The Book Of Pioneers & Peggy not Margaret Ann

Every once in a while you are in the right place at the right time. The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers scheduled a lesson in 2010 on the celebration of the 50-year mark or Jubilee of when the pioneers had entered the valley in 1847 and I was randomly assigned to teach the lesson. The stars were already lining up. Knowing that our family had pioneers that came that first year I knew it would be a great opportunity to learn more and once I started digging into extra material I found myself at the Utah State Historical Society looking at the original Book of Pioneers.

This book is made up of forms that were filled out by all original 1847 pioneers that could be located and still living in 1897. Armed with my list of ancestors I was put into a room to view the “book” via microfilm. I’m not certain if it was because of the Rio Grande historical nature or the work I was engaged in alone, but it wasn’t long until I felt the room fill up with others looking at the book with me, others from another dimension. Imagine, I was looking at information that may not have been looked at for over 100 years! It was a gift just to see their handwriting, to see how they worded an answer to a simple question and to search the page for any extra information about the family.

These papers and the feelings I got while looking at them made our ancestors come to life more than ever. One specific example that we can learn from is Margaret Ann Sidwell. I searched for her on the General Immigration list but didn’t find her until I looked a little deeper. She was listed as “Sidwell, Peggy A.”. Well, who would have thought she was known as Peggy?And she had a sister Rebecca who filled out a paper as well who went by . . . Rebecca.

If you click on the image you will be able to read the information about where they were born, when they arrived in the valley, whose company they were in, who their captain of 100, 50 and 10 were. Also at the very bottom of the page there is a place for relics that were donated to the state.

The only reclics donated were by Charles Sperry (hopefully he donated on behalf of the entire Sperry Family). It states "One roleing pinn, and one potato masher. They were turned in the spring of 1848 in the South part."

I only put a few of the images of our family up on this post. I have the others stored up for another time. If you find yourself in downtown Salt Lake with nothing to do, head over to the Rio Grande Depot and look them up yourself. You won't be sorry.

Frank & Iola Sperry and the Hancock Ranch, Where Eternity Began

Images of the Hancock Ranch have been floating around my head for years, but I had never actually seen this place until I attended the annual Frank and Iola Sperry Reunion this past September. After the food, visiting, games and sailing squash boats down the ditch we piled into cars and left Todd and Debbie Sperry’s home in Santiquin for a tour of family sites.

Hankcock Ranch was the major destination. It was NOT a quick ride in our cars. It would have been a L O N G ride by horse or Model T Ford. It did give us a chance to ease back into history. Are you ready for a ride?

Judge John Cooper in Nephi, Juab County, Utah, married Frank Lamont Sperry and Iola Croff on November 2, 1927. Nephi was Frank’s hometown. It was a double wedding- Iola’s older sister Mildred Croff and Doug Brown were also married the same day. Both couples soon settled in at the Hancock Ranch 9 miles south of Elberta, Utah. This proved to be a great place to grow into marriage. In Iola’s words “we enjoyed ourselves very much and made many good friends here”. Mont told the group at the reunion about the couples swimming in a nearby reservoir as often as they could make time for, and we all reflected about the likelihood of the couples watching for company from their wonderful view of both Utah and Juab County. They loved visitors, and visiting.

Both Frank and Doug had become regulars at the Elberta Ward and helped to build the one room church building into a larger space. Iola wrote of a very important event that took place while they lived at the Hancock Ranch. Bishop Heinze encouraged them “to go to the Manti Temple and be married for time and all eternity”. She wrote that she would “always be grateful to Bishop Heinze for his goodness and encouragement. I have always hoped I would live worthy of his effort and what he did for us.” Just ten month’s after they married, on September 3, 1928 Frank and Iola went with the Tintic Stake on a temple excursion to seal their marriage.

They remained at the ranch for two years until their first child was born, Donna. Later they moved back when work was hard to find. The second round was spent with Frank’s older brother, Roy Sperry and his wife Thelma and two son’s Lee and Neil. There were two houses on the ranch, Frank, Iola and Donna lived in the smaller of the two. They worked the sheep ranch, gardened, tended horses, cattle, other farm animals, cared for fruit trees and enjoyed life. For those of you who know the stories told by Frank of the DEAF PIG, this is where it happened. They spent a total of 4 years at the ranch.

Grandma Iola Sperry’s words ring in my ears: she was grateful for a good Bishop who visited them and loved her husband into the ward, and the church. Their future was forever changed because they spent time at the Hancock Ranch.

Can You Find Your Ancestor?

When our ancestors, Job Sidwell and his wife Susan Robinson and family together with the children of Joy Sperry and Mary Lamont entered the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847 who would have guessed that they were the beginning of the one of the greatest migrations in the history of the United States? Their reasons for coming were freedom to practice the religion they had newly embraced. Sacrifice was only just beginning as a wilderness needed to be tamed as they settled in a dry dessert climate.

50 years later the view of the pioneer community was quite different from what it had been that first summer. They had quite a celebration, it was a JUBILEE. Take a glimpse into the past and see if you can find three of your ancestors in the picture that was taken of those hardy souls that crossed in 1847 who gathered to temple square for the celebration.

Click here to see if you can find your ancestors. They are labeled #130, 55 and 56 on this picture. Their names are sorted at the bottom of the page. Who is missing from the picture that could have been there?