Autobiographical History
2nd great-granddaughter of Philip Cardon and Martha Marie Tourn
Great-granddaughter of Louis Philip Cardon and Susette Stalé
Granddaughter of Joseph Samuel Cardon and Selenia Mesenile Walker
Daughter of Joseph Elmer Cardon and Lucinda Hurst
I, Ella Cardon was born on September 14, 1903 in Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico. My parents were Lucinda Hurst Cardon and Joseph Elmer Cardon. I was their second child to the oldest and the oldest daughter and was born in a brick house that my uncle Louis Paul Cardon built. My Mother’s family had moved to Mexico from Fairview, Utah, when my mother was nine years old. I was just turning nine when we left Mexico on July 7, 1912. I call it a “generation of Mexico.”
I was blessed November 1, 1903 at Dublan by Miles P. Romney. I was baptized on September 14, 1913 by my father, in a lake six miles east of Dublan and confirmed October 1, 1911 in Dublan by Albert E. Thurber. I well remember how frightened I was as I went to the stand to be confirmed. When Brother Thurber said, “I say unto you receive the Holy Ghost,” I felt a strong tingling go all the way through my body. Nowadays it isn’t said quiet the same. I always notice that all the children look very happy as they take their seats after being confirmed. I know just how they feel.
My first years of school were rather hectic. We lived at a ranch six miles from town and my brother, Joseph Phillip, and I rode on horseback or in a small one-horse cart to school. Part of one winter I stayed in Dublan with my Aunt Lois Hurst McClellan. I didn’t start school til I was seven because of an illness of my mother. We enjoyed living at the “Pasture” as the ranch was called. The stars were always very bright and clear The place was called the “Pasture: because my father had charge of cattle belonging to the people of Dublan. Other men would come at set times for roundups which made a lot of excitement as they branded the cattle. We lived in a frame house my father built I remember the ceilings were made of strips of unbleached muslin, factory sewn together. One day my mother went into the bedroom to see about the baby, my sister, Mildred, and found the ceiling on fire. It had just started to go through the roof. My brother, Joseph went up on the roof and my mother managed to hand him buckets of water. We were able to put the fire out. It had started from the wood heater we used.
We rode into Dublan on Sundays to church, etc., on a hay wagon covered with straw, with a quilt over it. We children were usually asleep by the time we arrived home in the evening. I remember one night a storm was approaching and my father whipped up the horses to get home before the storm hit. He told my mother to hurry the children in while he took care of the team. Just as my mother got to the steps leading to the door, a bright flash of lightening revealed a huge rattle snake curled in the doorway. She called to my father who thought she might be mistaken, but he too saw the snake by another flash of lightening. I have often wondered how he managed to kill the rattler with no more light than that from the sky.
In those days we milked several cows, separated the milk and made butter and cheese. Our warm drinks were made from roasted barley, boiled for a time and mixed with milk and sugar. Sometimes we had “crust coffee” made by dark brown crusts of bread heated in milk and strained into our cups. Milk and sugar were added. This tasted like our “Postum” of today.
During the year 1910 while we were at the ranch, the most famous of all comets could be seen plainly from our yard. It is Halley’s Comet, named for an English astronomer, Edmund Halley. It circles the sun every 76 years and should be back on schedule in 1986. I hope some of our grandchildren and great grandchildren will be living where it can be seen.
All this came to an end when the Mexican Revolution started. We left our home to live in town for a time. Soon the rebels took everything they wanted from our home, then burned it to the ground. We were told to prepare to leave for El Paso, Texas at a moment’s warning, which came during the night of July 7, 1912. I remember walking to the railroad a short distance from where we were staying. It was a bright moonlit night. By morning we were piled into baggage cars on top of rolls of bedding. With my grandfather Phillip Harrison Hurst in charge of the women and children. We were on our way to El Paso. Many of the people of Juarez and Dublan were on the train. The men folk, my father included, stayed to try to protect their property and stock. Most of the people leaving took a few clothes and a blanket or two, thinking they would be back home in a short time. Most of us never saw our homes again. My father was able to, later on, go back and get some teams and wagons. Many tears were shed at leaving beautiful gardens, orchards, barnyard animals, as well as lovely homes. Most of the men turned all animals loose as they left.
We arrived in El Paso late the next day. About a thousand people had been crowded on the train, some in open cattle cars. The weather was very hot, so many hardships were endured. About 4,500 refugees were crowded into El Paso. Six hundred people were settled into a lumber yard for a time. My grandfather was among them. He had two large families. Grandfather was made Presiding Elder. He helped to find houses for all he could. We were provided rations from the U.S. Army This was the first time many of us had tasted canned milk, prepared cereals, and cans of sardines.
We were also told to be vaccinated for smallpox. Our family had already had the vaccination before leaving, but many had not, so there were a lot of sore arms, and some quite ill.
When my father arrived, arrangements were made for us to go to Arizona. There was work, clearing land at a railroad station called Jayne’s Station near Tucson. We all lived in tents till small lumber houses were built, just two bedrooms, with a “boarded-up tent” for a kitchen and eating area. We were able to move into these houses before my mother gave birth to her sixth child, a beautiful little girl we called Gladys. My mother’s trials had been harder for her because of her expected child. A midwife delivered the baby. Her name was Sister Nardy. We children all had chicken pox and measles that winter. My brothers, Joseph and Ernest, and I went to school at Jayne’s Station that winter also. Water supply failed so we moved on the next year to Binghampton, a little town also near Tucson, where a number of families from Mexico had settled. There we lived for our growing up years, which is another story.
When we left El Paso my grandfather Hurst was still Presiding Elder and my grandmother was President of the Relief Society. I never saw them but once after leaving there. My father’s parents had been dead for some time before the exodus, so we grew up without grandparents. It’s a great loss for anyone.
Binghampton was a good place to grow up. We made our own amusements such as “shows” we put on ourselves, hikes to the hills nearby to gather wild flowers. We had candy pulls, etc. There were good show houses in Tucson. Of course they were silent and no color as today.
After 8th grade we all went to Tucson to high school. After several years, there were buses to ride. I remember part of one winter riding from school holding on to the running board of a truck. Another part of a winter I was privileged to ride in the car of our neighbor, Gordon Kimball, a brother of President Kimball. President Kimball at that time was going to Tucson University. They all moved into Tucson after that, and President Kimball soon went back to Thatcher.
My mother had three additions to her family while living in Binghampton. Eugene Hurst, Udell Wilson and Lloyd Woodruf. After my parents moved to Virden, New Mexico, Lois, number ten, was born January 25, 1926.
I well remember my first teaching experiences in Sunday School and Primary. The year I turned 12 was the year the Church lowered the Mutual age from 14 to 12, so I thought it was something to be a Beehive girl two years early. I was Sunday School organist for several years.
In the spring of 1922 there was a gathering of all the nearby Mutuals for sport’s contests, programs, etc. These were always enjoyable times. At this particular one, I met a returned missionary from St. David by the name of Howard Arthur Goodman. We saw one another several times that summer. Then after a whirlwind courtship, we were married on September 16, 1922, by the Presiding Elder of the Branch of Tucson. We were a part of the California Mission at that time. In January of 1923, Grandpa Goodman accompanied Uncle Ed, Aunt Rosa, Howard and I to the St. George Temple to receive our sealings. Ed and Rosa had been married in July of that summer. That was quite a trip, part of the time in six inches of fine dirt. Deep mud filled chuck holes on the way back. Shortly before we reached St. George we slid off the road part way down a canyon. It took several hours to get a good Indian with his team to pull us up again. We arrived in St. George on time to go straight to the temple. The session started at nine a.m. and was through at five p.m. We were happy to get a good meal and bed in St. George that night. We were so glad we had been able to go to the temple.
Our first son, Ervin Howard was born at St. David on June 13, 1923. We were living in Mesa when our second son, Joseph Clyde, was born June 10, 1925. We were at Virden to be with my folks at the time of his birth, so that is why the records show him being born at Virden. We did the same thing a little over two years later when our third son, Thomas Arthur was born. It was so nice to go to Virden in the summer and get out of the heat of Mesa. At that time, none of us had even an electrical fan. Our cooling of foods was an icebox. Cooking was done on coal-oil stoves mostly, or wood burning ranges.
Our first little girl, Geneva, was born on November 16, 1929. By then my parents had moved to Kirtland, New Mexico. We were so happy to have a girl.
We had lived near the new Arizona temple from start to finish. Daddy had worked there hauling supplies. We were at the dedication on October 23, 24, 25, 26 of 1927. We had the privilege of going to the Arizona Temple many times. We were there in October, 1977, to the 50th anniversary commemoration of the dedication. So we feel this is our temple.
When the big depression of the 1930’s hit the country, work was hard to find, so we moved to New Mexico, first to Kirtland then to Farmington. Here our family grew up. The boys served in the armed forces and went on missions. Our second daughter, Erma Ruth was born, February 5, 1935, and our family was made complete when another girl, Alice Lynn was born November 27, 1945. Her oldest brother, Ervin, got home from the army on time to carry his little sister out of the hospital. He was 23 years old.
The following years were very busy for us, with a good sized family to care for and holding many positions in the Church. For four years, Howard served as Bishop of Farmington 1st Ward, being the first bishop after the ward was divided. He was released as bishop and became first counselor in the Stake Presidency to President Hilton. We went to all of the general conferences in Salt Lake during that time and to all of the regional welfare meetings. One winter we were privileged to have Apostle Adam S. Bennion and Brother Stover stay at our home. Several general authorities stayed with us on different occasions.
I was class leader of the gospel doctrine class for seven years after moving to Farmington. One year, I was counselor in the MIA. I taught in Primary and Senior Sunday School. For two years I was first counselor to Georganna Lillywhite in the Relief Society. When the ward was divided, I became literature leader of the Stake Relief Society for three years. Then I was first counselor in the Ward Relief Society with Sister Helen Foutz. Later I was counselor to Bessie McGee and Ora Christensen as they were presidents. A number of years I was stake work director, then second counselor to Helen Stock. Our stake covered many miles, so we traveled a lot. Sister Stock was home economics teacher in the high school and county economics leader, so we in the stake board learned a lot from her. Minnie Stock was her other counselor. She had many homemaking skills and was a wonderful person to work with. After we were released from that, I was teacher to the ward adult class in the M.I.A. and was serving in that position when we moved to Mesa in the spring of 1966.
After coming to Mesa, I have been a visiting teacher continuously, making about 40 years as a visiting teacher. I have taught classes for homemaking days, sewing, quilting, and nutrition. With my husband, I filled a temple mission of four years at the visitor’s center. We go to the temple as often as we can.
We are glad we were here to be with Grandma Cardon (my mother) the last seven years of her life. She was a wonderful person to be around. I did all her personal sewing but she still made many quilts almost to her last breath. She passed away on August 3, 1973 after a very short illness.
The highlight of 1977 for us came at Thanksgiving time when we had a reunion of our own family. All our children were here except Erma. She was far away and getting ready to move. Many of our grandchildren and six of our great grandchildren were here. We had a wonderful time. Plans for another reunion next year was made. (editor’s note: one of the highlights were delicious chicken tamales that she and Howard had perfected, I’m still craving them.)
We are thankful for all our family and for the 55 years we have had together. We send love to all of you.
December 9, 1977
Ella passed away November 24, 1983 from the effect of an airplane that crashed into their home in April, 1978. Howard, her husband was so severely burned he lived only hours passing away April 14, 1978. Ella survived her burns but was infected with Hepatitis from a blood transfusion which finally took her life Thanksgiving Day, 1983. They were buried close to Ella’s parents in the Mesa Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona (near the corner of 5th and A).