On July 24th Pioneer Day is celebrated as a state holiday in Utah. In 1847 the first LDS (Mormon) pioneers entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The Pioneer Overland Travel database at LDS.org has an
On July 24th Pioneer Day is celebrated as a state holiday in Utah. In 1847 the first LDS (Mormon) pioneers entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The Pioneer Overland Travel database at LDS.org has an introduction which reads: “Between 1847 and 1868, Mormon emigrants traveling in more than 300 companies departed from various places and headed for the Salt Lake Valley. More than 60,000 LDS Church members traveled in these companies — some traveling by foot, some in wagons, and some pulling handcarts.”
Check out this database if you have Mormon pioneer ancestors, and you will find them listed with other family members and rosters of entire pioneer “companies” (the group they traveled with); you might find journal excerpts from individuals they traveled with, letters, and other valuable source material connected to their trek. Here is what an entry looks like – note the wonderful source references:
Notice the blue link to “Trail Excerpt”. Click it and you will see a letter written to Brigham Young from Edward Hunter and Jacob Foutz, leaders of a particular pioneer company:
I created a fan chart and color-coded it to show my children how many Mormon Pioneer ancestors they have. Red=crossed the plains with a Mormon pioneer company, Blue=Mormon, but not part of a pioneer company:
My Gooch line is full of pioneers as well, but their records will not be found in the Pioneer Overland Travel database above, since they were not Mormon.
I owe everything to my pioneer ancestors,