David King Udall, Sr. (September 7, 1851 – February 18, 1938) was an American politician who was a representative to the

Arizona Territorial Legislature The Arizona Territorial Legislature was the legislative body of Arizona Territory. It was a bicameral legislature consisting of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the council. Created by the Arizona Organic Act, the l ...

and the founder of the Udall

political family A political family (also referred to as political dynasty) is a family in which multiple members are involved in politics — particularly Election, electoral politics. Members may be related by consanguinity, blood or marriage; often several gene ...

Childhood years

David King Udall was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. His parents, David Udall and Eliza King, had

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

to the United States from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

earlier in the year. In 1852 they followed the

Mormon Trail The Mormon Trail is the route from Illinois to Utah on which Mormon pioneers (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) traveled from 1846 to 1869. Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails Syst ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. They settled in Nephi, Utah. Udall spent his childhood farming. As a teenager, he spent a short period as a laborer building the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

which became part of the

First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

Early adulthood

In 1875, Udall married his first wife, Eliza Luella Stewart. Shortly thereafter he was called by the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded during ...

on a mission to England, where he remained until 1877. In 1880, while again living in Nephi, Udall was called to be the Mormon bishop in St. Johns,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. At the time, St. Johns was a small and primarily Hispanic Catholic community. Immediately after moving his family there, Udall purchased lands and directed improvements geared toward creating a larger Mormon settlement of the area.

Polygamy and imprisonment

In 1882, Udall took a second wife, Ida Frances Hunt, a granddaughter of

Jefferson Hunt Jefferson Hunt (January 20, 1803 – May 11, 1879) was a U.S. western pioneer, soldier, and politician. He was a captain in the Mormon Battalion, brigadier general in the California State Militia, a California State Assemblyman, and a represent ...

(1803–1879) and also through her mother of Lois Barnes Pratt (1802–1880) and Addison Pratt (1802–1872). That same year the U.S. Congress passed the

Edmunds Act The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882,U.S.History.com is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur, declaring polygamy a felony in federal territories, punis ...

to aid in the prosecution of polygamists. Udall was indicted on charges of unlawful

cohabitation Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a Romance (love), romantic or Sexual intercourse, sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. ...

in 1884. He was never convicted, because his second wife lived in another town, and prosecutors could not locate Ida to compel her testimony against him. Prosecutors remained determined to make an example of Udall, and in 1885, he was indicted and convicted on

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

charges, related to a sworn statement he made about the land claim of a fellow Mormon. He spent three months in a Federal Prison in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, before receiving a full and unconditional

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

by President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

on December 12, 1885. The perjury conviction stemmed from an affidavit he swore on the land claim of Miles P. Romney (grandfather of George Romney).

Later years

Udall was appointed to be a

Stake president A stake is an administrative unit composed of multiple congregations in certain denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. The name "stake" derives from the Book of Isaiah: "enlarge the place of thy tent; stretch forth the curtains of thine ha ...

, a higher position in the LDS leadership, in 1887. He held that position for the next 35 years. Throughout that time he ran a number of business ventures of varying success. From 1899 to 1900, Udall represented Apache County in the Arizona Territorial Senate. He was elected as a Republican. In 1903, he discreetly married the former Mary Ann Linton, widow of John Hamilton Morgan (1842–1894), who had been a representative to the Utah Territorial Legislature. This marriage ran contrary to the LDS Church's decision to ban polygamy in 1890. Years later Matthias F. Cowley, the official who performed the ceremony, was stripped of his priesthood by the LDS Church. When the marriage came to light, Udall was never sanctioned, but he was forced to cease marital relations with Mary. He did, however, continue to support her and her children (from her marriage to Morgan) financially until the children reached adulthood. In 1906, a Prescott Federal Grand Jury indicted Udall and several others on charges of polygamy, which was a violation of the Edmunds Act. After

Ben Daniels Ben Daniels (born 10 June 1964) is an English actor. Initially a stage actor, Daniels was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Never the Sinner'' (1991), the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for ''900 Oneonta'' ...

, a federal marshal, served Udall and the others, they went to Prescott and paid their fines of $100, and then went back home.. From 1927 to 1934 he served as the president of the LDS Mesa Arizona Temple. His wives, Ida and Eliza, preceded him in death in 1915 and 1937, respectively. He died in 1938 in St. Johns, Arizona. David Udall's surviving children included two state supreme court justices and a mayor of Phoenix.

Stewart Udall Stewart Lee Udall (January 31, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was an American politician and later, a federal government official who belonged to the Democratic Party. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary ...

, Arizona Congressman and 1961–1969 Secretary of Interior, and his brother Morris Udall, also an Arizona Congressmen, were two of David Udall's grandchildren. His great-grandson Tom represented the state of

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from 2009–2021.

Works

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Full text online.

References

Sources

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External links

David King Udall collection at the University of Arizona

{{DEFAULTSORT:Udall, David King 1851 births 1938 deaths 19th-century Mormon missionaries American biographers American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints American Mormon missionaries in England Arizona pioneers Arizona Republicans Members of the Arizona Territorial Legislature Arizona politicians convicted of crimes Mormon pioneers Politicians from St. Louis People pardoned by Grover Cleveland Temple presidents and matrons (LDS Church) Udall family People from St. Johns, Arizona Latter Day Saints from Arizona People from Nephi, Utah