79 TITLE PAGE PIONEER (full name) BIRTH (date and place) DEA TH (date and 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 8405 0 CAMP & COUNTY SUBMITTING _s_o_u_t_h_M--,-o_rg_a_n_ ________ Camp _M_o_r_g_a_n __________ County (Camp Historian & address)- ---Lo-la- D-aw-so-n -Pe-te-rs-on- ------- Morgan, Utah 840 50 County Historian & address) Veloy Tonks Dickson --------------------- PO Box 203, Mor gan, Utah 840 5 0 SOURCE OF INFORMATION & PAGE NUMBERS: . --- . e • • BRIEF HISTORY ON CROYDON In autumn of 1661, Thomas Condie of Salt Lake went with Charles 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. George Knight and James Walker came in the same year. Later in the year familes of this group of men ar-rived in the valley. Hay was harvested during that first summer After Thomas had finished his home and gone to Salt Lake 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 the old pioneer trail over the mountain. It began snowing, and when he reached Big1{oUJ!lltain, snow was knee-deep , The following is a description of the cabin occupied by Thomas Condie and his 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 level 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. In 1863, a branch was organized in conjunction with the Henefer Branch. For some time, Lost Creek and ' .E!enefer held meetings on alternating weeks. Meetings were held in private homes, according to reports. By 1864 a public building was erected for school, church and social functions . e • -~- In 1864, the first child was born in Croydon. The babe was born to the James Walkers. In 1865, Croydon was separated from Henefer Ward. A regular mail route was set up to connect Croydon with the lower valley. Mail was first brought 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 returned after three weeks and began building a rock fort, neTer 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 Canyons . During this year the first death occured, a Swann child. Provision for such tragedy was made; John London was village coffinmaker . His wares wer e lined by his wife, Hannah. Hannah also made burial clothes. Hannah reports that she received these instructions at a conven-t i on 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. 11 In 1874, the settl ers reported a good harvest but expressed concern about a possible smallpox epidemic. Nearly all school children were vaccinated. John Toone, painter, royal tm.1sician 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,. tlrus helping to end the epidemic. ·the1 sarne year., the C:N:>yd.on-Morgan road was repaired after being out of condition for two years. In 1877., grasshoppers again threatened to destroy crops,but Croydon had its own little . miracle of the gulls . Seagulls des-cended to eat vast hordes of the peatial insects . There were no'NI 173 inhabitiants in Croydon., about 60 stidents in public school., four stores, a restaurant., a sawmill and a 11very rich coal mine. 11 This must have been the Golden Age of Croydon. In 1880, we learn that in 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: 1'We are living in trying times. 11 She exhorted μ the sisters to their duties and said they were abl est people, for the Destroyer had not been in their midst for a long time. "While in prosperity and peace, we should serve God and encourage our daughters not to follow the pride and fashi on of the world. " 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 br ought 1200 babies into t he world. In 1914, the Croydon 1'fard was divided at Lost Creek. The western section was organized as the Slide Ward. In 1916., James Hopkin bought the f irst automobil e in Croydon-a seven-passenger Buick. In 1922., the Relief Society met at the home of Sister Hi lda Stevens t o listen t o President Calvin Coolidge ' s radio address. St&Ven:~ ~ned th~ only radio, in the vill age . In 19)1, t~e Ward Meeting House which~as formerly the Croydon School House, was dedicated by President Heber J. Grant. This former school house had been purchased fi'om the Morgan County Bosi.rd of Education and remodled at a cost of $2430. In 1959, the Ward Meeting House was again &"emodled. In 1961, the Croydon and Slide Wards were reunited as one after a period of 47 years as separate units. Present ward population is 170. Only four original pioneer families now have descendenta in Croydon. They are Wilde, Toone, Hopkin and London •