Darius and Louisa Kelsey Clement

I recently finished the Journal of Darius Salem Clement, parts 1 and 2.  Stevenson's Genealogy and Print Shop in Provo has the master on file and I was able to order these soft cover and bound copies for $39.75.  It includes Darius' ledger book, copies of letters, and other papers as well.  It is a wonderful companion to the Journal of Warren Foote.  Warren was Darius' uncle and their lives intersect beginning in the Navuoo era then on to Winter Quarters, Fort Union, the Muddy Mission in Nevada, and as they do the temple work for their family in Manti and St. George.

 

Darius spends the majority of his married and family life in Sanpete County, Utah farming and working in Fairview.  He moves to Mesa, Arizona in May of 1906, dies there on May 22, 1917 and is buried in the Mesa Cemetery.

This is a picture of his family with wife Louisa Abigail Kelsey.  Together they had 10 children.

Back: Albert, Elizabeth, Easton, Oliver, Nancy
Front:  Amos, Louisa, Jess (standing), Thomas (sitting), Clarence, Darius, Orin

Jesse Warren Clement, in the center of the family picture, is Glen's great grandfather and father of Della Maretta Clement.  Della married George Jenson and had a son named, Jordan Clay Jensen, who is Glen's father.  This young picture of Jesse Warren reminds me of younger pictures of Glen.

This is a photo of Darius about 1907 after arriving in Arizona.  He liked the warmer weather.

This photo appears from that same time period.  He and Louisa are holding their twin grandchildren, son and daughter of Orin and Lettie Clement.

This is an even later photograph of Darius and Louisa. I found it delightful that they would without fail attend the Arizona State Fair each autumn traveling from Mesa to Phoenix by train.

After Darius died in 1917, Louisa sold their house and property near Alma School Road and returned to Fairview, Utah where she died two years later.

This is a photo looking west towards Fairview from where their farm and home were located at the mouth of the canyon.  Darius felt that those canyon breezes kept his crops from freezing even when those in the valley would freeze.

This is a photograph taken outside their home in Mesa with a daughter (or DIL) and grandchild.  It may be their daughter, Nancy Clement Williams, who lived with her family in the colonies in Dublan, Mexico and then Tucson, Arizona during the time that Darius and Louisa lived in Mesa. Another possibility is that it is their DIL, Lettie.

Glen and I plan to go and find this grave stone on our next trip to Mesa.  Thomas and Betsy Foote Clement were baptized into the Mormon faith while still living in Dryden, New York.  Thomas died there in 1842.  Betsey left Dryden in 1844 with her children including Nancy, Albert, Laura Elizabeth, Darius Salem, Mary Irene, and Thomas Alma.  They joined her mother and father, Irene Lane and David Foote, in Adams County, Illinois.

Click on the photos above to get a closer look at a timeline of Darius' life and the loss of many family members resulting in his exodus across the plains to Utah as an orphan along with his younger sister and brother.

Following is an obituary of Darius Salem Clement.  I noted inaccuracies in this obituary at the bottom.

(Deseret News 4 June 1917)

Mesa, Arizona, June 4 - Darius Salem Clement, whose death occurred here May 22, was born Nov. 24, 1834, at Dryden, Thompkins County, N. Y.  He was the son of Thomas and Betsy (Foote) Clement.  His parents joined the Church in Dryden, and his father died in 1842, and his mother with her surviving children went to Nauvoo.  She buried a daughter, 13 years old, on the way.  The family settled near Nauvoo, and within a week the mother and a son aged 26 years died, leaving Darius, then aged 12 years and two younger children in the care of his sister Nancy, wife of George A. Smith, and she died four months later in Winter Quarters.  Darius was sick a long time there and came near dying.  With the two younger children he came to Utah in 1848 in Heber C. Kimball's company, and located in Big Cottonwood.  He taught school and served in the Echo canyon campaign.  He married Louisa Kelsey, Nov. 27, 1859, and in 1862 was called on the "Dixie mission."  When the "Muddy Mission" was opened he removed there and remained until called north by President Brigham Young.  He lived in Fairview 33 years, and held positions of honor and trust.  In 1906 he settled here on account of his health.  He did much work in the Manti temple and was a faithful Latter-day Saint.  He was the father of 10 children, nine of whom, with his wife survive him.  The children are:  Easton, Oliver and Darius A. of Fairview, Utah; Jesse W. and Orin F. of Talmage, Utah; Thomas A. of Ephraim, and Amos B. of Provo; Clarence of Clifton, Ariz., and Nancy A. Williams of Tucson, Ariz.  He also has 65 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Note:  The above is as it appeared in 1917.  There are inaccuracies.  Betsy Foote Clement's daughter Laura Elizabeth Clement was 17 when she dies in September 1845.  Betsey and her son Albert both die in Iowa after leaving Hancock County near Nauvoo in May of 1846.  Albert dies in Pigeon Hollow on 2 November 1846 and Betsy dies 8 November 1846.  Daughter Nancy dies 26 March 1847 in Winter Quarters.