Ricy Howell Jones (1856-1935)

Portrait from the History of the Bench and Bar of Utah, 1913.

  As April draws to a close we journey to Utah to examine the life of Ricy Howell Jones, a descendent of Utah pioneers who practiced law for nearly five decades. A resident of Box Elder County for many years, Jones served as Box Elder county attorney on multiple occasions and later held a seat in the Utah Territorial House of Representatives for one term in the late 1880s. Born of Welsh descent in Utah on May 10, 1856, Ricy Howell Jones was the son of Ricy Davis and Ann (Howell) Jones.

  Jones was a student in the common schools of the territory and from 1876-77 studied at the University of Utah. Deciding on a career in law, Jones relocated to Ogden to study law in the offices of Richards and Williams. After being admitted to practice he established his practice in Brigham City, where he continued his profession for nearly four decades. Jones married his first wife Mamie Houtz (1857-1883) in 1882, and in the year following his marriage suffered the death of his wife, who died two days after giving birth to a son, Ricy Houtz Jones, who died in infancy. Four years later he remarried to Fredricka Maria Widerborg (1864-1946), who survived him upon his death in 1935. The couple had six children.

  Born into a Mormon family, Jones was baptized into the Church of Latter-Day Saints in 1864, and in 1884 was called to his first mission.  He would preside over the Welsh Conference in the United Kingdom for two years, his mission concluding in June 1886. Before his travels in England Jones had entered the political life of Utah with his election as County Attorney of Box Elder County, serving from 1883-84. Following his return stateside he was again elected to that post, serving consecutive terms from 1886-91.

From the 1885 composite of American missionaries in England.

  Ricy H. Jones' highest degree of political prominence came in 1887 with his election to the Utah Territorial House of Representatives. His one term (1888-90) saw him named to the committees on the Judiciary, Private Corporations, Public Health, Public Printing, and Ways and Means, and in February 1888 "petitioned for the appropriation of $3,000" to be used to better the road systems in his county.

  After his one legislative term, Jones continued to reside and practice law in Box Elder County, where he was a member of the Brigham City Commerical Club. Around 1920 he and his wife relocated to Salt Lake City, where they resided until Ricy's death on June 21, 1935, at age 79. Fredericka Jones survived her husband by thirteen years and following her death in 1948 was interred alongside him at the Brigham City Cemetery.

From the Salt Lake Telegram, June 22, 1935.

Kumen Snow Gardner (1900-1983)

Portrait from "The Mayors of Cedar City", 1986.

   Cedar City, Utah resident Kumen Snow Gardner was long prominent in the civic and political affairs of his community, being a farmer, city councilman, two-term state representative, and one-term Mayor of Cedar City. In addition to his time in elected office, Gardner was active in the Church of Latter-Day Saints, serving as bishop of the Newcastle ward as well as having a ten-year tenure as President of the Cedar Stake. 

    Born in Grass Valley, Utah on April 21, 1900, Kumen Snow Gardner was one of twelve children born to Royal Joseph and Chloe Snow Gardner. His early life in Grass Valley was spent helping his father at a sawmill located near his family's home, as well as attending the "district school" in Pine Valley. Gardner and his family moved to Iron County during his adolescence and he continued schooling at the Cedar City High School.

    Following the completion of his high school education, Gardner enrolled at the Branch  Agricultural College, where he would be a standout basketball player, helping the college team attain "first place in state competition in both 1918 and 1919." Sanders graduated from Branch in 1919 and continued study at both the Utah State Agricultural College and the National Automobile School of America, graduating from the latter school in 1922. 

   In the same year as his graduation from the National Automobile School of America, Kumen Gardner relocated to New Castle, Utah, where he took work with the New Castle Reclamation Company, a farming/land investment concern. Within a few years, Gardner had purchased various pieces of arable land and built up a "successful livestock business, with summers in Grass Valley and winters in New Castle." Gardner would be affiliated with livestock and agricultural concerns for the rest of his life, being a past president of Iron County's Cattlemen's Association for six years and is also recorded as being the organizer of the Southern Utah Livestock Show.

A Gardner election notice from the Iron County Record, October 26, 1944.

   In 1932 Kumen Gardner married in New Castle to Naida Gillies (1915-2012), to whom he was wed for over fifty years. The couple would have a total of five children: Sheila, Dayne, Paul, Neil, and Eric. A longstanding member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Gardner was selected as Bishop of the New Castle ward in 1938 and served in that position until 1943. In that year he and his family removed to Cedar City, Utah, where he would continue in church work, entering into the Presidency of the Cedar Stake of the Mormon Church, where he would serve until 1955.

   Kumen S. Gardner first entered local politics while he was residing in New Castle. From 1930 to 1939 he was the president of the New Castle Town Board and following his removal to Iron County was a candidate for County Commissioner in 1944 (his election notice being shown above). Three years later Gardner won election to the Cedar City Council for a two-year term, garnering 1054 votes. 

   In 1958 he was elected as one of Iron County's representatives to the Utah State Legislature, and during his term in June 1959 was named "Utah's All-American Father of the Year". Gardner won re-election to the statehouse in November of 1960 and after leaving office in 1961 continued his political ascent, winning election as the Mayor of Cedar City. He was sworn in as Mayor on January 2, 1962, and within two months of entering office had to contend with the largest fire to occur in the city's history, the burning of the Leigh Block. 

   Kumen Gardner left the office of mayor in January 1966, being succeeded by L.A. Whetten. Gardner continued to be a major force in Iron County civic affairs for many years afterward, being the President of the Escalante Valley Electric Company and Chairman of the State Board of Land Management, and in 1976 he was named as Utah's "outstanding cattleman" by the Utah Association of Future Farmers of America. 

  On November 15, 1983, Kumen Gardner was injured in a truck accident in Southern Utah. He succumbed to his injuries two weeks later at a Las Vegas hospital on November 28, 1983, at age 83. Gardner's wife and children survived him, with Naida Gillies Gardner being interred alongside her husband at the Cedar City Cemetery upon her death at age 97 in 2012.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, December 21, 1958.

Clesson Selwyne Kinney (1859-1913)

 

From The Irrigation Age, Volume 17, published in 1902.

    A distinguished figure in Utah legal circles during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Clesson Selwyne Kinney also served one term in the Utah State House of Representatives, representing the county of Salt Lake beginning in 1905. Both before and after his time on the political stage Kinney maintained an avowed interest in a rather unusual non-political subject, irrigation and water rights. Viewed by many of his contemporaries as a true scholar on the history of irrigation in both ancient and modern times, Kinney authored many irrigation-related articles in agricultural periodicals of his time and is honored today as the newest biography to be added to the site.

    Born and raised in Ohio, Clesson Selwyne Kinney's birth occurred in the town of East Townsend on December 5, 1859, a son of Edwin and Elizabeth Godden Kinney. His education began in the Huron County school system and as a young adult studied at both the Dennison University and Oberlin Colleges. After spending a four year period (1877-1881) in the employ of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company he enrolled at the University of Michigan and graduated in the class of 1887, having earned his bachelor of arts degree. Following his graduation Kinney spent several months teaching mathematics

at a high school in Leavenworth, Kansas and later decided upon a career in law, being admitted to the Kansas bar in 1888. He married in Chicago, Illinois in December of 1889 to Antoinette Brown (ca. 1862-1946), with whom he would have one son, Selwyne Perez Kinney (1890-1976), later to become notable as an engineer and inventor. 

   Removing to Salt Lake City, Utah soon after his marriage, Kinney established a law office in that city and over the succeeding decades would devote himself not only to the practice of law, but to the "law of irrigation and water rights." Kinney became interested in the study of irrigation shortly after settling in the arid climate of Utah, and after years of study developed a reputation as one of the nation's foremost experts on water rights and irrigation properties. 

    Not content to just specialize in water rights as an attorney, Kinney also authored a four-volume masterwork on irrigation and water management, "Kinney on Irrigation and Water Rights", first published in 1894. Kinney's work gained him wide praise and it became "a standard, and is cited as an authority in all the courts of the West, and also the U.S. Supreme Circuit and district courts." He also authored numerous articles related to this subject for the Irrigation Age illustrated journal between 1896 and 1912, and in 1903 completed "Kinney's Digest of the Utah Reports" an extensive index for the twenty-six volume law reports of the Utah State Supreme Court. Active in the Utah State Bar Association for many years, Kinney served as the Secretary of that organization beginning in 1894.

  Kinney took no part in politics until November of 1904 when he was elected as a Republican to the Utah State House of Representatives. Taking office in January of 1905, Kinney served as the chairman of three house committees during his one term, those being the Judiciary, the St. Louis Purchase Exposition Commission, and the Committee on Rules. 

From the Irrigation Age, Volume IX, published 1896.

   After the conclusion of his term in 1907 Kinney returned to his law practice and continued to write, beginning work on the second edition of "Kinney on Water Rights and Irrigation" which was eventually published in late 1912. His later years were marked by his memberships in the Knights Templars and Shriners lodges, while also serving as Masonic Grand Master. In October of 1912, Kinney was a featured speaker at the National Irrigation Congress, where he would give his last public address. 

   Burdened by years of overwork writing and revising his manuscripts, Kinney left Utah in December 1912 out of concern for his health, vacationing in Honolulu, Hawaii. He spent the first two months of 1913 here and on February 17th died at age 53, being felled by illness at a dinner that was being given in his honor at the home of a local judge in Honolulu. After being cremated, Kinney's ashes were brought home to Salt Lake City by his wife Antoinette, and following her death in 1946 was buried along with her husband at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in that city.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, February 19, 1913.

Selvoy Jarrett Boyer (1897-1985)

From the August 1959 edition of the Millennial Star, Volume 121.

   During a life that extended nearly nine decades, Selvoy Jarrett Boyer was a prominent fixture in political and religious affairs in Utah for nearly sixty years. A former Mayor of Springville, a multi-term state representative, a member of the Utah State Tax Commission, and an agriculturalist, Boyer gained later prominence when he was appointed as the president of the first British Mormon temple in 1958--truly a man of many achievements!

  Selvoy J. Boyer was born in the town of Springville, Utah on February 6, 1897, one of several children born to John Slevoy (1867-1945) and Susannah Bailey Jarrett Boyer (1868-1943). Boyer was a student in the Springville school system and later graduated from Brigham Young University. He married in Manti, Utah to Mary Gladys Sessions on January 29, 1919, and later had the following children: Keith Selvoy (1919-2011), LaMar S. (1921-2002), Phyllis Rooney (birthdate unknown), John Carl (1926-2004) and Jerrol M. (1928-2007).

  Baptized into the Mormon church early in his life, Selvoy Boyer journeyed to Great Britain in 1923 at the behest of future Church President David Oman McKay to serve as a missionary for the Nottingham district of the LDS church. Boyer remained in England until 1925, whereafter he returned to the United States. Following his return to Utah Boyer became a Bishop for Springville's second ward and throughout the 1930s Boyer continued to serve both Springville and the LDS church in several different vocations, including being a member of the State Tax Study Committee as well as the state defense council. In addition to his numerous civic and church posts, Selvoy Boyer was a farmer and as such was highly concerned with matters relating to agriculture in Utah. He served as the President of the Utah Crop Improvement Association and was also a former vice-president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation.

From the Provo Evening Herald, August 25, 1938.

   In 1938 Boyer made the jump into state politics, announcing his candidacy for the Utah State House of Representatives. In September he won election as a Democratic representative from Utah County with 704 votes, taking his seat in January of the new year. During his terms in office Boyer made a name for himself as a sponsor of farm legislation and in January 1945 introduced an unusual bill that aimed to curb the production of miss-weighed bags of wheat and corn flour, cornmeal, and hominy grits. As the Salt Lake Herald noted in its January 16, 1945 edition, any violation in Boyer's bill would be considered a misdemeanor, and "upon conviction, the offender would be fined no less than $25 or more than $500 for each offense." 

   The years 1945-1946 saw Selvoy Boyer serving as mayor of Springville, Utah and in the early part of the latter year took on the important post of President of the LDS Mission in London. His service as President extended from 1946-1950 and during his stewardship also served as the editor of the churches' "Millennial Star" periodical. Boyer's time as head of the LDS church's British mission concluded at the end of 1949 and in the spring of 1950, he and his wife returned home to Utah. In September 1950 Boyer spoke of his time in Britain during a speech at the Wasatch Academy and his talk was later described by the Manti Messenger as being "frankly critical of the socialist economy of England as compared to the free-enterprise system of the United States" and "repeatedly warned of a trend of socialism in America."

  Within a short while of returning to Utah Boyer returned to political life, being appointed as a member of the Utah State Tax Commission. His time on the commission saw him serve as head of the property tax division and he continued to serve on this board until his appointment as the President of the LDS church's new Mormon Temple in London in July 1958. Erected at the cost of 1.5. million dollars, the temple was dedicated by LDS President David O. McKay, who had named Boyer as the temple's first president. Boyer resigned from the tax commission on August 15, 1958, and by September had arrived in England to assume his duties. 

  

Selvoy Boyer during his Presidency of the London Temple (from the Millenial Star, 1959).

   Boyer's time as Temple President concluded in July 1964 and at the end of that month, he and his wife returned to Utah. His time in London was remarked by the Millennial Star and one of prominent growth for the LDS Church, noting that the "man with the crooked finger who gives you the straight talk will be greatly missed in Great Britain. Wherever he went he was greeted with a love that had grown up through six hard years of hard work and sound common sense sermons."

  In December 1965 Boyer was beset by personal tragedy when his wife of over forty years died. Mary Gladys Sessions Boyer was 75 years old and was later interred at the Evergreen Cemetery in Springville. Following his wife's passing Boyer remarried on November 22, 1967, to Agnes Reynolds McKay (1898-1988) and during the remainder of his life served the LDS church in several different capacities, including as a President and Elder. He died shortly after his 88th birthday on February 24, 1985, and was interred alongside his wife Mary at the Evergreen Cemetery.

Sunday Cardall Anderson (1894-1987)

From the April 14, 1960 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

    Hailing from the county of Salt Lake in Utah, one-term state representative Sunday Cardall Anderson devoted several decades of her life to activity in the Democratic Party in Utah. Despite having 300-plus political figures profiled here on the site, only two of these have been female (the first being New Hampshire state senator Zatae Leola Longsdorff Straw). With the edition of the following biography on Mrs. Sunday Anderson, Zatae Straw now has some company, and seeing that a few new oddly named female politicians have been discovered, that number will continue to grow in the coming months. The following passages on her life have been piecemeal-ed together via newspaper articles I've managed to locate mentioning her service in the Utah legislature and in other aspects of public life. 

   Sunday Anderson was born Sunday Florence Cardall on March 3, 1894, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Richard (1853-1914 and Anne Elisabeth Pedersen Cardall (1861-1908). Anderson married in Salt Lake City on July 22, 1914, to Virgil Erastus Anderson (1893-1975), and later became the mother to several children, who are listed as follows: Virginia Anderson Mollerup (1915-2009), John G.E. (1918-2000), Lyle Marie (1923-1924), Anna Mae (birth-date unknown), Nancy Anderson Shingleton (birth-date unknown) and Richard (birth-date unknown).

   During her adolescence, Sunday Anderson began a lifelong involvement in the affairs of the Utah Democratic party. Throughout the succeeding years, she would hold posts in the Salt Lake Council of Women, the Salt Lake County Democratic Ladies Study Club, the Women's State Legislative Council, and later served as the Utah state vice chairman of the Democratic Party. In November 1950 she was elected to the Utah State House of Representatives from Salt Lake County and here served one term, 1951-1952. In addition to her tenure in the legislature, Mrs. Anderson was an alternate delegate from Utah to the Democratic National Conventions of 1948 and 1952. 

Representative Sunday Anderson pictured in the January 2, 1952 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

   After leaving the legislature Anderson continued to be active in local civic affairs, serving as the director of craft work for the Young Women's Christian Association during the late 1950s. She would later go on to hold the post of President of the Salt Lake Women's Democratic Club and in 1966 was the chairperson of a 27-member delegation of Utah women who journeyed to Washington D.C. to visit the offices of U.S. Senator Frank Moss and Representative David King. The delegation attended a campaign conference and workshop during their stay, which had been initiated by the Democratic National Committee. In 1973 Anderson was honored with the Senior Citizens Award of the Year by the Utah Jaycees.

   In her later years, Anderson was a leading figure in the fight to build a senior center on the west side of Salt Lake City, and through her untiring efforts, one was eventually built in the mid-1970s. She was honored as the namesake of the center, now known as the Sunday Anderson Westside Senior Center. Anderson continued to represent the interests of Utah seniors well into her eighth decade, and in 1979 was named as a senior citizen intern for two weeks in the Washington, D.C. office of Representative David Daniel Marriott of Utah. The Deseret News profiled Mrs. Anderson's appointment in its April 12, 1979 edition and highlighted not only her legislative service but also her past leadership of the Utah Chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons. 

From the October 16, 1957 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

   A few weeks before her death Sunday C. Anderson was one of three recipients of the annual Susa Young Gates Award, made to honor women "who had given outstanding service" to the state of Utah as well as "demonstrating dedication to the cause of human rights." The 93-year-old Anderson is recorded by the Deseret News as attending an honorees dinner on March 6, 1987, and was noted as having "given service to the state of Utah for 74 years or more."  Just twenty-three days after receiving the award Sunday Anderson died in Salt Lake City on March 29, 1987. She was survived by five of her children and was laid to rest at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Wehrli Douglas Pack (1889-1975)

From the January 10, 1937, Salt Lake Tribune.

  Blessed with a truly unusual first name, businessman, Mormon leader, and political figure Wehrli Douglas Pack was for many years one of Holladay, Utah's most distinguished citizens. A one-term member of the Utah legislature, the exact meaning behind Pack's odd first name "Wehrli" is unknown at the time of this writing, as are several other details in regards to his early life. The son of Ward Eaton (1834-1907) and Selena Carpenter Pack (1864-1900), Wehrli D. Pack was born in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii on July 28, 1889. Ward Eaton Pack was the father of seventeen children and was a prominent figure in the early days of the LDS Church, being one of the first Mormon missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands during the 1850s. He served in the Utah territorial legislature in 1876 and 1880 and later made a second trip to the Islands during the 1880s.
  Wehrli D. Pack returned to Utah with his family at age two, according to a 1937 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune, and as an adolescent attended the Uintah Academy and the Summit Academy. He continued his education at Brigham Young University, though his exact graduation year remains undetermined at the time of this writing. Pack later spent time in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, and for the majority of his life was a prominent businessman in Salt Lake County, being the president of the "Pack-n-Save" market in the city of Holladay. This market (with its wonderful play on Pack's last name) had its grand opening in 1935, and in addition to serving in this capacity Pack was a "master mechanic, radio engineer, and farmer." He was the founder of the Utah Radio Products Company and in 1926 filed an application to patent a type of loudspeaker. Five years later he was issued a patent for his invention, and is recorded in his Salt Lake Tribune obituary as a "pioneer in radio."
  Pack married in Salt Lake City in 1917 to Lucile Adelia Hart (1890-1921) a native of Bloomington, Idaho. Their marriage proved to be short-lived, as Lucille died in July 1921 at age 30. In the year following her death, Pack remarried to Ruth Mildred Fisher (1902-1956), to whom he was wed for over thirty years. Wehrli Pack was the father of several children, including Douglas Hart (1918-2000), Ramon Hart (died in infancy in 1919), Lucile Bernice Pack Slack (1921-1999), Mildred Pack Jolley (1923-1999), Ward Elden (1925-1998), Wallace Dean (birth-date unknown), Lillia Pack Martindale (birth-date unknown), Annette Pack Frederickson (birth-date unknown), Melvin (birth-date unknown) and Donna Gail Pack Eggertson (1943-1999).

From the September 10, 1936 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

  Active in Holladay civic affairs in addition to his grocery business, Pack served as the President of the Holladay Civic League for several years and also was the finance committee chairman for the Mount Olympus Latter Day Saints ward. In 1936 Pack was elected as one of Salt Lake County's representatives to the Utah State Assembly, taking his seat in January of the new year. In a Salt Lake Tribune notice on his election in November 1936, Pack is quoted as describing himself as a "conservative progressive" and that he favored a "direct primary law and changes in the law enforcement setup with a view to eliminating waste and inefficiency". During his one term in the legislature, Pack took part in a study of "proposed laws affecting Utah grocers" as a member of the committee of the Utah Retail Grocer's Association. 

   In 1938 Wehrli Pack was named as a Bishop for the Mt. Olympus ward of the Latter Day Saints Church. He succeeded Charles E. Coxe, who had died some weeks prior. In December 1940 the Murray Eagle published an article denoting the creation of a new place of worship for the parishioners of the ward, with Pack and his counselors trying to "uphold the standards of the ward and continue the splendid work begun under the leadership of Bishop Coxe". Busy as both a legislator and church leader, sources of the time denote Pack's personal hobbies as "scientific experiments" and tinkering in a workshop in his home. The Salt Lake Tribune also notes him as being a skilled fisherman, mountain climber, and a member of the local Masonic fraternity and the Utah Sons of Pioneers.

  In 1956 Pack's wife of over thirty years died. Following Ruth Fisher Pack's death, Wehrli remarried for a third time in March 1957 to Louella Pederson (1904-1977), a native of Big Cottonwood, Utah. Little could be found on the later years of Pack's life, although it is known that he authored an extensive history of his family entitled "A Bit of Pack History" which was published in 1969. Wehrli Douglas Pack died at his home in Holladay on October 23, 1975, at age 86, and was later interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. He was survived by his third wife Louella, who died two years later at age 73. Lucile Hart Pack and Ruth Mildred Fisher Pack are interred at Salt Lake City Cemetery as well.

From the Murray Eagle, December 1940.

Moroni Orson Litz (1874-1955), Moroni Lundby Jensen (1912-1980), Moroni Price (1842-1921), Moroni Heiner (1877-1948), Moroni Skeen Jr. (1873-1958)

   Today's triple profile highlights the lives of three political figures with the unusual first name "Moroni". For those of you who know your history, you may remember that the name Moroni stems from the like-named prophet and angel prominently featured in the Book of Mormon, and is the same angel who presented the golden tablets to Joseph Smith (1805-1844), founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and publisher of the Book of Mormon. 

  The first of these men to be profiled is West Virginia native Moroni Orson Litz. Born on August 13, 1874, in Burkes Garden, Virginia, Moroni was the tenth of fourteen children born to John Tiffany Huddle (1834-1901) and Elizabeth Emily (Thompson) Litz. He attended schools local to the Tazewell County area and continued his education at the Tazewell College from 1896-1897. Litz later enrolled at the University of Virginia, graduating from this institution in 1902 with his Bachelor of Laws degree.

  Around the same time as his college enrollment, Litz began teaching school and later was named as Principal of the local high school in Graham, Virginia. In 1902 he was named to West Virginia State Bar, and married in October 1908 to Judith Effler (1885-1920), with whom he would have two sons (Moroni Orson Jr. and Rawle) and three daughters.

  After attaining his law degree, Litz established a practice in the city of Welch, West Virginia, operating here for nearly two decades. In 1920 Judith Effler Litz died after twelve years of marriage and in 1922 Moroni remarried to Ms. Mabel Cain. In that same year, Virginia Governor Ephraim Franklin Morgan appointed Litz as an Associate Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state.  Litz's tenure on the court lasted until 1936 when he was defeated for reelection.

  After leaving the court Litz continued to practice law, having an office based in Charleston, West Virginia for several years. He died at a hospital in Huntington, West Virginia on December 1, 1955, at age 81, and was shortly thereafter interred at the Maplewood Cemetery in Tazewell. The portrait of Moroni O. Litz shown at the top of this profile was featured in the 1929 edition of the West Virginia Blue Book.

            

Jensen as he appeared in a 1970s edition of the Deseret News.

  Hailing from Sevier County, Utah, Moroni Lundby Jensen was an educator and politician who served over a decade in the Utah State Legislature. Despite having a long tenure in Utah state government, little information could be found online that details the life of this obviously prominent Utahan, with an exception being a brief write-up on the Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library Manuscript Collections Page.

  Born in the city of Ogden on January 10, 1912, Moroni L. Jensen was the son of Hans Simon and Kristiane Graversen Jensen. Moroni spent the majority of his adolescence engaged in farming and is recorded as driving a school bus while in high school as a means of income. He received his schooling at the Sevier County High School and went on to attend Brigham Young University from 1929-1930. Jensen later continued his schooling at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, graduating with his diploma in 1931. He married on March  8, 1934, to Ms. Vivian Nelson (1911-2010) with whom he would have two sons, Moroni Leon and Jerold. 

  After leaving school Jensen worked with the Red Cross, serving overseas during the mid-1940s as a field director in the South Pacific. Once back in the United States, Jensen began a lifelong involvement in Utah educational affairs, serving as a principal in the Salina area. He also began treading the political waters during this time, serving as a Salina city councilman and was later elected to a term as Mayor. During the 1960s Jensen served as vice-president of the Utah Secondary Schools Association and also was President of the Utah Education Association. He is also recorded as being actively involved in Mormon church affairs, being a past president of the Wilford Stake mission in Salt Lake City.

  Jensen was elected to the Utah State House of Representatives from Sevier County in 1964 and served in this body until 1968. In that year he ran for and was elected to the Utah Senate, where he served with distinction for over a decade. During his lengthy Senate service, Jensen continued an active interest in educational matters in Utah, holding a membership in the Educational Commission of the States. In 1977 Jensen became President of the Senate, and in 1980 mounted a campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Utah on the Democratic ticket. In the November election, Jensen was defeated by Republican incumbent David Smith Monson by a vote of 257,460 to 125,092. Shortly after his election loss, Jensen was felled by a fatal heart attack on November 8, 1980, at age 68. His wife Vivian survived him by nearly thirty years, dying at age 98 in February 2010. Both were interred at the Redmond Cemetery in Redmond, Sevier County, Utah.

   We continue our stay in Utah to focus on the obscure life of Moroni Price, a one-term state representative from the county of Cache. Price was born in the small village of Oswestry, Shropshire, England on February 24, 1842, the son of William Daniel and Mary Jane Price. The Price family migrated to the United States when their son was an infant, and after his father's death moved to the Utah Territory in 1854 with his mother and siblings.

  His early years in the territory were spent in Salt Lake City,  and in the early 1860s moved to the town of Smithfield in Cache County. Price married here in March 1865 to Mary Elizabeth Raymond (1848-1910) with whom he would have four children: Alonzo Harmon (1865-1917), Tura May (1867-1874), Moroni Jr. (1869-1936), and Mary Jane (died aged one day in 1871).

   The few documents that mention Price denote that he was a longtime farmer in the Cache County area and also held the office of justice of the peace for many years. In 1896 he was elected to the Utah State House of Representatives from Cache County and served one term that concluded in 1899. In 1903 Price served as one of two Utah delegates to the National Irrigation Congress. Moroni Price's wife Mary died in 1910 at age 62 and he himself died on April 17, 1921, at age 69. Both were interred at the Smithfield City Cemetery in Smithfield Utah. The portrait of him above was featured in the March 10, 1897 edition of the Salt Lake City Herald after his election to the legislature.

From the Men of Affairs in the State of Utah, 1914.

  Another Utahan with this odd first name is Mr. Moroni Heiner, a distinguished businessman who served two terms as Utah State Dairy and Food Commissioner. Born in Morgan City, Utah on February 17, 1877, Heiner was of German extraction and studied at Brigham Young University from 1895-1899. 

  Following his graduation from BYU, he married Ms. Eva Purcell (1878-1964) with whom he would have nine children. Before his involvement in state political affairs, Heiner made his name in several important businesses in and around Morgan City, holding the directorship of the First National Bank of Morgan, the Granite Furniture Company, and the Utah Coal Sales Agency. Heiner was also actively involved in coal and railroad interests in the area, serving as the director and vice president of the Castle Valley Railroad Company.

  In the early 1900s, Heiner was appointed by Governor Heber Manning Wells as Dairy and Food Commissioner of Utah, serving in this post for two terms, 1901-1905. Heiner continued to be active in the Utah coal industry late into his life and died on June 25, 1948, at age 71. He was later buried in Salt Lake City's Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, which is also the resting place of one Nephi United States Centennial Jensen, a Utah State Representative and judge profiled here in February 2012.

From the Ogden Standard-Examiner October 31, 1920.

  Weber County, Utah native Moroni Skeen Jr. is another Utahan endowed with an unusual first name. Born on July 28, 1873, and raised in Palm City Utah, Skeen was the son of Moroni and Martha Skeen. A realtor by trade, Moroni Skeen Jr. attended Weber County schools and graduated from the University of Utah. He was the owner and operator of the Skeen Realty Company and for 14 years served as a member of the Weber County Board of Commissioners. In addition to this office, Skeen also served as the chairman of the Weber County Republican Party. He died in April 1958 at age 84 and was later interred at the Ogden City Cemetery.

Nephi United States Centennial Jensen (1876-1955)

Nephi U. S. C. Jensen

   The following profile centers on one of the single greatest strange name discoveries this author has discovered in quite some time. The plentifully named individual above, Nephi United States Centennial Jensen, was a Utah attorney, judge, and Mormon leader during the first half of the 20th century, and I first located Jensen's name (as well as the above picture) in the History of the Bench and Bar of Utah, published in 1913. Throughout this book were featured numerous Utah lawyers, attorneys, and judges, many of whom had political offices to their credit. Among these men was the gentleman shown above, listed under the curious name of Nephi U.S.C. Jensen. I soon found that his unusual first name was given to him in honor of Nephi, the sixth-born son of Lehi, a high-ranking prophet in the Book of Mormon. After some lengthy searching, I discovered a death certificate for a Nephi United States Centennial Jensen, born in Salt Lake City on February 16, 1876. I compared the date to the one found in the aforementioned Bench and Bar book and found them to be a spot-on match! 
   Nephi U.S.C. Jensen was born of Danish parentage on February 16, 1876, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents, Soren and Christine Rasmussen Jensen had settled in Utah after emigrating from Denmark in 1861. No source mentions why his parents gave him the middle names "United States Centennial", but seeing that the country turned 100 years old in the year of his birth, they must have been seized with truly patriotic fervor to do so!! 
   Young Nephi joined the Mormon Church at age eight and is recorded as attending the "public schools of Sugar House" as well as the Union High School in Montezuma County, Colorado. Jensen continued his education at the Latter Day Saints College in Salt Lake City and later earned his LL.B degree from the University of Chattanooga in 1906. After leaving school in Utah, Jensen went into missionary service, preaching the word of Mormonism throughout the Southern area of the United States. Jensen returned from his religious mission in 1900 and settled in Arizona for a time. It was here that he married Ms. Margaret Fife Smith (1882-1969) on April 9, 1902, and moved back to Utah a short while later. Genealogical websites mention that Nephi and Margaret had at least one son born to them, Paul, who was recorded as being born sometime in 1903.
   Jensen was admitted to the Utah bar in February 1906 and in November of that year was elected to his first political office, winning election to the Utah State House of Representatives as a Republican. He took his seat in early January 1907, representing the county of Salt Lake. The Bench and Bar of Utah also mention his service, stating that he received "the highest vote of any candidate on the ticket." He served in the state house for one term (1907-1909) and a roster of house members from that legislative session has been provided below. Nephi's name is located at the very bottom of the roster.

   Jensen took his seat in the legislature in January 1907 and, in an interesting anecdote, his arrival in the state house soon caused a problem for the compilers of the legislative journal! As the Salt Lake Tribune snippet posted below relates, the legislature passed a motion stating that the lengthy name of Mr. Jensen occupied "too much space in the journal" and " that in the future he be designated as Nephius Jensen". No paper of the time denotes how Jensen reacted to the measure, but I like to think that he and many of his fellow legislators had a good laugh about it! 

   After leaving the legislature, Jensen continued practicing law, and in 1911 was named as the Assistant Attorney for Salt Lake County. He served in this position until August of 1913 when he resigned and started a joint law practice with another Utah attorney, C.E. Marks, who had previously served as a district court judge in Idaho. A portrait/article on Jensen's resignation from that office appeared on page fourteen of the July 16. 1913 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune and is shown below. For such an obscure individual, Mr. Jensen has had quite a few pictures of himself located in periodicals of the time, much to my great surprise!

   The firm of Marks and Jensen became regarded as one of the most successful law firms in Salt Lake, and this partnership lasted until 1919. That year, Jensen felt called to religious work once again and journeyed to Canada to accept the leadership of the Canadian Mission, a project of the Mormon church. His appointment to this position was viewed by the May 1919 edition of the Improvement Era periodical as an excellent choice, remarking that Jensen's "many friends feel that he will make good in the honor  that has come to him to found a new mission of the Church." During his leadership, Jensen established the mission's base in Toronto and after returning to the United States in the mid-1920s became a well-known public speaker on the Church of Latter Day Saints, tracts, and religious ideals. During research on Mr. Jensen, several archived newspaper articles were discovered that attest to his popularity as a public speaker. The Improvement Era further illustrates that Jensen was a popular draw during that period, stating that "his ability as a speaker, and his diligence to service of the Church is recognized by all who have heard or known him."

Nephi U. S. C. Jensen as he appeared in the 1919 edition of the Improvement Era.

   In 1928 Jensen returned to politics when he was appointed as judge of the municipal court of Salt Lake City, this appointment being occasioned by the death of Judge O.C. Dalby. That September Jensen announced that he'd be seeking his own term as judge. That November he won the election and would serve an indeterminate tenure as judge, though sources relate that he was still on the bench until at least 1933. Jensen's time as judge was profiled in the Salt Lake Tribune in April 1932, which described him as a thorn in the side of unsafe motorists, with the Tribune noting that he was "carrying out a vigorous punishment campaign" for those that violated city traffic laws. Remarking that "the lives of 140,000 persons must be safeguarded", Jensen went on to remark:

"The court's attitude has done much in our campaign to reduce traffic accidents, and if all courts were as consistant and cooperative, I am sure a that a great portion of our motor problem will have been solved."

From the Salt Lake Tribune, April 17, 1932.

  Throughout that decade and into the 1940s and 50s Jensen published scholarly articles and pamphlets discussing his views and maintained a public speaking career. He had earlier authored Utah and the Civil War in 1929 with two co-authors, Margaret Fisher and Christian N. Lund. After many years of prominence in Salt Lake City, Nephi U.S.C. Jensen died at age 79 on September 2, 1955, and was buried in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Salt Lake City. Jensen's wife Margaret survived her husband by nearly fourteen years, dying in Utah on March 28, 1969, at age 86, and she too was interred at the Wasatch Memorial Park.
  On an aside note, I have decided to post a part of Nephi United States Centennial Jensen's death certificate, as I have an inkling that no reader will believe that one man could be given so strange a name! Here it is, courtesy of the Utah State Archives website.

                     The full death certificate lists Jensen's cause of death as "coronary occlusion."

A death notice for Jensen that appeared in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

"His Official Record....."