Mountain Meadows Association – Terry Fancher 617-774-9041
Mountain Meadows Descendants – Patty Norris 870-365-8923
Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation – Phil Bolinger 479-738-7060
Activities will be held at the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, near Enterprise, Utah on Friday May 29, 2009 and Saturday, May 30, 2009. The activities will commemorate the reburial of bones from the Massacre, which took place in May, 1859. On Friday, May 29, 2009 members of the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation will camp at the Siege Site overnight. The Commemoration event comes on the 150 th anniversary of the Carleton Reburial. Commemoration begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 30, 2009. Prayer, presentations by each association, hymns, music by Southwest Symphony Strings, and a 21-gun salute will highlight the event.
It was Brevet Major James H. Carleton and his troops who undertook the task of reburying the bones in May of 1859. The report of his efforts has become known as the Special Report of the Mountain Meadow Massacre by J.H. Carleton, Brevet Major; United States Army, Captain, First Dragoons, May 25, 1859.
Following the commemoration at the site, the Mountain Meadows Association will hold its Annual Meeting Saturday evening at the St. George Holiday Inn, 850 Bluff Street, St. George, Utah. Dinner is $25 at 6:00 p.m. and a chance to listen to the three speakers is no cost and will take place at 6:45 p.m. For reservations to either the dinner or to hear the speakers, contact Terry Fancher at 617-774-9041 or email him at tn***@ao*.com. The three speakers include: Historian and Author Will Bagley, LDS Assistant Church Historian and Author Richard E. Turley, Jr. and Church Historian Elder Marlin K. Jensen. Jensen has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( LDS Church ) since 1989 and is the nineteenth official Church Historian. Bagley will speak on Felix Marion Jones, one of the youngest survivors of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Turley will give an update on The National Historic Landmark application, and a new book on the Massacre. The keynote address will be given by Church Historian Marlin K. Jensen. He will speak about a new master plan under development for the Mountain Meadows Site, and the New LDS Archive.
Later this year, on September 18-19, 2009 the three groups will meet again, this time in Carrollton, Arkansas, to note the return of the surviving children in September 1859. A re-enactment of their return to northwest Arkansas is planned.
Prior to the activities taking place in southern Utah, the three associations will have a chance to: visit the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple, 11022 South 4000 West, South Jordan, Utah, Friday, May 29, 10:00 a.m.; have lunch with key LDS officials including Church Historian Elder Marlin K. Jensen and Richard E. Turley Jr.; and visit the new LDS Archives. At the Archives they will get a chance to view materials that led to the writing of Massacre at Mountain Meadows , by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr., and Glen M. Leonard.