The Armenian Holocaust

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Holocaust.  You may ask, What is that.  I had not heard of it until today.  Briefly this was an effort by the Ottoman Empire it rid itself of the Armenians by forced exodus and by murder and massacre.  It began on April with the murder of a couple hundred prominent Armenians.  From there it became a general policy which resulted in between one and 1.5 million deaths.  This was Hitler before Hitler.

Martin Handcart Pioneers: Sarah Franks and George Padley

Sarah Franks Mackay

Sarah Franks and George Padley were engaged to be married before they traveled with the Martin Handcart Company.  At least four other couples were on the journey, mostly on the ship on the Ship Horizon.  However Sarah and George decided to wait until the reached Salt Lake City so they could be sealed in the Endowment House.  However, the journey took its toll on both Sarah and George.  Their bodies began to break down.  In the ultimate example of sacrifice, George would take from his already skimpy rations, and share with Sarah.  George also took severe cold in crossing the Sweetwater river just before the company reached martin's Cove.  His body could take no more and he passed away in the cove.
Sarah was worried about the possibility of the wolves getting to her beloved's body.  She used her own shawl, which she needed for warmth, to dress him, and insisted his body be tied inn a tree. President Faust visited Martin's Cove as part of the Second Rescue.  President Kim w. McKinnon of the Riverton Wyoming Stake told the story of Sarah Franks and George Padley.  President faust "was very moved by the story.  With a tear in his eye he said it had to be one of the great love stories of the western migration."  
It wasn't until 1998 that Sarah was sealed to George, after this had been approved by the First Presidency.  She had married Thomas Mackay and raised a large family.   She would honor and love George for eternities, but she also loved Thomas.  Her dream of Zion was fulfilled in a different way than she had hoped.  
  

Peter McBride: Mormon Handcart Pioneer

Peter McBride, from Scotland, traveled with the Martin Handcart Company with his family.  He was six.  His father served the company as the music leader.  Upon arriving by train at Iowa City, Iowa, some of the company walked to the pioneer camping site that evening.  They were caught in a tremendous down pour.  Peter was walking with his older brother Heber.  What should have been a short walk, took considerably more because of the mud.  They became disoriented, and would not have found the camp except for the campfires they could see after dark.
Like most young boys, Peter was lively.  His father would pass away after the last crossing of the Platte while the company was in the Red Buttes area.  After his father was buried Peter could not be consoled.  Finally he was able to get out, "My fish hooks are in my father's pocket and I want them back.
After making it to Martin's Cove, the wind blew all the tents down one night.  As the company leaders inspected how many had perished during the night, when they come upon the McBride tent which had fallen the wondered how many were dead inside.  Peter's brother explained they had all gotten out.  However when she realized her younger brother had not, she indicated he must have perished.  Peter tells the story this way:

The wind blew the tent down. They all crawled out but me. The snow fell on it. I went to sleep and slept warm all night. In the morning I heard someone say, "How many are dead in this tent?" My sister said, "Well, my little brother must be frozen to death in that tent." So they jerked the tent loose, sent it scurrying over the snow. My hair was frozen to the tent. I picked myself up and came out quite alive, to their surprise.  (McBride, Peter, CH)

Peter must have been a bright spot on a trip which such suffering.

Book Review: When Abraham Talked to the Trees

When Abraham Talked to Trees by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000.

 

This is a story about how Abraham Lincoln developed his skill at public discourse.  Abraham loved to talk, and he read considerable to learn stories.  He would tell the stories to his family.  Sometimes they would listen.  Other times they might become bored.  Abraham would talk anyway; whether to his family, friends or the trees.

Book Review: The USS Arizona

The USS Arizona: The Ship, the Men, the Pearl Harbor Attack and the Symbol That Arroused America by Joy Waldron Jasper, James P. Delgado and Jim Adams, Truman Talley Books, New York, 2001.

This book is written some years after the Battle of Pearl Harbor, but is fresh and relevant because of the. First person recounting fro, USS Arizona sailors.  the most interesting chapter is that I which the sailors tell of their day, December 7, 1941.  There are chapters from below decks, on deck and those on leave.  There are aspects of a ship sinking you don't always think about.  In this case there was massive loss of life, almost 1200 men.  However there was also loss of property as well as clothes.  Payroll was lost and had to be rebuilt. Not only this there were sailors who swam through the water, covered with oil, and would not get clean for several months.  

The admiral and captain were on the bridge, and vaporized with many others when the Arizonetook its death blow, a bomb that penetrated into the forward magazine and the exploded triggering a massive explosion. It created a temperature above 2000 degrees.  The captain's melted wedding ring was later recovered from the water.  Many of those who survived were blow into the water by this blast.

This book goes on to follow several of the men through the war. A couple went home with injuries.  Most served through the war on other ships.  One was there when the war ended inJapan on a boat accompanying the USS Missouri.

Book review: California 24/7: Amazing Photographs of an Extraordinary State

This is one of a series of books, documenting a week in the the life of a state.  The original book was America 24/7.  This book was published in 2004.  it was put together by Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen.  It has an interested idea, but I think it is impossible to document all of California, because it is so diversified.  However, this book seems to focus  on parts of California that are on the fringe.  It shows many tatoes,  The views of homeless people are over done, although that is a part of our state.  It mentions the bull frog races of Angel's Camp made famous by Mark Twain.  It shows the country life, and men who are in rodeo; but at the same time shows the surfer community.  It shows Marin boot camp, where Mark was but we weren't able to see.  It showed a knee kicking contest used to wear the warriors out so they could learn self defense when they were  exhausted.  It shows industry, and technology, and religion, and a thousand other views.  It is impossible to take it all in.

Biography: Toypurina

Toypurina:  I take this from an article in the Metro.  It is based on a book by Elias Castillo “A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California’s Indians by the Spanish Missions.”  It appears he also wrote this article for the Metro.

Toypurina was a young Native American maiden with some beauty.  She was a child when the California missions were established.  She saw herself and her people go from having plenty of food, and a way of life with considerable freedom.  Even though she did not join the missions, she saw the change on the people in general.  She herself was of the Gabrielino Tribe; which tribe did not, for the most part, convert to Catholocism and join the missions.

When Toypurina was a young woman, she lead a revolt against the missions.  The hope was for several missions to overthrow the Franciscans and kill them.  She is the only North American Native American woman to lead a revolt.  She consulted with Nicolas Jose someone who had converted, and lived inside the mission; but had become disaffected with it because native dances were not allowed.  Together they recruited several tribal groups to participate in the uprising.  They selected Mission San Gabriel as the first place of attack, and the night of October 25 1785.  There was much planning and coordination, and a Spanish soldier, who had taught himself the Tongva language, overheard the plans.  He took his knowledge to the friars, who were able to use this against the Indians.  Toypurina was considered a sorceress, and she had prophesized that the friars would all be found dead in their room.  The friars hid elsewhere, while soldiers took their places in the rooms, pretending to be dead.  When the Indian warriors rushed to their room, and found them dead, the felt they had victory.  However when the dead friars came back to life, and were joined by soldiers, the warriors fled in fear, and the revolt was thwarted.  Toypurina, Jose, and a couple chiefs were taken prisoner and put on trial for their revolt.  

Toyurina’s initial response was, “I hate the padres and all of you for living here on my native soil, for trespassing on the land of my forefathers and despoiling our tribal domains.”  However as the trial progressed, Toypurina’s attitude changed.  She was a beautiful woman of 24 years.  When she softened, she was kept at the mission for a year to assure her repentance was genuine.  She converted to Christianity and was baptized.  SHe was exiled to a different mission, where she married a Spanish soldier.  They eventually moved to Mission San Juan Bautista, where she passed away and is buried.