Frances Edna Dunn

Rueben Gillespie Moyle, the son of Matthew and Eliza Mary Gillespie Moyle, met Frances Dunn, eldest child of Simeon Harmon and Anna Buletta Jensen, in Allturas California. After much pleading and persistent courting, they were married in Reno, Navada. In the beginning, the only dependents were Fluffy, the cat, and a dog whose name cannot be remembered. Following the birth of their third child, Gayle, Rueben became sick and spent much time in the hospital.

In order for Frances to care for her ill husband, she sent their three children, Rueben Dean, Kay, and Gayle by train with Edgar and LaVerl Dunn to stay with their grandparents, Simeon and Anna Dunn in Manassa, Colorado.

The children stayed there for almost a year. When Reuben was well enough, they made a trip to Manassa to pick up the children. At this time, the decision was made to stay in Manassa.

Frances was a registered nurse and was employed at Alamosa Community Hospital. Reuben set up a poultry business in order to stay home with the children. Prior to this time, Reuben had worked most of his life as a carpenter. Frances worked as a registered nurse for many years. The family first lived on a farm near Romeo and later they purchased a home outside of Alamosa.

Reuben passed away on 23 Jul 1970, and is buried in Manassa. Frances has been an inspiration to all of her relatives. She remains active at the age of 91 (at the time of the history). After Reuben's death, they spent sever winters in California with her father, participating in work for the dead in the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Frances is now living at the San Luis Valley Care Center in Alamosa. She has remained active in the church and is still a Relief Society Visiting teacher at the age of 91. She also still does temple work whenever she gets a way to go to Denver.

Taken from A History of the Ancestors and Descendants of Simeon Harmon Dunn and Annie Buletta Jensen, Compiled and published privately by Vera Dunn Olivier June, 1993,

Robert and Pam here for Jessie's wedding

Bob and Pam have been coming to St George for the past three years. Jessie is a pitcher on the Dixie College girls softball team. She is very good. Bob and Pam have come to all of Jessie's games. They have stayed with me most of the time and they have become very close friends. The are a great family. Jessie is marrying a polynesian man tomorrow in the St George Temple. Some of them are staying in my home and Loyd and Cathryn are staying with Leon and Loni. They will be married tomorrow. I love being a part of the Dunn family. All of them are special.

Gatha

Christen Jensen

Christen Jensen, son of Peder Jensen and Kirsten Andeston, was born October 28, 1848 in Farre, Skanderborg, Denmark. When he was 10 years old, Latter Day Saint Elders came to his father's home and taught the Gospel to his family. Christen was converted and wanted to be baptized, his father, however, thought he was too young. On April 6, 1862, the family of nine members left Denmark and traveled to Salt Lake City. On this journey Christen was taken seriously ill with ague, at Florence, Nebraska, and begged to be baptized. His father consented and he was baptized June 27, 1862. He instantly healed and became strong enough to walk all the way to Salt Lake City. The family later moved to Moroni, Sanpete county, Utah. During this time there was trouble with the Mavajo and Blackhawk Indians. Christen was mustered into Company A to do service in the Blackhawk war. He served in that capacity for three years.

He received his endowments and married Maria Sophia Anderson on February 8, 1868. That same spring, he received a call to go as a Church teamster across the plains, assisting the emigrants on their way to Utah. On December 5, 1875, he took a second wife, Anna Christina Bengtsson. In December, 1881, he married Helena S. Rundquist, and in 1886, he married Mattie K. Peterson. About this time great pressure was exerted against polygamists. Christen moved part of his family to the San Luis Stake of Zion. He was in exile for 12 years. The family lived in Richfield for about 13 years and then moved to Eastdale. He was the father of 18 children. Anna Christana was the mother of 7 daughters and three sons and Helena Sophia was the mother of six daughters and two sons.

In 1886 Christen assisted in organizing the 92nd Quorum of Seventy, and for 11 years he served as its senior president. After the persecution relented, the Jensen family made plans to return to their home in Utah, but he cas called to move to Eastdale and serve as the Bishop of the Eastdale Ward. He was ordained a Bishop by Apostle John W. Taylor on August 11, 1897, with Simeon Adams Dunn as First Counselor and Ward Clerk and Andrew S. Nielson as Second Counselor.

When Eastdale was sold, Bishop Jensen moved to Manassa. On October 24, 1909 he was set apart as a member of the High Council. On August 20, 1911 he was ordained a Patriarch by Apostle Orson F. Whitney. For a number of years, he was Stake Representative of the Genealogical Society of the San Luis Stake and served as a Secretary and Treasurer of the San Luis Stake Academy. He has acted as Justice of the Peace, Police Magistrate, School Trustee, membeer of the Manassa Town Board, President of the Colonial State Bank of Manassa and a missionary to his native Denmark.

After the death of his wives, he worked in the Salk Lake Temple and met and married Eliza Bessey. Christen died October 31, 1932 in Manassa.

This history was taken from "The Mormons: 100 Years in the San Luis Valley of Colorado 1883-1893", compiled and edited by Carleton Q. Anderson, Betty Shawcroft and Robert Compton,

1956 Reunion

Thanks to Bonnie Olsen, we have a listing of the people who attended the 1956 reunion of the Simeon Harmon Dunn Family. Please see below.

1. Wm. Emil Koch	15. Mary Lyne Mortensen	29. Levi Dunn	43. Robert Wm. Dunn
2. Ruth Carry Dunn	16. Delores Mortensen	30. Judy K.	44. Joseph Christen Dunn
3. Ruben Dean Gillespie	17. Donald Arlo Vance	31. Wm Rufus Warwick	45. Edgar Harmon Dunn
4. Frances K. Gillespie	18. Cora LaRue Bingham Lawson	32. Richard Boyd Pagett	46. Reva LaVerl Adelotte Dunn
5. Gayle Gillespie	19. Gatha Bingham Vance	33. Boyd Wm. Pagett	47. Mima Gay Dunn
6. Rex Simeon Dunn	20. Harold Lee Lawson	34. Elma Dunn Pagett	48. Jack Harmon Dunn
7. Nancy Dunn	21. Roland Kent Vance	35. Jane Dunn Pagett	49. Jill Ann Dunn
8. Paula Dunn	22. Donald Arnold Vance	36. Patricia Pagett	50. Simeon Harmon Dunn
9. Steven Dunn	23. John Edward Lawson	37. Nancy Pagett	51. Anne Beletta Jensen Dunn
10. Phillip Dunn	24. Bonnie Lynn Vance	38. Loyd Jensen Dunn	52. Hazel Dunn Nite
11. Verden N Mortensen	25. Betty Jean Johnson DeGolyer	39. Cathryn Brothers Dunn	53. Ethel Dunn Forsyth
12. Doris Dunn Mortensen	26. James Troy DeGolyer	40. Vera Louise Dunn	54. Ina Dunn
13. Lorna Jeanne Mortensen	27. Emily Jane Smith Dunn	41. Lloyd Gerald Dunn	55. Melvin Thomas Harmon
14. Gary Harmon Mortenson	28. Emily Dunn Warwick	42. Carol Anne Dunn	56. Sara Ellen Harsley Harmon

Eunice Chidester Harmon

I got an email today from someone who had found our blog. She directed me to this interesting Blog article. This is my 3rd great grandmother in the black and white picture.

Short words of advice.

Grandpa told me, "Hook your wagon to a star. Be the man your mother thinks you are. "

Gatha used to tell her children, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

She also says, "The power of God is strong enough to pull us back into his arms."

Arlo used to say, "Put your money where your mouth is."

Betty's Mom used to say, "Save for a rainy day."

Gatha says, "There is no limit to the good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit."

Larry says, "Wisdom can be conveyed in a simple phrase." He adds, "You are only happy if you think you are."

He also says, "Choice is a two edged sword. " and "It is nice to know that there is forgiveness. The Savior has enabled us to receive and know that we receive forgiveness. We all have our skeletons."

Can you think of short lines of advice you have been given?

Ruth has a special day coming up

Gloria brought it to our attention that Aunt Ruth is getting ready to celebrate her 102nd birthday.

See the article in the Valley Courier


State honors Valley centenarians
Posted: Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
BY: Ruth Heide

Photos by Ruth Heide San Luis Valley centenarians honored Wednesday in Alamosa are from left Ruth Coch of La Jara who will be 102 next month; Ethel Davis of Monte Vista who will hit the 100-year mark in October; Claude Albert of Alamosa who will soon be 101; and Irma Satterfield of Alamosa who just celebrated her 100th birthday last month.
One resident nears 102



By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — Ruth Coch said the reason she’s still alive is because heaven does not have room for her yet.

She will be 102 years old next month.

Meeting in Alamosa this week, the Colorado Commission on Aging and the Region 8 South-Central Colorado Seniors Inc. honored Ruth Coch and other San Luis Valley centenarians during a special ceremony on Wednesday.

In addition to Ruth Coch, San Luis Valley centenarians present for the occasion were Irma Satterfield of Alamosa who turned 100 on April 25, Claude Albert of Alamosa who will be 101 years old on July 13 and Ethel Davis of Monte Vista who will hit the centennial mark on October 3. Ruth Coch will be 102 years old on June 16.

Ethel Davis, who now resides at Juniper Village in Monte Vista, was born in Oklahoma and had 14 brothers and sisters. She moved to the San Luis Valley at the age of 21. She and her late husband “Bud” had 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. She was a homemaker renowned for her mashed potatoes and also worked in the school cafeteria. Ethel also herded sheep from time to time. She is a lifetime member of Tri County Seniors.

One of 13 children, Ruth Coch was born in the San Luis Valley and married Bill Coch in San Luis “a long time ago,” she said. She and Bill had one daughter, Betty Jean, whom she called her greatest accomplishment, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. When her grandchildren would call her “my beautiful grandma,” she would melt and often give them a quarter. Ruth played the piano, saxophone and basketball. She said she enjoyed playing in Sanford because that is where the good-looking guys were. She served as a clerk in the district court and now resides at the San Luis Care Center where her grand niece is director.

Coch advised young people to keep their bodies clean, not to smoke or drink, mind their parents and to flirt around.

Irma Satterfield was born in Mirage and grew up helping her father in the family business, a general store. She was married and had four children. She enjoyed being a homemaker as well as keeping active in her church over the years. Irma graduated from Adams State College and embarked on a second career in education.

A descendant of German settlers, Claude Albert is also a San Luis Valley native who was a rancher, was in charge of a road crew in Antonito and was a skilled handyman. He raised two daughters and three sons and enjoys his grandchildren. Claude now resides at Evergreen in Alamosa where staff recently found him throwing cookies for the resident therapy dog to retrieve.

The Valley centenarians received certificates from the governor and letters from U.S. Senator Ken Salazar who recognized the many changes and challenges the centenarians had experienced in the past century. “In surpassing the one-hundred year marker, these Coloradans have reinforced the age-old axiom that age ‘is just a number’,” Salazar said. “Now in their second century of their life’s journey, they are honored members of our communities and our society, and as such, are well-deserving beneficiaries of our admiration and respect.”

South-Central Colorado Seniors Policy Board Chairman Carol Refior recounted some of the changes and challenges the centenarians had experienced including heating up water for baths and laundry, outhouses, horse-drawn farm equipment, picking peas by hand and many other challenges. In the past century the honorees had experienced two world wars, the Great Depression and other major events, Refior added. She also described prices of the past such as 79-cent footwear and 2 pounds of hamburger for 15 cents. Refior described the social life of the early century when opera houses existed from Antonito to Saguache and shared the Paul Bunyan tall tale of how the Great Sand Dunes were formed.

Dignitaries present for the centenarian celebration in Alamosa on Wednesday included Alamosa Mayor Farris Bervig, Alamosa City Councilor Charles Griego, Alamosa County George Wilkinson and Ms. Senior Colorado 2007 Lara Carbajal. Local musician Donald Garcia provided entertainment for the event including the “Happy Birthday” song.

Colorado Commission on Aging Chairman Sheila Casey paid tribute to the centenarians’ “wonderful legacy” and attributed their longevity to their enthusiasm in life.

Ruth Coch exemplified that enthusiasm by remarking, “When I’m 200 I wonder what they’ll do then.”

Hypnotizing a chicken

Grandpa and grandma Dunn had a chicken yard. The chickens would run around, scratch, and eat in the yard. I had a boy tell me that a chicken could be hypnotized. I doubted him. He proved it.

It is quite simple.

1. Catch a chicken
2. Hold the chicken with the wings tucked against the body
3. Place the chickens head on the ground with the beak on the ground and the eyes looking straight ahead
4. Start at the beak and draw a deep line in the dirt straight from the beak away from the chicken with a stick
5. Slowly move the stick away
6. Slowly release the chicken

It will stay there frozen and not move. I was amazed. In a few moments or after a sudden noise or movement the chicken would dart away.

The Grandmother Clock

One of my fondest memories of Grandma and Grandpa Dunn's home was the grandmother clock that stood on a shelf in the kitchen. I believe that is why I love listening to a clock tick to this day.

Grandpa Dunn used to sing a song, "The Grandfather Clock". I would love to find a recording of that song.

I have heard it said that when their children were coming home late at night, grandma was ask them to stop the clock with the pretext that the noise was bothering her. What she was doing was having them stop the clock so she would know what time they were coming home.

I understand too, that when Grandma would ask one of the boys when they came in late at night what time it was. They would respond, "It's plenty after twelve."

Anna Buletta Jensen Dunn's Autobiography

(Written in 1956)

I, Anna B Jensen Dunn, aka Annie B. Jensen Dunn, daughter of Christen Jensen and Carrie Peterson Jensen, was born 28 of June 1882 at Moroni, San Pete County, Utah.

When I was twenty-two (22) months old, my parents moved to Richfield, Colorado, with three of us children, Kjersten, myself, and our brother, Pete. Leaving our oldest sister Mary with Father's first wife, who never had any children of her own. We lived in a dugout that belonged to bishop Sarn C. Berthelsen until Father could get the logs and build us a two room house with a lean-to for a kitchen. I have heard Mother tell about the first year they were here, she peeled the potatoes thick. Father planted them and raised a good crop of potatoes.

Father always made two trips back to Utah a year, he always came back with honey, dried fruit, and the top of the trunk filled with red colored woolen stockings, which Aunt Sophi had spun the yearn, dyed it, knit stockings that came over our knees. It was kind of her to do so much work for us, but how I disliked them. I'd lose mine, hide them and be all day getting dressed. I got many spankings over them. Too, I learned if I could get the ones my sister had worn, they didn't itch so bad.

We lived in Richfield until I was fifteen years old, so there was where we received most of our schooling. I remember my teachers, Orlando Funk, Ira Whitney and Jimmy Dyer. At that time Father was getting ready to move his families, we had two families in Colorado, back to Utah. We were all anxious to go, when he was called to move to Eastdale to be Bishop of that Ward. So we moved to Eastdale.

It was there I met and married my husand, Simeon H. Dunn. We have had thirteen children, five boys and eight girls. Two boys died in infancy, one daughter died at the age of thirty-six years, so the children came to live with us.

We are poud of our family and enjoy them very mush, which at present number over ninety, including, in-laws, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Taken from, "A History of the Ancestors & Descendants of Simeon harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Olivier, Published privately June, 1993, pp 26-27

Simeon Dunn - The Final Years

Part 4 of 4 parts.

I was ordained a Seventy by Rules S. Wells on april 25, 1909, and a few years later was set apart as one of the Council of the 92nd Quorum. On the 24th of May, 1942, I was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a member of the High Council of the San Luis Stake by richard R. Lyman, an Apostle. I served under to Stake Presidents, John B. reed and Howard Shawcroft. During the time I was in the Seventies Quorum, I served as a Stake Missionary for about three years.

In 1940, I quit farming and went into the gas business wholesale and retail. During World War II, my wife and ran the place. She took care of the station while I did the hauling and delivering. Neither of us missed a day on account of sickness, and we had wonderful health. On January 1, 1950, I sold the business to my son-in-law, Boyd W. Pagett. I was 72 years old. I stayed and helped him for about four years.

During all this time I had been working in the Church in different positions. After my release as a High Councilor I was set apart as President of the High Priest's Quorum, where I served for about four years. I also served in the Mutual Improvement Association as Superintendent of the Sunday School for a number of years. I have served as a Wart Teacher (and Home Teacher) since I was a young man.

Our daughter, Cora, died October 11, 1944, and her husband, James Edward Bingham, died July 11, 1946, leaving a family of six children whom we helped to raise.

This history would not be complete without a word about my wife. We were married 58 years th 20th of November, 1958. She is the mother of 13 children, 11 of them we raised to man and womanhood, two died in infancy and our daughter, Cora died at the age of 36. The rest of our children are alive today. She has been a wonderful wife and mother, has taught her children honesty, thrift, to be good membeers of the Church and of the community where they live. She is loved and respected by the people of the community where she lives and all who know her. Our son, Rex was stricken with polio in 1936, when he was nine years of age. My wife never ceased working with him and spent years taking him to different doctors and hospitals. He was left with one leg that has to have a brace and he walks on crutches. As of this date (1958), we have 102 in family, in-laws and all--13 children, 43 grandchildren, 24 geat grandchildren, 80 blood descendants.

(1993 -- This history is bing finished by Semeon and Anna's daughters, Frances Gillespie, Ruth Koch, Hazel Nite, Elma Pagett, Doris Mortensen, and Ina Olsen). Anna Buletta Jensen Died October 9, 1959, at her home in Manassa. She was 77 years old. After he death, their daughter, Doris Morensen and family lived in the family home. Simeon lived with them in the summers and with his daughters, Ethel Forsyth, Ina Olsen and Hazel Nite, who lived in the Los Angeles area, curing the winters where he worked in the Los Angeles LDS temple. After five years, his daughter, Frances, rented a Temple apartment and they lived there together and worked in the Temple during the winters and went back to Manassa during the summers. The last three years of Simeon's life, he stayed in Manassa. He stayed mentally and physically active and died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 95 years old. He died January 10, 1973.

Better people never lived than Simeon and Anna. They are dearly loved by all of their descendants.

Taken from, "A History of the Ancestors & Descendants of Simeon harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Olivier, Published privately June, 1993, pp 25-26

If I had known

A Poem by Annie Dunn

I didn't know that love meant

Keeping houses clean, by constant sweeping,

Scrubbing, ironing, washing clothes,

Making beds and making wishes

For new hats, and shoes and dresses,

Staying home and cleaning messes.

If this is love, excuse the laughter,

I didn't know what I was after.

- Annie Dunn

Taken from "A History of the Ancestors & Descendants of Simeon Harmon Dunn and Annie Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Oliver and published privately June, 1993, page 29

The Old Armed Chair

Grandpa was an old man when I heard him sing this song, but I loved it then, and I love it now. I believe that it was Ina who originally recorded it.

Simeon and Annie start their family

Part 3 of 4 parts

I had now been away from home two years. I was offered a job teaching school at home, in Eastdale, Colorado, so I went home and commenced teaching for forty dollars a month in a little country school where I had all the grades by myself. In the fall of 1895, I was put in as Ward Choirmaster, a position my mother held before me. On November 21, 1899, I celebrated my 21st birthday teaching school with 30 or 40 students ranging from 6 to 16 years old.

In our town, water for domestic use was drawn with buckets out of wells 80 feet deep. We had no well on our lot, so my brother, Levi, and I decided to dig one. I had a horror working underground and had never been down one of those deep wells, but by starting at the top and going down a few feet each day, I learned to work underground. I also helped on the farm some and went to summer school in Manassa, which was taught by Clifford I Goff. I stayed at the home of Stake President Albert R. Smith. After this school closed, I, with another young teacher, Ashbel Haskell, attended a short teachers' course in Antonito, and after that two weeks went to Del Norte to a Teachers' Institute. By the time this was out, it was time to start teaching another term.

School started again (1900), the students who were sixteen last year were seventeen now and one of them especially was becoming quite noticeable to me. Before school was out in the spring, her mother said she didn't think it did much good for her daughter to go to school as she wasn't studying much as she was too interested in the teacher.

On November 20, 1900 this same young lady, Miss Anna Buletta Jensen, and I were were married by Joseph F. Smith, of the Council of the Twelve, in Manassa, at the home of her father's first wife. She was 18 and I was 23. I was teaching again at Eastdale for my third year. I traded a team of horses for a house and lot where we lived for 10 years. In the summer of 1901, A.C. Neilson and I took a contract stacking hay on a cattle ranch about 35 miles from home so we camped there while putting up hay.

On August 25, 1901, our first child, a girl, Frances Edna, was born and we thought she was the sweetest baby that ever lived. In the fall of 1901, Ammon Mortenson and I rented a herd of sheep from Bishop Christen Jensen, my father-in-law, and spend the next eight years, farming, building reservoirs, and working in the ward organizations.

On the 13 of May 1903, our second child, Ethel Leona, was born. On January 6, 1905, our third child and first son, Willard Oliver, was born. He lived a littler over a month and died February 18, 1905. We were broken-hearted. On October 5, 1905, my wife and I with our two little girls went to the Temple in Salt Lake City, where she received her endowments. I had already received mine, and we were sealed for time and all eternity and our three children were sealed to us. What joy and happiness this brings to us when we know that if we are faithful in keeping the covenants we have made with the Lord, we will be privileged to live as families forever in God's kingdom. On June 16, 1906, our fourth child, Ruth Carrie, was born.

The county in which we lived was an old Spanish grant, and the people who owned it sold it to another company who wanted to get more settlers on the land. As the community of Eastdale had the best water rights on the stream, they were anxious to get it and they put considerable pressure on us to sell. The people finally sold to them, some moving to Manassa, and some to Sanford.

On the 29th of July, 1908, our fifth child, Cora Emily, was born. We now had four little girls, the eldest not quite seven. (Cora was born in Eastdale.) During the summer and the following winter, I worked for the company which bought our land and water, on the reservoirs the Eastdale people had started. After working one day, I was put in as a foreman on the dam for which I received $3.00 a day and paid 75 cents of that for board. The common laborer received two dollars a day and paid 75 cents for board. I spent the winter working on the reservoirs and in the spring of 1909, moved to Manassa.

We lived on a ranch south of town where we stayed until the summer of 1910. During the summer we built a house and granary in Manassa. We made two rooms in the granary so we could live there while we finished the house. On the 1st of September, 1910, our sixth child, Edgar Harmon, was born in the granary. We finished the house before cold weather and moved into it where we lived for several years. I spent the next few years working in company with several of my brothers-in-law with sheep and cattle.

On September 12, 1912, Ina, our seventh child, was born. Our company dissolved partnership and Ammon E. Mortensen and I started working together. We farmed together until our boys were large enough to help run the farm. For the next thirty years, I ran the farm, milked cows, raised pigs, hauled milk to the creamery, and helped raise my family. During most of the time I had good health. During the terrible flue epidemic, after World War I, I had a bad sickness with flu, but finally got well. Many friends and relatives died with flu during this epidemic.

On February 24, 1915, our eigth child, Hazel was born. On March 7, 1917, our ninth child, Elma, came and on Feb 7, 1919, Doris was born. We now had eight girls and one boy living. On the 12th of April, 1921, Loyd Jensen was born and on the 13th of April, 1925, we had a son, Keith Melford, who was stillborn. Our last child, Rex Simeon, was born September 12, 1927. This is the total of our family, eight girls and five boys, eleven living. My mother, Eunice Emily Harmon Dun, died April 24, 1922, with cancer of the liver. She was 67 years old. My father, Simeon Adams Dunn, died February 13, 1935, at the age of 84.

During the winter of 1927-28, there was an epidemic of smallpox in Manassa. Many whole families were ill at the same time. The first bunch of vaccine that people were vaccinated with was not effective and by the time the second bunch was given out, most of the people had already contacted the disease. Our whole family came down with the disease, but all recovered.

Taken from Simeon Harmon Dunn's own history found in "A History of the Ancestors and Descendants of Simeon Harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen," Compiled by Vera Louise Olivier and published privately June, 1993, pp23 - 25

Simeon Harmon Dunn - His school days

Part 2 of 4 parts

During my boyhood in Eastdale, I worked on a farm, milked cows and did any other work to help. Times were hard, no money and we had to make our own amusements. At first we held dances in private homes. We were well blessed with musicians, there being five or six men in town who played the violin. My mother had a small organ that we carried from our home to the place where we held dances to accompany the violin and I usually played it. We had a good time.

Later, a log schoolhouse was built where he held all public gatherings. Quite often a dinner for everybody in town was held at this schoolhouse. Everybody was friendly and we had good times. During the summer of 1895, I worked in Sanford for Ira Whitney, helping make adobes and building. In the summer and fall of 1895, I drove the horses that run the thresher, six teams on a horsepower thresher.

I had been thinking of going to Utah to school as there were no high schools here, so one day a young man and woman came to the thresher to find someone to help take a team and wagon to Odgen, Utah. I quit my job and in company of Steve Spiker of Manassa, we started for Utah in October 1896. We were about three weeks on the road and landed in Huntington, Utah, the day of election when McKinley was elected President of the United States. My Grandmother and uncle lived there. My uncle was superintendent of the Co-op store. A telephone line had just beeen completed from Price, 25 miles north on the railroad and one phone in the store was all there was in town and men stayed in the store all night to get election news as it came over the wire. This was the first phone I ever saw or heard.

I was 19 that fall. I lived with my Grandmother, Eunice Chidester Harmon, through the winter and attended Huntington Seminary, a church school, where high school subjects as well as religion was taught. A. E. Wall was the teacher. I was ordained a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood by Bishop Peter Johnson and set apart as a counselor in the presidency of the quorum where I served that winter. An uncle, Oliver Harmon and family also lived in Huntington. The oldest boy, Oliver T., and I attended a music class where we studied vocal music under Professor Hardy. My mother was a good singer and I inherited some of her talent and was glad to have a chance to improve along that line.

Nothing of great importance went on except school work through the winter of 1897. The streets and roads were solid with snow so we had sleigh riding. When spring came and school was out, I went by train to Toquerville in Utah's Dixie, to work for Levi N. Harmon, another brother of my mother. I spent the summer on a small farm, irrigating orchards, alfalfa, and cutting and stacking the hay ten acres will produce. In this part of the country, the hay is cut four or five times a year. In the fall I helped pick peaches, grapes, and almonds, etc.

When school time came, I went to St. George, about 25 miles away, and spent the winter there in schoool with John T. Woodbury as teacher. I stayed at the home of another uncle, Melvin N. Harmon. He went with me and introduced me to the teacher and I was a homesick boy. As soon as opening exercises were over, a young man, Jospeh W. Webb, came and sat down by me and introduced himself and from then on we were together most of the time. A young lady, Della Rideing, also came and introduced herself. From then on, I made friends fast. I joined the baseball team (in Dixie they play all winter) and in many ways had good times besides attending to church duties as they were in the L.D.S church.

When school was out, I went back to Toquerville where my uncle Levi was getting ready to move to Castle Valley. Before leaving St. George, I was ordained an Elder by Edward H. Snow of the St. George Bishopric, and went through the Temple. My uncle and I went to Huntington by team and wagon, taking about a week to travel there. I again stayed with my grandmother. Shortly after arriving in Huntington, I took sick with some kind of fever and wasn't able to do any work for about a month. After getting well, I helped farmers put up hay and harvest grain.

During the summer, Professor Hardy organized a choir of 125 voices from several towns to attend and compete in a singing festival in Salt Lake City in October and I was chosen as one of the singers. The first part of September I went to Castle Gate and worked for the Rio Grand Railroad for a month and then went to Salt Lake to take part in the singing contest, 125 country people and we sure had a swell time. Of course we didn't win, but we had the time of our lives. Just singing in the Tabernacle was a thrill that I'll never forget.

Taken from Simeon Harmon Dunn's own history found in "A History of the Ancestors and Descendants of Simeon Harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen," Compiled by Vera Louise Olivier and published privately June, 1993, pp21 - 23

Simeon Harmon Dunn comes to the San Luis Valley

Part 1 of 4 parts

I was born November 1, 1877, at Washington, Utah, the eldest of a family of nine children, five boys and four girls. They were Simeon Harmon Dunn, Levi Dunn, born Jan 9 1880, Tessie Dunn, born July 19, 1882 and died Oct 28 1882, elmer Dunn, born Sept 28, 1884, and Emily Dunn, born Nov 23, 1886. These five were all born in Washington, Utah. The following were born in Colorado: Eunice Dunn, born in Sanford on Oct 9, 1889, Etholen Silver Dunn, born at Eastdale on March 8, 1892, Charles Albert Dunn, born at Eastdale Jan 2, 1895, and Jared Willard Dunn, born at Eastdale on Sept. 9, 1897. Seven of the family are living at this writing January 19, 1959.

I was blessed and named by my Grandfather, Simeon Adams Dunn, Sr., Jan 12, 1878. For some reason not known to me, I was blessad again on the 5th of Feb. 1880, the same day my brother Levi was, this time by Andrew Larson. I spend the first part of my life as any normal boy, just growing and having fun. I remember when I was about nine or ten years old my father send me to a lot a ways from home to hoe some corn. While hoeing (and I didn't like to hoe) another boy came by and said, "Let's go in a neighbor's garden and get some watermelons." So we went and picked two of the nicest ones and into a bunch of trees to eat the, but they were still green and not good to eat.

The next day my father called me and said, "I hear you have been in the neighbor's garden stealing melons." Of course, I denied the charge, but it wasn'te any use. He knew I was guilty and I did, too, so I owned up to the charge.

He said, "Now you must go to these people and make it right." I tried to get out of going, but it was no use. So I went, but that was the hardest task I ever had to do. But I am thankful that my father saw that I made things right because I learned a lesson that I have never forgotten.

In August, 1883, my mother's mother, Eunice Chidester Harmon, a widow, took some of her children to Provo to school. My mother and her children went and stayed there three months with her and there I received my first schooling. I was then six years old.

On Jan 7, 1886, I was baptized by Robert F. Gould and confirmed by John P. Chidester. My mother was leader of the Sunday School Choir and practices were held at our home so I learned to sing the different parts in group singing, which has been a great help to me.

My father and mother had chills and fever a lot in Washington and hearing about the San Luis Valley in Colorado and thinking to improve their health, they decided to move. With two other families, Marcus Funk and Oscar Westover, they began the hourney on May 16, 1889. Bishop Funk had five wagons. Westover had two, and my father had three, making ten wagons. I drove one wagon all the way.

We traveled east and north passing through Cedar City, Parowan, Beaver, Richfield, Salina, up the Salina Canyon into Castle Valley to Huntington, where a brother of my mother's (Oliver Harmon) lived. We stopped there and visited a few days with him and his family. When the rest of our company arrived, we traveled east across some real rough country. Some places the road went across solid rock, small canyons and hills. This country they called Holes in the Rock. There was no water only in holes in the rock which had been filled by the rains, some of which were quite deep.

The next town was Green River. Here we came to the railroad, the same place where it now crosses Green River. Since it was spring, the river was high and there was no bridge so we had to cross on the ferry boat. This was accomplished without any trouble. We then started across the Utah desert which is dry exc ept for when it rains and then it is mud. We made it to a Mormon town on the bank of Grand River. This river is larger than Green River and again, there was no bridge, so we drove onto the ferry boat again. We were all standing by the rail or by the wagons looking toward the east bank when someone said, "Why don't we start?"

Someone else said, "Look back," and we were in the river moving steadily toward the opposite bank. From Moab, we went toward the southeast through rough country, bad roads, and scarcely any water. One night when we camped for the night, there wasn't any water for the stock. Some of the men went up a small canyon and climbed to the top of a rise in the bottom of the gulch about 12 or 15 feet high and found a deep hole in the rock filled with water, so with a bucket to dip and a cup at the bottom we watered our stock. We passed to one side of Monticello, Utah, and soon crossed the Utah-Colorado line.

We went through Mancos, Durango, and Pagosa Springs, then turned more toward the south toward the Continental Divide to Chama, New Mexico. Here we turned toward the north over Cumbres Pass, followed the narrow gague railroad most of the way across the pass. We came over a toll road across as far as Osier and then into the San Luis Valley, down the Conejos River to the town of Manassa. We started on the 16th of May and landed in Manassa on the 16 of July, just two months living and camping in wagons. Although we had many hardships, we also had good times. We never traveled on Sundays, unless it was necessary to get water for the stock. After leaving the river ranches, we traveled across the valley to Manassa without fences or anything to hinder. At that timer, there were no houses in Romeo, just a switch (for the failroad). We camped just north of the John Marshall place north of town for one day while the men looked around to decide where we would locate. Bishop funk and my father decided to locate in Sanford and camped on the block where the high school now stands.

A few days later, we moved into part of Bishop Bethelson's house. A short time later, we traded a team and wagon for a lot with a small house and a dugout on it, and moved into a place of our own. I was eleven years old at the time of our trip. I went to school two winters in Sanford. On Marcy 30, 1891, we moved to Eastdale in Costilla County. On August 23, 1891, Eastdale was made a Branch of Sanford Ward with my father as Presiding Elder. On Janyary 18, 1893, I was ordained a deacon by Bishop Soren C. Berthelson at Sanford. On January 29, 1893, Eastdale was organized into a ward by John Henry Smith and others with Marcus Funk as Bishop. On December, 1893, I was set apart as president of the Deacon's Quorum, which position I held till the fall of 1896.

(From Simeon's own history found in "A History of the Ancestors and Descendents of Siemon harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen", compiled by Vera Dunn Olivier, published privately June, 1993. pp19-21)

Grandma's Garden

Grandma Dunn was a hard worker. She not only had one garden, she had two. The second one was close to the chicken coop. It was on the north west side of the garage. The year that Grandma died, her currant bushes died. She had a row of them by the kitchen door and some in the second garden. They also had a cow corral on the West of the property. Grandpa milked cows until after Grandma died. Donnie used to help him milk. Grandma and Grandpa gave us a great example of hard work and thrift.

Family Folk Lore

When I taught school, I really enjoyed sharing stories from American Folk Lore. I would always start out our lessons with the question to the students: "Would you like to hear a true story?" I would then proceed to share a fun story that had it's roots in the vocal sharing of stories that had been passed from generation to generation. It is in that spirit that I would like to share this.

Grandma and Grandpa didn't always agree. As any couple has differences, so did they. As a matter of fact, they never did agree about the actual date that Aunt Ruth was born. Grandpa insisted that is was one day, but Grandma insisted that it was a different day and that she should know because she was there when Ruth was born.

Grandma Dunn had a garden that extended from the western porch of their house to the property line. It included a wide variety of vegetables including rutabagas, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, radishes, spinach, corn, beans, rhubarb, current bushes, and more. A garden of that size needed constant care. Plants had to be watered and weeded and thinned.

One day, Grandpa was working in the garden with one of his grandchildren. Grandma came to the porch door and shouted, "Sim, oh Sim!". Grandpa continued working with his head down. She called again, "Sim, oh Sim!" The grandchild anxiously looked at his grandfather who worked on without reacting. A third time, grandma beckoned, "Sim, oh Sim".

The child could bear the suspense no more. He turned to Grandpa and asked, "Don't you hear that?"

"No," replied Grandpa, "and neither do you."

Robert Dunn (2)

This is Robert, using Gatha's computer and spot, since I'm not signed on myself. She's gone to Mesa to Doris Fay's wedding, and my wife and I are staying in her house during our daughter's softball games here at Dixie State, where she's a pitcher for their softball team. Gatha always makes us feel very welcome here. The news from our family is: The daughter we just spoke of, Jessie, is engaged and getting married in August (to a really good guy named Daniel Maiola Kalili Kaohe ai Kaonohe. Everyone just calls him Ola. He's Hawaiian.) Our oldest daughter just had our first grandchild, and all our kids will be married soon, excpt Rob, who feels it deeply. Loyd and Cathryn are doing pretty well, except that Loyd has had shingles for a week or two. Their daughter, Lori, is getting married on May 17 to a nice man she's known for awhile. We're very happy for her. Well, that's all for now. Love, Robert

Robert Dunn

I spoke with Robert Dunn for about a minute this evening. He had come to visit my mother in St. George. Hearing him was like talking to Uncle Loyd. We are looking forward to having him join us and post pictures of his family so that we can get caught up with him. It's been a long, long time since we sat and visited with one another.