Death Certificate
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Biography located at the University of Utah Library collections department. Reproduced here including any grammatical and spelling errors.

DATES AND MEMORIES OF NANCY ELLEN HUNT PIERCE DURFEE, Written by Edna Nancy Durfee Maxfield, daughter, Dated – 8 July 1990

Nancy was a daughter of Jonathan Hunt and MaryAnn Hughes. She was born in Gunlock, Washington County, Utah on January 11, 1884. Sometime during her childhood the family moved to the eastern part of Wayne County Utah where her mother died on Nancy's eleventh birthday. Jonathan was a polygamist. I don't know which of his wives undertook the raising of Nancy. Nancy wasn't a healthy child, having St. Vitas Dance. She was blessed on January 27, 1884 by John D. McCallister which happened to be the name of a missionary who converted my dad's grandparents and family in Ireland about 1854. Nancy was baptized into the Latter-day Saint Church on September 25, 1892 in Giles, Utah by Heber Wilson and confirmed the same day by John White.

She married George Henry Pierce September 12, 1904 at Huntington, Emery County, Utah by N J Nielson. Mr. Pierce died of a paralytic stroke on October 25, 1912 in Giles. Nancy was the mother of ten children. At least one was a stillborn delivery and one died at one hour of age. Her children by George Pierce were Byron George Pierce, Nathan Elias Pierce, Jonathan Hyrum Pierce, and Mary Emma Pierce. Her baby girl only three moths old when George Pierce died. I've often heard my brothers talk of how Nancy's brothers helped feed them, and how they sometimes ate greasewood greens. They followed fences picking little balls of wool that the sheep snagged off as they crawled under. These were used for quilt making.

On June 1, 1916 Nancy married David Franklin Durfee in Loa, Wayne County, Utah. They went the forty or so miles up there by wagon. Her young sons told of crying in each others arms because mamma was going to marry Frank. When he told them that new shoes all around was the first order of business they soon changed their minds. Frank moved them to Sandy Ranch where he was employed. Nancy was the cook. The stove pipe went up through the roof and a tin ring went around it to prevent fires. One day a snake dropped through the hole and onto her neck.

The children of Frank and Nancy were Gertrude Rovella Durfee, Edna Nancy Durfee, Elma Durfee, and Nila Durfee. They lived in Aurora, Sevier County, Utah, Hanksville, Utah and Greenriver, Utah. As a new baby was due they moved closer to a doctor. Before Elma was born we moved to Greenriver by wagon. The boys drove the cows. We stayed several months. Before Nila was born we moved from Hankville to Aurora. The bottom of the wagon was full of watermelons and squash from our fields with straw, bedding, etc., on top. I also was born in Aurora where my mother held me all night and wouldn't let anyone take me. Gertrude died one hour after birth and she was my dad's first child. I can well imagine how my mother felt. My mother always wanted to go to the temple, but wasn't able. Her daughter, Nila Durfee Kiesel, had her sealed to both husbands in the Manti L.D.S. Temple, Manti, Utah.

She took pneumonia and died on December 18, 1925 in Aurora, Utah and was buried there on December 20, 1925. She had a bad heart. Her children Byron 20, Nate 17, Hyrum 15, Emma 13, Edna 7, Elma a few days short of 3, and Nila 5 weeks. A cousin, Arthur Johnson, raised Nila, and Frank kept all the other children. He was very nearly totally blind, but was a carpenter, farmer, mechanic, and clock making, filing the wheels from shovels, car bodies, etc. for the clocks. Nancy was buried in Aurora on December 20, and Frank and the boys went to Hanksville to move us all to Aurora. The rest of this story will come from memories and from stories I've heard about my mother.

Nancy had long brown hair which she would pull forward into her lap to comb. She would wind it around the top of her head. She loved beautiful things. Frank bought her a beautiful wide brimmed hat with flowers on it. She would hold it on by putting a long hat pin through the hat and bun. On a trip to Cainsville (which took all day in the wagon) we were caught in a bad rain storm and the horses couldn't pull the wagon up the dugway. We waited in the rain until after dark and another wagon came along. The men doubled up the teams and were able to pull both outfits up. So much for Nancy's pretty hat. Nancy was noted for her bread making. People would come to get starts of her yeast. One time Frank and the boys were working above Hanksville on a dam. Nancy packed a lunch in a big dish pan and walked the long way up to the men. When she uncovered the pan, taking off the dish towel, she found the pan held her dough for baking. Another time when she took lunch the men were across the river. There was a plank laid above the water and she walked across, a dismay to the men watching her. One time Byron, her oldest son, was herding sheep or goats away from home. He got a chance to send a letter home. He had paper but no pencil, so he took a bullet and wrote with the lead. When she received it she couldn't read the dim words. That's one of the few times I ever saw her cry. She thought he was ill.

When I was four Nancy's father died. I was walking with her around the "point", a small hill between us and our neighbors. It was early evening. She was crying and I asked her why. She said, "Wouldn't you cry if your father died?" It left an impression on me and I never forgot it. One time after my evening bath she wanted to comb the snarls from my hair. I made a fuss and she let me go. I felt guilty and I still remember it. One time Emma and I went to out to the woodpile to get some kindling. She decided to chop some. When I stooped to get a piece, the axe hit my head. Mother fixed it with pine gum salve. I well remember the day she had to cut away the hair away when it had healed. One day I went with her to the grainery to get wheat to feed the chickens. There was a big snake coiled in the top of the sack. She got some long tongs and grabbed it and had me hold the door open. As she backed out, the snake layed up the length of the tongs, hissing at her. Later in the day I went into the house and she was sitting at the dining room table with her head in her hands. I told her I felt funny and she became upset because she was ill from the snake, too.

Nancy made quilts and rugs out of anything she could. She made lye soap. She dried corn and fruit on the slanted roof of our shanty kitchen. Each summer we would go to Aldrich where Nancy's sister, MaryAnn Curtis, and family lived. They had a big orchard. The women filled the jars for both families with fruit, jam, and harvest produce. The Curtis and Durfee kids reveled in these weeks together. Nancy and Frank were noted for their candy making. Around Christmas time they made many kinds. I'm not sure why but Frank took it upon himself to cut her long hair. He cut it clear around just below the ears. When we went to Cainsville or Aldrich to visit, she stayed in the wagon a long time. One day mother and I was out in the field while my dad was working. She and I sat on the tongue of one of the farm implements. It was blowing very hard. She had me snuggle up against her. I said "It's sure cold." She said, "No, just miserable." Something else I've remembered over sixty years.

The older I get, the more I miss my mother. How I would enjoy visiting and learning about how she felt about things. I have a picture of her wearing a necklace. I also like necklaces. I remember her taking a note book that she opened like a book. She made a cloth binding. She filled it with poems she had cut from the newspaper. I also like poetry. I can't remember my mother praying although I'm sure she did. I can't remember her in church except at funerals, but I can remember her lining us kids up and inspecting us before we walked to church.

Nancy was hard working, honest, resourceful, and loving. She died in her husband's arms. Her last words were "My heart's stopped beating." As in other Christmas', they had the candy made. She called me her "little go wiffem girl" because I was too little to "go wiffem" always, but always wanted to go.

MY MOTHER'S APRON

By Edna Nancy Durfee Maxfield
Dated May 20, 1977

My mother worn an apron
Coverall, bib, or waist.
She kept it neat and tidy
For her days style and taste.

A pocket held a ‘kerchief
To wipe a small, smudged face;
Or carry things from room to room
To put them in their place.

Scrubbed with lye soap – starched with flour
It helped repel the soil.
Pressed with stove irons – trimmed with tape.
The light ones she would boil.

She'd get cucumbers from the patch,
A head of lettuce here,
Or run to pick a mess of peas.
He family'd soon be here.

The hen had left the baby chicks,
In her apron they were scooped
And kept behind the kitchen stove;
Then transferred to the coop.

While passing by the woodpile
She'd gather up some chips.
Get them while she's out here
Will save another trip.

Gather eggs from out the coop,
Or apples from the tree.
Or shielding hair-dos from the rain
Or keeping it off me.

That apron came in handy
To mop up childhood tears;
What memories it conjures up
They live down through the years
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Aurora by Special Correspondent.
Nancy Ellen Pierce Durfee Laid to Final Rest. Funeral Services were held here Sunday at 2 o'clock over the remains of Mrs. Nancy Ellen Durfee who died of heart failure on Friday.

Bishop Ray Mason conducted the services. The singing was furnished by the ward choir.

C M. Ivie and Moroni Lazenby were the speakers, and both spoke very highly of the deceased. The Floral offerings were many and beautiful.

Mrs. Durfee was the wife of George Pierce whom she buried in 1914. In 1916 She marred Frank Durfee, and they made their home here for three years at that time they moved to Giles Wayne county, where they made their home until three months ago. They came here and intended to make this their home. Mrs Durfee has been in poor health for some time. In the early part of November she gave birth to a baby girl and since that time she has suffered continually. Death clamed her at 12 o'clock on Friday, and relieved her of long and patient suffering.

She is survived by her husband, Frank Durfee and the following children Byron Pierce, Natan Pierce, Hyrum Pierce, and Emma Pierce, Edna, Elna, and Nial Durfee. She is survived also by the following brothers and sisters Mrs Jane Tineman of Enterprise, Mrs Henry Brown of Green River and Mary Ann Curtis of Hanksville, Alias Hunt, Carl Hunt and Len Hunt of Green River, Andrew Hunt of Caineville, Charley Hunt of Torry and Moroni Hunt of Price.

The sympathy of the entire community goes out to the bereaved family for the loss of a faithful wife and devoted mother.