Fracillo Durfey, Jr. ~ Index

My father's family background was very historic and dramatic one, full of pioneer faith and courage. His father was baptized into the Mormon Church in 1840 and moved to the body of the church in Nauvoo the same year. During mob violence on the Saints his cattle were stolen, his house burned and his wife and children put out in the snow. His wife being ill with a new baby, caught cold and died three days later. He left his children with Saints and answered the call to the Mormon Battalion where he served as a captain. Because of his trade as a cooper, his ability to speak the Indian language and his marksmanship as a hunter, he was called by President Brigham Young to help escort four different camps of saints across the plains. It was on one of these trips that he met Cynthia Harrington Bowen, (my grandmother). She had buried her husband on the plains with cholera. Grandfather assisted her and her little family to the valley. Later they were married in Salt Lake City on February 15^th, 1849 by President Brigham Young.

Grandfather was a natural colonizer, a wise and prudent stockman. He understood people and was obedient to those in authority; thus he was called many times to help open new frontiers. The first call was to Ogden. They moved with their mixed family, five of grandfather's and four of grandmother's, to Mound Fort, (in Weber County, near) Ogden. It was there on February 1^st, 1850 in a two room log cabin by the light of a braided rag candle dipped in tallow taken from a deer grandfather had killed but a few hours previous, that my father, Francillo Durfey, Jr. first saw the light of day. Welcomed by nine brothers and sisters, never to have one of his very own, but bound together with ties of love, faith and sacrifice that early pioneer families knew best.

Father's earliest recollection was the day he had to leave his first home. He was only five. His parents had been called along with other pioneers to go into the Northwest to establish what was known as the Salmon River Mission. They left May 19^th, 1855. For a boy from five to eight those were trying years, filled with fear of Indians and confined in a small fort. I have heard my father tell many times how he would climb up on the fort wall, look through the gun holes and pray for his father's life during the Indians raids. He said, It might have had a lasting effect upon my life, had not my father gathered his family around him and explained that the Indians were not to blame. While the missionaries were trying to make friends with them and teach them the Gospel, to the Indians they were only trespassing on their hunting ground.

On February 1^st, 1858 my father's eight birthday, grandfather cut a hole in the ice on the Lemhi River and baptized him. That birthday baptizing my father carried through his entire family of twelve children, winter or summer. He cut a hole in the ice in Bear River on February 1^st, and another on the twenty-ninth to baptize my two brothers. The ice was on the edge when it was my turn in March. When mother said, Won't they take cold? He said, No one was hurt fulfilling the commandments of the Lord. As a result none of us have to wonder who baptized us and when, or who confirmed us and when for that was done as soon as we came out of the water. Family recording keeping was much simpler in those days.

Getting back to my story. Because of the hostilities of the Indians, on the twenty-eighth of March, 1858 the whole company left Fort Lemhi. Their mission was closed and they returned to Ogden. Out of the thirty-five head of cattle my grandfather trailed three hundred and thirty-three miles, he returned with only one cow whose young calf was too weak to travel. She escaped the Indians and came back for it. Once more they were back in Zion but their stay was of short duration.

The following year, President Young again called for volunteers to help in the settling of Cache Valley. Grandfather answered the call. Three towns were settled in the autumn of 1859. Grandfather chose Providence for my father's next home. He was nine at the time and it was his first opportunity to go to school. School was only held for two quarters in in-winter. Father was needed so badly with the cattle and with odd jobs around the cooper shop that his schooling was very limited. He often told us of his golden teenage years spent in beautiful Cache Valley where in the different settlements they would dance all night, have breakfast at dawn and then go home to do their chores.

Father met and married a beautiful young girl from Willard named Margaret MaQuary. Grandfather's boys and girls were all married by this time and were in need of homes and land. As Cache Valley was pretty well all taken up it became necessary for them to seek new frontiers. So in the spring of 1868 grandfather moved with his family to the site now known as Beaver Dam. At that time it was a cattleman's paradise. The hills were covered with beautiful mountain grass and the beavers had built a natural dam in the creek after which the village derived its name. Father and his new bride remained in Providence for a year where he had a good job feeding cattle for a cattle company. There were both young and happy, full of hopes and plaines for the future. On February 15^th, 1870 grandfather had a very serious sickness and the doctor said he would not recover. He sent for father and asked him if he would move over to Beaver Dam with his mother and take care of her as she was getting old. This father did, grandfather petitioned the Lord to grant him one more year of life and he was granted just exactly one year to the day and hour. The morning of February 15^th, 1871 father took the team of oxen and went over on Logan River to get willows to build a fence to keep the oxen out of the corn. Wire or boards were not available in those days. He had chopped about half a load of willows when he said an awful feeling came over him and he started to cry. He had a strong feeling something was wrong at home. When the strength came back to his body, he washed his face in the river and was preparing to go home when his brother came on horseback and said grandfather had passed away with a heart attack. Father and grandfather were so close that father said he was sure his fathers spirit had come to him as soon as he died, and that was why he knew something was wrong at home.

Grandfather's death was the first real tragedy in father's life although there are many more to follow. As always when his burdens became too great, the church was there to sustain him. He was ordained and Elder on February 8^th, 1875 ay Apostle Joseph F. Smith. Grandfather's dying request proved to be quite an assignment for all three of them. His mother and his young wife were so much alike in disposition and so far apart in years, both wanting to be boss that father was continually between the two acting as peacemaker.

In the less than a year after his father's death, his wife gave birth to a baby girl. This happy event brought a need for grandmother and a deep joy to all of them, but their happiness was short lived. When the baby was two weeks old the mother took pneumonia and died leaving father at the age of twenty-one with an aged mother and a little baby to care for. He named the baby Margaret for her mother and called her Maggie. He cared for the baby nights and his mother took care of her day times. His burdens were great having been left by the death of his father to divide the estate satisfactorily with his brothers. I think this verse fits my father's life perfectly.

Thus his life followed an ordinary pattern for the next four or five years. In the meantime a cheese dairy was established on the hill above Collinston. Girls came from all the country around to milk cows. Everyone rented their cows and in return they got butter and cheese. This of corse became a regular match making paradise for the young people. The boys gathered, they danced and made merry until the bell rang, then the boys went home and the girls went to bed and dreamed of wedding bells. These wedding bells rang true for Sara Ann Findley of Mendon and Francillo Durfey, Jr. of Beaver Dam, they were married by Wilford Woodruff in the old Endowment House. The Endowment House was closed for enlarging when he married his first wife, so Aunt Sara Ann stood for Aunt Margaret who was sealed first then she was sealed second.

Once more skies were clear and his life took on new meaning. Aunt Sara was mild and soft spoken. She understood and knew how to handle grandmother so they got along beautifully. In a year a little girl came to bless their home. They named her Ida. It was the joy of little Margaret's life to have a sister, she had lived with grownups for so long.

Scarlet fever, that was such a grim reaper of children in those days, took Ida when she was one year. Margaret survived that, but three weeks later she died with membraneous croup as it was called, leaving their home childless. I have heard my father say many times that it was only his faith and his testimony of the gospel that made his sorrows bearable.

He was called and set apart as Presiding Elder of the Beaver Dam branch of the church. During the following years two baby girls were born to them. In 1880 the branch was discontinued and Beaver Dam was joined with the Deweyville Ward and father was chosen first counsel in the bishopric.

Sometime later he was to meet the hardest test of his faith. All men holding church positions had been advised many times that it was their duty to practice plural marriage. Father just could not bring himself to it. He had seen so much unhappiness caused by men not living the law as the Lord intended it should be lived. He was so happy and content with his present life. He had fulfilled his father's request, had made his mother's life happy through her long illness and she had died in his arms in 1883. He was doing the work he loved best, working in the church, farming, raising cattle and caring for his beautiful horses along with his family they were his pride and joy. Lorenzo Snow, at that time President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, wrote him a letter asking him and his wife to come to stake conference in Brigham City. The church authorities had a special message for them. Father went with a prayer in his heart that he would have the courage to do as they ask for he knew what it was. He was right in his premonitions. They asked him to accept the law of plural marriage and live it as required of men holding his office in the church. He asked for time for he and his wife to talk it over and come to a unanimous decision. On the way home father said, Well Sara what shall we do? Her answer was, There is only one thing we can do, obey those in authority over us. After some meditation she said, If we can get Lucy, (who was her younger sister) to join us, I think we can all live harmoniously together.

When father asked Lucy, who was my mother, she said laughingly, I think a great deal of you as a man and a brother-in-law, but that is all. Grandmother thought my father almost perfect. He had been kind and good to her oldest daughter Sara and made her very happy, now if they wanted Lucy she would use her influence. Lucy was her baby and like all mothers she hated to part with her. So under the influence of her mother and the persuasion of her sister and the deep respect she had for my father, they were married in the Logan Temple, November 26^th, 1884. Mother was only seventeen. She said to me many times in trying to guide me through those troubled years of selecting a companion, Choose wisely the man you trust with your future for on him depends your joy or sorrow. I didn't love your father when we were married. I admired and respected him very much. He was so kind, so good and devoted to all of us that I grew to love him with a deep and lasting devotion that has made for me a full and satisfying life.

Their family arrangements were that mother would remain in Mendon with her mother. That suited grandmother just fine. Mother and Aunt Sara loved each other dearly. They were just alike in disposition, kind, soft spoken, true ladies in every sense of the word. Father was a good provider and they were congenial and happy. Mother's first child and Aunt Sara's third child were born just two months apart. Father's life was again running smoothly. There was peace and contentment in his heart and home.

Since the first anti-polygamy law was passed by Congress in 1862, there was constant agitation throughout the United States and non-Mormons in Utah to enforce the law. With the passing of President Brigham Young, John Taylor took a firm stand in the matter and gave no evidence that a change of policy would be made. As a result, the agitation was renewed and in 1882 the Edmonds law was passed by Congress, which provided severe penalties for those who were convicted of plural marriage, or what was then called Unlawful Cohabitation. Self-government was forbidden the people of Utah. The Latter-day Saints who practiced plural marriage were denied the right to vote. The highest leaders of the church were immediately sought by the federal officers and for eight years they spied on them and hounded them.

Father, living in a remote area and his family living under separate roofs, it was about three years before they were molested. When word came to father that he was being followed, that was the cue for mother, she being the plural wife, to go into seclusion or on the underground as it was called. Thus it was necessary for mother to disappear in the night from her home in Mendon. Several days later Brother and Sister Williams of Star Valley, Wyoming had a guest, Sister Bostock and her little girl. When the grapevine warned, (communication was slow, but there were plenty of grapevines) of (trouble) Sister Bostock would go again. This time Clarkston or Greenville (North Logan). They had plenty of friends in those days. All the doors of the Saints were open to them and their welcome was warm and friendly.

One morning while father and the family were having breakfast a knock came on the door, it was the Federal Officers. They asked father to declare his plural wife. He said Yes I have a plural wife, I will not deny her, neither will I run. I have not sinned against God or my country, if you was me take me. Just grant me a few days to settle my affairs and I will go of my own accord. He felt the Lord had been good to him. His fall work was all done, his families were well provided for, for the winter. So if his country felt he owed it a debt he was willing to pay with six months of his freedom. So in the autumn of 1886 he went to Salt Lake City and entered the State Penitentiary. He held no malice toward anyone. His companions were among some of the most devoted men of the church who had scarified much for the faith they believed in. Many of them were learned men. Father saw opportunity for education he had been deprived of in his youth and determined to take advantage of it.

All the Mormons were given clemency, they were not confined with harden criminals and were allowed special privileges. A school was organized under an eminent teacher and father enrolled. Father often said his misfortune proved a blessing. He studied hard for those six months and came out with a practical education. His teacher demanded correct spoken English. Father was an excellent reader, hard to beat in mathematics and a beautiful penman.

During these months my father was in the penitentiary, my brother was born on February 29^th, in Greenville, now known as North Logan. Mother remained in seclusion until after the Manifesto was issue by President Woodruff in October of 1890, then she returned to her home in Mendon where she lived until her mother's death.

Father was happy to be home again with his family. They were all well, the town had a warm welcome party for him and he took up his church and civic affairs where he had left off. As he often said, Every experience in life regardless of how tragic it may seem at the time, if properly applied enriches one's life.

The next few years were happy ones. Another little girl was added to Aunt Sara's family. Then trouble struck again. Every few years another epidemic of Scarlet Fever would break out. At this time all of Aunt Sara's children came down with it at once. The care of them and helping out with the neighbors children, as everyone did in those days, proved too much for her. She took pneumonia which at that time was almost always fatal. She was gone in five days. Dr. Ormbsy came out from Logan and stayed right there with her, but was unable to save her. Her young baby went at the same time with the fever. They were buried together. Grandmother was ill at the time and the shock proved too much for her and she passed away a few days later.

My mother moved over to Beaver Dam and took over the care of both families, five children in all. Her oldest was six and Aunt Sara's oldest was ten. In our home there was no half brothers and sisters. Mother had a way with children. She was gentle and kind. Aunt Sara's children loved her dearly. I have heard them say many times they never thought of her other than their mother, although mother always kept the memory of their own mother fresh in their minds and taught them to call her Aunt Lucy. She often said When I look into the eyes of those children I knew why, for what and by whom my decision had been made.

As was always the case when his sorrow was great, the church came to his rescue and gave him added responsibility. That took his mind from his own troubles replacing them with service to others. Beaver Dam had grown until it justified a ward of its own. So on the twenty-ninth of March, 1892, the ward was organized and father was sustained as Bishop, a position he held for sixteen years. His counselors were Brother Joseph H. Watkins and Brother W. Elmer Loveland. During the administration the Beaver Dam Ward meeting house was built and dedicated in one year. He gave the land that now belongs to the Relief Society and the cemetery to the ward.

The following tribute was copied from the ward records. Placed there as a memento along with his picture at the close of his administration as bishop:

When the Bear River Stake was organized in November 1908, he was released as bishop and sustained as one of the first high councilmen of that stake. I remember when the snow was so deep that he couldn't go in the cutter or the bob sled, he would go on horseback. I can just see him now in his black overcoat with the velvet collar turned up around his neck, little black velvet ear muffs on his ears, high buckle overshoes, mounting big old Dan because he could buck the snow best, and start off on his visits to the adjoining towns. Sometimes in a snow blizzard. The thought never entered his mind of not going. He always said, If you are doing the Lords work he will prepare the way.

In 1910 father was made Patriarch of the Bear River Stake. By this time his family consisted of twelve children living and four gone. He was a firm believer in education. In those days with transportation the way it was, children had to board away from home upon the completion of grammar school. Large families had to make many sacrifices. Father wasn't well. Doctors didn't know what was the matter with him, but he was determined that his children of high school age should have their chance, so he sent three over to the B.Y.C. The doctors finally diagnosed his trouble as sugar diabetes and told him he must quit work. This was a hard blow to him. Mother hadn't been well for a long time and father had been very concerned for her. He had giver her the best care possible. His decision was a hard one to make. He owned some good land and cattle and was for those times considered rather well off, but he sacrificed almost all of his life's accumulations to give his wife an easier life and better care and his family an opportunity for higher education. He rented his farm and cattle ranch and moved a family of nine to Logan. He enrolled three in the B.Y.C. and four in the Woodruff school. The remainder of his family were married.

Father's health improved with diet and proper rest, but mother grew worse. She was really ill for almost a year. He did everything possible for her, was always kind and gentle and her passing was a heart break for him, for he loved her very much. Logan had lost its charm for him on her passing on December 12^th, 1916. Some weeks later he took the three youngest children and moved back to the farm to salvage as much of his property as he could. It was war time (World War I) and the world was all to pieces as well as his life.

The girls that were not married or in high school, were teaching school. He and the three youngest children got along as best they could for a year when once more he found a companion and a mother for his children. And a mother she was in very deed. Eleanor Hendricks, was her name. She had just lived a few doors from us in Logan and we all thought a great deal of her, so it was not hard for us to accept her. She made a wonderful home for all of them and I am sure she and father were very happy.

He lived to see his entire family married except my youngest brother Joeseph, who was left without father or mother at the age of sixteen. But he remembered the promise he made to father, That he would be a good boy and do his best to serve the Lord. Aunt Eleanor went to Salt Lake City to live with her daughter after father died. Joe lived alone on the old farm for three years then he was called to Australia on a mission. As I write this history and meditate on my father's life, I am deeply touched. How could anyone go through so much and maintain such a cheerful disposition. He was firm with us, but in such a way that it never entered our minds to question. If he and mother ever disagreed it was behind closed doors. It was father who got up with us in the night and we were never so ill that in our minds his prayers wouldn't heal. Obedience was a must in our home and came naturally. Father wouldn't allow quarreling among his children and mother's mild sweet manner and gentle voice rendered contention impossible. The evenings were a delightful time in our home. When the evening work was done, we would all gather around father while he read to us mostly from the lives of the prophets, stopping occasionally to weave in bits of his own and grandfather's lives, of Parley P. Pratt and Wilford Woodruff. Then I remember Added Upon and the effect it had on me even as a child. On these quiet nights as he read the most audible sound would be the clicking of mother's knitting needles as she knit our stockings. Her hands were never idle.

As I close this history it seems only fitting that I close it as he closed each day. In my minds eye I see the big oblong table that stood in the middle of the dinning room floor where each morning and evening we all knelt in family prayer. I am grateful for my father's life and proud of his accomplishments. He died August 13^th, 1926 at the age of seventy-six at Bever Dam, Box Elder County, Utah. To his posterity he left a glorious heritage and a honored name. God Bless His Memory.

Author Unknown

Life Sketch

Fracillo Durfey, Jr. was born in Mound Fort, Weber County, Utah on February 1^st, 1850. He was baptized in the Salmon River on February 1^st 1858. He was ordained an Elder in February 1875 by Joseph F. Smith and ordained a high priest of December 4^th, 1880 by O.G. Snow, a patriarch.

He was married to Sarah Ann Findley of February 8^th, 1877 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He died on August 13^th, 1926 at Beaver Dam, Box Elder County, Utah of a heart disease and diabetes. He was called and set apart as Bishop of Beaver Dam ward in March, 1892. He then moved to Logan in September of 1912. He came back to Beaver Dam in September of 1921, and married Eleanor Maybin Hendricks in Logan, Utah, on October 25^th. They were married by William Nobel.

When Francillo was baptized in the Salmon River on February 1^st, 1858 they had to break the ice to get to the water. He was one of the first to settle in Beaver Dam. The railroad spur was named after him. He went on the Salmon River mission and was called several times to help fight the Indians. He was sent many times with provisions to meet the companies of saints coming to the Salt Lake valley. He served his term at the Utah Penitentiary for practicing polygamy. He served many years as bishop of the Beaver Dam ward. He also held the office of patriarch in the Bear River Stake for many years before his death. He was married four times, his first marriage to Margaret Ann McCray was short. They had one daughter they named Maggie (Margaret S. Durfey). His wife died when Maggie was a baby. He and his mother raised her to the age of six years, then she died.

He married Sarah Ann Findley in 1877. Six years later he married her sister, Lucy Sylvia Findley, who was then seventeen years of age. After her death he married Eleanor M. Hendricks, a widow from Logan, Utah. Most of his life was spent at farming. He was a public worker and lover of his fellow men. Francillo did much toward building up Beaver Dam, and overcoming many hardships. Lucy Durfey was very quiet, modest and a good mother to her large family. She had much pioneer life, which she bore bravely and well. She worked hard and had very poor health when she was middle aged, and died at the age of fifty.

Author Unknown