Tamma Durfee 1813
Daughter of Edmond Durfee and Lanna Pickle
Wife of Albert Miner and Enos Curtis Possibly wife of John White Curtis
Mother to
Edmond Durfee
Polly Miner
Orson Miner
Moroni Miner
Sylvia Miner
Mormon Miner
Matilda Miner
Alma Lindsey Miner
Don Carlos Smith Miner
Melissa Miner
Enos Curtis
Clarissa Curtis
Belinda Curtis
Amelia Curtis (twin)
Adelia Curtis (twin)
John White Curtis
Mariette Curtis
This is not a duplicate post, this is a personal history written by Tamma Durfee to her children so they would know a portion of what she went through in her life. I have also attached a link to her Autobiography that was written for the LDS Church Relief Society and filed in the Jubilee Box in 1880. Some of it was written a little different from the copy I have so I have posted both. Here is the link where I found it. http://tmsociety.org/wp-content/durfeetamma.pdf which also includes her obituary
Personal History of Tamma Durfee Miner
Written in Springville March 13, 1881
Re-typed by Kierston Scott
My father’s name was Edmond Durfee, he was born in Rhode Island, October 3, 1788. Father was of Irish descent, I think. My mother was born on June 6, 1788, of Dutch descent. Her name was Lana Pickle, her father and mother were from Holland, I think high Dutch.
I was born in the state of New York, Madison County, Town of Lenca, March 6, 1813, and we lived there till I was about nine years old and then we moved to Oswego County, Town of Amboy, in a new county. Father bought him some land, built him a home, made a small farm, worked at his trade, mostly that was carpanter and mill right. We made lots of sugar. THen father wanted to go west so he sold his sugar bush and farm and everything and started for the state of Ohio. We went through Camden Village to the canal, went on the canal to Buffalo, went across Lake Superior and landed at Portland, from there we went to Huron County, Township of Buggles. He bought him a piece and went to work to make a home.
The next winter in 1831, we heard about the Mormons and the gold Bible. The next spring, Solomon Hancock came along preaching about Joseph Smith, said that the Lord and the Angel Moroni had revealed them to him. Solomon joined in with us, the Methodist and Cambellities and he would preach in our meeting house and we would go to hear him and they were all astonished for it was so much different from what had been reported. This was some time in April 1831 and my father Edmond Durfee was baptized about the middle of May and my mother and sister Martha and brother Edmond was baptized about the first of June, by SOlomon Hancock, and I believe it the first time I heard him preach it and tell us the BOok of Mormon was true. I was a Mormon in belief but was not baptized till December 1831. I will tell you the reason why I was not baptized. I was keeping company with a good young man as I thought, and I was told he said, “He would not have a Mormon wife,” so I waited untill after I was married. I went to the Mormon meeting and sometimes to the Methodist till the ninth of August 1831 when I was married to Albert Miner and afterwards we got along first rate and we went to meetings sometimes to one place and sometimes to the Mormon till December 1831 when my father was going on a mission to the state of New York and he baptized me before going on his mission.
Albert Miner’s mother, brothers, and sisters, had a great deal to say about the Mormons as they did not believe in the Book of Mormon. He told them “that the more they had to say the sooner he would be baptised.” He waited till the first of February 1832 when they cut a hole in the ice and baptised him.
My oldest daughter Polly was born on May 1, 1832. My father gathered some of his carpanter tools and seed grain and farming tools and in company with others he started for Jackson County, Missouri, the first of February 1832 to build a place for all his family to go and he came back the 20 May. Went back to the states on a mission, came back in the fall of 1832, sold his farm and all of his possessions and started for Kirkland, Ohio on the first of May 1833. The Lord said “He would keep a strong hold for five years in Kirkland.” We bought us a farm, built us some houses and prepared to live. I was there on the forth of July when they wanted 24 Elders to lay the corner stone to the temple in Kirtland, and they ordained George A. Smith and Don Smith to make the number 24, six to every corner, and Mr. Albert Miner, my husband, helped to haul stone every Saturday for a long time to build the temple. My oldest boy was born October 22, 1833, called his name Orsen. The next Spring, the most of the Elders were called to volunteer to go and redeem Jackson County. Mr. A. Miner told Mr. Dennis Lake he would draw cuts to see which should go or which would take care of both families, and it fell to A. Miner to take care of the families.
Dennis Lake went with the company to redeem Jackson County and when he got back he apostatized and sued Joseph Smith for three months work $60.00. Brigham Young and a man with him came to our home and asked him for his license and he refused to give them up, and Brigham Young said, “It makes no difference they could publish him, and he told A. Miner he would receive his blessings, this was in the fall of 1834.
On the fourth day of June 1835, I had a son born, called his name Moroni. Joseph Smith blessed him and said “He should be as great as Moroni of old and people would flee unto him and call him blessed,” they were still building. Some of the brethern came from a distance and stayed till the next spring. Some of the stayed with us and received their endownments and was there to dedication of the temple in March 1836. After that a good many began to apostatize and broke up the Kirtland Bank. I had a girl born June 18, 1836 and called her name Sylva. A great many things transpired that I haven’t time to write, and so long ago that I can’t place them. Land came up and sold for a large sum of money and they had a great speculation and a great many left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
I had a boy September 26, 1837, called his name Mormon. In the spring of 1837, my father sold his farm and all he posessed and started for Calledwell County, Missouri, and we stayed that summer and fall. Those that were left of the Mormons grew worse till Joseph and Sidney and father Smith had to leave in January in the middle of the winter.
That fall A. Miner had a very sick spell the last of January he got some better so he could ride in a sleigh on a bed and I held an umbrella over him and with two children on my lap we went 80 miles from Kirtland to Huron County, New London, where A. Miners folks lived. Four days on the road it had been pleasant and warm but it turned fearful cold winter weather. A. Miner got better, stayed there till May. Sent back to Kirtland and sold his farm, he put some of his means into help the Kirtland Camp, and took the balance and A. Miners wife and children, started for Missouri, at Farwest about the middle of June 1838, bidding his mother, sisters, and brothers all farewell for the gospel sake.
His father died in 1829. We traveled till we got short of means and then we stopped and worked until we got more means and then we went back to teh camp meeting to pay them a visit and then we went on to Missouri and got to Dewit the last of August. The children were all sick and I had been so sick that I could not walk and A. Miner had been so sick he could not harness his team nor take care of it, but he soon got better. We stayed one week to Dewit and then we started for Farwest alone, got to father’s about the first of September. The children were all sick, father said, “They will all get better; the did so, but in a few days Sylvia got worse and died about the first of October 1838.
And the mob gathered and killed a number at Hand Mills and gathered and drove all the Mormons from Adam Diamon to Far west, not being satisfied the whole state with teh Governor at their head gathered by the thousands to drive them from the Farwest. They wanted Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, our leaders and the twelve and all they could get and put into prison and they got many, some were bailed out, others had to stay and take up with such fare as they could get, and be fed on human flesh, but Joseph told them “Not to eat it” as the Spirit of the Lord told him it was human flesh. Thus we were plundered, smitten and driven and our lives threatened, and we were all ill treated on every side by our enemies. Enemies to the truths of Heaven came along one to five hundred right to our houses nobody around but women and children; take our men prisoners without any cause whatever only because they were Mormons and believed in the truths of the Gospel. They wanted to know if we had andy guns or pistols or amunition or butcher knives and all such things, no one can tell, no one can describe the feelings of the Saints and what they passed through, no tongue can tell only those that experienced it and was an eye witness, they came to our houses in this kind of a way.
THose men that were at liberty and had teams had to help others to the Mississipps River and then go back after their own families. Father’s folks had lived there one year. His name was Edmond Durfee, he went in 1837 and A. Miner, T. Miner and five children got to Missouri the first of September, 1838, we lived on what they called Log Creek six miles from Farwest. I was there when they killed David Patten, when they took lots of prisoners, when the Saints had to lay down their arms for their enemies.
Mr. Miner was one that had to take a load to the Mississippi River so we did not get away untill the first of April 1839. We had witnessed a good many leavings in the cold and dreary winter, we crossed over to Quincy, went up the river to the place called Lima, Hancock County, Illinois. We there built a house, bought a small farm and fixed to live for a short time. But the Devil wasn’t dead yet, in a short time there were some that would go to Lima and get drunk and come back swearing and tearing enough to frighten the men, let alone the women and children. I told Mr. Miner that I did not like to live there, I did not like to see those drunkards and hear them swear.
While at Lima I had a girl born January 12 1840 and we called her Matilda. WE stayed there untill one year from the next September, got along the best we could every fall and spring go thirty miles to conferance, and on the fourth of July to training. I had a boy born September 7, 1841. We called him Alma L. The next spring, we sold out and my husband bought a place four miles east of the Temple in Nauvoo and we lived there, worked with our hands and prayed for it, lived there where we could go to meetings and home at night. I had a boy born June 12, 1843 and we called him Don C. Was there in 1844 when Joseph and Hyrum were Martyred. I went and saw them after they were taken to their homes. I had been aquainted with them for 12 years. In May I heard them both preach and talk to the Saints a great many times. I heard Joseph once talk and preach for five hours to a congergation, no one was tired, this was in Kirtland before they built the first temple. A great many incidents I have passed through but have not time to name them. We still lived in Nauvoo.
After they got the Nauvoo Temple done and saw they could get their washing and anointing that was done in the months of January and February and March. The Gentiles and mobcrats threatened and told around that they would kill and drive them from Lima. They shot my father Edmond Dufree and killed him instantly on November 19, 1845, He who had never done any harm in his life but on the contrary he always taught them good principles of truth uprightness and morality and industry all the days of his life. But before they drove them all out of father Morley’s settlement; turned their sick ones out and drove them all out to live or die. They rolled my brother up in a bed, threw it out doors when he was sick, went to the oats stack, got two bundles of oats, put a brand of fire in them and threw them on top of the house and said they would be back in the morning. Father was trying to move some place and they came back and shot off their guns and ran them all off and plundered and made a fire, burned houses, furniture, and clothing, loom, yarn cloth and carpenter tools, the iron from the tools was picked up and filled a barrel, everything around turned to ashes. Th mob went from house to house driving them out, sick or well, it made no difference till they burnt every house in the town that was a Mormon house.
The men from Nauvoo got their teams and started for Lima and traveled all night and day to get the families that had been turned out of doors, my husband was one that had traveled all night and got cold and took a chill and was very sick for a long time. The mob said they could come back and gather their crops and when they were very near done, the mob built a fire close by the barn and stables. The Mormons thought they meant to burn their horses and the men ran out to stop the fire and the mob stood back in the tember and as our men got between them and the fire they shot off about one dozen guns, but my father was all the one that got killed.
They built a fire in different places, one in the corn crib, the shucks was on a dry rail and dry shakes and it burnt a little and went out, as you see they could not get any farther than the Lord would let them. This was the fall of 1848, they still kept gathering and threshing all the fall and winter. The Saints worked hard winter giving endowments and sealings, others worked at repairing and building wagons getting ready to leave, some of them before the ice broke up in the river and the rest soon after.
Little over a year before my husband had his farm bought from under him by a man by the name of Ephraim S. Green with all he had worked and done and paid on it, we were turned out of doors with a family of little children, so he rented one year and turned out one span of horses and bought a piece of land in order to make another home. On March 5, 1846 I had a girl born, (hard to read but I think it says we named her Melissa) We remained there fora time, the mob gathering every little while threatening all the time now they would drive the Mormons, at last a great many left not knowing where they were going to hunt a place in the wilderness amoung the savages and wild beast over the desert beyond the Rocky Mountains where white men had never lived. In the spring the mob began to get together once a week and threaten to drive out those that were left. The first of May we moved to town, sold out place for a yolk of cattle and wagon, thinking to start on in two or three weeks but the mob gathered every week right on the public square close by the house. The Mormons told them they would go as fast as they could get ready and teams to go with, mostly women and children that were there and they did not want any more of the men to leave for fear of what might happen so we stayed, and my oldest was with us and family.
Mr. Albert Miner was born in the State of New York, March 31 1809, Jefferson County. His father’s name was Azeal Miner, his mother’s name was Sylvia Monson.
Till at last new citizens and apostates to carry the day they used to carry letters in their boots and get all the news. Till at last they said there was about 2000 of them one mile from town camped. In the afternoon, here they came across lots to get in town, there were only 50 men to go out to meet them, they drove them back that night, in teh morning at 2 o’clock, to get in town, tit was moonlight, they killed three Mormon men, one man named Andersons and his son were both killed by one cannon ball, they said they did not obey counsel, one mane was killed with a cannon ball in a blacksmith shop, three men were slightly wounded my brother was wounded with a gun between the cords of his heel. There was only 50 Mormon men against 2000 of the mob, ten of them had to be on guard, two on top of the Temple with spy glasses, they went in Law’s carnfield and there they had their battle, they were seen to fill three wagons with the wounded and killed. The next morning woman stood in the second story of a house and saw the mob put seventy-six bodies in calico slips with a draw string around the top, prepared before they left for home.
The Mormon women rolled the cannon balls up in their aprons, took them to our boys and they put them in the cannon and would shoot them back again hot but there were a great many more missing. It was a fearful time, I could have crossed the river but I would not leave my husband. In about two days they had to surrender, lay down their arms. I saw the mob all dressed in black two by two ride on horseback, it looked frightful. THey said there were 2000 of them rode around the Temple in Nauvoo.
The men had to ferry the boat over five times for each family. My husband had to ferry it over ten times, five for my brother that got wounded and five for us. We got over, stayed there two weeks, slept on the ground waiting for help. There were fourteen of us to one wagon. My baby got sick, we stared, and in three days my baby died on the first of October 1846. We traveled one day, and the next morning we buried her. She was seven months old, her name was Melissa Miner. We went one day where we were acquainted, went on three days, came to Iowaville, we stayed there through the winter, while there my husband worked at hauling and running a ferry boat.
When my baby died, I took sick and never got up only to have my bed made for nine months, my husband thought of moving back to the Bluffs, but a good many came back to get work, so he put out and put up some hay for his stock and then said he would go back to Ohio and see all his folks, so he started a foot to the Mississippi River alone, short of means, he went two or three miles when he looked down on the ground and right before him was about $5.00 in silver. He went on and found his folks all well, but no one believed the Gospel, all opposed him. He was gone ten weeks, came home very unwell, being gone so long he was homesick and tired and walked in the rain all day. Polly, my oldest girl, who was fourteen years old took care of the family of nine and waited on me while I was sick and while her father was gone. Not feeling very well when he came home he thought he would feel better after he rested but he grew worse. He would tryu to work a half a day and go to bed the other half. He came home about May 17, 1847. He kept that way, first better then worse, till at last he dropped off very sudden.
That was a hard blow for we thought he was getting better and I and the children thought a better man never lived, a kind, good-natured disposition, free-hearted, won many friends with his kind good natured way, sober, industrious, was a genius, could do anything he saw anybody else do. Alma and the boys said, “Which way shall we go, we will not know the way?” They thought their father was so perfect that he could not do any wrong and that he knew everything. Polly and Orson were the oldest, they had to take lead and go ahead and plan. He died just like going to sleep and never moved hand or foot. His folks had offered him everything if he would stay with them and not go with the Mormons; the gospel and the truth of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Priesthood was all that he wanted. Polly was a true and faithful girl to her mother and all the children. Mr. A. Miner, my husband, died January 3, 1848. My husband had been very anxious to go to the Bluffs and keep up with the church, so myself and children went to work and got things together and the next July 1848, came to Council Bluffs, we stayed there about two years, we worked and got things together to come to the valleys.
I and my five boys and one girl started with one hundred wagons June 10, 1850. We traveled across the plains with Ox teams, we had many hard struggle although we got along much better than we anticipated. The first September, we landed in Salt Lake without any home or anyone to hunt us one, we were very lonesome. We stayed with father and mother Willcox two weeks when Enos Curtis came along and said he would furnish me and the children a home, that was what we needed for it was coming winter. We were married October 20, 1850, lived on Jordan River the first winter. We all had the erysipelas in the throat and my oldest boy died with it on March 5, 1851. He drove the team across the plains for me and was kind and good natured a boy as ever lived.
The next April we moved to Springville, got a farm and a place to build. We got along first rate, we had gone into the wilderness trying to build up the Kingdom. On October 18, 1851 I had a girl born, called her Clarissa Curtis. We lived there and the boys grew up and Mr. Enos Curtis, my husband and his boys and mine, all worked together, raised their wheat and grain and stock and paid their tything. I had a girl born February 23, 1853, called her name Belinda Curtis, we still lived there. The next Spring Enos Curtis went to Iron County with Brigham Young and Company. When they got back they made a party for them. On the 12 day of June 1854, one year from that day I had a pair of twin girls, named one Adelia and the other Amelia Curtis.
The next spring my husband was complaining of not being very well, but kept on to work for a while, till at last he gave up, after a while he began to take something and thought he was better, then he got worse, lived untill the first day of June 1856, when he passed off just like going to sleep without making a struggle or groan. His children were all with him but two, one of his boys was on a mission to England. I was left with four boys and three little girls to keep house. The oldest boy was twenty years old, the others seventeen, fourteen, and twelve. We still lived in Springville City, farmed and raised our wheat and stock and paid our tything. I raised the little girls all but one, she took sick and died before her father, it was one of the twins, her name was Adelia, other ones name was Amelia, we still lived in Springville.
In 1857 I was sealed to John Curtis at April Conference, and I had a girl born January 16, 1858, called her Mariette Curtis. I had five boys and seven girls by Albert Miner, four girls by Enos Curtis, and one girl by John Curtis. I had 58 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Belinda Curtis took sick and died November 17, 1873. I was sealed to John Curtis as his third wife and still lived in Springville.
The children that lived all grew up to be men and women, all married and left home, they were all in the church and pay their tything and try to live their religion as far as I know. I had seventeen children in all, they are all very good and kind to me.
My. Albert Miner was Joseph Smith’s life guard in Kirtland, also my brother, but he left the church. In those days there was but a handfull in comparison to what there is now. I have passed through all the hardships and drivings and burnings, mobings, and threatenings, and have been with the Saints in all their persecutions from Huron County to Kirtland, from Kirtland to Missouri, and back to Illinois and then across the desert. I write this that my children may have a little idea of what I passed through for want of time I have passed over some things of importance. I hope my children will appreciate these few lines, for I do feel hightly honored to be numbered with the Latter Day Saints, and I pray that our children wll prove faithful that they may receive a great reward.
If this shoudl fall into the hands of Polly Ann Whipple’s boys, all right, William Whipple, Orson Whipple. I want this to fall into the hands of those who belong to the church, and I direct this to my grand daughter Ru?? Miner or Mary Rasloo Miner, or Emma Amelia Miner or Hannah Clark, my great grand daughter. (Very hard to read but I think it says This from Tamma Miner and Albert Miner and Tamma Curtis and Enos Curtis.)
TAMMA DURFEE MINER
Autobiography of Tamma Durfee Miner, written for the LDS Church Relief
Society and filed in the Jubilee Box in 1880, and opened in May 1930 by
officers of the Utah Stake Relief Society. It was handed to Frances Carter
Knight, daughter of Polly Miner Carter. The history was resealed and opened
again in 1980. The original document is now in possession of the LDS
Church Historian's Office, Salt Lake City, Utah.
My father, Edmund Durfee, was born 3 October 1788
in Rhode Island of Irish descent. My mother, Lana Pickle was born 6 June 1788 of
Dutch descent, and I think her father and mother were from Holland.
I was born 6 March 1813 in Lennox, Madison County, New York and we lived
there until I was about nine years old when we moved to Amboy, Oswego County.
Father bought some land, built a house, made a small farm, and worked at his trade
that was mostly carpenter and millwright. We lived there until the first of June
1830, when father bought more land which had lots of maple trees. He soon
wanted to go West so he sold his sugar bush and farm and started for the State of
Ohio. We went through Camden Village to the Canal, down the Canal to Buffalo,
across Lake Superior until we landed at Portland. From here we went to Ruggles
in Huron County. Father bought land and went to work to make a home, and it
was in this next winter in 1831, that we heard about the Mormons and the Gold
Bible. The following spring Solomon Hancock came to our town preaching about
Joseph Smith and saying that the Lord and Angel Moroni had appeared to Joseph
Smith in a vision. We were Methodists and Campbellites and Solomon Hancock
was invited to preach in our meeting house. We all went to hear him and were all
astonished at his message for it was so much different from what it had been
reported. This was about April 1831, and father was baptized about the middle of
May and mother and sister, Martha and brother, Edmund were baptized about the
first of June by Solomon Hancock. I believed it the first time I heard him preach
and tell us the Book of Mormon was true.
I was a Mormon in belief but was not baptized until December 1831 and will tell
you the reason why. I was keeping company with a good young man, as I thought,
and I was told he had said that he would not have a Mormon wife. So I waited
until after I was married. I went to the Mormon meetings and sometimes to the
Methodists until 9 August 1831 when I was married to Albert Miner. Afterwards
Tamma Durfee Miner - 2
we got along first rate and we went to meetings sometimes to one place and
sometimes to another until December 1831. My father was going on a mission to
the State of New York and he baptized me before going on his mission.
Albert`s mother, brothers and sisters had a great deal to say about the Mormons
(his father having died in 1829) as they did not believe in the Book of Mormon.
But he told them: "the more they had to say, the sooner he would be baptized". He
waited until the first of February 1832 so they had to cut a hole in the ice to baptize
him.
My oldest daughter Polly was born 1 May 1832. My father had left on the first of
February to build a place for us to go to; he had taken some of his carpenter tools,
seed grain, farming tools and in a company with others started for Jackson County,
Missouri, He came back the 20th of May and went on a short-term mission to the
States returning in the fall. In May 1833 he sold the farm and all his possessions
and we started for Kirtland, Ohio. The Lord had said He would keep a strong hold
for five years in Kirtland. We built houses on the farm that we bought and
prepared to live.
I was here on the fourth of July when they wanted twenty-four Elders to lay the
corner stone to the Kirtland Temple, and they ordained George A. Smith and Don
Smith to make the number twenty-four, six at each corner. My husband, Albert
Miner, helped to haul stone every Saturday for a long time to build the Temple.
My oldest boy, Orson, was born 22 October 1833. The next Spring most of the
Elders were called to volunteer to go and redeem Jackson County. Dennis Lake
went with the company and when he got back he apostatized and sued Joseph
Smith for three months work which was worth $60.00. Albert told Mr. Lake he
would draw cuts to see which should go and which should stay and take care of the
families. Brigham Young and a man with him came to our house and asked Mr.
Lake for his license but he refused to give it to them.
Brigham Young said: "It made no difference they could publish him and he told
Albert Miner that he would receive his blessing". This was in the fall of 1834.
On the fourth day of June 1835, another son, named Moroni was born and Joseph
Smith blessed him and said: "He should be as great as Moroni of old and the
people would flee unto him and call him blessed". Temple building was still going
on; some of the brethren that came from great distances stayed until the next
spring. Some stayed with us and received their endowments and were there to the
Tamma Durfee Miner - 3
dedication of the Temple in March 1836. After that a good many began to
apostatize and broke up the Kirtland Bank. I had girl born on 18 June 1836. We
called her name Silva. A great many things transpired about this time that I haven't
time to write and some that I can't remember. Land sold for a large sum of money;
speculation was in full swing; and at this time many left the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
Another son, Mormon, was born 26 September 1837. In the Spring of this year,
father sold his farm and all he possessed and started for Caldwell County,
Missouri, where we stayed that summer and fall. Those that left the Mormons
grew worse until Joseph and Sidney and Father Smith had to leave in January in
the middle of winter. That fall Albert had a very sick spell. The last of January he
recovered a little so that he could ride in a sleigh on a bed while I held an umbrella
over him. With two little children on my lap we went 80 miles, from Kirtland,
Ohio to Huron County,
New London, Connecticut, where Albert's folks lived. The four days traveling
were pleasant and warm but it turned fearfully cold weather in Connecticut. Albert
seemed to feel better here so we stayed until May.
We went back to Kirtland and sold the farm, put some of his means in to help the
Saints in the Kirtland Camp and with the balance, Albert Miner, wife, and children
started for Far West, Missouri about the middle of June 1838. It was hard to say
goodbye to Albert's mother, sisters, and brothers, all farewell for the Gospel's sake.
His father died in 1829. We traveled until we ran short of means, and then we
stoped and worked until we got enough to go ahead. We visited the Kirtland Camp
and then went on to Missouri and got to Dewitt the last of August. The children
were all sick, and I had been so sick that I could not walk, but father said we would
all get better which we did in a few days, all except Silva who did not recover and
died about the first of October 1838.
The mob gathered and killed many at Hauns Mill and drove all the Mormons from
Adam Diamon to Farwest; then not being satisfied, the whole state with the
Governor at their head gathered by the thousands to drive them from Far West.
The mob was after our leaders, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and the Twelve, and
all they could get and put them into prison. Some were able to be bailed out;
others had to stay and endure the discomforts of prison life. They were even given
human flesh to eat but Joseph told them "not to eat it, for the spirit of the Lord told
him that it was human". Thus we were plundered, smitten and driven from out
homes, our lives were threatened and were ill-treated on every side by our
Tamma Durfee Miner - 4
enemies--enemies to the truths of heaven. They would come one to five hundred
right to our houses and nobody around but women and little children, take our men
prisoners without any cause whatsoever only because they were Mormons and
believed in the truths of the Gospel. They wanted to know if we had any guns or
pistols or ammunition or butcher knives and all such things. No one can describe
the feelings of the Saints and what they passed through. No tongue can express the
depredation--only those that experienced it and was an eye witness when they
came to our houses in this kind of way.
The men that were free on bail and had teams helped others to get to the
Mississippi River and then went back for their own families. Father's folks had
lived there one year. He left in 1837 and we arrived in Missouri the first of
September 1838 and lived on what they called "Log Creek" which was six miles
from Far West. We were there when they killed David Patten at the time they took
a lot of prisoners and when the Saints had to lay down their arms for their enemies.
Albert Miner was one that had to take a load to the Mississippi River so we didn't
get away until the first of April 1839. We had witnessed a good many leaving in
the cold and dreary winter. We crossed over to Quincy, went up the River to Lima
and decided to stay here a short time. But the devil wasn't dead yet. Some of the
members would go to Lima and get drunk and come back swearing and tearing
enough to frighten men, let alone women and children. I told my husband that I
didn't want to live here.
It was here that Matilda was born 12 January 1840 and we stayed about one year.
We got along the best that we could; every fall and spring we drove thirty miles to
Conference and then on the fourth of July to training. On 7 September 1841
another son, Alma L. was born. The next spring we sold what we had and bought
a place four miles east of the Temple in Nauvoo and lived there where we could go
to meeting and get back home by night. On 12 June 1843 another boy was born
and we named him Don Carlos Smith. We were there in 1844 when Joseph and
Hyrum were martyred. I saw them after their deaths when they were brought back
to their home. Many thoughts passed through my mind at this time; I remembered
the first time I had heard them preach and the many times following that; I
remember the time the Prophet Joseph talked for five hours to a congregation and
not one of the congregation was tired. This happened in Kirtland before the
Temple was built.
Tamma Durfee Miner - 5
After the Nauvoo Temple was completed the mobs became violent again. They
threatened us and told us how they would kill and drive the Mormons out. They
did kill many and others they drove from Lima. They shot my father Edmund
Durfee and killed him instantly on 19 November 1845. He who had never done
them any harm in his life but on the contrary had always taught them good
principles of truth and uprightness and greatness and morality and industry all the
days of his life. But before this they drove them all out of Father Morley's
Settlement, even those that were sick. They rolled my brother, Nephi up in a bed
and threw it outdoors when he was sick, they went to the oat stack and got two
bundles of oats and put a brand of fire in them and threw them on top of the house
and said they would be back next morning. Father was trying to move and they
came back and shot their guns and ran them all off. They plundered, made fires,
burned houses, furniture and clothing looms, yarn, cloth, carpenter tools. Even the
iron from the tools they picked up and carted away in barrels. Every wall burned
to ashes, and the mob went from house to house driving them out, it made little
difference if they were sick or well until every house in the town that a Mormon
lived in was burnt.
The men from Nauvoo got their teams and started for Lima. They traveled all
night and day to get the families that had been turned out in the cold. My husband
took a chill and was very sick for a long time. The mob gathered our crops and
when it got dark they built a fire close by the barn and stables. The Mormons
thought they meant to burn their houses and ran out to stop the fire. The mob
stood back in the timber and when our man got between them and the fire they shot
off about a dozen guns--father was the only one killed.
On 5 March 1846 a little girl named Melissa was born and we still remained for a
while. The mob was still threatening how they were going to drive the Mormons
out. Many had left not knowing where they were going to find a place in the
wilderness among the savages and wild beasts over the desert beyond the Rocky
Mountains where white men had never lived. In the spring the mob began to
gather once a week and threaten to drive out what was left. The first of May we
moved town, sold our place for a yoke of oxen and wagon thinking to start on in
two or three weeks but the mob gathered every week right on the public square
close by our house. We said we would leave as fast as we could get ready and get
the teams to take us. There were mostly women and children that were there and
we didn't want any more of the men to leave for fear of what might happen.
Tamma Durfee Miner - 6
The mob gathered at last in full strength and reports came that they were camped
outside of town about 2,000 of them. One afternoon they started to come into
town, cross-lots. There were only fifty of our men to go out to meet them, but they
were driven back that night. At 2 a.m. in the morning, by bright moonlight, the
Mormons went and fired right into the camp of the mob. Guns and cannons kept
up the firing until 2 o'clock that afternoon. Three Mormon men were dead, one
named Anderson and his son, both killed by the same cannon ball. Three were
slightly wounded. My brother was wounded by a gun between the cords of his
heel. Because we had only about 50 men, 10 of them had to be on guard, two on
top of the Temple with spy glasses. They went into Law's cornfield and there they
had their battle. They were seen to fill three wagons with the wounded and killed.
And the next morning a woman stood in the second story of a house and saw the
mob put 76 bodies in calico slips with a draw string around the neck and feet
before they left for home.
The Mormon women rolled the cannon balls up in their aprons, took them to our
boys and they would put them in the cannon and shot them back again when they
were hot. It was a fearful time. I could have crossed the river but I would not
leave my husband. In about two days we had to surrender and lay down our arms.
I saw the mob all dressed in black riding two by two on horse-back and it looked
frightful. They rode around the Temple threatening us with every breath.
Our men had to ferry the boat over five times for each family. My husband had to
ferry it over ten times, five for my brother that got wounded and five for us. We
got over and stayed there two weeks. We slept on the ground waiting for help.
There were fourteen of us to one wagon. My baby got sick, but we started anyway
and in three days my baby was dead. We buried her the first of October 1846. We
traveled on for three days and came to Iowaville and stayed here the winter while
Albert worked at hauling and running a ferry boat.
When Melissa died I took sick and never sat up only to have my bed made for nine
months. My husband thought of moving to the Bluffs but a good many came back
to get work so he cut and put up some hay for his stock and then said he would go
back to Ohio to see all of his folks. He started afoot to the Mississippi River all
alone, short of money. He went two of three miles when he looked down on the
ground and right before him was about $5 in silver. He continued on and found his
folks all well though no one still believed in the Gospel and still opposed him. The
ten weeks that he stayed there seemed like an eternity. On 17 May 1847 he came
Tamma Durfee Miner - 7
home; it had been raining, and he was one homesick, tired, wet and just plain sick
man.
My oldest girl, Polly, who was only fourteen years old took care of the family of
nine and waited on me while I was sick when her father was gone. Albert thought
after he had rested from his long trip he would feel better but instead he grew
worse. He got so that he would try to work half a day and go to bed the other half.
And on 3 January 1848 he suddenly left us which was a hard blow for we thought
that he was getting better . . . .a better man never lived; he was kind, good-natured,
free hearted and industrious. He won many friends and was a genius at going
anything he saw someone else do. He was born in the state of New York, 31
March 1809, in Jefferson County, and was the son of Asael Miner and Sylvia
Monson.
After his death, Alma and the little boys said; "which way shall we go, we will not
know the way". They thought their father was so perfect that he could not do
anything wrong and that he knew everything. Polly and Orson were the oldest so
they now had to take the lead and go ahead and plan. Albert's folks had offered
him everything if he would stay with them and not go with the Mormons, but the
Gospel and the truth of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Priesthood was all that
he wanted. Polly was a true and faithful girl to me and all the children. Albert had
been so very anxious to go to Council Bluffs and keep up with the Church so we
all went to work and got things together and the next July 1848 we went there and
stayed about two years. It was here that we really had to work hard to get ready for
our trek across the plains.
So on 10 June 1850 my five boys and two girls and I started with one hundred
wagons across the plains with the ox-cart teams. We had many hard struggles
although we got along much better than we had anticipated. And on the first of
September we landed in Salt Lake without any home or anyone to even hunt us one
and we were very lonesome indeed. We stayed with father and mother Wilcox,
when Enos Curtis came along and said he would furnish the children me a home.
That was what we needed for it was coming winter. We were married 20 October
1850 and lived on the Jordan River the first winter. We were all sick that winter
with irriciplis in the throat and my oldest boy died with it on 5 Mar. 1851. It was
he that drove the team across the plains for me and he was a wonderful, kind and
good natured boy as ever lived.
Tamma Durfee Miner - 8
The next April we moved to Springville, Utah and bought a farm and started to
build. We got along just wonderful and on 18 October 1851 a little girl, Clarissa
Curtis was born. We lived here for some time--my husband, Enos and his boys
and mine all worked together raising wheat and grain and stock which paid our
tithing. Another little girl, Belinda, was born on 23 February 1853. The
next spring Enos went to Iron County with Brigham Young and Company. When
they got back we all made a party for the company on 12 June 1854. One year
from that day I had a pair of twin girls named Adelia and Amelia.
The following Spring Enos began complaining of not being very well but kept on
working until he just had to give up. After a while he began to take something and
thought he was better. But he was soon worse again and lived until the first day of
June 1856 when he passed away just like going to sleep without a struggle or a
groan. His children were all with him but two, one of his boys was on a Mission to
England. The four boys and three girls and I were left to keep house. We still
lived in Springville, farmed and raised our wheat and stock and paid our tithing. I
raised the little girls except Adelia (one of the twins) who died before her father.
In 1857 I married John White Curtis at April Conference and on 16 Jan. 1858
Mariette was born. I had five boys and four girls by Albert Miner, four girls by
Enos Curtis and one girl by John White Curtis. Belinda Curtis died 17 November
1873. I had 58 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. All 14 children married
and had homes of their own. They all are in the Church and pay their tithing and
try to live their religion as best as they can. I am very proud of them.
Albert Miner was Joseph Smith's life guard in Kirtland, Ohio. My brother was also
but he left the church. In those days there was but a handful in comparison to what
there is now. I have passed through all the hardships and drivings and burnings
and mobbings and threatenings and have been with the Saints in all their
persecutions from Huron County to Kirtland and from Kirtland to Missouri and
then back to Illinois.
For want of time I have passed over some things of importance. I hope my
children will appreciate these few lines for I do feel highly honored to be
numbered with the Latter-Day Saints and I pray that our children will all prove
faithful that they may receive a great reward. I hope that this short history of my
life may be of use in conclusion I wish to say:"children, live your religion, be
preserving (persevering) in well doing, and may God forever bless you and protect
you from all harm, is the prayer of your mother who loves you all dearly."
Tamma Durfee Miner - 9
Obituary
"Jan 30, 1885, Tamma Durfee Miner passed this life at the age of 71 years,
10 months, 24 days; leaving 9 children, 75 grandchildren, 17 great
grandchildren, besides a vast circle of friends to mourn her loss. She died at
the home of her daughter Polly Miner Carter in Provo, who had cared for her
Tamma Durfee Miner - 10
Following is part of a series produced by the LDS Church Historical
Department entitled "Profiles From The Past" printed in the Church News
section of the Deseret News on Saturday, 6 September 1980.
A YOUNG WIFE'S TERROR
Tamma Durfee Miner's persecution complex was no trick of her imagination.
As a young wife and mother she depended heavily upon two men --husband
Albert Miner and father Edmund Durfee. Together the families witnessed the
Missouri mobbings.
"Enemies came along, 1 to 500, right to our homes and nobody around but
women and little children," she recalled. "No one can tell, no one can
describe the feelings, only those that experienced it."
They lived peacefully for a time in Illinois until mobs killed Joseph Smith
and then, a year later, turned against the Mormon people. In late 1845
said.
Albert ferried his family across the Mississippi River, but they did not catch
up with the main body of Saints before he died of illness. Tamma became a
widow at age 35 with seven children under age 14. By 1850 she managed to
reach Utah without husband or father, "without any home or anyone to hunt
enemies attacked Morley's Settlement. They burned down her father's house-
-"went to the oat stack and got two bundles, put a brand of fire in them,
throwed them on top of the house." Nightriders " shot off their guns and
plundered and burned houses, furniture, the clothing looms, yard cloth, and
carpenter tools." Tamma said they "rolled my brother Nephi up in a bed and
threw it outdoors when he was sick." A month later, in November, father
Edmund and others returned to harvest crops. One midnight they rushed to
put out a straw stack fire. Suddenly two whistles were heard and six shots
wee fired from the darkness. Edmund died from a rifle ball just above the
heart.
The next fall, after most other Mormons fled Illinois, Tamma witnessed the
final "Battle of Nauvoo." During a cannon fire exchange between what she
thought were 50 Mormon men, including her husband Albert, and 2000
Tamma Durfee Miner - 11
mobbers, three Mormons died and three were wounded. Her brother was
"shot between the cords of his heel. The Mormon women rolled the cannon
balls up in their aprons, took them to our boys and they put them in the
cannon and would shoot them back again still hot." It was a fearful time, she
said. We were very lonesome indeed." She later remarried, bringing the
family peace and prosperity at last.
-William G. Hartley
LDS Church News, September 6, 1980
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