A portrait of the David and Ellen Eccles family: seated, left to right, George, David, Ellen, Willard, Nora; standing, left to right, Emma, Jessie, Marriner, Ellen (in front of Marriner), Marie, and Spencer. Courtesy of Spencer F. Eccles At age 26 David Eccles at last felt his family to be secure, and so he married Bertha Jensen, of Ogden, who bore him 12 children. Over time, Eccles became the president of five banks and a director and stockholder in three others. His holdings increased until he owned or directed some 27 companies, including what ultimately became the First Security banking system. Yet a wide arc of business and social acquaintances were unaware that Eccles also was rearing a second family. As a Latter-day Saint, Eccles set his own style. He avoided worship meetings and holding offices in the lay priesthood. However he not only tithed, but several times helped the LDS Church overcome serious financial difficulty. He insisted on prayer before every meal, even those eaten in lumber camps. And, like many prominent LDS men, he practiced what nineteenth century church members called "the principle," known otherwise as plural marriage or polygamy. David Eccles and Ellen Stoddard wed in 1885, "five years prior to the prohibition of plural marriages by the Mormon Church," their eldest child, Marriner, wrote. "The ceremony was performed at the Mormon temple in Logan [north of Ogden] by an apostle of the Mormon Church, Marriner W. Merrill, after whom I was named." Since federal marshals were tracking polygamists to serve terms in the territorial prison, Ellen moved frequently between homes in Logan and Scofield, Utah, and Baker City, Oregon. Despite this apparent hardship, Marriner felt his parents enjoyed a fulfilling marriage. "It was a singularly happy union for both parties," Marriner wrote. "Of the nine children my mother bore, four boys and five girls, she reared us all to share her own view of David as a man who was to be respected and loved, and not to be annoyed by noise and tumults on the occasions when he was home with us."