History of George Washington Dofelmier
By Lee T. Romrell
George was born 16 March 1844, in
Bentonsport, Van Buren, Iowa. His parents
were Joshua Dofflemyer and Louisa Hurt, or
Hort. Joshua Dofflemyer was born 10 Feb. 1812,
Luray, Virginia. Louisa was born 4 June 1820,
Blue Ridge Mountains, Page, Virginia.
There is a little controversy about Louisa,
because she says that her father died when she
was young and that she was raised by her
grandparents, and his last name was Hurt. Her
mother married an Enoch Jenkins. Louisa said
that she had a younger sister who stayed with
her mother.
George’s parents were married 5 Dec. 1836, in Luray, Virginia. Their first
child, Henry, was born 31 Aug. 1839, in Luray. The next child, Clarinda, was born 3
Apr. 1840. The family moved to Bentonsport, Iowa sometime after 1840, where
George was born.
In 1846, a Mormon family moved Bentonsport—David and Harriet Dille.
They had four children. The Dille family were on their way West to Utah to join the
Saints in Great Salt Lake City.
Louisa Dofflemyer became interested in the LDS church and was baptized 26
Dec. 1846. Just two months later, her husband, Joshua, died on his 35th birthday,
10 Feb. 1847. That same year, Louisa gave birth to twins, Joshua and Waring, but
they both soon died.
When the Dille family left Bentonsport in 1850, they took Louisa and her
three children with them. The families joined the James Pace Company and soon
headed West.
Joshua and Louisa Dofflemier.
David Buel Dille kept a journal and wrote about traveling from Bentonsport
to Utah.
“I started from Bentonsport in the Spring of 1850. (11 Jun. 1850). I brought
with me a widow woman and her three children, two sons, one daughter. I come
with a good fit-out. I had two wagons, three yokes of oxen and four cows and good
mare. …24 miles this side of Missouri my wife Harriet dide with the colara
(cholera)…Our company buried eight in the same place….
I then married the widow woman I spoke of whose name was Louisa
Dolfamire. Her maiden name was Louisa Hort. The ceremony was said by Elder
Johnathan O. Duke. She did not prove true to me.” (This is interesting because they
were together for about ten years.) The youngest daughter of Dille died not far from
Fort Bridger. The families arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley 20-23 Sept. 1850.
Upon arriving in Salt Lake, the family headed to Ogden and the Bingham’s
Fort area. It is said that they built the second lumber shanty in that area. In 1857-8
they moved South during the brief War and then moved back to Ogden. The Dille
family lived within a stone’s throw of Francis Romeril and his family. His youngest
daughter was Sophia Romeril.
David Buel Dille
The year is 1860. George and his brother cannot be
found in the census of that year. In 1859, George’s brother,
Henry was in court in Ogden for the charge of larceny. It does
not say whether or not he was guilty of the crime, but he is still
in the Ogden area.
George’s mother is no longer living at the David Dille
residence, but living in Ogden city with her three young
children fathered by Mr. Dille, Esther, David Brigham, and Josephin e. Apparently
the couple were now divorced. George’s sister, Clarinda, married an older neighbor
in Bingham’s fort, Lewis Hardy. The couple were married in 1855 and were living
just several houses away from the Dille and Romeril families.
Young George Dofelmier must have stuck around the Ogden area since in
1863 he married his neighbor, Sophia Jeanne Romeril. The exact marriage date is
not known. The census of 1860 lists Sophia as being only 12 years old. It is not
known for sure where the couple lived but most likely near her parents. Which
means she was only 15 or 16 years old when she married George. To this family was
born two children. George Henry Dalphamire was born 21 Feb. 1864, Ogden, Utah.
Mary Louise Dalphamire, b. 21 Jan. 1866, Salt Lake City, Utah.
George and Sophia were married in a civil marriage. Some evidence shows
that George was baptized into the LDS Church about 1853. They could have moved
to Salt Lake since Mary was born there.
The marriage between George and Sophia only lasted till 28 Mar. 1867, at
which time Sophia filed for divorce in Ogden. The file lists her name as Sophia Jane
Dolphomyre.
Sophia remarried 17 Oct. 1868 in the Endowment house to Jonathon Milan
Russell, and moved to Provo Utah where she and the two children are found in the
1870 census.
George married Emily Kite sometime in Ogden, Utah about 1867. In 1870
the family is living next to Sophia’s sister’s, Jane Romeril Pierce, in Bingham’s Fort.
I think this is about where the old Dille home was located. George’s brother Henry
was married 5 Oct. 1867 at the Endowment House to Bethana Bailey. They lived in
Morgan, Utah in 1870. Louisa Dille, George’s mother, married Joseph Holbrook 2
Jan. 1864 in the Endowment House, and moved to Bountiful, Utah. Joseph had
several wives in the area of Bountiful. By the way, Joseph Holbrook is related to me
through the Tolman line. My grandmother was a daughter of Jaren Tolman.
It is interesting that I cannot find any record of Louisa Holbrook in Bountiful
from 1870 to the time of her death in 1903. She must have had her own home
because she is not listed with Joseph Holbrook.
David Buel Dille was married several times and all together had 17 children
with his different wives.
Clarinda Hardy is 1870 is in Beaver, Utah with Lewis Hardy and their
children.
Emily C. Kite was born 3 Aug. 1851, in SLC, Utah. Her parents are Joseph
Kite and Lucinda Hill. She died in Aug. 1912 in Butte, Montana. George and Emily
had 11 Children together. Here is a list of the children:
Louisa Dofelmire, b. 1868, d. 1868, SLC, Utah.
Emily Ann Dofelmire, b. 23 Jan. 1869, Millcreek, Utah, d. 28 Apr. 1919, Annis, Id.
Married James Browning 7 Jul. 1885, Idaho Falls, Id. 7 children.
Mary Elizabeth Dofelmire, b. 11 Feb. 1871, Millville, Utah, d. 18 Aug. 1950,
Stockton, California.
Married James Nord, 3 Aug. 1886, Idaho Falls, Id. She was also married to Lester
Monnet 1906, and Lars Johanson, 1942. 5 children.
George Arthur Dofelmire, b. 12 Nov. 1873, Millville, Utah. d. 1 Apr. 1939, Kalispell,
Montana.
Married 22 July 1919, Virginia Milner, 1919, Matilda Collins, 1895. 9 Children.
Lucinda Dofelmier, b. 2 Oct. 1874, Millville, Utah d. 10 Sep. 1948, Cascade Locks,
Oregon.
Married 1904, George Hart, Duncan Beaton, 1890. 4 children.
Clarinda Dofelmire, b. 26 Jul. 1876, Millville, Utah, d. 1896.
Married William Wallace 11891, Millville, Utah. 2 children.
Josephine Dofelmire, b. 28 Jan. 1878, Millville, Utah, d. 12 Apr. 1955, LA.
Married William Bray 1899. 3 children.
Joseph Henry Dofelmire, b. 4 Mar. 1880, Millville, Utah, d. 1938.
Married Ella Alsmier.
Edward Dofelmire, b. 2 Dec. 1882, Millville, Utah, d. 1947.
Married Minnie Palmer 8 Mar. 1907.
William Dofelmire, b. 9 Dec. 1885, Millville, Utah, d. 1930.
Roy Joseph Dofelmire, b. 2 May, 1887, Idaho Falls, Id. d. 24 May, 1936, Butte,
Mont.
Married Mildred Klose 14 May 1927, Edna Reinhardt 1916. 3 children.
George and his family moved to the area Millville, Utah (Logan) sometime in
1870-1. They would live in this area until they moved to Eagle Rock (Idaho Falls,
Idaho) about 1886-7.
In 1874 George found out that his young son, George Henry, from his first
marriage had died. He died 18 Jan. 1874. His burial site is unknown but thought to
be in SLC since this is where his mother, Sophia Dofelmire Russell now lived. No
details of how he died.
Sometime after the last child was born in 1887 or 1888, George left his family
and headed back down to Salt Lake area.
Steve Paul Nord found a little more about George and his wife Emily while
researching his ancestors.
“She (Emily) was sometimes called Emma. He (George) worked in the shops
in southeastern Idaho—about Eagle Rock (later Idaho Falls) and near Rexburg. In
James Oscar’s (Nord) accounts, the “shops” are generic terms for where tradesmen
worked, not so much merchants. For example, tin shops, pipefitters, boilermakers,
etc.
Mary (George and Emily’s 3rd daughter) met her husband, James Oscar
(Nord) (my great-grandfather) in southeastern Idaho. James had a farm house.
George and Emily invited James and his bachelor companion to spend evenings in
their home.
George is described as shiftless and liking liquors. Sometime later, George
deserted the family. Emily and the two oldest daughters had to work very hard to
support the family. Work included serving the tending to merchant stores. Mary
was the second oldest, and she married James Nord when she was 16 in a ceremony
performed by a Baptist minister.
There accounts of other Kites, (Frank and Joe) coming to celebrate the
Independence Day holiday with James, Mary, and the Dofelmires.
James much later described two of Mary’s sisters as “grass widows” who
influenced Mary to journey to Spokane and be with them and their mother Emily
instead of traveling about for work with James or tending to farm work. Mary took
sick there and had an operation, so she stayed with Emily for quite some time.”
Thanks to Steven Nord for a better look at the Dofelmire family.
The two sisters in Washington were most likely Lucinda and Clarinda.
Another sister, Josephine may have been in the area at one time.
In 1894, George must have straightened up his act, for he went to the Salt
Lake Temple and received his endowments, 13 June, 1894, and was married to
Esther Mabey Sessions, 22 Nov. 1894. Esther had been married before to Perrigrine
Sessions is Bountiful.
The photo on the preceding page is a group photo that was most likely taken
shortly after George and Esther were married. It even could have been taken at the
time of the marriage. This shows some of the Dofelmire family as adults. George’s
older brother, Henry, died in 1892 in Fredonia, Arizona. The three step siblings to
George are in the photo. Missing from the photo are Clarinda’s husband Jason
Haws, and Esther’s husband, Thomas Phillips.
Henry Dofelmier changed his name to his mother’s name Hort by 1866 when
he was in the service in Utah under the Burton Company Calvary. He and his wife
Bethana and children lived in Orderville by 1880 and then by 1886 went to
Fredonia, Arizona where they built the first cabin in that area. He died in that town
31 Mar. 1892. They had 10 children. Bethana died in Panquitch, Utah, 1906.
Henry Dofelmire (Hort)
Bethana Bailey Hort
The year 1900 finds George and Esther living in Bountiful, Utah with her 3
children from her marriage to Perrigrine Sessions. Her sister, Clarinda Haws was
living in Piute county at this time. She died in Marysville, Utah 26 Dec. 1906 and is
buried in that cemetery. George’s first wife, Sophia died 1 Oct. 1906 in SLC.
In 1900 George’s wife, Emily Kite is a widow under the name of Brown living
in Butte Montana. A couple of her sons also live in that area.
Before 1910 George and Esther parted ways and she went back to the
Sessions name. Once again George is by himself in 1910 in Bountiful. He died 2
Jan. 1913. He is buried in the Bountiful Cemetery with no relatives next to him.
Bountiful Cemetery.
Sophia Jane Romeril Dalphamire Rusesll. . SLC Cemetery.
Emily Kite Dofelmire Brown. Butte, Montana.
No photo of Emily.
Jason Haws
(2nd husband)
Clarinda Dofelmire Hardy
Lewis Hardy
Daughter of Joshua and Louisa Dofelmire
Esther Dille Phillips
Thomas Phillips
Daughter of David Dille and Louisa Dofemire
Daughter of
Louisa and
David Dille
Josephine Dille
Edward Moss and Josephine Dille Moss
David Brigham Dille Echo Squires
Son of David Dille and Louisa Dofelmire
Esther Dille, b. 28 Dec. 1851, Ogden, Utah, d. 2 Dec. 1907, Portervill, Utah.
Married Thomas Phillips 1872.
David Brigham Dille, (De Lee), b. 6 May, 1853, Ogden, d. 26 May 1942, Bountiful,
Married Echo Squires 1892.
Josephine Dille, b. 1 Jun. 1858, Ogden, Utah, d. 22 Nov. 1931, Bountiful, Utah.
Married Edward Moss, 1879.
David and Echo are buried in Bountiful Cemetery under the name of De Lee.
Josephine and Edward Moss are also buried in Bountiful. Esther Sessions
Dofelmire is buried in Bountiful under the name of Sessions in the Sessions section
of the cemetery. Her husband, Perrigrine Sessions was the first settler of Bountiful,
which was called Session Settlement.