Cemetery Tour - Day 2 Continued - Annabella & Junction

This is my fourth and final post on my mid-Utah Cemetery Tour.  Just as a recap I am including the name of each cemetery and the names of ancestors found in the order that I visited them.

Provo City Cemetery 

Edson Barney - maternal 3ggf

Spring City Cemetery

Cannie Tullgren Kenney - paternal 2ggm

Axel Tullgren - paternal 3ggf

Ellen Neilson Tullgren - paternal 3ggm

Louis Curtis Zabriskie - paternal 3ggf

Manti City Cemetery

Cannie Christena Kenney Squire Peterson - paternal ggm

John Prichard Squire, Jr. - paternal ggf

John Prichard Squire, Sr. - paternal 2ggf

Adelia DeMill Squire - paternal 2ggm

Freeborn DeMill - paternal 3ggf

Anna Knight - paternal 3ggm

Gunnison City Cemetery

Amasa Loren Kenney - paternal 2ggf

Annabella City Cemetery

Louisa Walker Barney - maternal 3ggm

Junction Area

Thomas N. Wilson - paternal & maternal 3ggf

Fillmore City Cemetery

Loren Edward Kenney - paternal 3ggf

Mary Ann Tucker - paternal 3ggm

Annabella City Cemetery

I journeyed about 40 miles south of Gunnison to find my maternal 3rd great-grandmother, Louisa Walker Barney in the Annabella City Cemetery.  I found her husband, Edson Barney, in the Provo City Cemetery with his first wife, Lillis.  Edson and Lillis had ten children born to them between 1831 and 1845.  Edson, age 41, married Louisa Walker (3ggm), age 25, on 10 May 1847, she was the second wife forming a plural marriage.  Edson and Louisa had ten children between the years of 1848 and 1862.  Louisa was born on 14 July 1822 in Ohio and died on 15 April 1888 in Annabella, Sevier County, Utah.

According to NewFamilySearch.org, Louisa Walker first married Jacob Kemp Butterfield on 19 March 1840.  They had three children, Amanda (1841-1844), Mary Elizabeth (1842-1856), and Lucinda (1845-1845).  Jacob did not die until 1889, so presumably Jacob and Louisa divorced prior to 1847 when Lucinda married Edson.  

When I found Edson Barney's grave with his first wife in Provo I was feeling a little bad for Louisa being buried all alone in Annabella.  But to my great surprise I found her grave with flowers and a solar light held fast to the grave with a bungee cord.  I was so excited to see that someone, presumably a descendant, has been caring for her grave.  I left a little note in the jar of fake flowers with my name and email so that hopefully I can connect with this probable distant relative.

Louisa Walker
wife of
Edson Barney
1822-1888

Junction - City Creek Cemetery

On FindAGrave.com I found Thomas N. Wilson my paternal and maternal 3rd great-grandfather.  On this site it showed Thomas N. Wilson as being buried in the City Creek Cemetery also known as Harris Cemetery about one and one half miles north of Junction along Hwy 89.  I spotted it off the side of the freeway and was excited to go exploring through this small and forlorn cemetery. 

Harris Cemetery aka City Creek Cemetery

Although my camera could not capture it there were three different gated areas with graves.  There were also graves spread along about a 1/2 mile area.  The bones are cow bones.  I just had to take some pictures of them so you could get a feel for this cemetery.

After about an hour of traipsing through weeds and dirt I realized that Thomas Wilson was nowhere to be found.  I was sad to not find his grave so I put a few rocks together by the only green bush I could find and told Thomas that I was sorry that this was the only tombstone that I could offer him for now.  I promised that I would be back to honor him properly with a real tombstone.

My make-shift memorial to Thomas Wilson

When I got back into my car I recalled how my ancestors that were reportedly buried in the Pioneer Cemetery were actually buried in the Spring City Cemetery.  So I decided to drive into Junction to see if the County Courthouse had records of who was actually buried in the little cemetery up the road.  In about a minute's drive I had arrived at the County Courthouse pictured below.

I walked to the front desk and asked the lady sitting there if they had records of who was buried in the cemetery just up the road.  The lady at the desk pointed to a woman standing next to me and said this is the lady you want to speak to.  I told the woman that I had wandered through the old cemetery up the road looking for my 3rd great-grandfather, Thomas Wilson.  The woman replied, "Do you mean Old Man Wilson?"  I said, "I doubt it.  He's been dead for over 100 years.  I don't think anyone would still be referring to him as Old Man Wilson."  The lady said, "Well, that's about how long Old Man Wilson has been dead."  She continued,"He's buried just east of this building up by his old home. If you wait just a few minutes my friend who has done research on everyone who is buried in Junction will be here and she can tell you more."  As we were waiting, the woman, I think her name was Joann, told me the following story.  She said, "There's a legend around here that has been told about Old Man Wilson since I was a little girl.  Before he died he requested that he be buried face down so that the Mormons could kiss his A.... when they went floating by."  She went on to say that she asked the man who is over the cemetery records if Thomas was really buried face down.  The man told her that he believed that the story of him being buried face down was true.  As I was recovering from the shock of that story, the woman that I was waiting for arrived.

Joann introduced me to Donna and told her that I was looking for Thomas Wilson's grave.   Then Donna told me about how her mom had done research and gathered records for all the settlers of Junction and Circleville.  She said that since her mom passed away that she had kept the records and continued on with her mother's work.  Donna told me that she had a brief history on Thomas Wilson and she knew from memory his birth and death years.  I asked her if she was a descendant and she said no but that she is just interested in the town's history and Thomas Wilson is a part of that history.  She proceeded to tell me exactly where Thomas was buried and then she repeated the story of Thomas requesting to be buried face down so that the Mormons could kiss his you know what as they floated by.  

Donna and Joann had come to the courthouse to attend a retirement insurance meeting and therefore she could not give me the history of Thomas right now, but she took my name and address so that she could mail me the information she had in regards to him.  I thanked them graciously and got out of their way so that they could attend their meeting. 

So as I was driving away to see Thomas Wilson's grave located about a quarter mile east of the courthouse, I was thinking...The Lord is aware of all of us and our needs and righteous desires!  Without the Lord's intervention what is the chance of me running into the exact woman I needed to meet at the County Courthouse building?!  

Across the road from the courthouse is Scott's Lane.  I got on and headed west until I reached a gate with hundreds of cows.  I decided to turn back and head down a dirt road that had forked off of Scott's lane as I was rumbling along this dirt road a white truck approached me from the opposite direction.  He rolled down his window and told me that I was on private property.  I apologized and told him that I was looking for Thomas Wilson's grave.  He let go of his gruffness and gave me a smile and said, "Follow me, I'll drive you to it."  We drove back to Scott's lane and he stopped at a little wooden house/shack.  We got out of our vehicles and the man said,"This was Thomas Wilson's home.  It caught on fire and Thomas was burnt to death.  It's said that Thomas was buried face down so that the Mormons could kiss his A... as they float by."  

Thomas Wilson's home, which caught on fire and caused Thomas' death.

As we got back in our cars to drive to Thomas' grave I thought it was pretty funny to have met three different people and that each of them told me that same story about Thomas being buried face down.  Well we continued down Scott's Lane and when we got to the cow gate we turned north and drove across the field along the gate until we reached a knoll.  We got out and the kind man, I think his name was Sheryl, pointed me up the hill to Thomas' grave.  Before he left he told me that another lady about my age had come just a week before to find his grave.  I think it is awesome that I have relatives that I don't even know, who are just as curious about their ancestors as I am.  Well after a short trek up the tiny hill this is what I found:

Thomas' original and new tombstones facing each other.
The new stone faces east and the old one faces west.

Thomas N. Wilson
Dec. 22, 1811
Feb. 15, 1885
married
Nancy Lindsey
Sept. 22, 1842

Original Tombstone broken in half.
T.N.W.

When I spoke to my dad, DuWayne Squire, about my adventure in finding Thomas Wilson's grave, Dad told me that when he was about 17 he went to find Thomas' grave with Reed Wilson and they cleaned up the grave site and put up a wire fence.  My dad has not seen it with the wrought iron fence and new headstone.  I am not certain as to who to give credit for the upgrade. [Reed Wilson was my dad's 1st cousin once removed.  Reed was the son of Morris Wilson, Jr. and great-grandson of Thomas Wilson.]

This was such an exciting day for me.  I had gone from feeling sad that Thomas had been forgotten and had no tombstone to elation at finding this little monument built just for him.  To see his house still standing and to hear townspeople recall stories of him brought me pure joy!

Donna, the "town historian," did mail me a brief history on Thomas, which will be perfect for my blog next week.

As a final thought on this Veteran's Day...Thank you to the men and women, past and present, who have served our country and fought for our freedoms and rights.  A special thanks to my dad who served in the Korean War.  If you have not read of his faith building experience check out my post, September 1, 2012 filed under the label, Stories of Faith.