Thursday, November 1, 2012

Those Places Thursday–Webster Family Road Trip: Utah ~ Manti

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to the immigration story of Debs Webster and his family.

My Grandpa Debs Webster and his family had a lovely respite from their road trip as they spent time with extended family, enjoying balloons, teeter-totters, and watermelon.

But, it’s time to pile back into their crowded, non-air conditioned car and hit the road again.  Where to now?
  It's time to head south toward Manti, Utah.

For those who don’t know just where Manti, Utah is, here’s a map showing it’s location.


Manti, Utah from GoogleMaps.com
Manti, Utah
Googlemaps.com
Click to Enlarge

While Grandpa Debs and his family were in Manti, they visited the LDS Manti Utah Temple.


Manti Utah Temple
Manti Utah Temple
Photo from lds.org
Click to Enlarge
And I’m so glad Grandpa took photos of their visit there.

And now, here are the photos of the Manti Utah Temple from Grandpa Debs Webster’s 1952 Photo Album ~


The beautiful Manti Utah Temple.


Manti Utah Temple - 1952
Manti Utah Temple - 1952
Click to Enlarge

Looks like my Grandpa took a photo of a lovely flower bed.  Too bad it’s not in color.  It must have been so pretty!

Manti Utah Temple Grounds - 1952
Click to Enlarge

A view from the temple grounds.

View from Manti Utah Temple - 1952
Click to Enlarge

A group photo of the Webster family.


Webster Family at the
Manti Utah Temple - 1952
Click to Enlarge
Close-up of the Webster Family from the previous photo. Left to right: my two uncles and my mom, Helena Quillin, Willis Quillin Webster.

Webster Family at the Manti Utah Temple 1952
Webster Family at the
Manti Utah Temple 1952
Click to Enlarge

As I look at this photo of these immigrants from Brazil, I can't help but wonder what they thought as they traveled across the U.S.A.  It's important to remember that they didn't speak English. The only person in this family who could speak English was my Grandpa Debs, the person taking this photo.  This whole trip must have been quite an adventure for them, including this stop at the Manti Utah Temple.

Amazingly, almost exactly 50 years after my Grandpa Debs took his photos of the Manti Utah Temple, I stood on the same ground he did and also took photos of this magnificent temple.  Our family was on vacation in Utah at the time and on July 25, 2002 we stopped there for a visit.

Here’s a sampling of the photos I took.















I found this lovely Youtube video of the Manti Utah Temple, so if you’d like to see more photos of this beautiful temple, just press play -



I hope you enjoyed this virtual trip to the Manti Utah Temple.  The next stop for Debs Webster and his family is The Grand Canyon.

Thanks for reading!


Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

10 comments:

  1. I always wonder why they took the photos of people from SO far away. I'm glad you were able to make a close up so you could really see them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Debi,

      That's funny you mentioned the photos being so far away. My mom said that my Grandma Willis used to get after my Grandpa Debs for taking photos that way. Perhaps he wanted to get as much of the scene in as he could.

      So ya, I'm glad I thought of cropping the photo to show the family close up.

      Thanks so much for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. That is a beautiful temple. I like the YouTube too - lovely music. (And I see you're using those photo titles now! So am I - I'm even trying to backtrack but that's exhausting!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Wendy,

      It really is a beautiful temple! I'm so glad you enjoyed the YouTube video too.

      And yes, I've started using those photo titles now thanks to Caroline Pointer! (Wow, thanks for noticing!)

      I've backtracked through some of my previous blog posts but haven't finished yet. :)

      Thanks so much for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. That is a magnificent building, all right, both peaceful and majestic looking. Nice soothing music on the video. As I scrolled down, reading, I was really surprised to learn that this family was from Brazil and knew no English. Did they settle in Utah, or another state? I guess I'll find out when I read more installments of your blog! Thanks for this post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mariann,

      I'm so glad you liked the video! And to answer your question, my mom and her family settled in California.

      The fact that my Grandpa Debs basically created a photographic travelogue of their immigration from Brazil to California really is amazing to me. I'm so glad he did that and put these photos in an album. Truly a treasure for his posterity!

      Thanks so much for reading and commenting! I really do appreciate it!

      Delete
  4. Jana, I just love the old photos in conjunction with the new ones. Clearly the temple and its surroundings made a big impression on your Grandpa and his family. It's amazing that they attempted a trip like that with such limited English. And it's so neat that you were able to recreate it 50 years later. What a treasure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Shelley,

      Thanks so much! I thought I remembered our family having visited the Manti Utah Temple, and sure enough, there in our photo albums were the photos of our trip!

      Thanks for reading and commenting! I really appreciate it!

      Delete
  5. Manti looks like a lovely place -- wonderful "then and now" pictures! Enjoyed the close-up photo of the family as well ... I'm sure you're right that the trip was quite an adventure for them...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi ljhlaura,

      I'm glad you enjoyed the "then and now" photos!

      Thanks so much for stopping by!

      Delete

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