Cemetery Treasure Hunt (Salt Lake City Cemetery)

Salt Lake City Cemetery Treasure Hunt

In the Book of Mormon-Another Testament of Jesus Christ, there is a most comforting passage found in Alma:

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.
Alma 40:12

I have always loved cemeteries.  I love the peace I feel as I walk the sacred ground dedicated to the memory of those who have been laid to rest.  

The Salt Lake City Cemetery is one of my favorite places to visit.  (Another day and we can talk about Centerville, Logan, Enterprise, and Heber City Cemeteries.)  Located at the NE corner of 4th Avenue and “N” Street, this is 250 acres of peace located within the busy city.  (Directions:  Take South Temple to 900 East, turn left on “N” Street and go four blocks.)

Approximately 120,000 persons are buried in the cemetery.  It contains 9 1⁄2 miles of roads. It is the largest city-operated cemetery in the United States.  The first burial was two months after the Mormon pioneers had settled the Salt Lake Valley.

I wanted to create personal family tour of some of my favorite places in the cemetery.  I tried to make the voices of dead “speak from the dust” with brief self-descriptions.  Maybe you can feel of the sacrifices they made during their lives so that we could enjoy the opportunities we do in the present.

The attached map of the Salt Lake City Cemetery is marked with the general location of all the following persons. 

Also below you will find a “Cemetery Treasure Hunt” that can easily be adapted to all ages.  Make a plan to enjoy any day at the cemetery, not just Memorial Day!

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Eleven of the Presidents of the LDS Church are buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery along with many other church leaders.

·      Gordon B. Hinckley  (LDS President 1995-2008) -I was the prophet just before Thomas S. Monson. I oversaw the building of the Conference Center, the remodeling of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and the building of 100 temples in celebration of the Savior's birth in the year 2000. 

·      L. Tom Perry -I was an apostle for 43 years.  I was very tall and the oldest living apostle for many years.  I was also a friend of Maxine Moulton (later Owen) while in Japan during World War II.  We wrote letters to each other. Some of the biography written by my son used those letters as source material. 
Spencer W. Kimball (LDS President 1973-1985)- I was the prophet when the Priesthood was given to all worthy males .  Lengthen Your Stride  and Do It were my mottos. I was short of stature but blessed with great energy.

David O. McKay (LDS President 1951-1970)-I was the prophet during the early years of the lives of Mark Weiss and Cyndy Owen.  I emphasized Family Home Evening.  My hair was white and people said I “looked like a prophet”. 

·      Truman O. Angell -I was the architect of the Salt Lake Temple, Beehive House, Lion House, and Eagle Gate.  I served as Church Architect for many years.  My son worked on the Logan Temple.  I helped build the Kirtland Temple and helped William Weeks work on the Nauvoo Temple.

·      W. W. Phelps-I was the church printer.  I composed the hymn Praise to the Man and other church hymns. 

·      William Clayton-I was the church historian and clerk to Joseph Smith and later Brigham Young. I kept a journal most of my life.   I was in the first company to arrive in Utah in 1847.  On the way, I wrote the hymn, Come, Come Ye Saints.

·      Willard Richards-I was an apostle and was with the Prophet Joseph in the Carthage Jail when he was murdered by the mob.  I came to Utah in 1847.   I was the first editor of the Deseret News.  I was a Second Counselor to Brigham Young and served as recorder and historian from 1842-54.

·      Ellis Reynolds Shipp- I was one of the first female doctors in Utah.  I delivered over 6,000 babies and trained and licensed 500 midwives.  I founded the School of Nursing and Obstetrics in 1879.   

Chase ancestors are buried in what was the “old” part of the cemetery.

·      Isaac Chase (Father Chase)-I was 57 years old when I came to Utah in the "Big Company" in 1847.  I worked with my son, George, to build one of the first flour mills in the valley.  Liberty Park is where we built our adobe home.  It still stands along with the mill.  We then moved to Centerville and had a home in Salt Lake across from where the Harmon’s Grocery store is today.  Brigham Young was my son-in-law and a business partner.  

·      Phebe Chase-During the early days, I baked 15 loves of bread in my over-sized dutch oven.  I used flour that I swept up from the mill to make the bread.  Many who were hungry who would come to our door in the early days.  I was a good friend of Eliza R. Snow and we came to Utah in the same pioneer company in 1847.  She wrote a poem for me just before I died.

·      Clarissa (Ross) Young-My father died when I was young and then Isaac Chase married my mother.  I was married to Brigham Young while in Nauvoo.  I was his 7^th wife.  After having four children, I died at the young age of 44 years and my dear sister wife, Zina Huntington Young, raised my children.  Some thought I was buried in an unmarked grave, but in fact I am currently buried in the B-4 section.  

·      Harriett Louisa “Lib” Chase McLaughlin-I was only 13 when we came to Salt Lake Valley in October 1847.  One of our 5 wagons was the last to enter the Valley that year.  I helped drive the oxen of the wagon that carried the grinding stones for the mill in what is now known as Liberty Park.  We also brought our organ with us!  It is in the DUP museum. 

Weiss ancestors are buried in the Congregation Montefiore Cemetery.

·      Max (Michael) Weiss-I came from Russia (Poland) to America to make a better life for my family.  We were persecuted because we were Jews.  I was a merchant and moved to Salt Lake City when I saw there was great opportunity there.  

·      Annie (Hannah) Weiss-I came to America 8 years after my husband did and brought our four sons. After living for a while in Vernal, UT, I really wanted to be close to the Synagogue, so Max built me a home in Salt Lake City.  

·      Abe (Abraham) Weiss-I came to America when I was a young boy and settled in Roosevelt, UT.  I helped my father, Max, build up a successful hardware business.   I died shortly after my wife’s death.

·      Lizzie Weiss-I got to know Abe when he was in Vernal and Roosevelt.  Our fathers were friends.  We were married in the Montefiore Synagogue.  I died young leaving my husband to care for our two children, Arthur and Rose.  After Abe died during the flu epidemic, the children went to live with their grandparents, Max and Annie Weiss.

Moulton and Owen ancestors are buried near 445 North between 980 E. and Wasatch Ave.

·      James Austin Owen (1921-1979)- I was the first member of the LDS church in my family.  I joined while in the Army.  I met my wife at BYU.  I taught seminary for 4 years in Burley, Idaho. After I had polio, I decided to become a Chiropractic Physician and we moved to Portland, Oregon to attend college there.  I loved America and fought for freedom as a founding member of TOLD (Title of Liberty Defenders).  I was young when I died at the age of 58.  

·      Maxine Moulton Owen (1922-2015)- I was the 5^th of 11 children born in Heber City, Utah.  I was sick when I was young.  I played the saxophone and sang with my sisters.  I was married in the Salt Lake City Temple.  When my husband, Jim, was in the Veteran’s Hospital with polio, we would drive to the park overlooking the cemetery and the city.  We had many talks at that location, never thinking we would both be buried so near that beautiful spot.  I was mother to 9 children. I helped put my husband through Chiropractic College.  I loved to learn and helped build a home in Leeds, UT.  I married LaVarr Webb after Jim’s death. I lived a long, happy life and died at age 92.  

·      Hyrum Chase Moulton-I was a plumber.  After settling in Heber City, I added onto our home and remodeled it to make room for our ever growing family.  I loved my eleven beautiful children.  I became a Ford auto dealer and ran a gas station.  During the 1930’s we moved from Heber to Salt Lake City and I returned to plumbing work.  I loved to dance and we often hosted parties at our home on 9^th East.  

·      Lillian Cummings Moulton -  I was an organist from the time I was eight years old.   I attended BY Academy and studied music.  I married “Chase” and eventually became the mother of 11 children.  We had to be organized to get all our work done.  My laundry would hang from the pulley out from the porch early on Monday mornings.  I was so happy to get an automatic washing machine!

·      Duane Moulton-I was Maxine’s younger brother.  I served a mission to the South Pacific.  I was in the US Army during the Korean War.  I loved researching family history.  I never married, but was involved in the Univ. of Utah LDS Institute of Religion for many years.  I was out hiking one September day in 1985 and sat down by a tree and died in the cold.

·      Rex Moulton-I was Maxine’s younger brother and helped her whenever I could.  I traveled to Leeds, Utah to help the Owen family frame their house. When our children were younger, we went to New Zealand and helped build church meetinghouses.

Other Pioneer families:

·      John Griffiths-I was a leader of the LDS branch in Liverpool England for 15 years.  I came to Utah because of the Perpetual Emigration Funds.  I watched two of my sons, ages 9 and 11, die in Wyoming.  I lived long enough to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley on Nov. 30, 1856, but died during the night and was buried the next day, Dec. 1^st here in the Salt Lake City, Cemetery.  My daughters Margaret Griffiths (Clegg) and Jane Eleanor Griffiths (Fullmer), ages 16 and 8,  would survive the trek and grow up in Zion.   [Note:  John Griffiths is not found on the Utah Burial database, but he is buried on the east side of Main street about 1/2 way between 310 N and 350 North.  

·      Elizabeth Griffiths Webb Keddington-I was a pioneer in the 1856 Martin handcart company.  I watched my two step-sons die as we pulled our handcarts to Salt Lake.  John Griffiths, my husband, died during the night after we arrived in Salt Lake.   Our family was split up after our arrival.  Eventually I helped Jane, youngest daughter of John Griffiths.  Margaret was 16 when she went to live with the Clegg family. For many years we didn't see each other.
Matilda Wells Streeper-I was the mother of seven children.  My oldest daughter, Josephine, married George Ogden Chase.   My son, William Henry Streeper, was the last surviving  Pony Express rider and also helped rescue the handcart pioneers in the Willie and Martin Companies.   William and Josephine both settled in Centerville, UT.  After my husband died, I married Erastus F. Snow, an apostle.  I was one of his six wives.
Wilkinson Streeper-I came from Philadelphia, PA and my family is originally from Germany.  We joined the church in Pennsylvania in and came to Nauvoo in 1843 to be with the Saints.   We were forced out of our home by the mobs and moved to St. Louis.  I worked in St. Louis and finally left in 1850 to go west. We stayed the winter in Council Bluffs, Iowa and left in the spring of 1851 arriving in Salt Lake Valley in 1851.  I died five years later.  My headstone has a most interesting tree of life carved into it. 

Interesting Sites

·      Matthew Stanford Robison-I was confined to a wheelchair most of my life.  I died when I was only eleven years old.  I am now free from earthly burden. The wheelchair headstone is a way my parents used of showing what Alma taught (Alma 40:12).

·      Orrin Porter Rockwell- I was the bodyguard of Joseph Smith and later of Brigham Young.   I came to Utah with the first company in 1847.  I served as the Deputy Marshall for the State of Deseret.  
 Archer Walters-I was a carpenter from England.  I came with the first handcart company (Ellsworth) that came in 1856.  I said, "I would give my life if I could reach the Valley of the Mountains in the Land of Zion, with my family, that they may grow up under the influence of the Gospel of Christ."  My wife and five children survived, but 12 days after we arrived in Salt Lake, I died from dysentery. I have an unusual wooden headstone. 

·      Zuni Pueblo Native Americans-We were in the American Southwest long before the Mormon Pioneers arrived.  Some of our bodies were found in Box Elder County.  For many years our remains were buried in the basement of the Utah Museum of Natural History.  We were reburied here in a mass grave in 2008 in a special ceremony.
Christmas Box Angel-I am mentioned in the book The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans.   I am a memorial to all that children that have passed away while young.

****For a Cemetery Treasure Hunt*****

You could be teamed up in family groups or teams of 2 children with 2 older adults. You can drive to an area, park and then using the map you can find as many of the items you can during a 45 minute to one hour treasure hunt. 

Find the headstones of some of the people listed above.

You can either make a crayon or chalk stone rubbing or take a photo to show you have been there.

           

Points redeemed for different prizes to be provided:

                        Ancestors Headstones-                     20 points each

                        Prophets and Leaders stones-         10 points each

                        Interesting headstones-                   5 points each

                        Symbols-(see list below)                  5 points each

                        Epitaphs-Write them out                 10 points each.

                       

See if you can find these symbols carved into headstones:

            Lamb

            Temple

            Cross

            Star of David (6 pointed star)

            Heart

            Angels

            Flags

            A person’s picture

            Birds

            Mountains

            Praying hands

           

Write a verse of scripture you find on the headstones: 

Write your favorite “epitaph” here:

If you find someone with your birthday or who died on your birthday, write his/her name here:

Find someone whose headstone is written in a different language:

Find someone who was born in a country outside of the United States:

Other interesting things that you noticed during your “treasure hunt”: