Day 4, after Bryce

[low_delta]

After leaving Bryce Canyon, I headed east on Highway 12, towards Escalante.


The light isn't great, but I like the symmetry.


Going through a little burg called Henrieville, I saw a sign for a cemetery, so I took a little detour.


There were a lot of Willises.


James Edward Smith
Born June 15, 1851
Died April 3, 1908
Husband of Mary Susan Stephans
And Elizabeth Jeanette Smithson
And father of 27 children


You can see most of the graves, here.


I like the polished geodes.


Interesting little figures.


This is just driving-around scenery, not even stop-and-gawk scenery.


One of the two elk I saw in the elk crossing zone.

Comments

[emschin.livejournal.com]

The first picture looks like you're driving off the edge of the world. I want to say "There be dragons....!"

One gravestone (the one with the strange little characters) says "Willis"
but then has other last names on it. First I thought it was two wives but then at the bottom it said "married" and gave a date. Mormons, maybe so he had two wives at once? I sure would like to know that story.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I suspect that Patterson was his middle name. Like there were some Pattersons somewhere in the family, so they gave him that name in tribute. The woman's last name would have been her maiden name.

27 children

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

His descendants probably exceed the population of my town.

Re: 27 children

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Here's one of those nebulous math problems...

27 kids, let's assume 3/4 of them lived to adulthood, and 3/4 of those married. Polygamy was beginning to fall off, so we'll assume each of those kids who married had only ten kids each. That's 150 grandkids.

Samer percentages for the next generation gives us 840 great-grandkids.

That's 1000 descendents in two generations.

Re: 27 children

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

They would have exceeded my town's population the next generation.

Thanks for doing the math!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

27 kids? From only two wives? Prolific is the word that comes to mind...
What's that chain all about that's hanging off the Willis monument almost as it it were a necklace?

Fantastic driving around scenery!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

The chain looks like Mardi Gras-style beads. Seems like I've seen that sort of decoration before.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I posted the photos in MourningSouls, and a few Willis relatives have stopped by.

http://mourning-souls.livejournal.com/791098.html