Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Togetlm Hulda Cordelia Thurston Smith Hulda Cordelia Thurston Smith was born in Van Buren County, Iowa, on June 1,1846, in a covered wagon as the family was traveling from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters. She was the ninth child of Thomas Jefferson Thurston and Rosetta Bull Thurston. The Saints were being driven from their homes in Nauvoo and many were poorly equipped for the long journey to the West, where they hoped to escape persecution. All these travelers spent the winter in log and willow cabins with dirt floors and roofs that leaked. Much sickness developed and many died. The Thurston family survived and made the journey to Utah the next year. They were in the second immigrating company and arrived in Salt Lake on October 6,1847. My mother and eight of her brothers and sisters were among the original pioneers of Utah. Grandfather Thurston and his sons soon began making adobes and built one of the first houses in Salt Lake City. In 1851 they moved to Centerville. Grandfather sold the Centerville home in 1859 because he wanted to settle in Weber Valley, a place he had sighted some years earlier from the tops of the mountains. In 1856 after a road of sorts had been made through Weber Canyon, grandfather planted a few acres of grain in the new area. It did not mature from lack of water, and frost ruined the crop the next year. In 1858 the family joined the exodus known as The Move South, when Johnston's Army was approaching. Several months later with the restoration of good feelings between the church and government, people returned to their homes. In October of that year, mother went with her father and his wife, Elizabeth, to settle permanently in Weber Valley, later named Morgan in honor of Jedediah Morgan Grant. She thus became one of the earliest residents of Morgan County. Her own mother and the younger members of her family moved there the next year. Grandfather Thurston and Charles Peterson with Mr. Peterson's two sons and son-in-law made the road through Weber Canyon and established the first homes in the Valley. Mr. Peterson was in the area which still bears his name, and grandfather on the land between Deep Creek and Line Creek. Line Creek was so named because it was the boundary between these holdings. The trip to Weber Valley, now Morgan County, was made in an open wagon on October 8, 1859. It was a long days journey over a road that was not much but a trail and the weather was very cold. The next morning the family found eighteen inches of snow on the ground. Snow continued to fall for a day or two and it was about three feet deep on the level. This made it impossible to move about much. The only other family in the valley, the Petersons, were only six miles away; but the families did not see each other until the next spring. It was a long, extremely cold winter with deep snow. There was no communication with the outside world (no letters or newspapers). For reading they had a Bible and several old volumes of the journal of Discourses. They had no slates, paper, or pencils. Around the fireplace during the long winter evenings, the children learned the multiplication tables. The also became expert spellers. Their first house consisted of two long rooms, chinked, and daubed with mud. Rafters were of logs; willows and then straw or wild grass were laid; and dirt was heaped on top. A blanket was hung in the opening, which was left for a door, and unbleached sheeting was stretched across what would eventually be windows. One room had a hewed-log floor, but the other was of dirt. Food was cooked in the large fireplace, which was the source of heat and most of the light in the house. Candles were scarce. Heavy rain and melting snow came through the roof, and mud would sometimes be quite deep on the dirt floor. In spite of much suffering and inadequate food, the family usually kept well. Grandfather gradually improved a large farm including most of the land between Deep Creek and Line Creek. He raised many sheep and cattle. Mother often told of the hardships they endured and the heavy tasks they performed. The women and girls in the family washed the wool after it had been sheared from the sheep, carded it, spun it into yarn or thread, dyed it with concoctions brewed from various plants, wove it into cloth, and then made it into clothes for themselves and the men folks. The sewing was done by hand as there were no sewing machines. Knitting needles were always busy. Flax was raised in the Salt Lake Valley and other places, so material for sheets, towels, table linens, and underwear was woven from flax in addition to the work with the wool. Housework was done in the hardest way. Flatirons for ironing were heated on the coals. Water for washing and boiling clothes was heated outside during warm weather; but during the winter, it was heated in the fireplace. 1H5