Pioneer Day Post

Rebecca Frost

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Giovanni Minetti and his Grave

John V. Minnette aka Giovanni Minetti

My dear husband is 100% Italian. I'm not. However, I do actually have some Italian blood from my mom's side of the family. Giovanni Virginio Minetti was my mom's great-grandfather. He was born in 1857 near Genoa, Italy, and came to the U.S. around 1880. He settled west of Salt Lake City in Bingham, Utah, and worked as a silver miner. He married Agatha Jacobsen, a widow with three children who ran a boarding house. They had one child together who was my mom's grandfather. John V. Minnette (as he was known in America) died in 1907 and is buried in the Bingham City Cemetery. So there is the fulfillment of my promise to explain my tie in to the Bingham City Cemetery! But wait... there's more!

John Minnette in his Odd-Fellow Regalia

In 2003, I tried to track down the gravesites of all of my ancestors buried in Utah (where I was living). On Memorial Day 2003, I went with two of my aunts and some cousins to try and visit all of the graves we possibly could. When we got to Bingham City Cemetery, we found a dusty, forgotten place. My cousin, Natalie, amazingly found the gravestone almost immediately, even though the words had practically been blown away by the elements. It was decided that she had the luck of the Italians because she was wearing a "Ciao Roma" t-shirt! We figured that no one had visited this grave for 20 years or more. Not only was the stone in trouble, but the actual grave had various animal and snake holes covering it and weeds growing all over.

Grave rediscovered! Memorial Day 2003

We visited the grave on Memorial Day 2004 as well and decided that we would try to preserve this special gravesite. I wrote up fliers explaining who John Minnette was invited all of his descendents to a mini-family reunion. It was a great day! What a special experience that touched all present. I will never forget it. My mom did a great write-up of our activities, so I have asked her permission to use some excerpts of it here:

My mom (far right) and two of her sisters. Memorial Day 2004

Last Tuesday (8/24/04) we had a mini family reunion. Candy (that's what my family calls me - Sydney) named it the Giovanni Project. We ordered a beautiful new gray granite tombstone for John Virginio Minetti’s grave site. The original tombstone was made of sandstone, which had eroded to the point of being illegible. Kathy, Patti, Stephen, Marisa, and Sydette, as well as Ephraim and Amy, David and Bethany, and Sean all helped pay for the tombstone. Candy purchased blocks to outline the entire grave and 10 bags of river rocks to cover the top of the grave. Those who attended were: Candy, Sydette, and Alex, Bethany & David, Marisa, Peter, and Doug, Patti, Natalie and London, Kathy, Makayla, and Sean.

When we began work on the gravesite, digging up the rocks and leveling off the ground, a lady and two Boy Scouts came over to talk to us. She said her son was earning his Boy Scout Eagle award by recording the details of every grave in the cemetery. Her name was Laurie Jencks and she said all of the work would be recorded on the Internet at USGenWeb in a short while. Laurie said they had come every day all summer and that the day we met was the last day before school started and the scouts would be finished with their project. The cemetery was the Bingham City Cemetery, in Salt Lake County, but since the Kennecott Copper Mine had expended to cover what used to be Bingham City, the city was unincorporated, leaving the cemetery without a city to care for it. Candy found out that in such cases, the geographically nearest government entity was automatically responsible for its care. For the Bingham City Cemetery, that was the Jordan School District. Therefore, it was essentially an abandoned cemetery. The cemetery records were kept by Jordan School District and by some private individuals. Laurie had gathered and organized all of the records. When she and we tried to find John Virginio, we found that he did not appear anywhere in the records. By the time the younger generation had grown up and wanted to find their great-great grandfather, the tombstone would have been totally worn away and no-one would have had any record of where he was buried. We all really strongly feel that it was important that we place the new, long-wearing gravestone for John Virginio when we did.

Before the restoration - the headstone and Odd Fellow marker.

Great Grandpa Minetti’s tombstone was made of white sandstone and the writing on it had been nearly eroded away. Because we knew his name and dates, we were able to decipher the writing, but when Laurie and the Scouts had examined the gravesite just the day before our family reunion, they had labeled it as undecipherable and an unknown grave. There was also a metal marker on a post that had become unearthed and was just laying on the grave. This marker was put there by a fraternity in which John Virginio had been active.

Before the restoration - the foot marker.

Laurie and the Scouts were overjoyed to see our family come to work on the gravesite. She was so happy that the Scouts could see that people do care about the graves of their relatives and that all of the work the Scouts had performed all summer was valuable to other people. That same morning Laurie had seen a man in a truck come to the cemetery. She was surprised to see him, because people seldom come to this abandoned cemetery. She talked to him and learned that he was an engineer who had some time on his hands so came to visit the grave of one of his ancestors. When Laurie told him that the original survey and mapping of the cemetery was full of errors, he said he would re-survey and map the cemetery correctly. It was a very exciting and spiritual day for Laurie and the Scouts to have everything come together for them and their cemetery work like it did.

The restoration in process. August 24, 2004

When we finished cleaning the grave, laying the new tombstone and rock decoration, we held a short memorial service. A few people spoke about John Virginio’s life, we sang the perfect hymn, Nearer My God to Thee, chosen by Marisa, Alex said a prayer in English, and David gave a prayer in Italian. It was a very moving experience in which Laurie and the Scouts joined us. The words to the hymn follow:

Nearer my God to, thee, Nearer to thee!
E’en though it be a cross That raiseth me.
Still all my song shall be Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer my God to, thee, Nearer to thee!

Though like the wanderer, The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams I’d be Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer my God to, thee, Nearer to thee!

There let the way appear, Steps unto heav’n;
All that thou sendest me, In mercy giv’n;
Angels to beckon me Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer my God to, thee, Nearer to thee!

It is amazing how perfect these words were with the tender melody to memorialize and express you wishes for our deceased ancestor.

Restoration complete! The whole gang.

A couple of weeks ago the work that the Scouts did at the cemetery was briefly on the TV news and they were featured in a very nice newspaper article and picture in the Salt Lake City paper, Deseret Morning News on Monday, November 9, 2004. The headline for the article was: Scouts making their mark at old Utah cemetery. One short paragraph even relates how our family came to work on our ancestor’s grave and that we had a song and prayer in Italian at the graveside.
The rest of the day we had lunch together and then visited Bingham Copper Mine and learned more about mining in that area where John had worked. I highly recommend putting together a similar project if you have family graves that are in danger of being lost. The mini-family reunion is the way to go. People can donate time or money or both!
The photo in my previous post showed the two sons of John Virginio Minnette visiting his grave in Bingham City Cemetery. Cemeteries are fascinating pieces of history and sacred places in my opinion. I am so grateful that we were able to pull this project off and even though I live far away from Utah now, I know that anyone looking for John V. Minnette's grave can find it. What a wonderful feeling!

Bingham City Cemetery Videos

My great-grandpa Vegene Minnette and his brother, Fred Minette at Bingham City Cemetery.

Watch these two videos about the Bingham City Cemetery's revitalization. It was brought about largely through the effort of one young man, Brad Jencks. If you watch closely you'll see me and my sister in the first video! How does my family tie into this cemetery's story? I will have to give you the answer in a subsequent post.

Brad Jencks' Bingham City Cemetery Eagle Project - Connecting Families Across the World
It's amazing what a difference one person with a vision can make. What a blessing this project has been to so many lives. Thanks to the Jencks family and everyone that supported Brad in his project. You guys are awesome!

Brad Jencks' Tips on cemetery projects - Eagle Scout Project Tips
Thanks to Roots TV for the videos. What a fascinating and fantastic story!