Mormon pioneers, early Salt Lake City maps and an infamous gunfighter.
Occasionally I publish a blog post about my Dudley family history and this is one of them. Birds are my usual subject but once in a while I publish family history posts for several reasons – to keep my family informed of the familial history I’ve uncovered that we share, to make it available to researchers on the internet and, more than anything, because it fascinates me to the point of addiction.
When I first started covering my family history I expected that very few of my regular readers would have any interest in it but I’ve been surprised by the positive response from many that have absolutely no connection to any Dudleys. It turns out that lots of folks like family history for its own sake, especially when interesting characters and/or real history are involved, and I have more than my share of both.
So, if you’re interested or there’s a chance you might be, read on. If not, I’ll see you next time.
Oliver Hunt Dudley was my great, great grandfather. An early convert to Mormonism, he followed Brigham Young and many other faithful followers to what would become Utah, arriving in 1850, three years after Brigham and the first Mormons arrived.
You’ve seen this photo before.
This is a photo of my personal copy of a plat map of Salt Lake City from the early 1850’s. The actual map is roughly 24″ x 30″, so at this small size this online version is pretty much useless, but I wanted readers to see the entire thing. You’ll see more detail in a minute.
I’ve outlined the actual map of the city blocks and city lots in blue. Most of the rest of it is a key for helping to identify who owned which city lots. Grandpa Oliver owned the lot I’ve marked with a small red X. There’s a section at top center that explains the brief history of the map and how it was laid out.
For those familiar with SLC, this map goes only as far south as 9th South. Past there it was still wilderness in the early 1850’s, or nearly so.
I’m including this crop of the map so that you can see that Oliver’s lot, circled in red, was on the northeast corner of South Temple and 2nd East and how close he lived to Temple Square.
An even larger crop makes Oliver’s name readable and makes it even more obvious that he only lived two blocks from Temple Square.
Blocks were 10 acres and originally each block was divided up into eight 1.25 acre lots. City lots were distributed equitably amongst the people as “inheritances”, with more lots given to those male members with multiple wives and larger families (many Mormons were polygamists).
You may have noticed that Heber C. Kimball was given a lot of lots. Well, that ol’ boy had 43 wives, 65 children and at least 300 grandchildren so that explains it. When Heber died in 1868 he was worth in excess of $100,000 (over $2 million today).
When this map was drawn, Oliver only had one wife (he married one more “Celestial Wife” a few years later”) and he didn’t arrive in SLC until 1850, so his lot was a smaller divided lot, .42 acres in size.
This is a small portion of another plat map of SLC from the Library of Congress that was drawn up about 15 years later, in 1870. I like the style of this map because each individual building was drawn/painted fairly accurately. I’ve used a red line to enclose Temple Square on the left and Oliver’s home on the right. By this time Oliver had moved 60 miles north to Brigham City but his house was still there.
Yesterday morning I made it a point to drive to downtown SLC and photograph Oliver’s lot as it appears today. When I took the photo below I was standing where the tiny blue dot is directly east of Oliver’s house.
I already knew that there was a Big O Tire store on Oliver’s lot but I wanted a photo of it.
In 1969 my brand new wife and I lived in an apartment only a couple of blocks from this location and I drove her to and from work before and after I attended classes at the U of U (we only had one vehicle). Her workplace was only one block from here so I drove right by Oliver’s lot twice each work day and didn’t even know it. I didn’t know where Oliver’s lot was until fairly recently.
Hell, back in 1969 I didn’t know squat about Oliver. I didn’t even know his name until about 2005.
OK, back to an even larger crop of the Library of Congress map. I’ve circled Oliver’s house, lot and probably his outhouse in red but what about that house across and down the street from Oliver that I’ve circled in blue?
That house belonged to the notorious gunfighter Porter Rockwell (full name Orrin Porter Rockwell), aka the “Destroying Angel of Mormondom”. Rockwell served as a bodyguard and personal friend of Joseph Smith and, in later years, Brigham Young.
This from Wikipedia:
“Rockwell killed many men as a gunfighter, a religious enforcer, and Deputy United States Marshal. According to legend, Rockwell told a crowd listening to United States vice president Schuyler Colfax in 1869, “I never killed anyone who didn’t need killing”, a quote used by actor John Wayne in a movie decades later.”
This is one of the books I own about Porter Rockwell with a photo of him on the cover. Scary looking dude. I’ve been fascinated by Rockwell for years so I was delighted to learn that Grandpa Oliver lived only a stone’s throw from his house.
But if Oliver had ever thrown that stone, given Rockwell’s gunslinger reputation I might not be here today.
Ron
Notes:
- Some readers may be interested in exploring the Pioneer Map of Great Salt Lake City and/or the Library of Congress map in greater detail. If so, here’s the links.
Pioneer Map of Great Salt Lake City, early 1850’s
Library of Congress map of Salt Lake City, 1870
- Joseph Smith once told Porter Rockwell the following: “I prophesy, in the name of the Lord, you—Orrin Porter Rockwell—so long as ye shall remain loyal and true to thy faith, need fear no enemy. Cut not thy hair, and no bullet or blade can harm thee.” The promise echoes one given by an angel to the parents of the biblical Samson. Rockwell only cut his hair once. After hearing of a balding widow with typhoid fever, he offered his famous long hair to make a wig. The recipient of the hair was Agnes Coolbrith Smith Pickett, widow of Joseph Smith’s brother, Don Carlos.
I worked as a designer/drafter/cartographer for 45 years, drawing everything from geologic maps to plats to pump houses. I can still do lettering in the style of the first plat you show. I moved from hand drafting to CADD to GIS over the course of my career. I am a devotee of the great cartographers Imhoff and of Ruiz and their work in landforms influences my landscape drawings and paintings. I would not be the birder I am today without this knowledge either. Thanks for displaying these fine works of art.
I’m glad you appreciate them like you do, Susan. They deserve it.
Fascinating!!! I especially liked seeing the maps and particularly the one with the buildings represented. Will definitely take a gander (See? Birds!😉) at those links when I have some time to savor them later today. Thank you for sharing some more information about your ancestors and their colorful lives and compatriots.
As usual, EC and I had similar thoughts regarding Orrin (I grow out my hair and donate it every few years, although the ponytails are getting skimpier and greyer every time) and the settler with 43 wives and 65 kids (it boggles the mind!).
Thank you, Marty. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent exploring those maps and associated names.
Time most lovingly well-spent!
Thanks for this unique post! Very interesting. The stories, plat map and Library of Congress map are great! You’ve done some nice research to put the story line and photos together. I also spend time on family history and enjoy making the connections and links to the past. The stories and photos create the memories that really make the past enjoyable in the present….for many of us. Your post is a great example of how to create family memories.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Steve – especially appreciated from someone who walks the walk.
Interesting. I am enjoying reading over the maps. My Mormon ancestors on my father’s mother’s side, came a bit later, 1880’s, but lived in the area. My dad remembers all the locations, I have a vague idea.
Thanks, April.
Thanks for the pictures of Salt Lake City back in the day. I have a few distant relatives by marriages that were from that area too. I spend a lot of time on my family lines every day. Have fun digging into your “roots”.
Thanks, Trudy. I will, and do.
That was fascinating. Thanks Ron.
Good. Thanks, Michael.
That Library of Congress map made me say “wow!” when I opened the full version you linked to. The level of painstaking detail is incredible.
I work in GIS making maps for a living. Mapping software allows us to churn out an extremely high volume of deliverables compared to the time it takes to map by hand – but that old hand-drawn map is just so beautiful.
Melanie, I had the same reaction to that Library of Congress map. Oh, the work it must have taken, and the time required…
I disliked history as a school child. It was essentially taught to us as dates, rulers, battles. Family history on the other hand…
My early morning mind is still boggled at 43 wives and all those children though..
And it seems that the Man of God/Son of Thunder had a soft spot if he was prepared to sacrifice his hair/immunity for a good cause. And for a woman no less.
“My early morning mind is still boggled at 43 wives and all those children though”
Me too, EC. I’ve never been able to handle even one wife.
Fun! History is most always more interesting when it involves us/ours…. 🙂
Thanks, Judy. Agreed.
Being a genealogist (as well as a birder), I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s always fun to hear more of your family history. Thanks, Ron. I know I can Google this – and I will – but I will just say for now that I am curious about the name Orrin. There’s another famous Orrin, of course…
“There’s another famous Orrin, of course…”
Yes, I call that Orrin “borin’ Orrin”, even though he’s shown some brief flashes of class in recent years.
A fair number of early (and later, as you noted) Mormons were named Orrin. There’s an Ira Hatch shown on the 1850’s map. I suspect Ira was the great, great grandfather of Senator Orrin Hatch
Ron:
Love the history. Maybe you should have taught something else.
A little bit of family history mixed in with beautiful pictures of birds and other animals – doesn’t get much better.
By the way, many of my ancestors, including the Roylances, also migrated north – North Ogden, Southeast Idaho, and Washington. Yours and mine likely crossed paths some time.
Brad, on the 1850’s map I noticed that Wm. Roylance lived on block 120, lot 6. I’m thinking he was one of yours.
Took me several days to get back here. William J Roylance is Great Great Grandfather.
I’d say it’s highly likely that our great great grandfathers knew each other. Who knows, perhaps they were friends.
I find these posts of your family very interesting – you write them well!
Love the maps and photos – they bring the history to life…like a static Ken Burns. Thanks
Well now, that’s the first time anything I’ve done has been compared to the work of Ken Burns. I’ll take it! Thanks, Joanne
Thanks for this piece–like almost all young people, I had zero interest
in my family history, but now I’m grateful for the work of those
who were interested and did the work, not just of genealogy, but also
of map-making. Seeing the (relatively) small size of most holdings, I began to wonder if men traveled daily on horseback or in wagons to communal agricultural holdings to work them collectively? Pictures,
like these maps, are a trigger to my imagination of their daily lives !
Kris, the size of these lots was deliberately chosen to be large enough for large gardens but the land they farmed for a living was mostly further south and southwest. Her in Murray, my house is built on one of those old farms that today is about 60 blocks south of Temple Square.
Informative stories, Ron. Thanks for sharing them. After living here in Salt Lake all of my life, I’ve always been interested in it’s history.
Thank you, Brett.
By the way, Diane told me about your recent shared interest in Julia Childs. As a result, I’ve been watching some of her old shows and enjoying them very much.
All interesting Ron. Glad those days of Mr. Rockwell are long gone, but then there are other times when I think we could use him. Lots of Mormon friends here in Prescott. First time I went to SLC for a business conference for my company and were having dinner I asked for a glass of wine and was politely told by the young server that they don’t serve alcohol at all. On the other hand back in L.A. I have had a glass of wine at lunch and was joined by a Mormon associate.
“On the other hand back in L.A. I have had a glass of wine at lunch and was joined by a Mormon associate.”
Everett, that’s a very common occurrence when they get off their home turf and can be more anonymous.
I love your post about birds, always fun and informative, but this was my favorite one of all. Thanks for going “off-road”. Loved the maps. will be looking into them more. Thanks for the links to the maps.
Much appreciated, Bill. Enjoy your journey with the maps.
“…it fascinates me to the point of addiction.” Boy, can I ever relate to that.
Well Ron, I read the whole piece. Good stuff these stores of people in our past. I don’t know what it is about the knowing of these things brings about such warmth and melancholy to the heart and soul. Cannot tell how many times I wish I could meet and speak these people of the past. This age we finally reach brings an awareness of these things, and a longing for these connections.
I too research and write these stories of my family. Will always wonder why some family members treasure what is found, and others simply do not care.
Have to note that Mr. Orrin Porter Rockwell is a scary looking character; the kind of guy you do not look into the eyes of for more than a moment.
Thank you for sharing.
“Will always wonder why some family members treasure what is found, and others simply do not care.”
I’ve wondered the same thing, Michael. Most of my family are very interested or moderately interested but a few seem to have no interest at all. Just human nature I guess.
Rockwell was definitely someone you wouldn’t want to piss off.