Family Pictures From Cove, Utah 2015

Bringing Caleb home from his mission we spent a day with Connie in Cove.  When we first arrived in Logan we met Grandpa Scoresby for breakfast at Angie's Restaurant.  We then visited my mother at her rest home.  Sara was there as well.  We then headed to Connie's to get situated, and my mom came out with Sara for family dinner.  It was a bit hard as my mother wasn't remembering things very well.  She couldn't remember which of us were her kids.  She also ha a very hard time discovering that Sara has cancer, although I am sure she has been told before.
However dinner was very lovely, and we had a sit by the fire pit after, and the kids tried the burro.

Kids and my mom

Kids and Grandpa Scoresby

Mom and I; we had a good talk

Caleb and Grandpa Scoresby

Natalia, Kayla, Sara

Mom ant I Sara Connie

Grandkids and mom, Caleb, Natalia and Mirand 

Nauvoo Pavilion and Family Names

 There is a pioneer memorial at the end of The Trail of Hope where Water and Parleys meet.  It is called Pioneer Memorial and Exodus to Greatness.  In this memorial is a list of all those who died during the journey.  I am not sure how accurate it is, or how complete.  It does not have death dates or places.  I know Osmond Broad Shaw and Elizabeth Wilding lost two children in the St Louis area of typhoid while they were traveling from England to Utah.  They are not included.  However many Ashtons are, more than passed away in my family.  Elizabeth passed away in Boston Harbor, Mother Sarah Ann Barlow Ashton died in childbirth at Cutler's Park. her new baby Sarah Anne Ashton died a couple weeks later.  Betsy Ashton died some place between Red Buttes and Martin's Cove.

Joseph and Brigham Young making plans for the journey west

Book Review: "To Whom it may Concern" by William O. Ashton

 

Marvin O. Ashton was the father of Marvin J. Ashton.  He married a Jeremy making him my grandmother's cousin-in-law, and Marvin J. Ashton my mom's second cousin.  Marvin O. Ashton was presiding bishop of the church for many years.  My mother tells the story of his spending time with the family in Idaho Falls when he was there for a dedication.  He later mailed two-person piano music to my mom and her twin as they had played for him on the piano while he was there.  His visit may have also helped my grandparents on their way to reactivation and going through the temple.

The book is a collection of stories, ninety of them, and then other stories and lessons to tell the story.  A couple of them stood out.  One story is entitled python eggs.  He tells how in India, the native country of the pythons it is important to seek out python eggs and smash them with your heel before they hatch.  In this way they could prevent the dead venomous snake from being born.  He explained this further telling about a young man who absolutely refused a drink with his friends, even when they tried to force them.  This young man told a story about someone who had given in to that first drink, eventually became an alcoholic, and in a drunken stupor had forced his wife and baby out on a cold winter night.  When he realized what he had done the next morning he came to his senses, and found his wife dead, her body wrapped around the baby to keep him warm.  The young man said he had been that baby.  It is best o smash the python eggs before they hatch.

He referred to "Stop, Look and Listen several times.  I like this statement as I use to sing this song to the kids growing up.  He has another chapter called "Constant Aim" about a man new to farming.  He was trying to plow a field, and someone told him to keep his aim towards a mark, like a stone, at the other end of the field.  However he pigged a pig rather than a stone, and the pig kept moving.  As a result his plowing job was all over the place. 

Many chapters are time sensitive and geared to bishops.  It was written right after WWII.  By today's sensitivities we might refer to his attitude as being racist in light of comments about "Israelitish" people and "colored" people.  It was a different time then.

He also told the story "I can sleep when the Wind Blows."  This story is about the man hired after saying this sentence, and then when the big storm came he slept through it.  The farmer was disappointed, but then discovered the hand could actually sleep because he had already prepared everything for the storm. 

This book was an enjoyable read.  

My Display at the Stake Family History Day

 I offered a brief display at the Family History Day in our stake.  

Isaac John Wardle on the left and Mary Ann Ashton as depicted by Julia Rogers.  Isaac said he helped with many burials of handcart pioneers.  This painting depicts just after Betsy passed away and she is with her older sister Sarah.  Father had already left the trek going with the infantry in Laramie.  

Handcart Pioneers as Depicted in the Kearney Archway

 The Mormon Handcart Expeditions

"Let them come on foot with handcarts or wheelbarrows; let them gird up their loins and walk through and nothing shall hinder them." Brigham Youmg, Mormon leader

Of all the group heading across the Great Platte River Road, none was as well organized as the Mormons.

But in 1856, two companies of European Mormon immigrants ran into trouble when they decided--against experienced advice--to leave Iowa CIty for Utah in the late summer.  Unable to afford covered wagons, they piled their meager possessions into handcarts and began walking the 1,400 miles to Salt Lake CIty.  Deadly fall blizzards soon trapped them in Wyoming's Sweetwater Valley.

In Salt Lake CIty, Brigham Young dispatched volunteers who rescued over 800 of the 1,076 immigrants who had left Iowa.

Obituary: Forrest Cass Petersen my Niece's son

John Toone: Martin Handcart Company Leader

 As near as I can determine John Toone was the captain of 100 in which Isaac was a member as part of the Marting Handcart Company

John Toone heard the missionaries, and new what they preached was true, however did not join the church until five years after as he was entrenched with the Methodist Church and unsure what to do.  When he decided to be baptized, his wife followed shortly after.  John and his wife were acquainted with hardship as two of their first five children died young.  He and his family emigrated to Utah in 1852.  John Toone played the cello.  He managed to transport this in the wagon when he came to Salt Lake.  At one point he used the instrument to calm a group of Native Americans who came into camp.  He settled in the Avenues area of Salt Lake City.  He was called on his first mission in 1854, and had just been released for health reasons when he traveled with those who would join the Martin Handcart Company.  For the first part of the trek he traveled with the Jesse Haven group as the sub-captain.   This group combined with the Martin Handcart Company in Florence, Nebraska.  While in Florence, Langley Bailey’s mother came John Toone seeking a blessing.  He declined saying he could not raise the dead.  Subsequently Franklin Richards gave Langley a blessing, promising he would make it to the Valley.   

Brother Toone played a prominent role in the performing arts community of Salt Lake City.  He was instrumental in the construction of the Salt Lake Theater and played in the Mineer Band.  He also served the community as school teacher and doctor.  He was instrumental in administering vaccines when they were first available.  He relocated to Croydon, Morgan County Utah, but still continued to visit Salt Lake regularly to perform and visit his children. 

Mineer Band, John Toone on right with cello

Taken form "Tell my Story Too by; Jolene Allphin and Langley Bailey writings from LDS.org