Family History On The Go

Near Promontory, Utah

We've been out of town for a few weeks doing various things with and for our family.  We have two of our three kids living in Utah and 8 of our 10 grandkids.  We enjoyed celebrating two birthdays and Easter with all of them.  Jim did Grampa Camp with our three granddaughters living in SLC while Jen took Piper to look at colleges in Oregon.  Then he helped build a garden shed with our son, Chris, in Provo.  We had a very nice dinner with our cousins, Stephen and Jeanine, what a blessing they are in our lives.  

Our days were busy but we just hung out in the evenings with our kids and grandkids and we talked...a lot.  I was able to attend the General Conference of our Church, (the Women's session) with our daughter-in-law, Melissa, and our granddaughter, Aynslee. That was really wonderful attending with 21,000 other women.  Our first time to attend a meeting in the Conference Center was a real highlight!

We set aside time for an overnight visit to Brigham City, Utah to pursue some Family History as well. That was such a nice little get-away for us and very productive.  We always do this whenever we can and we love our Family History adventures.  The ancestor we were researching is one of the very earliest members of the Church to emigrate out of Wales and to come to America.  He and his wife and four children sailed into America through New Orleans Port and made their way to Nauvoo, Ill, Far West, and eventually Salt Lake City.  John Rees Davis was closely associated with Brigham Young and Lorenzo Snow both Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their life times.

Much is written already about John Rees but we wanted to go where he lived and walk where he walked.  We did just that.  It was very rewarding.

One thing we wanted to do was to visit the cemetery where he is buried along with several family members.

The Brigham City Cemetery has 13,000 graves. Brigham City is in Box Elder County, Utah, 62 miles north of Salt Lake City.  We were at the cemetery office quite early in the morning but no one was there even though their sign said 8:00 am. We called and left a message regarding our ancestor. We then went out to the Golden Spike National Historical Site. While there the guy in the office called us back and told us John D. Rees was buried on A Street and was close to the road. We could return later that day and get a map to his grave. He told us that John Davis Rees is buried in the second row in from the tiny road. This was the lane above, it was quite long and narrow. 

There were a lot of graves close to the road and the second row in. We drove down but didn't see it. When we got near the end we decided to pull over and eat a quick lunch before proceeding to the office for the map.  We took out our food and Jim looked to the left through the driver's window and there was his grave just as plain as day.  It was quite odd considering the number of graves in the cemetery.

The sun was definitely in the wrong place for this photo but we were so glad to get it anyway.  I love the inscription on the bottom of this headstone.  It is my favorite one I've ever seen and says so much about this good man.

"How desolate our home bereft of thee."

At end of A Street a lot of people must have passed as a funeral was going on that day.  I looked at the road as Jim was taking the photo of the headstone and saw these flowers lying right in the middle of the lane that crossed A.  They had fallen off of some arrangement and came complete with wire.  Jim brought it back to the car, fashioned into a little bouquet for the grave.  Perfect!  It seemed to just drop right from heaven at the right moment for John Rees. He is the son of my 3rd great grandparents and the older brother of my 2nd great grandmother, Jane Rees.  To me the flowers were for all of them.  Including his wives and children also buried in this spot.

The serendipity did not stop there. As Jim walked down to get the flowers he noticed a wooden plaque at the end of the road angled in such a way that one could not see it on the lane where we were parked.  He came back and told me the Lorenzo Snow family was also buried here...right here on the passenger side of the car.  What? I had no idea as most Presidents of the Church have been buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  Lorenzo is a distant cousin of mine.

Note our car directly behind me

The inscription on the monument

containing names of many descendants

on each of the other sides.

Just a stone's throw away was his actual burial place and very humble headstone.

Note the simplicity and the Temple in the distance.

As we stood and marveled at all of the treasures 

we had found I glanced to the right and about

 20 feet away I saw this.

Apparently President Packer was from Brigham City. 

 He died less than a year ago and is

 buried right by Lorenzo Snow.

We also visited the Pioneer Museum in Brigham City.  That was very nice and exhibited many Pioneer photos from the early settlement in this area. Brigham Young called several men to take their families to Box Elder to fortify a settlement that had homesteading family being attacked regularly by the Indians.

Unfortunately none of the photos had people identified in them but they give a nice flavor of what it was like.

We did find a book with the past mayors of Brigham City.  John Davis Rees was second the mayor of the town.  He served nearly two terms but was called to serve a mission in Malad, Idaho where he died at age 65 in an epidemic that swept through that area. No wonder how desolate him home must have felt to his family left behind.

We purchased a small locally printed book about the history of the town.  In it we learned that John Rees donated some property to the town with the express instructions that it was to be maintained forever as a recreational park for the families of Brigham City.  Well we found that too!

Rees Pioneer Park

They had some great dioramas in the little museum.   

Some were interactive.  

We enjoyed visiting it very much.

A Pioneer Gathering Room

A Pioneer Kitchen

A Cobbler's Shop

It is always more fun to travel with 
a purpose that goes beyond sightseeing! 

All in all this little 36 hour trip put a lot of flesh
 on the bones of these deceased family 
members and was a lot of fun as well. 
 If you haven't ever done family history travels 
you would probably find it very enjoyable.