David King Udall - Later Years

Later Years

Udall was appointed to be a Stake president, a higher position in the Mormon hierarchy, in 1887. He held that position for the next 35 years.

Throughout that time he ran a number of business ventures of varying success.

In 1899, he served a single term as a representative to the Arizona Territorial Legislature (which later became the Arizona Senate after statehood).

In 1903, he quietly married the former Mary Ann Linton, widow of John Hamilton Morgan, who had been a representative to the Utah Territorial Legislature. This marriage ran contrary to the LDS Church's decision to ban polygamy in 1890. Years later Matthias F. Cowley, the official who performed the ceremony, was stripped of his priesthood by the LDS Church. When the marriage came to light, Udall was never sanctioned, but he was forced to cease marital relations with Mary. He did, however, continue to support her and her children (from her marriage to Morgan) financially until the children reached adulthood.

From 1927 to 1934 he served as the president of the LDS Mesa Arizona Temple.

He wrote an autobiography, Arizona Pioneer Mormon, in collaboration with his daughter Pearl Udall Nelson.

His wives, Ida and Eliza, preceded him in death in 1915 and 1937, respectively. He died in 1938 in St. Johns, Arizona.