About 4 days after we returned from our journey to Canada and Colorado, we packed up again and headed out to the BIG McBride reunion in Pima Arizona Graham mountains. Even though I felt like vegging and sleeping for a week, away we went....
I knew exactly 1 person out of this whole group when we first arrived. A few hours later, we met all my distant cousins, aunts and uncles, a very sweet and nice group of people. We all have the exact same Great Grandma Zela and Great Grandpa Clyde. Also, a bit of history here- Clyde's father was Peter Howard McBride, who happened to be one of the pioneers who crossed the plains with the Willie Handcart COmpany when he was just six years old. His story is a legacy and I have a very soft spot in my heart for the pioneers because of him and his courageous family.
Here are some of the cousin "kids" sitting in a potato trench that great great great Grandpa Peter dug at the top of the mountain way back in the 1800s.
Telling funny stories about Great Grandpa Clyde and his Father Peter.
A natural teatter totter someone made, my kids played on this the whole time.
Maria is the one person I knew at the reunion, our moms are first cousins. We first met when we were 9 years old. I lived in Canada, she lived in Utah. But we managed to stay in contact all these years. We wrote letters to eachother at least once a month for years and years. She is very dear to me. Here she is with her baby Weston.
At the very top of the Graham mountain range is a plaque honoring my great great Grandpa Peter.
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This is what the plaque says.
My mother's cousin Janie gave us a tour of Pima and Thatcher pointing out all the places my ancestors settled and worked. It was very interesting and I learned alot.
Here we are standing at the childhood home of Spencer W. Kimball, his father Andrew baptized my great great Grandpa's family in England before they headed to "Zion".
I don't know hardly a thing about my Grandpa Clyde's involvement in WW2. But I know he went overseas with the army and fought in the war and came out alright. Here is a plaque honoring him. I love what it reads.
Here is Clyde W's name and a couple under it, you will see Floyd Warren's name who happens to be his twin brother. All McBrides listed here are related.
Here is Peter McBrides gravesite with his first wife Ruth.
And.... his other wife Laura Lewis (who I descend from), right beside them. Polygamy has deep roots in McBride family. Apparently it still exists today among some of the McBrides... so I noticed..
Here are the 9 gravesites of all the children lost to my great great Grandma's. They had 22 all together. It was hard to read the dates on all of them, children's gravesites always look awful to me
On a happier note:
Dan and Jasper doing what they do best.. having fun.
