1283 Logan Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
lfa_board@yahoogroups.com
The Livingston Board met and decided on a "set" date to hold the Livingston Reunions each year. Reunions will now be held on the third weekend in June. For 2004, that date will be Saturday, June 19. So Mark Your Calendars!
Another exciting reunion has been planned for this year. Camping will be available for those who are interested on Friday, June 18, at The Spruces Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake City. Saturday will be our business meeting followed by a trip to see the Temple Quarry in Little Cottonwood Canyon. A tentative schedule has been put together for your information.
| Friday, June 18 | |
| 2:00 pm or after | Arrive at The Spruces and set up camp |
| Saturday, June 19 | |
| 8:00-9:00 am | Continental Breakfast provided by the Association |
| 10:00 am | Business meeting/children's activities |
| 11:30-12:30 | Lunch provided by the Association |
| 1:00 pm | Trip to Temple Quarry in Little Cottonwood Canyon |
RSVP's would be appreciated so the accurate amount of food can be purchased and prepared. Also, please RSVP if you will be camping. Please send email RSVP's to us at lfa_board@yahoogroups.com or call Enid Cox at 801-484-2678.
We will send additional reunion information as the date gets closer, including a map to both The Spruces and the Temple Quarry. Mark your calendars, this will be a reunion you won't want to miss!
Help us help you find and know your relationships with all our extended family members. Please send a copy of your family groups to the board, so we can build our family tree and make it available to family members at a future date. Include parents and descendants, as applicable, with full names, gender, birth date, and your main Livingston line. Please send this to:
Blaine T Livingston
434 Wheatridge Rd.
Stansbury Park, UT 84074
Email PAF files to lfa_board@yahoogroups.com
Let's see how complete a tree we can get before the reunion in June 2004.
A sweater was left at the Birch Creek Reunion. It is a red, Laura Scott women's sweater. Size is 2X. It's the style that buttons all the way up the front. It can be claimed by calling Enid at 801-484-2678 or emailing us at lfa_board@yahoogroups.com.
The William and Annie Livingston home was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 16, 2002. The home at 2491 Valley View Avenue was originally built by William and Annie as a suburban home. It has since had the interior updated and in 2003 was featured in the Salt Lake Parade of Homes.
reunion held at the Despain property in Birch Creek was a whopping success. Many there declared it was the best reunion they had ever been to. We have had a lot of good reunions, so that was quite a statement. We met and enjoyed getting acquainted with cousins we didn't know we had. We served over 100 people at the catered dinner on Friday night. The family of W. Dick Livingston had 22 members there. Wow! At the campfire program, Donley Despain dressed and talked as if he were James Campbell Livingston and told story after story about his life and that of the whole Livingston Family. The script (included in this newsletter) is just an outline of what he actually told. Old and young alike were mesmerized.
On Saturday morning, more people came to enjoy the day. Ted Livingston and his breakfast crew started cooking. They served up a delicious breakfast, and then a caravan was organized and a trip to "the falls" was taken. On the way we stopped at the spot where the Indian Chief Sanpitch died. Again we heard many interesting stories about the area and who lived where and when. The "falls" were beautiful and the company was great. We went back to the campgrounds and had another program followed by the business meeting. The children worked on crafts and games while this was taking place. New board members were elected and some others retired. We want to give a special thank you to Dale and Margaret Livingston who have been actively involved in the organization since it's beginning over 30 years ago. Also, a great big thank you to Donley and Gloria Despain for hosting the clan this year.
Livingston Family Board
Term Expires in 2004:
Charlene Clark
Enid Cox
Shaunna Wozab
Term Expires in 2005:
Janet Feeney
Ross Livingston
Ted Livingston
Term Expires in 2006:
Stott Cook
Dwight Epperson
Blaine Livingston
Contact us at 801-484-2678 (Enid's) or email us all at lfa_board@yahoogroups.com
I've always known your names
But, you were flat people on a white page
Until I read your stories.
Now you are more than names
And I know that your blood
flows also in My veins.
Excerpt from poem by
Mary A Johnson
Are your stories written down so you can be more than a name? Here are some questions to get you started writing your own history.
Hi, I'm James Campbell Livingston. I'd like to tell you a little about myself after I got to Utah from Scotland, my native land. I had a good life. I spent well over 30 years in the church quarry getting stone for the Salt Lake Temple. During this time I also spent time as a City Policeman, a Deputy Sheriff of Salt Lake County, a State Trooper, and a Deputy Territorial Marshall and in the Nauvoo Legion from the time I got to Utah until it was disbanded. These duties took lots of time and was mostly time I gave to the various governments. Whenever any of them had a special job to be done, I was called. Evidently I had the ability to arrest men the other officers couldn't handle.
I remember one man who they could not arrest, so they called me. I found him in a tavern in Sandy. He was drinking and when I told him he was under arrest, he said, "no one armed man is going to arrest me", (plus a few other strong words). So I got him to worrying about my good hand and was able to hit him on the side of his head with my hook, knocking him cold. I threw him on a horse and took him to the County Jail and locked him up. He wasn't so tough after all.
Most of my life in Utah I worked and answered to Bishop Sharp. He was a good man. He would pass instructions to me from Brigham Young, and I would make sure I would never let him down. I also worked with Daniel Wells and Lot Smith.
When Johnson's Army was on the way to Utah, my brother Charles and I and a few other men under Bishop Sharp went northeast and caught their wagon trains. We did much mischief to them - burned several, built some traps, dammed some streams, causing ponds and mud to slow them down. It was jolly fun.
When they were in dire trouble and danger of dying in the cold mountain snow, we were told by Brigham Young to give them help and supplies so they could survive. After they got to Cedar Fort, Brother Charles was able to supply firewood to them which helped with finances for us and the church. I don't know how they would have survived that winter without our help.
I'll tell you about how Bishop Sharp under Brigham Young needed to get the railroad completed at Promontory Point so the church could use the railroad to help the people. They needed several hundred men. I was sent to be in charge of this crew. Along with the job of supervising the crew, I myself handled, set and exploded more than 8 ton of nitroglycerin. I had no accidents or problems, until the morning I set 7 holes of explosives and 6 went off. I waited a reasonable time and then went to check the cause and as I brushed my hand across the hold, the charge went off and shattered my hand and arm.
But we fulfilled our duties and got the Golden Spike driven. For the next year I tried to do my duty and save my arm, but it wasn't to be, so I had to have it cut off below the elbow. The doctor wasn't very prepared, but with a bit of whiskey poured on the wound and some down my throat, a sharp knife and a sharp wood saw the arm was removed. My family and friends were sent out of the house. I found out later they all waited outside and cried and prayed for me. Later I was able to have a hook fitted on the stub, and was able to do all the things I could do before.
I always kept the arm close by, in a shoe box on a shelf in the cellar, so it could be buried with me.
About the time my labor was completed on the Temple, my brother Charles was called to be totally responsible to oversee the finish work on it. He was very capable and did a great job. The finish work was the best. I was very proud of Charles.
When the Temple stone was nearly complete, my daughter, Janet Russell Despain and her husband Orson Augustus had started their life and family in Cedar Cliff, Utah. They had a nice two room log house with a lean-to to make more room for their planned large family. They did finally have 10 children and raised 2 more children of their son, Ira, when his wife died.
After I had obtained land in Cedar Cliff, I was called back to Salt Lake to do some work to complete the Temple. There are always some things to complete on a great building. I feel that I and the other people on the crews did all we were asked to do and more. The last job I was asked to do was to get the granite, a large stone, for the Brigham Young monument which has spent more than 120 years in downtown Salt Lake City. It has been moved several times, but is still sound and an honor to a great man.
When I went back to Cedar Cliff I got to work and built two new homes, perhaps as nice as any in Sanpete County. One was for my wife, Agnes Widdison. It was near the road. The other house was built for my wife, Annie Muir. My wife, Hannah Widdison, had passed away December 30, 1871. I made sure everything one wife got the other got the same. Annie's house was perhaps 1/2 miles northeast and behind some Cedar trees.
Both homes had a great view and were very comfortable. The only difference was that Agnes' home had a pantry on the rear and Annie's didn't. I made sure on my trips back and forth I always took food from the pantry so both wives had the same. The women didn't always cook the same recipes, so I had the best of both cooks.
Agnes and I had seven children. Hannah and I had four and Annie and I had seven children.
I had a well, a big barn with lots of swallows, a small pond, so the birds could get lots of mud to build with. I had lots of outbuildings, stables, sheds, etc. I had horses, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese and peacocks. With the gardens and orchards it made us mostly self sufficient. We would always share everything with our family and friends. No one ever went without.
We raised alfalfa, meadow hay and grains for feed, cereal and bread. We mad our own butter, jams and bottled fruits. We had bees for honey as well. I can't think of any food we ever wanted and didn't have.
We had good warm clothes for winter and cool for summer. I don't remember every being cold of hungry.
Perhaps my best duty in life was being called to be the North Sanpete Stake Patriarch. I couldn't place both hands on the heads, but with my very large and strong one, I know the Lord approved.
I was a member of the Sunday School Superintendency and when it was my turn to preside, I would shine. I usually conducted, gave both prayers, gave the talks and taught the lessons and also blessed the Sacrament. It was a great place to teach all members of the little branch. I loved them all.
There were some very good times in Cedar Cliff. I liked to wear my kilts and the young ones were always trying to find out what I wore underneath. When they got too rambunctious I would catch them and hang them by their suspenders on a coat hook or the limb of a dead cedar tree, that would slow them down. They never did find out. I liked to run races with the kids also. Lots of fun.
I made lots of trips back and forth between my wives homes. I had a good path across the lucern field, up the roadway, then up a cooked path, up the hill, past the school house, past the beehives and around the hill. The bigger boys liked to have some fun with me. They would hide in the brush and try to scare me. When I could catch them they would be hung by their suspenders to a dead limb or a fence post. One dark night I heard a sound from the brush and a loud moo, and I thought they were at it again, so I said "I'll moo you, you little devils," so I gave a big kick in the dark and it was a big cow and I broke my foot. I spent a few weeks walking the train on my crutches.
Cedar Cliff's name was changed to Birch Creek. I was proud of my family, friends and everything about it.
In 1909 when it was time to pass on, I was happy and content. My funeral was well attended by the First Presidency and other members of the General Authorities, who said my life had been a success and I had done everything that was asked of me. That makes me very happy.
It's up to you now - to take care of this Livingston Family. Make sure you do! Be seein' ya!
I was born on June 1, 1922 at Fountain Green, Utah, the second child of Abram Livingston and Sadie Lewis Livingston. I was the only son having an older sister Barbara and two younger sisters, Beverly and June. I was born in the family home on the corner NE of the present city park. At that time, the park was an alfalfa field. I had a wonderful childhood with good parents and a father who was in the sheep business, taking me with him to the sheep camps. In 1932 my father lost almost his entire sheep herd, about 2,800 to a disease called the "Big Head". Unable to recover from such a loss he had to liquidate all of his real estate holding near Soldier Summit, Walsberg and Strawberry valley and our home. We moved to Colorado the spring of 1936 when I was 15 years old. Not wanting to raise their family where there was no LDS Church organization, Father and Mother moved to Logan, Utah where I attended Logan High School and Utah State Agricultural College. During the year I was a freshman at Utah State the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. was at war. I joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 and entered their flight program. I was commissioned as a Naval Pilot. I married my sweetheart, Irene Broadbent, while home on leave from the service in January 1945. We lived in Sanford, Florida for a year while I instructed in the Flight Program. I was honorably discharged in 1946 and we settled in Craig, Colorado where I engaged in the sheep business with my Father. We were in the livestock business most of our lives. I tell my children they had the best of two worlds, moving to our ranch on Milk Creek, south of Craig during the summer months and then moving back to Craig for school each year. After slowly retiring from the livestock business, I became a real estate broker and am co-owner of a company in Craig.
Irene and I have been married for 59 wonderful years, are parents of 7 children (six living) 21 grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has always been a great part of our lives. My Church experience includes:
I continue my service of the last six years as a sealer in the Vernal Utah Temple. My wonderful eternal companion has always been by my side in our business and Church assignments. Our testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is strong and our Heavenly Father has richly blessed us in this wonderful mortal life. Our prayer is that we will join with Him and our eternal family in the hereafter.
Written by Lewis Livingston, January, 2004