24th of JULY 1847– PIONEER DAY

Saturday, July 24, 2010 – Today is a state holiday in Utah and is celebrated widely in Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada and elswhere. It marks the 163rd anniversary of the first pioneers with the Lord’s prophet Brigham Young at their head entering the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. I sort of consider myself a third generation pioneer as my mother considered herself a second generation one. Her father was born in 1859 shortly after their arrival in Deseret but his older sister Louisa Jane Hall and brother Newton Daniel Hall Jr. came across the plains in a covered wagon. In fact Newton was born in Winter Quarters while they were in preparation for the trek. My mother dearly loved her pioneer heritage and passed that love on to me as well as her love of genealogy which, in my mind at least go hand in hand. You have no idea how many times I have dreamed of and longed to meet my ancestors and give them loving embraces and hopefully learn in detail the stories of their lives. I am imagining it will be in some kind of diorama where I can see or even better experience there joys and heartbreaks along with them. My mother’s sister, Aunt Lidy (Lydia Hall) wrote several poems about her parents, especially her father and one on death I would like to pass along: NO MOUNTAINS His faded eyes grew brighter As he told of work he’d done; Of logging where the pointed pines, Where pillars for the sun. He spoke of upland meadows, where his cattle used to roam; Of storms that slashed at summits, Where he built a cabin home. I asked him if he’d ever worked, In mill or factory; And waited while his tired mind, Walked paths of memory. Well once, he said at last and smiled, But only for a day. There wasn’t any mountains there, And so I went away. COWBOY He was a jolly cowboy once, Out in the golden west, And on his horse would ride to see, The girl he loved the best. But that was a long time ago. His cowboy days are gone; And gone too is the dark eyed girl, And he sits in the sun, Just waiting for the day to come, When eagerly he’ll ride, To meet her there where she has gone, Beyond the great divide. DEATH If this be death This sunset loveliness that pins a metal on the river’s breast That makes a molten glory of the sky And burns upon each splendid mountain high If this be death Then I shall have no fear When life, for me shall sink beyond this sphere In radiant content, as shadows creep I’ll fold my hands and fall to sleep A few tidbits of information. Salt Lake City was originally called Great Salt Lake City The territory was called Deseret (not desert). It covered all of what is Utah, much of Colorado, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada and even went as far as Los Angeles and San Diego, California, and even went up into Oregon. When it was made a state, the federal government split it up.