HISTORY
OF LUNA AMANDA CHIPMAN PRIDAY
by Luna Joy Simmons Viehweg, Granddaughter
July 2003
What curious circumstances or personal wishes determine the names given to children? An interesting example is that of the name, Luna Amanda Chipman. It is obvious to those who are familiar with the family that the name "Amanda" came from Luna's paternal grandmother, Amanda Washburn. Amanda was married to Stephen Chipman, and those two came out of Ontario, Canada with their young family to join the "Saints", as they were called, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Far West, Missouri, Amanda gave birth to a son, James, on April 9, 1839, just three days before the date when the mobsters had declared all Mormons must be out of the area or face death. Can we begin to imagine the fear and hardship that were faced in that dire situation?
Now, as to the name, Luna: The family origin of this name is not known. However, Luna was the daughter of James and Salena Huntsman Chipman. Aficianados of crossword puzzles and students of mythology might be aware that both Luna and Selena (spelled with an "e") are names of moon goddesses. One wonders if the Chipman parents were aware of this intriguing connection of appellations.
Luna's mother, Salena Huntsman, was born in Nauvoo, Illinois in 1843, the daughter of John and Roxanna Leavitt Fletcher Huntsman. Roxanna had been widowed in 1840, a short time after her marriage to Benjamin Fletcher in Will County, Illinois. She had married John Huntsman in Nauvoo June 23, 1841. Then in 1846 they joined the Great Exodus out of Nauvoo after being expelled, along with thousands of others, from their beautiful city by mobsters. After John's death, which took place while the family was living at Mt. Pisgah, Iowa, Salena lived with her mother and her sister, Ellen Orliva, in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. This young mother and her two daughters lived next to Roxanna's sister and her husband, Flavilla Lucy Leavitt and Orrin Day Farlin. In fact, in 1852, leaving from Council Point, Iowa, these Farlin and Huntsman families traveled together across the plains to Utah in the John Tidwell Company.
The child, Luna Amanda, was born in American Fork, Utah Nov. 13, 1870, the fifth child in a family of twelve. Luna's father, James, had been married previously to Sarah Annadella Green who had borne him four children. When Sarah died, Salena raised those four along with her own twelve. These sixteen Chipman children were:
Offspring of Sarah Annadella Green Chipman:
Luna was baptized June 17, 1883 when she was twelve years old. Just where this took place is not known, but the fact that her daughter, Florence, was baptized at home in the family bathtub shows that early Utahns did not lack for ingenuity.
The Chipman family was fast becoming well-known in the Utah Territory due to James' acuity in business affairs. He had run mule trains over long distances as a young man, and now had interests in real estate, railroads, banks, and stores. That Luna was not denied an early education and training in the arts is shown by the fact that she was an artist. Only two pieces of her work are extant: a drawing of a young woman and a large still life painting containing various colorful fruits. Both of these are in the possession of the writer. Luna's daughter, Florence, once mentioned that her mother's sketch of James Chipman covered a rather large hole in the wall between two bedrooms - not a very dignified place for the picture of a very distinguished man!
Luna's next older sister, Melissa Roxanna, married Leonard Harrington. While they were still a young couple with just two children, Leonard was called to be a missionary in the Southern States Mission, North Carolina to be exact. In August of 1895 the elders of the mission were holding a conference at Mt. Airy, NC. Sadly, Elder Harrington at that time received a letter telling him that his little daughter, Vera Mae, aged 14 months, had passed away. The child's mother was so distraught that she had asked her sister, Luna, to pen the letter telling her husband the devastating news. In turn, Leonard was so overcome that he asked another missionary, Elder Thomas Samuel Priday, Jr., to answer the letter for him. A quote from Tom's journal will finish this sad, but, at the same time, romantic tale: "When Elder Harrington received the letter telling him about the death of his child, I wrote a letter of sympathy for him to his wife. His wife's sister, Luna Chipman, liked the tone of the letter and she answered it for her sister. We corresponded for a year and of course had never seen each other. Elder Harrington and I were released at the same time. We had never seen each other since the conference at Mount Airy when he got the sad news. Of course he insisted that I stop at American Fork. The RGWRR [Rio Grande Western Railroad] went through American Fork so I stopped off. That was the climax. This was in Dec. 1896 and in June 1897 we, Luna Chipman and I, were married in the Salt Lake Temple."
On the same day that Luna and Tom were married in the Salt Lake Temple, June 9, 1897, Luna received her endowment, which was the usual custom.
A word about Tom Priday's family background - His grandparents, Samuel and Mary James Priday lived in London, England where Samuel plied the trade of mason. The family left from London in 1863 on the ship "Amazon", a craft chartered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to carry converts to America. It was this very vessel which was visited by Charles Dickens who was thinking to expose these religious fanatics for what they were. He found the nearly 900 passengers quiet and orderly. Guards were posted at the hatches, and a brass band of Welsh converts entertaining everyone on deck. Dickens wrote a glowing report of his experience on the "Amazon" Tom's father, Thomas Samuel Priday, Sr., a young man of 18, had planned to sail with the family, but at the last moment was called to be a missionary in England. He pulled his belongings off the ship and remained in England another three years. This was a dangerous time to emigrate to the United States since it was in the middle of the Civil War. After landing in New York City, their travels took them mostly by train along a northern route, a necessary choice made in order to avoid war battle areas. They went up the Hudson to Poughkeepsie, NY, to Niagara, NY, across part of Ontario, Canada to Detroit, to Chicago, to Commerce, IL and up to Florence, NE. At Florence the family joined a wagon train and crossed the plains to Utah. Tom's father and grandfather Priday were masons who worked on the Salt Lake Temple.
Tom's father, Thomas Samuel Priday, Sr., after completing his mission in England and traveling to Utah, met a young school teacher in Salt Lake City and fell in love with her. She was Sarah Ann Fullmer. The Fullmers crossed the plains in 1848, and on that journey Sarah Ann was born at Fort Laramie on July 24th, just one year after the Saints had first entered the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Tom was born in Salt Lake City June 21, 1870. His family later moved to Providence, Utah where he was raised.
Luna and Tom made their home in American Fork. His journal gives the following description of their first years of marriage: "We rented part of Will Chipman's home and started to live. I was appointed home missionary. At this time Utah County was Utah Stake, from Lehi on the north to Eureka on the south, and we traveled with horse and buggy. After two years of renting we bought a little four roomed house on Second West and First South where we had one half acre of ground, a cow, a barn and a garden. My brother brought me a cow from Logan, our first cow, one half of our living."
Florence Priday wrote about her early childhood: "About 1906 we moved to a home on Main Street near Third West. It had a big orchard, a long lane leading to the barn, had cows, chickens, ducks and pigs. In the home we had plumbing. Dad worked at Chipman Mercantile in the clothing department."
The Priday household was blessed with three little girls: Mae, who was born in June 7, 1898, Vera Pearl born August 6, 1900, and Florence October 4, 1902. These little girls played together and had a wonderful time dancing to their mother's piano music. The house was arranged so that the girls could dance through in a big circle while their mother played "The Black Hawk Waltz". This was a fond memory of the daughter, Florence, who was very young when her mother died.
At one point James Chipman owned a flour mill in American Fork. It was located at about First East and Fifth North. James offered Tom Priday the job of managing the mill. But Tom and Luna turned down the position because it was "too far out of town". This is laughable today when we see how the city has grown to its present size.
Also laughable are the many stories of practical jokes which Tom loved to play on others. Luna was always fun-loving and vivacious, and Tom was a practical joker and a lot of fun. Tom related the following escapade to the writer many years ago. It seems that there was a masquerade party at the church. They couldn't afford to pay someone to tend the little girls, so Tom suggested that Luna and the wife of one of their friends should go to the party and the dads would stay home and tend the children. The wives reluctantly agreed and went to the party in costumes and masks. As soon as they had left, their husbands arranged for someone to care for the children, donned costumes and masks, and went to the church. They disguised their voices and danced and flirted outrageously with each other's wives. At the end of the party, all masks were removed. It would go without saying that the wives were not only shocked, but angry, to find who those mysterious gentlemen were. But through the years they had many good laughs about it.
Just before Luna's 40th birthday, she was picking apples on a cold, rainy, windy day. This was probably late October! Unfortunately, she became ill with Erysipelas. This is a disease which is seldom even mentioned in this modern day with its antibiotic medicines. In that day the malady was very dangerous. The dictionary describes Erysipelas as "an acute febrile disease associated with intense edematous local inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissues caused by hemolytic streptococcus". It was Luna's face which was most affected. One remedy which was tried was a tar compound applied to the skin. Obviously, it didn't work for her. She succumbed to the illness Nov. 4, 1910. Her daughter, Florence, remembers that her mother's bed had been set up in the living room, and that she couldn't enter the room because of possible contagion. Florence, then only eight years old, later remembered standing in the doorway and hearing her mother say, "You're a good girl, Florence". Florence was at the home of her cousin, Helen Chipman when she heard the news of her mother's death. Her Aunt Margaret answered the telephone and heard what had happened. They all hurried down to the Priday home where Florence locked herself in the bathroom and cried and cried. Florence also recalled that when she saw her mother at the funeral, she still had black marks left on her face from the tar. Efforts to remove all the dark color had failed. Years later when Florence was playing a violin solo which was of a melancholy nature, she would think back on the tragic circumstances of the death of her mother. This would aid her in putting real feeling into her performance.
The Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah published a short obituary regarding Luna's death. It is dated Monday, Nov. 7, 1910: "Untimely Death of Estimable Woman, American Fork. Nov 6 - Mrs. Luna Chipman Priday, wife of Thos. S. Priday of the city died Friday evening as a result of contracting a severe cold while visiting in Lehi recently. The deceased lady was the daughter of Hon. and Mrs. James Chipman and leaves a husband and three little daughters and a wide host of relatives and friends to mourn her untimely death. She was born in American Fork 39 years ago and was a lady of many admirable qualities. Funeral service was held in the Second Ward hall Monday afternoon, Bishop Storrs presiding. The floral offerings were numerous and beautiful. A number of friends paid high tribute of respect to her memory. The husband and family are plunged in deep grief as a result of the lady's untimely death."
Hanging in the home of the writer is a large picture of Tom and Luna taken about the time of their marriage. It sits in a very ornate gilt frame, and the photo is colored somewhat, possibly by pastels, as the strokes might indicate. In the lower right corner of the picture is inscribed "Berlin Studio 1911". This was confusing at first because Luna had died in November of 1910. After much contemplation, it was decided that Tom must have gone to the studio after Luna's death and ordered the enlargement to be made in her memory. This theory is supported by the fact that a number of small browntone photos of the same pose have been owned by the family for many years.
After Luna's death, Tom was left with these three darlings: Mae was twelve, Vera Pearl was ten, and little Florence was eight. Kind offers from family members were made to Tom - suggestions that each of the girls go with a different family. But he wanted to keep the sisters together. He solved the problem by asking his sister, Dora Elizabeth Priday Chipman, to live with them and care for the girls. Dora had married Luna's brother Alva Barnabas Chipman, and they had one little boy, Alva Stanford Chipman, who was two years old then. Alva Chipman was laboring as a missionary at the time, and their home was in neighboring Pleasant Grove, so Dora very generously agreed to be a "surrogate mother" in the Priday family. How the young girls loved their little cousin, "Stan". No doubt his childish antics helped to take their minds off the tragedy which had befallen their mother. Aunt Dora, as she was called, lived with them until Tom decided to marry again.
This history continues on beyond Luna's demise to show what happened to Tom and his family. He remarried on January 10, 1912. The bride was Zina Josephine Forbes. She was the daughter of Joseph Barlow Forbes and Mary Jane Gardner, born March 7, 1884 in American Fork. The newlyweds had become acquainted when they were both working at the Chipman Store. The girls called her Aunt Zina while Tom called her Jo. She was a very beautiful, quiet, refined lady. Much credit must be given to her for taking on the responsibility of three step-daughters, now ages 14, 12 and 10. Zina was loving mother to these sisters, and they loved her very much.
After working at the Chipman Store, Tom Priday entered the sheep business. He mortgaged his lovely home on Main Street to be able to purchase a herd of sheep. In the summers the whole family would take the sheep up into the mountains where there was green grass and other good foliage for the animals to eat. They would live in the "sheep camp", a little wagon with canvas cover, and also in tents. The little girls would play with their dog, explore the hills, and enjoy the rippling streams. One time some relatives had come up to join them, and the girls loved having their cousins to romp with. One day the children were gathering "pine gum". This is the sap that oozes out of the evergreen trees. Somehow the children were able to chew it like chewing gum. After some time had elapsed, as the youngsters ran from tree to tree, they suddenly found that they were lost. They didn't have any idea where to go to find their parents and the sheep camp. At once there were tears and much boo-hooing. Then Florence suggested that they kneel down and pray for help. This they did, and, when they stood up and looked, there in the distance they could see a tiny wisp of smoke which told them that they were not hopelessly lost. No doubt the little ones wasted no time in running back to familiar surroundings.
The lost children episode could have had fatal consequences, given the wild animals that frequented those parts. A story is told about Tom Priday's adventure when he went out looking for a large bear which had been raiding the flock and causing havoc. The family was camped on one side of a canyon watching to see if they could spy their dad in his quest for the bear. From their vantage point they could see him walk through a clearing and enter a clump of trees, come out of the trees and go into another clearing, continuing on in this fashion. The alarming thing is that, as he would go into the trees, the family could see the bear emerge into the clearing he had just left. The bear was following him! The girls and their mother shouted at the top of their voices, over and over again, trying to alert him to the danger, but he was too far away to hear their voices. This continued for some time, throwing the family into chaos. To his surprise, when Tom arrived back in camp, his family was almost hysterical. And then they were surprised and relieved to learn that he had never seen the bear at all! What a clever bear!
Then in 1916 another tragedy struck the family. An awful thing happened to the sheep herd. Leland Priday, son of Tom and Zina, later described in his writings what happened: "...Father lost his entire herd of sheep in one night. It was in early spring. He had just had them sheared and a big snow storm came up and the sheep actually smothered to death trying to get warm. It was many years before Dad paid off this huge debt - over $10,000. That was a lot of money in those days. In fact, I remember as a college student helping pay off the final payments on the loan to the bank at $39.50 per month. Many men would have taken out bankruptcy, but not Father. He was about 70 years old before this was fully paid, having taken about 30 years to pay it off."
Florence also penned an account of the same loss: "Dad was at the herd long periods of time and Aunt Zina had full responsibility of three girls, May 14, Vera 12 and Florence 10. I remember Dad taking the sheep to Kansas City and always brought us nice gifts such as coral beads, water wave ribbon (unheard of in American Fork), old rose sweaters of silk all the same color. Many times in the summers we spent time at the herd in the mountains near Soldiers Summit and Thistle. These were happy remembrances. About 1916 he had his sheep at Fairfield for the winter (winter home for the sheep). After driving the herd up Spanish Fork Canyon to Thistle, a late unusual spring freeze occurred and froze about 7000 new shorn sheep to death. I am sure this tragic loss affected Dad all the rest of his life, although I never heard him complain once about it. He seemed to have no animosity or bitterness about this loss… Because of this disaster, Dad had to sell his home on Main Street. We rented a little place in the First Ward. This was a gloomy period...Leland was born 1914 in the home on Main Street. From the First Ward we moved to Third West. Chloe was born here in 1921 and Margaret was born 1925 while Florence was on her mission. Florence was on her mission from 1924 to 1926. Almost all the rest of his life he was indebted for the sheep loss and the mortgage on the home. It was a proud moment when he paid it off completely. He worked at many and varied jobs during this time. He worked for Utah Light and Power Co., at Logan Woolen Mills, as an income tax collector and at the Training School. He was the custodian at the Second Ward church house for years."
Vera was a girl who loved to be a tomboy and to dress in pants and boys' hats. She was an athletic type of girl and was always a lot of fun. In 1918 and 1919 the Spanish Influenza epidemic took the lives of many people in the United States. Utah had its share of deaths from the dreaded disease. Vera was engaged to a young man from Lehi. He was a soldier in World War I. Vera contracted the "flu" and became dreadfully ill. Florence recalled that the family brought hot, wet towels and placed them on Vera's body to "break the fever". To us in the 21st Century this seems just the opposite of how fevers should be treated by cooling a person. The home remedies did not help Vera in her struggles, and she died at 2:00 A.M. Jan. 22, 1919. At 8:00 A.M. that same morning her fiancé, newly discharged from the Army, came running up the front walk to see his sweetheart. What bitter disappointment he must have felt to learn of her death! The "flu" also took the life of Tom's youngest brother, Sidney Priday, and Dora's husband, Alva Chipman.
Mae Priday became a nurse, and married Robert Glenn Gardner Nov. 24, 1920. The were the parents of two daughters, Lucie Mae Gardner and Sarah Jane Gardner. Mae died May 15, 1953 probably in California where she was residing.
Florence, an accomplished violinist, served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern States Mission. It was while she was laboring in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that she met Robert Brown Simmons. They were married May 31, 1928 in the Salt Lake Temple. Their children are Luna Joy Simmons, Leland Robert Simmons and Beverly Beth Simmons. Florence passed away after a stroke Nov. 8, 1881 in Provo, Utah.
Tom and Zina had three children: Leland Forbes Priday, born Dec. 4, 1914, Josephine Chloe Priday, born March 5, 1921, and Margaret Priday born May 27, 1925, all in American Fork. The sweet feeling of love in the Priday family always prevailed. There was no mention of "half-sisters or half-brothers" - just the attitude of one complete family.
Leland Priday married Thelma Farnsworth July 15, 1942. Their children are; Kaye Priday, Gene Farnsworth Priday, Loralee Priday, Janet Priday, Carolyn Priday, Thomas Taylor Priday, Brent Leland Priday, and Bruce Farnsworth Priday.
Chloe Priday married Mark Barg Weed August 25, 1943. Their six children are: Thomas Mark Weed, Barbara Weed, Robert Floyd Weed, Gregory Charles Weed, David Leland Weed,and Cynthia Weed.
Margaret Priday married William Bigler Sykes June 1, 1948. Their children are: Mary Anita Sykes, Glen Priday Sykes, Patricia Sykes, Mark Priday Sykes, Marilyn Sykes, and Joanne Sykes.
Zina Josephine Forbes Priday passed away Feb. 4, 1955 after a prolonged battle with cancer. Thomas Samuel Priday, Jr. spent the last few months of his life visiting in Pennsylvania with Florence and her husband, Robert B. Simmons and with his daughter, Chloe, and her husband, Mark Weed in Wilmington, Delaware. Tom enjoyed seeing the prosperous farms and scenic beauty of the East. He had an opportunity to visit Niagara Falls, one of his lifelong desires. Many times he visited branches of the LDS Church with Robert, often being introduced as a person who had shaken the hand of Brigham Young, which had been an experience of his youth when Brigham visited Logan, Utah. While visiting with Florence and Robert at their home in Allison Park, PA, Tom suffered a stroke and passed away. He is buried in the American Fork City Cemetery along with Luna and Zina.
In summation, it is hoped by the writer that by bringing together memories and incidents in the lives of family members, an appreciation for all will be fostered. Every family and every generation has its trials and problems. It is how we deal with these challenges that makes the difference in our lives. Our ancestors are an inspiration to us. Their stories give us courage to face the opportunities of the future.