BURTON DUSTIN
1881 – 1946
My Father by Dixie Dustin Taylor
Dad was the 5th son of Edwin Seth Dustin and Charlotte Hunt, born August 15, 1881 in Taylor, Arizona. Then there was a sister and two more brothers to follow. Grandma lost three young children and one son, Eddie, who was nineteen years old. I don't know if he met with an accident or a bad sickness. I never heard Dad talk about him. He probably did when I was too young to remember.
Dad was a large, 6 foot, well built man with auburn hair, blue eyes and freckles. He always stood and sat so straight and tall. I can remember him I in church sitting so straight with his arms folded, never slumping. How he loved his two daughters. Nothing was too good for us. When he and mother were married he only had a horse that was blind in one eye and a wagon. Dad was about fifteen when his family moved to Fruitland, June 6, 1896. He met Mother there, then Mother moved up to Jackson (LaPlata) and he rode his pony up to see her. After Mother's father was killed she moved back to Kirtland with her mother. They courted for five years. Mother hated to leave her mother alone. They were married on January 21, 1904, on Mother's 25th birthday in. the Salt Lake Temple. They went on the train with George and Lucy Bloomfield. Dad didn't live long enough to have their golden wedding. The Bloomfield's did and they had mother serve at the guest book for their reception. The first winter they lived below Fruitland in kind of a dug-out. Parts of the two rooms were dug out of the hill side. They never showed us the place. Later they moved to the old white house below Kennedy hill. Verna was born there. It was torn down years ago. Then before I was born Dad had President Taylor build a red brick two room house on the now Harper Ranch, east of Kirtland. Harpers built an upstairs on the west side. The folks were so proud of it but in a year or so they moved to Fruitland on the Noel ranch. Later Dad traded it to Hamp Noel for the Tees-Nos-Pos Trading Post in 1913. So we moved there when I was 2 or 3 years old.
Dad was baptized August 2, 1892. President Elmer Taylor ordained Dad a Seventy on May 29, 1921. I have the ordination slip. I don't know if he went thru all the steps from a deacon on. Dad had very good health. I remember each morning how he heated a pint of water in a little kettle and squeezed the juice of half a lemon in it. That was his tonic. He was never in a hospital or sick in bed at home. He had a cyst removed on his neck once in Durango but didn't have to stay over night.
As a young man he freighted, with his father between Gallup and Fruitland. Then he bought the Tees-Nos-Pos store and ran that until I had to go to school. Then Uncle Al Foutz ran it for a while. For eighteen years he was a co-partner in the Progressive Mercantile Co. of Fruitland with his brother-in-law, Al Foutz, brother Shell Dustin and Willard Stolworthy. Dad and Willard ran the store for six months and drew $lOO.OO a month then they turned it over to Uncle Shell and Uncle Al. They never had a written contract, but each trusted the other. In 1941 the business was merged with Farmington Mercantile and everything was moved to Farmington. During Dad's active business life he assisted many young men to become successful, by loaning them money. He was honest in all his dealings and was highly respected by his many friends.
We moved to Farmington, 403 N. Behrend, on December 15, 1942, and the folks sold the farm of 80 acres to Loman Swapp for cash and moved to town to 116 N. Wall. Brother Swapp brought the money in a little black bag. I don't remember the price. They moved up to town April 24, 1943.
After we came in from Teec-Nos-Pos, when I was 7 or 8, we bought the house west of the Grace Wilson School and lived there until 1924. Then Dad had a big auction and sold all the machinery and furniture. He bought us a house in Salt Lake, 234 B Street, where Verna and I went to school for five winters. Dad roomed with Aunt Louie Dustin and Mrs. Wade. Roads were bad so he couldn't visit us very often. It took about 2 1/2 days to travel to Salt Lake.
When I was twelve, Dad bought the Greasewood Trading Store with Karl Ashcroft. We were out there every summer. After we were married and lived up at the Taylor flour mill one winter Dad asked if we wanted to buy his interest in the store. I didn't like the lonesome reservation but I didn't like sharing a house with Lloyd and Golda and having some of the family who were up working at the mill for dinner everyday. I was pregnant and didn't like company so often. So we bought his half of the store for $7,000.00 with not a penny down. We sold the store in 1945 for $25,000.00 so was not so bad. We were offered it back later for $89,000.00.
Dad loved his daughters and grandchildren. Too bad he couldn't have lived longer so they could remember him more. Dad was a self made man. He desired the better things in life. He was shrewd and wise. When he and Mother were married he only had enough schooling to learn how to add and subtract so mother taught him how to multiply and divide. One thing I can say about my Dad, he never complained when he had to go to work. He loved working and making money.
Around the first of June, 1946, Dad had a slight heart attack. He looked pale but went back to work on the new garage building he and Doug Peters were building to house the Basin Buick Garage. Jeannine stayed with them the night of June 8th and Mother woke up before it was light and saw the bathroom light on. She looked in Dad's room and the bed was empty. She was afraid to go in the front room. She must have sensed something was wrong so she laid down beside Jeannine and waited until it was light enough to see. She found Dad lying on the floor. He had slipped his tan work pants over his underwear. Mother called us at once and it didn't take us long to get there.
Verna had to come from Denver. Jeannine loved to stay with the folks. She was nine then. Dad was good to play games, like Chinese checkers with her. He carried her to bed that night. Three months before Dad's death he and Clinton took Golda and me to Albuquerque to catch a train to go to Kansas City. We had to be operated on for colon and hemorrhoid trouble. While Dad and Clinton were in Albuquerque they looked over the possibility of starting another theater or bank in Farmington. Dad enjoyed Clinton and liked to consult with him on business ventures.
Dad had quite a few buildings and property and E bonds. He bought four lots on Main Street. There was a building on one of them. He said "These four lots are for my four grandchildren". So after his death when things were being settled I reminded mother of this so she had papers made out. She had the income as long as she lived. Dorene came along much later (1955) so before mother died she gave Dorene an E bond that would mature to $1, OOO.OO. Mother gave Verna and me the lots where we later built the building where Zales and Mode 0 Day now stands. We bought Verna's half for $3,500.00. We first built the building to house Sprouse Reitz. The upstairs wasn't finished until later. Then we made it into offices which we rented to different oil companies. Then because of parking down town they moved out. We then made the offices into seven small apartments which we still rent. When West Main Street was opened up Dad bought that property for $4,500.00. The road out of town before went down Arrington. Dad had 529 feet on the north side and 465 feet on the south. He and Doug Peters were building the Buick garage building where Sleep World now is. After Dad's death I told Mother if she wanted to cancel a $lO,OOO.OO debt Clem owed Dad and give us the building that would be fine for both Verna and me, so she did. Then she didn't want to keep the rest of the land to worry about so divided it between her two daughters and sons-in-law. Earlier Dad had sold 53 feet to Bill and Louise Jolley on the west end. We were partners in the furniture business with Faun and Josie Taylor and when we dissolved that Faun took the store and building and we took his interest at the Long Hollow Mill and we bought back the 53 feet.
After Dad's death I have told that Mother couldn't come back to their house at 116 N. Wall, so we moved her to 113 N. Locke and had everything set up for her. She rented the house for a year or two. When she fell and broke her arm I cared for her thru it all. Clem wouldn't let Verna come to help so mother was so grateful that she gave me the home on Wall, which we sold soon after to Harry Graham.
The Progressive Merc, merged with the Farmington Merc. Then in a few years they wanted to buy the four owners out, Dad, Uncle Al, Uncle Shell and Willard Stolworthy. Mother said she didn't need the money so gave it to her kids. We each received $16,000.00 at that time. That helped us build the buildings we now have. After mother became sick and blind she wanted to divide what she had left which was her home and $18.000.00. She had given Myron the lot by her house so I told her I would just as soon have the home and Verna could have the money. The home wasn't worth more than $12.000.00 then so Verna was to pay all the expenses for Mother, utilities, taxes, food and a nurse to care for Mother. Verna died in two years (1958) and Mother in 1963. The last two or three years she ran out of money because she had two broken bones and big hospital bills so Clinton was willing to pay $450.00 a. month for her keep. Clem wouldn't help at all even though he had retired because of her gifts. But we were happy to partly pay her back. We never get too old to need our parents. I miss them so much. On the casket spray for Dad, I had written in gold letters "He's my Dad". I was very proud of him. How he loved the grandchildren. One time while eating in Durango he asked for a half cup of coffee so the waiter brought a cute small cup and saucer. Dad said to her "I have a fine grand daughter (Jaris) at home and I want to buy it for her, so they sold it to him.
Myron was special to him because he was the only grand son. If he ever saw him down town he started to dig in his pocket for some loose change to buy an ice cream cone. When Jaris and Jeannine were going to school, over at the old red school house on Wall, Myron, Deanna and I would stop by the folks after taking the girls to school. We liked pop, candy or bread and jam each morning.
Aunt Lucy has written well about Mother, but I would like to add my bit. I have told much about her in my story and also her mother's story, so do not want to tell about all that again. Mother held about every position in the church that a woman could hold -- Primary, Sunday School, MIA and Relief Society. Mildred Dustin Evans tells about one example of her service while she was Relief Society President. She certainly cared for the sick and dying. I wish she had kept a daily journal.
In the fall of 1924 we moved to Salt Lake City for five winters. My sister Verna attended BYU Business School then graduated from the University of Utah and I went to Junior High and High School. Mother went to the temple often. One winter she helped care for Aunt Clara B. Taylor who died of cancer. I told of Grandma Burnham living with us and dying there in the spring. As Verna graduated from college our Bishop Clawson asked her to go on a mission in the fall. Then after we returned to Kirtland Bishop Carlos Stolworthy asked me to go from the Ward so we were both called to go to the Canadian mission. That was a lonely time for mother. She said later how she used to walk thru the house and say to her self, "They are gone". Mother and Dad sold the Salt lake home and bought the Algert home in Fruitland and remodeled it so nice. It was lovely to come home to. Mother felt bad that we didn't stay home long enough to enjoy it. I was married in one year and Verna the next. Then after we moved to town in December, 1942, they sold out and came to Farmington in April, 1943, to be near us. Mother and Dad bought the home at 116 N. Wall and lived there until Dad's death on June 9, 1946. After the funeral mother went back to Denver with Verna and Clem. While she was gone she had us buy the home at 113 N. Locke and move her over there. We got everything put in place even to putting a bouquet of flowers on the table. Jaris and Jeannine took turns staying with her a week at a time until we had Brother Schofield make the home into two apartments. There was a door between that could be locked or left open. Mrs. Watt lived in the back apartment at least fourteen years. It was a nice arrangement.
Mother was quite well until 1956 when her only good eye started failing her. She had lost the sight in the other eye years before but it didn't bother her because she crocheted and read a lot in her spare time. It was so sad when her sight was completely gone. She always cried when Dorene or the grandchildren came because she couldn't see them, especially when a new baby was laid in her arms. Mother wanted to stay at home so we had different ladies hired to live there. They let her fall twice breaking a hip each time which was so hard on her. The best was Edith Hutchins. They learned lots of scriptures together and Mother knit pin cushions by the dozens. She liked to give them to the people who came to visit her. She made a doll afghan for Deanna.
The big sorrow that came during this time was loosing Verna. She died April 2, 1958, from a heart attack. Mother wasn't even able to attend her funeral. This left all the decisions on my shoulders. For seven years she was blind with glaucoma.
Mother died in her sleep July 16, 1963, at the age of 84. She went where she could see the sun rise and all beautiful things. She was a wonderful mother, always doing things for us and others. Our birthdays were special days. She loved her grandchildren so very much and they loved her. You never get too old to need your parents. Bless them.
Dixie Dustin Taylor
1881 – 1946
My Father by Dixie Dustin Taylor
Dad was the 5th son of Edwin Seth Dustin and Charlotte Hunt, born August 15, 1881 in Taylor, Arizona. Then there was a sister and two more brothers to follow. Grandma lost three young children and one son, Eddie, who was nineteen years old. I don't know if he met with an accident or a bad sickness. I never heard Dad talk about him. He probably did when I was too young to remember.
Dad was a large, 6 foot, well built man with auburn hair, blue eyes and freckles. He always stood and sat so straight and tall. I can remember him I in church sitting so straight with his arms folded, never slumping. How he loved his two daughters. Nothing was too good for us. When he and mother were married he only had a horse that was blind in one eye and a wagon. Dad was about fifteen when his family moved to Fruitland, June 6, 1896. He met Mother there, then Mother moved up to Jackson (LaPlata) and he rode his pony up to see her. After Mother's father was killed she moved back to Kirtland with her mother. They courted for five years. Mother hated to leave her mother alone. They were married on January 21, 1904, on Mother's 25th birthday in. the Salt Lake Temple. They went on the train with George and Lucy Bloomfield. Dad didn't live long enough to have their golden wedding. The Bloomfield's did and they had mother serve at the guest book for their reception. The first winter they lived below Fruitland in kind of a dug-out. Parts of the two rooms were dug out of the hill side. They never showed us the place. Later they moved to the old white house below Kennedy hill. Verna was born there. It was torn down years ago. Then before I was born Dad had President Taylor build a red brick two room house on the now Harper Ranch, east of Kirtland. Harpers built an upstairs on the west side. The folks were so proud of it but in a year or so they moved to Fruitland on the Noel ranch. Later Dad traded it to Hamp Noel for the Tees-Nos-Pos Trading Post in 1913. So we moved there when I was 2 or 3 years old.
Dad was baptized August 2, 1892. President Elmer Taylor ordained Dad a Seventy on May 29, 1921. I have the ordination slip. I don't know if he went thru all the steps from a deacon on. Dad had very good health. I remember each morning how he heated a pint of water in a little kettle and squeezed the juice of half a lemon in it. That was his tonic. He was never in a hospital or sick in bed at home. He had a cyst removed on his neck once in Durango but didn't have to stay over night.
As a young man he freighted, with his father between Gallup and Fruitland. Then he bought the Tees-Nos-Pos store and ran that until I had to go to school. Then Uncle Al Foutz ran it for a while. For eighteen years he was a co-partner in the Progressive Mercantile Co. of Fruitland with his brother-in-law, Al Foutz, brother Shell Dustin and Willard Stolworthy. Dad and Willard ran the store for six months and drew $lOO.OO a month then they turned it over to Uncle Shell and Uncle Al. They never had a written contract, but each trusted the other. In 1941 the business was merged with Farmington Mercantile and everything was moved to Farmington. During Dad's active business life he assisted many young men to become successful, by loaning them money. He was honest in all his dealings and was highly respected by his many friends.
We moved to Farmington, 403 N. Behrend, on December 15, 1942, and the folks sold the farm of 80 acres to Loman Swapp for cash and moved to town to 116 N. Wall. Brother Swapp brought the money in a little black bag. I don't remember the price. They moved up to town April 24, 1943.
After we came in from Teec-Nos-Pos, when I was 7 or 8, we bought the house west of the Grace Wilson School and lived there until 1924. Then Dad had a big auction and sold all the machinery and furniture. He bought us a house in Salt Lake, 234 B Street, where Verna and I went to school for five winters. Dad roomed with Aunt Louie Dustin and Mrs. Wade. Roads were bad so he couldn't visit us very often. It took about 2 1/2 days to travel to Salt Lake.
When I was twelve, Dad bought the Greasewood Trading Store with Karl Ashcroft. We were out there every summer. After we were married and lived up at the Taylor flour mill one winter Dad asked if we wanted to buy his interest in the store. I didn't like the lonesome reservation but I didn't like sharing a house with Lloyd and Golda and having some of the family who were up working at the mill for dinner everyday. I was pregnant and didn't like company so often. So we bought his half of the store for $7,000.00 with not a penny down. We sold the store in 1945 for $25,000.00 so was not so bad. We were offered it back later for $89,000.00.
Dad loved his daughters and grandchildren. Too bad he couldn't have lived longer so they could remember him more. Dad was a self made man. He desired the better things in life. He was shrewd and wise. When he and Mother were married he only had enough schooling to learn how to add and subtract so mother taught him how to multiply and divide. One thing I can say about my Dad, he never complained when he had to go to work. He loved working and making money.
Around the first of June, 1946, Dad had a slight heart attack. He looked pale but went back to work on the new garage building he and Doug Peters were building to house the Basin Buick Garage. Jeannine stayed with them the night of June 8th and Mother woke up before it was light and saw the bathroom light on. She looked in Dad's room and the bed was empty. She was afraid to go in the front room. She must have sensed something was wrong so she laid down beside Jeannine and waited until it was light enough to see. She found Dad lying on the floor. He had slipped his tan work pants over his underwear. Mother called us at once and it didn't take us long to get there.
Verna had to come from Denver. Jeannine loved to stay with the folks. She was nine then. Dad was good to play games, like Chinese checkers with her. He carried her to bed that night. Three months before Dad's death he and Clinton took Golda and me to Albuquerque to catch a train to go to Kansas City. We had to be operated on for colon and hemorrhoid trouble. While Dad and Clinton were in Albuquerque they looked over the possibility of starting another theater or bank in Farmington. Dad enjoyed Clinton and liked to consult with him on business ventures.
Dad had quite a few buildings and property and E bonds. He bought four lots on Main Street. There was a building on one of them. He said "These four lots are for my four grandchildren". So after his death when things were being settled I reminded mother of this so she had papers made out. She had the income as long as she lived. Dorene came along much later (1955) so before mother died she gave Dorene an E bond that would mature to $1, OOO.OO. Mother gave Verna and me the lots where we later built the building where Zales and Mode 0 Day now stands. We bought Verna's half for $3,500.00. We first built the building to house Sprouse Reitz. The upstairs wasn't finished until later. Then we made it into offices which we rented to different oil companies. Then because of parking down town they moved out. We then made the offices into seven small apartments which we still rent. When West Main Street was opened up Dad bought that property for $4,500.00. The road out of town before went down Arrington. Dad had 529 feet on the north side and 465 feet on the south. He and Doug Peters were building the Buick garage building where Sleep World now is. After Dad's death I told Mother if she wanted to cancel a $lO,OOO.OO debt Clem owed Dad and give us the building that would be fine for both Verna and me, so she did. Then she didn't want to keep the rest of the land to worry about so divided it between her two daughters and sons-in-law. Earlier Dad had sold 53 feet to Bill and Louise Jolley on the west end. We were partners in the furniture business with Faun and Josie Taylor and when we dissolved that Faun took the store and building and we took his interest at the Long Hollow Mill and we bought back the 53 feet.
After Dad's death I have told that Mother couldn't come back to their house at 116 N. Wall, so we moved her to 113 N. Locke and had everything set up for her. She rented the house for a year or two. When she fell and broke her arm I cared for her thru it all. Clem wouldn't let Verna come to help so mother was so grateful that she gave me the home on Wall, which we sold soon after to Harry Graham.
The Progressive Merc, merged with the Farmington Merc. Then in a few years they wanted to buy the four owners out, Dad, Uncle Al, Uncle Shell and Willard Stolworthy. Mother said she didn't need the money so gave it to her kids. We each received $16,000.00 at that time. That helped us build the buildings we now have. After mother became sick and blind she wanted to divide what she had left which was her home and $18.000.00. She had given Myron the lot by her house so I told her I would just as soon have the home and Verna could have the money. The home wasn't worth more than $12.000.00 then so Verna was to pay all the expenses for Mother, utilities, taxes, food and a nurse to care for Mother. Verna died in two years (1958) and Mother in 1963. The last two or three years she ran out of money because she had two broken bones and big hospital bills so Clinton was willing to pay $450.00 a. month for her keep. Clem wouldn't help at all even though he had retired because of her gifts. But we were happy to partly pay her back. We never get too old to need our parents. I miss them so much. On the casket spray for Dad, I had written in gold letters "He's my Dad". I was very proud of him. How he loved the grandchildren. One time while eating in Durango he asked for a half cup of coffee so the waiter brought a cute small cup and saucer. Dad said to her "I have a fine grand daughter (Jaris) at home and I want to buy it for her, so they sold it to him.
Myron was special to him because he was the only grand son. If he ever saw him down town he started to dig in his pocket for some loose change to buy an ice cream cone. When Jaris and Jeannine were going to school, over at the old red school house on Wall, Myron, Deanna and I would stop by the folks after taking the girls to school. We liked pop, candy or bread and jam each morning.
Aunt Lucy has written well about Mother, but I would like to add my bit. I have told much about her in my story and also her mother's story, so do not want to tell about all that again. Mother held about every position in the church that a woman could hold -- Primary, Sunday School, MIA and Relief Society. Mildred Dustin Evans tells about one example of her service while she was Relief Society President. She certainly cared for the sick and dying. I wish she had kept a daily journal.
In the fall of 1924 we moved to Salt Lake City for five winters. My sister Verna attended BYU Business School then graduated from the University of Utah and I went to Junior High and High School. Mother went to the temple often. One winter she helped care for Aunt Clara B. Taylor who died of cancer. I told of Grandma Burnham living with us and dying there in the spring. As Verna graduated from college our Bishop Clawson asked her to go on a mission in the fall. Then after we returned to Kirtland Bishop Carlos Stolworthy asked me to go from the Ward so we were both called to go to the Canadian mission. That was a lonely time for mother. She said later how she used to walk thru the house and say to her self, "They are gone". Mother and Dad sold the Salt lake home and bought the Algert home in Fruitland and remodeled it so nice. It was lovely to come home to. Mother felt bad that we didn't stay home long enough to enjoy it. I was married in one year and Verna the next. Then after we moved to town in December, 1942, they sold out and came to Farmington in April, 1943, to be near us. Mother and Dad bought the home at 116 N. Wall and lived there until Dad's death on June 9, 1946. After the funeral mother went back to Denver with Verna and Clem. While she was gone she had us buy the home at 113 N. Locke and move her over there. We got everything put in place even to putting a bouquet of flowers on the table. Jaris and Jeannine took turns staying with her a week at a time until we had Brother Schofield make the home into two apartments. There was a door between that could be locked or left open. Mrs. Watt lived in the back apartment at least fourteen years. It was a nice arrangement.
Mother was quite well until 1956 when her only good eye started failing her. She had lost the sight in the other eye years before but it didn't bother her because she crocheted and read a lot in her spare time. It was so sad when her sight was completely gone. She always cried when Dorene or the grandchildren came because she couldn't see them, especially when a new baby was laid in her arms. Mother wanted to stay at home so we had different ladies hired to live there. They let her fall twice breaking a hip each time which was so hard on her. The best was Edith Hutchins. They learned lots of scriptures together and Mother knit pin cushions by the dozens. She liked to give them to the people who came to visit her. She made a doll afghan for Deanna.
The big sorrow that came during this time was loosing Verna. She died April 2, 1958, from a heart attack. Mother wasn't even able to attend her funeral. This left all the decisions on my shoulders. For seven years she was blind with glaucoma.
Mother died in her sleep July 16, 1963, at the age of 84. She went where she could see the sun rise and all beautiful things. She was a wonderful mother, always doing things for us and others. Our birthdays were special days. She loved her grandchildren so very much and they loved her. You never get too old to need your parents. Bless them.
Dixie Dustin Taylor
BURTON DUSTIN
1881 – 1946
My Father by Dixie Dustin Taylor
Dad was the 5th son of Edwin Seth Dustin and Charlotte Hunt, born August 15, 1881 in Taylor, Arizona. Then there was a sister and two more brothers to follow. Grandma lost three young children and one son, Eddie, who was nineteen years old. I don't know if he met with an accident or a bad sickness. I never heard Dad talk about him. He probably did when I was too young to remember.
Dad was a large, 6 foot, well built man with auburn hair, blue eyes and freckles. He always stood and sat so straight and tall. I can remember him I in church sitting so straight with his arms folded, never slumping. How he loved his two daughters. Nothing was too good for us. When he and mother were married he only had a horse that was blind in one eye and a wagon. Dad was about fifteen when his family moved to Fruitland, June 6, 1896. He met Mother there, then Mother moved up to Jackson (LaPlata) and he rode his pony up to see her. After Mother's father was killed she moved back to Kirtland with her mother. They courted for five years. Mother hated to leave her mother alone. They were married on January 21, 1904, on Mother's 25th birthday in. the Salt Lake Temple. They went on the train with George and Lucy Bloomfield. Dad didn't live long enough to have their golden wedding. The Bloomfield's did and they had mother serve at the guest book for their reception. The first winter they lived below Fruitland in kind of a dug-out. Parts of the two rooms were dug out of the hill side. They never showed us the place. Later they moved to the old white house below Kennedy hill. Verna was born there. It was torn down years ago. Then before I was born Dad had President Taylor build a red brick two room house on the now Harper Ranch, east of Kirtland. Harpers built an upstairs on the west side. The folks were so proud of it but in a year or so they moved to Fruitland on the Noel ranch. Later Dad traded it to Hamp Noel for the Tees-Nos-Pos Trading Post in 1913. So we moved there when I was 2 or 3 years old.
Dad was baptized August 2, 1892. President Elmer Taylor ordained Dad a Seventy on May 29, 1921. I have the ordination slip. I don't know if he went thru all the steps from a deacon on. Dad had very good health. I remember each morning how he heated a pint of water in a little kettle and squeezed the juice of half a lemon in it. That was his tonic. He was never in a hospital or sick in bed at home. He had a cyst removed on his neck once in Durango but didn't have to stay over night.
As a young man he freighted, with his father between Gallup and Fruitland. Then he bought the Tees-Nos-Pos store and ran that until I had to go to school. Then Uncle Al Foutz ran it for a while. For eighteen years he was a co-partner in the Progressive Mercantile Co. of Fruitland with his brother-in-law, Al Foutz, brother Shell Dustin and Willard Stolworthy. Dad and Willard ran the store for six months and drew $lOO.OO a month then they turned it over to Uncle Shell and Uncle Al. They never had a written contract, but each trusted the other. In 1941 the business was merged with Farmington Mercantile and everything was moved to Farmington. During Dad's active business life he assisted many young men to become successful, by loaning them money. He was honest in all his dealings and was highly respected by his many friends.
We moved to Farmington, 403 N. Behrend, on December 15, 1942, and the folks sold the farm of 80 acres to Loman Swapp for cash and moved to town to 116 N. Wall. Brother Swapp brought the money in a little black bag. I don't remember the price. They moved up to town April 24, 1943.
After we came in from Teec-Nos-Pos, when I was 7 or 8, we bought the house west of the Grace Wilson School and lived there until 1924. Then Dad had a big auction and sold all the machinery and furniture. He bought us a house in Salt Lake, 234 B Street, where Verna and I went to school for five winters. Dad roomed with Aunt Louie Dustin and Mrs. Wade. Roads were bad so he couldn't visit us very often. It took about 2 1/2 days to travel to Salt Lake.
When I was twelve, Dad bought the Greasewood Trading Store with Karl Ashcroft. We were out there every summer. After we were married and lived up at the Taylor flour mill one winter Dad asked if we wanted to buy his interest in the store. I didn't like the lonesome reservation but I didn't like sharing a house with Lloyd and Golda and having some of the family who were up working at the mill for dinner everyday. I was pregnant and didn't like company so often. So we bought his half of the store for $7,000.00 with not a penny down. We sold the store in 1945 for $25,000.00 so was not so bad. We were offered it back later for $89,000.00.
Dad loved his daughters and grandchildren. Too bad he couldn't have lived longer so they could remember him more. Dad was a self made man. He desired the better things in life. He was shrewd and wise. When he and Mother were married he only had enough schooling to learn how to add and subtract so mother taught him how to multiply and divide. One thing I can say about my Dad, he never complained when he had to go to work. He loved working and making money.
Around the first of June, 1946, Dad had a slight heart attack. He looked pale but went back to work on the new garage building he and Doug Peters were building to house the Basin Buick Garage. Jeannine stayed with them the night of June 8th and Mother woke up before it was light and saw the bathroom light on. She looked in Dad's room and the bed was empty. She was afraid to go in the front room. She must have sensed something was wrong so she laid down beside Jeannine and waited until it was light enough to see. She found Dad lying on the floor. He had slipped his tan work pants over his underwear. Mother called us at once and it didn't take us long to get there.
Verna had to come from Denver. Jeannine loved to stay with the folks. She was nine then. Dad was good to play games, like Chinese checkers with her. He carried her to bed that night. Three months before Dad's death he and Clinton took Golda and me to Albuquerque to catch a train to go to Kansas City. We had to be operated on for colon and hemorrhoid trouble. While Dad and Clinton were in Albuquerque they looked over the possibility of starting another theater or bank in Farmington. Dad enjoyed Clinton and liked to consult with him on business ventures.
Dad had quite a few buildings and property and E bonds. He bought four lots on Main Street. There was a building on one of them. He said "These four lots are for my four grandchildren". So after his death when things were being settled I reminded mother of this so she had papers made out. She had the income as long as she lived. Dorene came along much later (1955) so before mother died she gave Dorene an E bond that would mature to $1, OOO.OO. Mother gave Verna and me the lots where we later built the building where Zales and Mode 0 Day now stands. We bought Verna's half for $3,500.00. We first built the building to house Sprouse Reitz. The upstairs wasn't finished until later. Then we made it into offices which we rented to different oil companies. Then because of parking down town they moved out. We then made the offices into seven small apartments which we still rent. When West Main Street was opened up Dad bought that property for $4,500.00. The road out of town before went down Arrington. Dad had 529 feet on the north side and 465 feet on the south. He and Doug Peters were building the Buick garage building where Sleep World now is. After Dad's death I told Mother if she wanted to cancel a $lO,OOO.OO debt Clem owed Dad and give us the building that would be fine for both Verna and me, so she did. Then she didn't want to keep the rest of the land to worry about so divided it between her two daughters and sons-in-law. Earlier Dad had sold 53 feet to Bill and Louise Jolley on the west end. We were partners in the furniture business with Faun and Josie Taylor and when we dissolved that Faun took the store and building and we took his interest at the Long Hollow Mill and we bought back the 53 feet.
After Dad's death I have told that Mother couldn't come back to their house at 116 N. Wall, so we moved her to 113 N. Locke and had everything set up for her. She rented the house for a year or two. When she fell and broke her arm I cared for her thru it all. Clem wouldn't let Verna come to help so mother was so grateful that she gave me the home on Wall, which we sold soon after to Harry Graham.
The Progressive Merc, merged with the Farmington Merc. Then in a few years they wanted to buy the four owners out, Dad, Uncle Al, Uncle Shell and Willard Stolworthy. Mother said she didn't need the money so gave it to her kids. We each received $16,000.00 at that time. That helped us build the buildings we now have. After mother became sick and blind she wanted to divide what she had left which was her home and $18.000.00. She had given Myron the lot by her house so I told her I would just as soon have the home and Verna could have the money. The home wasn't worth more than $12.000.00 then so Verna was to pay all the expenses for Mother, utilities, taxes, food and a nurse to care for Mother. Verna died in two years (1958) and Mother in 1963. The last two or three years she ran out of money because she had two broken bones and big hospital bills so Clinton was willing to pay $450.00 a. month for her keep. Clem wouldn't help at all even though he had retired because of her gifts. But we were happy to partly pay her back. We never get too old to need our parents. I miss them so much. On the casket spray for Dad, I had written in gold letters "He's my Dad". I was very proud of him. How he loved the grandchildren. One time while eating in Durango he asked for a half cup of coffee so the waiter brought a cute small cup and saucer. Dad said to her "I have a fine grand daughter (Jaris) at home and I want to buy it for her, so they sold it to him.
Myron was special to him because he was the only grand son. If he ever saw him down town he started to dig in his pocket for some loose change to buy an ice cream cone. When Jaris and Jeannine were going to school, over at the old red school house on Wall, Myron, Deanna and I would stop by the folks after taking the girls to school. We liked pop, candy or bread and jam each morning.
Aunt Lucy has written well about Mother, but I would like to add my bit. I have told much about her in my story and also her mother's story, so do not want to tell about all that again. Mother held about every position in the church that a woman could hold -- Primary, Sunday School, MIA and Relief Society. Mildred Dustin Evans tells about one example of her service while she was Relief Society President. She certainly cared for the sick and dying. I wish she had kept a daily journal.
In the fall of 1924 we moved to Salt Lake City for five winters. My sister Verna attended BYU Business School then graduated from the University of Utah and I went to Junior High and High School. Mother went to the temple often. One winter she helped care for Aunt Clara B. Taylor who died of cancer. I told of Grandma Burnham living with us and dying there in the spring. As Verna graduated from college our Bishop Clawson asked her to go on a mission in the fall. Then after we returned to Kirtland Bishop Carlos Stolworthy asked me to go from the Ward so we were both called to go to the Canadian mission. That was a lonely time for mother. She said later how she used to walk thru the house and say to her self, "They are gone". Mother and Dad sold the Salt lake home and bought the Algert home in Fruitland and remodeled it so nice. It was lovely to come home to. Mother felt bad that we didn't stay home long enough to enjoy it. I was married in one year and Verna the next. Then after we moved to town in December, 1942, they sold out and came to Farmington in April, 1943, to be near us. Mother and Dad bought the home at 116 N. Wall and lived there until Dad's death on June 9, 1946. After the funeral mother went back to Denver with Verna and Clem. While she was gone she had us buy the home at 113 N. Locke and move her over there. We got everything put in place even to putting a bouquet of flowers on the table. Jaris and Jeannine took turns staying with her a week at a time until we had Brother Schofield make the home into two apartments. There was a door between that could be locked or left open. Mrs. Watt lived in the back apartment at least fourteen years. It was a nice arrangement.
Mother was quite well until 1956 when her only good eye started failing her. She had lost the sight in the other eye years before but it didn't bother her because she crocheted and read a lot in her spare time. It was so sad when her sight was completely gone. She always cried when Dorene or the grandchildren came because she couldn't see them, especially when a new baby was laid in her arms. Mother wanted to stay at home so we had different ladies hired to live there. They let her fall twice breaking a hip each time which was so hard on her. The best was Edith Hutchins. They learned lots of scriptures together and Mother knit pin cushions by the dozens. She liked to give them to the people who came to visit her. She made a doll afghan for Deanna.
The big sorrow that came during this time was loosing Verna. She died April 2, 1958, from a heart attack. Mother wasn't even able to attend her funeral. This left all the decisions on my shoulders. For seven years she was blind with glaucoma.
Mother died in her sleep July 16, 1963, at the age of 84. She went where she could see the sun rise and all beautiful things. She was a wonderful mother, always doing things for us and others. Our birthdays were special days. She loved her grandchildren so very much and they loved her. You never get too old to need your parents. Bless them.
Dixie Dustin Taylor
1881 – 1946
My Father by Dixie Dustin Taylor
Dad was the 5th son of Edwin Seth Dustin and Charlotte Hunt, born August 15, 1881 in Taylor, Arizona. Then there was a sister and two more brothers to follow. Grandma lost three young children and one son, Eddie, who was nineteen years old. I don't know if he met with an accident or a bad sickness. I never heard Dad talk about him. He probably did when I was too young to remember.
Dad was a large, 6 foot, well built man with auburn hair, blue eyes and freckles. He always stood and sat so straight and tall. I can remember him I in church sitting so straight with his arms folded, never slumping. How he loved his two daughters. Nothing was too good for us. When he and mother were married he only had a horse that was blind in one eye and a wagon. Dad was about fifteen when his family moved to Fruitland, June 6, 1896. He met Mother there, then Mother moved up to Jackson (LaPlata) and he rode his pony up to see her. After Mother's father was killed she moved back to Kirtland with her mother. They courted for five years. Mother hated to leave her mother alone. They were married on January 21, 1904, on Mother's 25th birthday in. the Salt Lake Temple. They went on the train with George and Lucy Bloomfield. Dad didn't live long enough to have their golden wedding. The Bloomfield's did and they had mother serve at the guest book for their reception. The first winter they lived below Fruitland in kind of a dug-out. Parts of the two rooms were dug out of the hill side. They never showed us the place. Later they moved to the old white house below Kennedy hill. Verna was born there. It was torn down years ago. Then before I was born Dad had President Taylor build a red brick two room house on the now Harper Ranch, east of Kirtland. Harpers built an upstairs on the west side. The folks were so proud of it but in a year or so they moved to Fruitland on the Noel ranch. Later Dad traded it to Hamp Noel for the Tees-Nos-Pos Trading Post in 1913. So we moved there when I was 2 or 3 years old.
Dad was baptized August 2, 1892. President Elmer Taylor ordained Dad a Seventy on May 29, 1921. I have the ordination slip. I don't know if he went thru all the steps from a deacon on. Dad had very good health. I remember each morning how he heated a pint of water in a little kettle and squeezed the juice of half a lemon in it. That was his tonic. He was never in a hospital or sick in bed at home. He had a cyst removed on his neck once in Durango but didn't have to stay over night.
As a young man he freighted, with his father between Gallup and Fruitland. Then he bought the Tees-Nos-Pos store and ran that until I had to go to school. Then Uncle Al Foutz ran it for a while. For eighteen years he was a co-partner in the Progressive Mercantile Co. of Fruitland with his brother-in-law, Al Foutz, brother Shell Dustin and Willard Stolworthy. Dad and Willard ran the store for six months and drew $lOO.OO a month then they turned it over to Uncle Shell and Uncle Al. They never had a written contract, but each trusted the other. In 1941 the business was merged with Farmington Mercantile and everything was moved to Farmington. During Dad's active business life he assisted many young men to become successful, by loaning them money. He was honest in all his dealings and was highly respected by his many friends.
We moved to Farmington, 403 N. Behrend, on December 15, 1942, and the folks sold the farm of 80 acres to Loman Swapp for cash and moved to town to 116 N. Wall. Brother Swapp brought the money in a little black bag. I don't remember the price. They moved up to town April 24, 1943.
After we came in from Teec-Nos-Pos, when I was 7 or 8, we bought the house west of the Grace Wilson School and lived there until 1924. Then Dad had a big auction and sold all the machinery and furniture. He bought us a house in Salt Lake, 234 B Street, where Verna and I went to school for five winters. Dad roomed with Aunt Louie Dustin and Mrs. Wade. Roads were bad so he couldn't visit us very often. It took about 2 1/2 days to travel to Salt Lake.
When I was twelve, Dad bought the Greasewood Trading Store with Karl Ashcroft. We were out there every summer. After we were married and lived up at the Taylor flour mill one winter Dad asked if we wanted to buy his interest in the store. I didn't like the lonesome reservation but I didn't like sharing a house with Lloyd and Golda and having some of the family who were up working at the mill for dinner everyday. I was pregnant and didn't like company so often. So we bought his half of the store for $7,000.00 with not a penny down. We sold the store in 1945 for $25,000.00 so was not so bad. We were offered it back later for $89,000.00.
Dad loved his daughters and grandchildren. Too bad he couldn't have lived longer so they could remember him more. Dad was a self made man. He desired the better things in life. He was shrewd and wise. When he and Mother were married he only had enough schooling to learn how to add and subtract so mother taught him how to multiply and divide. One thing I can say about my Dad, he never complained when he had to go to work. He loved working and making money.
Around the first of June, 1946, Dad had a slight heart attack. He looked pale but went back to work on the new garage building he and Doug Peters were building to house the Basin Buick Garage. Jeannine stayed with them the night of June 8th and Mother woke up before it was light and saw the bathroom light on. She looked in Dad's room and the bed was empty. She was afraid to go in the front room. She must have sensed something was wrong so she laid down beside Jeannine and waited until it was light enough to see. She found Dad lying on the floor. He had slipped his tan work pants over his underwear. Mother called us at once and it didn't take us long to get there.
Verna had to come from Denver. Jeannine loved to stay with the folks. She was nine then. Dad was good to play games, like Chinese checkers with her. He carried her to bed that night. Three months before Dad's death he and Clinton took Golda and me to Albuquerque to catch a train to go to Kansas City. We had to be operated on for colon and hemorrhoid trouble. While Dad and Clinton were in Albuquerque they looked over the possibility of starting another theater or bank in Farmington. Dad enjoyed Clinton and liked to consult with him on business ventures.
Dad had quite a few buildings and property and E bonds. He bought four lots on Main Street. There was a building on one of them. He said "These four lots are for my four grandchildren". So after his death when things were being settled I reminded mother of this so she had papers made out. She had the income as long as she lived. Dorene came along much later (1955) so before mother died she gave Dorene an E bond that would mature to $1, OOO.OO. Mother gave Verna and me the lots where we later built the building where Zales and Mode 0 Day now stands. We bought Verna's half for $3,500.00. We first built the building to house Sprouse Reitz. The upstairs wasn't finished until later. Then we made it into offices which we rented to different oil companies. Then because of parking down town they moved out. We then made the offices into seven small apartments which we still rent. When West Main Street was opened up Dad bought that property for $4,500.00. The road out of town before went down Arrington. Dad had 529 feet on the north side and 465 feet on the south. He and Doug Peters were building the Buick garage building where Sleep World now is. After Dad's death I told Mother if she wanted to cancel a $lO,OOO.OO debt Clem owed Dad and give us the building that would be fine for both Verna and me, so she did. Then she didn't want to keep the rest of the land to worry about so divided it between her two daughters and sons-in-law. Earlier Dad had sold 53 feet to Bill and Louise Jolley on the west end. We were partners in the furniture business with Faun and Josie Taylor and when we dissolved that Faun took the store and building and we took his interest at the Long Hollow Mill and we bought back the 53 feet.
After Dad's death I have told that Mother couldn't come back to their house at 116 N. Wall, so we moved her to 113 N. Locke and had everything set up for her. She rented the house for a year or two. When she fell and broke her arm I cared for her thru it all. Clem wouldn't let Verna come to help so mother was so grateful that she gave me the home on Wall, which we sold soon after to Harry Graham.
The Progressive Merc, merged with the Farmington Merc. Then in a few years they wanted to buy the four owners out, Dad, Uncle Al, Uncle Shell and Willard Stolworthy. Mother said she didn't need the money so gave it to her kids. We each received $16,000.00 at that time. That helped us build the buildings we now have. After mother became sick and blind she wanted to divide what she had left which was her home and $18.000.00. She had given Myron the lot by her house so I told her I would just as soon have the home and Verna could have the money. The home wasn't worth more than $12.000.00 then so Verna was to pay all the expenses for Mother, utilities, taxes, food and a nurse to care for Mother. Verna died in two years (1958) and Mother in 1963. The last two or three years she ran out of money because she had two broken bones and big hospital bills so Clinton was willing to pay $450.00 a. month for her keep. Clem wouldn't help at all even though he had retired because of her gifts. But we were happy to partly pay her back. We never get too old to need our parents. I miss them so much. On the casket spray for Dad, I had written in gold letters "He's my Dad". I was very proud of him. How he loved the grandchildren. One time while eating in Durango he asked for a half cup of coffee so the waiter brought a cute small cup and saucer. Dad said to her "I have a fine grand daughter (Jaris) at home and I want to buy it for her, so they sold it to him.
Myron was special to him because he was the only grand son. If he ever saw him down town he started to dig in his pocket for some loose change to buy an ice cream cone. When Jaris and Jeannine were going to school, over at the old red school house on Wall, Myron, Deanna and I would stop by the folks after taking the girls to school. We liked pop, candy or bread and jam each morning.
Aunt Lucy has written well about Mother, but I would like to add my bit. I have told much about her in my story and also her mother's story, so do not want to tell about all that again. Mother held about every position in the church that a woman could hold -- Primary, Sunday School, MIA and Relief Society. Mildred Dustin Evans tells about one example of her service while she was Relief Society President. She certainly cared for the sick and dying. I wish she had kept a daily journal.
In the fall of 1924 we moved to Salt Lake City for five winters. My sister Verna attended BYU Business School then graduated from the University of Utah and I went to Junior High and High School. Mother went to the temple often. One winter she helped care for Aunt Clara B. Taylor who died of cancer. I told of Grandma Burnham living with us and dying there in the spring. As Verna graduated from college our Bishop Clawson asked her to go on a mission in the fall. Then after we returned to Kirtland Bishop Carlos Stolworthy asked me to go from the Ward so we were both called to go to the Canadian mission. That was a lonely time for mother. She said later how she used to walk thru the house and say to her self, "They are gone". Mother and Dad sold the Salt lake home and bought the Algert home in Fruitland and remodeled it so nice. It was lovely to come home to. Mother felt bad that we didn't stay home long enough to enjoy it. I was married in one year and Verna the next. Then after we moved to town in December, 1942, they sold out and came to Farmington in April, 1943, to be near us. Mother and Dad bought the home at 116 N. Wall and lived there until Dad's death on June 9, 1946. After the funeral mother went back to Denver with Verna and Clem. While she was gone she had us buy the home at 113 N. Locke and move her over there. We got everything put in place even to putting a bouquet of flowers on the table. Jaris and Jeannine took turns staying with her a week at a time until we had Brother Schofield make the home into two apartments. There was a door between that could be locked or left open. Mrs. Watt lived in the back apartment at least fourteen years. It was a nice arrangement.
Mother was quite well until 1956 when her only good eye started failing her. She had lost the sight in the other eye years before but it didn't bother her because she crocheted and read a lot in her spare time. It was so sad when her sight was completely gone. She always cried when Dorene or the grandchildren came because she couldn't see them, especially when a new baby was laid in her arms. Mother wanted to stay at home so we had different ladies hired to live there. They let her fall twice breaking a hip each time which was so hard on her. The best was Edith Hutchins. They learned lots of scriptures together and Mother knit pin cushions by the dozens. She liked to give them to the people who came to visit her. She made a doll afghan for Deanna.
The big sorrow that came during this time was loosing Verna. She died April 2, 1958, from a heart attack. Mother wasn't even able to attend her funeral. This left all the decisions on my shoulders. For seven years she was blind with glaucoma.
Mother died in her sleep July 16, 1963, at the age of 84. She went where she could see the sun rise and all beautiful things. She was a wonderful mother, always doing things for us and others. Our birthdays were special days. She loved her grandchildren so very much and they loved her. You never get too old to need your parents. Bless them.
Dixie Dustin Taylor
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
