Dorius - A History By Justin C. Bond
Dorius - A Photographic History By Justin C. Bond 2013 Edited with help from: Mary Colleen Dorius Roundy Dale Mellor Dorius Dixie Dorius Evans Dona Dorius Barlow
Mary Knowles Mellor Hamlin (Polly) (1859 -1945)
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Louis Olsen Dorius (1840-1914) 4
Louis Nicoli Dorius (1870 -1924)
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Joseph Ervin Mellor (1883-1969), Emily Maud Mellor (1885-1970) James William Mellor Jr., Polly Hamlin 6
Mary Haycock Mellor (1883 - 1917)
MARY ELIZABETH HAYCOK MELLOR By Naomi Mellor Dorius My mother was born in Schofield, Utah on August 31, 1883. She was the daughter of Joseph George Haycock and Maragret Jones. Her father was a track layer in the new mines opening up at the time in Carbon County, Utah. The family moved often from one settlement to another following the work. The children attended various schools. In 1903, my mother was married to James William Mellor Jr. in Castle Gate, Utah; years later, the marriage was solemnized in the Manti Temple. Four children were born to this union, a son Elvin, who died at birth, a daughter Ella, who also died when a small child, Naomi Maragret Mellor Dorius, and Ploma Mellor Yakovich. When Naomi was ten days old the family moved away from Castle Gate to Fayette, Utah. Five years later, Ploma Susan was born. My mother lived two years after this, dying in a Salt Lake City hospital from appendicitis on October 3, 1917. She was active in the church up until the time of her death. She had a motto: ‘teach your children to pray.’
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Louis Nicoli Dorius - At the North Farm, Fayette, Utah
Joseph George Haycock
James Mellor
Joseph and Polly Bartholomew
Polly Benson Bartholomew
Baby William Mellor
Violet Dorius
Wedding picture Lewis and Violet Dorius 9
James Mellor Sr. 12
Mary Ann Mellor Payne
Myrtle, Grace, Etta, Barney, Kathryn, and Josie
Julie Thorpe, Violet Dorius, Clara Hermanson, and Hanna Allred
Violet Eliza Mellor Dorius (1874 -1946) - Clyde’s Mother 13
Grace Elvira Olsen Dorius Wahlquist (1901 - 1989) 14
John Thomas Wahlquist (1899 - 1990)
Barney Hugh Hyde (1893 - 1990)
Etta Olsen Dorius Hyde (1897 - 1989) 15
William Allen Hamlin, Ploma Yakovich, Polly Hamlin, Lowell Dorius, Billy Mellor, and Naomi Dorius
MARY KNOWLES MELLOR HAMLIN (Polly) (1859 - 1945) Polly Hamlin was born March 2, 1859 in Lancashire, England. At the age of twelve she went to work in the woolen mills and her job was winding thread on a spool by hand for twelve hours a day. James Mellor Sr. went on a mission to England in 1875 and was staying at the Knowles’ home. Polly washed and mended their clothes. Polly, her sister Hannah, and her mother Dorthy were baptized into the LDS church. Polly then joined a group of saints emigrating to the United States, and she married James Mellor Sr. in the fall of 1877 at the St. George Temple. Six children were born to James and Polly - Minnie, Melvin, and Robert, who died in infancy, and James William Jr. (Billy), Ervin Mellor, and Emily Reed Mellor. James Mellor died on December 19, 1903. Mary had a job cooking in a boarding house in Salt Lake City where she met William Allen Hamlin. They moved to Moab and later came to Fayette. Polly’s sister passed away leaving three children. Polly took care of the two boys and the girl until they were grown. In 1917, Polly’s oldest son Billy lost his wife leaving two daughters, Naomi, age seven and Ploma, age two. Polly helped raise these children until their graduation from Gunnison High School. For thirty years, Mary led the choir in Fayette. She was active in the relief society and also served as president of the Y.L.M.I.A. Polly raised chickens, made butter, and canned fruits and vegetables. She lived in a red rock home on the south-east side of Fayette.
OBITUARY OF WILLIAM A. HAMLIN Submitted by Naomi Mellor Dorius - Gunnison Valley News Feb 2, 1936 William Allen Hamlin was born in Malraska County, Iowa, July 26, 1850, the son of Margaret Page Hamlin. He died at the age of 84, after an illness of three months with apoplexy. He came to Utah from Casper, Wyoming in 1900, at which time he married Mary Knowles Mellor. He had been a successful prospector in Southern Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming, but when he came to Fayette in 1902 he took up gardening and poultry raising at which vocation he was very successful until recently when owning to his age and poor health, he was unable to pursue his labors. William was well known in the community for his honesty in civic affairs. Very impressive funeral services were held in the Fayette Chapel with Bishop Henry L. Bartholomew conducting.
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Clyde Louis Dorius (1907 - 2000) 18
Audrey Naomi Margaret Mellor Dorius (1910 - 1993)
Leah Mellor (Violet's Sister)
Joe Spataford and Barney Hyde 1931
Billy Mellor
Mary Haycock Mellor (Naomi’s Mother)
Violet Dorius
Violet Dorius 19
Violet Dorius
Heb Mellor (Violet's half - brother)
Margaret (Maggie) Wyatt, and Rich Haycock (brother to Mary Haycock)
The Log Cabin at the North Farm - Clyde and Naomi’s first home 20
Benson Mellor (Violet's brother) killed by lightning.
Hanna Allred (sister to Violet Dorius)
Clyde Dorius
William Allen Hamlin, Polly Hamlin, Lowell Dorius, Billy Mellor, and Naomi Dorius
Ploma, Billy, and Naomi Mellor 21
Luera Mellor Christensen (Sister to Violet Dorius), Mamie Robinson Roper
James William Mellor Jr - Castle Gate Mine 22
James W. Mellor Jr. (Billy) (1879 - 1948)
JAMES WILLIAM MELLOR (BILLY) Written by Naomi Mellor Dorius James William Mellor, oldest son of James Mellor Sr. and Mary Knowles Mellor Hamlin, grew up in Fayette, Utah herding cows in the town pasture and herding sheep to help his mother rear the family. Schooling was obtained in Fayette, except one year when the family moved to Ephraim, where three children went to Snow College. When he got old enough to shear sheep, he followed that occupation for many years. Later years he went to Carbon County with Angus Mellor seeking employment. He first worked in the coal mines, later on the section crew. In 1904, he met Mary Elizabeth Haycock and in 1905 they were married at Castle Gate, Utah where they had a large wedding. A son was born in 1906, Elvin, who died at birth. A daughter Ella, who was born in 1908 died at eight months. In 1910, Naomi Margaret was born. When she was ten days old, the family moved from Castle Gate to Fayette where the father engaged in farming. He spent the rest of his life in Fayette working with young people in the church. For many years he was the drama director at M.I.A. Many times they took plays to different wards, miles away. He was in the Sunday School Superintendency and headed the Genealogical Association. In tithing and attendance to church he was always faithful. One thing he instilled into his children was to pray always to better themselves by taking advantage of education, especially opportunities which the church offered. James William Mellor was hit with a car in Gunnison, Utah just after shopping for groceries with Colleen, Dixie, and Clair. He died on April 4, 1948.
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Helper, Utah
Thelma Poulsen, Naomi Dorius, Grace Wahlquist, Violet Dorius, and Etta Hyde 24
Myrtle Dorius, Thelma Poulsen, Blenda and Clarence Larsen (Porch in Ephraim Utah)
Violet, Thelma, Clyde, Naomi, and Lowell
Clyde, Naomi, and Etta (1930)
Etta Dorius Hyde (1914)
Orsen and Hanna Allred (sister to Violet Dorius) 25
Violet, Joe Spachford, and Lowell Dorius
Barney and Etta (1949)
Mary Hamblin, Anna, and Ploma
Etta, Blenda, Thelma, Myrtle and Violet 26
Etta and Verda
Hanna, Etta, and Violet
A TRIBUTE TO MY DEAREST FREIND MARGARET WILSON JAMES (fondly called Maggie) written by Naomi Mellor Dorius Some of my first memories as a child was going to visit Maggie with me mother and playing with Lizzie, Erval, and John L. I can still taste the home-made bread and blue-plum jam she gave us for our play dinners. I was seven years old when my own mother passed away and through all these years since that time, Maggie has taken the place of my mother and has become closer and dearer to me than anyone I have ever known. We have had some wonderful letters from her this past winter, and they have all been filled with love, encouragement, comfort, and with never a word of complaint. Many times when I was a child I have stood and watched Maggie stack hay, run the derrick fork, and lead the derrick horse. I have talked to her while she hoed weeds in her large garden or milked the cows in the evening. She believed in having a well fed family and proved it by serving three hearty, delicious meals in her home every day. Maggie prepared her own store-house by bottling vegetables, meats, fruits, and making delicious jellies and jams until the number of bottles was over a thousand. When all her family was at home she baked bread every other day. A sack of flour would be divided into three mixings and by trading yeast starts, she could keep the yeast fresh. At night Maggie was never too tired to go to some expectant mother’s home when the baby was due and help with the delivery. Many of these babies she delivered without the help of a doctor, and the last time she counted she had delivered 237 babies into this world. I’m sure there were more. The late Doctor Hagan made the statement shortly before he retired that Maggie James came to his aid many, many times, and in a crisis, he did not know a better person to call on. Maggie worked with numerous doctors throughout the valley and on many different kinds of cases. Often she never received a penny for her work. The great master, Jesus Christ, taught ‘love thy neighbor’, and in Maggie’s case she lived this to the fullest extent. I can truthfully say that, as her neighbor, I have made use many times of the privilege of calling on her for help when I have had sickness and death in my family, and she has always been willing to give a helping hand. Maggie was thought of as a sister by my father and Uncle Ervin and toward my parents and grand-parents. She lightened their pain and heartbreak and helped them in their sorrow, sickness, and death. And as she has grown older she has never changed. My children, and all children, have been welcomed into her home with warmth and always had the invitation to sit at her table and share with them what she had. Before the days of automobiles, Maggie used to hitch up the horse and buggy and load her family to go and take them to a show or to a dance in Gunnison. I remember how wonderful those nights coming home with here with the stars up above and Maggie telling us stories and the sound of the horse clopping along the road. Dear Maggie: she taught me one important lesson in life. She taught me not to waste. She taught me not to waste cloth, food, or anything I came in contact with. She could find a special purpose for each thing. Possibly one of the really important elements she taught me was not to waste time. Her motto was to use every minute of the day as if it were the last drop of water to a dying man in a desert. After holidays and especially after Christmas and Mother’s Day, she liked me to come and see what tokens of appreciation she had received from her family. She loved every little remembrance, and she cherished each as precious jewel. I have reason to morn today because I have lost my longest and dearest friend, a friend that neither time nor money can replace because she was a true friend. My wish at this time is that the Lord will bless each of you with such a friend and neighbor as Maggie has been to me. May he comfort and lighten the sorrow of her family to this day. I send you all my love. Naomi Mellor Dorius 27
Tony Yakovich, Emily Maud Mellor, and Billy Mellor
Ploma, Judy, Naomi, and Dixie 28
Clyde, Naomi, Collen, Anna, and Dale (1937)
Anna Dorius, Mary Colleen Dorius, Julie Thorpe, Clara Hermasen, Hanna Allred, and Violet Dorius
Myrtle Dorius
Clyde Dorius 29
Barney, Don, Jack, Carl, Clyde, Lowell, and Dale
O.P. Skaggs - Helper, Utah 30
Clyde Dorius (Age 3)
Dale, Colleen, Lowel, Clyde, Dixie, Naomi, and Anna
Dorius Kids (1943)
Naomi and Billy Mellor 31
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Naomi Mellor Dorius
Naomi Mellor Dorius
Naomi and Clyde Dorius
Naomi Mellor Dorius
Ploma and Naomi (4th of July) 33
Ploma and Naomi Mellor 34
Ploma, Naomi, and Tony
Etta Dorius Hyde and the Large Mountain Echo Band
Etta Dorius Hyde 35
ETTA DORIUS HYDE (1897- 1989) Written in 1977 The following is a partial account of the history of Etta Dorius Hyde, daughter of Louis Nicoli Olsen Dorius and Violet Eliza Mellor Dorius. Etta was born in Ephraim, August 18, 1897. She was blessed by her father in Ephraim. Joseph E. Taylor baptized her in the Manti Temple on June 12, 1906; and she was confirmed the same day in the Ephraim Chapel by John B. Maiben. She attended the meetings of the ward’s organizations and also the grade school in Ephraim. Ephraim had a gifted teacher of dramatics who helped the school children who wanted such training. Etta took advantage of this and soon became proficient in giving readings. Her father enjoyed hearing her read and encouraged her. He often told her, “you are a star wherever you are put.” Her parents had a farm north of Fayette, where she enjoyed the great outdoors. She often helped herd the family’s sheep and drive the cows to pasture after they had been milked. When certain parts of the land were being plowed, she drove the horses and watched with interest the soil being turned over by the plow. Many times she rode upon a load of hay that was sent all the way from their farm to their home in Ephraim where they spent the winter months. There they had chickens, a cow or so, and a garden, all of which helped provide a living for the family. There were six girls and one boy in the family. Two girls are deceased at this time: Blenda and Thelma. Blenda never married, but Thelma had a family of three children. The family had quite a struggle to survive during the eighteen year illness of their father. This injury was induced by a blow on the head from an angry neighbor and led to a lingering illness and death for Louis. It also left a nearly destitute family. In those days there was no welfare, no government agency to come to the aid of the needy. Etta was always energetic and willing to work. She helped many people in their homes, cleaning and cooking for them when they couldn’t do it for themselves. The pay was about fifteen cents a day, and she went home for dinner after ten hours of work. She worked in the Pea Cannery when it operated. Out of the low wages she earned, she always managed to save a few dollars against a day of need. It was her great desire to face a future life without the dread of poverty. She made friends easily, friends who remained loyal throughout the years. She was popular with boys as well as girls. She enjoyed being active in the organizations in the Church and was very fond of dancing. Her father and mother taught her to do what they considered to be lady-like things. Her father impressed upon her some old axioms: ‘two wrongs don’t make a right,’ and ‘honesty is the best policy.’ She accepted this advice and followed it all her life. The time was at hand when she would need to finish high school if she was going to be a teacher. This was quite a challenge, but she got her certificate of graduation. Then she enrolled in Snow College to prepare to become a teacher. This was an enjoyable experience because her ability to learn was put to the test. There she met many students from surrounding towns. It was a new life. She learned to sing and to play an instrument. This led her to becoming a member of the Large Mountain Echo Band, which was made up entirely of girls who wore beautiful white costumes. They toured many cities and provided concerts therein. They always drew big crowds and received wide acclaim. The flu epidemics of 1918 hit Ephraim with a devastating blow. Her family came down with severe attacks. When she recovered from her illness, she offered services, as did her sister Grace, to aid stricken families in the community. Many people would have perished without those services. Soon she received from Snow College her certificate to teach. Who would be the most anxious to get her a job? Her boyfriend, Barney Hyde from Spring City found her a job teaching. He was Principal of the Henefer School in North Summit County. He was followed by William Manning. Both of these men were impressed with her natural ability to teach the first and second grades. Her chief virtues as a teacher were love, patience, and perseverance. She knew how to get the attention of the children and hold it. 36
The children’s progress and reaction to her great efforts proved this to everybody. She often prepared skits for public enjoyment, and she joined with singing groups to present musicals of different kinds, especially duets. Winter activities included sleighing, skating on the marshes, and parties. The winters were cold, friendships warm, skies clear, and the days went by rapidly. Near the close of the school year, Etta received word that her father was very ill in Ephraim and wasn’t expected to live. Barney pled with her to mary him before she left to see her father and to help her mother care for him. She accepted, and that very night a train would take her to Salt Lake City. But, before she left arrangements were made in Coalville with the Justice of the Peace to give them a license and to marry them. This was 7:30 pm. A father of one of Barney’s pupils let him take his Model T Ford to drive to Coalville. As they were crossing the R.R. tracks at Echo, the clutch slipped and the car wouldn’t move. Bells were ringing and a bright light from an approaching engine shone down upon them. Fortunately, the clutch took hold, and the car shot out of harm just as train came by. The marriage was later solemnized May 20, 1919 under considerable excitement and frustration for the newlyweds. They rode back to Henefer as if they were floating upon a cloud. Etta packed her suit case and prepared to leave on the next train, and she was not to see her hubby again until school was out. Then when they got settled somewhat in Ephraim they went to the Manti Temple to be married August 27, 1920. The following winter they went back to Henefer to resume teaching, this time as man and wife. Etta again established herself as an excellent teacher. She liked people, and they liked her. She received many compliments from her new superintendent of schools, Wm. H. Manning. He liked her work. At the end of the school year there was an opening for a principal in the Timpanogas School in Provo where a new superintendent, H.A. Dixon, had just come into office. Barney wanted to continue his schooling at the B.Y.U., so he asked Supt. Manning, who was a friend of Dixon’s, to say a good word for him. He did. So Barney received a contract to be principal of the Timpanogas School and Etta a contract to teach the Franklin School. Happy Days! But it was with regret they left their good friends, young and old, in Henefer. In about one year after boarding and renting different places in Provo they decided to buy a home. It was more than a home. There were ten acres of ground planted with all kinds of fruit. There was a horse and buggy and a patch of hay. Soon a cow was purchased, some chickens, and pigs. The house had no electric lights. They drew their water from a well. Mt. Timpanogas, in its changing moods, was a constant revelation. The sunsets out across Utah Lake could not be duplicated anywhere, nor in any way. The fruit in the season made the whole place a paradise. They had to travel to their respective schools by horse and buggy or bicycle. The bicycle proved more manageable so they would ride on the bike to town and Etta upon a seat on the handlebars. Soon they went into debt for a Model T Ford. What a change! Now they could visit their families in Sanpete more often, rather than to drive their horse and buggy the seventy-five miles in one day. They decided to sell the farm and go back to school and to teaching. Years later their old farm became very valuable for building sites. The ground sold for twenty-five times the price they sold it for. Barney had completed his work on his B.S. degree at the B.Y.U., and Etta had done much extension work. Now he received an offer to teach at the Teacher’s Training School at the U. of U.: a class of pupils in the eight grade, all very bright children. He taught only one class in history. This gave him an opportunity to do work toward a master’s degree. He stayed with Etta’s sister Grace and her husband, Phd. John Wahlquist, who helped him get the job. Etta continued teaching at the Franklin School in Provo and at the Parker School. Now came a great and exciting challenge to them. Should they change from the teaching profession which they loved and take a gamble? Maybe they wouldn’t have to stop teaching. A friend of Barney’s, G.O. Allred from Spring City, where both were born, had the franchise for two O.P. Skaggs stores, one in Helper and one in Price. Would they care to be his partners? They would have to raise six-thousand dollars within one month. Etta had saved one-tenth of this amount. After much thinking they decided that a successful business would be the thing to aim for. Other relatives and friends took a chance on their courage and their character and provided the needed money without interest. 37
There was a store in Ogden that provided a little training for Barney in the O.P. Skagg’s chain. This was interesting work, and it stimulated the desire of both of them to become active merchants in Carbon County. They moved to Helper where the new store was about ready to operate. They rented a room in the Utah Hotel which adjoined their store. Here they lived for eighteen years, the full time they operated their store. Etta learned to run the check stand, mark the prices on the groceries, help order the goods, and welcome with a smile the customers who came to the store. She worked hard to keep the store clean and to plan on the things to be advertised each week. This was a shocking change in contrast with her work in the schoolroom. Both longed to resume teaching that fall, but there was no one able or willing to run the business as they did, and they didn’t want to lose their investment. This was also disappointing to the school authorities in Ogden because they didn’t know the full conditions and were left with short notice. Business grew slowly. They had to learn about shoplifting, theft by certain employees, the disturbing O.P.A., how to conduct a fire sale when their store nearly burned down, bad checks, and the danger of charge accounts to many transient customers. Barney thought it would be a good idea to run for a political office with the idea that more business connections could be made. He was elected to the city council and to the office of Mayor for two terms each. He became president of the Chamber of Commerce and president of the Kiwanis Club. All of these positions threw more work and responsibility on Etta but didn’t increase business much. They found that the old axiom taught by O.P. Skaggs to his lessees, ‘take care of your business and your business will take care of you,’ was true. Etta made friends with her customers because she was friendly, courteous, and knew how and what to buy in the way of merchandise they wanted. Besides this she was honest and never charged unfair prices. Eighteen years of hard labor, and many disappointments from employees she trusted, plus the death of her mother didn’t help her physical condition. She was run down, weak, and quite discouraged, so she decided to sell the store and move to Ephraim. Her mother’s home was badly in need of repair, so she set to work to provide a new roof, new walls, floors, doors, a furnace, fireplace, and electric wiring at a cost of over tenthousand dollars. Before this remodeling a man offered fifteen-hundred dollars for the place. The old home had been heavily mortgaged so Etta paid this off in order that her mother could live there in peace without being turned out of her home. Then the old red-pine granary was insulated and a new floor and windows added. The walls were stuccoed and painted to become a comfortable, convenient cabin. A coal stove became a jewel because it supplied heat and hot water at a very low cost. In the beginning the plan was to remodel the buildings, live in them a year or so, then move to Salt Lake City. But Etta’s call to work in the Primary Association, and Barney’s call to be Bishop of the Ward changed their plans. This threw additional burden upon Etta. Never did the summer come with its fruits and vegetables that Etta didn’t prepare many bottles of fine fruits and vegetables. Their fresh vegetables came from a good garden, plums and apples from trees they planted. She shared with family members and was always interested in their welfare. Etta had the great opportunity of living with older people who taught her many things. Her mother and father were good providers for seven growing children. It was a great satisfaction to see huge slabs of smoked bacon, ham, and shoulders hanging from the beams in the cellar. These were replenished each fall. Bins were filled with apples, vegetables of all kinds, and bags of flour hung from rafters in the attic. Her mother’s beautiful loaves of bread were a delight to the family. Cinnamon rolls were filled with cinnamon, raisins, and covered with a delicious icing. Apple pie and mince were for special occasions but they came along quite often. Etta’s mother and her grandmother were frugal, hard working people. They had learned lessons that impressed Etta: when there is an abundance of things, then is the time to prepare for another year. Weather is very fickle, and it can cause the loss of animals as well as fruits and vegetables. She saw many cattle and sheep die on the hills in Fayette during a period of drought, so she had convincing evidence.
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She often thought what a difference in things today: bread that whooshed when you squeeze it, cinnamon rolls with little cinnamon and very few raisins. What will it be in another hundred years? The children of that day will be led to believe that soda pop, hot dogs, and burgers are the only thing, and their digestive systems will adjust to the menu, and they will be on a roller coaster without knowing it. She spent much time reading about household remedies, books from everywhere on what to do for minor aches and pains, etc. One reason for this was that she wanted to do all that she could do for herself without bothering doctors. She had suffered with a long-time bad sinus condition. Doctors were unable to help her. This ailment seemed to aggravate an already disturbing digestive condition. Thus she made careful study of herbs and soon learned that certain herbs corrected her condition, these, plus improved eating conditions: more fresh vegetables, and fruits and whole grain breads. Etta was praised many times by friends, relatives, and her husband for being a very faithful and devoted wife. She was an excellent housekeeper even though she had two houses to keep in order. She liked to see things clean and orderly. She was a good cook and became aware of the fact that wholesome foods yield big dividends in health and happiness. She spent much of her time, even to the point of drudgery, in preparing good meals regularly. Everybody who ate at her table was impressed with her meals. Often she remarked, “I wonder if women will have to cook and prepare meals in heaven.” Wash day was pretty regular but not so difficult as in the days when the washer had to be turned by hand. Ironing didn’t get much easier because the more gadgets there were, the longer it took to get them ready and put them away. Weeds in the garden were a big chore, even the chickens had to be taken care of if eggs were expected. She dearly loved children and many of them came to see her after her teaching days were over. She loved the scriptures and liked to hear them and read them. Going to church was a must. It provided social contacts and an opportunity to sing in the choir, and it gave her a spiritual boost in the way of faith, prayer, and meeting her obligations as her health and energy would permit. She was patient, virtuous, kind, and liked to share things with others. Never in her life did she do a dishonest act. She believed in observing the law of God and the law of the land. Each day and each year bring new experiences and expose a personality that glows like a jewel which she is. No wonder he father said, “Etta, you’re a star wherever you are put.” At the age of eighty she is grateful for her many wonderful memories, her good friends, and family members who are alive and departed. She misses her loved ones who are gone. Often she thinks of the times when she played the old phonograph for her crippled father and sang for him. And the time she and Barney took her father and mother to the State Capital Building and showed them this beautiful building inside and out. How they enjoyed it! Etta was always happy that she and Grace took their mother on an extensive trip by automobile. They went to the Dakotas and saw the Rushmore monument. They made a dangerous ascent to the top of Pike’s Peak, visited Mexican Hat, and toured California from San Francisco down to Los Angeles. This was an eventful trip for all of them. It provided their mother with memorable things to tell her neighbors and family members. How has it been to live with her husband for close to sixty years, going from city to city to earn their livelihood? It has been a joy. She has loved every day of her life in this great country among relatives and friends who believe in the same Gospel that she believes in and enjoy the same heritage that she enjoys. When the time comes for her to join that ‘innumerable caravan’ that have finished their lives on this earth, she will do so with expectancy. What more can person expect out of life, what more does one need?
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O.P Skaggs - Helper, Utah
Verda, Norman, and Etta 40
Blenda and Grace
Don, Etta, and Odell
Etta, Norman, and Thelma
Grace Dorius Wahlquist 41
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Clyde Dorius and Dell Stowell
Clyde Dorius
Thelma Dorius
Thelma, Myrtle, Grace, Etta, and Verda
O.P. Skaggs - Helper, Utah 44
Blenda Dorius
Thelma Dorius Poulsen
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Jay, Violet, Wayne, Dale, Judy, Anna, Colleen, Lowell, Clair, and Dixie
Dale and Lowell
Ploma, Naomi, and Billy Mellor 48
Billy, Polly, Ploma, and Judy
Thelma Dorius, Myrtle Dorius, Joe Spataford
Charles Dorius and Barney Hyde
Barney Hyde, Grace Dorius, Violet Dorius, Etta Hyde, Thelma Dorius, Don and Carl Wahlquist
Dixie Dorius and Etta Dorius Hyde
Ploma, Billy, and Ruth Robbins (Ervin’s Daughter)
Tony and Ploma Yakovich 49
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Colleen, Naomi, and Lowell
Naomi Dorius - Gunnison Valley Elementary School
Naomi Dorius 51
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Clyde Dorius
Dale, Dona, and Clyde 54
Naomi and Clyde Dorius
CLYDE DORIUS January 15, 2000 I was born in Ephraim, but my father always had a ranch in Fayette. He came down here buying cattle, and he saw the grass in the valley, and there wasn’t a reservoir. They decided the winters were so cold up in Ephraim so they would bring their cattle down here in the winter and pasture them until spring. Then they would take them back up and put them up on the mountain. I was born in Ephraim, but I spent a lot of my young life down here in Fayette with my father and mother. We always had the home in Ephraim. They always stayed up there. I had six sisters. I was the only boy. All the girls went to school in Ephraim, but then in the summer I would come down to Fayette. We had a house out north. My father built a house out north before there was a reservoir in the valley. When they made the reservoir then the water came up and flooded the house away. My uncle that was down there, he drug the granary up above the canal where that tree is. It was one room. Everybody in those days only lived in one room. So I would stay out there when I would come down from Ephraim. I planted the tree out at the North Farm in about 1930, after I got married. I dug it up out down here below Fayette there on the river and took it down and planted it. Grandma and I lived out north after we got married. Lowell was born in Ephraim. My six sisters were in Ephraim, and we always visited, and Lowell was born in Ephraim. I didn’t build the house in Fayette. I bought it. It was already a house. I bought the house from a fellow named Harry Reid. I bought it after Lowell was born and Colleen was born in Manti. I rented a motel across from the courthouse, and she was born there. Then by the time Anna came along why I bought that place in Fayette. Anna was born in the house and Dale was born there. I think Dale was pretty small when he was born. We had an old Doctor in Gunnison that drove a horse and buggy. He would come over and do things. The house didn’t have a bathroom. The government was going to everybody selling them these outside toilets. They come and wanted to build one for me, and I said no, but you can build me a septic tank. So they dug a hole, and poured cement, and put in a septic tank. Then I put the toilet in the house. This was the first toilet that was ever in Fayette that was inside. I remember those women in Fayette would come in to look, and they would look at the toilet, and they would put their hands over their eyes. It was funny. The first car I had was a Model T Ford. We bought it in Ephraim, and we would drive to Fayette and back in the Model T. It couldn’t go very fast. Before that, we were always riding horses, driving buggies or something when we would come to Fayette. But then we got that Model T. Me and Grandma bought it. My father’s health was bad. He was down on a horse riding, that was when the reservoir had gone out of the valley. In the summer he was riding. The horse got tangled up in some barb wire that had been on the fences. It threw him off and he laid there for quite a while until the went down and found him. After that, he never, his health was pretty bad. So it was me and my mother that ran things. My dad was a big guy, tall guy, and a hard worker. He died in about 1918 or something. I was born in 1907. I was 11. I didn’t get a lot of school. I had to work a lot more after my father died. I had to work in the fall until late and then as soon as spring broke why I would have to quit school and go out on the farm again. I really didn’t get a lot of education. I graduated from the 8th grade. I went to high school, but I never did graduate from high school because I was on the farm. I used to hunt a lot when I was young, always. I liked to deer hunt the most. I had a rifle that I still have. My one sister married a fellow. He bought a rifle up in a pawn shop in Ogden or somewhere, and he gave it to me. My sister’s name was Etta, and his name was Barney Hyde. My sister Etta was a school teacher, and she married him up north and then moved over to Helper and run a big grocery store over there for years. Then after my mother died they moved to the Ephraim house. He was the bishop there for awhile in Ephraim. I was really close to Barney. We were great friends. We would go hunting all the time together.
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Gosh I got a lot of big deer. I always had my rifle on my horse. My favorite place to hunt was the West Hills. The deer would go there to winter. They would come out of the East Hills and swim across the reservoir and go over there. There were lots of deer. There weren’t many laws against hunting. We could get as many as we wanted. We didn’t have any freezers to store the meat. We just hung the meat out at night when it was cool, and then in the day we would wrap it up in the bed to keep it cool. We would cut it up and bottle it. That was pretty good. You could open a bottle, and it was really good. I would go hunting by myself. I always had a rifle with me. My mother was a hard worker. She was a good cook and had good judgment. I liked everything she cooked. We lived on the farm and we had sheep, cattle, and chickens. We got the eggs, and we raised pigs. We had pork, and beef, and everything like that. I made one trip back to New York to a big cattle sale. I got up on the Empire State Building to the top. Most of my travel was through the West, up to Seattle, and into Canada and Mexico. The trips were all for cattle. We didn’t have any planes. My brother-in-law that married my sister Grace, he was going back to Seattle to a convention of the education association. He took me with him. When we went, we got over to Pendleton, Oregon, and we hit the Columbia River, and it was running high. It was a big river. To get across it, they had a ferry. It was just a flat thing that would hold about four cars. It had a Model T engine on it. When we got on that ferry, they went about a mile upstream, right against the bank. Then they swung out into the current. By the time we got across the river, we were about a mile below where you get off. I was scared to death out in the river with only a rope around the outside to keep the cars in. When we got out in the middle, then they came and collected the fare while you were scared to death. I was buying cattle in California. My wife was teaching school here in Gunnison. She would get rheumatism in the cold weather. So I was buying cattle, and I went to the Superintendent and asked him if he would like to hire a real good school teacher, and he said, boy, I would just love to. He told me how much he’d pay her if she would come down, and it was twice as much as she was getting in Gunnison. So I just packed her up and took her down to Brawley, California. I rented a motel and put her in, and she went to teaching school there. Then, after a while, there was a bunch of new homes being built, so I went and bought one of them. She taught there for many years and really liked it. I met Naomi here in Fayette. I was living out north there alone and come to town. They would have dances down here. All the young people would go to the dances, and I’d go to the dances. That is where I met her. I had so many horses. We used horses, you know, to work on the farm. This guy just brought a Ford tractor over here demonstrating. I had these horses always pulling the plows. He come over, and I had him go down here and plow and my goodness that was so easy that I just bought a tractor and plow and everything to go with it. That was the end of horse driving. I was the first one to get one of those tractors. I paid $860.00 for it. I remember one time there was an old guy in Ephraim that come there from Missouri. He traveled all over through Utah and bought mules from the farmers. The farmers would take their mares and breed them to a jack and get the mules. He would ship hundreds of mules back to Missouri to cultivate corn. He come and was up in the telephone office in Ephraim calling up these farmers all the time, and the woman there that was running the telephone office, why he finally married her. Then he brought a herd of these black cattle from Missouri. This gal that he married, she sold life insurance policies. She come down to my mother and wanted to insure me. I said, well I can’t pay any insurance policy. She said you can come out and work for my husband. His name was Dolk. He was in Fayette. So that is what I did. I went to work for Dolk and that is when I first saw those black cattle. A few years later I went over to Laramie, Wyoming and bough a bunch of pure-bred Angus heifers and shipped them down here. All the cattle in Utah were Herefords at the time, red ones with white faces. I brought these black cattle in, and they didn’t like me to turn these black cattle out to breed those red ones. I had a permit up Twelve Mile Canyon, so I told them well if you won’t let me put my bulls up there you will have to furnish the bulls yourselves. All these Hereford cattlemen, they got together and went up and passed a law in the Utah legislature. The law read that the majority of cattlemen in any area could decide the breed in that area. After that I couldn’t turn anymore black bulls out on the range. Now people fight over each other to try and get those black bulls to breed their heifers.
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In 1920 we took a trip to Mills with wagons loaded with wool. The wool came from Flat Canyon, Joe Bartholome’s ranch. There were three wagons that had wool, and we went down through to the railroad along the temple road that the pioneers used to build the Manti Temple. That is where the railroad crossed, and we unloaded the wool, and they drug it up onto the railroad cars. That night we stayed in Mills with a fellow by the name of John Williams. We slept on the floor. They only had one room with a store in there, and there was a bundle of wheat tied on the side of the store, and it said it was the first wheat raised in Mills. There a was a wild band of horses up on the Fayette Mountain in Mellor’s Canyon. There was a stallion that run with them, and I thought I’d like to have him. So I got on my horse, and it was along about February, and I went up there and decided I was gonna catch that horse. It was in 1930 when I went up to get that horse. I was still living out on the North Farm. I ran onto those horses out on the tip of the big mountain up above Fayette, and I took after that horse. I cut him from the bunch and chased him through the trees. He headed up to the top of the mountain. I chased him all the way until we got up in a narrow canyon, and he went about as far as he decided he’d go, and then he turned back and tried to run passed me. I took my lariat and threw it and caught him by the neck. I drug him until he learned to follow. I took him down to the farm and tied him to a fence. The chickens would get around him and he’d kick at them. I broke him to ride, and I rode him for many years. He sure was a tough horse. He never needed shoes. Me and my Uncle Willie Hermasen came down to Fayette to get a couple loads of hay. It snowed all the time up in Ephraim. We came down on sleighs, and we got to the San Pitch River and run out of snow, so we had to turn around and go back to Ephraim. When I was a teenager I went my Uncle Mike to get coal. We left Ephraim with wagons to get coal in Straight Canyon over the Ephraim Mountains. We each had two teams of horses. We got down to the Straight Canyon Mine and loaded up and started back up what the call Joe’s Valley. It was a road that switched back and forth up the hill to the top. We got up there a ways and stopped for the night. We put up a tent. When we came out in the morning, it had rained and snowed all night, and we couldn’t go with the coal. We got stuck in the mud. So we hooked eight head of horses on one of the wagons, and it was about five miles to the top. We took one load up with eight head of horses, and then we had to drag all the chains and everything back down there to get the other load until we could get up to the top of the mountain. Then we didn’t have any problem coming down to Ephraim. That was a hard go, that one. I was just a little kid. I was about nine years old, and I started out from Fayette to go to Ephraim with my Uncle Mike, and he thought he would ride over the mountain and I could take his wagon up the road. He went up over the caterpillar. I went up there to Sterling where that big spring comes out, and there was a lot of wagons there, and I stopped, and they hooked on my wagon and took me to Ephraim. I slept the whole way.
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Clyde’s Cattle Truck
Clyde Dorius 58
Etta and Myrtle
Violet and Thelma
Dixie and Dell Stowell
Verda Dorius
Myrtle Dorius
Emily Maud Mellor’s three children - Elvin, Emily, and Edward 59
John and Grace Wahlquist - Barney and Etta Hyde
Violet, Dell Stowell, Etta, and Charles Dorius 60
Clyde, Naomi, Maureen Mellor, Clara and Elton Bown
Dom's father, Tony, Lowell, Dominic Contri, Grant, Clyde Dorius, Ervin Mellor, and Dale Dorius 61
LeeOra Sorensen, Leona Robinson, Tommy, Irene Mellor, Dixie Dorius
Judy, Billy and Tony
Ploma and Tony Yakovich
Anna, Naomi, Joan, Judy and Ploma (July 23, 1944)
Tony, Dixie, and Judy
Naomi, Colleen, and Lowell (July 1938)
Billy Mellor 63
Dale, Dixie, Lowell, Naomi, Anna, and Colleen
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Clyde,Verda, Barney, Grace, Etta, Naomi, Thelma, Violet
CLYDE L. DORIUS Interview by Alison Dorius Bond Our main source of heat was wood and wood stoves. We didn’t have fireplaces. We just had stoves we put the wood in, and it was used to do the cooking and heat. We didn’t have coal. Wood didn’t heat all the house. We used to have to stand by the stove to keep warm. The rest of the house was always cold. We would have to go into the hills and gather wood, haul it down, and chop it up. We had to do it ourselves. We didn’t have anybody to do it. You did your own work. There was a lot of smoke that came from the wood, and you didn’t get heat like you do today. There was a lot of pollution because the smoke went out of the chimney. In my younger days we just used wood for cooking. There was very little food bought that was in packages. We didn’t have plastic, just common paper. There was no refrigeration, and to keep food from spoiling you had to eat it before it went bad. Most people had a cellar under the house because it was cooler. We kept our food down there. We bottled lots of meat and stored it in jars. Meat would spoil quickly. They did the same with vegetables. The only cool thing we had was ice. We would go to the rivers during the winter and get the ice frozen along the riverbanks. We would saw ice off in big blocks, take it up, put it in the cellars, and pack it in sawdust. That ice would stay frozen in the sawdust. In the summer, if we wanted to make ice-cream we could go to the cellar or buy some ice from someone who had it stored in their cellars and used the ice to make icecream. There wasn’t any milk sold in stores. If we wanted milk we milked the cow into a pail. Most people made their own soap. We would take fat from pigs, lye, and other things and mix it up to make soap. We couldn’t buy soap to do our laundry. There was hand soap. We could buy soap to wash our hands, but not to do our laundry. There wasn’t any detergent or soap to wash our dishes. We had to use the soap we made. The main fabrics used in clothes was wool or cotton. There wasn’t anything else. There wasn’t any cloth like we have now. Everything was made of wool or cotton. They would take wool and cotton and make it into yarn or thread. Clothes weren’t easy to care for. We didn’t have washers or dryers. The first washer we had was more like a tub and we had to work a handle back and forth. We had to hang the clothes out on a line in the air so the wind could blow on the clothes and dry them. In the wintertime, we put them out and they would freeze stiff as a board, but that would dry them too. Our main source of lighting was electricity when we were in town. When we went out to the ranch in Fayette we used kerosene. Our main means of transportation was horses, buggies, and wagons. When I was a boy, the automobile had just started to be made by Henry Ford. There weren’t too many people who had a Model T Ford, but we had one. We always had this ranch down in Fayette, but we lived in Ephraim. It was thirty-two miles from the ranch to Ephraim. If we drove with a team and wagon it would take eight to ten hours. We could ride it on a horse in about five hours. If we had a horse and buggy, we could drive it that way. In 1917 we bought our first Model T Ford. The Model T had just come out and hadn’t been out very long. Its top speed was 30 miles an hour, and it didn’t have a battery. I had to crank it to make it go. One time when I took my father from Ephraim to the ranch, I timed it. It took an hour and nine minutes. During the Depression, I was about twenty-three or twenty-four. It affected us because there wasn’t any money. We had to live on our own resources. We were lucky because we were on a farm. We had our own chickens that laid our eggs. We had our own cows where we got the milk. We got meat from sheep and cows and raised our own gardens and preserved the food. We raised potatoes. We lived pretty good. We only had to buy a some things in stores like spices and things. We just had horses, plows, mowers, and rakes. They made a mower that would cut, but it only had a swath of four and a half feet. Now we have a mower that cuts sixteen feet. They had developed a dump rake that you could put a team of horses on and go and rake it, and when you lifted up the tines, the left it in a windrow.
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Then when I was a a boy there were mostly Danishmen who had come from the Old Country. You could rake the hay in the long windrow, but you had to take a pitchfork and go pile it in nice neat piles so they could come along and pick it up and pitch it on the wagons. You couldn’t use the dump rake. You had to do it all by hand. Everybody worked. We have equipment now that can plow a hundred acres a day. Back then we could plow one acre. When I started out, I had a hand plow that plowed one furow. I’d walk behind that hand plow all day driving the horses and get maybe one acre plowed. They had a telephone when I was little. There were on the wall and you wound it up. My sister was a telephone operator up in Ephraim. All the calls had to go through the operator. You couldn’t call someone in the same town. You had to call the operator and she would ring it. She could listen in on your conversation. I remember one time when I was in Missouri I called back home, and I was on an open line, and you could hear each town along the way answer. The operator would answer and then the next one would come on and say something until you got all the way to Gunnison. You would have to go through every operator to open the line up, and then when the Gunnison operator came on she would say, “number please.” When I was a kid up there, every night at nine o’ clock, there was a big bell in the tower that they rang exactly at nine o’ clock. That’s when all the kids had to be off the streets and be in bed. I went up there and rang that bell at nine o’ clock. It had a long rope that you pulled way out, and it would go back, and then you would pull it way out, ding dong.
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Colleen Dorius
Judy and Tony Yakovich and Jimmy, Clyde’s Horse 69
Billy Mellor and Lowell Dorius
Odell Nelson, Jay, Don, Carl, Wayne, Collen, and Anna 70
Naomi and Ploma
Billy Mellor 71
Clyde Dorius and Dell Stowell
Clair, Naomi, Aunt Maggie, Lowell, Ploma, Dominic, Grant, Dixie, Dale, Tony, Judy, Dome’s father, Anna, Marilyn Contri, and Clyde 73
Leona Robinson and Dixie Dorius (July 24, 1944)
Clyde and Dale Dorius 74
Myrtle, Thelma, Etta, Violet, and Wayne
Tony, Ploma, Joan, Judy, Clair, Naomi, and Clyde (January 1960)
75
Etta, Violet, Don, and Carl (1930)
Odell and Violet 76
Elton, Clyde, and Elgin
Colleen Dorius
Colleen Dorius 77
Lowell Dorius, Clyde’s Model A, and the North Farm
Claris, Luera’s Daughter 78
Melvin, Colleen, Naomi, and Clyde
Colleen’s Wedding 79
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Naomi Mellor Dorius
Clair Dorius - Vietnam
Clair Dorius - United States Marines 81
Colleen, Dean, and Sheree
Grace and Don Walhquist
Clair 1959
Clair Dorius - Gunnison Valley Elementary School 82
Clyde and Elton Bown
Verda and Grace
Dorius Family
Clair Dorius (Third Grade)
Dixie Dorius
Colleen and Milo Smith (Mardi Gras Dance 1955)
Grace, Thelma, Jack , Don, Carl , Lowell (wearing hat) 84
Baby Jean, Myrtle's Daughter
Naomi - Niagra Falls (July 1970)
Billy and Tony
Violet Dorius
Naomi Mellor Dorius 85
Clyde, Grace, Thelma, and Etta
Naomi, Judy, and Dale
Colleen 87
Naomi Mellor Dorius, Gunnison Valley Elementary School
O.P. Skaggs - Helper, Utah 88
Naomi Mellor Dorius
Dale and Anna
David Mellor, Connie Christensen, Roland Christensen, Weldon Christensen, Dale Dorius, Letha Mellor, and Lamar Bartholomew
Dale Dorius 89
Dale, Tony, Lowell, and Judy
Ploma, Judy, Joan, and Tony at the Home in California (May 22, 1944) 90
Dale Dorius - Tennessee Mission
Dale Dorius
Dale, Judy, Dixie, and Joan
Dale and Lowell 91
Clyde Dorius, Anna Dorius Lee, and Grace Wahlquist
Barney Hyde - O.P. Skaggs
Anna Dorius 93
Dixie Dorius and Lamar Bartholomew (teacher Mrs. Buchanan)- Gunnison Valley Elementary School
Colleen
Tony and Ploma Yakovich
Dale and DeLoris Dorius 95
Etta Dorius Hyde
Ephraim Home 96
Dale and DeLoris Dorius
Gaye, Lowell, and Lee Dorius
Lowell at the North Farm
Lowell and Dale 98
Lowell Dorius (1931- 2010)
Dixie, Judy, Anna, and Clair
Dixie and Leona
Dixie, Clair, Leona, and Tommy 99
Dixie Dorius
Dixie Dorius and Lamar Bartholomew - Gunnison Valley Elementary School, 1952 100
Dixie Dorius 1958
Naomi and David Morris - Niagra Falls, 1970
Odell and Billy Mellor
Dixie Dorius 101
Roma Bartholomew, Letha Mellor, Opal Mellor, Pearl Mellor, Lucille Mellor, Anna Dorius, Lois Bartholomew, Weldon Christensen, Charlie Mellor, Dixie Dorius, Clair Dorius, Lee Bartholomew, and Dale Dorius
Anna, Naomi, Colleen, Dixie, Clyde, Lowell, Dale, and Clair
Dixie and Clair 104
Lowell and Naomi
Colleen Dorius - BYU
Burnice Robinson, Jean Christensen, Bessie Mellor, Barbara Mellor, Beth Lyman, Colleen Dorius
Dixie and Anna 105
Collen at Fred and Kelly’s Drive Inn
Clyde
Naomi and Lowell
Lowell, Dixie, Anna, Dale, Clair, and Colleen 107
Clair, Naomi, Dixie, Gerard, Ralph Bond, Dwain Bond, and Wendell Bond
Jack, Grace, Etta, Barney, Thelma, and Norman
Clyde Dorius 109
Myrtle, Thelma, Grace, Clyde, Verda, Anna, and Etta
Colleen, Naomi, Anna, Ploma, and Lowell
Dixie and Gerard Bond 111
Naomi
Lowell
The Fayette House 112
Clyde, Naomi, Elgin, Clara, and Elton
Clyde, Lowell, Dixie and Dale
114
Clyde, Naomi, Elton, Clara, and Elgin
Alison Bond and Ballou
Dixie Dorius 115
Clyde and Naomi Dorius (1930)
Clyde L. Dorius
Naomi M. Dorius 117
Dona, Glenn, Robyn, Susan, Lee, Sherry, Dean, Derek, Cheryl, Wayne, Brian, and Justin
Lowell Dorius’ Funeral (2010)
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Dorius - A Photographic History Justin C. Bond 2013