Memorial Day Family History Tour 2018 - Mouritsen Edition, Part I (Smithfield)

I knew it was going to be a long day, so I made sure to get an early start, leaving my house in Grantsville just before 7 AM. Soon after stopping at the McDonald's in Lakepoint, I was left to ponder whether the second Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit had been either wise or necessary. At that point, the answer seemed quite obviously no on both counts.

Just under two hours later, I was pulling into the parking lot of the Smithfield Tabernacle, which is now used by the city of Smithfield as a Recreation Center, the first official stop on my tour.

Smithfield Tabernacle

North Side of Smithfield Tabernacle

South Side of Smithfield Tabernacle

My great-great-great grandfather Lars Mouritsen (from whom I get my middle name), along with his grandson, Joseph Merrill, was responsible for making (most of) the brick used in the construction of the Smithfield Tabernacle. Lars was a brickmaker in Smithfield and was approached by the leading authorities of the Church to burn 200,000 brick to build the tabernacle. He did not feel equal to the task and turned them down. Three different times they approached him about it and each time he declined. Finally, he was told that he could either go on a mission or burn the brick. He said he could not preach so he would burn the brick. He was involved in making the brick from 1880 to 1887 when he sold his brick business and moved to a larger farm.

Lars was born in 1825 in Denmark. Not much is known of his childhood but at least part of it was quite traumatic because his father committed suicide by slitting his own throat when Lars was 11. In September of 1848, he married Maren Sorensen, who had a two-year old illegitimate daughter at the time. The daughter, Johanne Marie, was raised as the daughter of Lars and Maren, but was probably never legally adopted by Lars. Lars and Maren joined the church in February of 1858 and were baptized by Niels Peter Larsen (who incidentally is my great-great-great grandfather through my paternal grandmother). Lars migrated to Utah in 1859. After two years in Sessions Settlement (Bountiful) and four more years in Plain City, Lars and his family moved to Smithfield where Lars would reside for the remainder of his life.

After spending some time at the Tabernacle, I moved on to the Smithfield Cemetery, and after looking about for a bit, I was able to find the graves of Lars, his wife Maren, his grandson Joseph Merrill, and Joseph's two wives, Katie and Grace Hale.

Grave marker for Katie Hale Merrill and her son, Joseph Aroet

Grave markers for Joseph Merrill and his second wife, Grace Emma Hale Merrill

Grave marker for Joseph Merrill

Grave marker for Grace Emma Hale Merrill

L to R: Grace, Joseph, Katie/Joseph Aroet

Headstone for Maren Sorensen Mouritsen

Headstone of Lars Mouritsen

Maren and Lars Mouritsen

L to R: Katie/Joseph Aroet, Joseph, Grace, Maren, Lars

While reading about some of my Mouritsen ancestors, I became interested in the story of Joseph Merrill, Lars' grandson. Joseph, born in March of 1868, was the son of Horatio Harris Merrill and Martine (Martha) Mourtisen Merrill (who was my great-great-grandfather Mourits' sister). Martha died in the birth of Joseph's younger brother Martin when Joseph was only two. The two children fell under the care of Lars and Maren, but Martin died from dysentery when he was seven months old. Joseph was raised by Lars and Maren and as mentioned above, assisted Lars in making the brick for the Smithfield Tabernacle.

 In November of 1890, Joseph married Katie Eliza Hale in the Logan Temple. On Christmas Day of that same year he was called on a mission to Samoa and two weeks after that Katie was called to accompany him. They were set apart in February of 1891 and arrived in Samoa a short time later. Tragedy struck in June when Katie became ill and gave birth to her baby prematurely. On June 29, 1891, the baby died, and an hour later, Katie "talked with her husband, kissed him goodbye, and all was over." Katie and her baby, whom they named Joseph Aroet, were buried in the same coffin.

Joseph completed his mission, returning home May 14, 1894. He was able to bring the bodies of his wife and son as he explains:

"I brought the bodies of my wife and son home for burial to Smithfield. Getting the bodies home was a miracle, for it was against the rules to take a corpse. The shipping clerk in some way listed it as Dry Bones for Experiments and I was able to bring them home in a hermetically sealed and wooden box. On board the Captain somehow found out and swore me to secrecy, or passengers would sue the company. We arrived safely."

In June of 1894, Joseph married Katie's sister, Grace Emma Hale at Logan. He later returned to Samoa as president of the Samoan mission in 1901. He died in 1961.

While Joseph's story was immediately interesting and compelling, it became even more so when I connected the dots. Joseph's wives, Katie and Emma, were the daughters of Alma Hale, who had originally settled, along with his brother Aroet, in Grantsville, Utah. After the completion of the Logan Temple, Alma and his family moved to Smithfield to be closer to the temple which is where his daughers became acquainted with Joseph. Alma's brother, Aroet, is the great-great-great- grandfather of my wife, Jeanell. My great-grandfather's first cousin was married to Jeanell's great-great-grandfather's first cousins.

It was still early at this point, but I still had a fairly long journey ahead so I continued north to my next stop: Bennington, Idaho.

Part II