What did your ancestors do for you so you don’t have to?
Posted by jaybeacham on 29 Jul 2016 at 09:03 am | Tagged as: blog
I was going through my documents files today and found this piece I’d forgotten about.
Pioneer Day was last Sunday with activities for it the week and day before and on Monday the 25th.
It’s still a good time to remember and ponder.
This past few days the temperature has been 112 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit and the pioneer song lyrics came to mind, “the hot winds swirl around me and take my breath away.” we have cooling devises, fans, shade, so much that the pioneer didn’t have here in Southern Utah.
So Here’s the article I found:
“Sunday June 29,2014
Today, my daughter Karen called me on the telephone.
She said that her sons Mathieu and Joshua had just been on a youth pioneer trek to Wyoming.
That’s great as they had Swiss pioneer ancestors who traveled through Wyoming by handcart.
So often folks only think of the ill-fated cart companies and forget all about the many who traveled very
well by handcart to the Great Basin.
The only thing that could have been construed as bad was that the old grandfather of the Kellers
died on the way and was buried on an island in the Sweetwater River.
But they weren’t sad because he was an old man who was happy to be on his way to Zion.
“And should we die before our journey’s through, all is well, we then are free from toil and sorrow too.”
Karen and Alan went on a handcart trek west of Gunlock, Utah when teenagers.
Later James as a teen was the cinematographer for another Ivins Stake handcart trek.
Back doing what the ancestors did to gain a small idea of what they went through to get here.
The one thing I don’t think would be much fun would be to be a passenger in the hold of the
Mayflower’s first North American voyage.
I’m glad they did it and I don’t have to.
I suppose a little air sickness or car sickness which doesn’t last for weeks isn’t so bad after all.
And walking from Central, Utah to St. George, Utah (26 miles) carrying a car starter is not as bad as walking 1000 miles across Iowa,
Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah to get to St. George.
Pioneer Day is soon approaching.
What did your ancestors do for you so you don’t have to?”
Josh Ford as Mormon Battalion Member June 4, 2011
Natalie Gotcher as Handcart pioneer June 4, 2011