Lamoni Taylor (1855-1941)

The following article is on the life of my father, Lamoni
Taylor, and is all done from memory of the things he told me.

Lamoni was born in Harrisville, Weber County, Utah, on September 12, 1855, a son of Joseph Taylor and Hannah Mariah Harris. He was the eldest son and had eight brothers and sister, namely: James Henry, Heber C., Hyrum, Franklin D., and Joseph; his sisters were Esther, Ada Rose and Mariah Evaline.

1855 was only eight years after the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, so needless to say the family was among the early pioneers and as most families, they were poor-very, very poor. I remember him telling that while he was but very young, he herded cattle when there was snow on the ground, and he had no shoes or stockings on his feet. When a critter had been lying on the ground for a spell, he would kick the animal up and cover his feet with the warm dirt where the animal had been lying. Sometimes his lunch would consist of sego lily bulbs dug from the soil. He was twelve years of age when he received his first pair of shoes. These were made by his father.

Some of his playmates were Indians. He knew their language, their songs, and their games. These Indians had a respect for him and gave him the nickname of “Muney”. This name was changed later to “Moan,” and he was known by that name most of his life.

As the family grew, responsibility seemed to fall on him even to the extent that he was unable to attend school. The love he had for his mother was deep and beautiful, always protecting her against any and all odds, and loving her memory to his last days.

At age 21 he left home (or was set free, as he would say). Freighting outfits were coming through the county. Lamoni joined one of them, driving a wagon with three teams in front to the state of Montana. After several trips he got employment with a rancher in Montana, where he had charge of the dairy cows, milking thirty head of cows night and morning, separating the milk and making butter and cheese.

After this adventure a return trip was made to his hometown, Harrisville. Here he met a pretty redheaded schoolteacher by the name of Lenora Rawson, and after a competitive courtship, they were married on April 8, 1879. Soon after their marriage, they were on the move to Ashley’s Fork (now known as Vernal, Utah) Here they built a cabin, and that cabin was located where the Bank of Vernal is now located.

The year 1879 and 1880 was one of the most severe winters seen in that part of the country. It seems that when cattle were driven from Texas north, Ashley’s Fork was a place where the weaker cattle or cows with newborn calves were left, because the grazing feed was good in that valley. But when the hard winter set in, many of these perished in the cold weather and snow. The provisions of the pioneer families were being diminished rapidly; not only did they have their own families to care for, but the Indians were continually begging for food and were becoming belligerent if they were not given it.

So, Lamoni took his best saddle horse, some food for himself, grain for his horse, and left for Ogden, Utah, for help. The snow was about two feet deep when he left Ashley’s Fork and became deeper as he traveled over the mountain passes. It was during this trip that he was followed by a large black wolf that would stay just so far behind him in the snow trail the horse had made. His only weapon was a pocketknife, so when night came, tow fires were built and kept burning until daylight. Then, on he would go until at last the trip was finished. But instead of ending in Ogden, he came out near Payson, Utah. Obviously he had been lost. Provisions were gathered, teams organized, and soon food was on its way.

It was at Ashley’s Fork that their first child was born, a son with very red hair (James Daniel Taylor). Now these Indians had never seen a red-headed baby, so being very curious, the Indian squaws would form a circle, sit on the ground, and pass the baby around so that all may see a white child with red hair.

To earn some money to support the family, Lamoni would break wild horses for the cowboys coming that way. He would catch, break and train a horse for five dollars. Each horse had to be well broken for cattle driving. He knew horses well and loved them. Never would he allow them to be mistreated in his presence.

It seems that he and his wife were unhappy in that country, and so returned to Harrisville. Then on they moved to Cub River or Mapleton, Idaho, where his brother, Heber, was located. Here they homesteaded some land, built a cabin, which had sod roof, dirt floor, and what else I do not know. Mother said when the rain came, pans had to be placed about the floor to catch the rain coming through.

It was at Mapleton that several of their children were born. There were some happy days, and some tragedies. One baby died when but a few weeks old, and one son, Harold, was stricken with spinal meningitis, which resulted in the complete loss of his hearing.

With six or seven children in the family, Lamoni was called to serve on a mission for his church in the Carolinas. This call he accepted, leaving home with but five dollars and a lot of faith. The people of those states were hostile toward the Elders and Lamoni was mobbed and thrown in jail for preaching the gospel, but the Lord delivered him from the mob. After serving about 8 months on his mission word was received that his wife had been injured very seriously.; She had been chopping wood for the stove, when something broke in her stomach. So Lamoni had to return home. He had to borrow 50 dollars from the church to get there, which money he repaid just as soon as he could.

He had a brother by the name of Heber living in Mapleton at this time, and a great brother he was in assisting to care for the crops and doing all he could to support Moan’s family while he (Lamoni) was on his mission. These two brothers loved each other very much.

About the year 1903 or 1904 the family sold the farm and moved to Preston, Idaho. The farm was located one mile east of Preston, and in conjunction with the farm a business venture was entered into. It consisted of what they called a dray business, or as we would say today, a delivery service where merchandise was delivered from the railroad cars to various stores. This was a fairly successful business. As a result, a move was made to another farm one and one-half miles east of Preston and one-half mile north. This was an 88-acre farm with good soil and a large farmhouse. (It had to be, because there were 12 children to live there.)

Also, about this time the railroad was planning a route and Moan secured a contract to do some grading, but lost money because of a bookkeeper who took the payroll money and left.

It is true Lamoni had very little education, but when it came to addition, he was good-not on paper, but rather inside his head. I have a fairly good education, but if we took a long list of figures for addition, he could do them faster in his head that I could using paper and pencil, and he was always correct.

It was during these years that a herd of sheep (about 3000 head) were purchased and the sheep business was begun in conjunction with milk cows, hogs, chickens, turkeys, etc. Some of the boys were put busy herding sheep, others were working on the farm. All went fairly well.

Leanora was getting up in years and wished to spend time working in the temple, so the farm was sold to Rawson Taylor, a son, and a small home purchased in Logan, Utah. The balance of the money was used to purchase a ranch seven miles east of Swan Lake, Idaho, commonly called Cottonwood. This was a seven hundred acre farm partly irrigated, but mostly dry farm.

I remember during the great flu epidemic of 1918,1919, seeing my father going from farmhouse to farmhouse (each being about two miles apart), administering to the sick families and tending to their needs, day after day, week after week. And I like to say here that none of them died, while in the city they were dying by the hundreds.

As I look back I see some of Lamoni’s characteristics that now impress me very much, such as his great respect for womanhood, his honesty, his love for his fellowman; truly he believed in love thy neighbor as thyself. He loved nature and animals and had an unbounding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

–Louis M. Taylor
407 West St. George Blvd., St. George, Utah 84770