My Great Uncle Ronald Tolman passed away recently, and his funeral was in Salt Lake City on February 6th. My Grandma came into town from Dallas and stayed for a while. My mom's cousin Brent Tolman also came into town from Washington state. His brother David lives here in Utah. On Thursday, February 9th, My mom (Kay Tolman Snow) and grandma (Gwen Tolman) and my mom's two cousins Brent and David Tolman, and Addy and I went on a Family History Field Trip. It was a fun day and a wonderful opportunity to learn and see some of my family's history. It started first with a stop at Tooele's new grocery store to have a look at the floors that Steve did. Believe it or not, this is a part of the Tolman family history as well. I'm planning another post for that. Anyway, here's his floor.
The next stop was a Tooele city park to see this monument. I think it is funny because when I first moved to Utah, I used to date a guy and he was from Tooele and I drove out there with him for a tennis tournament he was playing in. I made fun of the name of his town Tooele (pronounced Too-will-uh). That was before I knew that my pioneer ancestors settled that town.
A few years ago, Emily wrote a paper on Cyrus Tolman for a contest sponsored by the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. She won second place for her entry of her paper written about her 5th Great Grandfather. Cyrus Tolman and Alice Bracken (my 4th great grandparents through my mother's father) came to Utah with Brigham Young's 2nd company of pioneers in 1848. They first settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Then in 1849 Brigham Young sent Ezra T. Benson, John Rowbery and Cyrus Tolman to survey Tooele as a possible place for a new settlement. Cyrus and his brothers and their families went with a group of pioneers to settle the Tooele Valley. They opened a saw mill there. Here is the monument erected in their honor.
My grandma, my mom, Addy and me by the Tooele Monument
We also saw Tooele's First Cemetery where we have a distant aunt buried
Her name, Mary Agnes Utley, is listed below
This is where I think the story of my family gets interesting. So Cyrus Tolman settled in Tooele Utah. While we were on our field trip that day, we also drove out to St. John or Rush Valley. My Grandma's side of the family, The Arthurs, settled this area - not far from Tooele. While we were there my grandma told me that my Great Grandma Erma (her step mother who married her father, Glen Arthur, after her mother died when she was young) - Erma's family (who came across the plains with the Martin/Willie Handcart Co.) settled Grantsville, which is also by Tooele and St. John. So my mother's father's family and my mother's mother's father's family and my mother's mother's step mother's family were all pioneers who settled in the same area of Utah. All three of those families later moved to about the same place in Idaho (where both of my mother's parents were born). But to our knowledge, they didn't know each other. I found that hard to believe. So as I was bringing this up while we were on our field trip, my mom's cousin Brent got out his Cyrus Tolman history book and found out that Cyrus, who lived in Tooele, was the first Bishop of the St. John/Grantsville Ward. I think that was how they named the ward, I can't remember exactly. But anyhoo! I thought that was amazing.
These are cabins that are on the property in St. John. The cabin on the left is the cabin where my Great Grandfather, Glen Arthur was born. The cabin on the right is the cabin his family built when they moved to Idaho. A family member moved the cabin from Idaho to Utah so that family members can visit both, simultaneously.
A close up of the cabin my Great Grandfather was born in.
This is where I think the story of my family gets interesting. So Cyrus Tolman settled in Tooele Utah. While we were on our field trip that day, we also drove out to St. John or Rush Valley. My Grandma's side of the family, The Arthurs, settled this area - not far from Tooele. While we were there my grandma told me that my Great Grandma Erma (her step mother who married her father, Glen Arthur, after her mother died when she was young) - Erma's family (who came across the plains with the Martin/Willie Handcart Co.) settled Grantsville, which is also by Tooele and St. John. So my mother's father's family and my mother's mother's father's family and my mother's mother's step mother's family were all pioneers who settled in the same area of Utah. All three of those families later moved to about the same place in Idaho (where both of my mother's parents were born). But to our knowledge, they didn't know each other. I found that hard to believe. So as I was bringing this up while we were on our field trip, my mom's cousin Brent got out his Cyrus Tolman history book and found out that Cyrus, who lived in Tooele, was the first Bishop of the St. John/Grantsville Ward. I think that was how they named the ward, I can't remember exactly. But anyhoo! I thought that was amazing.
I know, that was a complicated story. But I figure if you are related to me, you can decipher it and figure out how interesting you think it is. But I will tell you right now. It's interesting.
OK, so we saw the Tooele stuff which was my mother's father's family, the Tolmans. Well, down the street in the next town over, we saw my mother's mother's family stuff - The Arthurs. My Great Grandfather, Glen Arthur, was born in St. John Utah which is now called Rush Valley. This is the original barn that still stands on property where he was born. His family immigrated from England, then came across the plains with the pioneers. They built this barn after the style of barns where they are from in England.
These are cabins that are on the property in St. John. The cabin on the left is the cabin where my Great Grandfather, Glen Arthur was born. The cabin on the right is the cabin his family built when they moved to Idaho. A family member moved the cabin from Idaho to Utah so that family members can visit both, simultaneously.
A close up of the cabin my Great Grandfather was born in.
A close up of the cabin brought from Idaho.
We also visited the St. John Cemetery.
This is the Arthur Family plot in the St. John Cemetery.
Pretty much all the graves you can see in this picture are Arthur's.
After seeing the cemetery, we had a nice picnic lunch out of the back of my mom's van. It was FREEZING! Then we loaded up and headed back to Tooele, headed for the city museum. It was closed on that day, but David arranged to have someone there to show us around. This is the layout of the early city of Tooele. Cyrus Tolman's lot is on the second row from the bottom, in the second section from the left, and it is the second lot from the left.
A close up of his lot (with his name misspelled)
A close up of his lot (with his name misspelled)
His neighbor down the street. Something else I found interesting.
My Grandma, Gwen, and Addy in the first Tooele jail.
See that bell up there in the tower?
Addy got to ring it. Multiple times.
A pioneer memorial at the Tooele library.
Part of the library monument showing Cyrus and Alice as early Tooele settlers.
Also at the library, this monument and part of the mud wall that the earlier settlers of Tooele built.
I loved it! It was such a fun day for me. I love this type of thing. I love learning my family history. I love old things. I love old pictures. I love all pictures, actually. It's my opinion that I am making my own family history and preserving our family pictures through this very blog. I hope that this post is interesting to my extended family, who for the most part do not live in Utah.
I loved it! It was such a fun day for me. I love this type of thing. I love learning my family history. I love old things. I love old pictures. I love all pictures, actually. It's my opinion that I am making my own family history and preserving our family pictures through this very blog. I hope that this post is interesting to my extended family, who for the most part do not live in Utah. 
2 comments:
So when did that Cabin get moved from Idaho. Patty, Verdene and i went to Rush Valley in 2007 and it was not there. We do however have the contact info for Lois the lady who owns the cabin Grandpa was born in. When we went she was there and we went inside.
Great Job girl, you really know how to put it in story form. So do tell where in Idaho did they take the cabin from and move to Utah
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