Ninth in a Series on Wilford Woodruff's Wives



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]

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] 

The date for their marriage is given as March 1, 1879.  Whether they initially moved to Denver, or Seattle, their first son Albert Hagan, Jr., was born in Chicago, Illinois August 13, 1882 and died December 3, 1883 in Lakeview, Illinois.[13]   They eventually moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where three more children were born.  Harold Raymond May 20, 1886, Mabel Clara May 15, 1889 and Lucy Mary on June 13, 1891. Albert established himself as a well-respected attorney in Kootenai County, Idaho and represented the mine owners in the Coeur d’Alene strikes of 1892.  He died there June 23, 1895.

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.
Wilford Woodruff’s Journals.