From 1855 to 1856, nearly 70 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints migrated to Utah from an area of the Italian Alps known as the Waldensian Valleys.
Their journeys were ones of faith and sacrifice as they traveled across the Italian and French mountainside by covered wagons and sleds, over the Atlantic ocean by boat and throughout the United States by steamboat and handcarts.
On Tuesday, Sept. 16, descendants of the first missionaries and Church members in Italy gathered in Bountiful, Utah, to celebrate how the strength of those early Church members had impacted them generations later.
Stevie Beus Jr. told the story of his ancestor James Beus, who moved to the United States when he was 15 years old and then made major sacrifices to return to Italy as a missionary.
“There are now thousands of Beus descendants because of the decisions and the faith of a few,” he said.
“Studying these people, studying my ancestors who’ve come before me, the sacrifices they made so I could have a life here and know the truth of the gospel has given me pause to reflect on what I’m doing with that privilege that I’ve been given.”
Other descendants of Italian pioneers also told family stories and set up displays sharing their family’s history.
Natalie Fronk told the story of Susanne Robert and Elizabeth Rochon, which she called a “Naomi and Ruth kind of story.”
Robert married Rochon’s father before their family left Italy for Utah.
During the journey, Rochon’s father and two of her siblings died, leaving her, Robert and one remaining child alone when they arrived in Utah.
Rochon never had children of her own, but she looked after Robert and her younger brother for the rest of her life.
Fronk, also with no children of her own, said she relates to Rochon and believes God’s blessings are extended to all who make and keep covenants.
“[Elizabeth Rochon] has shown me that it isn’t necessary to wait for eternity to help raise a righteous posterity and to strengthen our eternal family.”
James Toronto — a descendant of Joseph Toronto, one of the first missionaries in Italy, and former president of the Rome Italy Temple — said those Italian pioneers planted seeds of hope and resilience that have blessed their descendants.
“I pray that we might replant the same seeds for the benefit and blessing of unseen loved ones in the future and in eternity.”
Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr. — an emeritus General Authority Seventy who previously served as Church historian and recorder and as a young missionary and mission president in Italy — also addressed attendees, inviting them to ponder the impact decisions made generations ago have had on their lives.
“Hearing what we’ve heard tonight, we have greater appreciation for the sacrifices for the devotion for the faith of these wonderful early Italian converts.”
