TO BE A PIONEER...

I have a lot of pioneers in my family.  Even today we are still pioneering in a different way. 
It is the way of things. 
But on July 24th we, here in Utah celebrate those that came across
the plains and settled in Salt Lake City. 

Julia Anne and her husband, Edward Bagley had 12 children. In August of 1844 they heard two missionaries from the LDS church.  The Bagley's were baptized.  They wanted to go west, but a baby was expected and so they didn't go right away, but their young son John wanted to go ahead.  After much worry and thought, they let him go.  There were two families travelling together, but the mother of the other family died, so Julia was the only woman.  The crossing was remembered as "quite fun" by one of the boys, although I don't know if Julia was of the same mind.  Cholera hit the wagon and on June 20, Julia Anne got up in the morning and cooked breakfast for the family.  She came down with Cholera, and by sundown had died.  Now both husbands were without wives.  Both families lost children as well.  Men of less faith would have turned back, but they continued on.  Seventy-five years later Julia Anne and Edward's son, Alma, was 82 years old and he could still describe her death.  He said that wolves howled and the morning doves mourned, and then he cried just as he had when he was a 7 year old boy. 

Julia Anne and Edward's son's prospered in Salt Lake and surrounding areas.   Charles was into lumber and had property where the Cottonwood Mall stood.  William Henry pioneered the town of Charleston, near Heber in Wasatch County.  Joseph Bagley had a farm in Wallsburg, Utah, was hard working and industrious and used his talents to help build the valley of Wasatch County into the rich and beautiful land that it is today. 

Like all the families of that time, the Bagleys had their share of problems, tragedies, and hardships, but they persevered to build a place for themselves in their communities.  The descendants of this family have been doctors, attorneys, bankers, farmers, ranchers, engineers, businessmen, teachers and writers.  Hopefully, their hundreds of grandchildren and great-grandchildren will continue to be useful, active citizens of this great and cherished land.

How grateful I am to come from these people on just one side of my family.

They truly had courage, faith and love of their beliefs to make them

strong. 

My mother's side was every bit as faithful, but their's is a different story.

It is the coming together of such stories that makes us

what we are,

 each unique,

yet a part of one another.

"You do need to have great courage

Faith to conquer fear

And work with might for a cause that's right

To be a pioneer."

~LDS primary songbook