• • • JUDSON LYMAN STODDARD Judson L. Stoddard was a pioneer of the year 1848 arriving here in Brigham Young's company on Sept. 20, 1848. He was born in the township of Upper Canada, April 13, 1823, being the son of Lyman Stoddard and Ruth Wright. When he was thirteen years old, he with his parents joined the Church. In Missouri they endured hardships and with the rest were compelled to leave their home and go to Nauvoo. From Nauvoo he was called to fill a mission in New York State. He labored with Elder John S. Gleason. In the fall of 1845 both elders returned home together. Later in the fall of 1845 Oct. 29, Judson met and married Rhoda Chase, the second daughter oflsaac and Phoebe Ogden Chase. In the spring of 1846 he with his wife left Nauvoo and started for Salt Lake Valley, spending the following winter in Winter Quarters. The next spring found them in Council Bluffs and in the spring of 1848 they started on their journey across the plains. They reached the Salt Lake valley the following September. The first winter was spent in the Fort (now Pioneer square) where all the Saints lived as one family. In the spring of 1849 the family moved to what was known as North Canyon just north of Salt Lake City. Later they moved to what is now Centerville, there being only three families there at the time. Here he took a second wife Sylvia, older sister to Rhoda . At this time Judson L. Stoddard with A. 0. Smoot and Porter Rockwell had charge of the mail service known then as the Pony Express. These three men brought the news of the arrival of Johnson' s Anny. When they arrived to tell the shocking news they found the people all in Cottonwood Canyon celebrating the 24th of July. Judson Stoddard carried the news to President Young before returning to his home. In later years Judson Stoddard and George 0. Chase ran a saw mill in Farmington Canyon. It operated successfully for several years. Judson initiated the first store in Farmington located where the Davis County Court House now stands. He later passed the bar and had a successful law practice for many years. Very early, perhaps 1860, Mr. Stoddard purchased the Ben Symon property in Weber Valley, which consisted of a spring and a large tract ofland, He was a very progressive and well-to-do man. He brought a large number of cattle and horses into the valley. At one time there was a settlement often or twelve families located on this property. The place was named in honor of Mr. Stoddard. Mr. Stoddard was the father of twenty children and was a faithful Latter-Day- Saint. He spent his last years in his home in Farmington in which he had recently moved. Judson L. Stoddard saw the last of a long life of sincere service when he died in his Farmington home Jan. 9, 1870. By Mrs. Laura Eddington