THE FAMILIES OF MORONI CHUGG. IDA TAYLOR AND LOUISA LIGHTFOOT Karl Leila Moroni and Ida Chugg Zola John Melburne Duard Oretta Ezma (Peggy) Glenna Ortelle Vanita Moroni Chugg, son of John Chugg and Hannah Lee, was born Jan. 23, 1879 in a two-room adobe home which later became part of Moroni and Ida s larger home. Ida Taylor, daughter of William Andrew Taylor, Sr., and Philomela Lake, was born 3 Jan 1881in a log home with sod on its roof. Ida home was about one-half mile away from the Chugg s abode. Both Chugg and Taylor families were early pioneers in West Harrisville, which became Farr West in 1890. Because their parents were early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Moroni and Ida were brought up in a deeply religious atmosphere, having regular family prayer and attending church services faithfully. Both families made their living from farming. Some of the soil was good on their farms; other areas were unlevel and poor in quality. Moroni was given responsibility to care for their family Moroni Chugg Page 1 of 5 Louisa Lightfoot
cows and milking them. He drove the cows in wintertime (when irrigation water was not in the ditches) about one-half mile to get water at the creek on the William C. Rawson property. He also cut sagebrush to use for fuel in the family stove. Feeding the brush into the stove was difficult, causing Moroni s mother to develop felons on her fingers, which became so painful that they had to be lanced by a doctor. The family picked apples from several fruit trees and traded them for coal at the Peter Later coal yard near the railroad in Harrisville. Wages were low at that period of time, so Moroni often worked for twenty-five to fifty cents a day. Both Moroni and Ida attended school in the one-room red brick schoolhouse that had been built in 1880. Heated by a pot-bellied coal heater that was placed in the middle of the room, the school occasionally had problems when the stovepipe, which extended from the stove to the end of the room, would clog with soot. When this heating system started to exude too much smoke, it would require that the smokestack be taken apart and the soot cleaned out to solve the problem. The school was not separated into grades at that time After her father died in 1892, Ida s mother did the janitor work at the school, so Ida s help was enlisted to complete the duties. As she began to mature, Moroni found her quite attractive, so he frequently lingered at school to help her with the work. When Ida was fifteen, she obtained work in Ogden as a seamstress, living in the city during the week and coming home on weekends. When dances were scheduled in the area, Moroni would borrow his brother Joe s two-wheeled cart and his father s work horse, pick up Ida to go to the dance, then drive back to Farr West and put the cart and horse away. After about six years of courting, Moroni and Ida were married 23 Jan. 1901 in the Salt Lake Temple. They stayed at Ida s home the first night after marriage. Her sisters Mary and Eliza s boyfriends, Dave and John Lee, came to chivaree them. Opening the window, Dave and John threw water into the room on the bed. However, they were surprised when Mary and Eliza emerged from the room, soaked and irate. The newlyweds made arrangements to live in the home owned by Moroni s brother-in-law, Israel P. Fordsham. While they were cleaning the house before moving in, they stayed during the night at Ida s home. One morning when they started a fire before beginning their cleaning, their stove smoked furiously. Climbing up on the roof, he found that some prankster had stuffed some rags in the chimney. As Moroni was cleaning them out, Homer Randall came by and asked, Are you looking for a little red wagon from Santa Claus? Moroni never knew for sure that Homer was the culprit until fifty years later, when Clarence Randall revealed the secret. Their next home was a log cabin on the Joseph Allen Taylor farm. Moroni raised hay and sugar beets there for a few years. Then they bought his father s farm and home in Farr West. The challenge that faced him might have discouraged some men. The farm had many crooked ditches with lots of black willows growing on the banks. Hills and hollows made irrigation impossible. Ponds were filled with rushes and muskrats. Selling books door to door and working at the canning factory to support his wife and family, he also worked with a four-horse team and hand fresno scraper to make deep cuts and long hauls to begin leveling the farm. Too, he used dynamite to blast black willows and trees out of the irrigation ditches and straightened those ditches. He did not have enough irrigation water to water the whole farm until Pine View dam was built after some of his children were married. Moroni rented some land from George B. Taylor and raised the first celery that was grown in Farr West. The laborious process of tying up the celery stalks and pulling up dirt around them with a Moroni Chugg Page 2 of 5
hoe was necessary to bleach the celery to make it attractive for sale. Then the crop required digging, washing and crating for sale. He also raised the first lettuce for market in Farr West. His other crops included peas, sugar beets, onions, grain and hay. In 1912 Moroni filed on 320 acres of land fifteen miles northwest of the old Promontory railroad station to try his hand at dry farming. He cleared, plowed and fenced about half of the land, but the project was doomed to failure. He had to haul water for his horses four and one-half miles uphill, and he had to haul what grain he raised a long way to sell it. He experienced dry years; rabbits ate the grain; rabies developed among the coyotes for a couple of years, so they had to watch for them and for rattlesnakes. Living in a tent, he had to open his grub box carefully to be sure the rattlesnakes had not found their way inside. When Moroni took his wife and seven children in two camp wagons out to the dry farm in 1914 to stay for a couple of weeks, his family was not overjoyed with the experience. Although Ida was always kind and supportive of Moroni s efforts, the dry farming venture was ill-fated from the beginning Moroni and Ida became parents of twelve children. Both parents exerted every effort to help their children grow up to be fine, honorable individuals. They were full tithe payers always; they gave devoted service to the Church. Moroni served nineteen years as bishop, and during those years he was responsible for building the new brick chapel that was dedicated in 1926 by President Heber J. Grant. During the building process, Moroni spent untold hours and about one hundred dollars of his own money on various details of the building project. He was authorized to keep an account book by the ward building committee, but the book became lost, so he received no earthly credit for his efforts. Then as dedication day approached, he could not afford a new suit, so his expert seamstress-wife skillfully mended the knees of his suit for the dedication. This family had its share of heartache. Their first child died as an infant. They lost two girls as young children. Ida herself died at age 50 on 28 April 1931 (just two weeks after her mother) as a result of injuries from a fall on her neighbors icy steps just two months before her death. Sons Karl, Melburne and Duard preceded their father in death (Melburne was killed by lightning). Moroni and Ida witnessed significant improvements in rural life during their early days. Rural Free Delivery of mail came in September 1900, replacing pickup of mail at the old Prairie House. After considerable citizen effort the independent telephone service began in 15 homes in 4 Mar 1905. In 1909 the old dummy railroad made three runs daily between Ogden and Plain City. After intense effort by townspeople, electrical service came 29 May 1916. When the Farr West Federal Farm Loan Association was organized in 1917, Moroni was elected as secretary and treasurer. Serving until 1929, he handled about $500,000 in farm loans. Remarkably, no foreclosures occurred in that length of time. He also served as Deputy State Inspector in the State Agricultural Department from 1929 to 1933. Besides serving as janitor of the Farr West School and church, he similarly served for eleven years in the City & County Building and at the Elks Lodge for two years. Moroni never enjoyed full health for many years; however, on Christmas Morning in 1923 while leading his Guernsey bull back from giving him a drink, Moroni was suddenly bunted and gored by the animal. The bull knocked Moroni through the fence against the chicken coop and kept bunting him on the hip. Moroni threw the rope over the corner stake of the hayrack, which held the bull s head away from him; however, the bull turned around and tramped Moroni for almost a halfhour until help arrived. Recovery required a long time following the incident. Years later in Moroni Chugg Page 3 of 5
December 1951 the injury began paining him so intensely that he had to have his hip replaced with a metal joint. This operation relieved him of much of the pain; however, he was subsequently only able to do light work around the garden. When Ida passed away in 1931, Moroni was left with six unmarried children. About three years later he married Louisa Lightfoot Poorte on 22 Aug. 1934, a widow with three children, Florence, Lewis and Ray. A year later he sold his home and farm to his son John, then moved to Ogden to live in Louie s home at 840 Canyon Road. There one of his favorite activities was caring for his rose garden. Moroni s wife Louie deserves a special tribute for her loving care and service. She never complained when his health made it necessary for her to drive him to the church and help him into the building so he could attend priesthood meetings. She continued to be a devoted helpmate, caring for his needs as long as he lived. Moroni exerted a righteous influence to encourage family gatherings and family reunions. He fostered family history research and took an active part in providing temple ordinances to deceased progenitors. Similarly, he studied the Gospel enough to be considered an authority on points of doctrine. This he continued after moving into Ogden, so he could teach effectively whether serving as a missionary, priesthood or Sunday School teacher. He actively served as a home teacher up to age 82, just two months before he died of a heart attack on 28 Mar. 1961 at his home. His widow, Louie, survived for another seven years. She died 31 Oct 1968 in Ogden. Both she and her husband were buried in the Ogden City Cemetery. SOURCE: Biographies of Moroni Chugg and Ida Taylor Chugg, written by daughter Zola C. Davis (using a condensed version of Moroni s autobiography) were combined by Brian L. Taylor in May 2006. THE CHILDREN OF MORONI CHUGG AND IDA TAYLOR: 1. Moroni Orin Chugg was born 16 Nov 1901 in Farr West, 2. Karla Willis Chugg was born 11 Jun 1903 in Farr West, He married 19 Mar 1924 in the Salt Lake Temple, Mary Ellen Barker. She was born 20 Mar 1903 in Pleasant View, 3. Leila Ida Chugg was born 17 Dec 1904 in Farr West, She married 25 Apr 1923 in the Salt Lake Temple, Herbert Spencer Heslop. He was born 20 May 1900 in West Weber, 4. Zola Philomela Chugg was born 26 Feb 1907 in Farr West, She married 6 Jun 1928 in the Salt Lake Temple, James Albert Davis. He was born 11 Jul 1900 in Liberty, 5. John Andrew Chugg was born 15 Jun 1908 in Ogden, He married 19 Jun 1931in the Logan Temple, Ella Elizabeth Stokes. She was born 11 Mar 1912 in Bothwell, Box Elder, Utah. 6. Melburne David Chugg was born 20 Feb 1910 in Farr West, He married 7 Sep 1932 in the Salt Lake Temple, Neoma Hermina Teuscher. She was born 6 Apr 1914 in Ogden, Moroni Chugg Page 4 of 5
7. Oretta Hannah Chugg was born 13 Oct 1912 in Farr West, She married 6 Sep 1933 in the Salt Lake Temple, Harold D. Daniels Brown. He was born 4 Nov 1908 in Farr West, 8. Duard Bailey Chugg was born 28 May 1914 in Farr West, He married 23 Jul 1934 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah, Beatrice Selma Smith. She was born 7 Oct 1916 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. 9. Ortelle Bernice Chugg was born 10 Jul 1917 in Farr West, 10. Glenna Eliza Chugg was born 22 Sep 1918 in Farr West, 11. Vanita Mary Chugg was born 20 Dec 1919 in Farr West, She married (1) 23 Sep 1937 (div) Lyle Henry King. He was born 31 Aug 1919 in Ogden, Vanita married (2) 11 Jun 19948 in Pocatello, Bannock, Idaho, Virgil Milton Coombs. He was born 11 Jun 1920 in Fielding, Box Elder, Utah. 12. Ezma Irene Chugg was born 9 Nov 1923 in Farr West, She married 12 Aug 1943 in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, LeRoy Robert Sommer, Sr. He was born 29 Oct 1920 in Sparks, Washoe, Nevada. Sources: Family Records provided by Zola P. Chugg Davis (while living) to Brian L. Taylor. Farr West Ward Records, microfilm #025946 and Internet IGI records from Ogden Regional Family History Center at 539 24 th St., Ogden, Utah 84401. Moroni Chugg Page 5 of 5