DUP Meeting

Yesterday was my DUP Meeting, now I know what you are saying, "What is a DUP Meeting?"  DUP stands for "Daughters of Utah Pioneers."

We meet once a month.  I enjoy these meetings, we have prayers, sing songs, reports, pioneer lessons and then a nice luncheon.

I think why I enjoy these meetings is because my Great Grandmother was a Utah Pioneer.  She joined the LDS church after hearing the missionaries in her native land of Norway.  In 1862 with her sister and after the death of her father, the two sisters decided to make the journey to America and join the Saints in Utah.  After their arrival in the states, they joined a company of saints and walked  to Zion... 

This Great Grandmother is extra special to me, I feel this kindred spirit strongly towards her.  I wish I knew more about her and about her life. She didn't leave any journals that I know of and I only have a short story about her, that my grandmother had written, plus the ones that were published in the DUP books.  So by going to these DUP meetings, I'm learning more about pioneer life, what it was like here in Utah in the 1860's and that tells me something of her life and what life was like for her.

My life has been touched by this Great Grandmother, and it began many years ago. 

When I was about 15 my Nannie asked me if I would do something special for her.  As I loved this grandmother very much I would do anything for her.  She then asked me if I would name my 1st daughter Marta, as a special favor for her.. She then told me that it was her Mothers name.  She told me that in Norway her given name was Marta, but when she arrived in the States immigration wrote down her name as Martha... Of course, I said I would name my 1st daughter after her Mother, my Great Grandmother, so my Marta, was Marta long before she became. 

The second part of this connection comes the day Marta was born.  Now my grandmother was 79 years old when Marta was born and she was very happy about this birth, to say the least.  This new Great Granddaughter, straight from heaven and named after her Mother, became a closer connection when it was realized that she was born on the death date of her namesake.

My connections with this Great Grandmother is also seen in my home.

In my entry hangs a velvet crazy patch quilt picture.  This was hand stitched by this special Great Grandmother and handed down to me by my grandmother.  Also hanging in my home is an old picture frame that belonged to my Grandmother.  She had 4 of these frames.  My mother was given these old frames, years ago when they held pioneer pictures in them.  My mother placed another picture print over the original picture and hung them in her home.  Years later she gave one of these frames to each of us, her children.  Just before her death she told me that behind my picture, in my frame was a picture of one of her grandparents.  I could hardly wait to look behind the picture in my frame to see who was there... and to my joy, it was this special Great Grandmother.....

I'm doing all I can now, going back in Family History, trying to find all I can about these special Great Grandparents, that gave so much for the gospel sake.  Maybe I will be lucky and find someone out there that know something more about this Great Grandmother of mine.

I know the DUP museum in Salt Lake City has a picture on file of  Martha (Marta) Anderson Larsen Sorensen, my Great Grandmother.....  Pioneer History has a beginning and I know my history is woven in it.

Oh, by the way, I have my Nannie's pioneer apron and bonnet that she would wear at special events when she too belonged to DUP...