I love to talk about the Pioneers in my ancestry. I am a proud Daughter of Utah pioneers for sure! I got the call on Tuesday that I would be speaking. I text-ed a few family and friends "Guess who is speaking in Church about Pioneers?" I got several responses. Paul replied, "It wasn't my idea", Janessa said, "Lucky you", Milton said, "You?" and my friend, Wendy said, "It's because you have the outfit". So in spite of my declaring last week that I would NOT be wearing the Pioneer Dress this year and complaining once again that we weren't celebrating Pioneer Day that way I want to. This morning I woke early enough to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast "Music and the Spoken Word". They sang my favorite Pioneer hymn that I used as the title of this post. SO... I wore the "outfit" and spoke to the Walla Walla 3rd Ward for about 20 minutes about Pioneers. Through the week I read through some articles in the Church News, stories in my Daughter of Utah Pioneers books and found some that I wanted to share. Janet O aka: the Rogue Quilter e-mailed me her talk that she gave last week in Utah. I had some of the same thoughts so I read a bit from it as well. I started out telling about the "Jubilee Celebration" from 1897 in Utah. It began with the setting off of the "Old Sow" Cannon that was pulled across the plains with Brigham Young's Company. There were 5 parades that week. The July 22nd Parade was for the Primary Children to dress in their bonnets and bandanas. The Book tells of 10,000 children who met at the Brigham Young Monument to participate. The last Parade was on the 24th of July and encompassed 20 blocks south and east of Temple Square.
President Wilford Woodruff rode in an open carriage and Heber C Kimball's wagon was followed by a long line of his descendants. The original Pioneers, about 318, who crossed the plains walked or rode in wagons in their second Parade of the week. Our family has only been in Utah once to see the Days of 47 Parade on the 24th of July. I went on to tell about a Christmas in the Valley. A girl named Mary Pratt Parrish was asked at school what was her favorite Christmas song. When she replied "Come, Come Ye Saints" her classmates laughed and her teacher told her that wasn't a Christmas song. When she went home after school and told her mother with tear-filled eyes that her class had laughed at her, her mother explained how it came to be their families Tradition to sing each Christmas. The story goes on to tell that the family still sings the song at Christmastime to remember their heritage. The whole story is found in the Daughter's of Utah Pioneer book Museum Memories, Volume 3 (pg 226-229).
I also related stories from my Mother's Paternal grandparents lives, also found in the Volume 3 book. (pgs 394-397). There are so many that I could share, the hard part is remembering which ones I've already told in previous talks in Church. We have several new families in our Ward this year, so they haven't heard all of my stories yet. There were a few ladies who asked about joining us for Daughters of Utah Pioneer meetings this coming September.
The following link takes you to see a picture of Paul and I with Joe and Milton in 1980's
Pioneer Day.
When I got home from Hermiston on Saturday this sweet boy and his mom were here. I found some new toys for Grandma's toy box at a yard sale in Umatilla. Jacob liked the Spiderman motorcycle and he found my shelf with the Microwave Kettle corn and wanted some.
Grandma is happy to share that with him. It's good to have Janessa and her boys home for a visit this week. We have a couple of days to visit and go to the All-Star game at Borleske Stadium planned.
