Well-known Mormons in the Salt Lake City Cemetery

If you like cemeteries and you like Mormons, you’ll love the Salt Lake City Cemetery. The oldest known burial here was in 1847, a child named Mary B. Wallace. Two years later, George Wallace was on the committee that recommended the place to Brigham Young. The cemetery covers 120 acres and there are now (September 2015) over 124,000 people buried here (out of a total 130,000 burial sites).

Presidents of the Church
Eleven Presidents of the Church are buried here: John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George A. Smith, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Howard W. Hunter, and Gordon B. Hinckley. I’m missing a couple of photos, but here are most of them –

Members of the Quorum of the Twelve
Including George Q. Cannon, Hugh B. Brown, James E. Talmage, Neal A. Maxwell, Bruce R. McConkie, J. Golden Kimball, and Anthon H. Lund –

Missionary Martyr Joseph Standing
One of the most curious memorials to me is for Joseph Standing, an early missionary of the Church to the Southern States. He was killed by a mob near the town of Varnell, Georgia in 1879. The memorial reflects some hope of heavenly vengeance.

Early missionary to Georgia
Early missionary to Georgia
"There is no law in Georgia for the Mormons"
“There is no law in Georgia for the Mormons”

Joseph Standing memorial

Tough words for the murderers of missionary Joseph Standing
Tough words for the murderers of missionary Joseph Standing
Missionary martyred by a mob of 12 men in Georgia
Missionary martyred by a mob of 12 men in Georgia

Those who created the memorial wanted to make sure we remembered the names of the mob members. A poem concludes:

Our brother rests beneath his native sod,
His murderers are in the hands of God.
Weep, weep for them, not him whose silent dust
Here waits the resurrection of the dust.

Here are a few more headstones, including those for Truman O. Angell, Porter Rockwell, Karl G. Maeser, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, William Clayton, and W. W. Phelps –


Comments

One response to “Well-known Mormons in the Salt Lake City Cemetery”

  1. It’s like a greatest hits collection.

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