More Visits

This has been an eventful week! In addition to finding some good sources to add to "The Tree" we also managed a trip to the Draper Temple and a number of concerts. Our goal is to visit all the temples in the Salt Lake Valley while we are here. Like the other temples we've visited, Draper is beautiful; the chandelier in the sealing room is especially breathtaking. We took a few pictures of the homes surrounding the temple. As you can see from the pictures they are more like castles than homes; they are huge!

Draper Temple about 20 minutes south of Salt Lake

This is one house!!

This is one house too!

Maurio Fischbeck, friend from Arizona

Earlier in the week our friend, Maurio Fischbeck, came to the Library as she was in Salt Lake for a family reunion and to do some Family History Work.

She was in the library for several days and we enjoyed helping her. She alsoattended a Family Tree  class with us where we learned more about the recent changes in "The Tree" and how to include photos. (Maurio is also our daughter's mother-in-law.)

Byde's niece and her husband, Ida and Lynn Ray and their son stopped by the zone to see us on Friday.  We were busily working on our assignments when they were all of a sudden standing there in front of us. We enjoyed a quick visit with them.  They were here from California to visit one of Ida's uncles who is in failing health.

Lynn & Ida Ray family

We attended the concert in the park on Tuesday night which was performed by a group of youth from Israel called "Israel Scouts Friendship Caravan."  They are here in the US on a goodwill mission and were a very talented group of young people.


On Thursday was the monthly "Men and Women of Faith" lecture entitled, "Iosepa: Utah's Pacific Islander Pioneers through an Archaelogist's Eyes," given by Benjamin Pykles. It was interesting especially in view of the fact that we had never heard of it before. A synopsis of his lecture is that from 1889 to 1917, Latter-day Saint converts from Polynesia settled in Iosepa, a remote desert colony in Utah's Skull Valley. Archaelogical investigations at the town site have revealed how these pioneers from the Pacific sought to make the desert "blossom as the rose" by drawing upon their traditional cultures and their newfound faith.

In addition to economic difficulties, there were other problems for the settlement. In 1896 three cases of leprosy were discovered and the victims were isolated in a special house, although fears of the spread of leprosy were unfounded. The harsh environment--burning heat in the summer and extreme cold in the winter--took its toll on the settlers, as witnessed by the large number of graves in the cemetery.

When the Hawaiian Mormons left Iosepa for Hawaii, many of them settled on the church plantation at Laie, Oahu. Iosepa was sold in 1917 to a livestock company. The cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

The Friday night park concert was by a lady's trio who call themselves "Mercy River." Best of all was the Saturday night concert in the Assembly Hall by the Beehive Statesmen Chorus. This particular chorus was organized in 1948 and perform all around the Salt Lake Valley and the State of Utah. A women's quartet from a Sweet Adelines also joined them and performed several numbers. I love barbershop harmony!

Beehive Statesmen Chorus