Many years ago, when I was still a little child, my family went to Fayette, Utah to visit my great-grandmother. What I remember was a very rural place where people still had very large farms. I remember seeing unpaved roads, white fences and a herd of sheep. I also remember being in my great-grandmother’s kitchen and being told that she didn’t cook food on the sabbath day. Sunday meals were prepared ahead of time on Saturday. I was just old enough to find this interesting, since my mother had never taught us that it was wrong to cook on the Sabbath day. Visiting Fayette was a strange and interesting experience for me, even when I was that young. White Plains, New York (where I was living) and Fayette, Utah are very different places.

Years later, when I was a student at Brigham Young University, people would often ask me if I was related to Bartholomews they knew in Springville, Utah. I have been acquainted with all my aunts and uncles and first cousins, and none of them were from Springville. So I usually responded that I was probably distantly related to Bartholomews in Springville, but that I didn’t know them.

I didn’t think too much about why people were asking me this question. It didn’t even occur to me to wonder why there were Bartholomews in Springville. My Bartholomew grandparents lived in Provo, which is next door to Springville, so I wasn’t thinking too much about Fayette. Honestly, the geographical locations of Bartholomews in Utah wasn’t a question in my mind.

A few weeks ago I learned about something I never knew before about my genealogy and the reasons for Bartholomews being in Fayette and Springville. I’m still working on getting more information about it. What I know is that my great-great-great-grandfather Joseph Bartholomew, Sr. originally lived in Springville, Utah. His bishop there, I believe his name was Bishop Aaron Johnson tried to have my ancestor killed and may have also had him excommunicated. From what little I know about this, my ancestor knew about some other murders or killings that were orchestrated by this bishop, and so this bishop was trying to get rid of him.

A few things surprised me about this story. First, until a few weeks ago I hadn’t heard about it. Second, I was a little surprised that my Bartholomew family line didn’t fall away from the church. From what I can tell, they always remained devout Mormons. If in fact my great-great-great-grandfather was excommunicated, I wonder how he worked his way back into the church. Did he have to be re-baptized? Perhaps in the Utah of these times, excommunication and membership were handled differently or maybe this excommunication didn’t really happen. I don’t know. I’m hoping to have some better sources about this soon.

Basically my ancestor dealt with this extremely hostile situation by taking his family and moving to a remote part of Utah. I don’t know much else about the details, except that some Bartholomews moved back to Springville (or perhaps never left) and that is why people were asking me about Bartholomews they knew in Springville.

I’m going to try and get some more specific information about this. For the first time in my life I am finding genealogy very interesting. This story struck a chord in me because I am grateful that my family is still devoted to the church.