Walking over to the Lindsay side of the family

Haven't done a whole lot with the Lindsay branch of our family, so I thought I'd hop onto that limb today with a look at William Buckminster Lindsay, Jr. I should explain right up front that over the years I've tried two or three times to contact modern-day Lindsays via e-mail, asking permission to re-post items from their websites on our Henderson Family Reunion page, but have never received a response. (The e-mails weren't bounced back, so I'm sure someone got them; I guess they're just not interested in the correspondence. If anyone knows a member of the Lindsay family, please let them know we'd love to have them in here helping, commenting, showing us the way.)

So, I've forged ahead, given them due credit and haven't been asked to take them down despite all the copyright notifications on the Lindsay websites. I sincerely hope they don't mind.

As any of you know who've looked at the Lindsay pages linked to from our Henderson site, I've had photos up of Lindsays I had no way of identifying. But my visit last summer to Marsha's house provided me with plenty of information and I'm now in the process of matching names to the faces.

William Buckminster Lindsay, Jr., was born Dec. 25, 1821, in Jamestown, Canada, the son of William Buckminster Lindsay, Sr., of Vermont, and Sarah Myers, of Yorkshire, England. He grew up on "his father's 77-acre farm near Rideau Lake, Leeds County, Canada."

He joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 20 in 1842, and married Julia Parks on Feb. 19, 1845, in Nauvoo, Ill. (Julia and William Jr. were the parents of Julia Ann Lindsay, who married Hyrum Henderson; Julia Ann and Hyrum were the parents of my grandfather, David Monroe Henderson.) According to the account by Rex B. Lindsay/David J. Wardell, there exists an autobiography by Julia Parks Lindsay. It would be really nice to get a copy, or find out where we could get one to distribute to family members.

In 1846, as the Latter-day Saints were being hounded out of Nauvoo, William B. Lindsay, Jr. and Julia P. Lindsay were preparing to leave when he was called to serve as a guard for Brigham Young. This delayed Julia P.'s departure, and she stayed with her sister, Fannie, until

"there was another company about ready to start. I had the opportunity of going with my brother-in-law. I felt very anxious to go for I had heard that my husband was quite sick with the measles and I knew that he would be exposed to the cold and would not have much to comfort him and although I felt very loath to leave my dear sister, yet I felt it a duty to go.

"I started, but it being a very rainy spring, the roads were very bad, and I had traveled a whole week and never got into the wagon to ride, and some days we would only go two miles. I did not overtake my husband until I got to Garden Grove, and he was just getting so that he could work a little."

Then came polygamy. William Jr. married a second wife, Parmelia Charlotte Ann Blackman, "with the permission of his first wife, Julia."

Later, the family arrived in Utah, settling in Kaysville in 1853 (which, ironically, is where Samuel Henderson and his family first landed in Utah. But tragedy struck when "two of Julia's three children, all girls, were stricken with scarlet fever and were laid low by the hand of death in the fall of 1853."

William Jr. took a third wife, Sarah Elizabeth Henderson, in 1854. They all lived there about 13 years, and were farmers. In 1860, they divided into separate homes. And four years later, moved to the Bear Lake Valley.

In the fall of 1869, twelve of the family came down with typhoid fever. There were no doctors in the Bear Lake Valley at that time. Two boys died at this time. One was a ten year old son of Julia and the other was a six year old son of Parmelia. Both died within twenty four hours of each other. For three months the house was like a hospital and they did not know how ow whether they would be able to survive the ordeal. Minnie Lindsay Sorenson describes the conditions in the Bear Lake Valley in those first years in her history of William Buckminster Lindsay, Jr.

So, there's yet another history of William Jr. we should track down.

It's also worth noting that Julia P. Lindsay was the first Relief Society president in the area. Indeed, several years ago when Jan and I were vacationing near Bear Lake with our two youngest daughters, we visited the Paris, Idaho, storefront "museum" and our daughter Sarah noticed a large portrait of Julia hanging on the wall. And although the Paris Tabernacle was closed for renovations at the time, cousin Kathleen Wheeler had visited there a few years earlier and took photos of "hair flowers" in the tabernacle that included some of our Great-Grandmother Julia's actual hair. (It's an odd custom, I think, but one that apparently was not uncommon at the time.)

I think you'll find it all pretty interesting reading. I think it would be great to get access to those two books, too. Anybody have any information? Kathleen, is Julia's autobiography the one you said was available at the Daughter of Utah Pioneers museum?

Soren and Mariane, continued

Since my last post, I haven't been able to shake the image of Soren dying in squalor in Council Bluffs. So I dug a little deeper into the cache of Caldwell-McIntosh information provided by our cousins, and have reconfigured/edited/organized/added to the Soren Web page. It's still far from complete, but it scratches a little more of the history regarding Mariane Madsen Pedersen Christensen Guhl (pictured at right) and even the marriage to his first wife: Kerstine or Kristine Harde.

There are many conflicts in the record, as far as I can tell. On the LDS Church's familysearch.org website, for example -- I haven't yet investigated how the records might be different on the much more detailed newfamilysearch site -- there appear to be extra children in the family/families.

There also is no record that I have yet found about a divorce between Mariane -- our direct ancestor -- and Soren. There's even some conflicting information about his "first" family's whereabouts after his involvement with the Morrisites.

Perhaps I've prompted more questions than I've answered, but it's all quite interesting -- at least to me -- and I'm determined to keep looking through the Caldwell-McIntosh trove for answers, as well as other avenues of investigation. Soren made the papers here in Utah, and he may well have been mentioned in papers in Soda Springs, Idaho (if they had one), Deer Lodge, Mont. (if they had one) and perhaps even additional mentions in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, paper besides his obituary.

Anyway, if you have time to look through the updated page, let me know what I've missed, messed up or where I might find more information.

A sad end to a colorful life

As I was browsing around for something to add to the Henderson Reunion website yesterday, I came across the newspaper obituary of my Great-Great-Grandfather Soren Peter Guhl. I've written about him before (click here), noting his ... um, eccentricities. But for some reason I was not quite prepared for the story of his death, told by a newspaper writer in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where Soren had returned after his divorce from our Great-Great-Grandmother Mariane Madsen Christensen Guhl and his association with the Morrisite sect in Utah (and, perhaps, Soda Springs, Idaho).

Soren, of course, was the father of Nancy Lena Guhl, who was the mother of Mary Anne McIntosh, who married David Monroe Henderson.

I've added the text of the obituary to the Soren page on the family website, but will reprint it here. In order to place it into context, though, it would do you well to read the story from start to finish on the Soren page.

Death of Dr. Guhl

Dr. S.P. Guhl, an eclectic physician who had been living in Council Bluffs for some years past, died at his room, in the house at the corner of Broadway and Sixth Street, about 12 o’clock on Thursday night. The deceased, who had been a hard drinker for years, was taken quite sick a few days ago, and repaired to his room where he died, as stated, on Thursday night, friendless and alone.

Dr. Guhl came to Council Bluffs from Utah, where his wife and two daughters still reside. Not living happily with his wife he separated from her several years ago and came to Council Bluffs, residing with his aged mother until her death a year or two ago. During his residence here, the doctor was more or less interested in the labor movement, and in his sober moments was a man of considerable ability and force, but he was the victim of man’s greatest enemy, and during the last few years was bordering on imbecility. He was a man of about 50 years of age at the time of his death.

Among his effects was found a letter from his two daughters, which was dated at Clover Creek, Utah, January 16, 1881. This joint letter was well written and contained many terms of endearment. The photographs of the daughters, Mary and Lena, were enclosed in the letter. They are the pictures of two quite prepossessing young women, of intelligent countenances, and evidently bright girls.

The remains were taken charge of by Undertaker Morgan and were yesterday afternoon buried in the pottersfield by the county.

This may be a bit of a downer for Christmas Eve -- not "may be," it "is most definitely" -- but I wanted to share it anyway. And I will try to track down some more information on Mariane, as well, for a future posting and a page dedicated to her.

Progress update, and more on Caroline Elizabeth Caldwell McIntosh

I've made progress in restoring the information -- text and photos -- to the family website, with only a few things still lacking. So if any of you have been visiting the site and were frustrated at the broken links and lack of photos, it should be much better now, with the rest to be restored this week.

Then it will be on to providing more information that came our way from the Caldwell-McIntosh coalition of family members who have shared a wealth of additional histories and photos. I'm also designing -- a fancy word for it, to be sure -- a new landing page for the website that I hope will be more logical and useful than the one I've been using for the past decade.

Since I hate to post here without offering something new, I've added another short life sketch on the Caroline Elizabeth Caldwell McIntosh page. It varies only slightly from the informative history already there, but adds a few details I hope you'll find interesting. She was a remarkable woman; if you haven't read through the history already, I know you'll be surprised.

Along with that, I've added two photos, also derived from the Caldwell-McIntosh information: One of the apparently still-standing home where she lived in St. John, Utah (near Tooele), and another of her headstone.

I hope you find all this as interesting as I do. And, as always, please offer criticisms and ideas for improvement -- I need all the help I can get.

Back in Business

Well, I have a computer again, which means I'm in the process of rebuilding/updating The Henderson Reunion website. It's a slower process than I anticipated, but I'll get there -- I promise.

The most frustrating part is that I expected by now to be creating new content; instead, I'm only piecing back together what was already in place. Unfortunately, I over-estimated my computer skills and am paying the price. But with cold weather setting in, I should be indoors more and have more time to devote to this blog and the actual website.

Over time, I'd like to create individual pages for all families who would like to be included -- mostly as a way for all of us to become more acquainted with each other. The pages can be as superficial or detailed as you want them. (Let me know if you think this is even a good idea, or maybe it's superfluous given that most of us are into various avenues of social media and perhaps that's enough.)

I have abandoned the tentative effort to move this blog to Wordpress, since twice now I've created content there only to have it mysteriously vanish. I actually prefer that blogging software -- it's what I use at work, writing a daily blog for our executives -- but for some reason at home I've had bad luck with it. So, I guess we'll just stick with Blogger. I see this as an efficient way to keep you updated on the website, and as a way for us to be more interactive than the website can be ... so far, anyway.

Take care, all, and give me your feedback as I get rolling again.

A very special old tintype

So, I've told you about how I've done a little traveling this summer, and unearthed/been handed some gems about our family's history along the way. In an earlier post, I included a photo of Grandpa Dave when he was a young man -- probably sitting around a fire in a Wyoming sheep camp, or some such.

But more exciting, I think, is today's photo -- an old tintype in cousin Marsha's possession. If you click that link, it's a Wikipedia explanation about tintypes, which, its author claims, were popular at fairs and and other gatherings, and offered almost instant photos. My guess is that this photo -- of Hyrum and Julia Ann Lindsay Henderson, Hyrum's mother Elizabeth Harris Henderson, and their children -- was taken shortly before a diphtheria epidemic in July 1880 that claimed six of those children pictured within a month's time.

The baby in Julia's lap must be Laura Louise, who was born Aug. 13, 1879. She looks to be less than 1 year old. (She lived to age 8, dying in Basin, Cassia County, Idaho.) So my assumption is that this photo was taken in early 1880.



Here's a ghastly timeline:

On July 10, 1880, Elizabeth Celestine passes. (Since she's one of four identical twins in the family, I'm guessing which of the two oldest she is.)





On July 18, 1880, Rosilla passes. (Again, since she's one of four identical twins in the family, I'm guessing which of the two younger twins she is.)


On July 21, 1880, Priscilla and Samuel pass.





The next day, July 22, 1880, Hazel Hazeltine passes.






Then, finally, on July 28, 1880, Hannah Abigail passes.





Sort of hard to get your head around, isn't it? Six of their beloved children died in 18 days.

This story has always haunted and fascinated me, especially when I discovered that all six children were buried in Vernal, Utah -- three hours southeast of Salt Lake City (and where my Grandfather Porter, who died in 1974, is buried). Why so odd? Here's where the family was living according to when their children were born:

• 1866-1879 -- Oxford, Franklin County, Idaho.
• 1880 -- Vernal, Uintah County, Utah.
• 1881 -- Liberty, Bear Lake County, Idaho
• 1883 -- Basin, Cassia County, Idaho

Why so much moving? And these weren't short distances. Does anyone out there know?

My curiosity, then, coincided with a business trip to Vernal a couple of weeks ago. I visited the cemetery to photograph my grandfather's gravemarker -- Fotomat ruined the two rolls of film I took at his funeral 36 years ago -- and to visit the six graves of my long-lost great aunts and uncle.

Their graves were on the map, and I verified them with the sexton in the cemetery office. Here's what I found for our six ancestors:















I don't know what I expected, but it was more than this. Two sandstone markers, weathered smooth by 130 years. I wondered if anyone had ever visited them. And I was sad that this was all that marked the existence of those six souls that even our Grandpa Dave didn't know, since he was born three years later.

I haven't even looked into it yet, but I wonder if it would be terribly expensive to have a marker -- maybe just a simple metal one -- made to list their names. Anyone else think this might be a good idea? Either way, let me know.

Great news about our family history

Just a quick note tonight, with more to come -- hopefully this weekend.

First and foremost, I've been accepted into the Caldwell-McIntosh Coalition. It's a group of our relatives -- some distant, some not-so-distant -- who possess a treasure trove of family info. Our distant cousin Dave Hull has sent me two DVDs chock full of photos, histories, genealogy, etc., which I will begin sorting through and posting on this blog and my Henderson Reunion website as soon as I can get a handle on the technical problems that have prevented any recent updates.

Yes, that's right: Two DVDs. It's the motherlode, people.

When I got a look at what was on those discs, the wealth of information, well, it's a good thing I was alone.

Also when I get more time, I will post some information about a couple of cemetery visits made to the graves of Elizabeth Harris Henderson (mother of Hyrum and grandmother of Grandpa Dave), as well as the six siblings of Grandpa Dave's who died -- within the space of about a month -- during an 1880 diphtheria epidemic in Utah's Uintah Basin. Great-great-grandmother Elizabeth was living in Spring City, Utah, when she passed. I think it will probably be fairly easy to figure out which child she was living with when she passed, but I am really curious about what Hyrum and his family were doing in the Vernal, Utah, area when those children died. That's a head-scratcher.

Anyway, be looking forward to this info as I get time and tone the photos for better Web viewing.