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Commemoration
Of The Carleton Reburial
At The Site Of The Mountain Meadows Massacre
Reported
By Leslie Moon
It was
April 26th when I received a call from Terry Fancher in Boston,
MA. He asked if I would help put together a program at Mt. Meadows
May 30, 2009. Terry had
gone to both the Presbyterian and the Methodist churches for
help. They were not available to help him. Leroy Lee had told
him to give me a call. That I would be able to get a program
ready for him. He needed
three hymns that would have been sung back in 1857. Also two
people to give the prayers, and to order a large fresh flower
wreath for the monument.
Four days
later I called Terry at home with the program. I had several
songs for him to choose from. Members of the Southwest Symphony
Strings had volunteered to play at the commemoration. Flowers
had been ordered. Prayers would be given by Tom Lamb and Sharon
Chambers, who is a descendant from the Dunlap family of the
massacre. Terry was thrilled that it was all coming together.
The LDS
church had invited all three organizations of Mt. Meadow families
to a VIP tour of the new Oquirrh Mountain temple on May 29,2009.
The families that came were thrilled by its beauty and majesty.
At one
P.M. we all were invited to dinner in the Ambassador room at
the Joseph Smith building. Elder Dallin H. Oaks was there to
meet everyone. It was at this dinner that Marlin K. Jensen revealed
to the three Fancher organization, what the LDS church had done
to secure the property surrounding the monument.
The church
had bought 600 acres that had been planned for home sites nearby.
They had also bought several other smaller sections in order
to secure and to honor the area of the monument. Papers had
been sent to Washington D.C. asking for this land to be placed
on the National Registry. The LDS church would retain ownership
of the land in order to properly maintain the monument.
Next we
were invited to tour the new Church History Building. Two Friendship
quilts were being made to honor those who died at Mt. Meadows,
and for the seventeen surviving children. One quilt will be
given to Harrison, AR. The other quilt will be sent to a museum
in Cedar City, Ut. The Fancher families were invited to review
all documents that the LDS church have pertaining to Mt. Meadows
until nine PM that night.
About eight
persons from the Mt, Meadow Foundation drove to the monument
that evening to camp in Civil War type tents for the night.
The next
day in our meeting, Phil Bolinger, the President of the Mt.
Meadow Foundation, stood and gave these remarks. Everyone says
that these meadows are haunted. But I can stand here today and
say that "our ancestors are at peace."
May 30,
2009 became an outstanding day of friendship and of honoring
those who died there 152 years ago. There was no hostility.
We commemorated the reburial of the bones by Major Carleton
in May 1859. It was a beautiful ceremony conducted by Terry
Fancher, President of the Mt. Meadows Association. Patty Norris
President of the Mt. Meadows Descendents thanked the LDS church
for all that it had done for securing the Monument.
The program
ended with a 21 gun salute by seven men dressed in Union Civil
War uniforms. Two small children of the descendants placed the
large flower wreath on the monument in remembrance of their
ancestors. The LDS church had a light lunch and refreshments
prepared for all 177 people who attended the ceremony.
At 6 P.M.
a dinner was held at the Holiday Inn in St. George. Three speakers
were invited, Will Bagley, Richard Turley Jr., and Marlin K.
Jensen. Terry Fancher thanked the LDS church for all that they
had done to help put this two day program together for the Fancher
families.
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