Winter Quarters Cemetery Sept 16th - 22nd

The first Account of Winter Quarter Cemetery
"Wednesday Nov.11, 1846. at the meeting of the High Council held at Winter Quarters, it was voted that a new burial ground be located on the second ridge west of Winter Quarter."

"There are times and places in the life of every individual, every people, and every nation when great spiritual heights are reached, ... times when valor blazes out in unwanted glory, when courage becomes a living thing, when the last great sacrifice burns out upon the altars of hope and righteousness, when faith in God stands as the granite mountain wall, firm and immovable, while hardship, want, hunger, sickness, sorrow, and death beat down to crush it. Winter Quarters, here on the western banks of the Missouri river just north of Omaha, was such a time and a place for the Mormon people,... the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as their true name is."  President Heber J Grant at Dedications of the Winter Quarters Monument Sept. 20, 1936

"This Winter (1846-1847) was the turning point of the Mormon Fortunes, Those who lived through it were spared to witness the gradual return of better Times.  and now like it the passing of a dreary night, since which they have watched the come of a steadily brightening sky." Col. Thomas Kane

"There is no parallel n the worlds history to the migration from Nauvoo,"  B. H  Bancroft

On April 21, 1850. the following reference is made to the cemetery in the journal of Fracher Stinson who was crossing the plains to California.
" During the stay in our camp (now Winter Quarters) we visited their burial place on the side of the bluff overlooking the river  the many mounds then overgrown with grass, to a story of suffering and endurance which have since been told and retold, and has, throughout the civilized world, excited feelings of pity and admirations."

I saw the naked forest

our scattered remnant cast

a screen of shivering branches

between them and the blast

the snow wa falling round them 

and the dying fell as past

i looked to see them perish

when lo! The vision passed

Oliver Wendell Holmes

the "The Pilgrims Vision"

"In every man's life pilgrimage, however unblest, there are holy places where he is made to feel his kinship with the Divine; where the beavens bend low over his head and angels come and minister unto him. These are the places of sacrifice, the meeting ground of mortal and immortal, the tents of trial wherein are waged the great spiritual combats of man's life, Here are the tears and agonies and bloody sweat of Gethsemane, Happy the man who, looking back, can say to himself; Here, too, was  victory." Michael Monahan

We have been blessed to find many pioneer ancestors who are buried on these sacred grounds.  Grateful for their lives, stories, and sacrifice.  Not only have we found our relatives, but Elder White made a spreadsheet for those visiting the Trail Center to see about their pioneer ancestors also buried at Winter Quarters. . .  How blessed we are when our life turns to loved ones on the other side of the veil.