Happy 24th Of July!!

OK, so normally I feel like most of us skip over this holiday, since we're not in Utah and no one else celebrates it, but this year, with Mom doing a primary activity it's been more on my mind. I also realized it was probably more on every one's mind, since Laur and Steve have been helping Mom, and Shells at girls camp where they're probably doing something and Britts in Utah. So anyway, I have been trying to start doing some geneology work and I found some info on our very own pioneer ancestor. I realize some of you may have already known this, but I didn't and I thought it was neat, so I decided to share it. I knew that we must have had some pioneer ancestors, since our family is well rooted in Utah, but I never knew any real stories. So here's one I found out about. Grandma Flandro's maternal grandfather, Charles William Symons was born in London, England on June 17, 1845. I know he came over, but have yet to find a date or how or who with, but he definitely came over to the US sometime before age 19. At 19 he and his mother joined the Warren S. Snow Company of pioneers who were traveling to Salt Lake City. He was a teamster, and he drove a wagon,which provided for the fare and board of he and his mother Sarah Elsey Symons. They left Wyoming, Nebraska (which is on the west bank of the MO river about 40 mi south of Omaha) somewhere between the 13-17 of August 1864 and arrived in the valley on November 2, 1864. There is an autobiographical excerpt that I found that he wrote of his experience. There are also various articles written in magazines and books on him, but I haven't figured out how to access them without going to the history museums in Salt Lake or Provo. But I'm hoping there is a way, because I still have not been able to find out a lot of info on his wife Arzella Whitaker which he married four years after his arrival in SLC. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to hear his account and to learn more about one of our pioneer ancestors. To read his excerpt go to this link http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneerdetails/0,15791,4018-1-31363,00.html

and then click on read trail excerpt. You can also look around on there and see more about him. I love you guys!! Happy Pioneer Day!!