CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS "CUM" DUTSON was born February 19, 1867 in Fillmore, Utah, the fourth child of the second marriage of John William Duston to Caroline Geneva Jenkins. When he was 6 years old his father's half brother, Frances (Frank) Caleb Carling, died and prior to his death he asked John William to take his wife Fannie Emiline Nixon Carlin, and their two children and care for them. They married in 1873. When Christopher was about eight years old, in 1875, his father was called to help settle Oak City and to organize and lead a choir and teach music. The families lived happily near each other. When Christopher was small he helped gather and bind grain and hoe weeds in the potato patch. He had adventures with the Indians in the area.

When he was 23 he courted and married Selena Talbot. They were married 12 Nov. 1890 in the Manti Temple and eventually had eight children. After their first two children were born, they moved to Leamington for their next three children, then back to Oak City. They moved to Tooele where another daughter was born. Their final home was in Hinckley where their last child was born. They lived six miles South of Callao on a ranch with sheep, horses, cows, pigs, and fruit trees. Four of their children died from diptheria and other illnesses.

On 28 Feb. 1909 his wife, Selena, died and she was buried in Hinckley, Utah. He moved to Grover, Wyoming and met and married Nellie Verona Van Leuven Dutson, the widow of his oldest brother, George. Christopher and Nellie lived together for six months, then divorced. They had a son, Eldon, born 27 April 1912. Christopher became a freighter.

The family moved to Afton, Wyoming so Pearl, the oldest daughter, could work in the hospital to be trained as a nurse. Christopher homesteaded and worked part time as a freighter. When Pearl married and moved to Cache Valley, Christopher moved there, too. He worked in Lewiston hauling beets , then sold his team and went to work for the railroad and injured his back. He could braid leather for riding crops. He sang songs to the family. He then lived with Pearl and her family. They moved to Franklin, Idaho to live. He lived with his son Larry in San Francisco, California for awhile until 1942 when Pearl moved to Ogden and he moved back with her family. He died at the Weber Memorial Hospital in Roy and was buried in Hinckley next to his beloved Selena.

PCarson, Contributor