Gladys Stevenson Jordan

Alicia Burk - Linda Flake - Dolores Jordan - Gladys Stevenson

Sisters Ruth, Letha, and Gladys in Farmington, Utah

 George (middle) and Gladys (right) in 1918, while they were dating

Gladys with her 2 oldest children, baby Ray and Dolores

Gladys with her 2 oldest children, Dolores and Ray

Gladys and George with their children: Dee, Bob, George, and Donna

One day while Gladys’ mother was very sick with typhoid, Gladys and her siblings were out in the haystack where they decided to pray for their mother. To their delight, they found a cat with a new litter of kittens in the haystack. Gladys was so excited! They each grabbed a kitten and ran to show it to Mother, but Mother was so sick with fever that she thought they were lions. She screamed and no one could hold her down. Their grandmother rushed the children and kittens outside and scolded them for upsetting their mother. When two more brothers became sick with typhoid, Wilford decided it was time to move, because they didn’t know where typhoid came from.

When Gladys was six, she went to bed in a big bed in her new home (with Grandmother Mary Jane Johnson in Logan, UT) and she was sure she heard bears. She put her head under the covers, so terrified. The next day when she told her mother that she’d heard bears during the night, her mother said that it was just her grandmother snoring! When Gladys was six, her family saw Halley’s Comet heading straight for the earth. Everyone thought the comet would hit the earth and explode. All of Gladys’ relatives gathered together in her grandmother’s house to be together when the comet hit and killed them all. They all talked about it and went out to watch the sky. Gladys was so terrified to hear them talking and to think that a comet would hit the earth and suddenly kill her. She was so frightened, she couldn’t even talk. Then suddenly, the comet flipped its big fiery tail and turned back the way it came. So they knew they weren’t going to die!

Gladys says to her posterity, “I hope they will grow up in the Gospel and honor their fathers and their mothers.”

Sources: Cassette-tape interview with Gladys Stevenson Jordan, by John Rogers Burk , 1971

 Gladys and George with Donna, Les, baby Cheryl and Lorna  / Gladys and George

 Gladys with great-granddaughter Juliet Peden. Juliet is wearing a shawl crocheted by Gladys.

George and Gladys on their 50th Anniversary

I, Gladys Stevenson Jordan , was born in Fielding, Utah , on July 24, 1901. We lived in this little town until I was about 5 years old. I had two older brothers and when I was three and one-half a little sister came to bless our home. While we lived here my mother took typhoid from the well water and my grandmother Mary Jane Ainsworth Johnson came to take care of her. The night her fever broke my father was sitting in the chair waiting to take off the ice bags and add hot water bags when he fell asleep. As he awoke suddenly he saw my grandfather who had been dead for years looking in the window. He hurried to my mother’s side and found she was almost gone. It took quick work to bring her back. When she was better my father took sick with the same disease and nearly died. As he became better, my older brother took the dreaded disease and Mother and Father were so discouraged that when he was well enough they sold their home and went to Logan , Utah , to stay with Grandmother Johnson until they could become settled. There the second boy, Kenneth, became ill. The fever followed us wherever we went. The Lord blessed my father and mother again, and this boy became well.

I remember this house. It was a two-story house, and we loved to sleep upstairs. Morning glories covered the porch, I loved those flowers. They were so beautiful in the morning. When I was about six, my parents moved to Brigham City , Utah . There I started school. This house was a two-story house too, but we only lived in the lower part. In the summer we had great adventure playing in the empty rooms upstairs. There was a balcony and a cherry tree which we could reach from the balcony. This we would climb down and up, and the cherries were delicious when in season. All around the house was a tall hedge of lilacs. When they were in bloom it was a beautiful sight and we spent many hours trying to find five-leafed ones, which was supposed to be good luck.

My father bought Grandfather Stevenson’s farm in Farmington , Utah , and built a five-room house next door to Grandfather Stevenson. When I was seven we moved into our new home. When I was 8 I was baptized at Farmington , in the river. I remember hjow we undressed and dressed behind the bushes. I was glad my birthday came in the summer because in winter they just broke the ice and dunked you in. James Steed baptized me. When I was ten in 1909, on October 31, another little girl came to our house and being Halloween we were a little disappointed because we were not allowed to mix with the spooks. Instead, we had to sit on the porch and watch the others have fun. In the spring when I was ten, I took typhoid and was healed only through prayer and the goodness of the Lord.

My childhood was spent on a farm at the foot of the mountains. We climbed these and went into the canyons on the north and south. The meadows and lake lay on the west. We gathered buttercups, sago lilies, curley cues and ferns in the mountains, and may flowers and violets in the meadows. We rode horses and swam in the lake. My childhood was very full and free.

I remember when we lived in Brigham City . My Aunt Effie Johnson died of small pox. The doctors pronounced her dead and her husband Jarvis Johnson prayed for Father In Heaven to give her back her life, that she might raise her eight or nine little children. She opened her eyes and became well, raised her children and outlived her husband. We were not informed of the change and came to the funeral loaded with flowers and tears, to find no funeral, which made us very happy.

We have a resort in Farmington where we danced when we were older. We had many happy evenings there. I went to the Davis County High School . President L.J. Muer was my principal. Here I met my husband, George E. Jordan, at a dance. He was an Ogden boy and had come to a basketball game and dance. We were married on May 29, 1919 and went to live in Ogden , Utah . We lived there for six months and moved to Pocatello , Idaho . There our first little girl, Dolores Elaine, was born on March 14, 1920. When she was nine months old, she had the whooping cough and measles, which left her in poor health. We lived in Ogden at this time and work being bad we went to Sparks , Nevada . There we found a little Church and a handful of Saints about 25 families in all. It was part of the California Mission. There were no stakes in California in 1921. We stayed there a year and a half. There we learned to love the Saints and enjoyed having the elders to our home several times a week for their meals. My husband was baptized there by Elder Frank P. May, a fine boy whom we learned to love as a brother. My husband was ordained to the priesthood, and was a faithful worker. Bishop Vanderhoof gave us a recommend to the temple and on the morning of April 12, 1922, we were sealed in the house of the Lord for time and all eternity, taking our little girl with us who then was just 2 years of age. I taught primary and Sunday School and was secretary for Relief Society here.

Now Dolores took pneumonia this same spring and the doctor said we must bring her to California for her health. We came here in 1922 in the summer. Rent was $50 a month for 3 rooms so we rented for 3 months and then bought a lot in San Gabriel County , whiat is now called Rosemeade. There we lived in a neighbors garage while we built a four-room house, moving into it as soon as the outside shell was up.

The following February 7, 1933, our second child came to us, a 9-pound  boy we named Raymond Jay. We spent many happy days here, and we found a branch of the Church in Alhambra where we went to Sunday School and mutual. These meetings were held in the W.O.W. Hall on Main Street . I taught Sunday School here, we had no primary, and relief society was held in the sisters’ homes. There was only about 35 families here then and, of course, we had 2 missionaries. I always loved living in the mission field. There is a different spirit there. The Saints are so close to one another. It seems that after wards are established people become too dependent of themselves and lose a portion of that Holy Spirit that is necessary to maintain and hold a mission together.

In 1925, Mr. Jordan was transferred to Sacramento . Here we again lived in a mission field. We learned to love the people here and I was appointed Secretary of Relief Society and also taught a class in the Sunday School, but we had sadness come into our home here and we were not satisfied in this town again. Our little Raymond took diphtheria on the 1^st of April, 1927, and went to his Father in Heaven at one o’clock April 5, 1927. This was a shock to us and I know my belief in this Church and its teachings kept me going form day to day. My husband and I had always been very close to each other but this brought us to even a greater understanding of life and our mission together here on this earth. We took this boy to Ogden and buried him close to his grandfather coming back to Sacramento to take up our life again where we had stopped to pause.

The following July 20, 1927, a lovely boy came to bless our home and because I always felt bad that I had not given my first boy his father’s name, I named this boy George Earl Jordan. He was much comfort and joy to me coming to me so soon after my great loss.

During this time the branch had been separated into three branches. The Sacramento Branch being the original and North Sacramento Branch and the Sutter named for the old fort which is still standing there.

We belonged to the Sutter Branch. Now my baby was the first baby to be blessed in this new ward and Bishop Jensen blessed him. My husband had always wanted to bless his babies but he was so timid at doing these things that he never gained the courage to bless one until the last baby and he gave her a lovely blessing.

Here I served as secretary of Relief Society, teacher in primary, sang in the choir, and helped my husband with mutual as he was president. We held mutual and primary at my home; these were certainly inspirational meetings, the crowd being small and the Spirit of the Lord being large. We had a large basement and the M-Men would go down there for their boxing and basketball practice while we would have classes on the main floor. Sometimes we couldn’t hear ourselves think for the noise downstairs, but we never thought of complaining.

Now the depression was beginning to stir and my husband was laid off work with the railroad so he went to work as bookkeeper in a bank This did not pay very well and soon we became discouraged trying to keep up with our obligations so when the bank asked him if he would like a transfer to Los Angeles,, we were very happy as we felt we could find better work here after getting settled.

We came to Los Angeles in the winter of 1929. George went to work in the Bank of America as bookkeeper. After getting settled, George began to look for better work. This he found with the oil company in Santa Fe Springs as a bookkeeper, but soon the company began laying men off and George received his notice. He then went to work for a truck company called H.P. Truck. The wages were small, but we managed to live within our income and help some that were more unfortunate than we.

Now we went to Church at Alhambra again. By now they had bought an old building on 1^stStreet here. I was not in the ward long before I was asked to be second counselor in Relief Society, Sister Agnes Bruce being our president. I learned to love her very dearly and enjoyed working with her. George was asked to take charge of the basketball in the Alhambra Ward and being a very fine athlete he made a great success of this work.

About 1930 we began to build a new building, the old one being too small and the Church sold it to the Seven-Day Adventists. They allowed us to rent it and continue our meetings there until our building on 8^th Street was up sufficiently for us to meet in.

Sister Bruce resigned at this time because of her husband’s health. (He passed away in 1935.) I was put in her place. We fed our men two meals a day and raised a great deal of money for our new building and then in September 1931 I was released because of the coming of my next baby, a boy born October 26, 1931. We named him Robert Ray and again I took a short vacation, but the following spring Brother Bill Chappel chose me as second councilor for the Genealogy Society, Pauline Clapp being the first, and again I was put in second counselor to Sister Norah Hoyle in the relief society. But this baby was a very cross baby and when older had to have an operation on his throat, so found I must the relief society work. But I helped them with their magazines and I taught in the primary during these years.

In 1934 I had to resign everything as my health was failing and August 18, 1935, a baby girl came to our home. We named her Donna Ruth, Ruth for her aunt. I was two months in bed this time and it seemed that my mission here was finished when the Genealogy Class on Monday night sent me some lovely flowers and prayed for the Lord to spare my life. I know that these prayers were answered for I was better the next day and only one week I got out of my bed. I was a year gaining my strength back and perhaps will never be as well again, but I am able to do some Church work and take care of my little family for which I am thankful.

In 1936, we decided we could save some money by moving to Hunting Park as his work was in Vernon . The building there was finished and dedicated. The new organ was in and paid for so we felt that a good job was finished and we could leave content.

Moving to Huntington Park, I helped here with the teaching, being supervisor for about a year then again I was chosen for counselor but my health would not allow me to do what my heart and mind wished to do, so I had to ask for a release after about 6 months, but I took the teachers topic and for one winter I carried this on. Now the primary asked for help and I took a class in the winter of 1938. It is now 1939 and I am still there.

This winter, 1938 and 1939, we started a junior genealogy and I was asked to be a teacher. I am glad now for all the years I have attended this organization for now I may help the young girls and boys to enjoy an dlove this work that is so close to my heart. I hope I might help some of these people to a sure footing in this work that they might be leaders. During all this time from 1921 to now I have been a relief society teacher only asking for rest while my babies were born. I love this work too.

The winter of 1928 and 1939 has passé by. My Junior Genealogy class advanced with the Spirit of the Lord and are almost ready for their second years work. My primary class went into the Guide Class and I feel these two things have been accomplished well. It is now time to start another winter’s work.

During this summer I took my two boys and little girl to Lake Elsinor to camp on the edge of this beautiful lake. Both my boys can swim and my little girl loves the water. Donna had the whooping cough while we were there. I also had my brother’s boy Odell Stevenson for the summer. He is a good boy. An old friend Sister Mable Ripley who lives at 1827 Vic Street in Sacramento , California , spent a month with us. Our vacation was perfect. After returning home I put up much fruit and vegetables, having 800 quarts in all as our work stopped in June; work being very bad here at this time.

Today, September 3, 1939, England and France declared war on Germany , who has been firing on Poland for two days bringing my thoughts closer to our genealogy teachings of the last days and the last war. I hope I may have courage during the things that must come and never lose sight of my duty to do the Lord’s work.

It was always thought that the Jordans came down from noblemen in England , however, cousins who have been contacted in England know nothing of this story. However, in Salt Lake City ’s library there is a Gerrard from the same territory as the Jordans came from and this could be the noble line in place of the Jordans , however, here is a copy from a book in the Los Angeles Library, Page 1223 – Gen R. 974-1 and Gen R. 920.073 A 511-V4 (Jordans ancient family in Dorsetshire, and occurred very early in Coker Frome, at Frome White Field. Their arms are quartered with Trenchard and Mohun.

In the windows of Manor House of Wolverton, if windows remain there is almost a complete pedigree of these ancient notables. Wolverton Manor lies eight miles from Weymouth , John Jordan its ancient owner was escheator of the county. The fifth of Henry the IV and his name occurs in a list of gentlemen the twenty-fifth of Henry VI he bought place from his daughter’s heir to Henry Trenchard of Hampshire.

            John Jordan held land at Wigmouth 1440

            John Judeyne a member of Parliament, 1553

            Richard Jordain, Mayor of Melcomb, 1596

            The name Jordan was adopted as a surname

One Weeks Diary

Sept. 1             Friday – today it is still summer. The children are out of school. My day went as usual. Poland and Germany are at war which brings sadness to we who have been through the world war 20 years ago.

Sept. 2             Saturday – Drove over to Bell Gardens to see Georges brother Edd on arriving home we heard over the radio England gave Germany until Sunday noon to withdraw their troops and stop fighting.

Sept. 3             Sunday – This morning brought news of England and France declared war against Germany . We went to Sunday School and the testimony and prayers of our good people were full of the Spirit of the Lord, each one spoke of the ward and prayed for strength for the Saints.

--typed up by Alicia Burk Riley, April 2015, from typewritten pages found at my parents' home
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Grandma Jordan was a descriptive writer.  I like how she tells about the two story homes she liked with flowers.  It shows me another side of her that I don’t remember.

She was a most perfect grandma.  I loved it when she played “This Little Piggy” with me, then laughed so merrily.  I later played it with all of my grandchildren.  She was very talented with her artwork and china, but she also embroidered dishtowels and pillowcases for her granddaughter’s “Hope Chests”. She also painted each granddaughter a set of beautiful, floral china.   She later made cute little crocheted dolly purses and embroidered books for her great-grandchildren.

Grandma Jordan had the warmest laugh. It just bubbled up from inside of her.  She was always very cheerful with her grandchildren, and loved to teach us how to do things.  

When I was staying with her on a break from BYU, she told me that she didn’t feel any older than when she was 17, but then she would look into the mirror and wonder who that woman with gray hair was!  My mother, my twin brother Bob, and I lived by her and Grandpa Jordan for the school year after my father died, in July of 1963.  We moved to Huntington Park from North Bend, Oregon, where  I started my Sophomore year at the same High School (I am guessing?) Lorna Graduated from in probably 1957.  (She lived with them at the end of her Senior year because she had gotten very sick in Oregon.  She needed the warm Los Angeles air to get well.)  My Grandma taught me to paint a china dish and I have it to this day.

~Linda Kay Flake Burk (This is told to the best of my memory : )

 Alicia with a picture of her great-grandmother Gladys

Silhouettes of George and Gladys / Gladys with her mother in Farmington, UT, early 1900's

Horace Henry Flake

Alicia Burk - Linda Kay Flake - Horace Henry Flake

MEMORIES OF MY BROTHER HORACE by Lester W. Flake  Phoenix, AZ  May 5, 1998

Dolores and Horace

 Dee (3rd from left), Gladys, George, Horace

Dee, Horace, Lorna, Linda, Bob, Cheryl

Horace Henry Flake, my brother, was less than two years my junior, so I do not recall when I was first conscious of having a younger brother. However, until I was 15 or 16, I do not recall not being in almost constant (or at least daily) touch with him. He was closer to my heart (I feel) than any other person except our sweet mother.

Very faintly I recall scenes at the little ranch house near Sholow, AZ, when Aunt Jewel (Ray), mother’s sister, came to spend a short time with us. They seemed so happy to be together, and they made the little frame house ring with their laughter and singing. I faintly recall (after mother told me) that I made Horace cry one day, when I told him I was going to marry mother. “Wall”, he is reported saying, “I guess I’ll have to marry Aunt Jewel.”

The next thing that crops out in my memory was while we were still very young Dad brought home a pony for me, and Horace went with me to drive the milk cows out to the range. On the way back we decided to have a race. Horace was mounted on old Charley, a trusted saddle horse on which we both had learned to ride, and as I recall, he was so small his legs stuck straight out as he sat on the bare back of the old horse, so it was difficult for him to hold on. The horses started loping, and Horace started bouncing. Trying to catch the mane he dropped the reins, I recall each time he bounced he went further back on old Charley until there was no more back, and Horace was left sitting in the sandy lane.

Our differences were never very serious, but I learned early not to fool with Horace! He was smaller than I, but athletically gifted and had the heart of a lion. Anything I did he would try, and there wasn’t much he couldn’t do. On another occasion I made my brother cry, I have no recollection of what it was over, but mother came out onto the front porch (in Snowflake) just in time to catch a hatchet he had raised over his head, and was intending to bringing down on the top of my head.

The next recall still haunts me. We both became very sick. We were in bed together, and mother all the good women of the Snowflake area were trying to help us. It was 30 miles to get any medical help, and the doctor had to come by horse and buggy. Our pioneer father considered faith more important than medicine so we were in very bad shape before the doctor was called. We were delirious by then so I don’t recall the doctor, but I was told he stuck his head in the door and said, “Whoo, diphtheria!” Fortunately he had a good supply of antitoxin with him. When he’d done all he could, he advised mother to keep us very quiet as long as she could. “If they survive,” he said, “They will always be weak and will probably need glasses.”

Horace was hardly recovered and still very weak when he went with Dad to haul a load of heavy barnyard manure out to the farm. For some reason Dad was driving a fractious team, and seeing some person he wished to speak with stepped off the wagon, and handed the little boy the reins. Something spooked the team and they hit their collars so as to jolt the wagon and pull the little boy off and under a heavy iron wheel which went right over his head. Dad grabbed the horses then saw Horace. The little fellow’s head was flat as a pancake and he appeared as though dead. Dad picked the boy up and ran for two blocks to the house of his sister, Pearl McClause, and she went to work on the little fellow.

I was told she held the boy’s head in her hands, working it with her fingers, and blowing into the child’s mouth. Dad, a big rough frontiersman, was almost hysterical. His wife had been after him for not considering dangerous situations where we children were concerned. Now it looked like he’d have to face her with the consequences of what she had been talking about. The little boy survived that ordeal, but it was a long time before he would look healthy like the other children. In fact, he didn’t do well until after he was in high school. Then he seemed to blossom, and tried to go out for football. He was fast, shifty, and strong for his size, but the Coach said he was just too small, and he was afraid he’d be hurt.

It was about that time Dad started to subdivide the farm we lived on, and Horace became his right hand man. A man named Scott who painted houses for Dad was so impressed by the way Horace did whatever job he was given, he offered to teach him the painting trade. That was in the midst of a terrible depression, and learning a trade was considered very helpful for a young person. I was never around when this happened as I had a job at a large produce company and was bringing in a paycheck the family needed badly. But Horace became a good painter -- and was to fall back on that trade for the rest of his life.

When he was in his middle teens, the love bug bit my brother. He had by then become very popular with both boys and girls, and was a good mixer and dancer. A family from St. Johns moved to the valley and after Horace took a shine to their teenage girl, the father decided to move them back. We planned going to Snowflake that summer, so Horace promised the girl he would come and see her as the towns were only a few miles apart. The closer to Snowflake we got in the old Ford, the more anxious my brother got. We all knew how he was looking forward to seeing the young lady, and how he had been planning to surprise her.

When we arrived Horace asked Dad for the car to go keep the date he had dreamed of in St. Johns. He received a flat rejection with no explanation. In fact, Dad just turned his back on him and walked away. Horace was absolutely crushed. Mother was frightened my brother might run away -- but after the shock wore off Horace never mentioned it again. Howbeit, that day Dad lost his right hand man. When we returned to the Valley, Horace went to work for Mr. Scott who had gone into the painting business for himself. Dad saw very little of his second son after that. Horace was then called on a mission.

A year after I went on a mission for the LDS Church, my brother Horace was called to the same mission. We had a chance to work together, and I never had a better companion or one I enjoyed more. It was in MIssissippi, and the weather was mostly hot and humid. We walked the dusty country roads, ate the fare of the country folks, and shared their meager accommodations. One day we walked several miles to look for a family. It was in swamp land near the Mississippi River across from New Orleans. Coming to a clearing in the pine trees we could see a little unpainted shack.

On the porch stood a person looking our way, soon a second joined and we were close enough by then to see it was a man and a woman. Excitement was obvious and the woman went back inside. As we got there we found it was an Indian family that hadn’t seen an elder in several years. They were so happy to see us and we could see that the woman had gone inside to set a table for food. That was good news for us as we had not eaten since the day before. On the table were four unmatching plates and two huge sweet potatoes. The man cut each potato in half and that was the meal. That was their meal and without comment or apology they shared it with us. However, the afternoon was a wonderful spiritual feast!

Time came too quickly for us to leave as they obviously had no room to put us up. Like happy children we walked along the sandy road talking of how strong the Spirit had been and how we’d enjoyed the simple Saints. Suddenly, as though it struck the two of us at the same time, we stopped and looked at each other as if coming back to reality. It was Thanksgiving Day! Without another word we walked into the Piney Woods and knelt together. We then thanked our God for the most wonderful Thanksgiving Day we had ever had. In my long life I have become no stranger to the Spirit of the Lord --  but I doubt it has ever come over me stronger than it did that day with my brother in the backwoods of Mississippi.

Later, after we had been assigned to different companions, our Mission President, LeGrand Richards, came to hold a conference in a little farming community of Darbin, where Horace was stationed. Asking where the bathroom was between sessions, he was told to walk out to the ridge, “Ladies to the right, men to the left.” The good man was shocked! He asked the Elders present for one with building experience. He then instructed Horace and his companion to build two “Chick sales” (outhouses) with ample accommodations at mission expense. “This isn’t even civilized,” was the conclusion of the good man.

Soon we were ready to build a new church in Columbia, and a contractor from Utah was sent with his brother and their wives. Horace had done such a good job in Darbin, that he was recruited to help the Pierce brothers. One Elder had been a champion rodeo performer from Canada. A committee for raising building funds for the new chapel decided to put on a Western style rodeo, for the town of Columbia. The mayor was contacted and other dignitaries, who seemed to think it would be a good idea. Advertising for the needed animals produced a great assortment of mules, horses, and bovine. I heard Horace rode a wild mule and did a good job. One of the visitors was heard to say, “They are just a bunch of fun-loving boys, and to think they are all preachers!”

After his release as a regular missionary, Horace stayed at Columbia to help finish the chapel. At the finish of a hot day, a few of the local boys took him with them for a refreshing swim in the river. As my brother told it to me later, he offered to show the boys how he caught fish in Arizona. There were big “sloughs” in the dry Salt River Bed where we would swim in the summer and fish would spend the hot days back under the bank in the shade. I was told that when he reached under the bank in Mississippi, he caught what he thought was a big fish. As he pulled it from the water he faced an angry cottonmouth moccasin (close relative of the rattlesnake), and it nailed him on the arm. That ended the party. Horace was rushed to the hospital and was administered to. To the doctor and nurse’s surprise, he was up next day ready to go back to work.

We were never in close touch after that until I came home from the Army. By then Horace, Dee and their children were living on a little ranch outside of Bend, Oregon. I was having it rough trying to get started again, and when I went to see my brother he persuaded me to come and join him in running a dairy, and dealing in other ventures. I took my wife and two little girls to Bend and started a never-to-be-forgotten adventure.

It was a joy to work with Horace, he knew only one pace that was full speed ahead. I had been living a rather soft life, and the first job he gave me was to move a mountain of baled hay from out on the John Day River to the ranch (by myself) with an ancient flatbed truck and a pair of hay hooks. I lost 60 pounds in 60 days, and stretched every muscle in my body to the breaking point. But I felt useful for the first time since I had been home from overseas. In addition to milking night and morning, Horace was cutting pulpwood. Soon I was able to do all the the milking and he went full time to “pulping,” and I helped him part-time.

Working hard 16 to 18 hours a day (everyday) we seemed to literally coin money -- but there was a catch to it. We would get a little ahead, and a milk cow would have to be replaced because of mastitis or the woods would be shut down for some reason beyond our control. I never worked harder in my life and finally it dawned on me; I was not the leader anymore; “little brother” was the leader! It was a great two years, we didn’t come out with any money, but I thoroughly enjoyed working with Horace and I once more got hard as nails and in good physical shape.

I was fixing a fence one morning when Horace came to me. I could see he was worried. We talked of what needed to be done for a bit; then he said he thought we must break up, as we were just not going to make it. He offered to let me keep the dairy if I wanted to, but he had been offered a job and he and his wife had decided they had better take it. It was a dramatic moment, and we both wound up crying and hugging each other. That (to the best of my recall) was the last time I saw my brother. We worked together closing things up but communication was done by phone. The herd was sold -- and I took a job as a pick and shovel man for a road contractor until my third daughter was born, and I could move my family back to Phoenix. However, I expect to see my brother in the near future, and I hope (and feel) we’ll again work together.

Wilford Albert Stevenson and Sarah Adalaide Johnson

Alicia Burk - Linda Flake - Dolores Jordan - Gladys Stevenson - Wilford Stevenson and Sarah Johnson

Wilford (1871-1946) remembers as a little pioneer boy hearing the meadowlarks sing. He thought they were singing, “I see lazy WILford.” His parents told him that because they didn’t want him to be lazy! He didn’t like to work, but he grew up to be a hard worker.

As a little boy, Wilford lived on a 50-acre-farm but didn’t like to work on the farm because they had to make their own crude farm tools and did much work by hand. They had wooden rakes rather than metal rakes (Wilford later gave a wooden rake to a Utah museum). Wilford and his brothers grew up in the times of the outlaw Jesse James. The brothers loved to play Jesse James and became quite rough in acting out Jesse James. Wilford was very musical and could play almost anything--violin, flute, piano, almost anything anyone gave him to play. The family had a little band of their own and played for the dances. Wilford and his brother later played flute and piano for dances, too. Wilford was in the first primary, organized by Aurelia Spencer Rogers, and had a little membership card. On a famous painting of the first primary, Wilford is one of the little boys sitting on the bench. 

Wilford had an eighth-grade education and was considered very educated. In those days, people were lucky to receive a third or fourth-grade education. So people came to Wilford from all over town to ask for his help in figuring out things and doing things they weren’t educated to do. While travelling to another part of Utah, Wilford stayed in a boarding house. A girl named was working in the boarding house; she and Wilford got married. They took out a dry farm (or homestead) for a few years. One terrible winter, Wilford had to go tend to the cows and horses. As he walked in the blizzard, he could not see to find his way home and wandered around and around. Luckily, his wife stood on the porch with a lantern held high, and he eventually spotted the light and found his way home. The next day when he went to , he saw his footprints in the snow and noticed that they went within one foot of a deep well. If he’d fallen in he could have been killed. “So the Lord was with him to guide him back to the house safely.” He had a big dog on that farm and he loved the dog very much. One day, Wilford’s two-year-old son escaped from the house and ran out among the horses. As the dog followed the boy, he ran in circles around the boy, while barking and barking to keep the horses from trampling the little boy. The dog had saved the boy’s life until his mother and father discovered he was missing and came to find him. 

Life on the farm was hard; if it rained they had a good crop, if it didn’t rain they had a poor harvest. Another of Wilford’s sons had long curly hair down to his shoulders. His mother didn’t have any little girls, so she let her son have long hair and wouldn’t let anyone cut it. One day while mother was at Relief Society, Wilford got out the scissors and gave his son a boy haircut. Mother cried when she saw the haircut! Later, the family was drinking from their well which had typhoid germs. Mother had just recovered from typhoid when Wilford became very sick with the typhoid. Mother was too weak to care for him, so she had a spiritualist nurse come. During the heavy snows, someone would knock at the door but when Mother opened the door, no one was there. There weren’t even any footprints there. The nurse said not to answer the door; it was spirits coming to see her, she said. Mother was frightened and sent the nurse away. After the nurse was gone, Wilford was so enraged that he couldn’t be held down or calmed. So Mother let the woman come back, and as soon as she came in, Wilford calmed down and was quiet.

--by his daughter Gladys

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Sarah Adelaide Johnson (wife of Wilford Albert Stevenson) 1873-1930

 Sarah (2nd row, far left) with her mother Mary (2nd row, 3rd from left) and siblings

Sarah / Sarah with Ruth

Joseph White and Ruby Elnora Sterns, and their daughter Sarah Elnora White

Joseph White (Born in Boston in 1801, Married Ruby Elnora Sterns in 1829, Father of Sarah Elnora White, Died in 1850) and Ruby Elnora Sterns

Joseph was born in a small log cabin in Boston in 1801. After marrying Ruby, he took her home to Boston for one year, then they moved to Palmyra, New York, where their baby Sarah was born. In 1834 they moved to Ohio. In 1838, Joseph heard the Gospel preached by a missionary and was converted at once. Upon arriving home, he told his wife that he had found the gospel that he had been seeking for all his life. Ruby was a Methodist school teacher and investigated the Church for a year before joining in 1839. She was baptized by Martin Harris, one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Her family was very upset at her for joining the Church, so Joseph and Ruby moved to Nauvoo. In 1840, Joseph joined the Nauvoo legion and was a mounted guard until the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The Whites lived just one mile from Carthage Jail, then in Bear Creek (eight miles out of Nauvoo). While Joseph was guarding Nauvoo, word came that all Mormon families would be killed or tortured in a terrible way. As a result, Ruby Elnora and her children went to a neighbor’s home with a big cellar. Each evening, several families locked themselves in the cellar for safety, while the house was guarded by six armed men outside. This continued for about two weeks, during which time no one took off their clothes.

In 1846, the Whites moved to Council Bluffs on their trek to Utah. They drove into Council Bluffs at night with nothing more than a wagon and a yoke of oxen. The next morning, Joseph told his wife that he had volunteered to join the Mormon Battalion. Ruby Elnora fainted, but a neighbor comforted her and said he’d care for the family until Joseph returned. Leaving his family camped in their covered wagon, Joseph walked all the way to Mexico and California, then returned to Council Bluffs by way of Utah in 1847. Joseph found his family in a two-room log cabin; in one room, Ruby Elnora had been teaching school to support the family for nearly two years. The Bishop and other men had decided to build her the cabin so she could teach all the children. Ruby Elnora was a wonderful teacher and was paid with flour and clothes and everything to keep them well and warm. Joseph worked for another year in Council Bluffs, earning money for two wagons, two yoke of oxen for one wagon and four oxen and two cows on the other wagon. A man bought him a wagon if he would carry groceries for him. They headed west in April 1849 and spent four months on the trail. Once while crossing a deep stream, Joseph was riding behind the wagon driven by his 12-year-old son. When an undercurrent of water hit them and Joseph thought Robert might drown, Joseph screamed for him to jump on the back of the head oxen and turn them back in the proper course. With the aid of his Heavenly Father, Robert jumped safely onto the back of the oxen and in a miraculous way turned the oxen in the right direction, thus saving the lives of them all. While on their trek, the pioneers caught cholera from the Indians and many pioneers died. Joseph became very ill, overdosed on the medicine, and as a result slept for three days. He appeared to be dead and was prepared for burial, but then he woke up from his deep sleep!

The Whites settled in Farmington and were able to clear, plow, and plant wheat that year. Joseph left in early 1850 to try for gold in California. When he returned in the fall, he was sick but planted four acres of wheat. He fenced his farm, then cut and

shocked all his wheat. But he worked too hard and took sick with a bad sore throat and died within five days. He was one of the first people buried in the Salt Lake Cemetery.

Sarah Elnora White (Born November 18, 1831, in New York Married James Stevenson Died January 12, 1915 (age 83))

Eleanor lived in Nauvoo when she was a little girl, while Joseph Smith was a prophet. Her father was a guard to help protect Joseph Smith; wherever the Prophet was, Grandfather White could also be found. When Sarah was about 8 or 9, she played with the jailer’s daughter. Sarah’s friend lived in the same jail in which Joseph Smith was killed. Sarah often went to the jail to play with her friend; she drew many a bucket of water from the well and oftimes dangled her feet from the window where the prophet and his brother, Hyrum, were martyred. One day as Sarah and her family were walking out of their front gate, a man on horseback rode down the street waving a hat and crying that the prophet and his brother had been killed. (Margaret Steed Hess, My Farmington 1847-1976, p.122)

In 1845, Sarah travelled to Council Bluffs and lived there while her father served in the Mormon Battalion’s march to Mexico. When Sarah was 16, she crossed the plains with the pioneers. Sarah and her 12-year-old brother were in charge of driving a team of oxen hitched to a wagon, while her parents drove another team and wagon. That way, her family would have two teams of oxen and two wagons when they reached the Salt Lake Valley. Sarah and her brother traded off riding a horse while leading the cows and driving the wagon. Many times, the pioneers didn’t have enough food and Sarah was very hungry. One day, they boiled the leather harnesses (worn by the oxen) to make some soup. One day while crossing a river, the oxen and wagon became caught in a whirlpool. Sarah and her brother were riding alone in the wagon and bravely manipulated the oxen until they arrived safely on the other side of the river and climbed onto the bank. At some deep streams, the water was so high due to rainfall that the pioneers would raise the wagon box by placing four blocks under the box. Even then the water often came into the wagon and soaked all their goods. Halfway across the plains, the pioneers came to a big river and had to be ferried across (they took turns riding on a big raft made of logs). 1500 Indians were coming across the river going the other direction, so after a load of pioneers crossed the river, a load of Indians rode the ferry back across the river. When night came on, 50 pioneers were camping on one side of the river and 50 pioneers were on the other side of the river, both groups surrounded by Indians. A double guard was placed for protection, but the Indians were not hostile. That evening, a teenage boy and girl went for a walk along the river bank. They had been warned not to go beyond the covered wagons, but they walked too far and were kidnapped by Indians. A big Indian came into the pioneers’ camp with an interpreter and informed the pioneers that the two teenagers would be returned if the pioneers would give their best team of oxen to the Indians, which they did. Sarah camped on the ground that night with Indians all around on one side and buffalo running around on the other side, with wolves howling in the distance. One night the buffalo frightened the oxen and caused them to stampede and run away. It took two days to locate all the oxen. Every Sunday, the pioneers rested from their travels to hold church meetings and show gratitude to the Lord.

When they arrived in Utah, they settled in Farmington, . Sarah met and married a pioneer boy, James Stevenson. They lived with Sarah’s mother for one year, then they

built a house out of rocks with walls one-foot thick. In the fireplace they cooked all their food. The large windows had deep windowsills, so deep they could use them as tables! They had to leave their comfortable home and move south when Johnston’s Army was marching to Utah. They thought everything would be burned when they returned home, but Brigham Young promised them that nothing would be harmed. The family had two beds in the one big room; father and mother slept in the one big bed, while all the children slept on a bed that was kept underneath the parents’ bed and pulled out at nighttime. Sarah and James had 12 children, but not all of them lived. One time, Sarah and some of the children were very ill with diptheria. Sarah had two daughters at the time and both of them died. Shortly thereafter, Sarah gave birth to another daughter. The baby was rushed out of the home and cared for by a neighbor until the Stevenson’s had recovered from diptheria. This baby was the only surviving daughter. She had six older brothers, one of whom is our great-great-great-grandfather Wilford Albert Stevenson.

One time, the Indians came to Sarah’s home while all the men were up in the canyons cutting wood. “They didn’t know just what to do, but Aunt Emma...talked in tongues to these Indians and she had never spoken a word in her life of the Indian language. She never knew what she said to them, but it frightened them so that they got on their horses and went away very quickly. This was always a testimony to me that they Lord will help you when you really need it.” According to Margaret Hess, Aunt Nancy talked to the six Indians in the Indians’ language, then invited the Indians to eat dinner with them. The Indians made her understand that if she would give each Indian a blanket, they would leave in peace, and they did.

Sources: Cassette-tape interview with Gladys Stevenson Jordan, by John Rogers Burk, 1971

Margaret Steed Hess, My Farmington 1847-1976, p.122-26)

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(The following typewritten account by Gladys Stevenson is nearly identical to the account above.)

Sarah Elnora’s father, Joseph White, was born in 1801 in Boston. At age 28 he married Ruby Elnora Stearns. He took her home to Boston for one year. In 1830 they moved to Jefferson Co., New York. Sarah Elnora was born here on November 18, 1831. In 1834 they moved to Ohio. Here in 1836 at 34 Joseph White heard the Gospel preached by Acel Blachard and was converted at once. On arriving home he told his wife that he had found the Gospel he had been seeking all of his life. Sarah Elnora’s mother was a school teacher and a Methodist. She did not become converted until 1839 and then after a year of investigation, she was baptized by Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses. Her family was extremely bitter toward her for joining the Mormon Church so they moved to Nauvoo.

At Nauvoo in 1840, Joseph W. joined the Nauvoo Legion. He was one of the mounted guards and remained one until and during the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. While Joseph W. was guarding Nauvoo, the little family moved to Carthage, just one mile from the jail. Elnora played with the jail keeper’s little girl. She drew many a bucket of water from the well and often dangled her feet from the window where the prophet and brother Hyrum were martyred. During this time of mob bitterness toward the Mormons, her family moved to Bear Creek, about 8 miles out of Nauvoo. Joseph White was on guard in the City of Nauvoo when it was feared that all Mormon families would be killed or tortured in some terrible way. It was unsafe for Ruby Elnora and her little family to stay home at night so they went to Russel White’s home, a large house with a large cellar. Each evening with the other families they were locked in for safety. The house outside was guarded by six armed men. This continued for about two weeks during which time no one took off their clothes. One day as they were going out of their gate to go to the Hyde home a man on horseback came down the street waving a hat and crying that the prophet and his brother Hyrum had been killed.

After one year on the farm at Bear Creek, the family moved back to Nauvoo, in the fall of 1844. In 1846 the White family moved to Council Bluffs. They drove at night with nothing more than a yoke of oxen. The next morning Sarah Elnora’s father came into camp and said he had volunteered to join the Mormon Battalion and go to Mexico to fight for his country. On hearing this his wife fainted, but Brother Miller, a neighbor, comforted her, saying he would care for her and the family during Joseph’s absence. Joseph walked all the way to Mexico and California. He returned through Salt Lake City and met the pioneers there in 1847 and reached Council Bluffs the same year. He found his family living in a  two-room log cabin. One room was used for a school where Sarah Elnora’s mother taught and supported the family. She taught school for almost two years to pay for food and clothing to keep them well and warm. When Joseph White left with the Mormon Battalion, his family was camped in a wagon. Daniel Miller, bishop of the little colony of pioneers, called the men together and they decided to build a log cabin with one room for a school and the other room for the family to live in. All the children of hte colony came to the little school as she was a splendid teacher. In this way the family was cared for until Joseph returned from Mexico. Sarah Elnora was 13 when they arrived in Council Bluffs and 16 when the family started across the plains to Utah in 1848. They remained in Council Bluffs during 1848 while Joseph earned money to outfit two wagons and teams. The teams were two oxen on one wagon and four oxen and two cows on the other. A man bought them a wagon if they would carry groceries for him.

The White family was in Captain Gully’s charge and there were 100 teams. This division was again divided into 50 teams with Captain Vanderhoof as head and Captain McCarthey was head over the division of 10 teams. The journey began in April 1849 and took four months. Sarah Elnora, just a girl of 16, drove one team of oxen in the afternoon and in the morning rode a horse and drove the cattle. Her brother Robert, just 12, drove the oxen in the morning and the cattle in the afternoon. About half way across the plains they came to a river and had to be ferried across. About 1500 Indians were moving camp in the opposite direction. This meant that after a load of Saints was taken over, a load of Indians was brought back. That night fifty teams were on one side of the river and 50 on the other side. A double guard was posted for protection but the Indians were not hostile. While camped by the river that evening a boy and girl about 19 went for a walk along the river bank. They had been warned not to go outside the enclosure of wagons. They were kidnapped by the Indians and a short time later a big Indian with an interpreter informed the pioneers that they would return the two for the finest yoke of oxen they had. They were given the oxen and the two were returned. The Indians had cholera and the pioneers took it from them. Ten out of the 50 died with it, Captain McCarthey being one of them. Joseph White also took the cholera, but he recovered after a severe attack. He took an overdose of medicine which caused him to sleep for three days. They prepared to fix him for burial for they supposed he would die, but he awoke and fully recovered.

Imagine camping at night with all the wagons in a circle forming a corral, the Indians wandering about on one side and buffalo on the other, and listening to the uncanny howling of wolves. One night the buffalo frightened the oxen and caused them to stampede. It took two days to round them up. Some of the streams were so high because of the rains that it was almost impossible to cross. They raised the wagon  box by putting blocks under it and even then sometimes the water soaked all their goods. One stream of water was especially swift. Joseph White was in the wagon behind the one his son Robert was driving. The leaders on Robert’s wagon turned downstream because of the the current hitting them. Realizing the danger of his son and the oxen drowning, Joseph called to him to jump on the back of the head oxen and turn them back in the proper direction. With the aid of his Father in Heaven the boy jumped safely onto the back of the oxen and some way turned them back, thus saving himself and his oxen, which were so valuable to them. Sunday was a day held sacred by them and they ceased their travel to hold meetings and show gratitude to the Lord. They also had their recreation period in their little circle when music, singing and dancing were enjoyed.

After four months of travel this division of pioneers landed in Salt Lake City coming through Emigration Canyon. Joseph’s family went to Farmington, and took up land and began farming. The winter of 1849 was mild and Joseph cleared, plowed and planted one acre of  at. Joseph and Amasa Lyman and a company of 100 men left for California in the spring of 1850 to look for gold. When summer came and the wheat grew tall and ripened with no one to cut it, Sarah Elnora and Robert went into the fields and with a scythe cut the wheat. The brave youngsters with the help of their mother shocked the wheat and thrashed it. This was done with two wagon covers sewed together and flakes made from willows. After the wheat was sacked the two children hauled it to Brigham Young’s flour mill at Liberty Park to be ground.

Joseph White returned from California in the fall, sick. He planted four acres of wheat, fenced his farm and scythed and cradled the grain. he took sick with putrid sore throat and within five days he died. He was buried in one of the first graves in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

After her father’s death, Sarah Elnora went out to work at different places. Before she became 21 she married James Stevenson of Salt Lake City. They lived one year with her mother and then rented a farm.James built a log cabin on the main street of Farmington. In 1853 he went on a mission to the Indians at Fort Supply, some miles from Fort Bridger. He had just finished building two more rooms and making them comfortable when they call came to go south on account of Johnson’s Army coming. They had to leave everything except what they were to eat and wear, and did not expect to find anything when they returned, if they ever did return. They thought it would all be burned. They went south with Brigham Young and he promised them nothing would be harmed. When they returned no damage had been done. Once all of the men had to go into the hills, to get logs, leaving one man to fire a gun if help was needed. One day while the women were preparing dinner, six warriors with intent to  kill came up to the house. Nancy Stevenson, wife of Edward, went calmly to them and for the first time in her life talked in tongues. It was the language of the Indians. Aunt Nancy had dinner served and invited the Indians in to eat. They ate dinner and made her understand that if she would give them each one blanket they would leave in peace, and they kept their word.

Here in this little home they raised six children and buried five, for a total of 11. They added two more frame rooms, making a five room house. They were very happy there and celebrated their 65th anniversary of married life. Both were well at that time. Sarah Elnora died January 12, 1915, at the age of 83 and James Stevenson, 29 March 1916 at the age of 85. Both died at the old homestead they built as pioneers in Farmington, and were buried by their five children in the city cemetery.

---by Sarah’s granddaughter, Gladys Stevenson Jordan (typed up by Alicia)

pic on right: 1852 age 21

 1896 age 65  / 1905 age 74

Obituary of Sarah Elnora White
appeared in the Deseret News January 12, 1915

Death of Mrs. Stevenson, Utah Pioneer of 1849. Mrs. Stevenson, an esteemed pioneer, passed away at 1:30 this morning at her home in Farmington. She was loved by all who knew her, her live having been one of goodness from childhood to old age. She cast her lot among the Later-day Saints when only a child, her father having been baptized when she was 7 years old and her mother one year later by Martin Harris, on of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
Mrs. Stevenson, formerly Sara Elnora White. was born Mar. 18. 1831 in Pamella, Jefferson county, New York. Her father, Joseph White, later became a member of the Nauvoo Legion and was one of the mounted body guards of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was also one of the Mormon Battalion.
Mrs. Stevenson endured the many persecutions at Nauvoo. The trip to Utah was by ox team, with all hardships and privations incident to that great pilgrimage. The journey was made particularly sad from the fact that she witnessed the burial of many companions who died from cholera. She arrived in Utah in the fall of 1849, when her father and mother made their home in Farmington. She also experienced the discomforts of the move south.
Mrs. Stevenson is survived by a husband, James Stevenson, and six children William H., Edward D., Wilford A., Frank, Orson L. Stevenson and Mrs. Herbert Stayner. Funeral announcement will be later.