Today I attended the memorial for a friend's baby, Regan Ka'uloa Aust (whose middle name is Hawaiian for 'mine forever.') Regan had Trisomy-13 - a chromosomal disorder that 'is not consistent with life.' The service was beautiful, celebrating the 45 minutes the Austs had with their son before he died. Apparently only 400 babies a year who suffer from this condition are even born alive. Which makes it amazing that ... Continue reading »

Trivia - Men from the discharged Mormon Battalion were the first to notice gold in the mill race at Sutter's Mill. And during the several months during that initial period of time, Jonathan wrote nothing in his journal...

It is from Jonathan's Mormon Battalion journal that I predominantly formed my image of him as a quiet, simple, good man. That and the description of how his wife mourned his ... Continue reading »

Trivia - This story about the 'nutty meal' is not well known at all. I had heard it as a child, but never read about it anywhere in the histories. It was only years after I decided to write about my female forebears that I finally allowed myself to read Sam Taylor's The Last Pioneer, about John Taylor. And there I found the story of the nutty meal.

This ... Continue reading »

Trivia - The cemetery on the bluff is still there, and the statue "Tragedy at Winter Quarters" stands on the third to fifth graves in the sixth and seventh rows of the old cemetery .

Trivia - Brigham Young sent Elder Tom Little to preside over the church in the east and to go to Washington to petition for help. Elder Little was assisted by his friend, 24-year-old John Kane, son of a well-known federal judge and associate of President Polk. They originally proposed the Mormons be granted contracts to build blockhouses and forts along the Oregon trail.

When they arrived at DC, they ... Continue reading »