University of Arizona Library Manuscript Collection
MS 294
David K. Udall--1885
On September 7, 1851, David King
Udall was born in Saint Louis, Missouri to David and Eliza King Udall,
emigrants who had moved to Utah from their native England. Udall spent
his childhood growing up in Nephi, Utah and as a young man married
Eliza Luella (Ella) Stewart (1855-1937) of Kanab, Utah, the daughter
of Bishop Levi Stewart. From 1875-1877, Udall traveled to England
to labor there on his first mission for the Mormon Church. Returning
to Utah, he moved to Kanab in 1878 where he engaged in business activities
with his wife's family.
Ordained as a Bishop in June 1880,
Udall was called to lead a colony of Mormons to Saint Johns, a small
settlement of Americans and New Mexican Hispanics in northeastern
Arizona Territory. There he engaged in a wide variety of activities
to provide for the development of the community and his homestead.
He married his plural wife, Ida Frances Hunt (1858-1915), the daughter
of Bishop John Hunt of Snowflake, Arizona, in 1882.
Jailed on a false perjury charge
in 1885, he returned to serve his community by developing better roads,
contracting a mail service, establishing a local school, and representing
the area as a member of the 20th Territorial Legislature. Until his
death in 1938, David K. Udall, together with his wife Ella, served
his church in Arizona in many capacities including the positions of
President of St. Johns Stake and President of the Arizona Temple in
Mesa.
His children by Ella were Stewart,
Pearl, Erma, Mary, Luella, David, Levi, Paul, and Rebecca. His children
with Ida were Pauline, Grover, John, Jesse, Gilbert and Don.