Dudley Leavitt
From: Dudley Leavitt by Juanita Brooks*
One of my favorite stories about Great Grandpa Dudley and Great Grandma Thirza, besides the stories of work among the Indians when he served with Jacob Hamblin, is the time Grandpa Dudley brought home his fourth wife Janet.
· Apostle George A. Smith counseled Dudley to marry the Indian girl named Janet. Dudley hesitated. He thought of the three wives at home, Thirza, a bride of less than six months, both the others with young babies. The season had been so hard that it was almost more than he could do to provide for the family he had. He dreaded the complications that were sure to arise by bringing another wife into the group, especially an Indian wife.
“If you will take that girl, marry her, give a home and a family, and do your duty by her, I promise you in the name of the Lord that you will be blessed,” George A. Smith said solemnly.
“I’ll do it,” Dudley said, without further hesitation.
The girl and the family were called in; the marriage ceremony performed then and there, Janet’s things loaded into the wagon, and the couple started on their strange honeymoon.
The story of the arrival home comes to us word of mouth through the years. His three wives, who had been anxiously watching for him, hurried out to the wagon. To say that they were surprised would be putting it mildly; to say that they were pleased would be far from true. One cannot help being a little sorry for the girl on the wagon who received so cold a reception. Mary said little. As the first wife, she knew her first duty was to try to maintain order and dignity in her husband’s house. She could wait for the explanation, which she knew, would be forthcoming. Maria sputtered a little; Thirza bundled up her things and went home to her parents. She felt that her parents would understand. She could have accepted another wife, she told herself---but an Indian! It was more than she would take.
At home she received not sympathy. Both her mother and her father told her she was wrong to be so jealous and stubborn.
“You take your things and go right back,” her father told her. “You should be ashamed to make such a fuss. When you married him, he had two other wives. They were kind to you and accepted you into their home. Now you do the same. He has acted entirely within his right. If he wants another wife, he can take her. How do you know but what this was counsel of the authorities. Anyway, you go back, act like a lady, and hold your tongue.”
In about a week Thirza went back. Dudley had made no effort to come to her, to coax her back, or to offer any explanation. She had gone out of his house of her own free will; she could return when she got ready. But he was happy and relieved when she did come. Now he could divide the things he had brought from the city. He had made a rule never to give to one what he could not give to the others; the cloth was always measured into equal lengths, they all had shoes when one got them; if there was only one paper of tea, it was divided equally.
Naturally there were many adjustments to make. That there were some differences and occasionally a few bitter words, their can be no doubt. But they learned to bear and forebear, to control their tempers and their tongues. Mary was patient, and the girls learned in time to adjust and to work together. Most of the credit for what success they made of this strange way of life must be given to Dudley. He believed that a man should be the head of his own house, under God. He treated his wives with impartiality; he was gently and cheerful; he loved his children. Whenever he came into the house, they all ran to him. He never sat down that they were not all on his lap. He observed family prayer, the group kneeling together every morning and evening to ask God’s blessing and guidance, and to pray for the strength and grace they needed. In the evening, he often read aloud while the women sewed or knitted or mended.
Soon he built each wife a house of her own, one large log room with a shed at the back. Janet’s was a part dugout against the hill, but it was cool in summer and warm in winter, and the other wives felt that it was as good an establishment as theirs was. Each had a fireplace to cook over, with a good shuck tick. Each had a homemade table and several stools of split logs with awkward, out-standing legs. Each had her own dishes and bedding. He gave each a cow, a pig, and some chickens, and what they made of what they had, depended on their own thrift.
The ideal to which he worked all his life was to keep his families together, to have his wives where he could see them all every day, and to be close to his children, an ideal that became increasingly difficult as the families grew. He sensed the responsibility, which he had assumed, and resolved to carry out his part of it, with the help of God.
