OUR IDAHO ROOTS
OUR ROOTS IN SOUTHESTERN IDAHO
Grandfather Jonathan Hoopes was born in 1788 in Pennsylvania of Quaker parents. He married Rebecca Watts and they were the parents of 12 children. Although his family was prominent (his grandfather and father were in the state legislature and his family owned a considerable amount of land, having been in Pennsylvania since 1683), when Jonathan was 56, he moved his family to the Ohio frontier. There he heard the Restored Gospel and was baptized on January 16, 1834. Jonathan then migrated with the Saints in their various moves and responded to the Prophet Joseph's request (actually a commandment from the Lord) to write his Redress Petition. He owned property in Nauvoo and then crossed the plains to Utah. Jonathan was then called to settle Idaho, where he died at the age of 89 at Weston, Oneida County in 1868.
Grandfather Jonathan Hoopes, Jr. was born in 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio a year after his parents joined the LDS Church. After crossing the plains with his parents' family, Jonathan, at the age of 21, married Mary Ann Baldwin in Provo, Utah in 1856. Mary Ann's grandfather, Caleb Baldwin, was imprisoned with the Prophet Joseph in Liberty Jail and was with him in this prison-temple when he received the revelations now found in D & C Sections 121-123.
Jonathan and Mary Ann's first four children were born in Provo. Then called to pioneer Idaho, the little family moved north, settling in Montpelier, in Bear Lake County by 1863. In this part of Southeastern Idaho four more children were born, including Grandfather George Arthur in 1867 at Bennington, which is four miles west of Montpelier and 26 miles east of Soda Springs. Jonathan was a farmer and freighter and saw much of the surrounding country.
In a book, "The White Indian Boy" (by Wilson and Driggs, published by the World Book Co. in 1919) there is a story about Jonathan's participation in a posse to track down cattle rustlers after a fatal raid was made upon Montpelier.
While on a freighting trip to Montana, Jonathan won a substantial amount of money playing cards with two men. As he was leaving the two men followed to attack him to recover the money. A gunfight ensued in which the two men were killed. As there were no witnesses, Jonathan gathered up his family and moved south, where he changed his name to "Hill." Eventually, a U.S. Marshal found him and determined to his satisfaction that the killings were committed in self-defense. Jonathan then changed his name back to Hoopes.
A faithful Latter-day Saint, Jonathan married his plural wife, Arthusia Elmer in 1888 at the new temple in St. George, Utah. As a scout and bodyguard, Jonathan accompanied several LDS Apostles south into Mexico. He and Arthusia had a daughter born in 1889 in Juarez, and with both wives Jonathan was the father of 18 children.
Grandfather David Burlock Lamoreaux was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada and was converted with his entire family to the LDS Church by John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt. The Lamoreauxs, well-to-do merchants, moved with the Saints to Nauvoo. When they were about to be driven out, David and his brother Andrew were called to take with them the bell that was brought by British Saints to hang in the Nauvoo Temple. By the dark of night they retrieved the bell from a Protestant church tower where it had been taken after it was stolen from the temple, and hid it in the mud along the bank of the Mississippi until they were ready to travel west. This Nauvoo bell is now part of a monument on Temple Square in Salt Lake City and sounds on-the-hour to remind us that liberty does not come without sacrifice.
After reaching Salt Lake City, David married his second wife, Nancy Miriam Orrell, baptized in England by Charles W. Penrose. They moved to Farmington, Utah after their marriage, where they became the parents of four children. Their eldest, Archibald Orrell, is our Grandfather. By 1865, David and his family were living at Logan, Utah, where six more children were born to them. Many of David's children, including Archibald, moved further north to settle Idaho. David died in 1905 and Nancy in 1909 at Preston, Franklin County, Idaho, and are buried there.
Grandfather Alvin Crockett was born in 1831 on Vinal Haven Island, off the coast of Maine. His parents' family was converted to the LDS Church by Wilford Woodruff. They moved to Nauvoo and then as pioneers to Utah, where in 1852 Alvin married Mary Sophia Reed. Alvin and Mary first settled in Payson, Utah, where Grandmother Lydia Lovara was born in 1858, but by 1860 they were living in Logan, Cache County, Utah, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Alvin was the first mayor of Logan and served in that capacity for 15 years, after which he was the Cache County Sheriff for 21 years. Alvin married a plural wife, Annie Naomi Peel, whose family also lived in Logan.
Grandfather Archibald Orrell Lamoreaux, raised in Logan from the age of eight, married Lydia Lovera Crockett in 1878 in Salt Lake City at the old Endowment House. They began their family in Logan, where their first two children were born, but by 1886 they were living at Preston, Franklin County, Idaho, where three more children were born. By 1894, Archie and Lydia owned a small dry wheat farm near Dingle, a little Mormon colony a couple of miles south of Montpelier, in Bear Lake County, Idaho.
One December Archie went out to hunt deer, was caught by a snowstorm and almost froze to death. His life was saved by cuddling up with his big dog, but when he reached home his extremities were frozen. Dr. Hoover in Montpelier had to cut both of Archie's feet off at the ankles, as well as the little fingers on both hands, to save his life. It was under these circumstances, while living at Dingle, that our Grandmother, Nora Estelle, was born. Mother Lydia, who had suffered from poor health since an accident on a trip to Logan, did not recover well from her confinement. The cold weather along with the high altitude became too hard for Archie and Lydia to endure, so Archie took his little family, with newborn Nora Estelle, in their covered wagons to Arizona, where they settled on the Gila River. Archie remarked later that his farms in Arizona were not as productive as the one he sold for $2,000 in Idaho to finance the move to Arizona.
Grandfather Price William Nelson, was born in 1822 in Keokuk, Iowa and was baptized into the LDS Church when he was 14 years old. He came with the pioneers to Utah and in 1850 married Lydia Ann Lake at the old fort at Ogden, Utah. They moved frequently, first going to San Bernardino, California and living there until Brother Brigham called the California saints back to Utah with the threat of the Utah War. They had their fifth child in 1859 in Payson, Utah but their sixth child was born in 1861 at Franklin, Idaho, which is north of Logan. Their next two children were born in Logan, but by 1868 they were living on the "Muddy Mission" in southern Nevada. Price continued to pioneer the west and died in Oaxaca, Sonora, Mexico in 1902 at the age of 90.
Our direct ancestors and their extended families were early Mormon pioneer settlers in Southeastern Idaho, helping to found several colonies there. They endured many hardships and privations, but this served to strengthen them. Many of their progeny still reside in Idaho and have remained true to the faith their fathers have cherished.