Mormon Life - Pioneers tag

Reprints of two pioneers' diaries available

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:10:00 -0600

source: MormonTimes.com

Copies of original pioneer diaries, including those of B.H. Roberts and Frederick Kesler, are available through the University of Utah's Special Collections Department of the J. Willard Marriott Library.

'DWTS' finalist Katherine Jenkins to join Tabernacle Choir for Pioneer Day concert

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:25:00 -0600

source: MormonTimes.com

Mormon Life says: Don't forget to register for tickets starting tomorrow (May 19). As far as Mormon Tabernacle Choir director Mack Wilberg is concerned, Katherine Jenkins is a renowned Welsh mezzo-soprano who has extraordinary stylistic range, having sold millions of albums worldwide while singing operatic arias, show tunes and hot popular songs with equal artistry and grace.

But American television audiences know her best as one of the current finalists on the popular TV series "Dancing with the Stars," where she is paired with Mark Ballas, a two-time "DWTS" champion.

Whether audiences know Jenkins as a singer or a dancer, Wilberg was pleased to announce Thursday morning that she will be joining the choir this summer as the featured performer for "Joy of Song," the choir's annual Pioneer Day Concert on July 20 and 21 in the LDS Church's Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

Researching Family History: Great-great grandpa's shiny boots he wore across the plains and mountains to Utah

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:28:00 -0600

source: MormonTimes.com

Wearing his red military uniform jacket, black trousers and the large black fur hat that the Danish queen's guards were proud to display, Capt. Jens Martin Christensen showed his skills with the queen's horses. He was an expert at this sort of thing. With a military stride, he guided Her Majesty's horses as they pulled the royal coach in the parade down the streets of Copenhagen. Each soldier's boots were as shiny as the sun, especially Christensen's. One known factor about Christensen was that he always wore polished boots in a parade or on the trek West.

Christensen, my great-great grandfather, was born to Christen Oveson and Kirsten Marie Andersen on April 29, 1843, in Hammerholt, Hormested, Hjorring, Denmark. He was the seventh of eight children in his family. (His story is recounted in the book "Erastus Snow Christensen, 1874-1943, A Family History" by Steve Mecham and Verda Christensen Murphy, Family History Library Film No. 142703, Item 2.)

The Mormons Sit Out the Civil War

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:55:00 -0600

source: nytimes.com

Mormon Life says: A little church history story for your afternoon. On May 1, 1862, Capt. Lot Smith led a cavalry company of a little more than 100 volunteers from Salt Lake City east into the mountains. Their mission was simple: to help the Union Army guard the overland mail route and telegraph line in northern Utah and what is now southwestern Wyoming against Indian attacks.

Smith’s men, members of Utah’s Nauvoo Legion militia, never engaged any Indians in combat, though they helped facilitate the resumption of the mail in June. Still, the mission was an important one — it marked Utah’s only significant military contribution to the Civil War, and a brief respite in the Mormons’ often-tense relationship with Washington.

Mormon California teens take a pioneer trek for spring break

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:24:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: What great examples these youth are. Instead going to the beach, Disneyland or hanging out at the mall, teenagers from the Riverside California Stake pushed and pulled handcarts during their Pioneer Trek Youth Conference in the mountains of San Bernardino on Riley’s Farms in early April. It was also a chance to learn about their early Mormon pioneer ancestors, to understand their religion a little better, and to find out more about their own strengths and weaknesses.

In Our Lovely Deseret: Where does our journey take us after baptism?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:16:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

What things have you found yourself doing, year after year, on your baptism day?

Brigham Young was baptized on April 14, 1832. On the same date, 15 years later, he began a journey to gather the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the West. This journey of 1847 was to impact hundreds of thousands of lives for generations to come — it was to change the face of the country and the face of the kingdom of God for all time.

Old age among myths of Daughters of Utah Pioneers membership

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:18:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

The Daughters of Utah Pioneers organization has another "secret" that Maurine P. Smith, the DUP's international society president, would love to dispel.

"Too often people think that we're an organization of old ladies," she says.

Book shares truth about the movie '17 Miracles'

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:47:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

When T.C. Christensen's film "17 Miracles" was released last year, Mormon audiences embraced the compelling pioneer stories of courage and inspiration.

But many had questions about what was historically accurate and what was artistically altered.

Canada newspaper features the Mormon Trail of Tears

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:51:00 -0700

source: canadafreepress.com

Mormon Life says: The article features some beautiful photographs. This was a rut I was grateful to be stuck in one crisp, blue-sky morning in western Wyoming. Standing deep in a trough on a sparsely wooded hill overlooking the North Platte River near the outskirts of Guernsey, I felt the earth rumble as oxen mooed, whips cracked, and covered wagons creaked up the steep rutted incline hauling heavy loads of the essentials, and the trivial. Hardened women in bonnets and long skirts followed coughing in the dust, and men in hats on horses yelled at their livestock and encouraged children and the old staggering to keep pace.

Among this rolling wave of humanity were hundreds of poor English and Scandinavian Mormons on foot who had no idea what awaited them in October of 1856 as they pushed and pulled two-wheeled carts with bloody hands ever-onward to Zion and the Valley of the Salt Lake for 1,300 tiresome miles in the ultimate test of their faith.

Example set by handcart pioneers

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:17:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

When trials like those experienced by the Martin and Willie handcart companies bring individuals' faith together, they weave a "warm tapestry of faith" that protects them from the chilling winds of iniquity and adversity.

That was the message Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy and current assistant executive director of the Church History Department delivered Feb. 9 in the first of this year's "Men and Women of Faith" lecture series, sponsored by the Church History Library and held in the auditorium of the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City.

Group asks for pioneer stories

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:14:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area, in conjunction with two of its anchor partners, is asking people to share their stories and documents of pioneer heritage from the central and southern Utah area.

Since the MPNHA's inception five years ago, it has worked with communities and other partners to provide venues where the area's rich heritage can be kept and shared.

Young Men Lesson 49: We Have a Wonderful Legacy

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:03:00 -0700

source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: "If you can understand [the early Saints] so long-suffering, so tolerant, so forgiving, so Christian after what they had suffered, you will have unlocked the key to what a Latter-day Saint is." -Boyd K. Packer

Discussion Questions

• What specific blessings have you received because the gospel is on the earth today?

• What are you doing now that will help your family have a good reputation?

• What do you want your future children and grandchildren to remember about you?

Excerpt from "The Test," by President Boyd K. Packer, October 2008 General Conference:

It is my purpose to show that in troubled times the Lord has always prepared a safe way ahead. We live in those “perilous times” which the Apostle Paul prophesied would come in the last days. 1 If we are to be safe individually, as families, and secure as a church, it will be through “obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” 2

On July 24, 1849, the Saints had been in the valley two years to the day. They finally were free from years of mobbing and persecution. That called for a great celebration.

Just a few years earlier under dreadful conditions, the Prophet Joseph Smith suffered in Liberty Jail for months while the mobs drove the Saints from their homes. The words liberty and jail do not fit together very well.

Joseph called out:

“O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?

“How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?” 3

To read the full talk, click here.

Thanksgiving and the Mormon migration

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:12:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

During Thanksgiving time Americans remember the Pilgrims as they celebrated their safe voyage to America and their first harvest in the new land. By eating turkey, mashed potatoes, yams and cranberry sauce Americans remember the Pilgrims' successful harvest.

Only that is completely wrong, according to LDS Church History Museum director Dr. Kurt Graham.

"The main thing to remember is that cranberries weren't cultivated in Massachusetts until the 19th century, so there was no cranberry sauce at the first Thanksgiving," he said. "Lets just make that clear."

Bound for Zion, 1887

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:52:00 -0600

source: keepapitchinin.org

Mormon Life says: Journal entries from one President George Teasdale on his journey west. I love reading accounts of the Mormon emigrant experience, whether crossing the ocean, riding the trains, or traveling by wagon or handcart. Most of our stories come from the early years of that travel: Everybody seemed to recognize the significance of pioneering; fewer people recorded the experience of traveling when emigration had become “routine.” But it was never routine for the people involved – even when the months of sail travel had shrunk to a week aboard a steamer, and when months of Plains walking had collapsed to a week on the rails, “coming to Zion” was a pivotal moment in an emigrant’s life, probably the greatest adventure of his life.

On Saturday, May 21, 1887 – long after such travel had become “routine” – a company of Latter-day Saint emigrants bound for Utah sailed from Liverpool aboard the S.S. Nevada, a steamer of the Guion line, the steamship company favored by the Church.

LDS Church-service missionaries: 'A dedicated, passionate work force'

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:34:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

For the past six months, Larry and Casi Smith have been living in a trailer on the windy plains of Wyoming. As church-service missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they assisted 18,500 pioneer trekkers — mostly LDS teenagers and their adult leaders — among the Mormon Handcart Historic Sites, specifically at the Willie Center/Sixth Crossing Site, about 60 miles from Martin's Cove.

It's been a physically demanding six months, filled with long hours meeting the needs of trekkers and other visitors to the sites, including sharing pioneer stories, building and maintaining restroom facilities and teaching square dancing. Along with 19 other church-service missionary couples, they also found time to tie dozens of quilts, which they donated to local charities, and build — with a little help from a handful of skilled professionals — a 9,500-square-foot log visitor's center, three stories tall, looking down on the Sweetwater.

Review: 'Forgotten Skills' book for 21st century pioneers

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:29:00 -0600

source: MormonTimes.com

Mormon Life says: Learn self-sufficiency the old fashion way in this new book. There are few things that compare to the gastronomic and spiritual delight of eating fresh from one’s own garden. That seems an easily obtained pleasure in the long days of summer, but how about in the middle of February?

Utah author Caleb Warnock’s new treasure-packed tome, “The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency used by the Mormon Pioneers” (Cedar Fort, $16.99) shows how to savor delicacies like winter lettuce, spinach and carrots grown in your own garden even on the coldest winter’s day.

Southeastern Idaho teems with early Mormon and emigrant history

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:06:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

For centuries, the region where the Bear River wriggles north from the Uinta Mountains then turns south toward the Great Salt Lake has been a pathway and a crossroads.

Indians, trappers, explorers and emigrant wagon trains bound for Oregon and California passed this way. Today, the borders of Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet here. Modern U.S. 30 makes a generally southeast to northwest diagonal slice through the landscape, following, with modern engineering variations, the Oregon Trail.

Sarah Goode Marshall was first handcart pioneer to enter the Salt Lake Valley 155 years ago

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:12:00 -0600

source: MormonTimes.com

So you don’t want to hear about an ancestor who was the first Mormon handcart pioneer to enter the valley of the Great Salt Lake? You say that should be limited to the July 24 or Pioneer Day? Sarah Goode Marshall entered the valley as a single mother with her six children on Sept. 26, 1856, near this time of year 155 years ago.

My wife is the third-great-granddaughter of Sarah Marshall. Much of the spunk and endurance that Sarah went through with her children I have seen in my own wife. Funny how some of these qualities in our ancestors seem to come out in our own lives. That is because such ancestors packed a lot of qualities and sent them down to descendants like us.

Potterpalooza and Pioneer Trek: The Power of Stories for Building Communities

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:14:00 -0600

source: motleyvision.org/ldscinema/

Mormon Life says: This seemed like an interesting correlation: after attending a Harry Potter event, the writer found it interesting how both groups - Harry Potter fans and pioneer trek participants - go to such extents to remember a story. I recently had the opportunity to do something I’ve never done before and may never do again: attend the midnight screening of a popular film, opening night. See, my sister somehow won two tickets to an event called “Potterpalooza” at a local theater. As you can probably guess, this was basically a big pre-screening party for the latest and last installment in the Harry Potter franchise. However, my sister had to go to her ward’s Girls’ Camp (as an advisor) and couldn’t make it. Her husband, while not particularly a Potter fan, decided to go and invited me because we basically enjoy doing anything together, and he couldn’t think of anyone else who would want the tickets more. So the two of us ended up meeting at Jordan Commons in Sandy, UT around 11:00 that night (we couldn’t make it earlier) for the big event.

Arizona history: Mormon pioneers in Snowflake

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:00:00 -0600

source: azcentral.com

Mormon Life says: A little Church history lesson for today. Some remembered the wicked wind, some the brackish water, others the hardships of the trail. Winters were cold, the spring air filled with sand, wagon covers flapped relentlessly and floodwaters blew out one dam after another as Mormon settlers struggled to raise crops along the Little Colorado River in eastern Arizona Territory.

Among the early settlers was William Jordan Flake. In 1878, he rode out to explore the region on horseback. He traveled hundreds of miles into New Mexico Territory and back to an area north of present-day Show Low, where he found a little valley along Silver Creek, a tributary of the Little Colorado. The stream ran through hills of piñon, juniper, sage, saltbush and blue grama. A rancher, James Stinson, already had settled there. Flake bought Stinson's ranch for $11,000 worth of Utah-grade cattle.

As Flake rode to Utah to get the cattle, he encountered Erastus Snow, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and told him of his plans. Flake wondered whether he had done the right thing, and Snow assured him that he had. They selected a new bishop for the town, and a name: Snowflake.