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written by Elaine Lemmon Ennis-their grand daughter, DUP Library-1969
edited and photos added by Lin Floyd-their great grand daughter, 1997
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They would meet and marry when she was 16 and he was 20 and raise
a family of a dozen lemons. William Smith Lemmon (photo above)
was the first child of John Jr.and Mary Jane Sampson Lemmon, his
parents went through all the persecutions of the early Mormon
converts in Missouri. He was born Dec 27, 1853 in Fillmore, Utah.
He also lived in Meadow, Millard County, Utah. (For more information
on his parents life, see the John
Lemmon Jr. story.) He met Ada Mary Lowe (photo on right above),
daughter of Richard Lowe and Ada Clements -another Mormon
convert who lived in Nauvoo, Winter Quarters and settled in Springville,
Utah. (For more information on Ada Mary Lowe
see the Richard
Lowe story.)William and Ada Mary were married in Spanish Fork, Utah on the 18 October 1874.
William and Ada Mary's first two children were born in Springville: Mary Jane (3 Dec 1874) and Ada (27 Jan 1877). Next they moved to Grass Valley now known as Antimony, where Carrie (27 May 1879), William (25 Dec 1882) and John S. (28 Sep 1885) were born. They had a small farm here. [Editor's note: Grass Valley is mentioned in the previous story of John Lemmon Jr and Mary Jane Sampson and is near Koosharem,Utah. It was established in 1878 and in 1880 antimony a metal used in alloys was discovered so it became a mining town as well as a ranching community (1).]
About 1886 they moved to Eureka, Juab County, Utah in hopes of
bettering their living conditions. In Eureka, William worked in
the Blue Rock mine and did a great deal of work for Jesse Knight.
Two more children were born while they were in Eureka, Clarence
(2 May 1887) and Alda (7 Sep 1890). Then they moved to Diamond
so William could work for Jesse Knight in the Buckeye mine. [Note:
Diamond was established in 1870 and is now a ghost town near Silver
City and Eureka, Utah.](1) On March 10, 1891 at age 16 their oldest
daughter married Dow Coulter and moved to Mississippi, little
realizing how many years would pass before she again saw any of
her family.
While in Diamond, William and Ada Mary's family increased to 12
children: Dora (2 July 1893), Leland (1895), Eldon (8 Sep 1898),
Leona (1899) and Kenneth (14 May 1901) were born. In 1896, after
a very cold winter, one of their little boys died before he was
two years old. On Dec 14, 1896, Leland died and was buried in
Diamond. Several years later in 1899, their daughter Leona died
also. On the 15th of November 1899 she passed away and was buried
in Diamond. One other son William Richard died at an early age
of 21 on May 17th 1904 and was buried in Springville.
Photo on the left, the Lemmon sisters:
top photo- Alda in back row with her two sisters (l-r) in the
front row Carrie and Ada Lemmon, bottom photo- (l-r) Carrie and
Ada in fancy hats.
The family stayed in Diamond where William worked in the mines
and did odd jobs to help earn a living. He and the older boys
gleaned the ore dumps and would haul the ore gleanings to the
smelter in Murray (near Salt Lake City) by team and wagon. Murray
being about ninety miles away, it took several days to get there.
In Murray, they would then buy what they could in the line of
food and clothing to take home. Eggs were 10 cents a dozen, milk
5 cents a quart, little pigs $1.25, flour 85 cents for 50 lbs.
When the Diamond mines filled with water, they were too expensive
to operate so everyone had to move out. The family moved to nearby
Silver City, Juab county, Utah. (Editor's note: Silver City is
5 miles South of Eureka, Utah. It was originally settled in 1870
and peaked in 1908 and then was deserted in 1930's. Their daughter
Alda Lemmon Johnson didn't move from Silver City until the mid
1940's. She was one of the last to move away.)
Shortly after moving to Silver City, William Smith Lemmon's health
failed him and he had to get out of the mines and find other work
to support the family. He went to work as a carpenter building
homes in Silver City. He helped to build the home of his son John
S. Lemmon in Silver City. William also bought a cow, some pigs
and some chickens to help feed the family. But he had to buy the
feed for the animals since it couldn't be raised in Silver City.
He died in Silver City on 13 Dec 1922 at the age of 68 and was
buried in Springville 15 Dec 1922.
Sources (Editor's notes):
(1) Utah Place Names by John W. Van Cott, published in 1990- Info on towns
© 2003 Lin Floyd, to contact me for more information, sign
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