Savvy Toddler Mom

“The new country lay open before me: there were no fences in those days, and I could choose my own way over the grass uplands, trusting the pony to get me home again. Sometimes I followed the sunflower-bordered roads. Fuchs told me that the sunflowers were introduced into that country by the Mormons; that at the time of the persecution, when they left Missouri and struck out into the wilderness to find a place where they could worship God in their own way, the members of the first exploring party, crossing the plains to Utah, scattered sunflower seed as they went. The next summer, when the long trains of wagons came through with all the women and children, they had the sunflower trail to follow. I believe that botanists do not confirm Fuchs’s story, but insist that the sunflower was native to those plains. Nevertheless, that legend has stuck in my mind, and sunflower-bordered roads always seem to me the roads to freedom.” (from My Antonia by Willa Cather)

Today is Pioneer Day.  The Salt Lake Valley — the entire state and much of the Wasatch Front, for that matter — has a remarkable heritage from the Mormon pioneers that traveled across the plains in covered wagons and handcarts in 1847, suffering unspeakable cold, hunger, illness, and loss.  Why?  So that they could find a place where they could live and raise their families in peace and safety.  Those inalienable rights… life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness… had eluded them in the east and in Europe, so the LDS leaders lead them to strike out west.

There is a monument at the mouth of Emigration Canyon that depicts that moment of “we are here.”  (You can imagine all those pioneer children asking, “Are we there yet?” all 1300 miles.  Yowza.)  Brigham Young came over the Emigration summit and looked over the Salt Lake Valley – the desolate desert land — and said, “This is the place.”  (He actually didn’t say that… he said something like, “This is the right place.”)  I’ve often wondered what the pioneers thought of thought.  Did they think, is he crazy?  There is NOTHING here.  But on the other hand, they were probably pretty tired of traveling and thought here was as good as anywhere and here was HERE and not any further.  (The monument, for those of you that aren’t locals, is the “This is the Place Monument.”)

The Salt Lake Valley proved to be a good place to settle.  I could go on and on about why, but that’s not the point I want to make today.  The point I DO want to make is that I am lucky enough to have a state holiday to celebrate my family’s heritage.  My great-great-grandmother traveled across the plains in the Willie Handcart Company.  (Apparently I can hardly speak OR type about her without crying.)  I purchased a book recently specifically about the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies and how, by leaving so late in the year, they got trapped in the winter weather and had to be rescued.  The stories passed down from my grandmother are unbelievable.  The trials they endured… the sacrifices they made… the miracles that occurred… what a legacy!!!

I am extremely fortunate to have found a book (and I’m sure there are more) about this specific moment in my family history.  My great-great-grandmother’s name appears right there in it… that is my family’s story.  When my children are older, I will be able to read to them from it and show them the pictures.  It’s been researched and documented, written and published.  All I had to do was purchase it to provide my children and their children with an education of their ancestors… who they were and what they believed in.

As this is my maternal grandmother’s family, I wish it was as easy for all the other lines of which I am a descendant.  We even have a parade today to celebrate my great-great-grandmother’s legacy.  She was quite remarkable.

My challenge to you is to make an effort to gather your own family’s legacy and preserve it for your children… your little toddlers that will someday want to know.  That should know.  That need to know.