Last Name: Cordon
First Name: Sally Agnes
Age: 96 years
Gender: F
Cemetery: Rigby, Idaho
Birth Date: 19 DEC 1858
Birth Place: Willard,UT
Date Died: 26 FEB 1955
Death Place: Rigby,ID
Father: Omer Call
Mother: Sarah Maria Ferrin
Spouse: George A. Cordon married 15 Dec 1881 End. House-Died Sep 1944
Sources: Post Register 27 p 11, 6 March p 8 Funeral, Sexton's book p 49, Eastern Idaho Death Records
Remarks: Age at Death: 96

Sally Agnes Call was born in Willard, Box Elder, Utah on 19 December, 1858. She was the oldest daughter and 2nd of the 11 children born to Omer Call and Sarah Maria Ferrin Call and the 2nd of the 22 children born to Omer. Siblings are: Omer Samuel (1857-1930), Cyril Josiah (1860-1940), Fanny Manervia (1862-1863), Albert Jarius (1864-1931), Nancy Ann (1866-1881), Anson Heber (1868-1885), Lydia Jane (1869-1936), George William (1872-1930), Elihu (1873-1929) and Sarah Elenor (1880-1880). She also had 11 half-siblings. Justin David (1868-1922), Mary Lucina (1869-1869), Cyrus John (1871-1885), Joseph (1872-1878), Sarah Eliza (1875-1970), Benjamin Carlos (1877-1962), Esther ( 1879-1959), William Vosco(1881-1957), Margaret Elenor (1883-1941), Chauncy Homer (1884-1893)and Waldemar Alma (1889-1948). She married George Alfred Cordon 15 Dec 1881 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. She and George were the parents of 8 children: Alfred Call Cordon (1883-1965), Omer Samuel Cordon (1885-1969), Agnes Maria [Cordon] Hoggan (1889-1971), Mabel Emily [Cordon] Later (1891-1991), Sarah Nancy [Cordon] Sorensen (1893-1967), George Albert Cordon (1896-1963), Herbert Elihu Cordon (1898-1899) and Clarence Heber Cordon (1901-1979). She passed away at the age of 96 on 26 FEB 1955 in Rigby, Jefferson, Idaho and she is buried in the Rigby Pioneer Cemetery (northwest section) beside her husband.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF SALLEY AGNES CALL CORDON Born 19 December 1858 -- Died 26 February 1955 in Rigby, Idaho Written by Sister Cordon by Norma H. Morris March 27, 1941 – Rigby, Idaho
"She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness."
The above proverb is most applicable to the subject of this sketch. Useful and diligent pursuits fill her days which are now lengthening into eighty-three years.
Sally Agnes Cordon was born December 19, 1858, in Willard, Box Elder County, Utah. Her parents Omer Call and Sarah Maria Herrin Call were among the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and their lives are ones of sacrifice and service to its cause. She was the eldest daughter and second birth of eleven children and is the last survivor of this family. (1941)
It is interesting to note that her birth occurred the winter the Saints returned to their homes from the move south. President Brigham Young had ordered the Saints to go South as Johnston's Army was coming to destroy them; he told them to burn their homes if necessary and not leave them for the soldiers to enjoy. Her father was among those left in Willard to carry out this order, should they receive the command to do so.
Her earliest recollections are of pleasant, carefree, girlhood days. She attended all church services with the family and later became a Sunday School teacher. She enjoyed the Sunday School singing practices and was also a member of the choir and glee club. Her school days, however, were few and meager, attending about three months of the year. It was a typical one-room pioneer school with all ages taught together. The school master exacted long hours of hard study and meted out severe punishment.
Another early recollection is of the grasshoppers. She tells it thus: "We had to drive them on rows of straw and burn them or drive them in a great moving mass into the lake. My father and Uncle Homer, his twin, had a fine crop of wheat together and the grasshoppers were already devouring it. My grandfather called his boys together and said: "We will make a covenant with the Lord that if He will spare our wheat we will keep it for breadstuff only." Their prayers were answered and the grasshoppers left. They realized a good harvest from the wheat and it was kept for bread, etc---People traveled for miles to secure some of it for their families who were in great need of bread. Some offered as high as $10.00 a bushel but my father would take no more than $2.00 a bushel."
A faith-promoting incident which has influenced her throughout life is recalled from those childhood years. Her father had received a call to go on a mission somewhere in the states. "Grandmother Pettingill" of Willard asked him to go see her brother. When her father located this brother he found him to be a "spiritualist". He was hospitably entertained by him and invited to observe his seances. But alas--the spiritualist was unable to perform his work due, of course, to the presence of the Holy Priesthood which her father held. This remained a testimony to her of the divinity of Mormonism.
When she was twenty-one years old her mother died. There were still eight children in the home. Her father's sister, Aunt Fanny Loveland, came and assisted her for a time. Then, two years later, she left the old home nest to build a home of her own.
She was married to George Albert Cordon on December 15, 1881, in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City by Daniel H. Wells. They lived in Willard until two children were born. The eldest, Alfred C. was born July 1, 1883 and Omer S. was born August 7, 1885. He was just two and one half months old when they moved to Idaho. Brother Cordon is the eldest son of Alfred Cordon of Liverpool, England and Emily Pridmore Cordon of Coventry, England.
In the spring of 1884 Sister Cordon's husband joined her two brothers, Omie S. and Cyril J. and her cousin Josiah Call in filing claims on four homesteads in the Snake River Valley at a location near where Rigby now stands. Then early in the spring of 1885, they returned to the homesteads and broke up a few acres of sage brush land and sowed it to wheat. Her husband hauled timber from the canyon and built a two-roomed log house completing but the one room at that time. In July he returned to Willard to work on the thresher and on the 20th of October they left for Idaho. He settled her and the baby boys atop the loaded camp wagon and with the live stock trailing they journeyed toward the untamed Snake River and its fertile valley where their little log home awaited them.
How much of sacrifice was spent in the founding of a new home we of this age little realize. Sister Cordon recalls this instance which clearly shows their humble fare; "Just before leaving to come to Idaho, my husband went to Ogden to get provisions for our trip and a pair of shoes for me. Returning home he stopped in at the Half-way House to transact some business and while inside someone removed my shoes from the wagon. Of course, I had no shoes and we had to stop on our way at Brigham City for another pair. This took nearly all the money we had."
They were on the road ten days and arrived at Rigby October 30, 1885. The next morning the ground was covered with snow. The first news to reach her was of the death of her brother Cyrus, who had been killed four days after they had left.
Very quickly they became an integral part in the pioneering of this great valley. She remembers that the very next day after their arrival her husband with the Call boys attended a meeting with the saints at Lewisville to hear Brother Rigby speak.
She looks back in retrospect to that one-roomed log house with its dirt roof. Within its walls they spent some of the happiest years of their lives; years filled with dreaming and planning. While the men cleared the sage with grubbing hoe and ax, she would put the children to sleep and then join them to pile and burn the sage. Upon arising so early in the mornings, there was the milk to skim, mush to cook, salt pork to sweeten before frying and the baby to tend; churning butter, making cheese, tending poultry, baking, scrubbing and cooking meal after meal. In the winter, ice was hauled from the river and melted upon her stove for their own use and for the stock. In the summer, it was hauled in barrels. When the swollen streams were safe for crossing, they hauled wood to Idaho Falls, or "Eagle Rock" to buy the flour and other necessities of life.
She sent the butter and eggs and sometimes fresh vegetables from her garden to the market, but that did. not buy the shirts and shoes to wear. She made those articles herself. Her husband's shirts for work were made from seamless sacks. He was often kidded about his "linen" shirts.
"One fourth of July", she relates, "we were going to have a celebration. Neither Omer nor I had shoes to wear, so my husband went to Idaho Falls to see if he could get credit until Fall, but was unable to get any. So I had to patch up my old ones with pieces of cloth and a neighbor gave Omer an old pair of shoes, so we went to our celebration."
Then there was the summer that thunder showers were frequent. The rain would wash the dirt through the roof, dripping mud and water on to her bed and furnishings, or little rivulets would flow into the dug-out cellar and rise until it floated the pans of creamy milk from off the crude shelves.
"I recall the time," she said, "that we prepared a large float with different colored bunting and decorations the day before the Fourth of July celebration. During the night a wet snow storm fell and, of course, when we got up the next morning the float was a sorry sight."
Winter with its ice and cold brought other problems to cope with. To her it brought fear and anxiety. Most business transactions were made at Rexburg; even headquarters for the church affairs were there. The Snake River, treacherous summer or winter, had to be crossed. On this occasion which she relates, her husband had gone to Rexburg to settle tithing, riding his horse across the ice. On his return the ice swayed beneath the horses feet making the situation a grave one. He, therefore, alighted and led the horse, walking in breath-taking anxiety until he reached the opposite bank safely.
There was the February of 1901, when an epidemic of small-pox hit the community. They were quarantined in the morning of February 11, and she gave birth to her son Clarence in the afternoon. She had no doctor or a nurse. A neighbor lady came into care for her and the baby. Her husband and daughter Agnes were bed-fast with the smallpox and all were confined in two small rooms. They all came down with the disease but she and the baby, which in itself was a miracle.
A winter prior to this brought its sorrow. In February of 1889 they buried their five-month old son, Herbert E. Thus the fabric of life is often times shadowed, but their joys blending with the sorrows wove a lovely pattern into their lives and tinged the folds with gold.
Over a period of sixty-five years Sister Cordon has eagerly taken part in all phases of Relief Society work. It was on February 28, 1886 that she was selected as first counselor to President Annie Robbins. Eliza Parks was second counselor. This organization was perfected by presiding Elder Daniel Robbins. On May 22, 1886, the Rigby Ward was organized and her husband selected as its first Bishop with Daniel Robbins and Josiah Call as counselors. A few years later she was set apart as Relief Society President with Eleanor Homer and Eleanor Cuthbert as counselors. She served in this capacity for sixteen years. In February of 1908 the Rigby Stake was organized and soon after she was called to assist on the Relief Society Stake Board.
As a Relief Society President her duties were numerous and varied. For several years this community had no old people among them. The year 1888 marks the first grave and burial in the Rigby cemetery. "Grandma Hansen", relative of the Henry Olsen family, was prepared and dressed for burial by Sister Cordon. It necessitated a trip by team and wagon to the mercantile store at Lewisville to buy the cloth for her burial. For many years she answered such calls by night or day and was often away from her home and children for days at a time. She gave freely of her time, her talent and her love. Being blessed with faith and unusual patience, she was indeed sought after in the care and nursing of the sick.
Another interesting detail of her Relief Society days was the gathering of the grain. (1) She with her co-workers went every year to gather this in. Holding a baby on one arm she drove her team of horses with the other. Often they had to sack and load the wheat into the wagon themselves. At first this grain was stored in a bin of the Bishop's granary or in their own. Later the Relief Society organization built a granary and still later they built another, so successful were their efforts blessed in performing this call made upon them by the Presidency of the Church.
As her home was known far and wide as the Bishop's home, she was often hostess to friend and stranger alike. Since the growing village had neither hotel nor restaurant, any inquiring traveler was sent their way. Many a time she has had her beds full and others laid upon the floor that weary travelers may be given rest. She served meals on short order notice and often Mormon and Anti-mormon shared their hospitality together.
No sacrifice was too great for her to make for her four sons and three daughters. Because of her encouragement, they made outstanding scholastic records. Her sons hold places of high repute and esteem in the community where they reside. The son, Omer S. (2) succeeded his father as Bishop of the first ward. Together they held this position for about fifty years. Her daughters have employed their talents to serve others and are rearing fine families of their own. Three of the boys and her daughter Agnes have served honorable L.D.S. missions. Today her grandchildren are nobly carrying this work forward. In addition to her own children she mothered two little girls, daughters of her brother George. At the death of their mother, the youngest girl, Caroline, was about eighteen months old. She and her sister Ora were cared for by Sister Cordon for about eight years. Their father re-married and the girls were taken by her to him. Even today, they write to her and think of her as a mother, for such she was to them.
In those earlier pioneer years her fingers were kept busy fashioning garments to wear, weaving rag carpets, or braiding rag rugs. The rag carpet was always stretched tightly over fresh clean straw and tacked securely down. She made her mattresses from ticking and filled them with the clean new straw from the thresher in the fall. Sometimes they gathered the down of the cat-tails and stuffed the mattress in place of the straw. And the many quilts her fingers have pieced are too numerous to mention. Of late years, her fingers have pieced beautiful table pieces--her leisure hours have been spent making beautiful lace doilies and table pieces, etc. from netting. Now eighty-two years of age, she still spends part of each day with her net¬ting. And she has never worn eye-glasses and shows no need to wear them now.
On August 25, 1931, they celebrated their Golden wedding anniversary. This was most remarkable in every respect and especially so to her, as her husband had endured some eight or nine years of serious illness. Today they both enjoy good health and plan to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in December of this year. 1941.
She is a Charter member of the Dorion Camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers of Jefferson County. She has been honored on several occasions by the Daughters as she is the oldest member in years and the most faithful and loyal in her support. When tributes have been paid her upon these occasions, she has responded by singing some old-time favorite. Throughout her life she has been noted for her lovely singing voice and has taken a keen interest in all musical activities.
Sister Cordon has been a faithful tithe payer in this church for a period of some sixty years. She has also taken the Relief Society Magazine since the time the Exponent was published.
"Grandma Cordon" as she is affectionately called, has grown old gracefully. Her cozy home among the flowers and vines is truly typical of the happy couple dwelling within. Together they enjoy all the cultural things which the school and church from time to time present. They are both fond of programs wherein the young people are taking part. They have enjoyed many pleasure trips together, and Brother Cordon still drives his car about but not away to any distance. Their children and grandchildren are dropping in to see them or writing interesting letters to gladden their days. Both continue to take eager delight in the happenings of the day about them and follow the radio programs along with daily newspapers and current magazines. Spry and keenly interested in everyone and everything about them, they are now both enjoying themselves despite the weight of years.
Today her posterity numbers thirty-six (36) living grandchildren with four deaths, and twelve living great-grandchildren. Also, her four sons and three daughters are with her, the farthest away being in California. They are: Alfred C., 1883; Omer S., 1885; Herbert E., 1888--died in 1889; Agnes M., 1889; Mabel E., 1891; Sarah N., 1893; George A. Jr., 1896;
Clarence H., 1901.
FOOTNOTE:
(1) Upon Emmeline B. Wells, Brigham Young placed the responsibility for launching the Relief Society wheat storage project. Again in 1941 the
Relief Society and the Priesthood are working hand in hand in the storage of grain. We mention here that in connection with the Relief Society presidents from Sister Wells unto the present Sister Cordon has seen and heard all the presidents of the Church save the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was while a small child at Willard that she saw Brigham Young. The children were dressed in white and stood in line as he passed before them, and many had the opportunity to shake his hand and hear his voice.
(2) One other item was omitted. Her son Omer S. is at the present time a counselor in the Rigby Stake Presidency.

OLD ROMANCE
I still love to call you my own little Pal
And to say it has always been you.
I still love to hold you secure in my arms
As I did when our romance was new
I still love to take your dear fingers in mine
While sweet memories softly unfold
And whisper again the sweet story of love
The sweet story that never grows old.
We've come hand in hand down the turbulent years
T'ward the goal of an infinite rest
The red leaf of autumn still clings to the bough
But the sun is low down in the west
We've seen many changes sweep over the world
Where old customs give place to the new
But change cannot mar this old romance of ours
It's a romance forever with you.