Elizabeth Hunt Thayne

   Elizabeth Hunt Thayne does not appear in the 1870 census in Utah which raises the question, where was she when the census was taken?

There are multiple explanations as to why she is not in the census, but the two reasons that seem most likely are:

      1) She was living at the sawmill up in Thayne canyon far away from the city

(or)

       2) She hid from the census taker because of the laws against polygamy.

    In the Utah History Encyclopedia it states that, "In 1862 the United States Congress passed the Morrill Act, which prohibited plural marriage in the territories, disincorporated the Mormon Church, and restricted the church's ownership of property. The nation was in the midst of the Civil War, however, and the law was not enforced. In 1867 the Utah Territorial Legislature asked Congress to repeal the Morrill Act. Instead of doing that, the House Judiciary Committee asked why the law was not being enforced, and the Cullom Bill, an attempt to strengthen the Morrill Act, was introduced."

    The only census I have been able to find Elizabeth in is the 1841 census taken in England when she was only two years old. 

"1841 England Census for Great Somerford, Wiltshire, England," images Ancestry.com