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Show Dedication of Pioneer Home Ends Two-day Reunion of Smith Clan More than 150 descendants of Jesse N. Smith, 1851 pioneer pio-neer to Parowan, assembled here over the past week end to take part in the dedication of the Smith Family home and to enjoy a family reunon. The old family home, built during the years of 1856-58, has been restored during the past several sev-eral months and made into a memorial to the pioneer and his first family, and a museum mu-seum and relic hall. The formal dedication took place on Sunday afternoon at the home, following a meeting meet-ing of family members held in the Third Ward chapel during dur-ing which many members of the group related incidents in their lives and early day history. his-tory. The dedication on Aug .13 honored the 170th anniversary of the birth of a pioneer mother, moth-er, Mary Aikens Smith, who came to Parowan with her two sons, to help settle this community. com-munity. The sons were Jesse Nathaniel and Silas Sanford Smith. The family also paid tribute to the other members of the company who traveled from Salt Lake City to Parowan Paro-wan Valley during the winter of 1850-51, arriving here Jan. 13 following a trek of several weeks. The first meeting of the family, which gathered here on Saturday from many states of the union including Florida, Flori-da, was an evening meeting at the Third Ward chapel, and the reunion carried over to Sunday when family members gathered at the Smith home at 10 a. m. for a family program. This was followed by tours of the Old Rock Church and its museum, a visit to the Parowan Paro-wan City cemetery where a few of the early day members mem-bers are buried. At the 3:30 meeting on Sunday Sun-day Smith family members were joined by local residents in a program after which the crowd moved to the "home" for the formal ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication, with Carlos Smith a son of Carlos N. Smith and a grandson of Jesse N. Smith, giving the dedicatory prayer. The two day gathering was under the direction of Don Mack Dalton of Pleasant Grove, president of the Smith Family organization, who has also spearheaded the drive to restore the home. Smith was the father of 44 children, 20 of whom were born in Parowan to three of his wives, prior to his being called to colonize Mormon communities in Arizona. |