1870 Smallpox Epidemic in Ogden, Utah

The Death of Lurania Eggleston

Lurania Powers Burgess Eggleston

I had known from family records that Lurania Powers Burgess Eggleston, the wife of Samuel Eggleston and my great great grandmother, had died July 6, 1870. This date is on her headstone in the Ogden City Cemetery. The circumstances of her death took some time for me to unravel and understand.

A notice in The Ogden Semi-Weekly Junction of Wednesday Morning July 6, 1870, stated:

“Died. In this city, of scarlet fever, at 3 o’clock this morning, LURANIA P., wife of Mr. SAMUEL EGGLESTON, aged 61 years and 11 months. The funeral will take place a 5 o’clock this evening, when the friends of the deceased are invited to attend. Mrs. Eggleston was born in Cayuga County, New York. She was baptized in June 1841, moved to Nauvoo in 1842. In 1847, she went with her family to Winter Quarters and in 1862 she came to Utah.”


The Ogden Semi-Weekly Junction 6 July 1870

This seemed pretty straight forward, that Lurania had gotten sick and passed away. It was not unusual at the time to bury someone quickly after their death. This newspaper was a semi-weekly paper, being published on Wednesdays and Saturdays. At that time, Lurania’s sons Reuben and Orson would have been working for the paper. I assume they rushed word soon after her death and had the notice written shortly before the paper was printed that day. Perhaps they actually went in and typeset it themselves.

At some point, I visited the Ogden City Cemetery and stopped in the office to see the Sexton Records. The sexton record indicated the cause of Lurania’s death as smallpox. This was different from the “scarlet fever” stated in the paper. Of course, the family may have been unsure of exactly what disease she had and reported what they thought. The other option might have been that they and/or doctors realized it was smallpox but intentionally did not want to alarm the public.

More Deaths in the Family

I remember learning that Orson had purchased cemetery plots at that time. Also listed in the sexton records were the death of two of Reuben’s children during that same summer. Four year old Cora Gladys died July 26 and seven year old May Julia on August 6, 1870. The cause of death was given as smallpox for one and the other was blank on the record.

I found a biography of Emeline Eggleston, wife of Reuben, written by Disey Eggleston Richardson in the DUP files. This mentioned that two of Reuben and Emeline’s children, Cora Gladys and May Julia were stricken with black small pox in 1870. It added that they were quarantined at Farr’s grove, as were others who were exposed. These two girls could have been easily infected by their grandmother.

In a Biography of William Nicol Fife, I found information about the Smallpox epidemic in 1870. According to his account the disease was brought into Ogden by an Indian Squaw in May 1870. He indicated that “the first person taken down with it, a Mrs. Eggleston died.” Later a few others became sick and were sent to Brick Creek [Burch Creek].

Mr. Fife indicated that he personally built a lumber room for the afflicted and furnished them with food and necessities. He also “followed up the disease with disinfectants” and personally placed yellow flags in front of every affected house. By July, forty cases were quarantined at Farr’s Grove. He indicated that the Mayor assisted him with this and later became sick himself. His case was mild, yet he was also moved to the grove. By the end of July there were 89 cases.

Quarantine Sites

There were two quarantine sites set up during 1870, both of which have connections to the Eggleston Family. Farr’s Grove was land owned by the Farr family near the mouth of Ogden Canyon and not far from where I grew up. Samuel and Lurania’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth, had married Enoch Farr, a son of Lorin Farr. This was his family’s land. I remember the orchards that were still there during my childhood. Created on this land was Lorin Farr Park, which is very familiar to me and everyone around. The swimming pool there was even made famous through the movie “The Sandlot.”

The other quarantine site was Burch Creek, which is actually the neighborhood where I have lived for the past 40 years. Before our marriage, my husband lived in the basement of his Aunt and Uncle’s home which has Burch Creek running through their back yard. Our home is a couple of blocks away. This area was originally settled by John Stephens, the father of Constance Stephens who was Orson Eggleston’s first wife.

Care of the Sick

Though Mr. Fife mentioned building a lumber room at Farr’s Grove, this quarantine may have consisted mostly of tents being set up with some medical people there to care for the sick. The locations suggest that the main idea was to get these people away from the general population and public places where people might gather. At that time, these places were outside of “town.” Mr. Fife stated:


“[I] got good kind nurses for the sick, and by strict regulations in the camp and the city the contagion was prevented from spreading any further. About half the people in camp I furnished with supplies from Z.C.M.I. at the expense of the city. A great portion of the time I was on the move day and night, and though handling most of the sick people in taking them to the grove, I was not attacked by the disease.”

Autobiography of Wiliam Nicole Fife cited in Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol 4, p. 163, Utah , Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah 1998 (Geo. Q. Cannon & Sons, 1904)

I learned by scanning through microfilm of the 1870 Ogden Junction, that this epidemic afflicted Ogden and the surrounding area for much of the year. Having the quarantine site on their land was not good for the Stephen’s family, having afflicted sixteen of them, according to Mr. Fife. John Stephens died Dec 3, 1870 at his residence near Burch Creek of smallpox.


The Ogden Semi-Weekly Junction,
3 December 1870

End of the Smallpox Epidemic?

An article in The Ogden Semi-Weekly Junction of December 14, 1870 stated:

Burch Creek–

The small pox at Burch Creek has, up to date, attacked sixteen persons, all members of the Stephens family. “Doctor” Ryle who has them in charge, pronounces them all, with the exception of Father Stephens whose death was announced last wee, in a state of convalescence, and expects that in a few days they will have entirely recovered.


The Ogden Semi-Weekly Junction, 14 December 1870

These accounts have some conflicts about the timing of this epidemic. Mr. Fife indicated the beginning of this epidemic as May, suggesting that Mrs. Eggleston would have died earlier than her July 6 death date. People would have been people quarantined by the time of her death, according to Fife’s account, so it would seem they would have known what Lurania died of, and she should have been quarantined as well.

Mr. Fife indicated that “ Only seven of the 89 cases were fatal and the epidemic was over by the end of October,” which doesn’t fit with the newspaper accounts that John Stephens died in December and his family members were still recovering. Of course, these accounts are based on the recollections of individuals.

If the numbers reported are correct – 89 people became sick, 16 of those were members of the Stephens family; and 7 died, including Lurania, Cora Gladys, May Julia and John Stephens. With four of the seven deaths being connected to the family, I wonder how many other family members got sick but recovered.

2001 An Eggleston Genealogy Odyssey Part 5 – Marcellus, New York

Our 2001 Eggleston Genealogy Odyssey continued in Marcellus, New York, which turned out to be a goldmine. Not only were we able to walk around the area where Samuel and Rebecca Eggleston migrated in the early 1800’s, but we found precious Church records mentioning many family members.

After leaving the Kellogsville Cemetery for the second time the morning of Friday August 10th, we drove back up and around Skaneateles Lake. On the east side of the lake are very large homes along the lakefront. Then we turned and went up the hill further east to find farms.

The Rosehill/Thornhill/Marcellus Baptist Church

Rosehill Baptist Church

We drove past some cornfields and found the Thornhill Church (It is now called Rosehill Baptist Church-that is what is on the sign) on the corner. It is an old white frame building with a tower and steeple in front. I learned from histories that it was built in 1849, with the tower added later. The windows are large and rectangular with a row of different colored stained glass panes around the large rectangles.

Inside the church smelled old and musty. The door was open but we found no one inside. The chapel is obviously the original part of the building but there are additions. These included a kitchen, an area where they had copy machines and a very recent addition of a large recreation hall. (The Pastor seemed quite proud of this new addition.)

I had contacted Pastor Olcott before our trip. He told us that there were early records of the church and we were welcome to visit and look at them. We saw a phone in the front entry of the church and I was going to call the Pastor, but it rang and was picked up at their home next door.

Continue reading

2001 An Eggleston Genealogy Odyssey Part 4 – Sempronius, New York

A continuation of the 2001 Eggleston Genealogy trip with my Father to places where our ancestors had lived. Part 4 is our visit to Sempronius, New York.

Cayuga County

After our fruitless Cemetery searching in Springwater, New York, we visited some L.D.S. Church History sites in Western New York. Then we drove toward Cayuga County. As we came into the village of Skaneateles we saw the Lake View Cemetery right there by the lake. The village of Skaneateles is quite quaint with nice homes, especially those along the lake. There are boat docks and it appears to be quite a recreational or resort area. We drove down the west side of the lake, which is in Cayuga County. The lake is not very wide, but is long and we drove quite a while south. It was now cloudy and threatening rain, but was also cooling off.

New Hope

Map of Niles. The area marked New Hope is near where Thomas Marsh lived. Toward the bottom is “Kellogsville” which is just north of the Burgess land and the Kellogsville Cemetery, which are on the Sempronius map below.

I had some maps, so we went directly to the New Hope Cemetery. We looked around and saw lots of Cadys, but unfortunately we don’t know which Cadys are related to Selinda Olive Cady Burgess.

Continue reading

2001 An Eggleston Genealogy Odyssey – Part 3 Western New York

A continuation of the account of my journey with my Dad in 2001 when we visited sites significant to Eggleston genealogy. This Part 3 was in the Western part of New York August 8-9, 2001.

After leaving Nauvoo, Illinois we spent some time in Kirtland, Ohio. The Egglestons did not live there, but the Cheneys did. Dad and I did not do anything specifically related to Eggleston genealogy, so for the purposes of the blog, I will move on to Western New York.

We left Kirtland about 3:30 in the afternoon on August 8th. In Erie, Pennsylvania there was an accident, then road construction slowed us. We got off the freeway to get gas then seeing how backed up it was decided to try an alternate route. Later we managed to get back to the freeway and it was a little better. We split from the expressway as it entered New York. Then we took the southern route through Chautuaqua county.

Drive Through Chautauqua County

I was excited to see this area. I had done a good deal of research into family members who went to Chautuaqua County, New York. We didn’t stop because we were detoured around construction, so we really didn’t know where to go. We just drove around Chuatuaqua Lake which is pretty. I tried to take a picture from the moving vehicle, but it didn’t really capture it.

Chautauqua Lake

The country here was rolling hills and it appeared to be good farming land. We then drove on the Southern route through the Allegheny mountains. I hadn’t realized that New York had such mountains.

It was getting late and I was looking for a campground as we drove. We found the Sun Valley Campground near Arkport, New York. It was getting dark as we pulled in and we couldn’t find anyone in the office, so we just found a spot, then registered later. There weren’t restaurants around, so we zapped some microwave dinners. We planned to visit Springwater in the morning.

Continue reading

Cemetery Tour – South Park Cemetery, Jackson, Wyoming

A virtual Cemetery Tour of the South Park Cemetery, the resting place of many of our Wilson and Cheney ancestors.

My Introduction to this Cemetery

My first visit to the South Park Cemetery in Jackson, Wyoming was in August 2002. Our family had enjoyed vacationing in Jackson Hole for years before I learned enough of our family history to search out graves of our ancestors. For this particular trip, my father joined us. Because he is an early riser and my husband and children are not, nor were they interested in being drug through a cemetery at any hour, Dad and I went alone early one morning.

South Park Cemetery, Jackson, Wyoming

The cemetery sits on a hill, south of the town of Jackson, in the area known as South Park where Sylvester Wilson settled in 1889. There are spectacular views from this point. The cemetery itself is not large and most of it was rather overgrown. A fence enclosed many of the Wilson family graves.

Continue reading

2001 An Eggleston Genealogy Odyssey – Part 1 to Iowa

I learned a great deal about our family history during a 2001 road trip tracing our family’s migration route in reverse – An Eggleston Genealogy Odyssey.

The Eggleston Genealogy Odyssey Begins

Eggleston Genealogy transportation

This is the only photo I took of the motorhome on the trip. Skaneateles Lake is in the background

In August 2001, I invited myself on a journey with my Dad. Mom passed away in November 2000. She and Dad had traveled around much of the country in their motorhome. That summer, Dad wanted to drive to New Hampshire to visit my sister. It was a trip he had made several times with Mom, but I was concerned about him traveling that far by himself. (He later made many solitary trips – just not that far) I also was up for a visit with my sister. We learned that my other sister would be staying with them for a while in between moves, so it was a 2 for 1. After doing a good decade of genealogy research, I saw an opportunity to see some of the places our ancestors had lived. I eagerly offered to accompany Dad so he wouldn’t be lonely on this trip. Thus began a journey to a family reunion which traced our family’s migration route across the country – in reverse. A journey back to our beginnings, almost.

Continue reading

The Very Brief Life of Samuel Eggleston IV

January 16th marks the anniversary of the birth of Samuel Eggleston, son of Samuel and Lurania Powers Burgess Eggleston. His birth, life and death occurred during a very dark time and place in the lives of his family and the larger community of Latter-day Saints. Early in 1846, the Saints were forced to leave their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Eggleston family were not among the first to leave. They stayed until sometime in the spring of 1846 according to Samuel’s account. They may have stayed longer than others for financial reasons, or to help with the completion of the Temple which was dedicated May 1, 1846.

The Egglestons traveled to Winter Quarters in Nebraska, where the Saints had gathered to prepare to go further west. Small cabins were built where they spent a miserable winter. There was inadequate food for the many refugees camped there. There was also much disease which was easily spread. Many people died during that year, especially the very young and very old.

Birth of baby Samuel to Lurania and Samuel Eggleston

Lurania Powers Burgess Eggleston

Lurania Powers Burgess Eggleston

Lurania Powers Burgess Eggleston, who was 38 years old at that time, gave birth to a son on the bleak winter day of January 16th. Patty Sessions was a prominent midwife during that time. Fortunately for us, she kept records in her diary and an account book. Her notation under the date of 16 January was “Put sister Eggleston to bed with a son Samuel E.” “Putting to bed” was her way of noting the confinement and delivery of a baby. Patty’s account book showed that Samuel Eggleston paid $2.00 for her services January 16.

The birth of this child must have brought great joy to the family at a time of great suffering. He was given the name of his father – Samuel. He may have also been named after Samuel H. Smith who along with Orson Hyde had introduced the family to the Restored Gospel. (They had named their last born son Orson Hyde Eggleston)

Continue reading

Cemetery Tour – Kinne Cemetery and the Open Vault

Ron Eggleston made a trip this summer to upstate New York where his branch of the Eggleston family lived, died and many are buried. He explored the Kinne Cemetery where he found family headstones.

Grave of Asa Eggleston (ll) in Old Kinne Cemetery, Antwerp NY

Grave of Asa Eggleston (ll) in Old Kinne Cemetery, Antwerp NY

 

Grave marker for John Mitchell Eggleston and his two wives, Old Kinne Cemetery, Antwerp

Grave marker for John Mitchell Eggleston and his two wives, Old Kinne Cemetery, Antwerp

Monument of Joel and Sophia Eggleston and three of their children, Old Kinne Cemetery

Monument of Joel and Sophia Eggleston and three of their children, Old Kinne Cemetery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ron found an open vault there in the cemetery, which stirred his curiosity. His inquiry led to a family story, which had inspired some local folklore and creepy activities. Details of this story were found in a newspaper article in the Commercial Advertiser of Canton, N.Y. dated Tuesday, July 11, 1916. This article was titled: “Mystery of Open Vault: Gruesome Night in Northern New York Cemetery”

Continue reading

Cemetery Tour – Eden Meadow View Cemetery

My childhood memories of Memorial Day include traditional visits to “the valley” – Ogden Valley. I remember some visits with Grandpa and Grandma Eggleston on their farm, then after Grandpa passed away we visited Grandma Stella. We would always visit this little Cemetery to put flowers on graves even when there were no living grandparents to visit.

IMG_1463 Eden Cem 2

View of Cemetery facing what was Orson H. Eggleston’s farm 2015

The Meadow View Cemetery in Eden, Utah was established on land that was owned by Orson Hyde Eggleston. Orson moved from Ogden to Eden in the fall of 1877, purchasing the home and farm of Richard Ballantyne.  In 1882 a committee was formed to pursue the creation of a cemetery, apparently a piece of Orson’s land was offered. There were some issues involved with this as was reported in the Eden Ward records: “Bishop John Farrell stated that he wished to say something in regards to the burying ground for our dead, as the people were not satisfied with it at present. He wished Brother Eggleston to make a statement in regard to the land which had been purchased for that purpose located in his field. He (brother Eggleston) stated that he let the people have the land with the understanding that they pay him $25.00 for the same, which as yet he had never been paid. It was decided that the teachers, in visiting the people, inquire of them if they were willing to buy the land from brother Eggleston and have it fenced in and deed to the people, that they may be sure of a place to bury their dead, and report at the next priesthood meeting what the people are willing to do in regards to this matter.” November 30, 1882 “the committee appointed to see to the grave yard reported their success in purchasing the land for the same and what it would cost to fence it in by itself.”(Melba and Ren Colvin, History of the Eden Ward, Ogden Stake Utah 1877-1977, 1977) Continue reading

Cemetery Tours – Ogden City Cemetery

I have had the opportunity to visit the graves of many of our ancestors. I am one of those crazy people who drags family member – especially my children – to cemeteries. I hunt for graves in all kinds of weather, take lots of pictures and even make headstone rubbings. So for those who haven’t had such opportunities here is a virtual cemetery tour.

EGGLESTONS IN THE OGDEN CITY CEMETERY

The Ogden City Cemetery is located on 20th Street west of Monroe Ave. in Ogden, Utah. It is up on the hill above and south of the Ogden River. Orson Hyde Eggleston bought a family plot there. It is located just off 3rd Ave. – B-2-30 – Slightly north of halfway between Center St. and South Street. Orson’s mother Lurania Powers Burgess Eggleston was the first to be buried in this plot. Samuel Eggleston, her husband, was later buried next to her. The markers were probably upright initially, but have since been placed flat in the ground.

Lurania grave

In Memory of Lurania P. Eggleston wife of Samuel Eggleston Born Aug 15, 1808 Died July 6th 1870

Samuel E grave

Headstone for Samuel Eggleston Born Mar 30th 1804 Died May 27th 1884

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading