A life sketch of Ida Frances Hunt Udall [microform]: 1941, July | Collections | The Huntington

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A life sketch of Ida Frances Hunt Udall [microform]: 1941, July

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Description: Microfilm typescript of Pauline Udall Smith's biography of her mother, Ida Frances Hunt Udall (1858-1915). Ida was born at Hamilton's Fort near Cedar City, Utah, and was a granddaughter of Jefferson Hunt and Addison Pratt. She lived in San Bernardino, California, as a child before returning to Beaver, Utah, at the age of 5. Smith's account traces Ida's childhood, including notes on her schooling and her family's move to Savoia, one of the settlements at Little Colorado, Arizona. Her father was appointed bishop of Snowflake in the late 1870s, and Ida lived with her grandmother in Beaver, Utah, until 1880. Pauline writes that on returning to Arizona with the Jesse N. Smith Company Ida was inspired to pursue a life of polygamous marriage. She taught school in Taylor and Snowflake, Arizona, until meeting Bishop David K. Udall (1851-1938) in 1881. He offered her a position at the St. Johns cooperative store, and she became his plural wife in 1882. Smith's account describes how Ida, along with her sister-in-law Eliza Tenney and Catherine and Annie Romney, were forced to flee after her brother-in-law Ammon Tenny was arrested for polygamy. Polygamy charges were brought against David Udall in 1884, but were dropped as Ida could not be found to testify. In 1885 he was indicted for perjury in a case involving a land claim, and sentenced to 3 years in the Detroit House of Corrections (he was released by presidential pardon in December 1885). Smith describes the difficulty of the situation for Ida, and her unsettled life in Eagar, Snowflake, St. Johns, and finally Hunt, Arizona, following her husband's release. Included are the typescripts of several letters sent by Ida to David Udall.

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