Comments on: Dedicating Graves: a Brief History

By: Jon Norton

Jon Norton — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:04:53 +0000

Joel Hills Johnson also documented an event in my family history tied to George Deliverance Wilson (who married a Johnson). Joseph Smith married a Johnson daughter as well. They were brothers-in-law. The great hailstorm miracle. The great grandmother (daughter to a very old GDW through his 5th wife) was about 7 years old when the miracle took place. She shared it with me when I was very young. Call if you want to hear. 801 471 8881

By: Tyler LeBaron

Tyler LeBaron — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:34:23 +0000

I am attending BYU and am doing a research paper on Ezekiel Johnson’s experiance I am related to him. and My gradpa heard the story from Zenos Black, a temple worker in Manti, who was freinds with Ezekial and said it was true. I want to understand the story better. So I am looking for all accounts given of the story to see if I can find some varriations. If anyone has any other accounts or insights please post.

By: Carla E.

Carla E. — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:01:44 +0000

I heard the account of Ezekiel “Zeke” Johnson and the plowed up bones, just the other day, from his nephew, an older gentleman, who was visiting the Family History center where I work- I think his name was Bernie Johnson. In his teens- he thinks sometime around 1955/56- he heard his Uncle Zeke bear this testimony firsthand. He told me pretty much the same story, emphasizing that he heard it with his own ears, from his uncle. I recorded it at the time, with a digital recorder. Some say it’s just folklore. All I know is this gentleman told it to me and my recorder, as a first hand account. I’m not willing to cast doubt on his account, nor his uncle’s. It is what it is, and we can believe or not. It was a very sweet experience, and it left me feeling very warm and calm, not troubled.

By: Tristan Baier

Tristan Baier — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:13:09 +0000

The evolution of Church policy and practice concerning the dedication of graves is interesting – thanks for sharing this information.

The article on “Dedications” in the Encylopedia of Mormonism contains an interesting brief explanation of the practice of dedicating objects, places, or actions to divine purposes – see http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Dedications .

To the question in comment #11, I would reply that, as I have located and visited the resting places of my ancestors, I have dedicated those sites the same as is done at modern burial services. These solemn prayers have included expressions of appreciation and love for our progenitors; some of these dedications have been remembered as special spiritual experiences by family members of various faiths.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 05:53:52 +0000

I looked up the account in the BYU archives and it was simply the story of a woman that heard this recounted in a sacrament meeting (I guess it was a fairly popular story back in the day). There is, however, a copy of Zeke’s account in the USU archive’s folklore collection. I’m not sure that we can derive much from this account beyond the cultural information of time. I would be very reticent to draw theological conclusions from such a source.

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 05:05:35 +0000

Had to do some digging, but I found my copy of the experience of Zeke Johnson written when he was 85 in 1954. He said he had the experience in 1908 or 1909 in Blanding, UT. He wrote, “I was working to clear the ground…[when] I discovered there were ancient houses there….As I was plowing around I noticed that my plow had turned out the skeleton of a small child. The skull and the backbone, most of the bones of course, were decayed and gone…. As I was looking at the little skeleton… all of a sudden… I saw the bones wiggle and began to change position and to take on a different color. And within a minute there lay a beautiful skeleton. … Then I say the inner parts of the natural body coming in- the entrails, etc. I saw the flesh coming on, and I saw skin come on the body when the inner parts of the body were complete. A beautiful head of hair adorned the top of the head, and in about a half a minute… the child raised up on her feet…. as she raised up a beautiful robe came down over her left shoulder and I say it must be a girl. As she looked at (me) and I looked at her for a quarter of a minute- we just looked at each other smiling. Then in my desire to get hold of her I said, “Oh you beautiful child!” And I reached as if I would embrace her, and she disappeared.
Later a stake patriarch, Wayne H. Redd of Blanding felt that he had had an experience and asked him to share it. He wondered for years why he had been given this experience. One day he was told by “something” that “when the child was buried there it was either in time of war…or it was winter time when the ground was frozen…. They just planted that little body as deep as they could… When it was done the sorrowing mother knew that it was such a shallow little grave, that in her sorrow she cried out to the group that was present, “That little (girl), the first beast that come along will smell her body and will dig her up…. There just happened to be a man present holding the Priesthood (a Nephite or a Jaredite, I don’t know which because they had both been in this country…). This man said, “Sister, calm your sorrows. Whenever that little body is disturbed or uncovered, the Lord will call her up and she will live.”
Related by Zeke Johson, son of Joel Hills Johnson. Retyped and reproduced by Dale A. McAllister of Orem, Utah.

Comments: So, this must be a grave dedication occurring at the time of the Nephites or Jaredites. Not to say that every grave dedication will result in a resurrection. And now, if you will forgive an unorthodox source, a catholic priest wrote:
The jews had an old custom “which is described by Schickardus in his works upon Hebrew rites and ceremonies… He mentions that the Jews clasp the hands of the dead so that in their disposing they fancifully form the name of Almighty God (shows a Shin, Daleth, and Yodh)…. Delrio tells us that the demon has indeed a certain power over the bodies of the dead, and he may indeed take their form and appear in this shapep and his power is especially great over those which are buried in unconsecrated ground…. Should a grave seem at all suspect, not perhaps of vampirism, but as being a focus of exceptional phenomena, a requiem or even trentals will be sung or said for the deceased. If ultimate measures have to be taken these, of course will be directed according to the canon by ecclesiastical authority.”- Montague Summers, The Vampire in Europe, pp.204,206. Other that that, I’ve asked prominent LDS morticians, and noone has any idea where the dedication of grave ceremony began. Thanks for all your input.

By: Kim Siever

Kim Siever — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 12:18:54 +0000

Dedicating a house isn’t a priesthood ordinance, or is not one that is specifically done by priesthood authority.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 03:01:42 +0000

hmmm…interesting. I am not sure, but I don’t see any reason why not. You can dedicate a house after you move in.

By: Kim Siever

Kim Siever — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 02:02:48 +0000

I wonder if it is ever appropriate to dedicate a grave after a funeral has taken place.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 23:22:13 +0000

Great insight Bret…now I’m going to have to go read some British naval history.