1 Oct 1877 – 15 Jun 1954
Grandson of Philip Cardon and Martha Marie Tourn
Son of Jean Paul Cardon and Magdalene Beus
George David Cardon was the fourth child of John Paul Cardon and Magdalene Beus. He was
born in Logan on October 1, 1877, in the large adobe house his father had built for the family
about 1870 ·· incidentally, the first adobe house built in Cache Valley. This was the year Paul
Cardon and Company worked on the construction of the Temple Mill (started on May 11, 1877,
just six days before the site of the temple was dedicated) — which was to furnish the lumber for the
building of the Logan Temple.
A little over two years later, when George was only two and one-half years old, Paul opened the Cache Valley House to the public. He had been delegated by Brigham Young to build this, the first hotel in the valley, for the convenience of travelers and of those who were to work on temple construction. Paul, with the help of his two wives and many children, operated this establishment for the next eight years. It was in this environment, therefore, that George spent his childhood. mingling with the new settlers, travellers, church officials, trappers, temple builders, Washakie Indians — the whole array of the frontier procession. As he grew older be helped with chores at home and at the hotel, went to school, played kick-the-can, went fishing, attended Sunday School, and helped his father quarry stone at Temple Cave.
After several years, the U. S. deputy marshals were sent to Logan in an attempt to curtail polygamy and punish its practitioners. Paul Cardon. was asked to become an ex-officio agent and report the plans of the deputies, but after a time be came under suspicion, himself, so Magdalene and her family were packed off to the settlement of Richmond, a few miles north, while be, with four of his children, went to Spokane, Washington, where he obtained a small contract to do work on the Northern Pacific Railroad, then under construction.
During the two-year period while Paul Cardon was in the Northwest, George ·· now ten or eleven (and the “man” of the family, since his elder brother, Hyrum, age 15, had accompanied his father) — helped as best he could in the efforts of the “second” family to survive. His mother made the living by sewing and doing whatever else she could find in an effort to make ends meet. Aunt Mary Merrill. the eldest daughter of her husband, was married and also lived in Richmond, and she helped the family by providing milk, in exchange for sewing, and whatever else she could spare to help out. The two youngest girls, Violet and Katie, were born during the period the family lived in Richmond.
When John Paul returned in 1890 he decided to sell the Cache Valley House and buy a farm for his two large families — rapidly reaching its ultimate total of twenty children. He purchased three quarter-sections of railroad land in Benson Ward at $1.25 an acre, built a large brick house and barn, and eventually moved both families in.
George didn’t like farming, though he did his share along with all the others, who were kept at work, summer and winter, except during school hours. He attended school every chance be got, and finally, on September 2, 1899. be obtained his teacher’s certificate at Brigham Young College in Logan. which qualified him to teach grammar school He was now almost 22 years old.
He taught school for a period of about five years: at Paradise, Wellsville. Benson Ward. and College Ward (all in Cache Valley) and one year at Lyman. near Fort Bridger.
During this period he met and courted Elizabeth Ballantyne, whose family was engaged in dry farming at Cache Junction. not far from Benson Ward. They were married on September 10, 1902.
George moved his bride into a house next to the old Eccles residence in Logan. He taught school until I 905, when he entered the employ of the Cardon Realty Company, established by his two brothers, Joseph and Louis.
George and Elizabeth lost their first two children, both sons. After Ardell was born, they
moved to a frame house in the Logan Seventh Ward, and later to a large brick house, which was
remodeled from an old school structure, at 496 East First South street, which was set on several
acres of ground. In the meantime, Paul Cardon had sold his Benson Ward farm and moved into the property adjoining.
George and Lizzie lived here from about 1912 to 1923, when, because of business losses and bankruptcy of the business, George moved
the family to Ogden, and established an abstract
business there.
During the years in Logan, George Cardon was active in church and community affairs. He helped start some of the first Community Chest and P. T. A. groups and was president of both at various times. He helped promote many recreational and church activities and was on the committee that located the sites of the MIA camps in Logan Canyon. He was active in Boy Scouts and Sunday School classes, giving both time and money to both.
As be started anew in Ogden. his family numbered seven children — Ardell, Carlos, Winona, Beth, Marie, Dean, and Dorothy, the latter only four months old. The early years in the new town were very difficult, and he no longer found the time or energy for the community activities he had enjoyed in Logan.
Katie, his youngest sister, moved with him to Ogden to assist in the business, as she had done in Logan. She and their mother, Magdalene, lived in a house on Kershaw Street, while George moved his family into a two-bedroom bungalow — a big change from the large house in Logan.
The business increased very slowly, and the children, at various periods, helped with the typing and other work in the office. A very earnest effort was made to keep the children in school and give them some college training. Winona and Beth were the only two who completed a four-year college course, graduating from the Utah State Agricultural College in Logan. The other five had varying amounts of college work. Ardell and Dorothy both graduated from Weber Junior College.
In the forties. George and his youngest son, Dean, who was in the business with him, purchased a commercial lot and built a small office building which housed the abstract firm and two other companies, and for the first time, his financial lot was easier. The family had finally settled in a spacious, well-built home at 2547 Van Buren Ave., in 1936.
George’s family had more than its share of illnesses and hospital bills, but perhaps the most difficult trial of all was the unexpected death of the eldest son, Carlos, on 14 April 1942. George Cardon never really recovered from the shock of this bereavement The death of his wife, Elizabeth, followed ten years later, in June. 1952.
On May 19, 1954, after only a few weeks acquaintance, he married his second cousin, Ethel Guild Haslinger. Four weeks and four days later, he was killed in an accidental fall from a ladder. He was buried next to his wife and son at the Altorest Memorial Park in Ogden.
–Anonymous