'They gave so much': Nonprofit seeks to remember pioneers in pauper's graves at SLC cemetery

SALT LAKE CITY — For the tens of thousands of souls with markers at the Salt Lake City Cemetery, there are still hundreds who have no headstone at all.

Becky Anderson, through her nonprofit, In Remembrance, Inc., hoped to change that by installing memorial markers honoring over 500 pioneers and early settlers known to be buried in unmarked paupers' graves in Plat D, Block 7.

"They gave so much that we could enjoy the blessings that we have today," Anderson told KSL at the cemetery on Tuesday.

Anderson said her interest in the project originally began with a quest to find the gravesite of her fourth great grandmother, Lydia Kenyon Carter, who was born on Dec. 11, 1799, in Benson, Vermont, and died in Salt Lake City on Dec. 10, 1866.

"I came here two years ago, again, just emotionally just weeping, thinking, 'Oh my goodness, this woman who literally packed up her home in Nauvoo, crossed the river, literally drove the wagon by herself with her children and then crossed another 1,300 miles to come here to Salt Lake and is buried in this unmarked grave,'" Anderson said.

Anderson and her family paid for a headstone in remembrance of Carter, but Anderson also wanted to do something to honor the other pioneers buried in the same section of the cemetery.

She established her nonprofit, and through a community effort researched the other settlers and raised funds to pay for three markers, each holding two bronze plaques, that contained the names of over 530 men, women and children laid to rest in unmarked graves there.

Two of the memorial markers were already installed, with the third set to be placed in October, according to Anderson.

She shared photos of some of those buried in Plat D Block 7.

"It makes a difference to be able to look into their eyes and truly have a feeling of who they were," Anderson said.

Anderson said learning the settlers' stories has made a difference for her and the others involved in the project.

"I think the opportunity to learn from them and be inspired by their stories, how they sacrificed, has just been so rewarding — it's just been a blessing in my life," Anderson said.

She hoped the markers would help to share the stories of these pioneers well into the future.

"I don't want them to be forgotten because they were the ones that came to build and seek a better future and join with the saints in creating this Zion and this community here in Salt Lake," Anderson said. "It's offered me a greater appreciation for their courage and their faith."

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