Pioneer Day

Do you know who this is?  Okay, that's a silly question.  The only reason I know is because I put the picture there.  This man is my great great great (how many?  I don't know.) great grandpa.  He was a pioneer.  His name is Matthew Caldwell.  I swore for the longest time that his last name was Calderwell, but once I saw his wife's name, Barzilla Guymon, I stood corrected.  Who forgets a name like Barzilla?  I don't care how awesome of a person she might have been, my children will not be named after her (unless perhaps she has a beautiful nickname).  Anyhow, this man is one of my pioneers.  I like his story.  You can read his more full story here ,

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=180&sourceId=8c7527cd3f37b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD, but I will also summarize it for you.  Well, I'll tell you the part I want.  

This man lived in Warsaw, Illinois and was part of the anti-Mormon community.  He belonged to the mob that martyred Joseph Smith.  He however, had nothing to do with that (I tend to think part of the reason was that his wife was LDS).  If you read the article, you will find he actually convinced a few people to not take part in the event.  He was among 6 men who voted against murdering the Mormons, but the others were insistent.  They tied these 6 men to cannons and guarded them until all was done and there was no way they could stop them.  The whole time he kept telling them to let him go home because his wife was very sick.  (Ends up actually she was in labor with their first child.)  After this, he chose to be part of the Mormon community and was eventually baptized.  He trekked from Illinois to Utah with the wagon trains and died in Dry Fork, Utah (near Vernal).  This is his tombstone.  I stole all this pictures from his obituary found here http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12799567. 

I'm proud to be descended from a man who had the courage to do what was right when all of his peers and people he had known and loved forever disagreed.  I'll remember him and do likewise.

P.S.  As is obvious from the tombstone, he was also part of the Mormon Battalion.