Week 48 - Pioneer Day

As you probably know, Friday was Pioneer Day - a unique holiday in that only those in Utah celebrate it, but we all should! I always celebrate the lives of my pioneer ancestors. All eight of my great-grandparents, and a few of the great-greats were pioneers to Utah. Since we didn't have a parade here in Salt Lake, I decided to remember my pioneer ancestors by visiting the graves of those who were buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. I'm on a family history mission, so you're going to get family history today!

I believe you all know the story of William and Melissa Coray. They traveled together the entire distance with the Mormon Battalion as newlyweds. Melissa was one of only four women who made it whole distance. She had a baby boy in Monterey where they stopped on their way north to the gold fields. He was the first non-Spanish or native child born there. Sadly he died after a few short weeks. They stopped at the gold fields to make enough money to travel back to Salt Lake. They with about 40 other men blazed the route back through the Sierra Nevadas which became a major route for the Gold Rush. Sadly William died just a few short months later just days after Brigham Young came to their home to seal them for time and all eternity.

Their daughter Melissa was born just a month before William died. She married Douglas Archibald Swan. He joined the church with his family in Scotland and came to America at the age of 14 with his mother and five siblings. He learned the trade of making shoes from his father and grandfather in Scotland and became a carpenter when he arrived in Salt Lake. He worked on the Salt Lake Tabernacle when he completed his apprenticeship to the carpenter trade. For the first six months he did nothing but rip 2x4s lengthwise with a hand saw. He worked for the railroad after it came to Utah and learned telegraphy. He was called to be a missionary to Australia and left Melissa with a young child. He and his cousin/companion opened Tasmania to the mission. Douglas later became a banker and was appointed special bank examiner and had charge over three national banks in Provo.

George Swan and his wife Agnes MacDonald joined the church in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1863 he sent his wife and children to Utah and started on a mission in Scotland. Agnes often sang on the ship and did laundry to earn money for her family. She crossed the plains alone with her children and established their home in Utah while waiting for George to complete his mission. George opened a shoe shop but it wasn't very prosperous. He worked for the railroad and was the secretary until it was purchased by Union Pacific. He had a good education, was an excellent accountant and had excellent penmanship. He was very strict in all he did, but was also jovial and kind. At the time of his death he was the Salt Lake City Auditor. His son, Douglas Archibald, succeeded him in that position.

I also visited the graves of my grandparents, Charles Burton and Agnes Grant Swan. They weren't pioneers, but early residents of Salt Lake City. Grandpa ran the substation for Utah Power and Light in Weber and Big Cottonwood Canyons. Grandma loved nice clothes and always wore a hat. My favorite thing about them is that my grandmother was three years older than my grandfather, but she never told him. At some point many years after they were married he found out the truth, but out of love and respect for her he never told her. You maybe can't tell, but on her headstone when she died he put the same birth year as his. That's true love! 

I also visited Reynolds & Thirza Stiles Cahoon as well - Doug's third great-grandparents. Thirza was Reynolds' first wife. There is a lot written about them, as Reynolds was very prominent in the history of the Church.

I'm so very grateful for these pioneer ancestors who embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ and sacrificed so much and stayed true to their testimonies so that I may be a member of the Church. I'm grateful for their example of "Faith in Every Footstep - Who gave all their heart, mind, and strength to the Lord with wisdom and vision so clear; [who stood] as examples of virtue and faith, of souls prepared to hear, of knowledge sure, born of humble heart, and love that banished fear." 

Thanks for the pioneering that you're doing and for your examples of faith in every footstep as well.

Other pioneer ancestors: LOOK THEM UP AND READ THEIR STORIES!

Jabez and Hanna Danielson Faux

Thomas and Ann Taylor Faux

John Lawrence and Helen Larson Eliason

Thomas Torrance and Margaret Adamson Grant

Daniel Stiles and Martha Ellen Spencer Cahoon

John Henry and Hannah Rusk Kinder

Andrew and Mary Ann Fleet Morrison

William Dorris and Mary Jane Andrus Hendricks

James and Druscilla Dorris Hendricks

William Preston and Adeline Wilson Stewart

Peter and Emma Vier Loutensock

Nathaniel Stewart

Thomas Green and Sarah Copley Wilson

Milo and Abigail Jane Daley Andrus 😍 You love this one, Christensens!