his bedside all day Sunday and until four o'clock Monday afternoon, December 7, 1875, when his youthful spirit winged away to join his father and mother, whom he had scarcely known in life. Little Sallie was left heartbroken but not without loving souls to comfort her, as the Willises mourned as if they had lost their own child.

The spring Sallie was 14 (1879) they moved from their farm into Troupe, Texas. Mr. Willis had been a clerk of the Troupe Congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The next year he went to the State Legislature as a Representative from Troupe. It was during this time that he bought Sallie an organ. She studied music and was soon made organist of the Presbyterian Sunday School, where she served until she left Texas when she was 18 years old (1883) and engaged to be married to Mr. William Dean. She planned to visit her relatives in Georgia for three months and then return to marry Mr. Dean.

When the three months were up, the visit wasn't long enough. The thickness of blood tied her there. Her own people were nearer in spite of nine years away. Perhaps it was "out of sight, out of mind" as regards to her young man, because the longer she waited, the less she cared to go back. As time passed and Mr. Dean decided she wouldn't return, he married Sallie's best friend. While she was with her relatives, time went on rapidly until three years had passed since she left Texas.

During her absence Mrs. Willis had been ill with fever and had cried for Sallie constantly, and Mr. Willis had missed her as a daughter; so she returned to Texas to visit them. Although it was hard to leave the dear people who had been so good to her, the call of her own was stronger; and she left Texas for good about November 1, 1887. (On November 7, 1887, Moroni Dunford left Bear Lake for the South on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

When Sallie returned to Augusta, her brother, George, had built an extra room onto his house especially for her. On Christmas, she went with Mary Ann to Charleston. When they returned, there was quite an excitement among the folks about some Mormon Elders who had been at an uncle's (Henry Little) preaching the new gospel. Sallie and Mary Ann began attending the meetings, and Sallie read the Book of Mormon, accepted the message taught by the missionaries, and was baptized in March, 1889, by Jed Ballantyne.

Sarah in 1881

After a district conference, Moroni Dunford and other Elders visited in Augusta and held meetings. While at George's home one evening, the Elders sang, "In Our Lovely Deseret". The song impressed Sally very much, and she asked Elder Dunford for the words. He didn't have time to write them for her then, but promised to send them to her, and as soon as he reached Dawson, he sent the words. She replied to thank him for them, and a friendly correspondence ensued, which lasted until the fall of 1889 when Elder Dunford was released and went to Providence, Rhode Island, to visit relatives.

On November 19, 1889, Sallie with her brother George and family and sister, Mary Ann, and family left Georgia for Zion, reaching Ogden on November 23, 1889. Elder Dunford came home in December from Rhode Island. He stopped in Ogden and visited Sallie and the rest of his Southern friends and then went on to his home in Bloomington.

George decided to move his family back to Georgia, which was a disturbing disappointment to Sallie. During the summer, while on a night shift at his work, his father, (Thomas Jefferson Bridwell) came to him and in a disapproving tone asked, "George, why did you go to Utah? You have not done the work in the temple for us. Return to the Saints." There was more, but that was the substance of his message. George declared he was never more awake in his life. It was no dream. After this he had no peace of mind until he sold his home, took his family, and returned to Utah, locating this time in Salt Lake City. While George was still in Georgia, Moroni had written to him and gotten permission to ask Sarah to be his "devoted wife".

Sallie at this time was living with her Aunt Mary in Ogden, where they worked together dressmaking. Elder Dunford came in April and took her with him to Salt Lake City to Conference in the spring of 1890. She stayed with her sister, Mary Ann Williams. Moroni stayed with his brother, Dr. Alma Dunford, and spent the summer and fall in Salt Lake City carpentering. Sallie spent most of the summer with her sister and many evenings and days with Moroni. The decision was made that when Moroni finished his work about Christmastime, they would be married and go to Bear Lake together.

On December 14, 1890, Moroni went to Ogden to meet Sallie. Before they left to be married, they had their pictures taken together in Salt Lake City. Then they went to Logan, where they were married in the Logan Temple December 17, 1890. On their way to Bear Lake, they stopped in Soda Springs, Idaho, where Sallie, or Sarah as Moroni insisted that she now be called, had her first pair of overshoes and then her first ride sitting in the bottom of a "bob" sleigh coming from Montpelier to the Dunford family home in Bloomington, quite a change from her home and life in the sunny South. They were met at the home by Moroni's mother, Leah, his sister, Leah, and brother, Parley. Moroni and Sarah lived in the north front room of the relatively new brick family home until Moroni could build his dream home for his lovely Southern bride.

It was not long until Sarah was almost overwhelmed with requests from many prospective brides to have her make their wedding dresses for them. She loved to sew and was a particular and talented seamstress but could not accept all the requests made of her, because so many of the dainty seams were bound and finished by fine hand stitching, consuming time and eyes.

Not many months elapsed until Sarah was thrilled to begin a baby's layette, which in those days required crocheting, drawn work, tucking, and other fancy work on several long petticoats and dresses. Then on October 12, 1891, Oliver's birthday and the anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, Sarah presented Moroni their first born, a baby daughter, whom they named Letha Bridwell.

In the fall of 1892, Moroni arranged his work at home, so he could leave to go to Salt Lake City to work on the Salt Lake Temple. It was a thrill for Sarah to be near her brothers, Thomas Jefferson and George Bridwell, and sister, Mary Ann Williams, and her uncles and aunts--her mother's brothers and sisters.

Mother Leah's health began failing, and Moroni left Sarah in the City with year-old Letha and returned home to be with his mother. On December 6, 1892, Leah died, and after the funeral Moroni made arrangements to return to Salt Lake City, where he and Sarah remained until he had to be home in the spring to plant fields and gardens.

In May, they returned to find Bear Lake Valley swamped in mud. Albert met them with a wagon in Montpelier at the train depot. In order to avoid the mud, he took a short cut across the "bottoms". When he came to some bulrushes at midnight, he mistook them for dry road, drove into them, and soon found he was in the middle of the slough. Sarah sat in the wagon with Letha on her lap while the men drove into Ovid for help. Then they all stayed with the bishop in Ovid until morning. When Moroni and Albert went to get the wagon out, they tipped it over and upset the trunks and a reed rocker (wedding present from Sarah's brother, George) into the slough. Water got into Sarah's trunk damaging some of her beautiful clothes and the baby's dresses.

It was a sad occasion for them to return to the home with Mother Leah gone. Oliver and Ida were living in the home, which was now to be theirs; but Moroni and Sarah still had the north room until their own home was finished.

On April 10, 1894, their little son, Charles Moroni, was born and died the same day. Losing their first baby boy was a very real sorrow to them. Moroni picked up the little baby hand and in his grief said, "This is the little hand I thought would hand me the hammer and be with me." Moroni was continually building and adding conveniences to their home. Sarah said, "I came to find that my wish was his command; so I tried to be reasonable in what I wished for."

Sarah was busy with the work of a farm wife, having learned to churn butter, mix bread, tend the chickens, etc. A new dimension of her sewing skills reached into the Relief Society's service of sewing burial clothes. She maintained her southern sociability and hospitality and made her home the center of many of the social activities of the small community.

Three more children were born to Moroni and Sarah. A second son, Thomas Jefferson, was born June 7, 1896. Another son, David Fillmore, was born July 30, 1899, and died April 2, 1900. Then on January 14, 1902, their second daughter, Lillie Elizabeth, joined the family. Eight years later, on January 29, 1910, Moroni died, leaving his loving wife and three children--Letha, 18; Jefferson, 13; and Lillie, 8--to mourn their loss.

Sarah was a widow for 20 years. During that time she continued to perform her duties with the same faith and integrity that characterized her life. She was always active in the Church. For 27 years, she worked in the Primary organization, serving 20 years in the ward presidency. She was an officer in the Relief Society for over 12 years, serving for several years as secretary-treasurer.

A great lover of literature, Sarah read and encouraged the reading of good books. Her keen eye detected choice expressions in papers and magazines, which she preserved in her scrapbooks.

She had a favorite little song which her friends and family often requested her to sing. Oliver once stated:

On occasions when the family have met, we have always wanted to hear her sing one little song. I have heard great singers, and they are good, of course, but I have always said, 'Let me hear Aunt Sarah sing, "All the Little Chickens in the Garden."

This little song continues to be sung by some of her posterity in perpetuating her memory.

Sarah lived to see her children established in their own homes and to enjoy ten of her grandchildren. In all the vicissitudes of life, she, like Leah Bailey Dunford, lived by the philosophy that "Surely the gloomiest mountains never cast a shadow on both sides at once." The Gospel of Jesus Christ was the Light that ever guided her to the brighter side. Mrs. Roy A. Welker, a sincere friend, wrote of her:

To me she has always seemed like a delicate, tropical flower transplanted to this cold and rather arid clime. The splendid fashion in which she has adapted her life to the change has been a constant marvel and inspiration to me.

Sarah Jane Bridwell Dunford died in her home November 20, 1929, from pneumonia at the age of 64 years and 6 months, with her three surviving children--Letha, Jefferson, and Lillie--at her bedside. She was buried November 23 beside her husband and near her two baby sons in the Bloomington cemetery. On her tombstone is engraved the following quotation from Michael Pupin:

"MOTHER'S LOVE AND LOVE FOR MOTHER ARE THE SWEETEST MESSAGES OF GOD TO THE LIVING EARTH."