Field Trip in Florence
Recently, I took my son Jasper on a field trip to Florence. No, not in Italy, rather Florence, Nebraska. Actually, it is called merely part of north Omaha now, but when it was first settled, it was named Florence. It maintains a small town flavor still, even though it is an incorporated part of Omaha.
The reason why Florence is an important part of Omaha, and even part of the history of America, is due to the fact that the Mormons, on their way to Salt Lake City from Nauvoo, Illinois, settled for a time here on the banks of the Missouri river. They had endured many hardships in Nauvoo, among them being burned out of their homes by people who didn't understand their lifestyles. Despite their highly civilized lifestyles here, many of them died of disease and other factors during their stay, and so there is a Mormon cemetary here.
When I was young, the cemetary was mostly a field (albeit a well-groomed field) with some stone markers. Mostly what moved me as a child coming here on field trips was the sculpture of the Mormon father and mother looking down into the grave of their child. I admittedly didn't really understand what it all meant when I was a child, but that was and continues to be my personal image of a Mormon person, strong spirited and determined to carry on with their lives.
Although I identify with my father's Jewish heritage, my family has a strong link to the Mormon people. As the story goes, one of my great (plus) grandfathers walked with Brigham Young all the way to Salt Lake, helped to build the Tabernacle, and decided Brigham Young's ideas about marriage were incorrect. When he confronted Brigham Young with his ideas, he was promptly invited to leave town and never return. So, he packed his stuff, and came all the way back to Nebraska, and my mother's family has been here ever since. Also, my husband's father was a Mormon. My husband doesn't remember much about him, because he was remarried before my husband really got to know him. I suppose living in Omaha, it doesn't seem all that strange for both of us to have Mormonism in our backgrounds, except when you consider that my husband's father came from Oregon, went all the way to Germany, had a son, moved him to Omaha, and that where we met, many years later.
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