Tamma Durfee

Tamma Durfee Miner Curtis Curtis, 1813 - 1885, age 71, Born March 6, 1813, in Lennox, Madison County, New York, She was the daughter of Edmund Durfee and Magdalena (Lana) Pickle. At the age of nine, the family moved to Amboy, Oswego County, New York, where her father built a home on a small farm and worked at his trade as a carpenter and millwright. Eventually the family moved to Ruggles, Huron County, Ohio, where the family heard Solomon Hancock preach about the Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith in a vision. Following her marriage to Albert Miner on August 9, 1831, she joined the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints). The family followed the Saints to Kirtland, Ohio and Farr West, Missouri where, as Tamma wrote in her autobiography, we "were plundered, smitten and driven from our homes, our lives were threatened and were ill-treated on every side by our enemies – enemies to the truths of heaven. They would come one to five hundred right to our houses and nobody around but women and little children, take our men prisoners without any cause whatsoever only because they were Mormons and believed in the truths of the Gospel. They wanted to know if we had any guns or pistols or ammunition or butcher knives and all such things. No one can describe the feelings of the Saints and what they passed through. No tongue can express the depredation – only those that experienced it and were eye witnesses when they came to our houses in this kind of way." Forced to leave Missouri, the family moved to Lima, Illinois and later to Nauvoo, where persecution continued. Her father, Durfee, Edmund, Sr, was killed instantly in November 1845 by a mob that had burned his home the previous September in "Father Morley's Settlement." Forcing the Saints to leave Nauvoo in 1846, the Miners moved to Iowaville where Albert worked at hauling and running a ferryboat. On January 3, 1848, Albert Miner, who was Joseph Smith's bodyguard in Kirtland, Ohio, died. He was born in the state of New York, Jefferson County, 31 March 1809, the son of Asael Miner and Sylvia Monson. Being anxious to go to Council Bluffs and keep up with the Church, Tamma and her five boys and two girls moved there. After staying about two years, on June 10, 1850, they started with one hundred wagons crossing the plains with ox-cart teams. Landing on the first of September in Salt Lake City and without any home or anyone to even hunt them, they were indeed very lonesome. Enos Curtis, whom she had known in Lima, married Tamma on October 20, 1850. Living on the Jordan River the first winter, the family moved to Springville, Utah the following spring. There they began to farm, raise wheat and stock and paid their tithing. On June 1, 1856 Enos passed away. On 7 April 1857, Tamma married Enos's son, John White Curtis. She had five boys and four girls by Albert Miner, four girls by Enos Curtis, and one girl by John White Curtis. At the age of 71 years, 10 months, 24 days, Tamma Durfee Miner Curtis, died on January 30, 1885 leaving 9 children, 77 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren. Children with Albert Miner: 1. Polly Miner 2. Orson Miner 3. Moroni Miner 4. Silva Miner 5. Mormon Miner 6. Matilda Minner 7. Alma Lindsay Miner 8. Don Carlos Smith Minner 9. Melissa Miner Children with Enos Curtis: 1. Carissa Curtis 2. Belinda Curtis 3. Adelia Curtis (twin) 4. Amelia Curtis (twin) Child with John White Curtis: 1. Mariette Curtis --------------------------- 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)