liz3564 wrote:
This is going to show my ignorance in history, but who is Miles Goodyear, and why would BY take money which was intended for Winter Quarters families, and use it to purchase land for this person?
The state of education! Apparently you've never had a good Utah history class, liz. Thank goodness for my third grade teacher, Mrs. Cook.
As every Utah school child should know, Miles Goodyear built the first house (cabin) in Utah. He was an important mountain man and married the daughter of Ute chief. The original cabin, or likely one from his settlement, is still standing in Ogden.
His settlement, Fort Buenaventura near the Weber River, offered the incoming Mormon pioneers with a useful and ready-made place of refuge. Goodyear thought the Mormons should settle there, rather than in SLC, but they disagreed. A few months after arriving in Utah, they offered to buy the land, the fort and all its buildings and all the animals.