John Paul Cardon, son of Phillippe Cardon and Martha Marie Tourin was born 28 Dec. 1839 at Pinerolla, Piedmont, Italy.

The Cardons found a place of refuge in the Italian Alps during the awful days of persecution that cost the lives of tens of thousands of noble souls, who maintained that every person had the right to worship God as he chose.  Many of the Cardons were numbered among the martyrs.  They were of the Valdenese and the second family in Italy to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Latter-Day Saints, under the direction of the late President Lorenzo Snow.  This notable event in their lives took place in the year of 1853.  In February 1854 Phillippe Cardon with his family consisting of four sons and two daughters left their native land to cast their lives and fortunes with the despised Mormons.  Having already endured persecution for their belief, it was nothing new for them to share in the hardships and persecutions that followed the Saints after reaching the valleys of the mountains.

The Cardons arrived in Utah 29 October 1854 with the Robert Campbell Company, settling in Weber County.  Here they remained until the move south when Johnston’s army entered Utah.  The previous year, 1857, Paul Cardon was married to Susanna Goudin, who crossed the plains with the Edmond Ellsworth Handcart Company which arrived in Salt Lake on 26 Sept. 1856.  From this union there were six sons and five daughters.

In December 1869 he was married to Magdalene Beuse, his 2nd wife, who came as a child with the Ellsworth Company.  From this union nine children were born, three of whom are dead.  After the return from the south the Cardon family settled in Marriot, Weber County.  The following year, 1859, Paul Cardon with his father and brother came to Logan which then numbered but a few families.  They entered at once into the activities necessary to protect themselves against the then, savage Indians, and the building up of a new settlement.  Paul Cardon assisted in erecting the first log cabin in Logan which was located on the block between 1st and 2nd North streets on the west side of Main Street.  He became actively engaged in defending the settlement against the many Indian raids that took place during the early settlement of Cache Valley and risked his own life on many occasions in defending others.  He was also constantly engaged in this work, neglecting his own personal affairs, and this admirable quality characterized his entire life.  He was prominently identified with the religious, military, social and civil organizations of the early history of Logan City and vicinity.  As a member of the Church, he placed himself and all that he possessed at its service.  In a military capacity Paul Cardon was First Lieutenant of Cavalry, having received his commission from the President of the United States.  He had charge of the Temple Mill in Logan Canyon which furnished the lumber for the Logan Temple.  He assisted in the surveying and building of the Logan Canyon road.

The family of Paul Cardon resided in Logan continuously up to the year 1892.  During this year, he with a few members of his family desiring a retired life, moved to Benson Ward where he secured a large farm.  Here he became one of the Bishopric of that ward.  In 1912 they moved back to Logan to do work in the Logan Temple and spend their last days with their children, most of whom lived in Logan.  Paul Cardon was the father of 20 children, the grandfather of 73, and the great-grandfather of 17, making a total of 110 at the time of his death.  Since then a great many more have been added to the list.

John Paul Cardon built the first adobe house of any size in Logan at the cost of $5000.00.  Here 10 years, he ran a hotel called the Cache Valley House, which was known throughout the state as hotels were very scarce in those days.  He was selected as one of the members to help build the Logan and Hyde Park canal, also the Logan and Richmond canal.  In 1865 Peter Maughan selected Brother Cardon to help build the road through the canyon to Bear Lake.  Three or four months of the next five years were spent by these men camping in the canyon and working on the road.  They followed an Indian Trail along the river up to the left fork through Beaver and St. Charles.  It says these men had many difficulties to endure, but they were blessed as to having plenty of meat as elk, bear, and deer were plentiful.

For ten years Paul Cardon belonged to the Minute Men of Logan, a regular military organization of 300 men which followed up and punished the Indians when they stole horses or killed any of the settlers.  Every year Brigham Young visited the valley, and in his trips to the new settlements, he was always accompanied by some of the Minute Men and in this capacity Brother Cardon has many times had the honor of traveling with him.

To the Italian origin of Paul Cardon, Cache Valley owes its mulberry trees and its attempts at the silk culture.  Both he and his wife were experts in all branches of the silk industry.  The climate conditions in Northern Italy and Cache Valley were very similar so he sent to France for mulberry seeds and the silk worms.  The trees grew well and many of them are still living.  The worms spun silk of excellent quality which Sister Cardon reeled and which was woven in Salt Lake City.  John Paul Cardon died at his home in Logan on the 12th of February, 1915 at the age of 76.  (Utah 28 "Heart Throbs of the west" Page 284-288)

By 1866 at least 17 families had migrated to America from the Piedmont Valley of Italy.  The first immigrants that left the Valley on 7 Feb. 1854 were eight members of the Phillippe Cardon Family.  Cardons had been able to dispose of their property for enough to bring themselves and five others to Utah.  They spent two weeks in London.  At Liverpool they were delayed 17 days while the ship "The John M. Wood" was under construction.  They sailed 12 March 1854 under the supervision of Robert Campbell.  The passage took 51 days.  There were 393 persons aboard.  They arrived at New Orleans 1 May 1854.  They went up the Mississippi River to St. Louis then to Kansas City where they were outfitted for their trek across the western wilderness.  They left on 14 July 1854 for the Salt Lake Valley and arrived on 28 October 1854.  They experienced many hardships along the journey.  Radical changes in diet worked one of the hardships on this group of people from Italy.  They had been used to fresh fruit, unfermented wine, and etc. at each meal.  Paul Cardon said he had never seen any intoxicated from the juice.  Most of all they missed the chestnuts.  These had been used in roasting, creamed or ground into meal.  When food was scarce in the Utah Territory, they boiled roseberries to help eke out their meager fare gleaned from the fields.  They helped milk cows to pay for this privilege of gleaning.

The sailing vessel, "John M. Wood" was 1146 tons, had 400 aboard, under a Captain Hartley.  Other information about the early life of John Paul Cardon may be found in the History of his sister Magdeline also in my possession.