Month: September 2019

Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park

by Justin Durand

I don’t remember what year it was, but some time when I lived in Salt Lake City (1977-1987), the city was doing some work at Pioneer Park. I’ve done some searches. From what I find, it seems it must have been 1986. Construction crews were digging a foundation for a new apartment building near Pioneer Park, when they found a human skeleton. And that discovery led to finding Salt Lake’s first cemetery, near the old fort.

I’d swear it was way before 1986, but I can’t find any online info to support me. The way I remember it, the city was doing some work at Pioneer Park itself. They found the graves or maybe they didn’t find the graves but everyone thought they might have, then for weeks afterward there was a general muttering around the city that they could be releasing old pathogens, and there were scattered claims that this person or that had contracted some unusual fever that must certainly have come from opening old graves.

Messing with the old cemetery was going to kill us all.

Anyway. However it happened, the city found 32 graves near Pioneer Park, which means near the old fort. The bodies were re-buried at This is the Place Monument in 1987.

At the start of the work at Pioneer Park I thought my ancestor Mary Adeline (Beman) Noble would be among the bodies interred there. She was the adopted mother of Ann (Quarmby) Luce. But no. Mary died in 1851, and was buried at City Cemetery.

But I didn’t know then — and wish I had — is my ancestor Malatiah Luce who died in 1849 was probably among the bodies. If there was anything left of him to move, he is probably among the bodies at the This is the Place Monument.

Edited Oct. 1, 2019 to add an additional source.

More Information

Scottish Witch Map

Scottish Witch Map

by Justin Durand

Here’s something to fire the imagination of genealogists in Britain and its diaspora. A map of some 3000 witches in 16th and 17th centuries Scotland. Who doesn’t have (or wish for) a Scottish witch in the family tree?

“It builds on the university’s breakthrough work on the Scottish Witchcraft Survey which brought to life the persecution of women during the period, with many burned at the stake or drowned.“

“There is a very strong feeling out there that not enough has been done to inform people about the women who were accused of being witches in Scotland There is still this Halloween concept surrounding them.“

Moniac Problems

Moniac Problems

by Justin Durand

I just finished this wonderful book, Independence Lost. Like the rest of America, I’m used to reading and hearing about the American Revolution in terms of people in New England and Virginia. Events elsewhere are just part of an unimportant periphery. I read somewhere that we forget only 13 of the 22 British colonies in America rebelled. Cool fact, but it doesn’t add much.

The summary of this book at Goodreads says, “In the Gulf of Mexico, Spanish forces clashed with Britain’s strained army to carve up the Gulf Coast, as both sides competed for allegiances with the powerful Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek nations who inhabited the region. Meanwhile, African American slaves had little control over their own lives, but some individuals found opportunities to expand their freedoms during the war.“

Cool stuff.

One of the recurring characters in the drama was Alexander McGillivray (1750-1793), a Creek leader. One of McGillivray’s wives was Elise Moniac, daughter of the Jacob Moniac. Here, I perked up. Moniac, that’s a familiar name.

Years ago, when I was looking for the ancestry of Elizabeth Lomax (1813/14-1895), I surveyed Lomax families throughout the South looking for her parents.

In those days before I had good dates for Elizabeth, one likely possibility seemed to be Sydney Lomax (1813-1877) and his wife Matilda Moniac (1830-1915). Matilda was a Creek, and said to be a descendant of that same Moniac family. It seemed like a good lead. Elizabeth married Rufus Roberson in 1841 in Platte County, Missouri. Probably I would find her parents in northwestern Missouri. One of my correspondents said Sydney Lomax was a stage driver who lived briefly in Clay County, Missouri, apparently some time between 1836 and 1851. I never did find out her source for that information.

It didn’t work out. Eventually I settled on Sydney Lomax’s cousin Asahel Lomax as the probable father of Elizabeth, and that meant there would be no Moniac connection.

One thing I learned in my brief foray into the Moniacs is how horribly tortured the various Moniac genealogies are. The Jacob who was father of Elise was not the same person as William, although they are almost universally conflated. Then too, dates for the early generations are all over the board.

I thought I might contribute some notes on Geni.com that would help other researchers. I opened my old contributions. Jacob is now disconnected, his wife is married to William, and the whole area is mangled beyond recognition. I don’t have the patience for this. I did some light merging and some gentle pruning, then quietly closed the window and walked away. I’ll wait for someone who wants to do serious work.

Some Leads

Nothing special here. These are just some pages I had open when I decided to stop.

More Information

Rev. Apr. 10, 2021 to remove broken links.

Fremont Village

Fremont Village

by Justin Durand

They found this ancient Fremont village long after I left Salt Lake, but it’s not too far from one of the places I lived. The Fremont people were related to the Cliff Dwellers (Anasazi, Ancestral Pueblo, whatever we’re calling them now), further south. And like the Cliff Dwellers, the Fremont culture seems to have collapsed about 1300 C.E.

I’ve been fascinated since I was a kid. I’ve known about the Cliff Dwellers as long as I can remember. Probably because I started grade school in Brigham City, Utah and had friends whose families were at the Intermountain Indian School there. Very sad now, but back then we kids loved the mix of Anglo and Indian cultures.

I think the first I heard about the Fremont culture was my 8th grade Colorado history teacher, Mr. Meador. I think anyone who ever had him as a teacher probably ranks him among the best and most memorable. When I had him he was a student teacher for Mr. Legrani.

I wanted to do my “term paper” on the Fremont. If I remember correctly it had to be 3 pages, or maybe it was 5 pages. Handwritten, on notebook paper. This was 8th grade, remember. Anyway, there wasn’t enough source material. I don’t think anyone knew as much about the Fremont people as we do now, and besides, it seems like there has always been much more interest in the Utes, who were there when the Anglos arrived. I settled for doing my paper on the Meeker Massacre. This was 1969. Like every other boy in my class I was drawn to Nathan Meeker because the Utes drove a metal stake through his mouth. He was a preacher. They thought he talked too much. Best story ever.

There is a Fremont site at Glade Park, but I didn’t figure out where it is until many years later. Glade Park is a little community at the Colorado National Monument behind the Redlands, where we lived. And it was only recently that I discovered from Navajo historian Wally Brown that the ancestors of the Navajo lived as far north as the Book Cliffs, an area that would include what is now Glade Park. It seems likely to me there wasn’t as much difference between the Fremont and Ancestral Pueblo cultures, as it seems when looking just at their material culture.

Many years later, when I lived in Salt Lake City, I looked some more for information on the Fremont culture, and also came up empty. Same problems. Not much is known and what little there is gets lost among the volumes of stuff written about the Utes.

Then in 1999 they discovered a Fremont burial in Salt Lake City, at South Temple and 300 West:

“Archaeological sites are not uncommon in Utah, but unearthing this human burial in downtown Salt Lake was a significant discovery. Further excavation by a research team from Brigham Young University uncovered several ancient pit houses, storage pits, fire hearths, and thousands of artifacts dating to 1000 years ago. Pottery, bone needles, arrow points and corn grinding tools provide clues about the Fremont people who lived at this spot. Animal bones found at the site, such as deer, rabbit, bison, and fish, provide information about the foods they ate and the surrounding environment. For example, the fish bones belonged to a minnow that probably came from what is now called City Creek, which flowed adjacent to this prehistoric village.” Archaeology Underfoot (2012).

I lived at 214 West North Temple until about March or April 1978. So close. I wish I had still been there in 1999, or at least still in Salt Lake. I would have enjoyed the feeling of connecting with history by living so close to a known site. (All of us live close to some historic site or another, whether we know it or not.)

Edited Sept. 23, 2019 to clarify the information from Wally Brown.

More Information

Race vs Ethnicity

Race vs Ethnicity

by Justin Durand

Masaman asks, “What’s the difference between the terms race, ethnicity, culture, ancestry, heritage, nationality and other terms that seem like they all should more or less be discussing the same thing?”

What’s the Difference between Race and Ethnicity?

I’ve written about this before, including:

I come back to this subject over and over because it’s often a stumbling block for genealogists. Someone who doesn’t understand the differences will end up making mistakes when they interpret DNA results, and — very often — become confused about whether their own identity.

I’m going to keep posting and posting and posting.