EUDORA
LOVINA YOUNG
(May
12, 1852 – October 21, 1921)
Eudora
Lovina or “Dora” was the eldest of three daughters born to Lucy Bigelow and
Brigham Young.[1] She was born May 12, 1852 when her mother was living in the Beehive House in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was baptized at the age of 8 on June 13, 1860 and received her endowments on August 25, 1866, at the age of 14.
When Dora was 18 she eloped to marry Moreland “Morely” Dunford October 3, 1870.[2] Dora and Morely had two sons, Frank in 1873 and George in 1875. Due to Morely’s alcoholism she divorced him and returned to St. George to live with her mother in 1876.[3] Dora’s sister Susannah “Susa” married Morely’s cousin Alma B. Dunford in 1872. Alma also suffered from alcoholism and Susa subsequently divorced him and also returned to live in St. George.[4]
When Dora was 18 she eloped to marry Moreland “Morely” Dunford October 3, 1870.[2] Dora and Morely had two sons, Frank in 1873 and George in 1875. Due to Morely’s alcoholism she divorced him and returned to St. George to live with her mother in 1876.[3] Dora’s sister Susannah “Susa” married Morely’s cousin Alma B. Dunford in 1872. Alma also suffered from alcoholism and Susa subsequently divorced him and also returned to live in St. George.[4]
In
January 1877, when the St. George Temple was dedicated, Brigham Young asked his
wife Lucy Bigelow to preside over the female temple workers. Lucy’s daughters Dora and Susa assisted her
in the temple in January and February.
In fact, Susa was the first person to serve as a proxy for baptisms in
the St. George Temple, and Wilford Woodruff officiated in baptizing her. Lucy, Dora and Susa were among the 154 women
who helped Wilford Woodruff complete proxy work for his family members on March
1, 1877. Dora was sealed to Wilford on
Saturday, March 10, 1877.[5] Dora received her second anointing with
Wilford on March 21, 1877 and continued to do temple work with him for several
months.[6]
Dora moved to Salt Lake City later that year after Wilford returned following
Brigham Young’s death in August 1877.
At least one historian believes Dora and Wilford had a son born April 1, 1878,
but Wilford’s journal reference is only to the birth and death of a child that day and does not specify name the mother.[7]
Dora
left Wilford later that year for Judge Albert Hagan, a married Salt Lake
attorney who was not a member of the Church.[8] Albert Hagan was a California mining attorney
with two daughters and he and his wife Mary were living in Ann Eliza Young’s
boarding house in Salt Lake.[9] Albert was one of the attorneys who assisted
Ann in her infamous divorce from Brigham Young.[10]
The
newspaper accounts of the scandal caused by Albert’s relationship with Dora are
contradictory. Over the years the
various papers stated Albert and Dora were married in Seattle[11],
and that Albert’s law partner Frank Tilford moved their law firm to Denver and
Albert followed. After Albert and Dora
eloped, Albert’s wife moved back to Pennsylvania with their two daughters. The following year, in 1879, she was
committed to an insane asylum under suspicious circumstances and, only after
intervention by someone within the institution, was released 25 years later.[12]
Eudora
later returned to Salt Lake City and lived there until her death on October 21,
1921.[14] The name entered on her death certificate was
Dora Mary Hagan and she was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake
City.[15]
Lineage Book - National Society of the
Daughters of the American Revolution -# 2632 Estelle Kathleen Hagan Wholley.
Milwaukee Journal, October 21, 1904.
Salt Lake Herald, February 3, 1905.
"The
Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine".
Utah
Death Certificates, certificate number 1564.