Udalls, 300-Plus, Proclaim the Worth of Family

More than 130 years ago a family tree was planted near Salt Lake City, Utah. It was called Udall. Two brothers, Joseph and David King Udall, were the first American-born generation of a pioneer Mormon family that came from England seeking religious freedom, much like the Pilgrims 230 years earlier.

Today there are 1,400 living descendants of the Udall brothers, and the family tree has spread roots throughout the Southwest.

A few days ago, more than 300 of those descendants gathered here for a family reunion that put “Dynasty” to shame. The gowns might not have been as elaborate, but the familial ties were as strong as an oak.

In body, they came from as far away as Boston; in spirit, from as long ago as 1851.

“I could just hear my mother saying, ‘Now, how are we going to get you there?’ ” said Ida Church, Pauline Udall’s daughter, David King Udall’s granddaughter. Church and her husband, Howard, drove seven hours from Utah to attend the reunion, which included a hike into the mountains north of Phoenix, a golf tournament, picnic and banquet.

“My, yes, it was worth it,” Church said.

Newport Beach, Calif., urologist Don Udall recalled the last family reunion he attended. It was 1967, and a correspondent from Time magazine was sent to cover the event. Udall gave the reporter information for the story and waited for it to appear.

But the Six-Day War broke out first, reducing the Udall report to an item in the magazine’s People column.

Udall said he almost skipped the 1985 reunion until he heard that all of his siblings--the children of Gilbert Udall--were coming. He decided not to spoil the record.

John Udall traveled all the way from Boston, where he is a pediatrician at Harvard University Medical School. “We feel that people knowing their roots and knowing their parents, grandparents, other relatives, solidifies their identity,” Udall said. Congressman Morris Udall, currently the most illustrious member of the clan, did not make the trip, blaming a hectic Washington schedule. His brother Stewart, former secretary of the Interior, addressed the evening banquet.

At that event, Stewart Udall reminded his audience of the hardships their ancestors had faced in clearing Western America. In those days, he said, a man built his own house, shod his own horse and repaired his own bridles, leading a life of “simplicity and competence.”

The former Cabinet member, who lives in Phoenix, spends his afternoons practicing law and his mornings writing a book about the 16th-Century Spanish explorers of the Southwest. It is due to be published next fall.

The Udall reunion was born in the imagination of Margaret Udall Warnock and cousin Charlotte Wiehrdt last July. “Charlotte and I got together, and then it grew,” Warnock said.

“The original Udall brothers used to have family gatherings all the time,” she said. “With 17 children and three wives between them they would hike up into the mountains of northern Arizona, pitch tents and have a grand old time with the cousinry.

“Back when David wrote his book, ‘Logging the Family History,’ he spoke of his father and knowing about your progenitors. I think they didn’t realize what a good job they did in instilling this in their children. . . . All our parents would be pleased.” As the wife of a career Army officer, Warnock has lived around the world, often far from relatives. “Family is important to me,” she said. “The reason I’ve enjoyed this is I’ve gotten to know something about my relatives I didn’t know before.”

Cousin Charlotte added with a laugh: “When we reserved the hotel, we asked for extra closets--to hold all the skeletons!”

One of the lesser skeletons was that of family prankster Grover Udall. Nephew Nicholas, at 72 the oldest Udall attending the reunion, regaled picnickers with stories of Uncle Grover’s antics: the time he set off dynamite under two anvils on the Fourth of July, or the time he ‘fessed up to the murder of the family goose.

“Grover was real different from the rest of us,” Nicholas said.

Another senior Udall, Elma, is the family genealogist, having spent the last 30 years researching the Udall history. At the picnic, she took time to share the account, beginning with the marriage of David Udall and Eliza King in Kent County, England, 1850.

That same year, David and Eliza joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, converted by missionaries from America. The American church was building its ranks and encouraged English Mormons to emigrate to the land of opportunity. The Udalls did so, landing in New Orleans and then moving to St. Louis.

Eliza was pregnant during the ship’s crossing and gave birth to David King Udall in 1851 in St. Louis. When spring came, the family started across the plains for Utah, where Brigham Young had brought a Mormon congregation after the death of church leader Joseph Smith in 1844.

By now, Salt Lake City was a thriving community, so much so that new arrivals were encouraged to colonize outside the city. The Udalls settled in Nephi and had three more children--two daughters and a second son, Joseph.

Polygamy in Flower

David King grew up and took a wife, Eliza, and then took another, Ella, in the days when polygamy was common in the Mormon church. Joseph was married once, to Emma.

David King Udall had 11 children by his two wives. Joseph had six. In 1880, David King was sent to colonize the Arizona frontier and became first president of the Arizona temple. Joseph and his family followed two years later. Both lived and died in Arizona, leaving behind a strong family legacy.

One member of that club is Phil Smith, who claims to have 336 cousins. “Family is the greatest thing there is,” Smith said. “The name goes on, and the younger generation is just beautiful.”

1987: Newport Beach

By the time the next Udall reunion is due--Newport Beach, 1987--the name will have spread farther and the younger generation will have multiplied. One cousin comments, “It gets to be a zoo.”

Stewart Udall predicted that eventually, smaller groups will splinter off from the main clan and hold their own reunions.

That’s OK. Perpetuity is what the name game is all about, Udall said.

“All this dumb talk about family by politicians--reunions are not what politicians blabber about but what families do. This is what families do.”