As I have been thinking of Pioneer Day I naturally think of my own pioneer ancestors who left their homes and families and traveled to find a refuge, a place of peace, and acceptance. I have read and heard so many stories about my ancestors. I am grateful for them and their faith through their trials. 

A few of my pioneer ancestors:



Jesse Turpin


Allen Joseph Stout


Louisa Capelin Budd


William Moore Allred


Dan Jones


Isaiah Cox


Henrietta Janes


“Truly the Lord encourages us to walk in faith to the edge of the light and beyond—into the unknown,” Elder Ballard says. “After the trial of our faith, He once again shines the light ahead of us, and our journey of faith in every footstep continues. Now it has swelled into billions and billions of footsteps throughout the world.
“We must be sure that the legacy of faith received from the pioneers who came before us is never lost. Let their heroic lives touch our hearts, and especially the hearts of our youth, so the fire of true testimony and unwavering love for the Lord and His Church will blaze brightly within each one of us as it did in our faithful pioneers.” ~ M. Russell Ballard

Many of us have said that we could never have been a pioneer like our ancestors, and it has been said that those spirits have said that same about us. We are all Pioneers paving the way for others. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Each of us is a pioneer and many of us pioneer daily in trying to establish a gospel foothold in distant parts of the world.”



Our gratitude to our ancestors can be shown through our own lives-the way we live, have faith, help others and keep moving forward. I hope to be an example to those that come after me and to give hope that they too can overcome hardships and find peace. 

Signed pioneer picture to my daughter Charlotte from artist Al Rounds 


“Can we somehow muster the courage and that steadfastness of purpose which characterized the pioneers of a former generation?” President Monson asks. “Can you and I, in actual fact, be pioneers today? A dictionary defines a pioneer as ‘one who goes before, showing others the way to follow.’ Oh, how the world needs pioneers today!” ~Thomas S. Monson


Hosea Stout is my 4th Great uncle, 
 brother to Allen Joseph Stout - body guard to Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Heber C. Kimball