The Mount Timpanogos Graveyard Rabbit

The California and Utah GYR's Go Graveyard Hopping!

2009-03-30T16:36:00.020-06:00

What do you do when....

a California Graveyard Rabbit comes to visit...

...and you take her to see some really neat cemeteries...

...you think things are going really well...

...you've found some very interesting graves and headstones....

...and then your car won't start, right in the middle of the cemetery?

ORDER PIZZA!

Not many people can say they have had pizza delivered to the Salt Lake Cemetery. Well, it quite possibly is a first - especially for the Graveyard Rabbits!

It was a terrific day - that could have ended up horrible. But Diane (The Graveyard Rabbit Travels Wright) was a real trooper. She was so kind and fun to be with - even when my car wouldn't start!

First we visited the Brigham Young Cemetery, which is actually called the Mormon Pioneer Memorial. It's a beautiful park and small cemetery right in the middle of downtown Salt Lake City.

Then we drove to the Salt Lake City Cemetery - a huge historic cemetery found in the Avenues of Salt Lake City. We got a map from the cemetery office which showed us the locations of well-known people who are buried there.

Our "chauffeur" drove us around to the various stones we wanted to see...

Then my CAR DIED.

And so, to pass the time while we waited for it to start up again,
we ordered pizza!

We ate our impromptu picnic by the Angel statue made famous in "The Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans.

We played with a "Graveyard Dog."

And had a wonderful time. I was disappointed that there was snow on the ground. But being from California, Diane thought it gave the cemetery character!

Finally, my car started again. We finished our tour and ended the day with the best donuts in the world!

Thanks for coming Diane! I hope our escapades won't keep you from coming again - you are welcome anytime!

Grave Mappers is Looking For Participants in a Test Mapping Project for Names in Stone - the Cemetery Maps Website

2009-02-28T08:35:00.007-07:00

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I posted this article this week at the Grave Mappers blog. I think it would make a great project for the Graveyard Rabbits. I'm planning to map the Brigham Young Cemetery in Salt Lake City for my project and I can't wait to get started!

At Grave Mappers, we are always looking for ways to help preserve small, obscure cemeteries and their vital records – and we are announcing a great opportunity to do just that!

Grave Mappers is honored to be asked to conduct a Test Mapping Project for Names In Stone, the cemetery maps website. The Names in Stone team is continually working to make its site more user-friendly, especially for people who want to map cemeteries. To further this effort, they are planning a test project, which will allow users to have a mapping experience and then give input into how the website might be improved.

Grave Mappers is seeking 50 people to participate in this Test Mapping Project for Names In Stone. This is an exciting opportunity for you to test the website’s mapping capabilities, and to give feedback on how it worked for you.

If you would like to participate, you will be asked to map a cemetery that contains anywhere from one to 200 graves. The project will include three steps.

1. Collect all data at the cemetery, including photos of each headstone, headstone transcriptions, and a sketch with the location of the graves in relationship to each other. (You must map the entire cemetery, not just a portion of it – so choose a cemetery that fits within the criteria and that you will have time to complete.)

2. Create the cemetery map on the Names In Stone website; then add each individual grave to the map along with the headstone data and photo.

3. Fill out a post-mapping questionnaire that will detail your experience as you mapped your cemetery, giving input into what worked for you, and what improvements you would like to see.

All Test Mapping Projects must be completed by May 1, so that the cemeteries can be up and running on the site before Memorial Day. (If you need more time because of weather or other concerns, please let me know.)

If you are interested in participating, please send an email to gravemappers@gmail.com. Include your name, email address, and the city, state, province, or country where you live. You will be sent a confirmation email giving you specific instructions on conducting your mapping project.

This is a great opportunity to help in the preservation of the records of small cemeteries. We hope you will join us!

All screenshots used by permission from Names In Stone.

The Mount Timpanogos GYR Gets an Award!

2009-02-18T17:15:00.005-07:00

Dorene at The Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay has awarded this Graveyard Rabbit the KreativBlogger Award!

Thanks Dorene - it's an honor! I now am excited to pass this award on to seven bloggers - people who author blogs that I really enjoy reading.

They are:

Be sure to visit them all!

Here are the rules connected with the KreativBlogger Award:

1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.
4. Link to those sites on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominate.

Congratulations to all - and thanks again, Dorene!

Oliver and Mary Thornton - Utah Pioneers

2009-02-03T13:23:00.004-07:00

Oliver Thornton was born in Pickering, a township in Canada on September 6, 1806, the son of Joseph Thornton and Lucretia Calkins (Sly) Thornton. He married Mary Griswold (born on February 22, 1812) in 1828 or 1829.

In 1838, they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began their journey to gather with the Mormon Pioneers. That journey was filled with trials and persecution. They eventually reached the Salt Lake Valley in 1852 and then continued on to settle on the shores of Utah Lake in the new town of American Fork. They arrived in November and their 11th child was born just one week later.

They homesteaded in an area that was called Laketown, which area now borders the state highway between American Fork and Pleasant Grove. Oliver built a little adobe house and dug a well that could be enclosed within the house. He cleared the land and planted an orchard, one of the first apple orchards in the area.

Mary gave birth to one more child in 1855. On April 12, 1858, she passed away at her home, leaving behind 4 children under the age of twelve.

In 1859, a widow named Margaret Stoddard moved to American Fork. Her husband had passed away in one of the handcart companies that had come west in 1856. Margaret and Oliver were married and together raised their children - she had two or three of her own.

Oliver died on January 21, 1891. He is buried beside his two wives, Mary and Margaret, in the American Fork Utah Cemetery. Margaret died on July 15, 1899.

In his obituary (Deseret News 27 January 1891) it says: "Oliver Thornton was known as a man of-sterling integrity, strictly honest in every particular, and a humble and devoted follower of the Master whose precepts he loved. . . He leaves a host of friends and a large family to mourn their loss. The living members of his family numbering as follows: eight children, thirty-four grandchildren and twenty-eight great grandchildren."

You can read more about this family in an excellent history compiled by Zella Hansen Nesbitt, a great-granddaughter of Oliver and Mary Thornton.

Who is Baby Thomas?

2009-01-20T08:18:00.006-07:00

This little grave, found in the Fairfield, Utah Cemetery, is heart-wrenching. And all it does is raise questions:

Who is Baby Thomas?
When was he buried here?
Was the cement placed later?
Are his parents buried nearby?

The mother in me needs the story! But for now, the questions are the story...

A Link is Broken - George Jacklin Jr.

2009-01-16T17:29:00.009-07:00

George Jacklin Jr.

Born March 21, 1870

Died February 2, 1882

Aged 11 Years, 10 Months, 11 Days

A link is broken in our household band,

But a chain is forming in a better land.

JACKLIN

George is buried in the American Fork City Cemetery. You can view his grave on the map at Names in Stone.

Ethel Heninger Gunnell - Headstone

2009-01-11T18:14:00.009-07:00

This is the headstone of Ethel Naomi Heninger Gunnell - see the photo in the blog article Aunt Priscilla's Sewing Class. Ethel is third from the right in the top photo.

Ethel was the daughter of Henry Clay Heninger and Naomi Fifield Heninger. Her sister was my grandmother, Hazel Heninger Gunnell. Hazel married Joshua Brown Gunnell and they had eight children. Hazel died of a heart attack in 1951. Just over a year later, Ethel married Joshua and helped him finish raising his children. Joshua died in 1973. Ethel died in 1988 and is buried in the Providence, Utah Cemetery.

Joshua and Hazel are buried next to each other in the Logan, Utah cemetery. You can see a map of Joshua and Hazel's graves at Names in Stone.

Moses and Elvira Mecham - Headstone Dating Question

2009-01-09T09:40:00.019-07:00

Moses Worthen Mecham and Elvira Derby Mecham

Moses Worthen Mecham and Elvira Derby Mecham were Utah Pioneers who came West in 1853. They first settled in Lehi, Utah where Moses took charge of the toll gate at the Jordan Narrows for a year. Later they moved to Provo, where he taught school. The family then moved to the mouth of Provo Canyon at the base of Mount Timpanogos, where Moses became the toll keeper for the local government. The government charged fees to travelers in order to make improvements on the Provo Canyon road which led to the Wallsburg and Heber areas.

Leonidas Moses Worthen Mecham was born in Canaan, New Hampshire on Feb. 19, 1804 and died in Provo, Utah on July 22, 1878. Elvira Derby Mecham was born on November 6, 1811 in Hanover, New Hampshire and died in Provo, Utah on April 28, 1886. Moses and Elvira had 17 children:

Leonidas Clinton Mecham

Sarah Mecham

Samuel Mecham

Mormon Mecham

Polly Mecham

Emily Mecham

Americus Mecham

America Mecham

Martha Mecham

Lucina Mecham

Elvira Mecham

Moses Moroni Mecham

William Wallace Mecham

Celestia Ann Mecham

John Derby Mecham

Donna Maria Mecham

Marcus Lafayette Mecham

Moses and Elvira Mecham's daughters - 1886.

Front - Polly, Donna Maria, Sarah, Elvira, Martha. Back - Celestia Ann, America, Lucina.

Moses and Elvira are buried in the Provo City Cemetery, with other Mecham family members nearby.

Headstone Dating Question:

Are these the original headstones? It seems to me that these types of headstones would have been used later than the 1870's and 1880's, and so I wonder if there were older headstones that have been replaced. Are there any experts who might know the answer? If there were older headstones, are there photos out there of Moses and Elvira's original headstones?

Aunt Priscilla's Sewing Class

2009-01-06T09:09:00.014-07:00

These photos were taken in August of 1911 in Logan, Utah. I only know four of the people in the photos, all from the top photo - my great-aunt, Ethel Heninger, third from left; Priscilla Fifield Campbell, the sewing class teacher, (Ethel's aunt) second from left; Priscilla's husband, the only man; and my great grandmother (Ethel's mother and Priscilla's sister) Naomi Fifield Heninger, fifth from left behind the girl at the sewing machine and holding a piece of fabric.

I have information from Ethel's diary that lets us know a little of what was going on in Logan at that time....

1911 - "I have been to Logan sewing and made Louie a jacket. We went on the 'car' to see the air ship but didn't see it because it didn't or couldn't get up."

August 11, 1911 - "We have the genuine whooping cough and have been quarantined since last Sunday. Our sewing class is having our pictures taken."

I love these photos because they tell such a great story. And they are revealing of the time - a history without words! I'm so grateful to have copies, and I'm sure there are many other people whose ancestors are in these photos. Hopefully someone can identify them!

View Ethel Heninger's headstone here.

AF Pioneer Cemetery Map

2009-01-03T20:42:00.012-07:00

Check out the map I'm creating at Names in Stone of the American Fork Pioneer Cemetery!

Names in Stone screenshots used by permission.

American Fork Pioneer Cemetery

2009-01-03T14:30:00.020-07:00

For 15 years, I've driven by this park nearly everyday. I never bothered to stop and see the monument or read what was on it. But while searching the internet for something completely unrelated, I found out that this isn't just any park and playground.

It is the first American Fork Cemetery.

This site served as the burial site for pioneers from the Adams and American Fork camps from 1852 to 1868. It is located on the northwest corner of the intersection of 100 East and 300 North in American Fork. The monument in the park was erected in 1948 by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.

The center plaque reads:

PIONEER CEMETERY

This spot served as a burial ground for the pioneers of American Fork from 1852 to 1868. When death came to the village the bodies were prepared for burial and the graves dug by friends and relatives. Some Indians were buried here.

Listed on plaques are the names of pioneers buried here.

Adams and American Fork Camps, Utah County Company

The west plaque reads:

Sabina Clark Adams

James Arza Adams

Charles Franklin Adams

Agnes Adams

Davis Adams

Arza Quincey Adams

Mary Adeline Adams

Moroni Adams

Elizabeth Adams

Lydia Ann Adams

Sarah Alston

Thomas Bishop

Mary Ellen Binnall

Edwin E. Boley

Samuel Bourne

John Bourne

Franklin Barratt

Milton Davis Chipman

Betsy Chipman

Andrew Crystal

Currie Child

Henry Cunningham

Henry Covington

Sophia Dayton

Louisa Lance Dayton

John Eldredge

Zina Eldredge

John Fisher

George William Filcher

Charles Henry Filcher

James Faulkner

John M. Greene

William Gardner

Joseph Hansen

Inger Mortensen Hansen

Thomas S. Hindley

Mary Ellen Harrington

Lois Elma Harrington

Mary Jones Harrington

Sarah Julian

Mary Jane Jackson

George F. Jackson

The east plaque reads:

Mary E. Kettle

Ann Kelley

Mary King

Mortimer King

Hyrum Kelley

Elizabeth Mitchell

Jedediah Grant McNeil

John Alma McNeil

John Mercer

Emma Julian Mercer

John Miller

Elizabeth Dean Nicholes

Stephen Nicholes

Daniel Nicholes

James Nicholes

Sarah Ann Nielsen

Miss Sarah A. Nielsen

Baby Nielsen

Anna Marie Neilsen

Peter Hans Olsen

John Proctor

Vivian Proctor

James Parker

Emma Pool

Elizabeth Ralphs

Samuel H. Robinson

Ann Wootton Robinson

Alfred Robinson

Margaret Smith

James Moroni Shelley

Charlotte Shelley

William Boyer Shelley

George Heber Shelley

Elizabeth Shelley

Emma Shelley

Martha Sykes

Henry Thornton

Mary Jane Varney

Caroline Elizabeth Varney

Jacob William Varney

Joseph Woodhead

Rosannah Dishley Wood

George Wearhem

A Family Plot - William and Emily Carson

2008-12-28T14:54:00.058-07:00

In the Fairfield, Utah Cemetery there is a small section surrounded by a decorative rod-iron fence. (See blog posting on December 20.) This section is probably called the Carson Family Plot, although there are many more Carsons buried throughout the Fairfield Cemetery.

In this family plot, we find William and Emily Carson and several of their children. In the Carson Family History by Lynn R. Carson, we can learn a lot more about William and Emily and their family.....

Emily was married first to Washington Carson, and was expecting their first child when he was killed by Indians in February of 1856. William was Washington's older brother, and eventually married Emily after Washington died. He already had five children with his previous wife, Curilla Egbert, who died in 1854. Together, William and Emily had 13 children.

William, Emily, Curilla, and several of their children are buried in the Carson Family Plot alongside Washington and George who were killed by Indians.

At the center of this row of headstones is a family monument, with the names and birth/death dates of each family member buried here. Below are photos of each headstone and that person's section of the family monument.

Click here to see the graves on the Fairfield Cemetery Map at Names in Stone. You can see who is buried next to whom, and find additional extended family members. For instance, who is W. Carson buried next to Isaac and Jacob?

William H. Carson 1/8/1818 - 12/25/1901

Emily A. McMinds Carson 5/15/1833 - 7/5/1876

Curilla Egbert Carson 6/10/1820 - 7/7/1854

Wiley Carson 11/23/1871 - 2/12/1879

James Carson 5/11/1865 - 8/1/1867

Washington Carson 6/16/1859 - 9/12/1892

Isaac and Jacob Carson - 10/24/1862 - 11/22/1862

George and Washington Carson - Killed by Indians

2008-12-20T20:37:00.024-07:00

In the Fairfield, Utah Cemetery is a small section that is surrounded by a short rod iron fence and contains about 15 graves.

In the northeast corner of this section lie two graves, with a third grave right next to them - but on the other side of the fence. These are the graves of George Carson, Washington Carson, and Henry Moran. The intriguing thing about these three men is that they all died the same day - February 22, 1856 - and they were all killed by Indians.

I found two short histories that included slightly different versions of how these two brothers and the other man were killed.

One is found in "Excerpts from Indian Depradations in Utah" by Peter Gottfredson. The other is in a short history of George Carson on John Pratt's website.

From John Pratt's website - a history written by David H. Carson of Lehi, Utah - "In 1855 the five Carson brothers, along with William Beardshall, John Clegg, Amos Fielding settled at Fairfield, Utah, and others came later. They established themselves a fort which they erected as a protection against the Indians. The fort was four rods square and was built in 1856-1857. In 1856 Indian trouble started. On the 21st of February, 1856 George Jr. was fatally wounded by Indians on the south side of town. After the skirmish the Indians went over toward Utah Lake by way of Soldier Pass. On February 22, they met and killed Washington Carson and Henry Moran, who were caring for some cattle near the lake. On that same day George died, making three deaths by the Tintic Indians. The Indians headed for the Tintic District and were never over taken."

The other article says that in 1856, the Indians were on the war path, and became very troublesome for the settlers. These Indians killed two herdsmen - Henry Moran and Washington Carson. When the two men didn't return home as expected, a search party went to hunt for them. Some members of this party went to meet with the Indians, who were very hostile. A fight broke out, and one of the party - George Carson - was killed. How devastating this must have been for these settlers to lose three of their men in one day.

George and Washington Carson's headstones have been replaced with newer headstones. There is only a newer headstone for Henry Moran. If there was ever an older headstone like George and Washington's, it is missing now.

You can also view these graves on the cemetery map at Names in Stone.

Welcome to The Mount Timpanogos Graveyard Rabbit!

2008-12-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

I am honored to be nominated by Footnote Maven to be the first Utah member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits! The articles in this blog will be devoted to Utah cemeteries and the preservation of their priceless records.

In Utah, we are fortunate that our State Historical Department is very proactive and involved in the preservation of cemetery records. For the past decade, the Utah Cemetery Inventory Project has helped cemeteries update and modernize their records. The Project has provided funding in the form of small grants to cemeteries to help them convert sexton records to electronic database and geographic information system (GIS) form.

Utah is also fortunate to have many cemeteries already mapped on the website Names in Stone. This is an innovative new website that is very different from other cemetery websites—it is a growing collection of interactive cemetery maps that allows visitors to search a listing of multiple cemeteries, view actual grave locations on a map, and see the record for a deceased person by clicking on the grave. As more and more cemeteries are added to the website, I think it will become a great central repository for cemetery records and a superior research tool.

As I document cemeteries and headstone records in Utah, I will link you back to Names in Stone if those records are in their database. Then you will be able to see the location of the graves and see who is buried next to them. I hope this will be a big help to you in your research endeavors.

I'm excited to be the Mount Timpanogos Graveyard Rabbit and I look forward to sharing Utah cemeteries with you!