This will be the very first post of hopefully many more to come. After collecting information on our family lines for the past thirty-plus years and not knowing how to best share with each of you the thousands of pages of charts, maps, pictures, journal entries and personal histories I have, I decided to try and blog the information to you. Sort of like eating an elephant, one bite at a time, I will attempt to disperse all the info I have, one day at a time.
We have an incredible heritage of faith and sacrifice and I truly believe that unless we know where we came from we will never truly understand who we are. So to that end I hope to share with you the stories of those who have gone before, who they were, what they did, and what was of utmost importance to them.
This is probably the most bland blog you have ever seen but don't despair, I will add and update as I go. This is a learning process for me. Hopefully some of my kids will come and help me out here. So, please be patient. It will get better.
WHO ARE WE?
Many Americans today are first, second, and third generation to this country. On several of our lines we can claim to have been here since the late 1600's. We have ancestors who fought in the revolution between the British and the colonists which means if any of you are interested in joining the Daughters (or Sons) of the American Revolution, you have the pedigree to do so. The same goes for the Daughters (or Sons) of Utah Pioneers. A framed portrait of our common ancestor, Robert Crow and his wife, Elizabeth (Betsey) Brown Crow hangs in the DUP museum in downtown Salt Lake City.
Robert Crow and his family were the very first pioneers to enter the Salt Lake Valley on July 22nd, 1847. They were sent into the valley before the vanguard company arrived on July 24th, 1847. They were directed to plant potatoes which they did. According to Robert's journal they planted a five acre plot of potoatoes and then diverted water from what we now call City Creek in order to water that plot. Several days later, Robert's grandson, Milton Howard Thirlkill, age 3, drowned in that same creek, making his death the first in the valley. He died August 11, 1847.
The Crow women are reported to be the first white women to enter the valley. There were only three women who accompanied Brigham Young in that first group of pioneers to come to Salt Lake City. They were there to cook and do laundry. However, the Crow women were not a part of that original group. How then were they the first women in the valley? According to numerous LDS Church historical records, the Crow family joined with Brigham and the other pioneers at Fort Laramie after wintering in Pueblo, Colorado. They are always referred to as the Mississippi Saints who joined Brigham's vanguard company and yet the Crow's were not from Mississippi. They were traveling with Betsy Brown Crow's cousin, James Brown who had come from Mississippi. Robert and his family joined James in Missouri, where they had been living.
I will include more historical resources about this group, the Mississippi Saints, in upcoming posts.
Other ancestors include: Zera and Mary (Brown) Pulsipher, William and Violate (Stockwell) Burgess, James Harvey and Mariah (Holden) Heath, and our Native American ancestor, Gratawa, from the Ponca Indian nation.
I am excited for this! Can't wait to read all about our ancestors and have it all in one place. It truly is important to learn who we came from and to record our own experiences (real and raw, not sugar coated!)so that our posterity can learn from us as well. Thanks Mom!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I enjoy reading and learning about our family history.
ReplyDeleteMy grandma is Mary Hikdred Burgess. I'm looking for some additional information regarding our Native American lineage. In some of the records I've read that Dian Elizabeth Crow was, "an Indian girl...". I'm looking for some information. Who was "Lizzie"? Who was her mother? How is "Lizzie" Indian? I'm just confused. First I have native blood, then I don't... Thank you for this blog. I have learned more information in 10 minutes here than the years I've tried to do research.
ReplyDeleteDina Elizabeth Crow (Burgess) was the daughter of Martha LaMott who was adopted by a white couple by the name of Jones as an infant. Her birth mother was definitely Native American so if you are a descendant of her, you do have some Native American DNA. According to my records, her mother died when she was young and her father, Peter LaMott gave her to the Joneses to raise as they had just lost their own infant daughter. Her adopted mother died shortly thereafter as well.
DeleteI am grateful for the information you have posted. Do you have any other information regarding Peter LaMott? For my entire life, as long as I can remember, I was told that my dad’s grandmother (I’m assuming his mother’s (Mary Hildred Burgess) father (Wilmer Burgess)) probably my
Deletedad’s great-grandma, was full-blooded Indian. I have been trying to find any information to affirm or deny this family story. I’ve been to the Family History Library, searched Ancestry, FamilySearch, My Heritage, and GED Match. I can find no corroborating evidence. If you have any other ideas of where I might find anything, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteI am really, in earnest, trying to find out any information regarding Martha Angelica Jones’ mother. Is it possible that Gratawa is spelled Grae-da-we? In my attempts to find any information regarding a familial tie to the Ponca Nation I entered the name Gratawa and nothing came back, anywhere. Upon further research I found that Chief Standing Bear had a first wife and her name was Grae-da-we, whom died. I am becoming more and more frustrated. Do we, or do we not, have a Ponca grandmother? What and where is the proof? I have searched the records and there is no record, and there would be if this claim was true. It is all good to claim something, however the Native American community, as a whole, looks upon people claiming NA heritage, with complete and utter disdain. We cannot go claiming NA heritage if we, in fact, have none. I am sorry if I am sounding rude because I don’t mean to be. I just need some real answers. Where are you getting your information?
Joey I am also a descendant of Gratawa. I wrote to the Ponca tribe to ask what her name meant. I assumed it meant something in that language. He had no idea. I wonder if it was spelled incorrectly?
DeleteUnknown, I don't know if you my post of April 20, 2019... Ponca Chief Standing Bear first wife was named Grae-da-we, whom died. This is far reaching on my part but I cannot find anything. I am so frustrated, as I am sure you are too.
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