While Nancy and Andrew needed to spend some time in the hospital with baby Benjamin, I met them to spend some time with the girls. I decided to take them a few blocks away to Pioneer Park. We played on the playground equipment until someone got tired (me) and then walked over to the pioneer village.
Although I have been at the park multiple times, I have never been there when the pioneer village was open, so it was a first for me. The girls loved it, too--it was almost like Nauvoo, but much smaller and not nearly as cool. Still, there were some real pioneers (actors in costume) some of whom were playing the hammered dulcimer. One pioneer lady let Rachel and Miriam have a turn, and explained how the hammers work.
The girls wanted to climb on the wagons--one of the pioneer ladies helped me lift them onto one, but the girls were not too happy about that. The seat was rather hot and uncomfortable. Standing in the hand-cart was more to their liking.
When we had seen almost the whole pioneer village, Miriam was ready to go back to the playground. But there was one house we had not been inside yet, so we went to take a look. Surprise, surprise! It was the cabin of Gilberth Haws and Hannah Whitcomb Haws! (Which may mean nothing to anyone else, but I was like, those are my great-whatever grandparents!)
So, here's a little genealogy for you: Gilberth and Hannah had a daughter named Lucinda. Lucinda married Shedrach Holdaway, and they had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth. M-E married Charles Conrad, and they had a son named Arthur, who had a son named Arnold, who is my dad. So this was the home of my third great-grandparents, and fifth great-grandparents for the girls! What a fun surprise ending to our visit to the pioneer village!
Here is a picture of Lucinda in a four-generation picture with her daughter M-E Holdaway Conrad and M-E's daughter M-E Conrad Muhlestein (my grandpa's sister who was married to my grandma's brother) and one of M-E's daughters...this ancestor, Lucinda, may very well have set foot in the same little house that R, M and I set foot in today.
That house was apparently moved into the pioneer village in 1957, the year I was born. Despite multiple visits to Provo when I was a child, despite me spending four years living in Provo while at BYU, living in Provo for a year when we were a young family with four children, and twelve years living in Orem...today was the first day that I realized this ancestral home of MY FAMILY was standing in the pioneer village!
Although I have been at the park multiple times, I have never been there when the pioneer village was open, so it was a first for me. The girls loved it, too--it was almost like Nauvoo, but much smaller and not nearly as cool. Still, there were some real pioneers (actors in costume) some of whom were playing the hammered dulcimer. One pioneer lady let Rachel and Miriam have a turn, and explained how the hammers work.
That house was apparently moved into the pioneer village in 1957, the year I was born. Despite multiple visits to Provo when I was a child, despite me spending four years living in Provo while at BYU, living in Provo for a year when we were a young family with four children, and twelve years living in Orem...today was the first day that I realized this ancestral home of MY FAMILY was standing in the pioneer village!
2 comments:
That's really cool!
Wow, lucky, lucky you! Too bad Dad never knew about it.
Last summer, we tried to find my 'oooooooooooooold' family house in the forest. Looks like it has been "swallowed" by Mother Nature. It was still standing 25 years ago even though it was in a terrible shape...
Thanx for sharing this experience with the girls. :)
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