Clark, Sophronia Phylinda

Great grandmother Sophronia Phylinda Clark, daughter of Joseph Clark and Phylinda Carpenter, was born July 14, 1829 in Villanovia, Chautaqua County, New York.

Her parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in their native state New York and came to Utah in 1851, settling in Pleasant Grove, Utah. They built a home on the ground where the Grove Theatre now is located on Main Street.

Her mother did not live very long after they came here. She sickened, died and was buried in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery Jan. 7, 1853. She was the first white woman buried in that cemetery. Her father died Oct. 25, 1866 and was buried beside his loving and devoted wife.

Sometime after they came to Pleasant Grove her mother purchased a new tin wash pan which was placed at the front of the house near the door on a homemade bench. There was also a water pail and a soap dish on this bench. They were so proud of the shiny new wash pan for it had been a long time since they had owned a new one. One morning an old Indian squaw came to their door. She saw the shiny new pan, it took her fancy and she wanted it. Sophronia grabbed it from her and ran into the house. Her mother heard the noise and happened to look up – into a small mirror they had. She saw the Indian unsheathe a long knife and raise it to strike her. She slammed the door just in the nick of time to save her daughter’s life, for the knife was plunged into the door instead of Sophronia’s back.

Sophronia had a very brilliant mind and was indeed blessed with a wonderful memory. She received her education in the public schools of New York. (I have been told that Sophronia was a school teacher.)

The first school house was begun in September 1852 and was completed about Thanksgiving time. It was built by the townspeople and adobes were used in its construction. A dirt roof covered the structure. The roof was made with poles, a layer of willows and finally covered with sod and dirt. Though not very sightly, it was comfortable and rather commodious. A fireplace at the west end of the structure with pitch-pine wood used for fuel helped to keep it cozy during the winter months. The building was also used as a public meeting place.

In the beginning the studies were limited to reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, geography and grammar, spelling being the hobby. Friday afternoons were given to “spelling matches.” The students used quills for pens. The teacher kept a sharp knife handy so that the quills could be kept sharp and ready for use. Ink had to be made from oak-bark boiled with copperas. Paper was very scarce so writing was mostly done on slates. Slate pencils were whittled from slate rock, some of which was found in a hill near the mouth of Battle Creek Canyon.

Sophronia had a wonderful knowledge of geography. Every time she heard the name of a river, city, lake or country, she could not rest until she could look it up on the map. The same was true when she heard a new word. She always kept a dictionary handy so she could learn its meaning, spelling and pronunciation.

She enjoyed listening to her children, and later on her grandchildren, spell and do their home work. She would drill them till they knew their lessons by heart. School work was a must with her and it was done on time and done well. There was no half way measures with her. Everything she and her family did was done to the best of their ability, or it was done over again.

She also played games with them in the evening after their work was finished. They played the game of “fox and geese” more than any other game. This game was played with buttons. They also played “Man of Moris {or Mars}” and other games. All of her grandchildren loved her dearly.

My mother, Eva Cordelia Thorne, and her cousin, Dora Mayhew, stayed with their grandmother a great deal of the time. They took turns sleeping next to her. This was one of the high lights of their young lives. She called Eva her “brown sugar” for she had dark brown eyes and dark brown hair, and Dora she called her “white sugar” for her yes were blue and her hair was blonde.

She had a small stand with drawers on either side of it. She would pull this stand up near the stove for them to eat their breakfast on. They would pull out the drawer, turn it upside down and put their plates on it. Her knives and forks had black handles and her teaspoons were silver.

Sophronia Clark:
Born 14,July 1829 in Villanovia, N. Y.
Married 7 June 1852.
Died 30 Sept. 1900 at Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Husband-Henson Walker Jr.

Father: Joseph C. Clark
Born 27 Oct 1798 in Hampshire Co., N.Y.
Married abt. 1820.
Died 25 Oct 1866 in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Mother: Phylinda Carpenter.
Born 10 Apr. 1802 in Chatauqua, N.Y.
Died 10 Jan 1853 in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Paternal Grandfather: Jonathan Clark

Paternal Grandmother: Susan

Maternal Grandfather: Ezra Carpenter.
orn abt. 1777 in Chatauqua, N. Y.
Died abt. 1842.

Maternal Grandmother: Susannah or Susan. Born abt 1786. Died abt. 1840

Henson Walker Jr. and Sophronia Clark were married 7 June 1852 at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Soon after coming to Pleasant Grove, Sophronia was courted by a handsome young man named Henson Walker Jr. Soon thereafter they drove to Salt Lake and were married in the Endowment House June 7, 1852. She became Henson’s third wife. On the way home from being married, they had a quarrel and they didn’t live together for a short time. This, however, was soon patched up and they were very happy for quite some time.

On account of Henson having three other wives and children, it was necessary for her to help out in every way she could. She made some of her living by gleaning wheat in the fall of the year. Part of the grain was made into flour for baking and the other part was used to feed her chickens. She also shucked corn. She gathered fruit from the hills which she preserved or dried. She used molasses, honey or sorghum for her sweetening as there wasn’t any sugar in those early days.

She had a small plot of ground around her home where she raised her vegetables. She also planted fruit trees. This helped out considerably when the trees began to bear fruit. The sweet apples she raised were delicious and all of the neighborhood children along with her own grandchildren enjoyed eating them. The greening apples she raised made such delicious pies and apple sauce. She also had an apricot tree and wild native current bushes and Pottawatomie plum trees grew along the fence. She also had gooseberry bushes and raspberry canes. The Holman family lived next door to the east and Lydia Brown family lived on the north.

Sophronia’s little one-roomed home stood on the ground where the Latter Day Saint’s Seminary building now stands. It was there that her four children were born. Martha Jane, the eldest, was born May 18, 1853 and Cordelia Phylinda, my grandmother, was born Sept. 29 1855. Her other two daughters Mary Medora born Oct 10, 1858 – died Mar. 22, 1864; Susan Marie was born Oct. 20, 1860 and died Oct, 28,1860. These deaths were a great sorrow to Sophronia for she loved children. There were no hospitals or doctors in those days. The mothers all had their children at home attended by some good friend or neighbor or a mid-wife. After each death she was grief stricken but she had to pick up the threads of life and go on. She was certain she would see these little souls again and this knowledge gave her the courage to live on for the ones who needed her here.

With all of her family duties to keep her busy she always found time to work in the Church. She worked Relief Society, taught in Sunday School, and being gifted with a wonderful voice, she sang in the choir and also helped with the singing in the other organizations. She composed poetry and was often called upon to read. Only one of her many poems was preserved and we feel it is a great loss to her family for we would have loved to have had them all now.

She raised her children in the light of the gospel. They were taught to trust in God, to live righteous lives and always be grateful for their many blessings. She made and furnished all of the sacrament bread used in the ward for years.

She was a beautiful seamstress, making all of her own and her daughter’s clothing, besides sewing for others to help increase her small income. She made her own garments and corset covers for Sunday wear, also her petticoats with ruffles on them. These items were made of unbleached factory or as we call it now, unbleached muslin. She wet this and hung it on the line to bleach in the sun. It took quite sometime to get it as white as snow. She made her sheets and pillow cases and bleached them also. Sometimes the material was wet and laid on the grass to bleach. She made her aprons out of black and white, red and white, blue and white – small checked calico. Dresses were made of bright calico prints with round collars and wrist length sleeves. She fashioned her best dressed out of cashmere. She also knitted sox and sold them. Such was Sophronia’s thriftiness and ambition. She was very independent and never asked anyone to do anything for her that she could do for herself.

She took great pride and satisfaction in patch work quilts and she designed her own patterns, doing fancy quilting of birds, flowers, baskets and many other intricate designs. Her stitches were small and even for she was a beautiful quilter. She cut out such small pieces to sew into blocks she could scarcely hold them to sew them together. She was the envy of most every woman in Pleasant Grove in her sewing and quilting. She did every stitch by hand for she never owned a sewing machine.

I (Vida) must have inherited some of her traits for I love to do all of these things that she did, such as quilting and all kinds of arts and crafts and also try to write poetry and I love to read. I have often heard it said that our ancestors leave their marks on their posterity and I believe that is so.

She was a very neat and dressy person and her home was kept as clean and as immaculate as she was. She never left a dish standing. After each meal the dishes had to be washed. My own mother was just like her, or like her in these things which I have mentioned. She heated all of her water on top of the kitchen stove. Her stove was all black and had four holes on top and an open grate in front with a hearth where a person could sit and toast their feet if and when they were cold. Many times the children would sit and watch the fire burning in this grate while they sat eating popcorn or munching on apples or other fruit.

Her one room held all of her earthly belongings. She had a home-made was stand near the back door that held her water bucket, was basin and soap dish. She carried all of her water for washing and cleaning from a ditch that was in front of her home. She had a board with a trough made so she could set her bucket down in the ditch and it would fill without dipping it in the ditch and make it muddy. This water most generally ran clear. She carried her drinking water from her neighbor’s well. She had a wash-board and a round tub which was used for washing and also for their bathing. She made all of her own soap. She heated her sad irons on the stove to do her ironing. Such was the general pattern of house work of our Pioneer women in those early days.

Part of her floor was covered with home-made carpet. She would put a layer of fresh straw on the floor, then stretch and tack the carpet over it. When house-cleaning time came, the carpet was taken up, beaten and shaken until every particle of dust was out of it. Sometimes the carpet strips were unpicked and washed, then sewed together again before stretching and tacking into place. The old straw was gathered up and burned and new fresh straw was put on the floor again. The rest of her floor was just plain boards but were scrubbed with home-made soap till they were white. Her bed was in the northwest corner and her springs were made of rope stretched tight. Many and many a time she had her grandson, David B. Thorne jump on the ropes while she tightened them. She had a straw tick that was filled to overflowing at threshing time. On top of this was placed a feather tick filled with feathers she had plucked from her chickens. Her pillows were also made from chicken feathers. Sometimes people were fortunate to have duck down in their pillows and feather beds. No wonder her children and grandchildren loved to sleep with her for her bed was fit for a king’s rest with the clean sheets, pillow cases and lovely quilted quilts.

She had a homemade wardrobe to hang her clothes in and a home made cupboard for all of her lovely dishes, pots and pans, and her food. At first her curtains were made of muslin and were taken down often and washed and ironed to perfection. Later on, she had lace curtains and every hole was darned before they were washed, then they were stretched and hung up again.

At the back of her house was a little lean-to where she kept her fire wood neatly piled. She chopped some of it herself. Her son-in-laws and their boys hauled it from the nearby canyons and sawed it for her. They always saw to it that she was well supplied with wood, cut in stove lengths and most always chopped for her.

Underneath her house was a makeshift cellar with a trap-door where she kept her fruit and vegetables for her winter’s supply. The vegetables and apples always kept so fresh and nice. Most generally they were as crisp in the spring as they were when they were put there in the fall.

Her coal-oil lamp was the only light she had other than candles. No T.V., radio or telephone services were available in those days. She was thrilled with her lamp, however, for she could ready by it and she spent many pleasant hours with her beloved books. She did not have many, but what she did have were read many times from cover to cover for they were her friends. She knew the scriptures well and also the characters of people long dead—through her books.

There were no matches in those days so she used to bank her fire at night so she would have live coals in the morning. The hard wood was best for banking fires. If her fire went out during the night, she would watch for the first sign of smoke from her neighbors chimney and she would take a bucket or a shovel and go to borrow some live coals to rekindle her own fire.

She had a cow that she took care of by herself, walking to and from the pasture, then milking her and taking care of the milk and cream. She churned her own butter and it was so good on her home made bread, biscuits and pancakes.

Sophronia had brown hair and dark brown eyes and a beautiful nose. Her daughter Cordelia always said she didn’t think noses were pretty but she said her mother was an exception for she really had a beautiful nose. She was about five feet five inches tall and she was a beautiful woman. She was a woman of exceptional modesty. Could she see the mode of dress today and its customs, she would have been shocked to death. She was sitting near her open kitchen door one warm summer day bathing her feet when a neighbor happened to knock. She was so upset she told him to go away while she made herself presentable before she could see what he wanted.

Sorphronia was of a jealous nature, so having to share a husband with three other women made her very unhappy and lonesome. She finally separated from her husband Henson. In those days people didn’t have to secure a divorce. She married another man but this wasn’t the solution to her problem for she didn’t even live with him and was always so sorry she had been so foolish. Before she died she sent for Henson to come to see her. He had a little stubborn streak in him also and he wouldn’t forgive her. She was heart broken and she didn’t live too much longer after this.

Sophronia believed in discipline, not only for herself but for her children and grandchildren as well. When she told a child to do something she saw to it that they did it. She was firm but kind. Another of her virtues was punctuality. She, nor her children were ever late for church, school or for any other assignment.
She was thrifty to a fault, for nothing was ever wasted in her home. She had to work too hard to get what little she had to ever waste anything.

Such were the fine qualities Sophronia possessed and she was also rich in possessions not seen nor felt – her faith in God, her testimony of His goodness to her and her family. She had a great deal of faith in the goodness of people, especially her family, neighbors, friends and relatives. She was ever ready to share her meagerness with anyone who was in need, and was able to give comfort and consolation to anyone bowed down in sorrow.

Her eldest daughter, Martha, was fifteen years old when she married Austin S. Mayhew who was twice her age, he being thirty. To this union were born eleven children.

Her second daughter, Cordelia, was seventeen when she married Robert Thorne. To this union – nine children were born.

The years flew by and they were hard years but with the love of her children and grandchildren which were her source of happiness, she met each day with faith and courage. She knew that life could not produce any situation she could not meet and manage. She had that rare quality – peace of mind until she became ill. She knew why she was here on the earth. She knew where she wanted to go when she left it and she worked toward that end. Along with the good basic principles of living, she also left with us physical features that can be seen in her great, great grand children. Surely this is living proof that we live on in the ones who are left.

When her health began to fail, her son-in-law, Robert Thorne, built a couple of rooms onto the south of his home in Lindon for her, so she could be near her daughter, Cordelia, so she could take care of her in her declining years. She lived there for quite some time. She became so frail and finally so dizzy at times she had to hold onto things in the house for fear of falling. She was bedfast for the last two years of her life. Grandmother placed a small table beside her bed and laid a spoon on it so she could pound on the table when she needed anything. She became very demanding before she died and not at all like her old sweet self before she became ill. She pounded so much and so often, she made quite an indentation in the top of that table. Nevertheless, her daughter, Cordelia, cared for her with all of the love and affection a devoted daughter knew how to shower on her mother. All of her grandchildren were very devoted to her, too. Grandmother Thorne was never as well after her mother’s death.

Sophronia went through so many trails and hardships before she died that she became rather discouraged with life and was ready for death. She passed away Sept. 30, 1900 at the age of seventy one years, for months and sixteen days. Although she suffered much sorrow and many heart aches before her life was over, she still retained a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She knew that God lives and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. She lived her religion to the best of her knowledge.

She was laid away in her beautiful temple robes and was buried in the Pleasant Grove City Cemetery, next to her father and mother and her two children.


(Transcribed from PH-1, Pioneer History Room, Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters. Note: Text is transcribed as written with spelling corrected in brackets.)