Evaline DUNN HUNSAKER

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RELIEF SOCIETY MAGAZINE. [January 1918]

EVALINE DUNN HUNSAKER. MOTHER OF SEVENTEEN CHILDREN.

 The subject of this brief sketch is certainly an unusual mother. Great has been her mission here on earth and well and faithfully has she performed the same. 

Evaline Dunn was born September 12, 1853, in Brigham City, Utah, her father Simeon A. Dunn being- one of the first settlers of Brigham City, and who lived in the Old Fort together with President Lorenzo Snow and others. Her mother was HarrietAtwood Silver who joined the Church in Lowell, Mass., and leaving all her family and friends for the gospel's sake she went to Winter Quarters where she met and married Simeon A. Dunn. [Simeon Adams DUNN was a widower caring for 3 of his 5 young children.] They emigrated to Utah in 1848. Seven children were born to them—three sons and four daughters, viz., Sarah S., Simeon A., Emaline and Evaline (twins), Charles Q., Harriet and Henry who were also twins. 

Harriet Atwood Silver Dunn died Jan. 1, 1858, leaving her seven children without a mother's care. 

Evaline was only four years old at the time of her mother's death. She with the other children were left to the care of their father and [her] older sister (Susannah Dunn), whose mother was 

UNUSUAL MOTHERS

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also dead, and who was only fourteen years of age when these little brothers and sisters were left to her care.

In the midst of poverty, the hard times and privations incident to the early pioneer life in Utah, the children all young—-were subjected to a life of hardship that may be imagined only by persons acquainted with such .scenes.

On Oct. 5, 1868, in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Evaline was united for time and for eternity to Allen Collins Hunsaker. Soon after her marriage, she moved with her husband to Honeyville, where they lived for about eleven years, when they settled in Elwood, Utah, being among the first settlers and again pioneering a new country. Her husband was a farmer and sheep man. He was presiding elder of the branch for over ten years and always received encouragement and help from his wife.

Seventeen children were born to them, namely, Simeon A., Lewis, Eva L., Lily M., Emaline M., Harriet V., Ethel, Adeline (who died in infancy). La Titia, Margaret, Susie, Aleen, Nephi (died at two years), Oscar (died at three weeks), Lorenzo S., Amy, and Harold (died in infancy). Thirteen of the seventeen children born to them are now grown to maturity and all except one (Lorenzo S.) are married and have all had that ordinance performed in the temple.

Surely the teachings, the example, the loving counsel of our parents have not been in vain.

The writer has this to say: If I ever do anything wrong in this life, if I do not keep the commandments given to us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it will not be because my mother or father have failed to teach me, both by example and precept, every principle of the gospel. Oh, I am so grateful for my parents. If I can only be half as good as my mother, how happy I will be!

Sister Evaline is a faithful member of the Church, bemg a worker in the ward Relief Society and helping in every way she can. She is the grandmother of 74 children and has four greatgrandchildren.

Besides rearing her own family she now has three of her grandchildren whose father (Simeon A.) died in 1902 and their mother in 1904. She has taken these children, the oldest being seven years old, and cared for them until they are now grown to young manhood and womanhood. The eldest, Simeon V. Hunsaker, has enlisted at our country's call and is training in the navy Two of her sons, Simeon A., and Lewis have filled honorable missions, the first to Germany and the latter to England.

For almost forty-nine years she has been a constant companion, a true and devoted wife and a loving mother. Long may she yet remain to be a source of inspiration to her posterity.

Aleen Hunsaker Thomas.

PIC-NIK PARTY July 24 1857

Pres. Brigham Young respectfully invites Shadrach Roundy and family

REGULATIONS.

You will be required to start so as to pass the first mill, about four

Miles up the Kanyon, before 12 o’clock, on Thursday, the 23rd, as no per-

son will be allowed to pass that point after 2 o’clock, p.m. of that day.

All persons are forbidden to smoke cigars or pipes, or kindle fires, at 

any place in the Kanyon, except on the camp ground.

The Bishops are requested to accompany those invited from their res-

pective Wards, and see that each person is well fitted for the trip, with 

good, substantial, steady teams, wagons, harness, hold-back and locks

capable of completing the journey without repair, and a good driver, so as

not to endanger the life of any individual.

Bishops will, before passing the first mill, furnish a full and 

complete list of all persons accompanying them from their respective Wards, and 

hand the same to the Guard at the gate.

GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, July 18, 1857.

Shadrach Roundy was one of the 'Original Pioneers' and at this time was Bishop of the 16th Ward in Great Salt Lake City.  

"The Sixteenth Ward was located between South Temple and Second North, and Ran from Second West on the East, to the Jordan River on the west.  A large part of the land was lowlands and covered with water, but after turning the three channels of City Creek into one channel in 1856, and conveying the water along North Temple Street directly to the Jordan River, nost of the lowland near the river was reclaimed and settled.  Originally, the middle channel of City Creek ran through the Sixteenth Ward.  That part of the ward lying west of Ninth West between North Temple and Second North was not inhabited.  Later it was known as 'Agricultural Park,' and still later it was designated as the State Fairgrounds...."

"...The organization of the ward dates from 1849.  Isaac Higbee was ordained bishop on February 22, 1849, but acted only for a few weeks.  On April 14, 1849 Shadrach Roundy was ordained bishop...."

"...The 16th Ward was the second ward to organize a Relief Society.  It was organized by Bishop Roundy on the tenth of June 1854, and was known as 'The Benevolent Society' (probably so-named in memory of the first Relief Society of the Church organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith.) until January 27, 1855, when the name was changed to the Relief society."

"Pattie Sessions was called to serve as the first president.  She was Utah's most famous midwife who safely delivered over two-thousand women in childbirth, having been set apart for this work by the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo...."  (Tales of a Triumphant People, A History of Salt Lake County, Utah 1847-1900.)

July 24, 1857

"Holiday traffic jams have a long Utah history. On July 23, 1857, the logging road leading to Silver Lake (now Brighton) in Big Cottonwood Canyon was crowded with guests invited to a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the Mormon pioneers. By mid-afternoon, 2,587 people, riding in 464 carriages and wagons, with 1,360 horses, mules, and oxen to pull them, had passed up the canyon road.

Serenaded by brass bands from Salt Lake City, Springville, and Ogden, the people set up camp near the lake. Companies of the Nauvoo Legion (the Utah militia) paraded and drilled. At sunset, a bugle call summoned the people to prayer. Brigham Young spoke of the arrival of the pioneers, and how God had blessed them to create a garden in the desert. A prayer of thanksgiving was followed by an evening of dancing in three plank-floored boweries built for the party."

"Pioneer Day began with breakfast prepared over hundreds of small campfires. The American flag flew from treetops and from nearby rocky peaks. Just after 9:00, rounds were fired from a small brass cannon in honor of Mormon leaders, and again an hour later to salute a parade of 10- to 12-year-old boys. For the most part, the crowds relaxed in small groups, went swimming and boating, or played on swings suspended from tree limbs.

About noon, four dusty horsemen – Abraham O. Smoot, Judson Stoddard, Porter Rockwell, and Elias Smith – arrived in camp, bringing the news for which Pioneer Day, 1857, is best remembered: The displeasure of the federal government with what they believed were conditions of anarchy in Utah had reached the boiling point. A large portion of the United States Army, estimated at 2,500 men, were marching toward Utah, beginning what we know today as the Utah War...." 

"....Daniel H. Wells, a counselor to Brigham Young and future mayor of Salt Lake City, announced the news to the assembled campers. They recognized the gravity of the situation, but there was no panic, no angry speeches, and no dampening of the celebration. Soon enough the people of Utah would turn to defending their homes and families against what many considered to be an unlawful, unjustified mob invasion, but for the rest of that Pioneer Day they would celebrate the success of their ten years in the wilderness."

"The evening was spent in songs and toasts, 'after which,' according to reporter George D. Watt, 'dancing and general hilarity continued to a late hour.'

"Camp was broken early on the morning of July 25th, with a long and orderly train of wagons and carriages proceeding down the mountain and back to the city."  (By: Ardis E. Parshall - November 19, 2008)

Ancestry Chain: TR, Lark, Kirt DeMar WOOD 1923-1987, Laura Elizabeth PARKER 1889-1971, Charles PARKER 1853-1935, Almeda Sophia ROUNDY 1829-1912, Shadrach ROUNDY 1789-1872.

Thanks to Uncle Hugh for sharing this invitation.