In God We Trust Blog

16 August 2009

Sharon’s Sunday Blog 8/16/09

Posted by Joy Bischoff under: Guest Blogger .

Vilate, Frank, and Julia Hampton

The Hearts of the Children

I have one sister and one brother and we love to spend time together. Given our busy lives and the fact that my sister lives in California, we don’t get to see each other as often as we would like. Kristie, however, has been in Utah for the past week and the three of us were able to spend a day together. Among other things we went to the Salt Lake City Cemetery to find out about getting a marker for our mother’s grave. We also located the burial sites for our grandmother’s four oldest siblings.

I am trying to things in order so I can devote more time to organizing our family’s history. Last night as I was sorting through some boxes I happened to find a copy of their father’s journal that gives some details about what happened a hundred and thirty years ago.

In 1879 there was a diphtheria epidemic in Salt Lake City. At the time, my great grandfather Brigham Young Hampton and his wife Mary had five children. On July 21^st their little daughter Blanche fell ill and three days later (July 24^th ) she died – just a week an a half before she would have turned three. Four days later, six year old Vilate (Latie) took sick. She died July 31^st shortly before noon and was buried the same day. Just before midnight, her brother Frank who had just turned 4 died. He was buried the following day. On August 2^nd, eight year old Julia Ranolph (Ranie) was taken sick. She succumbed to the disease August 6^th just as the clock was striking midnight. She was buried the next day. Thirteen month old baby Leon was their only child to survive. Each of the children was buried without funeral services, but a dedicatory prayer was offered at each resting place. Their father recorded, “All that was possible for loving hearts and hands to do was done for them in their great suffering and sickness but without avail in checking the cursed disease. . . My prayer is that their mother…and I may so live and keep the commandments of God and our covenants with each other that we may be counted worthy, when we shall have completed our earthly existence, to join and be associated with them throughout all Eternity.”

My grandmother was the tenth child to be born to this family. I remember her telling me how, when she was a young child, her father used to carry her on his shoulders as he walked along the streets in Salt Lake, but her mother never really got over the death of those four children.  The heartbreak of these weeks must have been almost too much to endure.

There seems to be a growing interest among many people to discover their roots and learn about their families. Some call this desire the Spirit of Elijah because the book of Malachi in the Old Testament talks about the coming of the prophet Elijah who will “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. . .” (Malachi 4:6) I appreciate the opportunity that I had to reconnect with my past this week and am looking forward to getting our family records more organized so temple work can be done and so our children and grandchildren will value their heritage. I hope we will each grow in our love and appreciation for those who have gone before. I know we will be blessed as we turn our hearts to our ancestors and other family members.

(NOTE: Our own Terrie Soberg specializes in “Keeping Memories Alive: Preserving and Sharing Family and Community History.”  You might want to visit her website if you haven’t already. http://digitalteardrops.com/ )

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