Dorinda Melissa Moody - My GGG Grandmother

Pine Valley Utah.  I had never heard of Pine Valley until I read my great great great grandmother, Dorinda Melissa Moody Salmon Goheen Slade's history.  She is related to me through Than Cooper's father.  She is his grandmother's mother. See Cooper Family line here. Or see Cooper Family blog entry.

When I was growing up and I asked my mom about Grandpa (Than) Cooper's family, she told me she didn't know anything.  Later I learned that this branch of the family had a very interesting story.

Dorinda was born to John Wyatt Moody and Mary "Polly" Baldwin on January 15, 1808 in Iredell, North Carolina.  As the oldest of six children it was her responsibility to care for her younger siblings while her mother helped in the fields. Dorinda spent much of her time spinning, weaving and doing handwork at which she became very proficient.

When Dorinda was 17 she met and married William Gidson Salmon. They had 3 children. Three years after they were married, her daughter Margaret died of membranous croup William was away on business quite a lot of the time and on one of his trips, he died from drinking poisoned whiskey. He was buried before word of his death got back to Dorinda.  As a widow with 2 small children, she found work as a domestic helper then began supporting her family by selling her handwork. Soon she moved to Texas to be near her parents.  Her father died shortly after. 

In Texas, Dorinda met and married Michael Roup Goheen in 1837.  They lived on a cotton plantation and owned slaves and servants.  They also owned dairy cows and had a large herd of Texas Longhorns. She and Michael had six children.

Dorinda taught the children spelling, arithmetic, geography and history in their home and sent them to live with families in town when they were 9 or 10 so that they could attend school.

As was the case years ago, many families lost family members to illness and death. Dorinda's first loss was her daughter Margaret. The next was her third daughter (Margina) who died at age 13.  A year later her oldest daughter, Philina along with her newborn twins died.  Her first three children from Gidson Salmon were now gone.

In 1850 LDS missionaries taught Dorinda and Michael about their religion.   The missionaries were going to be gone for a few weeks, so they decided to be baptized after Michael returned from selling their cattle at Spring Creek.  While he was there, he died of a congestive spell and was buried several days before word of his death got back to Dorinda.  Six weeks after his death, she was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Her mother and brother also were baptized a short time later.   Two years later they decided to leave Texas and "gather to Zion" with others of their faith.  Dorinda freed her slaves and sold her property, but she decided to take her herd of Texas Longhorn cattle and other livestock with her.  Dorinda married a widower, William Slade who had several children of his own, to help each other travel to Utah.  Dorinda and her daughter and son-in-law joined a wagon train to Utah.  Dorinda was then forty-five years old, with a family of eleven children.

This group of pioneers drove their animals from Texas to Utah.  It was a long and difficult journey. They had not traveled very far before Dorinda's only son, age 3, died of illness and was buried on the border of Texas and Oklahoma.  They spent three years in the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma as part of this journey.  They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 17, 1856 and settled in Ft. Herriman near her daughter Eliza.

A year later they were called to settle the Cotton Mission in southern Utah. Her daughter Eliza and husband were also part of the group that was called.  Before they left, she and William were remarried and sealed in the Endowment House in Salt Lake.  One history I read said that as they were traveling to the St. George area, she was looking forward to seeing her daughter Christena (Seguine) Cooper who she had not seen in 8 years.

They settled in Washington, Utah for a time where they grew cotton and raised silk worms.  They were then called to moved to Pine Valley so that William could work in the sawmills there.  At one time, there were 4 sawmills in Pine Valley.  This was Dorinda's last move. They built a log cabin up near the mountains.  She planted apple trees out back

Dorinda's Home in Pine Valley

and had beautiful roses growing in front of the house.  Her husband had taken an active part in community affairs.  He was the Justice of the Peace in Washington and then Pine Valley.  He made his living growing apples and hauling lumber to Panaca, Nevada.  It was on one of these trips to Panaca that Mr. Slade died.  He was buried there in 1872.  It is strange that all three of Dorinda's husbands died while they were away from home and were buried before she ever got word. She was left a widow at the age of 64. She spent her time making quilts and bed spreads, netting window curtains, sewing and making her dresses all by hand. She served as Relief Society President for 14 years in Pine Valley. 

Dorinda was an incredible quilter.  All of her work was done by hand.  A signature of her 
work was that she did not bury her knots in the batting, but left them exposed on the back.  One of her quilts took first prize at the Chicago World Fair and she received a sum of $50 for her award. This was a lot of money in those days. Three of her most beautiful quilts came from the last years of her life:  the "World's Fair", "Window Pane," and "Hanson Sunburst" quilts.  

Dorinda made the "Sunburst Quilt" at the age of 84

 

This quilt, "Sunrise in the Pines," was created and made for her brother as a wedding gift.  It contains more than 3,400 pieces and was hand-dyed and hand-pieced.  It is on display at the Daughters of Utah Pioneer Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Book about Dorinda Slade

In the winter of 1894-95, she walked out to feed her chickens in the barn across the road and broke her left arm and hip.  She never recovered from that injury.  She was bedridden for a year and died at the age of 86 (nearly 87) on November 21, 1895, at the home of her daughter, Eliza Lloyd.  She was buried in the Pine Valley Cemetery.


Note:  Grandpa Cooper was born in 1892, 3 years before his GG Grandmother died.  His father James Michael Cooper was born in 1861 and died in 1905, ten years after Dorinda.  

There is a beautiful little church in Pine Valley that is one of the longest continuously used chapels in the LDS church and has been used since 1868.  The church was designed by Ebenezwer Bryce who discovered Bryce Canyon.  The church is built like an upside down ship.

Wood for the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ pipes were taken from large yellow pine trees from Pine Valley. They were cut into 30 foot lengths and hauled by wagon to Salt Lake where they were fashioned into organ pipes.

Pine Valley is 35 miles north of St. George.