1853-1913
Rozilla Marilla Whitaker Dalton sat at her kitchen table in her own home in Ogden, Utah and thought about how blessed she was. Matthew was at work building a house, baby James was asleep, her housework was all done for the morning, and she was thankful for a few quiet moments to read the paper a friend had given her. It was the Deseret News from Salt Lake City, and told of all the trouble the people in the southern part of the state were having with the Indians. Thank goodness they got along pretty well here in Ogden. But really, what use would the Indians have for this swampy ground. She thought of her life. Her own mother had died when she was only six years old, and her father had married Nancy Woodland two years later. Then the journey west had begun. First to Nauvoo, Illinois, then to Council Bluff, Iowa, and finally across the plains where she had met and married Matthew William Dalton on 16 December, 1850. That was a cold day, but not as cold as the day she had been baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That was on 1 February 1841. But she had no regrets. Matthew had been baptized on 8 December 1850, just one week before they were married, and it was worth it to know they had done the right thing in spite of the cold. It would be nice when the Temple in Salt Lake was built. President Brigham Young had laid the cornerstone for it and on April 6, 1853 they had a parade and thousands of people had attended the program. “Just two more months, and I will have my second baby”, she thought. “Maybe a little girl, but I don’t care. A brother for James will be fine.” She was happy to have her father, mother and their growing family safely across the plains and settled in Willard, Utah, about 20 miles north of them. Matt would like to be there with them. He didn’t like the restrictions of working as a carpenter, and often talked of how he loved the land and would someday have his own farm.
Summer came, and on 21 June 1853, she gave birth to her second son, and they named him William Albert. The next year Matt moved his family to Willow Creek (Willard) and they were back on the farm. About every two years through 1866 Al had a new brother or sister.
On 20 November 1864 William was baptized by John D. Jones and confirmed a member of the Mormon church by Alford Cardon. There were sad times and happy times on the farm, but always lots of work to do in the orchards, and tending the garden. Then there was school. He learned lots, but learned more from his father and older brother by working at their sawmill, and the brickyards, carpentering, and helping his mother tend his brothers and sisters. The strangest thing that happened was when his father brought home another wife, then the very next year left them all and went on a mission for the church to the southern states. He was 16 and James 18, so they had the responsibility of taking care of the Dalton Family. But a year wasn’t too long, and their father was home. It was interesting to listen to his stories of his mission and his visit with his parents in Wisconsin, but he was sad that they had turned him out of their home because of his religion. Alice ( his father’s new wife) gave birth to a son on 7 April 1870, and later his father divorced her. Just as well, thought Al, she wasn’t much older than I am. On 14 February 1871 Al had a nice Valentine indeed: he was ordained an Elder in the Mormon Church, This made him feel good. He liked going to church. Then when he was 22 years old, he met Mary Jane Williams and on the 8th of February, 1875, they traveled by buggy with four other couples to Salt Lake City, Utah and were married in the Endowment House by Wilford Woodruff. They camped across the street from the temple grounds, where Hotel Utah now stands. What a change it was to be in the city. The temple was being built, but President Brigham Young was in St. George in southern Utah instructing the workmen in construction of a temple there. Word had it that he was in very poor health. They enjoyed their trip, but it was exciting to be back in Willard and start their own home. In fact they had enjoyed the city so much that when spring came they hooked the team to a wagon and drove the 21 miles to Ogden to buy some furniture. Mary Jane was so excited about their new dresser, she could hardly wait to get home and arrange the lovely piece of furniture in their home. They had rented a two story rock house and it was such fun fixing it up. Mary Jane sang as she went about her work and planned for the baby who would be born in December. On June 23rd, Al received his patriarchal blessing.
On 23 December 1875 their Christmas baby came into the world and was named Rozilla Dalton. Al worked on the farm, at the sawmill, and for Uncle James at the molasses mill and at “The Mounds”. Life was good and his family grew. February 26, 1878 brought him a son, Evan William, and on May 23, 1880 William Albert Jr. came to live with them. Matthew John was born April 19, 1882, and Georger Alfred on July 18, 1884. After the birth of LeRoy on April 22, 1887, the brick house that seemed so spacious when they were married was bursting at the seams, and the next year they bought their own fruit farm. It was about 60 acres and it was so good to have a home of their own.
In an attempt to get more land, Al at one time decided to homestead a piece of land between Plymouth and Fielding, Utah. ( This was very hard for him, because he hated horses. He did not like to work with them, and would rather walk than ride one. So he would walk from Willard to the homestead, about 40 miles, which would have taken him about 10 hours. He usually came back to Willard about twice a month. Back on the fruit farm he sat in the shade of the bowery he had made in back of the house. It was open on four sides to the breeze from the mountains, and the top was covered with grapevines. It was where Mary Jane did the washing and it was even pleasant for the children when they harvested the grapes and made them into jelly for the family to eat all year around. That was one good thing about the farm, they always had plenty to eat. In winter, Al would lead a horse into the canyon east of the farm, shoot a deer, and let the horse carry it home. It was good to have fresh meat to eat, and a hide to tan for leather.
Mary Jane thought a lot about her parents, and wished they were not so far away. They lived in Paris, Idaho, near Bear Lake, and it was hard to go for a visit, especially with six children. Her parents could not come to visit her, because her father was paralyzed from the hips down. William Austin and his wife Josephine were living with them to help care for Evan. Then on October 18, 1887 he died and was buried in the Liberty Cemetery, Bear Lake County, Idaho. How happy Mary Jane was to have her mother come and live with them in Willard. But she passed away on April 11, 1889 and was taken back to be buried with her husband in Liberty. Two days later, Mary Jane gave birth to her second daughter and named her Mary Ann.
Al’s health was not improving, and he was such a hard worker, always wanting his farm to look neat and well cared for. They were happy on March 13, 1892 to have a new son born to them, and named him Henry Eugene. The children were all in good health, had lots of fun times, and always plenty of food. Al even raised mulberry bushes, imported some silkworms, and collected the silk strands they spun and wove it into cloth. On June 3, 1898 they were saddened by the death of Rozilla Whitaker Dalton. She was 69 years old and Al and the rest of the family could hardly believe their beloved mother had really left them. She was buried in the Willard Cemetery, and they worried about their father being left all alone. Matthew had other ideas, and on June 7, 1899 he married Sarah Ann Hymas in the Logan Temple and produced a daughter, naming her Marintha Irene. Al had not ‘proved up’ on the homestead in Fielding, and the orchard just didn’t seem to produce enough for them to get ahead on, so they sold their farm to Billie Grazer of Red Rock, Montana, and bought a farm south of Malad Idaho from John Mifflin. On November 19, 1901, the Dalton family left Willard for their new home.
What a chore it was to pack all their belongings in wagons, get the children ready and prepare food for the three day trip. Each child had a job and Matt and Gene were to drive the stock. Rose had married Alma Facer already living in Idaho and would not be too far away from them, so that gave Mary Jane some encouragement in moving. It was cold, and the homemade quilts came in handy, especially for Irene who was only three years old and full of enthusiasm about the whole thing. The first night the family stayed at a town called Tremonton. Gene was left to drive stock alone the next day, for Matt had mysteriously disappeared with a girlfriend, but caught up with them before nightfall, which they spent at the Lawrence Wells Ranch in Idaho.
The next day their spirits were lifted when they passed through the community of Cherry Creek and saw the nice little stone meeting house the Saints had built there. They had worked so hard to haul rock and build it. For six years it had stood without a roof because there was no money. In 1891 John Davis Jones had gone to the bank and borrowed enough money to finish the building and then later he paid back the loan.
The third day they reached their new home and found the Mifflin family still living there with no place to go, so both families lived in the two-story rock house until spring. It was called the Willow Springs Ranch and became a stopping place for people to eat lunch, spend the night, feed their horses, or get cleaned up before traveling on. School was not a problem because the school house was right on the ranch. It was a log house with one big room. Roy, Gene, Mary Ann, along with Jim and George Tovey, Tom and Bill Richards, Tisha and Seamore Davis learned their three R’s taught to them in the next four years by teachers Olive Davis, Audrey and Rose Dalton (no relation).
Will did not stay long on the ranch, but in 1902 he was back with a wife he had married on the 6th of November. Her name was Hulda. She was much younger than Will and fit very nicely into the family of younger brothers and sisters. In fact she went to school with the children, but as spring came, it was obvious she was to have a child of her own. She and Will were not getting along. So Will took her back to her parents in Ammon, Idaho, (near Idaho Falls.) On July 13, 1903 she gave birth to a son and named him Leland, but in April of the next year he died of pneumonia.
The next two years on the new ranch held many happy times, and sad ones too. On October 7, 1903 Matt married Eliza Richards and they lived in a little house in the orchard. On January 16, 1904 a daughter was born to them and named Elizabeth Zulu. On the 5th of October 1904 Will married Ruth Edwards, and they lived in Samaria on the other side of the valley. From 1904 to 1906, Mary Jane was president of the Relief Society in the Cherry Creek Ward. She enjoyed this position and saw to it that the children attended church with her. Al was busy planting more trees, often experimenting with grafting and improving his fruit and vegetable yields. An article in the Malad newspaper, The Enterprize, told of Peaches Al Dalton had harvested on the ranch that were 8 1/2 “ in circumference and equaled anything produced in Brigham City, and he raised a bountiful harvest of tomatoes and cantaloupes.
It was April 10, 1905 – it was spring- and Bob Davis, a close friend of the family had come up for a visit. The boys were having a little Rodeo, riding horses and calves, and just being boys. Near the corral were two haystacks, one higher than the other. Matt was on the higher one, and Bob on the lower one. Matt jumped for Bob, missed, fell off the stack and hit his head on a post laying on the ground. Matt’s neck was broken, his body paralyzed. He lived four days, then died…leaving Eliza and baby Lizzie alone. Matt was buried in the cemetery at Malad, Idaho.
That fall the ranch school was consolidated into the school at Malad. The Davis family, who lived south of the Daltons, were the dividing line, and those who lived south of their farm went to Cherry Creek School. The Daltons were the school bus. In winter the bus was a sleigh, and when the weather was good, a team pulled a wagon to take the children to school.
1905 was an exciting year when the railroad came to Malad from Corinne, Utah. The entire grade was built without any machines except the steam boiler used as a pile driver where the ground was marshy. All the work was done by men and horses or mules. Bruce Grant was the contractor and the commissary (store) was managed by J. Peter Jensen. Gene saved his money and bought his first straw hat in this railroad store. The train tracks were being built about a mile from the Dalton Home, and it was an exciting day when the tracks were completed and the first train came through on January 1, 1906.
Weddings, weddings, weddings! It seemed as if someone in the family got married every year. On December 11, 1907, George married Sarah Jane McKay. On January 8, 1908, not even letting a full month pass, Ev married Jane Evans. Ev and Jane lived in the building that had been the school. It was nice to have them still on the farm. This left Gene, Roy, and Ev to help run the farm. Gene and Roy were always quarreling and so that spring Gene made up his bed roll, took some food, saddled up his horse, and left home.
October 27, 1909 was the date chosen by Mary Ann to marry Frank Madsen. The whole family was happy to have Roy marry Matt’s widow, Eliza, ( on June 14, 1910) and keep her and little Elizabeth in the family.
Spring came and Al’s health was worse. He rented his farm to Ev and later sold it to him. Mary Jane realized with Al so sick that she needed a telephone to call the doctor for help, the long awaited telephone finally was brought to the ranch to be installed the morning Al died of stomach cancer on September 3, 1913. He was buried on September 5, 1913 in Malad, Idaho.
How sad Mary Jane felt. Most of her children were married, all but Gene and Irene. Ev was a good son, but lacked the initiative to run the farm and rather than lose it to the Miller & Veal Co. of Salt Lake, who held the mortgage, he sold the farm to George Tovey. She was now without a home, but her children loved her and they moved a house from the old race track south of town into Malad and helped her make a home of it.
Life on the farm had not been easy and Mary Jane’s lot did not greatly improve. World War I started and with it the depression. Food prices were high and money was scarce.
Mary Jane sat rocking in her town home. It was comfortable and she was content to have so many blessings, but as she sat recording dates in her family Bible, she noted that surely the eight years from 1902 to 1910 had been the marrying years (seven marriages). Surely the next seven years had been the death years ( five deaths). Her father, a brother, Eliza and Roy, Husband Al. Al’s death had been the hardest. Even though he had been sick for a long time, she still loved and missed him.
She thought of how sad it had been when she had brought the body of Roy’s wife Eliza back from Ogden Utah Hospital after she had died on March 10, 1917, after only being sick a few days. She had cared for Matt’s daughter Elizabeth, and Roy’s three children while he went to Nampa, Idaho to find work. Then the sad word had come that Roy had died with the flu. She and Ev had gone there and brought back his body and he was buried in the Malad Cemetery on November 9,1 918, only two days after his death. Now she was the mother and father to four grandchildren.
One bright spot in those sad years had been finding Will. A few years after he had married Ruth Edwards, they had moved to Ogden, Utah and had separated. Then Will had been lost to them. No word from him, and many a night Mary Jane lay wondering and worrying where he could be. Then one day a letter came from Coricopia, Oregon from a man named Sid Jounson, saying that Will was in that town and he knew he would like to see them. Gene went to Oregon, found Will, and on December 14, 1917, he took his mother to Walla Walla, Washing ton to visit Will and his wife, Rose. ( Married on August 5, 1914).
The next month, on January 12, 1918, Gene enlisted in the Marine Corps and left for Mare Island, California. This left six of them at home: Mary Jane, Irene, Matt’s daughter Elizabieth age 15, Roy’s twins Lola and Lona age 7, and Albert age 5. With very little income, only a few dollars that Irene brought home from working in the cafe and Elizabeth at 15 worked at a child tending job, cleaning and at Hendricks Cafe. Mary Jane was still a good midwife and helped nurse the sick whenever she was called. Times had been hard before, but now they were desperate. There was so much sickness and death among the people she loved, Mary Jane wondered when things would get better. Her only hope seemed to be in Gene. If he could come home and support them. Finally on January 10, 1919, with the help of Ralph Harding, Gene was given a hardship release and came home.
When he arrived in Malad, Albert, age 5, had pneumonia and his mother had the flu. There was very little food and fuel and no jobs, but he was finally able to work for Bert Fiefield and W. H. Thomas unloading coal for 25 cents a ton. Spring came and things were better. On May 21, 1919 Irene married Bert Woolslayer and they moved to Park City, Utah where Bert worked in the mines.
Mary Jane was thankful she could sew. Most of the childrens clothing had to be made from hand-me-downs and nothing ever went to waste. Any scraps left over she made into beautiful hand pieced quilts and always made her own dresses. Almost always trying to make them long, with long sleeves, and a dainty white collar and cuffs to soften them a bit. Beside her chair was a basket of knitting, crocheting or stockings to mend. Her hands were never idle. Life had been hard, but it had been good and her testimony of the church never failed. She loved serving in it. Now her health was beginning to fail and she didn’t seem to have the physical strength to care for her grandchildren. A few houses away lived Olive and Orson Salverson who had no children and were always caring for Albert. When he was 8 years old, he went to live with them. On January 18, 1922 Elizabeth married Clyde Zimmerman, a barber in Malad. Gene went to Leona, Idaho to work in the mines there, and on September 18, 1923 returned to marry Margaret Thorpe.
This left Mary Jane, Iona and Lola at home. In time the twins also married and Mary Jane went to live with her daughter Mary Ann Madsen and her family for several years. Then she longed for the peace and quiet of her own little home, and in 1935 she returned there. Her daughter Rose Facer had three daughters living at home and Mary Ann had one daughter. They took turns staying with her for three weeks at a time.
Mary Jane wished fervently that people didn’t have to die. On April 5, 1926 Gene’s wife Dolly died, leaving her 6 year old son and a baby daughter Betty Jean, only 8 months old. She knew she couldn’t raise them, so Billy went to live with his father Henry Evans in Logan, Utah and Henry and Kate Jones, who lived in St. John, west of Malad, adopted Betty Jean.
On October 12, 1929 Gene married Mary Ellen McKay Richardson in Soda Springs, Idaho. Mary Ellen had a son 13 years old named Sherman and a house right next door to Mary Jane. It was nice to have them so near, but that Fall, 1935, Gene, who had been hauling fruit, was called back to work for the Utah Power and Light company in Preston, and they moved there. Mary Jane was lonely, but loved having her granddaughters stay with her. Faye Madsen was 15 and liked to fix her grandmother’s hair. It was a silver gray, thick and long and she wore it pulled straight back in a bob, but enjoyed having it combed and curled. Faye would heat up the old curling iron on the stove or in the coal-oil lamp, being very careful not to get it too hot, then she would curl grandma’s hair and arrange it nicely, being careful not to burn it. Mary Jane was an excellent cook, but in her later years developed diabetes, so she could not enjoy the sweet things she loved to bake. No matter how she felt, she always managed to have on a pretty front apron, starched and ironed to fine crispness. Perhaps for this reason, the family didn’t think she was as sick as she actually was. However on October 9, 1936 all the family that could come home was there with her, knowing that the end was near. Towards evening, Gene came from McCammon where he was living and sat on the bed holding her hands. She opened her eyes and thanked him for all he had done for her, then quietly left this world for a better one with those she loved and who were waiting for her.