More Pictures Up

Hello everyone,
I added more pictures to the Cook line and a biography of Merrill Eugene Cook. Thanks to Uncle Don for providing all of it. Because of his many years of research I am able to learn things about my ancestors that I would never know otherwise.

Which brings me to this: if you have ANY information about any of our ancestors, that I haven't already included, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you. I'm especially interested in pictures and documents, but ANY information is appreciated. Thanks!!

Happy birthday, Mary!

Margaret Iva Richards Cook>Wilford Woodruff Richards>Mary Thompson Richards

In honor of Mary's birthday today, I'll share a little bit about her.

We all know the basic story of Mary's life - how she married Willard Richards and at his death, when she was only 27, she married Franklin D Richards to "raise up a posterity to Willard." Here is some of her story, though, after all that had happened and her children were raised and gone.

Mary loved her religion and tried to live up to its teachings, holding sacred her covenants.The last 20 years of Mary's life she worked in the Logan Temple. Some of that time she was matron of the temple under Pres. Mariner W Merrill. As she grew older and weaker she was given a room in an annex building so she could be closer and serve more often. She loved the work so much that it was her secret wish to die at the temple. Unfortunately, though, she died while on a visit to her son's in Riverside, Utah. She was 77. At her funeral she had requested that Melvin J Ballard sing I Know that My Redeemer Lives, which he did. She is buried in Farmington.

You can read more about Mary Thompson Richards HERE and HERE.

Happy birthday, Lorenzo!

Dean Wyatt Thorpe>Lorenzo Riggs Thorpe>Lorenzo Williams Thorpe

In honor of Lorenzo Thorpe's birthday, I thought I'd share what little I know about him.

Lorenzo was born 21 Oct 1856 in St Louis. His parents had already made the voyage across the Atlantic and were now preparing to cross the plains to be with the Saints, a journey they wouldn't complete until 1861. While working towards this goal three of their children died. Lorenzo was four when he finally crossed the plains, with his mother, father, and baby brother. They settled in Wellsville.

He died in 1928, at the age of 71, in Wellsville, of “an enlarged and infected prostate.”

Not much is known of the in-between. He was baptized in 1868 at the age of 11. I have him on the 1870 census  living in Wellsville with his parents. He married Mary Jane Riggs in 1876 and they had 10 children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. He went to the temple to do all of his work in 1903. I have his "pioneer poster" HERE.

If you have any more info on him, please leave a comment below.

Happy birthday, Sarah!

Merrill Eugene Cook>Eliza Snow Bryson Cook>Samuel Bryson>Sarah Ann Connery Bryson


In honor of Sarah Bryson's birthday today I thought I would share some tidbits about her life. (Sorry, no pictures this time. I don't have any of Sarah.)

•  Sarah and her husband, Samuel, were baptized in 1841 in Ireland. Severe persecution followed their conversion, so they moved to Scotland.  When they left Ireland no one would buy any of their possessions because they were Mormons, and they could take nothing except their clothing with them on the sailing vessel.  Their fine china was left on racks on the walls.  

• When their daughter, Sarah Ann, was about three years old, she fell out of the second story window in the apartment house where they were living. Her mother was outside and saw her fall and caught her!

• They came across the plains in 1855. When the company was near Laramie, Wyoming, they pitched camp and Samuel went out hunting.  He returned to camp just in time to see a big Indian carrying away his little girl, Eliza.  He raised his rifle and the Indian dropped her and galloped away.

• They settled in Bountiful where Samuel's mother had built them an adobe house to live in. When Johnston's army came the family moved south to Utah County.  They scattered straw through their homes before leaving them, "ready to be burned by us rather than occupied and confiscated by the army.  They did not molest them, however, and after a short time we returned to our homes and resumed life in the regular manner. Because of the persecutions and afflictions, we were alert to protect ourselves and our homes from our enemies."    

• She was a staunch Latter-day Saint and gave freely of herself to the Church. She was a faithful and devoted wife and helpmate to her husband , and a loving mother to her children. Sarah's eldest daughter, Sarah Ann, said, "In my childhood the gospel of Jesus Christ was foremost in our home.  It was our very life.  We were taught its principles, to honor the Priesthood, and to love God and His son, Jesus Christ.  We were taught to be humble before the Lord in constant prayer. This has been a source of strength and joy...  

You can read more about Sarah HERE

John McCleve, Handcart Pioneer

Merrill Eugene Cook>Joseph Wolcott Cook> Catherine McCleve Cook>John McCleve

I finally got around to buying the movie 17 Miracles. We'll be watching it tonight for FHE. So, in honor of the handcart pioneers, today I'm sharing a little about our handcart pioneer, John McCleve.

John, his wife, Nancy, and seven of their children came across the plains in the second handcart company, under Daniel D. McArthur. Their two oldest daughters, Sarah and Catherine, were already waiting for them in Salt Lake.

While pushing his handcart up a steep hill, John tried to keep a heavy chest from falling from the cart of the widow in front of him, causing him severe injuries. He continued to push the handcart the rest of the day.

That night he complained of not being well and his wife made a bed for him on the ground. He looked at the ground and said, "It looks so hard," whereupon Nancy Jane borrowed a pillow from a neighboring handcart couple. After suffering greatly for a few hours he passed away and was buried on the bank of the Weber River, only two days from Salt Lake.

His wife and daughter, Margaret, pulled the handcart the rest of the way into Salt Lake City.

You can read more about John HERE and HERE.  

The Endowment House

As you read through the biographies of our ancestors, located under Pages on the right hand side of the blog, you'll notice that a lot of their temple work was done in the Salt Lake Endowment House.

I was curious about this house, where it stood, how long it was in operation, is it still standing, etc. Here's what I found:

From LDSChurchTemples.com:  

• Site Dedication:  April 1854
• Construction Commencement:  Summer of 1854
• Dedication:  5 May 1855 by Heber C. Kimball
• Rededication:  2 October 1856 (baptistry only)

Endowment House Locale:

Once located on the northwest corner of the temple block in Salt Lake City, the Endowment House served as a temporary temple for Church members in Utah Territory from 1855–1889 during construction of the Salt Lake Temple. The two-story adobe structure was razed in 1889, four years prior to the completion of the Salt Lake Temple.

Endowment House Facts:

Prior to the construction of the Endowment House, temple ordinances were being given on a regular basis in Salt Lake beginning in February 1851. This was done in a variety of locations including Brigham Young's office, the Council House, and the top of Ensign Peak.
Recognizing the need for a separate dedicated structure for the administration of the endowment, the Endowment House was built on the northwest corner of Temple Square to function during the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.
At the time of its dedication, President Brigham Young declared that the Endowment House was "The House of the Lord."
The Endowment House was designed by Church architect Truman O. Angell.
The two-story Endowment House featured a washing and anointing room, "garden room," "world room," and "terrestrial room" on the main floor with a "celestial room" on the upper floor.
A year after the Endowment House was constructed, it was enlarged to include a baptistry, which was dedicated on October 2, 1856.
Baptisms for the dead were administered in the Endowment House until 1876. Endowments for the living were performed there until 1884. And sealings of living couples were performed there until 1889.
Endowments for the dead were not performed in the Endowment House (neither were sealings to parents), which were reserved for the temple only.
In 1889, President Wilford Woodruff had the Endowment House razed.


BYU has a page about it HERE
Wikipedia's article about it is HERE 

My Pioneer Spreadsheet

Okay, okay, I know the title of this sounds like a primary handout, but, believe me, it isn't.


I'm sharing today my working draft of a spreadsheet that has been built on many, many hours of hard work. In it I have all of my ancestors that are considered "pioneers" - in that they crossed the plains to Utah between the time that Brigham Young took the first company in 1847 and the time that the railroad came to Utah in 1869.


The spreadsheet lists my direct-line ancestor pioneer, with the family members that are known to have travelled with them, the ship they came on (if applicable and if known), the company they came with, information about that company, dates of travel, and any other information that I have been able to dig up about their journey. As you can guess, I lost count of how many hours I spent on this. And it isn't complete. Those darn Thorpes/Williams have been impossible to track down, though I've made some headway. I'm still searching for ship passenger manifests for several of the pioneers. And I've only just begun on my husband's ancestors (highlighted in green). But, all in all, it is still full of helpful information about our ancestors. And, if I had to do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat.

My Pioneer Spreadsheet

When you click on the link it'll take you to a page that says it won't load. In the upper right hand corner there is a button to download the spreadsheet. Click on that and it'll open on your computer.

 If you have any information I am missing, please leave a comment below. Thanks!