TITLE PAGE PIONEER (full name) BIR !H (date and place) DEA TH (date arid place) PARENTS . MARRIED (who and date) ARRIVAL IN UTAH (date) (Company arrived with) HISTORY (who wrote) (date written) (who submitted) (address) History of Croydon, Utah Jeff London 1970 Flora Dawson Tonks PO Box 112 Morgan, Utah 84050 CAMP & COUNTY SUBMITTING _s_o_u_t_h_M_o_r....g:.:_a_n_ ________ Camp _Mo_r_g_a_n_ ___________ County (Camp Historian & a ddress) Lola Dawson Peterson _________________ ..:__ __ Mor gan, Utah 84050 County Historian & address)- ---V-elo-y- T-on-k-s D-i-ck-so-n ---'------ PO Box 203, Morgan, Utah 84050 SOURCE OF INFORMATION & PAGE NUMBERS: BRIEF HISTORY ON CROYDON In autumn of 1861, Thomas Condi e of Salt Lake went with Char les Richins of Henefer to Lost Creek to get some cattle for a man in Salt Lake . This was the first time Thomas had seem the valley. He returned in 1862 and built the first house in Croydon. Returning with him were George Shill and Levi Savage who built a cabin. Geor ge Knight and James Walker eame in the same year . Later in the year familes of this group of men ar-rived in the vall ey. Hay was harvested during that first swr.mer After Thomas had finished his home and gone to Salt Laka for provisions and for a brief visit in the city, he returned to Croydon to find that his house had been broken into and his goods stolen. Early the next morning, with but a part of a loaf of bread in his pocket , he started out on foot following t he old pioneer trail over the mountain . It began snowing, and when he reached Bigtfowrotain , snow was knee-deep . The following is a description of the cabin occupied by Thomas Condie and hi s wife, Hannah, who were married in 1863. The house was built of logs; the cracks daubed with mud. The floor was six inches below the l evel of the ground to prevent drafts under the floor . The roof was covered with soil and some-times leaked. There was a fireplace in the west and two windows . A lean-to was built to the cabin as a workshop. I n 1863, a branch was organized in conjunction with the Henefer Branch. For some time , Lost Creek and ·P.enefer hel d meetings on al ternating weeks. Meetings were held in pri vate homes, according t o r eports . By 1864 a public building was erected f er school, church and soci al functi~ns . • • • -:r- In 1864, the first child was born in Croydon. The babe was born to the James \·Talkers . In 186S, Croydon was separated from Henefer Ward. A regular mail route was set up to connect Croydon with the lower valley. Mail was first 1:>rought from the Devils Slide station to Croydon by horseback . In 1866, Church leaders urged Croydonites to move to Coal-ville because of Indian troubles . They r eturned after three weeks and began building a rock fort, never completed. Occasion-ly, there were Indians , but nothing really serious came of their visits to the valley. In 1868, crops were partially destroyed by grasshoppers , so the men went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad which was grading through Echo and Weber CGnyons . During this year the first death occured, a Swann child. Provision for such tragedy was made; John London was village coffinmaker . His wares were lined by his wife, Hannah. Hannah allso made burial clothes . Hannah r eports that she received these instructions at a conven-tion in Salt Lake City: "When laying away the dead, b~ neat and plain so they will be a credit to us when we meet them, and not be frilled and dolled up . " In 1874, the settlers r eported a good harvest but expressed concern about a possible smallpox epidemic. Nearly all school children were vaccinated. John Toone, painter, royal musician and community doctor, obtained vacine in the following manner: When his young son, Richard, got small pox, John took the pox germ and innoculated a calf from which he made vacine. He innoculated 60 persons,. thus helping to end the epidemic. • • • -J-In ·the·same year, the CI'Oyd.on~1organ road was r epaiired after being out of condition for two years . In 1877, grasshoppers again threatened to destroy crops,but Croydon had its own little mir acle of the gulls . Seagulls des - eended to eat vast hordes of the pestial insects . There were now 173 inhabitiants in Croydon, about 60 stidents in public school, · four stores, a r estaurant , a sawmill and a 11very rich coal mine. 11 This must have been the Golden Age of Croydon. In 1880, we learn that i n addition to a public school, a night school and a dancing school had been organized. Later a ward choir was established. In 1885, Relief Society President Helen Thackeray cautioned the sisters: •rwe are living in trying times . 11 She exhorted the sisters to~ "t h eir duties and said they were ablest people , for the Destroyer had not been in their midst for a long time. "While in pr,osperity and peace, we should serve God and encourage our daughters not to follow the pride and fashion of the world. 11 Near the end of the century, there were 135 souls in Croydon. In 1904, Sister Fannie Swann report~ that as the area midwife, she had brought 1200 babies into the world. I n 1914, the Croydon 1-,1ard was divided at Lost Creek. The western section was organized as the Slide Ward. In 1916 , James Hopkin bought the first automobil e in Croydon-a seven- passenger Buick . In 1922, t he Relief Society met at the home of Sister Hilda Stevens t o listen to President Calvin Coolidge ' s radio address. St&\·ens oc.ned tha. only radio in the village. In 19.3'1, t}:le Ward Meeting House m ich 11,as formerly the Croydon School House., was dedicated by President Heber J . Grant. This f ormer school house had been purchased .from the Morgan County Bo~d of Education and r emodl ed at a cost of $2430. In 1959, the Ward Meeting House was again vemodled. In 1961, the Croydon and Slide Wards were reunited as one a~er a period of 47 years as separate units. Present "~ard population is 170. Only four original pioneer families now have descendents in Croydon. They are Wilde, Toone , Hopkin and London •