Thomas and Martha Duerden Walton (Parents of Sarah Elizabeth Walton Sorenson)

Thomas and Martha Duerden Walton

(Parents of Sarah Elizabeth Walton Sorenson)

            On the 26^th of June 1844, in Briercliff England, a son, Thomas, was born to James Walton and Sarah Elizabeth Halsted Walton. He was the second child of six Walton children.

            Thomas was a humble young man and very religious in nature. When he was near twenty, he was introduced to Mormonism by the LDS missionaries laboring there in England. He was the only member of his family to accept the gospel thus he left his home and family and came in America in 1865 so he could worship with the saints. He crossed the plains by ox team reaching Utah in 1866.

            Thomas sacrificed so much for his religion and he felt that as a member he must live it in its entirety, not just the principles that were easy but every commandment. His firm conviction as a convert to the church was that church duties and obligations should always have first consideration.

            Thomas was fortunate in meeting a young lady by the name of Martha Duerden. Her family had also come to America from England after embracing the gospel. They fell in love and were married in The Endowment House in Salt Lake City on December 20, 1869.

Standing: Martha and Richard Duerden
Nephi, Sarah Ann Starkey Duerden, Edmondson

           

Martha was born in great Marsen England on April 16, 1853. She was the daughter of Richard Duerden and Elizabeth Bradshaw Duerden. She was the oldest child having two younger brothers, Samuel, who died when he was just a child, and Nephi. On January 3, 1865 when Martha was only nine her mother died. This put a lot of added responsibility on this young girl, helping care for her brother, Nephi, who was just four years old, and her father. Two years later on February 17, 1866, Martha’s father remarried. Now Martha had a stepmother, Sarah Ann Starkey Duerden.

            The Duerden family decided to leave their home land of England and join the saints in America. They crossed the ocean and then traveled across the plains with the John Gillespie Company. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley September 15, 1868 and soon made their home in Bountiful, Utah.

            

Thomas and Sarah Walton

Thomas and Martha Walton soon made their home in Mill Creek, Utah after they were married. Here their first child, Sarah Elizabeth was born. This was a very happy time for this new little family. Two years later another beautiful daughter, Ellen, joined their family.

            Happy Times however were soon to change, little Ellen died being only four years old and then just three years later Martha passed away. This left Thomas to care for his daughter who was just nine years old then. Thomas decided to become a teacher so he sent Sarah to live with her Grandparents, Richard and Sarah Duerden, in Bountiful while he attended the University of Deseret, now known as the University of Utah.

            Soon after his graduation, He married Electa Lower on November 25, 1880, He had tried for quite some time to get Electa to marry him but she kept refusing. Thomas fasted and prayed and finally after much persistence, Electa consented to marry him.

            At this time a commandment was given by the authorities of the LDS church that men should take more than one wife. Thomas asked Electa for permission to do so. She was not so deeply religious as Thomas and her thought of having a home and family did not include sharing her husband with another wife. She was young and did not think it was important. Electa had mapped out her own definite plan of life and happiness. She felt they had very little of the worldly goods but if they worked hard together and had love, their burdens would be made light and they would have a home that would be a heaven here on Earth.

            When Thomas came home and asked for permission to marry another, after just five weeks of married life, Electa was not pleased. It seemed to her nothing short of being rejected as a wife. What a terrible shock, she felt as if she could not endure. Her soul was filled with jealously, sorrow, and regret that she had ever married. All of her wonderful dreams and hopes were completely shattered. When Thomas came home from teaching school at night all she could do was cry. She became physically ill from grief and worry. People began to ask him what was wrong with his new bride. Thomas finally went to Electa and told her if she didn’t want him to take another wife he would not. He took the recommends for himself and the new wife to be and burned them and he promised Electa he would never see or meet the woman again. He was true to his word.

            Nearly four years passed, Thomas worried because he was not obeying the commandment of plural marriage so he again approached Electa. This time she finally consented but she still was not happy about the situation. Thomas did embrace polygamy then and married Sarah Elizabeth Coles. Soon after this marriage a law was passed outlawing polygamy. The U.S. marshals began looking for all polygamist including now Thomas Walton to elude the officers of the law, Thomas was constantly on the move. He began teaching school in outlying small communities in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. He moved to Ovid, Idaho and began teaching in a two-room school there. He brought his wife Electa and family and his sixteen year old daughter Sarah Elizabeth, who had been living with here grandparents, the Duerden’s, since her mother’s death. His third wife, “Aunt Lizzie” Coles stayed in Bountiful where she lived most of the time.

            In Ovid the Waltons rented two rooms from Martha Sorenson Carlson, a widow, having her youngest son, Martin, living with her. At the time Martin began courting Sarah Elizabeth. Her father, Thomas, encouraged this, and they were married in the Logan Temple June 27, 1888.

            The Waltons lived in Smoot Wyoming during the summer months. Thomas built the first house there and was the one who chose the new name for the settlement, formerly known as cottonwood. Thomas wanted it names Smoot after the apostle Reed Smoot. When the Waltons first moved there, there were no other settlers, it was surely a pioneer adventure, with no roads, no food, except what fish Thomas caught and the flour they brought with them. The Indians added greatly to their difficulties as they were always begging for food. Many a scare the Indians gave the wives when Walton was away from home.

            The roof of their log hut was made of small poles laid close together. They needed to be covered but there was no straw to be found. Thomas tried cutting tall grass, which grew along the bend of the creek, and laying it on the poles and then covering the grass with dirt. This turned out to be a disaster as the dirt would come through falling in their food and belongings. Next Thomas decided to try using sod, turning the grass side down and then covering it with three inches of dirt. This worked!! The house had no floor or windows. The family lived here six weeks until it was time to go back to Bear Lake and teach school. They continued to live this way for three years. Thomas would add on the house each summer.

            By the third winter settlers had started to move in bringing enough children that Thomas could start teaching school there in Smoot. During that winter a horrible epidemic of scarlet fever tagged. Thomas brought the virus home from school unfortunately, giving the virus to two of his little girls. Marinda May, age four, was the first to pass away on January 19, 1891. The Little Emily followed after her on February 2, 1891, she was only two. These two little graves were the first in Smoot Cemetery. The snow was so deep that the men who carried the caskets had to carry then over their heads. Alvin, the oldest child was very ill, he said he saw May and called out to her, “Wait May, I’m coming.” This worried Thomas so much, he fasted and prayed continually that his son’s life might be spared. His prayers were answered and Alvin recovered. Soon after this Thomas turned to farming.

            There were finally enough people in Smoot to make a ward, this was a very exciting time. Thomas Walton was chosen as the first counselor in the first bishopric. Now his family had grown considerably. Thomas and Electa had seven children, Thomas Alvin, Marinda May (died), Emily Josephine (died), Jesse Franklin, Alice Adelia, Reuben Halstead, and Dewena. Thomas and Clara Elizabeth (Aunt Lizzie) had three children, Roberts Raymond, Olive Orene, and Heber John. Clara Elizabeth had moved to Smoot sometime after her first child was born. There was always contention between the two families.

            In 1905 Electa was made the Relief Society President of the Smoot Ward. This position she held for nineteen years. The calling of president entailed much more than it does today. When someone passed away she had to make the burial clothes and trim the casket. When there was a new birth she would assist and being home the washing for ten days as well as bathing the mother and baby every day. When they first moved to Smoot, Electa did her washing on an old crate that Thomas had carved ridges in with a knife. Hopefully she was able to have a real wash board when she was serving in the Relief Society, as she did all the washing by hand.

            In 1905 Thomas built a spacious two story frame house with seven large rooms. They were so happy and proud to have this new home. They felt as if they had become rich over night. The house use to stand where the service station and home now stand in Smoot. The Thomas Walton home burned down years ago.

            Electa loved her children so much, she said her children made her life worth living. Then her children became teenagers and she said having teenagers made her forget all about her problems she had living in a polygamist family.

            In 1908 Thomas was a home missionary, laboring for two months and twenty days as he made a house to house canvass of the Star Valley Stake.

            In 1909, Thomas was called to go on a mission to the place of his birth, Lanashire, England. He left behind his wives to take care of the families. Electa wrote that it was a great problem to keep the family together but with their faith, prayers, and hard work they were able to do so. Thomas labored in England for two years and two months.

            On June 17, 1912, Thomas was ordained a patriarch of the Star Valley Stake by President Heber J. Grant, then an apostle. He was filled with the spirit of his calling and canvassed the stake, hundreds of saints received blessings at his hands.

            He loved the gospel and was always delighted to discuss it’s principles with any and all he met. He served as a high counselor for about twenty years. In his home he was always an example, leading and teaching his family the gospel principals to which he was so devoted.

            World War I was declared and his boys were called to military duty. Getting outside help for the farm was impossible, Thomas was unable physically to carry the load alone and so the farm and spacious home were sold. Electa and Thomas moved to Afton settling down in a little four room bungalow with a small lot. He was now seventy-four years old and having worked so hard all of his life and now having nothing to do, his health began to fail.

            Thomas kept a horse and a little one horse buggy and every day he and Electa would go for a ride. Soon there were grandchildren to help take care of and also to take out for ride in the buggy.

            Thomas and Electa became interested in genealogy and temple work. They made an effort to do research and would travel to Logan to the temple to do work for their ancestors.

Thomas Walton

            Thomas passed away at his home in Afton October 25, 1927, after a short illness, at the age of eighty-three. He was buried in the Afton, Wyoming Cemetery. Electa passed away twelve years later on August 7, 1939 and was buried by his side. Clara Elizabeth Walton died December 10, 1946 and was buried in Smoot, Wyoming.