Memorial Day 2017

I've never been too into Memorial Day and visiting cemeteries and such, but this year, for whatever reason, I suddenly had a desire to visit the graves of my ancestors back to four generations (back to my great-great grandparents). For those who lose track of what this means, for me this group is comprised of 27 deceased individuals (my maternal grandmother, Doris Nalder, is still living). I have three deceased grandparents, eight deceased great-grandparents, and 16 deceased great-great-grandparents.

I spent some time Sunday morning researching on FamilySearch just to find out where all of these ancestors were buried. The breakdown was as follows:

Spanish Fork Cemetery: 2 grandparents, 2 great-grandparents, 4 great-great -grandparents
Bountiful: 2 great-grandparents, 4 great-great-grandparents
Kaysville: 2 great-grandparents, 2 great-great-grandparents
Lindquist Memorial Park (Layton): 1 grandparent
Aultorest Memorial Park (Ogden): 2 great-great-grandparents
Bennington Cemetery: 2 great-grandparents, 4 great-great-grandparents

I realized Bennington might be somewhat of a stretch, but thought we could make it to the rest so at about 10 AM Memorial Day morning, we headed to Spanish Fork, where several from my dad's family had congregated.

Oran Lewis is my paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather and several of my ancestors are buried in this section of the Spanish Fork cemetery. While reading up on him, I learned that before he married my great-great-grandmother, he had married a woman named Ellen Gillespie. Less than three weeks after they were married, she was leaving for choir practice and was somehow mistaken for a fugitive that law enforcement was looking for and was shot and killed. Another account had the details a little different, but the result was the same. Four years later, Oran married my great-great-grandmother, Laura Larsen.

Marker for Oran Lewis and posterity section of Spanish Fork Cemetery

Headstones for my paternal grandmother's maternal grandparents, Oran Lewis and Laura Larsen Lewis

Headstone for my paternal grandmother's parents, Joseph Archibald "Archie" Brockbank and Fern Lewis Brockbank

Headstone of my Grandpa and Grandma Mouritsen, Glendale Mouritsen and Jean Brockbank Mouritsen

Headstone of my dad's sister, Aunt Maureen, who was killed in a small plane crash in 1990

From my research, I knew that my paternal grandmother's paternal grandparents were also buried in Spanish Fork, but neither my dad nor his brothers that were there seemed to know where their headstones were. We looked around for them a little bit and as we headed back to our car I stumbled on them, along with a marker for my great-great-great-grandfather, Isaac Brockbank.

I have since learned that Isaac was converted to the gospel in Liverpool by Parley P. Pratt and that his wife at the time, Elizabeth Mainwaring, was a devout Methodist, who very much opposed his joining the Church. See ultimately agreed to accompany the rest of the family to America, on account of their children, but became separated from the company near Fort Laramie and was never seen again. He married my great-great-great-grandmother, Sarah Brown, a few months later.

Marker for my great-great-great-grandfather, Isaac Brockbank, and his two wives, Elizabeth Mainwaring and Sarah Brown

Headstones of my paternal grandmother's paternal grandparents, Joseph Brockbank and Emma Jane McKell Brockbank

Having seen the graves for all my ancestors in Spanish Fork, we next headed to Bountiful where my mom's maternal grandparents and great-grandparents are buried.

Headstones of my maternal grandmother's paternal grandparents, Edward Mitchell and Mary Emery Mitchell

Headstones of my maternal grandmother's maternal grandparents, Parley Willey and Sarah Jane Pace Willey

Headstones of my maternal grandmother's parents, Edward Mitchell and Luella Willey Mitchell

Headstone of my maternal grandmother's brother, Uncle Roy.

 

 While in Bountiful, I stopped at the grave of my niece, Margot, who was born with the genetic defect, Trisomy-18 and died a week after she was born.

Headstone of my niece, Margot

 From there it was on to the Kaysville Cemetery where my maternal grandfather's parents and paternal grandparents were buried.

Headstones of my maternal grandfather's paternal grandparents, Stephen Nalder and Catherine Forbes Nalder

Headstone of my maternal grandfather's parents, Hacel Nalder and Catherine Kenley Nalder

 From there, it was on to Lindquist Memorial Park in Layton where my Grandpa Nalder is buried.

Headstone of my Grandpa, Wallace Kenley Nalder

From there, I went to Aultorest Memorial Park where my maternal grandfather's maternal grandparents, William Kenley and Catherine Garden Kenley are buried, but I was unable to find their headstones.

But I did find this:

All in all, a fairly productive Memorial Day trip.