History Commons^™

Pardon For Murder: Jared Dalton, The "Assassin Of Old Mother Parker", Rebecca A. Wiederhold

Faculty Publications

View the video presentation here: https://youtu.be/soJlvXhvvDA?t=3032

On her fateful 63rd birthday in April 1880, Mary Parker was lured to the outskirts of the small southern Utah town of Rockville, where she falsely expected to reunite with a disgraced son. There, she was “outraged” and murdered, her throat slit and her body left under a pile of rocks. Mary Parker’s tragic story was once a sensational news item that shocked the rural community and was indignantly reported and followed throughout the state. Her presumed murderer was swiftly identified as Jared Dalton, the twenty-two-year-old son of a Latter-day Saint polygamist and his …

Captain Medorem Crawford’S 1862 Military Escort Emigration Report, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

An 1862 report of Capt. Medorem Crawford, U.S. Army, Assistant Quartermaster. An account of a military-accompanied emigrant road expedition from Omaha, Nebraska Territory to Portland, Oregon. Includes insights into Civil War conditions on the Overland Trail.

“The Frontier Thesis In Transnational Migration: The U.S. West In The Making Of Italy Abroad,” In Immigrants In The Far West: Historical Identities And Experiences, Edited By Jessie L. Embry And Brian Q. Cannon (Salt Lake City: University Of Utah Press, 2014), 363-381., Mark I. Choate

Faculty Publications

In 1879, a young postal worker in the small town of Lendinara, Italy, decided to emigrate. Adolfo Rossi, twenty-two years old, was discouraged with his prospects in his small town near Venice. Adolfo lived at home with his mother in the heavily populated Polesine valley. Although he had a steady job, he wanted to become a journalist. In Adolfo’s words, while taking a walk along the Adige river one night, a strange idea struck my mind like a bolt of lightning. I reflected only a moment and committed myself to an audacious resolution. “No, I will not stay vegetating here,” …

"The Brave Men, Living And Dead, Who Struggled Here": Utah Veterans And The Gettysburg Reunion Of 1913, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D., Ken Nelson

Faculty Publications

Gettysburg was the defining battle of the American Civil War as Union and CSA soldiers clashed in Pennsylvania. This Utah Historical Quarterly article from Summer 2013 explains how Union and Confederate veterans of the Civil War, who were living in Utah, traveled to and participated in the 1913 50th Anniversary Reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg (which took place July 1-3, 1863). The article also includes lists of the Utah veterans who attended and additionally notes which veterans participated in the battle of Gettysburg.

On Searching For Iosepa, Lee Bangerter

Library Research Grants

No abstract provided.

The Lot Smith Company: Utah Goes To War, Joseph Stuart, Kenneth Alford

Library Research Grants

The authors take a close look at the cavalry unit that was called to military service on April 28, 1862, at President Lincoln’s request. Their ninety-day period of service was the only unit-level active duty military contribution Utah Territory made during the Civil War. This paper was later published as a book chapter from "Civil War Saints" (2012, published by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center and the Deseret Book Company) and can be accessed here.

We Know No North, No South, No East, No West: Mormon Interpretations Of The Civil War, 1861-1865, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

While peace reigns in Utah, civil war, with all its horrors, prevails among those who earnestly desired to see the soil of these valleys crimsoned with the blood of the Saints, and, if we are mistaken in the signs of the times, before the conflict between the North and South shall have ended, all they unitedly desired to see meted out to the Mormons, will be poured out without measure upon those who have initiated the war of extermination, and are now carrying it on with all the energy they severally possess. So read the lead editorial in the Salt …

A Time For Change : Improving Salt Lake City, 1890-1925, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

Although visitors to Salt Lake City during its earliest years described the valley as a place of order and beauty, by the 1880s the city had become dirty, polluted, and unsanitary. This article details the efforts at improvement beginning in the 1880s, including the installation of water and sewer systems, public transportation, electricity, paved streets, and the beautification of parks and playgrounds.

From Mules To Trax : A Brief History Of Salt Lake City's Mass Transit, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

The history of the mass-transit system in Salt Lake City is reviewed, and the system is compared to those in other cities, such as Chicago and New York. The advantages and disadvantages of animal-transit systems, electric street cars, buses, and light rail systems are discussed.

Orphaned By Black Hawk's Warriors, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

William D. Kuhre was orphaned at a young age and grew up having few recollections of his parents. William's parents had joined the Mormon Church and moved to the small town of Ephraim, Utah in 1862. War broke out with the Ute Indians in 1865, after several years of increasingly hostile interactions. While the town of Ephraim was protected by a large stone wall, families had to leave the protection to collect firewood and harvest crops. One unfortunate day, while William’s parents were gathering potatoes outside the city wall, a band of Black Hawk’s men arrived and killed them, leaving …

The Massacre In Thistle Valley, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

War broke out between the white settlers of Utah and the Ute Indians in 1865. Before the whites could gather for better defense, the Ute Indians struck a house made of willows in 1865. All six members of the Given family were killed, and they were all buried in a the same wagon box in the Fairview, Utah, Cemetery.