Daughters of Utah Pioneers spearheads preservation

Local groups meet to recount family history

PRIMEVIEW--Jan Zobrist a daughter of one of the Utah pioneers sits with a history book 'Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude' that documents the Utah pioneers. Friday, May 13,2005--View photo by shelly donahue Advertisement

In 1936 the first Daughters of Utah Pioneers company, called the Clark Company, was started in Las Vegas with the goal of tracking its history. They also became the caretakers of the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort and began holding meetings there two years later.

When the property was sold to the Las Vegas Elks Club in 1955, the organization planned to remove the fort. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers, along with the city of Las Vegas, worked to preserve the fort, according to the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers. This was complete in 1989 when the city bought the property and gave the Daughters of Utah Pioneers a 10-year lease.

In 1993 the state of Nevada purchased the property from the city of Las Vegas. Today the Daughters of Utah Pioneers continues its involvement with the fort by supporting events and activities as volunteers.

"The purpose of Daughters of Utah Pioneers is to preserve history," said Jan Zobrist, captain of Lone Mountain Camp and lesson leader at Prairie Sunset. "Las Vegas tears everything down. They don't save anything."

In keeping with the purpose of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, members search their families' histories and share stories with their local camps at monthly meetings. Stories are gathered in cities around the country and in Canada, and preserved in Salt Lake City and in bound books members can keep.

To qualify as a Daughters of Utah Pioneers member, ancestors had to have made their way to Salt Lake City before May 10, 1869, when trains arrived. Prospective members start by giving a short history of one relative that crossed the plains.

"Women who want to join but do not qualify can be associate members," said Zobrist, "and a lot of the time when they start searching histories they will find a relative did cross the plains and that they do qualify."

New camps organize as the city grows. Most come together based on location and convenience. There is an evening camp for women who are not able to meet during the day.

Many times an existing camp will break off and start a second one. Clark Company currently has 20 active camps.

At each monthly meeting, members start with a prayer, say the pledge of allegiance and sing the Daughters of Utah Pioneers song. Then a member will share a story about a relative and finish with a lesson sent from the international office.

Members have to be 18 years old. As more young people become members, new people and new histories are discovered, said Zobrist. Some members run out of relatives to write about and then they can search histories of non-related pioneers.

Three times a year all of Clark Company will meet up. There is a convention at the end of February held in Las Vegas with Salt Lake City visitors.

"The convention always features a program and lunch, and this is when we receive instruction from international on how we are to spend the next year," Zobrist said.

In May there is a Jubilee that celebrates Brigham Young's birthday. Young was head of the Mormon Church and architect of the Mormon colony in Utah.

"His birthday is in June, but we celebrate in May because of how hot it gets in Las Vegas," Zobrist said.

The celebration has been held at the park and husbands are invited to the event.

There is also a seminar for officer training. Clark Company officers attend in Salt Lake City and relay the information on songs and lessons that need to be covered over the next year. The entire organization, which spans all over the United States and Canada, uses the same lessons.

"The Daughters of Utah Pioneers has always had a strong partnership with the state parks system," said Zobrist. "We both have the same goal, to preserve the fort."

The Daughters of Utah Pioneers will be participating in the sesquicentennial celebration Saturday with living history activities. They will be playing pioneer games with the children, churning butter and washing clothes in pioneer style.

The Lone Mountain Camp will be making pioneer dolls and another camp will be braiding rugs along with many other activities.