cutler's camp at the big grove on silver creek - Brigham Young ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

en&, Hiram and Rachel (Kelsey) Murdock, lived when <strong>the</strong>y returned <strong>the</strong>re from Winter Quarters in 1848 imme- di<strong>at</strong>ely after Brigham Young performed <strong>the</strong>ir marriage. I wonder if this is where <strong>the</strong> teenage Ann Janette Burdick, my gre<strong>at</strong>-gmt-grandmo<strong>the</strong>r, fell in love with her life- long husbaml (<strong>the</strong> deer hunter mentioned above) and wh<strong>at</strong> it must have felt like for my people to w<strong>at</strong>ch <strong>the</strong>ir kinfolk depart this place for <strong>the</strong> West while my ancestors remained in Iowa Perhaps my ancestors suspected, but <strong>the</strong>y certainly did not kxmw <strong>the</strong>y would never see <strong>the</strong>ir kinfolk in this life again Francis Lewis Whiting andAnn Janette Burdick Whiting courtesy of Danny L. Jorgensen A few o<strong>the</strong>r people also care about this obscure and little-known Mormon site in southwestern Iowa for similar reasom.6 Some of <strong>the</strong>m are descendants of those who made it to Utah7 Clare Christensen, for instance, devoted <strong>the</strong> last years of his life to lovingly preserving <strong>the</strong> story of <strong>the</strong>se Mormon families.* For <strong>the</strong>m, like me, this place is pe~sanal and almost sacred. It is a m<strong>at</strong>ter of situ<strong>at</strong>ing and defining our very selves in cultural time and space. O<strong>the</strong>r people have been <strong>at</strong>tracted to <strong>the</strong> history of Cutler's Camp <strong>at</strong> Silver Creek as part of <strong>the</strong> L<strong>at</strong>ter-day Saints' story or th<strong>at</strong> of Iowa and <strong>the</strong> region9 For <strong>the</strong>m, this is not a m<strong>at</strong>ter of kinship identity. R<strong>at</strong>her, <strong>the</strong> story of this place and its people is a source of self- definition aml social identific<strong>at</strong>ion in terms of religious ethnicity and human geography.10 The Silver Creek story is not a <strong>big</strong> part of American, Midwestern, frontier, or Iowa history; nor is <strong>the</strong> story a major facet of Mormon history, th: Saints' epic migra- tion to <strong>the</strong> West, <strong>the</strong> Mormon trek across Iowa, or even L<strong>at</strong>ter-day Saint settlements along <strong>the</strong> Missouri in <strong>the</strong> l<strong>at</strong>e 1840s.11 Yet it is a part, no m<strong>at</strong>ter how small, of all <strong>the</strong>se concerns. I do not claim th<strong>at</strong> this g<strong>at</strong>hering on Silver Creek is typical or represent<strong>at</strong>ive of <strong>the</strong>se Mormon en<strong>camp</strong>ments. Certain fe<strong>at</strong>ures of <strong>the</strong> story are r<strong>at</strong>her emrdmuy, while o<strong>the</strong>r aspects of it provide a glimpse of more ordinary, mundane, everyday life affairs. It is, however, a story of a certain place and people. Their story-<strong>the</strong> meaning of <strong>the</strong>ir existence and wh<strong>at</strong>ever sig- nificance it may have for Mormon history-is enhanced
Map showing loc<strong>at</strong>ion of Silver Creek, Iowa The map is an adapt<strong>at</strong>ion of one found in <strong>the</strong> book Before andAfter Mt. Pis~ah: Cox Hulet, Losee. Morlev. Tuttle. Winpet. Whitinp and Rel<strong>at</strong>ed Families. It is used here with permission of <strong>the</strong> authoc Clm B. Christensen
Page 1: CUTLER'S CAMP AT THE BIG GROVE ON S
Page 5 and 6: Fmderick Walter Cox courtesy of Dan
Page 7 and 8: Wortman, "A mill was built to utili
Page 9 and 10: Related Families (
Page 11 and 12: point near the con
Page 13: 49. Fletcher and Fletcher, AIpheus

cutler's camp at the big grove on silver creek - Brigham Young ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?