Celestia Curtis Durfee (1832-1891) - Find a Grave Memorial

Celestia Curtis Durfee

Birth

21 Apr 1832

Tioga County, Pennsylvania, USA

Death

17 Jun 1891 (aged 59)

Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA

Burial

Aurora Cemetery

Aurora, Sevier County, Utah, USA Add to Map

Plot

Block 7. Grave 12.

Memorial ID

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Celestia’s parents, Enos Curtis and Ruth Franklin, were among the first people to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1831.

The family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and was there when the temple was dedication. When the body of Saints moved to Missouri, they followed and suffered all of the persecutions that beset them.

They moved again to Lima and Nauvoo, Illinois and assisted in building the Nauvoo temple. Forced to move again, they settled on Pottawattamie, Indian lands, on the banks of the Missouri River. When her mother, Ruth Franklin Curtis, died in February 1848, her father took his family West with the Brigham Young Wagon Company. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 21, 1848. In 1850, Celestia married Jabez Durfee and they settled in Springville, Utah. In 1854, Brigham Young called the family to the Iron Mission in Cedar City. It was a very difficult mission. They moved back to Springville in 1859. Celestia helped plant an orchard and patch of blackberries. They had honeybees and a molasses mill. They built a large three-story home on the Main Street of Springville.

In 1875, they moved to Aurora to make a new home. For about twelve years, Celestia went back to Springville in the summer time, raised a garden, and took care of the orchard, canned and dried fruit, extracted honey. Then she returned to Aurora in the fall.

Jabez served as bishop of Aurora from 1881 until his death. Celestia was the Relief Society president for a number of years and helped her husband in his duties as bishop. She let no interests of her own stand in the way of helping others.