A
visit to Salt Lake City and Temple Square shows us monuments to events where our
ancestors were intimately involved:
After
the Saints had plowed and planted 5,000 acres of land in the Salt Lake Valley,
and the new growth promised a bounteous crop of grains and vegetables, swarms of
crickets began to infest the fields, devouring their crops.
The pioneers used everything in their power to fight the crickets:
brooms, clubs, shovels, flooding, and even fire--but the crickets kept coming.
The worried settlers fell to their knees and pleaded with God for help.
Suddenly, out of the western sky came flocks of sea gulls.
These beautiful white birds swooped down on the crickets, eating them in
great gulps. They would fly away to
disgorge, then return to eat again. They
came every morning until the crickets were gone. The sea gulls had saved part of
the pioneers' crops so they wouldn't starve until they could plant again next
year. The John Van Cott family and
his cousin, Parley P Pratt's family were in Salt Lake and saw the miracle of the
seagulls personally. They fought
the crickets themselves with all their might and were so grateful to Heavenly
Father for saving their crops, and their lives, for they feared they would
starve while their crops were being destroyed.
Note:
The miracle of the seagulls happened again a few years later, mentioned
by GGM Margaret Condie (1839) in her history.
The year after they had crossed the plains and were living in a dugout in
the Salt Lake Valley, the crickets came once more to destroy their crops.
During the famine of 1853, the seagulls flew in hoards to save the
pioneers by gorging on crickets once again.
This also happens in modern times. Every
so often, you will see it written up in the newspapers that the crickets and the
seagulls have done it again. The
seagulls are a gift from God to the farmers.
Also
on Temple Square is a monument to the Handcart Pioneers.
You may have heard of the Willie/Martin Handcart Companies in church
history. Jemima Nightingale
traveled to Utah with that well-known group, many of whom froze or starved to
death (Also see John Van Cott History) in 1856.
Jemima, alone and newly arrived in the valley, sang at a dinner, which
welcomed the new group to Salt Lake, and the Saints were invited to help where
they could. Jemima Nightingale was
true to her voice. She sang beautifully and charmed the Davis family.
Great-Grandfather Edward (1826)
and Sarah Davis invited her to live
with them, and she became Edward's 2nd wife and mother of eight children, six of
whom they raised to maturity in Salt Lake City. The two wives lived together and reportedly always got along
well with one another. When her
daughter Afton as a young girl, asked her mother, Olivia Van Cott Davis (1875)
why Grandpa Davis had two wives, she answered quickly, “We wouldn’t have it
any other way.” And that
was that.
The
original Nauvoo Temple Bell hangs by the west gate of Temple Square, across the
street from the Museum of Church History and Art. The Nauvoo Temple Bell was a gift from grateful British
converts to the LDS Church. This
bell originally hung in the tower of the Nauvoo Temple, and the Saints were very
sentimental about this bell. Its
sound was a thing of beauty and comfort to them.
In
Winter Quarters in 1846, just before embarking on their 1847 pioneer trek, John
Van Cott's journal reportedly says that Brigham Young sent
John
Van Cott (1814) back to Nauvoo. His
assignment was to get three large items they would need to take with them to
Utah: the Nauvoo Temple Bell, the Nauvoo Cannon, and a boat.
The three items were ferried across the river to Winter Quarters, and the
bell was used in Winter Quarters to call the Saints to meetings. The Big Company brought the bell across the plains to Salt
Lake Valley, arriving in September 1847. [Nielsen
says that the Lamoreaux family brought the Nauvoo bell in their wagon across the
plains, and there is another family who claims that their ancestor brought the
Nauvoo Bell to Salt Lake. Cousin
David McKay Barker mentioned that it probably took a whole team of men to do the
job, and no doubt, he is right.] To carry the bell safely across the plains, the wagon was
driven under the bell, and it was lowered into a huge barrel, built especially
for this purpose; then it was covered with dry beans for storage and protection.
The
Nauvoo Bell played an important part in the lives of the second company moving
west in 1847. The Nauvoo bell
awakened the herdsmen at dawn, called the Saints to kneel in morning prayer,
rang as a signal to start the day's march; and during the dark night, it was
rung as a signal that the night watch had begun.
And it quieted the fears of the people because it warned of any danger.
When the bell was quiet, they knew that all was well.
After
their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the pioneers used the Nauvoo Temple Bell
to sound the time and to call them to Sunday meetings in Salt Lake before they
had any large clocks. This bell was
hung in the Old Bowery (a large roof, held up by columns, covered with boughs
from bushes or trees, under which the Saints could hold their meetings in the
shade). This temporary structure
was a predecessor to the Tabernacle. And
now, you can hear the Nauvoo Temple Bell ring every hour by listening to KSL on
the radio in Salt Lake.
You
may see the Nauvoo cannon John Van Cott was sent to get, in the Church Museum of
History and Art, just west of Temple Square.
There, a plaque tells that the Nauvoo Cannon was of 1812 vintage and was
used to display self-defense to intruders while they were traveling across the
plains, and later in the Salt Lake Valley.
John
Van Cott brought the cannon to Winters Quarters. Brigham Young's company, who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley
on July 24, 1847, two months before the Big Company and the John Van Cott family
came. They have record of pulling
the cannon in the rear of their wagon train so all could see it from a great
distance and know they were well armed.
The
museum plaque has this interesting incident about its use on Sunday, July 25,
1847: G. A. Smith preached the first sermon in the Salt Lake Valley while
standing on this cannon so people could see him as he spoke.
As
far as we know, the boat is unpreserved. But,
Parley P. Pratt (also part of the Big Company that traveled west in 1847),
writes about a boat in his Autobiography. But first, he settled his family in temporary houses, put in
crops, obtained fuel from the mountains and had his entire family rebaptized.
Then, sometime in December 1847, Parley and a Brother Higby took a boat
and a fish net and explored the Utah Lake, "a beautiful sheet of fresh
water, some thirty-six miles long by fifteen broad.
Here, we launched our boat and tried our net, being probably the first
boat and net ever used on this sheet of water in modern times."
Some
of our ancestors were involved in building the Salt Lake Temple, and many of our
parents were married in this temple. GGF
Simon
Barker (1826) from Ogden, assisted in hauling stone with an ox team for the
foundation of the Salt Lake Temple. GGF
Joseph Sharp (1830) was very involved
in quarrying and hauling the stone. He
was one of the three Sharp Brothers mentioned in Mountain of the Lord, a
recent movie on the building of the Salt Lake Temple. John Sharp was the manager of the Cottonwood Temple Stone
Quarries. Adam and Joseph were very
involved in cutting and hauling the stone to the temple site.
The Sharp Brothers hauled stone from the quarry in Little Cottonwood
Canyon by ox cart. It took four
days for one trip, to move one huge, extremely heavy stone.
After 20 years of work, the temple structure was only 20 feet high.
Brigham Young was inspired to stop work on the temple and help build the
railroad to Utah before the temple could be completed.
Along with the railroad, they built a spur (another set of tracks) to the
stone quarry, which enabled them to haul cut stone to the temple in just an hour
instead of four days. This, and the
invention of the steam shovel, which enabled them to lift the heavy stones to
the top of the temple, helped them to finish the temple at a much quicker pace
than before. Automated machinery
was surely a gift from the Lord. (See
Sorensen and Oborn histories for their involvement in the railroad, for it was
the completion of the railroad that enabled many of these folks to come to
Utah.)
In
1893, 40 years after it was begun, the Salt Lake Temple was finally dedicated.
Emily Millgate Oborn (1868), our Sorensen/Oborn great-grandmother, was so
impressed that she wrote about this experience in her life history.
Others of our ancestors were also at the dedication, no doubt, but we
don't have their record that they attended.
What a blessing life histories and journals are!
Our
great-grandparents, Olive and Tom Davis
(1872) were married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1896, just three years after it
was dedicated. Our grandparents,
Alma Sharp Barker (1897) and Ruth Davis Barker (1897) were married in the Salt
Lake Temple 22 June 1921, and our grandparents, Alvin M. Sorensen (1902) and
Emily Estella Oborn (1901) were married there 20 June 1923.
The
Salt Lake Temple is, at this writing, (1993), the largest LDS temple ever built,
and it was built strong enough to last through the Millennium, out of granite
from top to bottom. What an honor
it is to attend the temple here, one of the few where they have live sessions at
this time. It is a very beautiful
temple, inside and out, and we hope that you may be able to attend a session
here some day if you have not already done so.
This
well-known Tabernacle has housed general conference for years as well as the
famous Tabernacle Choir. Children
will like the tour of the building in which the building’s amazing acoustical
qualities are demonstrated by dropping a pin and also a carpenter’s nail to
hear how the sound resounds through the building. The tabernacle was thought to be enormous in pioneer times.
Now, the new, much larger building being built near Temple Square will
dwarf it. Our GGF Joseph Sharp
(1830) and his two brothers, called the Sharp Brothers, quarried and hauled
stone for the original tabernacle. Our
GGF Edward Davis (1826), a talented and skilled carpenter, crafted the benches
inside that everyone sits on for general conference.
You can also see his skillful handiwork on the lovely, old carved gables
of the Thomas Davis home, where Ruth Davis Barker was raised at 1350 So. West
Temple and is still standing at this writing.
This
is a delightful museum that children will like. It is full of many interesting displays showing pioneer life.
The period from Nauvoo to Salt Lake Valley is depicted.
On the top floor are wonderful, rotating art displays by LDS artists,
many times on spiritual themes.
One
of John Van Cott’s daughters, Mary
Van Cott (1844) [daughter of Lucy Sackett, John Van Cott's 1st wife],
married Brigham Young. She is
buried near him, along with a few more of his wives, in a small, gated graveyard
just northeast of Temple Square, within walking distance.
Ask at the visitor’s center on Temple Square or in the Joseph Smith
Memorial Building for directions. Most
of the other prophets are buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery.
Many
of our ancestors are buried here, and many of them are fairly close to each
other. A map is attached that was
used by the Al and Ruth Barker family to visit family graves during the 1930s.
Thomas and Olivia Davis, (Nana’s parents), Fred and Cecilia Barker (Grandad’s
parents), John Van Cott and Lena Erickson, Nana’s maternal grandparents;
Edward and Sarah Davis, Nana’s paternal grandparents; Joseph and Margaret
Condie Sharp, Grandad’s maternal grandparents, are all buried here in large
family groups. (GGF Simon and
probably his wife, Jemima Barker are buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.)
Attached is a map of the Salt Lake City gravesites, and the cemetery is
worthwhile seeing for those who have an interest. While you are looking for our ancestor’s graves, whenever
you see a very large monument, go over to see that, too. It probably belongs to one of the prophets of the LDS church.
Many
of our ancestors attended, graduated, or taught at the University of Utah, for
this university was close to home and well respected.
Lucy Van Cott (1869) –
Gifted teacher, Dean of Women at the U of U - Daughter of John Van Cott and
Laura Lund, his 4th wife.
Waldemar Van Cott (1859) –
Attorney, Chairman of the Board of Regents, U of U - Son of John Van Cott and
Laura Lund.
Frederick G. Barker (1890) -
Psychology Professor, U of U; Author - Brother of Al S. Barker.
Alton Hadlock (1911) - Professor, U of U - Married to VaLois Davis, daughter of
Thomas S and Olivia Van Cott Davis, well-loved uncle.
From
the Van Cott Newsletter published a few years ago:
Lucy
M. Van Cott, daughter of John and
Laura Lund (#4), was a brilliant teacher, and also the first Dean of Woman at
the "U" and a power for good behind women students there.
Because of her many years of service to the women of the University of
Utah, a group of students applied to name a mountain in back of the university
in her honor. (See directions to
find it below.) Also, the Van Cott
Hall for Women was named after her.
Lucy's
brother, Waldemar, was on the
Board of Regents for the University about 1912 and another power for good on the
U of U campus. Waldemar later became a lawyer, Chairman of the Board of Regents
of the University of Utah, and was known for his wisdom, understanding, and love
of justice. It was he who had the
little, black book published called John Van Cott Genealogy (1060‑1883),
that does not tell about John Van Cott, but it does tell about our Van Cott
ancestry. [Waldemar became a
Christian Scientist.]
To
find Mount Van Cott on the 'U' campus, stand by Van Cott Hall and look to the
northeast, and you will see Mount Van Cott about a mile away, rising above the
surrounding bench land and hill country, with an altitude of 6,348'.
Adjacent to the south is Red Butte Canyon.
Clarence
Sharp Barker, a grandson of Joseph Sharp, listened to stories at family
gatherings as a boy. Clarence, a newspaper reporter as an adult, quotes this
story from James P. Sharp, who told of the arrival of the Sharps in Salt Lake
City from Scotland, back on August 28, 1850.
There were three Sharp brothers:
John, Adam and Joseph, who arrived here with their father, John Sharp, [and
their families] all from Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland.
They did not like the appearance of the arid valley, nor their reception
(little notice was paid them, says JPS) and so they decided to go on to
California. But, it was too late in
the year to go to California, so they made camp at the mouth of what is now
known as Red Butte Canyon [just north of Salt Lake City].
They were still there when the snows came. Digging into the hillside, they used their [covered] wagon
boxes for roofs, walled up the front with stones, and waited the winter out.
By the time spring arrived,
these Scottish miners had put their knowledge of quarrying and working with
stone to good advantage. Workers came and were quarrying red sandstone for
building the Council House, kitty-corner to the site of the Hotel Utah.
These workers were not skilled at quarrying stone [excavated by cutting
or blasting]. The Sharp Brothers
had been coal miners and quarrymen in Scotland, so they showed the others how to
do the job. Brigham Young put them
to work immediately. They were given the contract to supply stone for the Salt
Lake Tabernacle, Tithing House, and the old Council House.
They also quarried stone in the Little Cottonwood Canyon for the Salt
Lake Temple.
As a result, John, the eldest,
became a contractor under President Young, building the Union Pacific Railroad
through Weber Canyon. [John Sharp acted as Brigham Young’s emissary when they
pounded in the famous golden railroad spike at Promontory Point to celebrate
connecting the railroad from coast to coast.
Adam later went into the sheep business in Vernal, Utah, and an
interesting story about gold dust is told about Adam that we’ll tell at
another time.
Our great-grandfather, Joseph
Sharp, was a successful teamster and business man who drove many loaded teams of
oxen to the East and then back again to Salt Lake City again, fully loaded with
freight both ways. He was known as an extremely strong and powerful man, and a
skillful one. In Joseph’s
last trip west, however, there was a bad combination—the only oxen available
to them were young and untrained, and the young emigrants were equally wild and
unskilled, says a hired hand from that train.
Brigham Young asked Joseph to
take just a skeleton crew of experienced help and hire 52 young, inexperienced
Scottish and Danish emigrants. That way, these young men could go east and pick up their
families and bring them west to the Salt Lake Valley. They had many heavy wagons and a fully loaded wagon
train to lead back to Salt Lake City. Three to six oxen were yoked to each
wagon, and each wagon weighed from 3500 to 8000 lbs.
But, these young emigrants didn’t speak English and knew nothing about
driving oxen. With the
inexperienced help, the train moved slowly, with many wanderings and strayings
[of wagons and oxen], and there was much confusion for the emigrants couldn’t
handle the oxen nor could they understand verbal instructions.
At Willow
Springs in Wyoming, one of the new drivers allowed his wagon to get off the
trail, and the rear wheel sank into a mud hole. After five men couldn’t budge it, Joseph brushed them
aside, placed his shoulders against the wheel, grasped two of the spokes and
lifted the wheel clear of the hole, and the oxen then pulled the wagon ahead.
Joseph lifted beyond his strength and died the next morning of a hernia
[or a ruptured blood vessel]. Joseph
Sharp died at age 34 after lifting a fully loaded wagon out of a deep mud hole.
He found that our bodies all have limits, even when we are doing all we
can.
How grateful we
are that he lived, and for our ancestors who gave so much of their lives for us
and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. May
we strive to be as faithful and courageous as they have been.
Compiled
by Marjorie Cecilia Barker Sorensen, June 1999.
Definitions:
In the text, GGF stands for Great Grandfather and GGM stands for Great
Grandmother.
Notes were taken from:
1)
Davis, Van Cott, Sharp, Barker, Sorensen and Oborn family
histories
2)
Temple Square, The Crown Jewel of the Mormons
by Quig Nielsen, Director of Public Relations for Temple Square.
1989.
3)
Writings
of Clarence Sharp Barker, grandson of Joseph Sharp
4)
Cecilia
Sharp History, daughter of Joseph Sharp
5)
Twentieth Ward History, 1856-1979
by Ruth J. Martin - Joseph Sharp and all three Sharp brothers lived in this
ward. John Sharp was the first
bishop and served here for many years. This
ward history shows good portraits of each of the three Sharp brothers with
sections on each of their lives.
6)
Journal of Andrew C Nielson, hired hand on the last Joseph Smith [Wagon]Train
7)
Notes on the Nauvoo Temple from a series on the Internet
by LDS Gems.
8)
Margaret Condie Sharp, Joseph's wife, stated that he died
of a hernia. The 20th
Ward History states that he died of a broken blood vessel.
9)
MORMON CRICKETS DOING DAMAGE AGAIN – Article in Salt
Lake Tribune 6/30/99.
"Mormon crickets" have returned: "Billions of the voracious 2-inch crickets and smaller grasshoppers are mowing down ranch crops and swarming homes throughout Tooele County." As in the well-known pioneer story, sea gulls have appeared to help control the damage; but unlike the pioneers, agriculture agents are also appealing to the government for $2 million in disaster relief funds.
THE THREE SHARP
BROTHERS