Charles Lamone Green was an early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and moved his family to be among the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, and later in Nauvoo, Illinois. When persecution forced the Saints from their homes in Illinois, Charles kept his family facing west. The trials of the trail proved to be a challenging endeavor that caused a division in his family. His oldest son, Allen, who was married, left the Silas Richard’s wagon train to seek his fortune and the waiting opportunities beyond the horizon in the gold fields of California. This multi-generational story of the west, in the late 1800’s, follows the Green family, their travels, their hopes, and their Long Way to Utah.
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I’m sure this term means different things to different people. When I set out to write an account of the Green family, from my G-G-Great Grandfather, Charles Lamone Green, to my Great Grand Father, Newell Dayton Green, I wasn’t sure where or how to start.
I found out quickly that first-hand material was limited, no diaries, no journals, and brief basic life sketches. I also discovered that the primary things that are recorded in a lifetime are: Birth, Marriage, and Death. The birth, and the death, of a couple’s children help piece together a timeline of lifetime.
That is the ‘historical’ part of the story.
The ‘fiction’ part of this story came to me through research of what was happening in the environment around my family members during these milestones.
Investigation of the past helped me better understand what previous generations of my family had lived through, suffered through, and what brought them joy and happiness. It also revealed that the people, the people that I had put on such a pedestal, were typical, determined, pioneers. What I came to realize is that my ancestors’ lives weren’t clean and polished, they didn’t always make the right choice, they weren’t always the perfect father, son, brother, or friend. I also, with reasonable intuition, can credit specific individuals with ‘steering’ an entire generation.
So, after removing them from the pedestal and pointing the invading spotlight of their surroundings at them, I am content, again, to place them prominently back where they belong…on a pedestal.
I have taken certain liberties with the perception of the lives of my ancestors…to make a story. With the varied published dates and places, and the missing segments of time, I have ‘pieced’ together something that, I hope, doesn’t shed an inappropriate light on the lives on my family. After all, I intend on, and look forward to, spending a lot of time with them in the future!
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Viana Potter is my GGGrandmother and her life is portrayed prominently in Long Way to Utah. She witnessed the untamed country from Kirtland Ohio to the gold fields of California, and then to southern Arizona…all from the hard plank of a wagon. Surviving her husband, she spent her last years with her sister, Elizabeth, in Springville Utah. Her burial in the Historic Springville Cemetery was unmarked until recently, when family members rallied to remedy the situation. Marker placed in November of 2023.
