2 Oct 1801 – 25 Aug 1889
Son of Jean Cardon and Anne Jouve
Pioneer Father – Utah 1854
Written by his Granddaughters,
Ella Vida Cardon Adams and Blondel Cardon Porter Smith
1960
Retyped and edited 2003 for web publication
“These lines have been written for us to remind us of
the rocks from which we have been cut and the quarry
from which we have been drawn”
Philippe Cardon, Latter-day Saint immigrant to Utah in 1854, was born October 2, 1801 in Prarustin, Piedmont , Italy the son of Jean Cardon and Anne Jouve. He was the fourth Philippe born to his parents, the first three having died in infancy.
The Cardons were members of the Vaudois faith, the oldest known record placing them in Cuneo, Italy . It was in their Vaudois church of Prarustin that Philippe was christened. Sponsors at his baptism were Barthelemy Malan and Anne Fenanil. In the same church, sponsors for baptism of his brothers and sisters were three Jahiers – Joan, Barthelemy and Michel, probably his great-uncles since his father’s mother was Jeanne Jahier. Through his paternal great grandmother, Philippe was related to two renowned Vaudois historians, George Monsoon and Auguste Jahier. Pastor Jahier termed his family a “Family of Pastors and Captains” since, as leaders of their people through the centuries, they had been forced to defend both their religion and their homes from incursions which would have destroyed both.
From infancy, Philippe was taught gospel truths not only through daily Bible readings, but also in the lives of these gentle people with whom he was surrounded. Long training in adversity had taught them to value personal integrity and freedom of worship above all else, even live itself. The ancient Bible from which Philippe received his first lessons was an example of that. In 1555 a vendor named Hector Bartholomew had come into the Piedmont Valleys selling Bibles. Among the Vaudois he found ready sale for the book, in the villages and on the lonely mountain tops among the shepherds. But he also encountered bitter Catholic enemies among those who believed that possession of a Bible would keep people from going to Mass. Bartholomew replied that Mass then was an idolatry. He was thrown into a dungeon in Pignerol and later burned at the stake as were thousands of Vaudois who defended their faith.
However, his Bibles had become a part of the lives of the people and were treasured and shielded from desecration. The Catholics were unable to trace all copies in their attempt to destroy them. The Cardon Bible, nearly three centuries old, was brought over Alpine passes, across the Atlantic Ocean, carted through wind and rain and dust thousands of miles into the land of Zion . With it came an Italian version of the book of Mormon that had been prepared for these people under the direction of Lorenzo Snow. For further information we must now return to Italy for records of the Cardon family and their introduction to the gospel.
Philippe Cardon married in Rora, Piedmont , February 1, 1821, Marthe Marie Tourn, daughter of Barthelemy Tourn and Marthe Malan. They were the parents of nine children: Ann or Annette, Jean, Barthelemy, Philippe, Marie, or Madelaine, Louise, Paul and Thomas Barthelemy. Later Philippe Cardon also married Jeanne Marie Gaudin, widow of Jean Pierre Stalle, by whom she had borne children and who had died on the plains on the way to Utah . She had no children by Philippe.
The Cardon family remained members of the Vaudois faith of their ancestors until 1851 when they received the divine message brought by missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This was a marvelous hour. Through the centuries, even before the time of Martin Luther, the ancestors of these people had treasured what they believed to be the true message of Christ as opposed to practices of the Catholic Church. To have it revealed to them that the Lord was again sending prophets among them was both glorious and natural. Philippe was a single-hearted man asking only that he and his family be allowed to serve the Lord unmolested in their faith. Yet, after centuries of defending their faith from outside influences, they recognized the truth that God was revealing His plans through scriptures of the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. And their hearts and homes were opened to the missionaries.
Several stories are told concerning incidents that occurred at the time the Cardons accepted the gospel, each branch of the family treasuring its own version. The story in our immediate family is that one night Philippe had a dream in which he saw two messengers bringing a book to him. The next day while he was building a chimney for a neighbor, he felt impelled to quit his work and return home in the middle of the morning. His surprised wife asked, “Why are you home at this hour?” And he replied, “I can see two strangers coming up the mountains bringing us a message concerning the gospel. I must dress in my best clothes and go down to welcome them.”
Madelaine, Philippe’s daughter, says that she, too, had a dream before the coming of the elders and told her father of the elders’ message. Lorenzo Snow recounts the story of how a woman came to him saying that she told him she knew how he would look even before she saw him.
So unusual was the word the missionaries carried that the men stayed up all night learning of the newly revealed truths. These messengers had come two and two, just as their own Vaudois missionaries had gone forth through the centuries to keep alive in other nations the word of the Lord. Lorenzo Snow ways that save for their inspired revelations, they were taught as much by these people as they in turn taught. The four L.D.S. missionaries represented four nations: England , Scotland , Italy , and the United States .
The small Italian home to which the elders came was a friendly looking rock structure built of native materials even to the roof that was made of layers of slate. Since Philippe was a mason by trade, his house was probably better than average. One hundred years later the base still stood in place, but the area otherwise bore a look of desolation. The Italian missionaries’ reports, as did those of missionaries in other parts of Europe , indicate a dearth of comforts which they had hoped to find in the older civilizations. There was little fuel to be spared for heat in winter, the food was scanty with no meat to share with anyone, travel was difficult over trails so narrow at times as to endanger the lives of travelers, and added to these discomforts was the strong and influential prejudice of the Catholic Church. Mormon missionaries, fresh from twenty years of persecution which broke the faith of those who were weak, seemed not to realize that these villages were the remnants of hundreds of years of persecution when the ancestors of these people because of their faith had been driven from their valleys and from country to country in search of refuge. In Utah in 1851, many homes were log cabins or dugouts because the saints had been driven from their homes, so understanding should have been mutual.
Cardons, today, who have visited the land of their ancestors express surprise that any people could eek out a living from the limited areas to which the Vaudois were confined high up in the Alps . Every blade of grass and every stone is useful – the stones to hold back the soil and the moisture, and the grass to feed the few goats and cows which feed in the area. At the sides of the trails are miniature farms and vineyards. The mountainsides still contain no roads, not even pathways wide enough for donkeys to travel to the ancient home of the Cardons. One must go by foot on narrow winding paths which seem to lead on and on into the mists, mountain after mountain rising up thousands of feet within a short climb. Quintin Klinger, a great grandson of Philippe, attempted to use a motorcycle when he visited there, but found the trails too steep.
The hospitality of the people remains. As Quintin, abandoning his motorcycle, trudged up the trails in a towering rain he was approached by a man who insisted on lending him his umbrella since the rain was now a steady drizzle. When Quintin returned the loan on his way back down the mountain, he learned that the only subject the people avoided was religion. Since he reassured them that he was not there to convert them, he was received with courtesy. The majority of the people are Catholics. A few still cling to their beloved Vaudois faith.
Restrictions on property ownership, education, freedom of speech, and of religious worship have hampered these people through the centuries. However, on February 17, 1848, a decree was issued granting freedom to them. It is said that the news was received with simple gratitude. The following year the L.D.S. Church for the first time sent its missionaries into European nations where the English language was not spoken. Among the first group to be sent from Utah was Lorenzo Snow who was called on a special mission to Italy . Joseph Toronto, a native of Sicily , was appointed to accompany him. They left Utah in a company of elders organized October 18, 1849. Thomas B. Stenhouse was also chosen by Elder Snow to accompany them from England . They found that all other parts of Italy were closed to them except the Piedmont valleys. “I believe,” he recorded, “that the Lord has hidden up a remnant of the pure blood of Israel among the Alpine Mountains.”
On September 18, 1850, the four elders – Lorenzo Snow, Joseph Toronto, Thomas B. Stenhouse, and Jabez Woodard who had recently joined the other missionaries, ascended a high mountain near La Tour, Valley of Luzerno, Piedmont, Italy, and there in the majesty of the mountain peaks organized themselves into Italy’s first branch of the Latter-Day Saint Church of Jesus Christ with song, prayer and testimonies. These men were there at great personal sacrifice to carry the message. How strangely their voices must have echoed in that foreign fastness as they sang “Praise to the Man Who Communed with Jehovah.”
Apostle Snow had blessed the elders that they might “speak to the people by the power of God.” Some of them were indeed ready and waiting for the gospel and it was with great joy that they received the elders. The Malan family and the Cardons were the first two families to be baptized into the Mormon Church.
Philippe and his wife were both baptized the same day, January 2, 1852, while Jean, Catherine, Philippe and Madelaine became members within the year. Paul was baptized September 4, 1853, and Thomas Bartholemy , the youngest, not until 1857, in Utah . Philippe, Sr., was registered in the L.D.S. records of Italy as #34 and was ordained a priest October 5, 1851 (?) at St. Bartholemy by Elder Jabez Woodard. He became a high priest in Logan , Utah . For many months the missionaries had desired the first baptisms in Italy and one of them recorded, “sweet to them all were the soft sounds of the Italian tongue as Elder Snow repeated the ceremony and performed the ordinance of baptism,” and the converts responded.
It is unusual in L.D.S. Church annals for whole families to become members of the church. So often only one of a family sees the truth. However, other than for Annette, all members of the Cardon family accepted the gospel. Annette’s own grandson, John Gonnet, later came to Utah with Paul Cardon when he returned from a mission to Switzerland and Italy; but after visiting with his relatives, he went on to California. His brother, Jean, expected to leave for Utah soon thereafter. However, he died during that year about the time that the Cardons arrived in Zion where they received word of his death. His sister, Marthe, had married Bartholemy Gaudin; their daughter Susanne, came to Utah where she married her cousin, John Paul Cardon, a blood relative. Philippe’s other sisters had died – the first in 1832, the third in 1808. Marthe and the sister of Philippe Cardon both were children of Jean Cardon and Anne Jouve. The living members of the family of Jean Cardon and Anne Jouve were baptized in the L.D.S. Church .
In 1853 the church issued an epistle urging all saints to “Come to Zion .” The first group of Latter-Day Saint immigrants left the Piedmont valleys February 7, 1854. The party consisted of eight members from the Philippe Cardon family, five from the Pons, five from the Bertoches. The Cardons had been able to dispose of their property for enough money to bring themselves and five others to Utah . Later groups were unable to dispose of their property since persecution against Mormon converts had increased so greatly. Fortunately for them, the Perpetual Immigration Fund had been established by the church. By 1863, Jabez Woodard said at that time it was as much as a man’s life was worth in the Piedmont Valleys to mention that he was a Mormon. Only 13 members of the church remained there.
Elder T.B.H. Stenhouse accompanied the Italian and Swiss saints from Geneva , Switzerland to Liverpool , England . The Cardon group spent two weeks in London waiting for the saints to prepare for immigration. At Liverpool they were delayed seventeen more days waiting for the ship “John M. Wood” then under construction, to be completed.
The following letter from Joseph Fielding Smith to Mrs. Roy L. Adams (Mrs. Vida Adams) is self-explanatory:
| Mrs. Roy L. Adams December 19, 1941469 South First West Logan , Utah Dear Mrs. Adams: Your letter of the 13th inst. has been received. The ship John M. Wood sailed from Liverpool , England , March 12, 1854 with 393 saints, including 58 from Switzerland and Italy , under the direction of Robert L. Campbell. It arrived at New Orleans May 2nd. Among the passengers were Philip Cardon, 53; Marie, 56; Jean, 28; Catherine, 22; Phillip, 20; Magdaline, 17; Paul, 13; and Bartholemy Cardon, 10. Jean Bertoch, 26; Daniel, 18; Jacques, 14; Antoinette, 24; and Margaret Bertoch, 10. Barthelomew Pons, 55; Marianne, 50; Anna Marie, 23; Lydia , 15; Emma Pons, 5. Jean Pons, 20; and David Pons, 17; brothers. After the arrival of the ship May 2nd at New Orleans, these emigrants were conveyed by river steamers on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Westport, now a part of Kansas City, MO the outfitting place for the L.D.S. emigration which crossed the plains and mountains to Salt Lake City in 1854. Here the company was outfitted and, in charge of Capt. Robert L. Campbell , on July 18th commenced the overland journey with ox teams, arriving in Salt Lake City October 28, 1854. Yours truly, Joseph Fielding Smith Church Historian MKP |
This letter summarizes briefly the facts concerning the Cardon journey that began in Italy in February and ended in Utah nine months later.
For the majority of the Italian group, the farewell with their homeland would be the last time they would be associated with congregations where their native tongue was spoken. From then on they would be in the minority; but, as Mary Cardon Guild once remarked concerning the stature of the Cardons, “Good things often come in small packages.”
As the passenger list of the John M. Wood indicated, the people of Italy were far outnumbered by other passengers. The British group who were added to the ship’s list included many from Scotland and Wales . Long before this time, the missionaries in the Piedmont Valleys had complained of their difficulties with the local language. This language barrier was bridged by Serge Ballif, a convert from Switzerland who was assigned as interpreter for the “foreign” brethren. He spoke several languages. Through the resulting association, the Cardons and Ballifs became good friends, a tie which continued after they became pioneers in Cache Valley ,Utah .
Kind friends were needed by all on this journey to Zion . During their crossing from Liverpool , the ship had been forced to weather a terrific storm at sea which, according to a story told by Marie Madeline Cardon Guild, had nearly destroyed the vessel. “The Captain afterward stated that the ship had gone within three inches of an immense rock called the Rock of Providence. He said that no ship had ever struck that rock without going to the bottom.”
When their ship arrived at New Orleans , that city was then under quarantine for cholera. New York and Chicago were also suffering unbelievable loss of life because of the disease. During that year of 1854, in one twelve day period New Orleans lost 5,000 inhabitants out of a city of 35,000. There were not enough able bodied to bury the dead and many coffins were thrown into the river.
The following story was told to Blondel Cardon Porter by John Adams, son of the immigrant. The first part of this story is taken from Adams ’ journal. All the able-bodied men and boys were expected to take turns in walking and driving the cattle for there were two or more yoke of oxen to every wagon and one driver on each side. An old trusty yoke was placed as leaders while young and sometimes unbroken ones were placed to follow. Now be it known that our Scotch lad, Hugh, knew naught of the ways of wild horned oxen for with such things as those he had never had any experience. One day as he was driving, the leaders being very tired, lagged and our young man anxious to travel faster took the bull end of his whip to poke the leader and, of course, stepped right to the head of the wild ox which, seeing his leader in danger, thought he would help him. So bending his head, he undertook to lift the young Scotchman by the seat of his pants to toss him over his back, but the seat being weak gave way and remained on the horns of the beast. Hugh mourned the loss for a time, but his jolly good nature returned and he sang and whistled as he traveled along. But the sequel to this story was not recorded. The ox that tore Hugh’s pants also tore a great gash in the fleshy part of his body. It left a long scar that Adams carried to his grave. While still smarting, bloody and angry from the ox’s goring, he gave the animal what appeared to the women of the camp to be a most unmerciful beating with his whip or goad. A woman who was riding in the wagon chastised him severely both for his cruelty and the profanity with which he punctuated his punishment. Hugh raised his whip and shook it at the woman telling her to keep still or he would use the whip on her too. She afterward said that she was sure that the nice brother Cardon would never have acted so. His oxen had run away cross the prairie the same day as Brother Adams’ had. Brother Cardon was a short man and it had been both sad and ridiculous to see him attempt to catch the oxen as they were pulling and bouncing his wagon load of household goods scattering pots and pans and other paraphernalia in every direction. But she had not heard Brother Cardon use unseemly language. Hugh thought that was the worst cut of all, but he didn’t say so; he knew that the only difference had been that the lady understood Scotch but not the combination of French-Italian that the Piedmontese used to express their anger. However, Adams said as he got to know Brother Cardon better, he believed that his friend would never have been able to curse. There were no such words in his vocabulary.
The majority of the Piedmont people made their first homes in Utah in the vicinity of Ogden . The Cardon family lived at Mound Fort until spring when they moved to Marriotts where they farmed until they, along with other saints, were required to join the general exodus on “the move South” because of the incursion of Johnston’s Army.
They made their home at Lehi for a brief period until they were allowed to return to their former home at Marriotts. During this period, Paul, a member of the Minutemen, and Thomas joined the army at Camp Floyd .
The following summer Philippe and his son, Paul, went to Logan , Utah where the church hoped to establish a new settlement. They camped near where the old Brigham Young College was later established and which is now occupied by the Logan Senior High School .
The following spring he took his family to Logan , which became his home for 24 years. During those years, several members of his family turned to their own individual pursuits that took them sometimes far from home ties. These various circumstances are recorded in their own stories of their lives.
Following his arrival in Utah , Mr. Cardon continued with the work that had furnished him a livelihood in his native valleys, as a stonemason and builder. Every home in Cache Valley had to have at least one fireplace for cooking and for heat, so there were many calls for his skill as a mason, he and his son, Paul, both being in demand. They also helped with the building of the temple when the time came for its erection. Paul had charge of the temple mill in Logan Canyon that furnished lumber for the construction of the temple.
Philippe built his own home and its furnishings. His son, Thomas, had some of his skill for he records proudly that on his return from the Civil War that he plastered his own room, laid the flooring, built a staircase, a chimney, mantel, an escritoire with five drawers, a book case, and a bed for his room.
Cache Valley has always been cattle country since its first pioneers entered the area and saw the lush grass that covered the lowlands. However, substantial barns were needed against the subzero weather of the winters there. It was soon recognized that Philippe Cardon knew the best way to make the warmest roofs for barns. Garett Dahle, who after he had passed his ninetieth birthday in 1957, described for Philippe’s great grandson, Larry Porter, just how these barn roofs were made.
“Tules (small rushes) were dug with the sodding still heavy on them. These were laid crisscross across each other on rough beams in a sort of basket weave. Then a thick layer of rushes was laid on for insulation and over all again, the heavy sodding. Several roofs that he built are still to be seen in the valley having endured seventy-five years of weathering.”
Philippe was adept at making sturdy baskets for the use of his household. These baskets were woven of willows that grow plentifully in the valley.
One of the simplest spring housecleaning tasks done by women in Utah in early days was whitewashing the interior of their homes with lime that was found in abundance in the state. The lime was mixed with water and spread onto the walls with a large brush. Philippe’s neighbors joked with him about being so clean that he had to put a circle of whitewash around the base of his corn stocks, but he didn’t mind their friendly banter. He knew from experience that it stopped insect pests that might injure the corn stocks.
Despite his size, Philippe carried his share of heavy labor. Shortly after his sixty-fifth birthday in 1867 his son, Thomas, recorded:
“Tuesday, October 29. There was a general drive of all the stock in the valley to Logan today and was busy again helping Paul and father to gather some of the stock, or rather that which was not in the herd…
Tuesday, November 5. Paul and father started for the canyon today taking two teams and proposing to remain till tomorrow evening…
Wednesday, November 6. It began raining last night at intervals. Father and Paul returned from the canyon with loads of wood. Father hurt himself badly in the side by falling off the load on some sharp stumps. Paul ran up the mountain and gathered a quantity of balsam and made it into a plaster and put it on the wound as soon as possible and it is doing well. It was sometime after the fall before he was able to breath but succeeded in time to ride home on the load.”
Like many of his neighbors, he built a plow to till his land. Rebecca Ballard Cardon tells this story of Philippe Cardon and her father, Henry Ballard who came to Utah in 1852:
“Grandfather Cardon and grandfather Ballard owned adjacent fields west of Logan City as well as living near each other in the city. During the growing season, about the same time every weekday, Grandfather Cardon with his unmatched team and Father Ballard with his equally mismatched pair started for their fields; and whoever reached the head of the lane first, waited there for the other to arrive. Then, side-by-side, they peacefully wended their way to their fields to care for their animals. Grandfather was a Berkshire man fro England and Brother Cardon was from the Piedmont valleys. Neither could speak the other’s language, yet they were great friends, both whimsically inclined and both gentle. They had many common interests and ways of sharing them. Everyone seeing those two small men smiled kindly at them, knowing that the day was right. No one could have guessed that the son of one of them would become an ordained Apostle in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the other would have a grandson who would go to the land of his fathers as Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization serving for the entire world. Or that Philippe’s grand daughter would be the wife of the Governor of this state of Utah , Calvin Rampton.”
Rebecca and Vida Cardon Adams chuckled at the thought that when their time came to go to heaven they, too, might wait at The Gate for each other, then go in search of the two little old men and fling their arms around them. Then they laughed again as they realized that they themselves were already little old ladies and that before they turned over their genealogical records and were called home, they might be even more shrunken.
Mary Cardon Merrill, daughter of Paul and Susannah Gaudin Cardon, told Vida Cardon Adams how one family adjusted to pioneering conditions:
“Stoves were rare since they had to be hauled from St. Louis … For a beautiful new cook-stove which was extra large, there was only one chimney, which had been enough under the old set-up. But now there were two women who both wanted the new stove. So like Solomon of old, the husband decided they could share it. He put part of the stove in each of the two adjoining kitchens making an opening in the partition, thus dividing the stove so that one-half would always be available for each wife. However, the hole turned out to be large enough to allow switching of dishes between the two sides. One evening, the tantalizing aroma emanating from the other side of the partition included her husband’s favorite dish, so she simply switched dishes. No one ever said anything about it.”
Philippe Cardon had an outdoor fireplace, a sort of baking oven, where about once a week he did some baking. He particularly liked to bake torchettos, a twisted crusty loaf of bread. His grandchildren liked to be there on such days. Sally Turner said that another delicacy enjoyed by the Cardons was vinegar pie.
When the Cardons came to Utah , they missed the ground chestnut meal that they were used to having as a part of their regular diet. Walnuts and chestnuts roasted, creamed, or ground into meal had supplied most of the fat in their food since meat was practically non-existent on the tiny mountain farms. In Utah when food became scarce, the people boiled rose hips or berries to eek out their meager faire.
Grandfather Cardon always liked his sip of wine before his evening meal. However, no one ever became intoxicated from the delicate wine of the Piedmont grapes. Philippe had tended his own grapes on the slopes of the Alps and when he came to Utah , he had brought cuttings of them with him keeping the moss in which they were stored moist but not wet enough to cause decay. When he reached the latter part of his journey, he had added soil to start his precious plants. In Ogden he had begun his vineyard, for somehow the plants had survived. Later at Logan he was able to again establish a vineyard or at least an arbor in a protected place. The home of Dr. Chester J. Myers on University Way in Logan has an arbor started from cuttings brought by the Cardons. They came from Ogden and were planted by Dr. Saxer.
Philippe’s wife, Marthe Marie Tourn, died January 15, 1873. His second wife may have persuaded him to move to Hyrum , Utah since she had relatives there. Or it may have been that the climate in that town appealed to him for the residents there had been successful in raising not only better grapes, but peaches and other fruits which were too tender for some winters in Logan . Hyrum east bench seemed to be milder. So in 1884, he sold his Logan home and moved to Hyrum where he spent the remainder of his life. He bought himself a small piece of ground on a hillside where there was a pretty little spring and there made himself a simple little home.
His home in Logan had been on the Courthouse block near the corner of First West and Second North. He also had property further south between First and Second North near the present U.S. Armory as well as farms in the fields west of town. This land he also sold. The following records show these changes:
Logan Court House, Cache County , Utah
Deeds Book C, pg. 595 dated 6 March A.D. 1872, William B. Preston to Philippe Cardon, for the sum of Five Dollars was judged “the rightful owner, and possessor of the following described parcels of land viz Lots three(3) and eight (8) Block Thirty-six (36) Plat A. Logan City survey situated Section thirty-three (33) North Range One (1) East, in all two (2) 4/160 acres and by the presents grant and convey unto said Philippe Cardon …… (seems to have been recorded 18 Nov. 1875).
Book C, pg. 591, George Hibbard, 1st party, to Mary Cardon, 2nd party, fro $70 land described: The north part of Lot Five (5) Block seventeen (17) Plat F. Logan farm survey 6 acres North West quarter of section fourteen (14) township twelve (12) north of Range one (1) east. Recorded 17 Nov. 1875.
Deeds Book D, pg. 749, Paul Cardon (grantor) Philippe Cardon (grantee) indenture sum $30. South East corner of Lot 2, Block 26, Plat E West Field Survey, thence west on South line of said 67 rods – to field ditch, thence north along said ditch to channel of the main slough in log 3, thence East along the channel of said slough to the said lots, thence south on the line of said lots to the place of beginning, 23 acres North West quarter of North West quarter, Section 5-11 and North West quarter of Section 32, township twelve (12) North of Range East. Dated Feb, 18__.
Deeds Book C, Pg. 596, recorded 18 Nov 1875. James Adams to Philippe Cardon, Senior of Logan City , sold for $15. The East part of lot 7, Block 32, Plat C, Logan Hay Land Survey, 7 acres 40 rods east front North East quarter Section 25, township twelve (12) North of Range one West. Dated 1 Aug 1873
Deeds Book J. pg 400. Philippe Cardon to Lars P. Larsen for $100. Dated 20 Oct. 1884. Commencing South East corner of lot eight (8) Block thirty-six (36) Plat A running North two (2) ¼ rods thence West eighteen (18) rods containing forty (4) rods ½, Lot eight (8) Block thirty-six (36) Plat A.
Deeds Book N pg, 27. Philippe Cardon to Albert Spenst. Dated 23 Sept. 1886 for $325. Abstract Record #3.
Book C, pg 227, dated 6 Mar. 1872 to T. B. Cardon for $5 Lot 6, Block 19, Plat A, Sec. 33, Township 12, North Range one (1) East in all 2/160
Excerpts from Letters of T. B. Cardon to his wife, Ella Hinckley Cardon.
Originals in Possession of Vida Cardon Adams, 1960
Saturday Night, August 23, 1889
Dear Ella: I am afraid you are feeling badly tonight and have for a few days and will a few days longer owing to the long time since I wrote, but you must cheer up and then forgive me for I have much to bother me… And father is very sick and not expected to live one hour to another. Of course, he wants me with him and my own health is such that I ought to be at rest instead of driving over there and attending to business besides. He thinks I ought to be there…. We were very glad …. Them father has been and is very sick and thought to be dying for several days past which has also taken some of my time…. We are going over to father tomorrow morning again as he is very low indeed. Aunt S. has been over there three days and nights…. We were there yesterday and day before but have not stayed at night on account of baby and business demands…. L. is here and joins in love to you….
August 29, 1889
Father died (the 25th) Sunday morning at 20 minutes to one. He suffered a great deal the last 4 or 5 days of his life, but he is at rest at last. We brought him to this place and buried him with those that had gone before. I have had so much to do and look after lately that I am very tired…. Please write me dates, places of birth and baptism of yourself with full name also names of those who blessed, confirmed and baptized.
Tuesday Evening, September 3, 1889
I thought I would get a letter…. My father died August 25th at about 20 minutes to one in the morning. He suffered very much the last five days, but never spoke a cross word or lost patience in any way. He bore a strong testimony of the truth of this work we are engaged in to the last. He never lost consciousness, but was sensible to the last. I brought him to Logan for burial and buried him on August 26.
In contrast to the graves of his ancestors, his resting place is carefully marked with a tombstone without fear of desecration from soldiers. His burial place could not have been so designated in his Alpine home, for there not even a fence was allowed to signify the last resting place of his ancestors. In peaceful Logan City Cemetery , amidst the majesty of the mountains, he rests among his loved ones.
His tombstone in Logan City Cemetery 2 ½ B reads:
Born
October 2, 1801
Prarustin , Italy
Died August 25, 1889
Cardon
Born
May 15, 1797
Rora , Italy
Died
January 15, 1873
(on 3rd side or front facing west)
Died in full faith
Of a Glorious Resurrection
Children of Philippe Cardon and Marthe Marie Tourn
| Anne or Annette | Born May 20, 1822 | Died July 25, 1882 Italy |
| Jean | Born August 7, 1824 | Died October 20, 1909 Ogden , Utah |
| Bartholemy | Born February 17, 1827 | Died August 9, 1831 Italy |
| Catherine | Born September 12, 1829 | Died November 15, 1902 Wyoming |
| Philippe | Born March 9, 1832 | Died April 9, 1911 Mexico |
| Marie Madeline | Born July 6, 1834 | Died July 21, 1924Wyoming |
| Louise | Born December 25, 1836 | Died July 25, 1841 Italy |
| Paul | Born December 28, 1839 | Died February 12, 1915 Logan , Utah |
| Thomas Bartholemy | Born August 28, 1842 | Died February 15, 1898 Logan , Utah |
LOGAN , UTAH , JULY 18, 1865.
A PATRIARCHAL BLESSING BY G. H. HYDE UPON THE HEAD OF PHILIP CARDON, SON OF JOHN AND MARY ANNE JOUVE CARDON, BORN SEPTEMBER 1801 IN ITALY.
Philip, in the name of Jesus, I lay my hands upon your head and seal a Patriarchal Blessing, for the eye of the Lord has been upon thee for good and he has preserved thee through many dangerous scenes upon this earth, for blessed art thou for thou hast received the Gospel, for great shall be your reward in heaven.
Thou shall live many good days upon the earth. Thou art of Jacob and lawful heir of the fullness of the priesthood, and shall have every desire of thy heart in righteousness and a kingdom upon the earth forever and ever.
You shall behold all the doings of the Father here upon the earth and you shall have a seat with the Ancient of Days.
These blessings I seal upon your head with all your father’s household. Amen.
Logan City Cemetery, Logan, Cache County, Utah
