Mountain Meadows Massacre Descendants

I am finally getting around to updating a little “latest news”.    My life has been moving really,  really fast since NHL weekend.   (Personal Note:   My husband and I are so excited;   next Tuesday,   our daughter is adding 3 new grandchildren to our family by adoption.    These children have been with us since last January and we are totally in love with them.    Aren’t grandchildren GRAND????!!!!!)     Anyhoo,   our National Historic Landmark and Annual Meeting went wonderfully.   It was sooooo good to be at the Meadows again.   My favorite time there is always when I am alone.   I think about our families,   what they went through there,  and what we can do to help them now.    There is still so much to do.   We are working on a newsletter that will list the new officers,   the annual meeting—one of the BEST yet!!   And of course the NHL designation ceremony.    The most memorable part of the weekend,  to me,  was the walk we were priviledged to take up the same trail our people walked.   I call it the “Trail of Sorrow”.    My thoughts were filled with their anguish at having to leave all their earthly belongings behind.    They just walked away—-they loved each other that much!    Anyway,  more later.    Thank you everyone who made our special weekend so wonderful.  

************************

IT’S OFFICIAL!!!!!!!!!    THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE SITE IS NOW A HISTORIC LANDMARK IN THE U.S.!!!!!!!   This is such wonderful,  fantastic news.    I think this is as good as it gets for our families who died there in 1857 and are buried there.     We will be meeting September 10th and 11th in St. George,  UT.    Our headquarters will be the Best Western Abbey Inn.   When making reservations,  make sure you tell them you are with the MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE DESCENDANTS.    We will be getting a newsletter out in the next couple of weeks.    Hope to see you all there!!!!    News Release below:

*********************************************************

AMERICA’S GREAT OUTDOORS: Secretary Salazar Designates 14 New National
Historic Landmarks

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the
designation of 14 new national historic landmarks in 11 states and the
District of Columbia that have played an integral role in the development
of the country.

“Each of these landmarks represents a chapter in the story of America, from
archeological sites dating back more than two millennia to historic train
depots, homes of famous artists, and buildings designed by some of our
greatest architects,” said Secretary Salazar. “By designating these sites
as national landmarks, we help meet the goals of President Obama’s
America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to establish a conservation ethic for
the 21st century and reconnect people, especially young people, to our
nation’s historic, cultural, and natural heritage.”

“These new listings will join approximately 2,500 other sites in the
National Historic Landmark Program,” said National Park Service Director
Jonathan B. Jarvis. “These places showcase our rich and complex history –
from prehistoric time right up to the modern era.”

The new national historic landmarks include:

·        The Lightship LV-118 (Overfalls), now a museum in Lewes,
Delaware, is the last lightship constructed for and commissioned by
the U.S. Lighthouse Service.

·        Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, and Woodlawn
Cemetery in New York City are early examples of collaborative
landscape architecture and contain some of the finest examples of
funerary art in the nation.

·        Four national homes for disabled volunteer soldiers –
Western Branch in Leavenworth, Kansas; Mountain Branch in Johnson
City, Tennessee; Battle Mountain Branch in Hot Springs, South Dakota;
and Northwestern Branch in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – reflect the
development of a national system of veteran health care in the United
States.

·        The Olson House in Cushing, Maine, and the Kuerner Farm in
Delaware County, Pennsylvania, are both intimately tied to the
renowned 20th-century artist Andrew Wyeth. Wyeth spent 30 summers at
the Olson House and is buried on the grounds. The house is depicted
in many of his works including “Christina’s World,” one of the most
famous American paintings. The Kuerner Farm was the inspiration for
more than 1,000 Wyeth paintings over a 64-year period.

·        Grand Mound in International Falls, Minnesota, is an
interconnected archeological landscape of mounds, seasonal villages,
and sturgeon fishing sites going back to 200 BC.

·        Split Rock Light Station near Beaver Bay, Minnesota, appears
virtually the same as it did when completed in 1910. The station
greatly aided navigation in the busy and narrow shipping lanes of
Lake Superior.

·        The Pennsylvania Railroad Depot and Baggage Room in
Dennison, Ohio, is the only surviving station in the country that
reflects the important role of trains and train stations in the
transportation and care of troops during World War II. During the
war, about 4,000 volunteers provided moral support and served meals
around the clock to 1.3 million soldiers in the depot’s Salvation
Army Servicemen’s Canteen.

·        The Arch Street Friends Meeting House in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, was built by noted Federal period architect and author
Owen Biddle and has been in continuous use since 1805. It is also the
largest Quaker Meeting House in the country.

·        The Mountain Meadows Massacre Site in Washington County,
Utah, marks the location of the September 11, 1857, massacre of 120
emigrants by militiamen associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. The event was the apex of decades of violence,
mistrust, and fear.

Salazar also announced a name and boundary change for Medicine Wheel
National Historic Landmark in Lovell, Wyoming which was designated in 1970.
Renamed Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain National Historic Landmark, the
site now includes almost 4,000 addition acres of significant and intact
Native American sacred areas. The John B. Gough House in Boylston,
Massachusetts, also received a boundary clarification.

The program, established in 1935, is administered by the National Park
Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior. The agency works with
preservation officials and other partners interested in nominating a
landmark. Completed applications are reviewed by the National Park System
Advisory Board, which makes recommendations for designation to the
Secretary of the Interior. If selected, property ownership remains intact
but each site receives a designation letter, a plaque, and technical
preservation advice.

Additional information on the designations can be found at www.nps.gov/nhl

 *******Wednesday,   April 13th,  2011,  in San Francisco,  CA,   the meeting was held to discuss and vote (again)  on National Historic Landmark status for the MMM site.    This was approved,  as we had hoped.    NOW,   all that we are waiting for is Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s signature.     If you have connections in Washington D.C. who might help “move this along,”  please contact them!   We’re also making plans for the official celebration in Utah in September that will coordinate with our annual meeting.   Your input is wanted and needed for this,  as well as our annual meeting.

           AND,   we’re trying to get the project of the monument to the ten who died in the 5-day seige and now lay in an unmarked grave near the main monument, going again.   At one time it was a “done deal” and Ron Loving even had the rock for construction delivered to the site.   As I remember,   Kent Bylund and others objected,   the rock and supplies were “removed?”   and the project was back-burnered and events of the descendants leaving (being illegally kicked out of) the MMA,  etc.,  etc   kind of covered it up.    But we are at this time looking for the information where the church had approved the monument.   We have already found the drawings for the monument.   I’ll try to get those put up on this site for you to see.       More later………….

**********************************************************

      CHECK    OUT THE LATEST NEWSLETTER,  MARCH,  2011.   THERE IS

 LOTS AND LOTS OF NEWS ABOUT POWER LINES AT THE MEADOWS VALLEY;   NEWS ARTICLES WRITTEN BY OUR MEMBERS;  INFORMATION ON THE UPPER GRAVESITES TESTING ETC,  ETC,  ETC………