Benjamin & Payson

Benjamin, Utah, was a small town where the Smith’s ancestors John Johnson lived. (Don’t worry… I verified that this is a different John Johnson than the one I am related to… phew!) This cemetery had a map so it was easier to locate the graves.

In Payson, we had very icy and snowy conditions at the cemetery. We’d been at it for a few hours and the tots were getting tired. Paul & Julie had located James McClellan and dug around it to read all the words. His story was neat. He was endowed in the Nauvoo temple before it burned down. He was sealed to his wife in Winter Quarters.
Another neat story was about how we found Dr. William Walker Rust. Michael and Jill were searching in an area where there were other McClellan’s. I looked down and saw a Dr. Wm… I remember Paul had said someone was a doctor… so I used my boot to scratch the rest of the snow off the tombstone. Most of it was covered. So – here in the middle of deep snow, we uncovered this ancestor. Though – I have to say that after we heard his life, I was slightly disappointed in him. But – I suppose we’re all just doing our best in this life. :)

Hannah had some comments about cemeteries and tombstones. She said she had 3 requirements for her stone.
1. No picture
2. She wanted one stone for her and her husband.
3. She didn’t want us to put, “Not dead, but only Sleeping.” on it. We saw so many of these comments on pioneer-dated graves and we thought it was interesting.

Abe was really great at searching for dates. At all the cemeteries we went to, he searched for the person born the earliest. Some were born in 1803.

I really believe that having the kids go to cemeteries to scout out and find ancestor’s graves is really good for them. It really is cool to finally find the name you’ve been searching for. It’s a good treasure hunt for the kids. Once we heard some stories about the ancestors, it really helps the kids connect to them. Now, I need to find out where my ancestors are buried… I do think we’ll wait until Summer though.