Family Trip to Utah and Wyoming

Thu Sept 23, 2021 - Salt Lake City UT

Joel, Tom, Terry, Richard and Kim each flew into Salt Lake City the morning of September 23, 2021, all arriving about the same time. Terry came from Palm Springs, Joel, Richard and Kim from Portland and Tom from Oakland. We picked up the rental van and drove over to a nearby restaurant to have breakfast with friend Mark Cooper, who was in town on business. Mark came with us to our Salt Lake City hotel where he parked his car. Then we checked in and all walk together to Temple Square.

Cousins Linda and Diane met us at the LDS Family Resource Center at Temple Square. A wonderful facility to connect people over the generations. A volunteer helped us at a computer terminal to set up accounts and begin searching for relatives. We did a "find" of our father and connected our record to his. He was already in the system so we were then connected to all of his antecedents.

L-R: Richard, Mark, Terry, volunteer, cousins Linda and Diane

We stood at a screen in another area and could find out how we are related to famous people (like Marilyn Monroe). Mark even found out that we are somehow related to him!

Cousin Linda arranged for us to eat at a restaurant a little ways from Temple Square. First we walked around the square and looked into the Tabernacle building and the Convention Hall as we passed them. The Temple itself was undergoing major renovation/retrofit.

Mormon Tabernacle was getting ready for a Christmas program

Convention center (seats 21,000 people!)

L-R: Terry, Joel, Mark, Tom, Kim and Richard at Convention Center. Note the work on the Temple in the upper-right background.
Mormon Temple renovation.

At the Coffee Shop at Little America Hotel, we met another cousin, Suzie. As we sat at the table and gave our food orders, we were served these big, round (softball-sized) rolls. Sooo good, as was the food.

Mark, Joel, Kim, Tom, Richard, cousins Diane, Suzie and Linda

Fri Sept 24, 2021 - Evanston, WY

The next day, we drove to cousin Debbie and Ross’s home in Ogden. Debbie is a great resource for family history. She has collected many photos of our families including some from over a century ago. As we were visiting, we were served delicious fruit. Debbie's sister Christie and and her husband Craig came by as we were looking though these old photographs. Diane and Linda were there too.

Linda, Debbie and Christie are sisters and daughters of Donna and Bob Dickerson. They are retired ranchers and horse people. Debbie’s daughter was a champion horse rider and rodeo queen. Diane's mother Ethel and Linda, Debbie and Christie's grandmother Mae were sisters.

At cousin Debbie's house: Joel, Ross and Kim

Terry, Christie, Tom, Debbie, Joel, Linda, Richard, Diane and Kim

Tanya McKinnon Bartlett was Debbie and Ross' daughter. She passed away in 2017.

From Ogden, we drove eastward towards Evanston, WY. To a place called Emory, WY where our great grandfather Lehi (Lee) Daniels’ had a home next to the railroad tracks. Lehi and and his son William provided water and railroad ties for the railroads. The house is no longer there, but a pine tree (we’ve seen in old photos) was still standing and remnants of a spring. Lehi planted this pine tree.

Pine tree on Lehi's home place around the 1880s and 1890s.

Lehi (Lee) Daniels - 1836-1889

Remains of a spring at Lehi's home place.

Under the pine tree: Ross, Linda, Kim, Debbie, Richard, Tom, Diane, Joel and Terry

Next we visited the grave of Lehi and his son William in Echo, WY. This was at a small cemetery with a small stone church. I’d heard so many descriptions and photos of Lehi’s grave in this cemetery that it felt like I’d been there before … and now I have!

Lehi Daniels and his son's burial place at Echo, Utah

Little stone church on the cemetery property in Echo.

The UT/WY cousins whom we've met so far are descended from our great grandfather' Lehi Daniels. His daughter Susan and our grandfather Joe Daniels were sister and brother. Diane’s mother Ethel was a daughter of Susan. So our father Donald and Ethel were first cousins.

Susan Daniels Carruth - 1864 - 1944

Later that afternoon, we drove to Taggert Grill for supper: Linda, Diane, Debbie and Ross were with us. It looked like a real roadhouse (but “elevated”) with good food the great service.

Taggert's Grill

At Taggert's Grill: Around the table from the left: Joel, Terry, Ross, Debbie, Diane, Linda, Kim, Richard and Tom

Afterwards we drove to Evanston with Diane. But before turning in, we went to the Evanston Cemetery. Cousin Christie and Craig were already there. We saw where cousins Mae, Ethel (their parents and grandparents) and others were laid to rest. The whole place was immaculately maintained.

At the Evanston city cemetery where many cousins are buried.

Sat Sept 25, 2021 - Evanston, WY

The next morning, we drove over to Diane’s home. She had spent the morning making potato doughnuts which are a popular family tradition. They were delicious. We had bags of them to eat and take with us on the rest of our trip.

The story is that if people in Evanston were passing Aunt Mae’s house and saw a lot of cars at her house, it would mean she’d either died or was making spudnuts (potato doughnuts). In either case, they needed to stop by!

Diane led us around Evanston so we could see the Library/Museum, and other buildings that her grandfather George Carruth had built. We also saw the homes where relatives live or had lived in. I had been there in the early 1960s with Roger and we stayed at Ethel’s house.

The Carnegie Library in Evanston was built by Diane's grandfather. (Pictured: Diane and Richard)

Diane, Richard and Joel at the Evanston Library (now a museum).

After the Evanston tour, we drove east to Fort Bridger State Historic Site, where our cousins had arranged a picnic. And we got to meet more cousins: Scott Dickerson (brother of Linda, Debbie and Christie). Scott had “brewed” some great tasting homemade root-beer. Box lunches were provided (so delicious). The weather was sunny and mild with a breeze.

We also met cousin Jimmy Smith and his son Jeff. Jimmy's father is a first cousin to Scott, Linda, Debbie and Christie.

Kim, Diane, Linda, Scott and Richard at Ft. Bridger.

Homemade root beer and water in orange coolers.

L-R. Christie, Craig, Richard, Kim, Scott, Debbie and Michele (Scott's wife).

At the picnic table!

More picnic.

Cousin Jimmy

Cousin Scott

One side of the table

The other "uneven" side of the picnic table!

In advance of Johnson's army, Brigham Young sent Aaron Daniels and others to burn down Fort Bridger (which he did).

That night we drove to Vernal, UT, the farthest east we’d be going on this trip.

Sun Sept 26, 2021 - Vernal, UT

On Sunday, Teresa Daniels Davis, her husband Bryan and her father Charles Daniels met us at Denny’s in Vernal for breakfast. This is a different branch of the family. Charles’ great grandfather was Aaron Eugene Daniels. Aaron was a brother to our great grandfather Lehi Daniels. The families in those days were very large. Aaron had 3 wives and twenty some children!

Around the table from the left: Kim, Joel, Bryan, Teresa, Richard, Tom and Charles

Rose was the third wife of Aaron’s and is Charles’ great grandmother. She was an Indian and is very famous, then and now. She was accomplished and knew so much. Charles knew Rose as a child. When he had a chest cold, his father had him go to Rose who made a poultice of herbs to rub on his chest which made the cold go away. Charles was a huge source family history.

Aaron Eugene Daniels - 1822 - 1895

We stopped along the way where this plaque was mounted. Aaron also ran the pony express for a couple of years as the transcontinental railroad was being completed.

Indian Rose on horseback. She was 103 when she died.

Read more about Rose "The Mystery of Rose Daniels" at this link:

https://johnhutchingsmuseum.org/17404-2/ [This link stopped working???)

RoseHistory [This is what was at the above link]

We drove to where Aaron and Rose lived in Jenson, UT on a ranch, near the Green River in a house made of adobe. They homesteaded there. Aaron went to Kentucky and bought thoroughbred horses and brought them back to a race track he built and raced them against the Indians. We met the current owner. His family lives there and runs the farm. We could see them cutting corn for silage in the distance. This ranch private property inside of Dinosaur National Monument.

Looking over the Green River. The Daniels ranch house is among the building, surrounded by trees, on the other side of the river.

Joel, cousin Teresa, her father Charles Daniels, Tom and Terry

A plaque commemorates the Aaron Daniels ranch, now owned by the descendants of Douglas Chew.

The Aaron Daniels house. Added onto several times since.

Charles talking to Mr. Chew. The walls of the house are adobe brick.

We drove back to Vernal and stopped to meet Charles' brother Danny Daniels and his wife Amy.

Danny Daniels' home: Terry, Kim, Charles, Joel, Danny, Teresa, Tom and Richard.

Then Charles and Teresa took us to LaPoint where the Daniels’ Cemetery is located. It is in an isolated part of the community, through other peoples property, down a gravel road and through 2 locked gates. It is on Rose's allotment of tribal/government property. The cemetery is small and it is where Aaron and Rose Daniels are buried.

Inside the Daniels cemetery

Aaron and Rose Daniels burial place.

L-R: Teresa, Charles, Tom, Richard, Joel and Terry

When we left the fenced-in cemetery, we walked down a rocky road and across the Uintah River (small at this point) to the location where Rose and Aaron lived. We could see a triangular frame that Charles said was used to lift hay. The house is no longer there, but we could see where it had been.

Uintah River near the Daniels Cemetery and Rose's last home.

Roses house is no longer here but it would have been behind the white pickup where that triangual frame is standing.

The last stop was the Ute Indians Veterans Park in Fort Duchesne (“Du-shane”), Utah. It is a handsome structure, honoring Indians who died in American’s wars and other Indians who served in the military. About a dozen “Daniels” were listed on the granite rosters.

Ute Indians Veterans Park in Fort Duchesne

Charles name is listed here because he was in the Air Force.

We said our good-byes to Charles, Teresa and Bryan and took off on our way west towards Salt Lake City.

Near Strawberry Reservoir, we drove along Daniels Creek, through Daniels Canyon named for Aaron Daniels who had a sawmill there. We stopped at the Daniels Summit Lodge for supper. This area is popular for snow activities.

Dinner at the Daniels Summit Lodge restaurant.

Our last hotel was at Heber City.

Mon Sept 27, 2021 - Homeward Bound

On our way outside of Heber City, we stopped at the Homestead Crater. This is a naturally formed dome-shaped hill which is hollow. At the top you can look down through a hole to a pool of warm water inside. We then entered the dome through a door on the side and stood on a dock, by the warm-water pool. People were swimming in the water. You can rent scuba great and go diving.

A dog show featuring only St. Bernards was taking place in the park around Homestead Crater.

Then we were off to the Salt Lake City Airport with a stop at Park City with its charming old downtown. We parked and walked around and found a coffee shop for a bite and a sip.

Salt Lake City Airport