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Show • • • BIOGRAPHY of MARIA LOVINA DURANT Ph,//1 f'-5 h'f ve.M-, Maria Lovina Durrant, daughter of James Durant and Mary An Mois, was born December 23, 1856, at Deanshanger, England. Her father's parents were farm hands and worked on the land, but her father, by extra effort, had learned a trade and worked in a large railroad machine shop called the "Wolverton Works."· Then with more effort and study he was promoted to a clerical job, the kind of work he followed after migrating to America. Her mother was a delicate woman and after having a family of seven, died. Maria, beirrg the oldest, assumed the job of mothering the othes. When she died in 1922 I heard her youngest living brother say, "She was the only mother I ever knew." The Durrant fami'.J.:y, came to America after the completion of the railroad. '.I A typical incident in Maria's courtship was when she and Hyrum Phillips, in an oxen-drawn sleigh, raeed against Hyru.m's sister and her beau, who had a mule team pulling their sleigh, from Porterville to Morgan. Since Hyrum told the story, he must have been the winner. Maria was married to Hyrum Phillips on June 21, 1875, in the Salt Lake Endowment House. The ceremony was performed by Wilford Woodruff. They lived in a one-room log cabin by the creek in Porterville, about a mile from Uncle Tom Phillips. During thunder storms she became so frightened she would take her baby, Will, and run to Uncle Tom's to be near someone • • In those first years the winter brought sometimes from two to four feet of snow, making it necessary for them to travel about a mile from their cabin to the main road on foot. During t'e spring thaw, the boulders coming down the creek enrd---.to vibrate ·the cabin on the bank. In 1878, with two smal children, an ox team and wagon,aa small herd of sheep they left for Curlew Valley, Idaho. Maria drove the ox team and Hyrum and Tom drove the sheep. After about a wJmk they arrived in Idaho,; wher.e the:!.last they saw of .the-sheep-, wa.s- -their.-backs-obb-ing up and down as they ran off over a hill • Six ch: leaving Porte1 and their sev1 born. Maria, meeting. Fon buggy or slei1 her offering c Thre- i two rooms and in later yearf chan, Johnathi by the grandc} One of in the hillsic twice a year. and here was \ [Phillips] [Contributed by Vera Carter] --~-- ... l r .... C d,\3 t • Mary Ann Her fat her I s er, by extra achine shop dy he was er migrating me to of g the r say, a.nd Hyrum ~er and her i.lle to inner. , in the lford !l Porter-storms run to ,m two to ,ut a mile J thaw, ln on the bank. m, aa small ,e the ox ;hey arrived cs. ing Six children were bom in Idaho; one died. Eight years l.after leaving Porterville, they returned to build a two-room cabin for themsel\9s and their seven children. In this cabin their last two children were bom. Maria was a . faithful attender-at Relief Society and sacrament 'meeting. Former neighbors remember her comi.ng to fast ,neeting in the buggy or sleigh with her basket of eggs and butter by her side, for her offering or tithe. • There- they r aised nine children on 15 acres of land and added two rooms and a hallway to their home. A "summer ;Kitcken" was added in later years. The apple orchard~ of Yellow Transparents, Red Astra-chan, Johnathan, Wealthy, and Northern Spies, are fondly remembered by the grandchildren. One of the most appreciated spots on the farm was the cellar in the hillside at the back of the house, which r ated a whitewash twice a year. Here was stored gooseberry jam and other delicacies, and here was where the milk, cream,· and butter was kept. --James. W. Phillips 0 • |
