I am going to continue with the family history that I began last - TopicsExpress



          

I am going to continue with the family history that I began last Sunday. This is about my Great-Grandfather, George Franklin Burnham. George (Franklin Burnham) made several trips to the East to assist poor and struggling families in their travel to Utah. He claimed to have injured his beautiful baritone voice while driving his oxen across the plains. His claim was, that bellowing at the oxen to guide them did his voice no good. He played in the Cache Valley Band (Logan, Utah area). George Franklin participated in the Mormon practice of polygamy or “celestial” marriage. He married first: Sarah Miranda Smith, November 7, 1862; second, Betsy Barnett, June 26, 1871; and third, Emma Jane Stevens, May 27, 1885. In 1880, George and his family were called to help settle the San Juan Country in New Mexico. They received their call in the fall of the year and did not leave Richmond (Utah) until after the birth of Roy Barnett in March of 1881. Their next child, Alvira, was born in Moab, Utah, December 15, 1881. They were a poor family and few means with which to move. They stopped frequently on the way to find work to obtain means by which to continue the journey. At one stop on the way, a temporary camp was made by a river. While George was working on the railroad, a flash flood occurred which took everything they had except the empty wagons and teams. All of their worldly goods were gone except that which was on their bodies. The family moved to Fruitland, New Mexico. George’s older brother, Luther, was president of the Fruitland Branch. George was called to organize and to train a choir for the branch. There were no musical instruments at the branch, so George would pitch the choir with his tuning fork. George and his family were friendly to the Indians and did all they could to aid them. They trusted him and were always found around his home and at his fireside. The family stayed in Fruitland until James Warren was born and then returned to Moab where Delilah was born in 1886. In 1888, the family settled in a little Mormon settlement just south of Mancos, Colorado. Here with the help of his neighbors, he built a two-room log house for his family. After years of pioneering, he moved to a small settlement called Jackson on the La Platte River. In 1893, George was called to be the Presiding Elder of the Jackson Branch. George and his sons labored diligently on the construction of a reservoir, at times going without goods for themselves or their horses. Needing cash funds, from time to time, George would hire out. It was while working near Mancos, that he was killed in a wagon accident. He fell from a wagon loaded with Quaking Aspen poles and died instantly. He was 62 years old. He was buried at Mancos, Colorado beside his son, “Ben.” Ben (Abinidi) had been fatally shot by a striking gold-mine union member, July 4, the same year, 1901.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 13:59:41 +0000

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