Showing posts with label Flora Groesbeck Morgan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flora Groesbeck Morgan. Show all posts

Monday, September 13, 2010

John Hamilton Morgan Cemetery Plot. September 9, 2010.

Because They Lived!


Some time ago John Hamilton and Helen Melina “Mellie” Groesbeck Morgan descendants became concerned about the children buried in the Morgan plot who did not have gravestones. That dilemma is not new to the John Hamilton Morgan plot at the Salt Lake City, Utah Cemetery.

A little history of the plot follows:

The first need for a gravestone for John Hamilton Morgan is discussed here.
Last year’s call for assistance is posted here.
The location and pictures of John Morgan family gravestones can be found here and here.

Thursday, September 9, 2010 new gravestones were being set in John Morgan’s Plot at the Salt Lake City Cemetery

John and Mellie’s three children, Elizabeth, John, and Flora Groesbeck.


John and Mellie’s daughter Ruth.



The new stones were set according to the Sexton’s directions. The stone for the three children is in the upper left, near the NE corner of the Morgan plot. The stone for daughter Ruth, with her husband, Sol Burke Kunkel, is near the center of the west plot line in front. The two stones to the right of the large John Morgan marker are for John and Mellie, and went in following Mellie’s death in 1930. The two stones in front of the large John Morgan marker are (left) for daughter Eliza Ann, with her husband, James Frank Smith. The stone to the right of the Smiths is for Marie Polly Bovee Groesbeck (Mellie’s grandmother). The stone east of the Kunkels, near the north plot line, is for Jennie Whipple, who was presumably buried here under Mellie’s direction.

John Hamilton and Mellie Morgan’s descendants, through children Nicholas Groesbeck Morgan and Bessie Morgan Rex, contributed to these stones. A special thank you to Bessie’s youngest daughter, Flora.

“The place where a man is buried is sacred to me” Joseph Smith From the bronze monument of a grieving family in the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

John Hamilton and Helen Melvina Groesbeck Morgan Salt Lake City Cemetary Family Plot.

At last year’s P. H. Rex family reunion, John and Helen Melvina Morgan’s descendant Flora Rex Lamborn asked if I’d found their three young children’s grave sites. Three of their eleven children died as children. I didn’t know then, but I’ve since discovered they are all buried in the plot John and Helen Melvina are buried in. Lots 15 and 16 North Rod Block 10.

This picture from the John Morgan photograph collection at the Marriott Library shows some stones beyond the gravestone that could have named the children. They’re all gone now.

It appears that a woman is sitting in the carriage just beyond the monument. Could it be Helen Melvina? Could it be one of his other wives? Is it someone who is with the photographer taking this picture?

The Ancestor Files posted a letter inviting contributions to purchase a suitable gravestone for the John Hamilton Morgan grave site. The letter was published in the Deseret News (February 18, 1899 and November 25, 1899) and the Southern Star (March 4, 1899). You can read it by searching for “manifesting” after clicking here. I don’t know when the Morgan gravestone was actually placed at the grave site.



I copied the following burial dates for the family members buried there from the cemetery sexton’s log.

Marie Polly Bovee Groesbeck 29 Apr 1873
Elizabeth Morgan 1 Aug 1874
John Morgan 4 Dec 1881
Flora Groesbeck Morgan 1 Apr 1885
John H. Morgan 19 Aug 1894
James F. Smith 27 Jun 1915
Helen M. Morgan 20 June1930
Burk Kunkel 2 Jun 1935
Ruth Morgan Kunkel 27 May 1949
Eliza aka Lila Ann Morgan Smith 31 Jan 1952

Click on the picture to enlarge. You can see the names on the front markers. The markers mid-right are for John and Helen M. Morgan. They appear to be of the same granite and age. Perhaps they were placed together after Helen Melvina’s passing in 1930.

Are their John and Helen Melvina descendants interested in a project to place a stone at this site naming their children buried here? Would any John Morgan descendants be interested in a project to list his wives together? On the existing monument or a separate stone? A walk through this pioneer section of the cemetery illustrates that information is missing here.