Monday, March 3, 2014

Ann Prior Jarvis Diary — April 7-9, 1884

Washington County Probate Court Divorce Records,  1882-1884.

April 7. Weather fine   spent the day well cooked hot dinner cooked cakes went in the evening to the first Ward Sun School entertainment walked home it hurt me very much

Tuesday 8. Weather fine I helped to clean the Temple went to see Em she is quite miserable — Anne was here her baby is quite sick I went to relief society work at patch work half gallon  ^milk paid 20 cents^

Wede^n^sney 9. pleasant spent the day washing ^&^ doing domestic work in the evening rode with Father to the field. Br Wilson and wife having a trial in the Court house Br Milne ^of course he is not drunk^ run Anne Guber off.


Notes.
"first Ward" — George and Ann Jarvis lived in the St. George First Ward.

"the field" — Mormon communities were planned so that the people lived close together and the farms were outside town. I'm not sure where the Jarvis land was, but in many cases the St. George families farmed in the area to the east of town. For a brief summary of Mormon community planning see the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "City Planning," or a longer overview by Craig Galli, "Building Zion: The Latter-day Saint Legacy of Urban Planning."

Br Wilson and wife — Francis Marion Wilson (1836-1924) filed for divorce against his wife Emily Melissa Hancock (1849-1888) on April 9, 1884. The divorce was granted and the children were awarded to the mother.

Br Milne — son-in-law David Milne.

"Of course he is not drunk" — Ann could be pretty funny at times. There was a continual problem in early St. George with alcoholism, but "of course" it didn't involve her highly respectable son-in-law. (Or did it?)

Anne Guber — probably Anna Katherina Gubler (1825-1891). I have no idea what happened here, but an ongoing conflict in early St. George involved the friction between the English- and German-speaking settlers. Usually it was limited to name-calling and other adolescent bullying, but sometimes it flared up into bitter court battles.

Sources.
Galli, Craig D. "Building Zion: The Latter-day Saint Legacy of Urban Planning," BYU Studies 44:1 (2005), 111-136. (Link.)

Jackson, Richard H. "City Planning," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, BYU Harold B. Lee Library. (Link.)

Washington County Probate Court Records, Book D, 376-377.

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