This week is the anniversary celebrating the Mormon Pioneers arrival to the Salt Lake Valley.This is the oldest picture I could find of the first home built in the Valley. It is now located between the Church's Family History Library and the Church History Museum.
The cabin was built in 1847, soon after the Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Six people—Osmyn M. and Mary Whiting Deuel and William H. and Eliza Whiting Deuel (the Deuel brothers married sisters) and William and Eliza’s two daughters, Minerva and Mercy Ann—lived in it from October 1847 to May 1848.
It is hard to believe that six people (two families) lived in this cabin that looks to be about the size of a single car garage. I am so grateful for the sacrifice of these early pioneers that gave so much for what the believed in and made things so much easier for those that followed.
It is likely that when the Deuels moved, they rented the home to other settlers. In 1849, they sold it to Albert Carrington, who placed skids under it and, with ox teams, moved the cabin to his property at West Temple and First North. (this is the location where the picture was taken) In 1852, Christopher and Maryann Riding and their five children were living in it. Brother Carrington gave the home to his daughter, Francis, and her husband, Zebulon Jacobs. They lived in it briefly, and years later offered it to the Church as a historical relic.
The cabin was dismantled and moved to the Deseret Museum, where it was displayed until about 1919 when it was moved to Temple Square. I remember always going to see the cabin when it was here, I thought it was kind of a creepy looking place. It stood on Temple Square until 1976, then was put into storage. In 1984, the cabin was placed on the plaza in its present location.
