Tamma Durfee

Tamma Durfee’s childhood was spent in New York, much of it on a farm with “lots of maple trees on it.” When Tamma was 17, the family moved by canal boat to Ruggles, Ohio. That winter, Tamma heard rumors of the Mormons and a “gold Bible.” The next spring missionaries arrived, and Tamma “believed [the restored gospel] the first time [she] heard Elder Hancock preach it.” Her parents and several siblings were baptized that May and June. Tamma, however, waited until after her marriage to Albert Miner, fearing that he “would not have a Mormon for a wife.” When her father was leaving for a mission in December, Tamma could “wait no longer.” She was baptized, and Albert followed two months later. The newly-formed family moved to Kirtland and soon began to grow. A daughter was born in 1832, and sons followed in 1833 and 1835. Tamma enjoyed being a member of the Church, loved to hear the Prophet Joseph preach, and happily joined other devout sisters in giving her choice china and glassware to be ground up and mixed with the plaster for the Kirtland Temple. Joyfully, Tamma and Albert attended the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on March 27, 1836. Another daughter and another son were born by 1838, when the Saints were driven from the area. Albert, Tamma, and all of the children were quite ill, so the traveling was slow and lonely. Upon their arrival in Far West, Missouri, two-year-old Sylvia passed away. The family was persecuted by enemies of the Church in Missouri and was forced to flee to Illinois. A daughter and a son were born in Lima. The family then moved closer to Nauvoo, and Tamma felt it a great blessing “to live where [they] could go to meetings and back at night.” Tamma again helped on the temple, this time knitting socks and “cuffs” for the workers. Tamma’s children later remembered the women were constantly singing. Tamma had another son before the persecutions resumed and the Prophet was killed. In September of 1845, Tamma’s father’s home was burned—and he was murdered just two months later. In February of 1846, Tamma and Albert received their endowments and were sealed. Most of the Saints began to leave Nauvoo, but Tamma, being pregnant, preferred to stay. In early March, she had a daughter. That fall, mobs finally drove the Saints from their homes. They crossed the river into Iowa, where they stayed two weeks sleeping on the ground and waiting for help. Many died of exposure—including seven-month-old Melissa. The Saints moved on to Montrose, Iowa, hungry and ill. More would have died had it not been for the miracle of the quail. The birds came “like beautiful clouds, sent as it were from Heaven” and could be easily caught with bare hands. The family went on to Iowaville, where Tamma took ill. They considered pushing on to Council Bluffs, Iowa, but many Saints were returning from there looking for work. Albert decided to head back to Ohio. He returned to Iowaville quite sick about ten weeks later and died that winter without ever fully recovering. Tamma and the children worked to earn money to get to Council Bluffs, where they stayed for two years. Tamma and her living children, five boys and two girls, went west in the Benjamin Hawkins Company in the summer of 1850. After “many a struggle,” they arrived in Salt Lake in September and found themselves “very lonesome indeed.” A couple of weeks later, Enos Curtis offered Tamma and the children a home. He had 14 children (most married), and his wife had died. Tamma accepted. Enos and Tamma settled in Springville. There the couple had four daughters and “got along first rate.” Unfortunately, one of their twins, Adelia, died in the winter of 1856, and Enos followed just a few months later. In 1857, Tamma married John White Curtis, husband of her daughter, Matilda—a marriage not so unusual in that period of Church history. Tamma and John had only one child, a daughter. Tamma recorded that her children were men and women of God, who “paid their tithing and lived their religion.” Of course, they had a great example in their mother, for Tamma was a faithful and industrious Saint. She made cloth, dyed it, and sewed it into clothing. She wove straw hats from wheat shafts. She helped raise money for the meetinghouse in Springville. Through her many trials, Tamma always pressed on. (Compiled by Rhonda Seamons in January 2004. Last Changed: May 11, 2014 by rhondaseamons1.)