George Crookston was the first son of Robert and Ann Welch Crookston, born on July 27, 1948, in Savannah, Missouri. His mother said it was the happiest day of her life. His father said he was a "fine baby, grew fast and was unusually bright." They named him George, after his mother's little brother, George Welch, who had died at the age of 5 in 1842, in Nauvoo, Illinois.
George loved to sit on his Grandmother, Mary Young Crookston's knee and have her sing to him. His brother, Nicholas Welch Crookston wrote that George "was the mainstay in the family, and for a boy of his years, he was an exceptionally good, steady boy.
While the family was living in a large one-room house in Moroni, some of their "friends came over from the old country to join the Mormons, and in order to make room for them, George was put in a bin of wheat to sleep. The wheat was damp, it being a rainy season, and it caused his death."
He died of pneumonia on March 6, 1862. His father wrote, "This was our greatest sorrow. Ann (his mother) never seemed hardly reconciled to losing her bonny, blue-eyed boy, and as for myself, it was a real bereavement."
George was buried in the little cemetery in Moroni.
Some years later, in 1921, George's brother, Nicholas, and his son, Oscar Crookston, were working in the area and stopped at the cemetery to locate George's grave. Nicholas writes, "The fence around it had decayed and fallen down. On Sunday morning, Oscar and a couple of workmen and I went to the cemetery to put a cement top over the grave. The bishop was there when we came, and when he saw us, ordered us out, saying it was a Sabbath Day. He gave us a lecture on Sabbath breaking. I tried to explain that that was the only day we could come, and we went on working. The bishop went for the sheriff. We hurried and got the job done before the sheriff arrived."
George loved to sit on his Grandmother, Mary Young Crookston's knee and have her sing to him. His brother, Nicholas Welch Crookston wrote that George "was the mainstay in the family, and for a boy of his years, he was an exceptionally good, steady boy.
While the family was living in a large one-room house in Moroni, some of their "friends came over from the old country to join the Mormons, and in order to make room for them, George was put in a bin of wheat to sleep. The wheat was damp, it being a rainy season, and it caused his death."
He died of pneumonia on March 6, 1862. His father wrote, "This was our greatest sorrow. Ann (his mother) never seemed hardly reconciled to losing her bonny, blue-eyed boy, and as for myself, it was a real bereavement."
George was buried in the little cemetery in Moroni.
Some years later, in 1921, George's brother, Nicholas, and his son, Oscar Crookston, were working in the area and stopped at the cemetery to locate George's grave. Nicholas writes, "The fence around it had decayed and fallen down. On Sunday morning, Oscar and a couple of workmen and I went to the cemetery to put a cement top over the grave. The bishop was there when we came, and when he saw us, ordered us out, saying it was a Sabbath Day. He gave us a lecture on Sabbath breaking. I tried to explain that that was the only day we could come, and we went on working. The bishop went for the sheriff. We hurried and got the job done before the sheriff arrived."
George Crookston was the first son of Robert and Ann Welch Crookston, born on July 27, 1948, in Savannah, Missouri. His mother said it was the happiest day of her life. His father said he was a "fine baby, grew fast and was unusually bright." They named him George, after his mother's little brother, George Welch, who had died at the age of 5 in 1842, in Nauvoo, Illinois.
George loved to sit on his Grandmother, Mary Young Crookston's knee and have her sing to him. His brother, Nicholas Welch Crookston wrote that George "was the mainstay in the family, and for a boy of his years, he was an exceptionally good, steady boy.
While the family was living in a large one-room house in Moroni, some of their "friends came over from the old country to join the Mormons, and in order to make room for them, George was put in a bin of wheat to sleep. The wheat was damp, it being a rainy season, and it caused his death."
He died of pneumonia on March 6, 1862. His father wrote, "This was our greatest sorrow. Ann (his mother) never seemed hardly reconciled to losing her bonny, blue-eyed boy, and as for myself, it was a real bereavement."
George was buried in the little cemetery in Moroni.
Some years later, in 1921, George's brother, Nicholas, and his son, Oscar Crookston, were working in the area and stopped at the cemetery to locate George's grave. Nicholas writes, "The fence around it had decayed and fallen down. On Sunday morning, Oscar and a couple of workmen and I went to the cemetery to put a cement top over the grave. The bishop was there when we came, and when he saw us, ordered us out, saying it was a Sabbath Day. He gave us a lecture on Sabbath breaking. I tried to explain that that was the only day we could come, and we went on working. The bishop went for the sheriff. We hurried and got the job done before the sheriff arrived."
George loved to sit on his Grandmother, Mary Young Crookston's knee and have her sing to him. His brother, Nicholas Welch Crookston wrote that George "was the mainstay in the family, and for a boy of his years, he was an exceptionally good, steady boy.
While the family was living in a large one-room house in Moroni, some of their "friends came over from the old country to join the Mormons, and in order to make room for them, George was put in a bin of wheat to sleep. The wheat was damp, it being a rainy season, and it caused his death."
He died of pneumonia on March 6, 1862. His father wrote, "This was our greatest sorrow. Ann (his mother) never seemed hardly reconciled to losing her bonny, blue-eyed boy, and as for myself, it was a real bereavement."
George was buried in the little cemetery in Moroni.
Some years later, in 1921, George's brother, Nicholas, and his son, Oscar Crookston, were working in the area and stopped at the cemetery to locate George's grave. Nicholas writes, "The fence around it had decayed and fallen down. On Sunday morning, Oscar and a couple of workmen and I went to the cemetery to put a cement top over the grave. The bishop was there when we came, and when he saw us, ordered us out, saying it was a Sabbath Day. He gave us a lecture on Sabbath breaking. I tried to explain that that was the only day we could come, and we went on working. The bishop went for the sheriff. We hurried and got the job done before the sheriff arrived."
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