Alexander and Eunice McRae, 9th installment

Upon arriving in Great Salt Lake City, the family camped on a lot owned by William Booth on 8th East, between 3rd and 4th South, on the west side of the street. [David F. McRae, “Sketch of the Life of Alexander McRae”.] Alexander bought a house on the northwest corner of the same block in the Tenth Ward. [Registry of Names of Persons . . . in the various Wards . . . , December 28, 1852.] Their ninth child, Charles, was born January 12, 1853, exactly four months after their arrival in Salt Lake. [Salt Lake City Death Record, 1884-1890; Deseret Evening News, October 28, 1887.]

A ditch had been begun in 1850 to bring water from Emigration Canyon into the 10th Ward, and Alexander is recorded as having worked on this “watter canal” twice in the spring of 1853. [Tenth Ward Record, 1851-1866, p 86, 151.] A volunteer fire company was organized in the Tenth Ward, November 8, 1853, with Conrad Kleinman as Captain and Alexander McRae as First Lieutenant. [D. U. P., Tales of a Triumphant People, pp 31-32.] An ordinance had been passed, in 1853, by the City Council, for the organization of a fire brigade, and since this was to be a volunteer fire department, bucket companies were organized in each of the wards in the city. [Kate B. Carter, Fire Departments of Utah.”]

The 22nd Quorum of Seventies, of which Alexander had become a member in 1845, had its headquarters in Salt Lake City, and met the first Sunday of every month at the home of Jonathan Pugmire, Jr., in the 7th Ward. The Seven Presidents, in April 1854, as reported by Alexander McRae, who was the clerk of the quorum, were David Cluff, Sr., Provo City; David Elliot, Melvin Wilber, Alexander Wright, Alexander McRae, Great Salt Lake City; Andrew Henry, Fillmore City; and Jonathan Pugmire, Jr., Great Salt Lake City. [Deseret News, April 27, 1854.]

The McRae’s tenth child, Eunice, was born January 2, 1855, in Salt Lake City, and died the same year on December. [Salt Lake City Cemetery Record, Book A. p 22; Salt Lake City Death Records, 1848-64. Tombstone, Salt Lake City Cemetery.]