MAY 2018 LESSON, ARTIFACT, AND MUSIC MAY 2018 DUP Lesson Part I PIONEER GRAVESITES HONOR LIVES Ellen Taylor Jeppson, Maryann Ruben Jensen Lynnette Pieper Hanson, Julie Nichols Thompson In early every culture in the world has meaningful traditions and customs relating to death. Mourning is, in the simplest sense, synonymous with grief over the death of someone. The word is also used to describe a cultural complex of behaviors in which the bereaved participate or are expected to participate. Customs vary between cultures and evolve over time, though many core behaviors remain constant. For the majority of modern Americans, death is a relatively distant experience, as most deaths occur away from home and the life expectancy rate is high. For Americans in the 1800s, including the pioneers, death was much closer and more frequent. Most people died at home, the infancy mortality rate was high, and the life expectancy was short. This closeness to death led to the development of meaningful mourning rituals and symbolism. The mourning traditions practiced by the Utah pioneers were highly influenced by the culturally diverse population of the Valley. Emigrants from England, for example, had experienced the death of Queen Victoria s husband in 1861 and had observed the elaborate rituals that were established by the Queen. From Europe came the tradition of carrying the body out of the house feet first in order to prevent the spirit from looking back into the house and beckoning to a family member to follow him in death. A Danish tradition called for the opening of a window in the home at the time of death so the soul of the deceased could fly away. Another early Christian tradition consisted of the burial of the body with the head facing the west and feet facing east because it was believed that Christ would return to the earth from the east. Burial traditions of the pioneers became a conglomerate of past traditions along with available resources as they crossed the plains, settled in early homes, and moved throughout the Valley. MUSEUM MOURNING ARTIFACTS Upon the death of a loved one, mementos were often made for remembrance including samplers, brooches, portraits, jewelry, hair jewelry and pictures, plates, dried flowers, and pieces of clothing. Following are artifacts of mourning displayed in the Pioneer Memorial Museum. We all recognize the willow tree and the urn as symbols of mourning. This punch paper sampler was made by Rachel Ivins when she was a child. The embroidery shows, We part to meet again. With an urn and a plant in the center (Accession #4297) Jewelry belonging to the deceased was often kept and treasured as a memento. A gold baby ring that belonged to Henry Jeremy Davis, son of David L. Davis and Esther Jeremy Davis, is tied to a maroon leather photo case. Jeremy died in July of 1887 when he was sixteen years old. Accession #15396. Rachel Ridgeway Ivins Grant sampler. (DUP Photo Collection) Henry Jeremy Davis baby ring and photo.
Locks of hair were often saved and displayed as a memento of the deceased. A photograph of Augusta Precindia Cook Messervy with a lock of her hair is displayed with a photograph of her husband, Joseph Robert Messervy. Accession #1106. Augusta Precindia Cook Messervy and Joseph Robert Messervy. A glass dome containing dried flowers that were used at the funeral of Eliza R. Snow is displayed. It is a heart-shaped arrangement with a white silk bow. The flowers were given to Elizabeth J. D. Roundy, the nurse of the deceased. Eliza R. Snow died at the home of Mrs. Roundy on December 5, 1887. Accession #257. Flowers from the funeral of Eliza R. Snow. Mourning handkerchiefs were widely used during the Victorian era. To signify respect for the dead, they were generally a white handkerchief with a black border and were often kept for a keepsake. Sometimes the name of the deceased was embroidered, along with flowers, initials, or a short saying or poem. Five mourning handkerchiefs were donated by Grace Kincade, four with black bands and one made of white cotton with embroidered flowers in one corner. Accession #3873. Mourning handkerchiefs.
Locks of hair were also preserved in jewelry such as this pendant. Accession #90002-312. Locks of hair preserved in pendant. A handmade memento consisting of a tiny circle only two inches in diameter with paper on one side and cloth on the other is bound around the edge with blue ribbon. Written on the paper side is Sarah Evans, Wales, 1831, and Ael Y Bryn. On the cloth side, the saying, When this you see remember me when many miles away, is cross stitched with hair. Accession #8839. Sarah Evans memento Two miniature coffins are shown in the mourning case. A miniature wood coffin with a sliding lid and a wooden-carved body inside was made by Virgil Leonard. Accession #143. Miniature wood coffin. Another casket lined with black velvet and lace and made of cardboard contains a porcelain doll. It was made in 1876 in Ogden, Utah. A note inside has the date 6 April 1883. Little is known about these miniature caskets, but they are some of the earliest relics in the DUP collections. Accession #861. Miniature cardboard coffin
A silver-plated casket plaque is engraved with At Rest and Holiness to the Lord. Decorated with the All-Seeing Eye and a beehive, local iconography, the plaque was recovered from the casket department of the Coalville Co- Op. Accession #11852. Silver-plated casket plaque. Stitchery was also used to memorialize the dead. This piece of black satin fabric was embroidered by Charlotte Elene Lundblad Simkins to remember her baby daughter. The inscription reads, In memory of Darling Rachel died 13 July 1872. Accession #13590 Charlotte Elene Lundblad Simkins sampler. Memorial pictures, such as this one for John Toone (died in 1893), would help families remember their lost loved ones. Photo negative #6903. The inscription reads: Farewell, dear father, sweet they rest Weary with years, and worn with pain Farewell, till in some happy place, We shall behold they face again. Tis ours to meet thee, all our years And tender memories of thee keep. Thine in the Lord to rest, for so He giveth His Beloved sleep. John Toone memorial picture..
MAY 2018 DUP Lesson Part II PIONEER GRAVESITES HONOR LIVES EARLY CEMETERIES AND BURIAL GROUNDS Mormon Burial Ground in Missouri- Burials along the trail were not uncommon with death being the result of exhaustion, starvation, exposure, or disease. Graves dug by traveling pioneers were often hastily made and left unmarked. Consequently, records of those interred or specific locations of graves are incomplete, if available at all. In 1958, a burial ground for members of a Mormon expedition that came to Missouri from Ohio in 1834 was discovered in Clay County, Missouri. Near Rush Creek, the skeletal remains of three persons were found. Pathologist reports indicated they were partial skeletons of two men and a women, dead more than one hundred years. Joseph Smith led 205 men, 10 women, and an unknown number of children from Ohio in May 1834 to bring supplies to church members driven out of Jackson County into Clay County. While camped on Rush Creek in June 1834, 68 members of the rescue party were stricken by cholera. Thirteen men and one woman died. The woman was Betsy Parrish, wife of Warren Parrish, who was secretary to Joseph Smith. Wrapped in blankets, the bodies were buried at night to avoid arousing Clay County residents to the presence of Mormons in the area. Cemetery at Winter Quarters- A monument erected at the Winter Quarters Cemetery in Florence, Nebraska, honors the men and women who gave their lives on the journey west to Zion, commemorating the fifteen-hundred-mile trek between 1846 and 1869 across the western plains by tens of thousands of pioneers. Six thousand of these emigrants died on the way due to the hardships of travel, approximately six hundred of whom lie buried in the Pioneer Cemetery at Florence, Nebraska. Avard Fairbanks, a Utah artist and descendant of pioneers buried in the cemetery, created the monument. Winter Quarters came about as a temporary encampment for Mormons arriving at Council Bluffs on the east bank of the Missouri River during the summer and early fall of 1846. It was too late in the year to continue west; requiring the pioneers to erect a city on the prairie (now Florence, Nebraska) across the river and north of Council Bluffs. One thousand log houses and other buildings were built before the end of the year. Schools and churches were established. The pioneers brought wagons, herds of cattle, horses, and flocks of sheep to the area. During the fall and winter of 1846-47, many of the weary travelers became ill. Most of the hundreds who died in and around Winter Quarters are buried in the cemetery marked by the monument. Other Cemeteries mentioned in the lesson are: Willard Cemetery Box Elder County, Utah Fillmore Cemetery Fillmore, Utah Willard Richards Burial Ground (Private Property) eventually remains moved to Salt Lake City Cemetery Fort Douglas Cemetery Foothills east of Salt Lake City Gravesites of LDS Church Presidents: Joseph Smith Jr. Nauvoo, Illinois Brigham Young Brigham Young Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah John Taylor Salt Lake City Cemetery Wilford Woodruff Salt Lake City Cemetery Lorenzo Snow Brigham City, Utah Cemetery Joseph F. Smith Salt Lake City Cemetery Heber J. Grant Salt Lake City Cemetery George Albert Smith Salt Lake City Cemetery David O. McKay Salt Lake City Cemetery Joseph Fielding Smith Salt Lake City Cemetery Harold B. Lee Salt Lake City Cemetery Spencer W Kimball Salt Lake City Cemetery Ezra Taft Benson Whitney, Idaho Cemetery Howard W. Hunter Salt Lake City Cemetery Gordon B. Hinckley Salt Lake City Cemetery Thomas S. Monson Salt Lake City Cemetery
MAY 2018 DUP Lesson Part III PIONEER GRAVESITES HONOR LIVES PILLARS A common practice in public cemeteries was the placement of a pillar on or near the first grave in a section of plots owned by one particular family. The pillar itself might contain information on the graves closest in proximity to the pillar, or it might simply be engraved with the family name, providing a clear indicator for visitors. Two such pillars belong to pioneer friends, Lorenzo Snow and Alvin Nichols, whose family plots lie next to one another in the Brigham City Cemetery. Family Burial site of Alvin Nichols and with the pillar marking the family burial site of Lorenzo Snow in the background. Alvin Nichols 19 Aug. 1819 18 Sept. 1899 Brigham City Cemetery, Brigham City, Box Elder County, Utah. (Julie Nichols Thompson Photo) Alvin Nichols entered the practice of polygamy in 1857, shortly after settling in Brigham City. His first wife consented to his marriages to Mary Ann Johnsen (Johnson, Jorgensen), who was born in Denmark and crossed the plains as a 12-year-old in 1854, and Virginia Ann Charlotte Wright, who was born in 1842 in Exeter, Scott County, Illinois. She came to the Valley in 1850 at the age of eight. Alvin Nichols was the father of twenty-eight children; eight with Lucy, seven with Mary Ann, and thirteen with Charlotte. A favorite family story involves Alvin being pursued by federal marshals who were seeking to arrest him for the practice of polygamy. He dressed as a woman and pretended to be working in a cornfield. The marshals passed him by. Ironically, an ear of corn is carved into his grave marker. Grave marker of Alvin Nichols. (Julie Thompson Photo)
MAY 2018 DUP Artifact BLOUSE BELONGING TO JANE HUNTINGTON EASTHAM Where: Grantsville DUP Museum 378 West Clark Street Grantsville, UT 84029 This blouse belonged to Jane Huntington Eastham (1817-1889). Jane was born 22 March 1817 in Chaddesley, Lancashire, England. She married John Eastham on 24 February 1841, in Preston, Lancashire, England. Jane gave birth to eleven children; she raised six girls to adulthood and buried four girls and one boy. In Victorian England, part of the mourning period included wearing only black. One year was the standard length of mourning for the loss of a child. Jane Eastham would spend five years in mourning, one year for each child. She and her husband, John, and their surviving children immigrated to Utah in 1865 settling in Grantsville, Utah. Donated by Rebecca Lawrence Kimber MAY 2018 DUP Song Grandmother s Old Arm Chair Pioneer Songs Music Book #292 Sung by Gabe Conner on the 2017-2018 Music CD Two versions were published in 1880. One, Grandma s Old Arm Chair, was attributed to Frank Carr, while another, Grandmother s Chair, was under the name of John Read. Some sources state the author of the poem is unknown. However, the use of pounds in the text suggests its origin was in England. Different versions of the music exist also. Alfred Durham s arrangement with quasi recitative verses seems to indicate a European influence. This piece became a popular parlor song with its wry humor in verse four.
LeeAnn Nelson, Music Chairperson, ISDUP Dr. Morris F. Lee, Instrumental Accompaniment Front cover: The painting of pioneer women huddled near the handcart is by artist Julie Rogers. She has said, I paint the stories for people to enjoy. I especially love the women of the trail. Her permission was graciously given to use this picture. Songs include: Oh! Willie We Have Missed You; Rosy Neil; The Vacant Chair; I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day; Oh Dear! What Can The Matter Be?; Grandpapa; The Way We Crossed The Plains; Echo Canyon; Grandmother s Old Arm Chair; Salute To Our Utah Pioneers. Pioneer Songs music book: compiled by Daughters of Utah Pioneers and arranged by Alfred M. Durham, was first published in 1932. Music for the pioneers served as a source of enjoyment as well as inspiration. The songs have a legacy, each one with a story that could be told about life s trials, hardship, and joy. Pioneer Song Contest Collection: To commemorate Pioneer Day of July 24, 2013, ISDUP had a song writing contest of modern-day composers and lyricists. They wrote in honor of a rich pioneer legacy of faith, fortitude, courage, freedom and industry. Eighty-nine entries, representing over eleven-hundred DUP Camps, were divided into six categories for assessment. The songs of all the winners and twenty "close contenders" entries are published in this collection. This volume represents the first modern-day song collection ever printed in the history of DUP other than the original book of Pioneer Songs published in 1932. The CD, Pioneer Song Contest Collection, and hardbound Pioneer Songs music book, are available for purchase at the Pioneer Memorial Museum in Salt Lake City or from our online shop at isdup.org.