Over 200 people attended the Busath Family Reunion held in American Fork on July 27,
2024, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the year (1874) that Christian Bersvendsen
Busath and Agnes Abigail Cheever met, courted, and married. This report will briefly review
the reunion activities for the benefit of all family members.
Reason for a Reunion in 2024
Stories handed down in the family relate that as Christian was working on a canyon railroad
one day he met Agnes at a large church meeting. The stories often identified the railroad
with Provo Canyon, but research revealed there was no railroad in Provo Canyon until the
1890s. There was, however, a railroad in American Fork Canyon in 1874.
Further research showed that on August 29 and 30, 1874, there was a large church meeting
of some 4,000 persons in American Fork within two blocks of the American Fork Railroad
terminus. A meeting of that magnitude would certainly have caught Christian’s attention as
American Fork numbered only 2,000 at the time.
Agnes Cheever and her family also likely attended the meeting. Agnes’s father had lived
with and knew many of the church leaders at the meeting. And inhabitants of Provo where
the Cheevers lived were encouraged to attend with an o?er of half-fare train tickets.
The canyon railroad, the large church meeting, and the Cheevers’ likely attendance at the
meeting all fit with the family stories and together provide strong reason to believe that
Christian and Agnes met in American Fork on August 29 or 30, 1874. The timing also fits
with what we know—that they got married on December 14, 1874. For these reasons, it
was fitting their descendants should get together 150 years later to celebrate!
That so many of their descendants and family attended the reunion is a fulfillment of
promises made to Christian in his patriarchal blessings.
Christian received his first patriarchal blessing from John Smith on 1 October 1880. In it he
was told, “thy name shall be handed down with thy posterity in honorable remembrance
from generation to generation and written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Forty-two years later, he received a second patriarchal blessing from Hyrum Smith on 14
March 1922. In it he was told, “thy name shall not be blotted out from the book of
remembrance of the Lord, but it shall live in honorable remembrance in the midst of thy
people from generation to generation.”
Attendance and Welcome
Attendees at the reunion were greeted by a large banner prepared by George and Sunya Osborn. As people entered the building,Angel and Mason Busath provided those who had pre-registered with pre-printed name cards with a picture of the child of Christian and Agnes who was their ancestor and pre-printed labels with their own name to
a?ix to the name card.
Those who had not pre-registered were given blank name labels to fill out. A total of 201 pre-printed name labels and about 8 blank ones were distributed, indicating a total in-person attendance of at least 209 people. Attendees were also given the opportunity to sign up to help with cleanup or childcare, to contribute to cover extra costs of food, or to order a print of the family photograph for $10 to cover printing and mailing costs.
Many attendees came to the reunion dressed in blue Reunion T-shirts they had purchased in advance. Others received them as they arrived. Our thanks to David “Dave” Busath who oversaw the design, ordering, promotion, and distribution of the T-shirts. The train engine on the front commemorates how Christian and Agnes met while he was working on the railroad. (And perhaps unknowingly it commemorates how they got married eleven days before Christmas?) The pick and shovel and the pie on the back of the shirt are emblems of how they both worked to provide and care for their children, each of whom is listed below the emblems.
Attendees were also given Busath Family Reunion Bingo Challenge cards—a five-by-five grid listing 25 di?erent reunion activities. Stickers were provided to stick in the appropriate place on the grid for participation in each activity. The cards and stickers were prepared by Andrew and Aleshea Busath. They awarded prizes to those who completed activities in a straight line or who filled out their entire card. Congratulations to all those who completed the Reunion Bingo Challenge!
Activities
Many activities were provided at the reunion both outside and inside. Some people braved the heat and played volleyball, basketball, or checkers at the pavilion. But most enjoyed inside activities where it was air conditioned.
Inside the Cultural Hall people could watch brief histories narrated by animations of Christian and Agnes prepared by Andrew Busath using MyHeritage software. These histories are available on Christian’s and Agnes’s Memories on FamilySearch Family Tree and from the Busath-Cheever Archive on Permanent.org at
https://www.permanent.org/p/archive/06zh-0000/record/03tm-0057 and
https://www.permanent.org/p/archive/06zh-0000/record/03tm-0058.
People could also interact via computer with emulations of Christian (using the voice of Stephen Eric Busath) and Agnes (using the voice of Joyce Parry Hendricks), asking questions about their lives and hearing their answers. Gordon Clarke prepared the emulations, which gather information from various sources, including the CHRISTIAN BERSVENDSEN BUSATH AND AGNES ABIGAIL CHEEVER FAMILY HISTORY researched and written by Lynn and Andrew Busath.
People could also practice their Norwegian pronunciation with Bradford “Brad” Romney Busath who served a mission in Norway.
Or they could take their pictures in front of two backdrops prepared by Andrew and Aleshea Busath. The first is a picture of the log cabin where Agnes was born and lived. Her youngest brother Samuel Riter Cheever is standing on the left next to their mother, Mary Jane Nelson. Her father Henry Albert Cheever is sitting on the right in front of three other people, likely two of the younger daughters and a son (either Henry Albert or Joseph Edwin). The second picture is an aerial view of the Buseth farm taken in June 2022 by current resident Harald Buseth who gave it to Richard B. Busath after his visit to the farm in May 2023.
Finally, people could taste a bit of their heritage—dried fruit like the Cheever family made on their farm in Provo, lefse (a Norwegian flat bread) with a butter mixture that Joseph Nelson Busath described
eating with his Norwegian
relatives in his mission
journal, bread with
lingonberry preserves or
apple butter, or a sheet
cake à la Agnes Busath
Clayton prepared by two
granddaughters, Barbara
Clayton Terrill and Alice
Clayton Kerksiek. Crystal
and Aleshea Busath served at the tasting table and nearby photo backdrops.
Lunch
In the Cultural Hall at noon, Dave o?icially welcomed everyone to the Reunion. He shared some of the special feelings he had experienced in preparation for the Reunion, such as hearing an audio recording of Doug King singing “If You Walk Through a Storm,” on Facebook, Lyn Clayton pointing out how important the Reunion would be to the 107 deceased members of our family, and how they would be present, and learning how the Cheney family had discovered they were part of the Busath family through a DNA test. Richard B. Busath then o?ered a prayer and lunch was served in the Relief Society room.
The repast consisted of pulled pork or chicken, corn, and rice catered by BYU Food To-Go, potato salad from Costo, and various salads and desserts brought by reunion attendees.
Preparation, serving, and cleanup was done by Angel Busath with the assistance of her children and their spouses, Mason and Jaidrelín, Bennett and Manoly, Crystal and Dale. All went smoothly as there were four serving lines made with two rows of tables and attendees were called up in three groups. There were plenty of leftovers—distributed to first takers—and ample time for eating and visiting.
The Program
Dave emceed the program, welcoming those in attendance and those who joined virtually via Zoom. As he prepared the week before, he felt spiritually blessed and guided. For example, when he suggested beginning the program by singing, Come, Come, Ye Saints, Lyn Clayton pointed out that the hymn was written by William W. Clayton, a relative of Agnes Marietta Busath’s husband Peter A. Clayton. And at the Reunion, 82-year-old Joan Clayton Stephenson volunteered to conduct and L-J Busath to accompany the singing. Afterward Dave introduced in turn each of the presenters.
Andrew Busath led off providing a history of Christian and Agnes, including Christian’s emigration from Norway in early May 1870 headed to San Franciso, his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on the SS Peruvian, his arrival in Quebec, his trip on the Transcontinental Railroad to the Ogden, Utah junction, his work as a wiper with the Utah Central Railroad, Agnes’s growing up in Provo, their meeting each other wiper with the Utah Central Railroad, Agnes’s growing up in Provo, their meeting each other in American Fork, his employment building bridges, pile driving for the Saltair resort, and working for Silver Brothers, his mission to Norway, her activities in the Church, her passing away in 1907, his second marriage, his involvement in family history and temple work, and his passing in 1923.
Andrew’s presentation was followed by seven brief film clips prepared by members of the Reunion Committee—one each for Christian’s and Agnes’s six children who have descendants, and one for the five children who do not.
Richard B. Busath then presented a few stories from the Red Book about relatives in Norway, including (1) Olav Johannesen Kvernmo (GGNM-GD9)—Christian’s cousin twice removed—who was imprisoned and killed during World War II, (2) Gunnar Olsen Kargaard (GGVZ-DCC)—another cousin twice removed—who survived after being arrested by Germans in 1943 and su?ering severe torture during World War II, (3) Gurianna Jensen
(KHG7-DVV)—Christian’s cousin—who had seven children all of whom died as children
(four from a mudslide and three before that), and (4) Elizabeth Olsdatter (MDX1-NM4)—Christian’s aunt by marriage—who died delivering triplets. Richard also discussed his work in systematically reviewing the Red Book to upload information on our relatives into FamilySearch Family Tree so temple ordinances can be performed for them.
Richard’s son Justin then discussed their trip to Norway in May 2023 with slides of family farms and other sites they visited.
Lynn Busath discussed how to obtain copies of the CHRISTIAN BERSVENDSEN BUSATH AND AGNES ABIGAIL CHEEVER FAMILY HISTORY and the source documents it cites from the Busath-Cheever Archive on Permanent.org. The HISTORY may be viewed and downloaded at https://www.permanent.org/p/archive/06zh-0000/record/03tm-0059. The first five chapters may also be downloaded from Christian’s or Agnes’s Memories on FamilySearch Family Tree.
Gordon Clarke made the final presentation. Over 18 years ago, Gordon began the e?ort at FamilySearch to make it possible for large website, desktop, and mobile software companies to programmatically read and write FamilySearch data. He is still the Strategic Opportunities Manager at FamilySearch. He briefly reviewed some of the more familiar features of FamilySearch, including the “About,” “Sources,” “Memories,” and “Time Line” tabs on the person page.
He then discussed some of the “extra goodies” available from the “Activities” tab on the FamilySearch home page, such as (1) Where Am I From?, which shows you where your ancestors came from, (2) All About Me, which shows things such as what was happening when you were born, (3) Famous Relatives, which shows famous people you are related to (the Cheevers, for example, are related to Lucille Ball), and (4) Compare a Face, which allows you to compare your face to that of a relative (Gordon is 55% like his grandfather Joseph Nelson Busath). He also introduced us to some new activities that are being developed, such as the emulation program that will allow you to ask questions about an ancestor and receive answers based on available data as though you were chatting with them. He is working on setting up a one-in-all landing page on busath.org that will provide links to all the resources about the family, such as Facebook, YouTube, and so on.
A drawing was held at the end of the program. Tyler Busath’s name card was drawn from a box containing the name cards used for the family photograph. He, his parents, and two sisters will receive a free sitting for a family portrait to be taken at Busath Photography
($500 value, expiration July 26, 2025).
George Parry Osborn o?ered a benediction at the close of the program.
The program was recorded and will be made available to view. Details on how to view the program will be provided.
During the program, about fifteen younger children were entertained and watched over in two shifts by Crystal and Dale Zinn, Addi Wood, Lauren Lundstrom, Meggie Busath, and Marianne Osborn. An emergency contact sheet was available to parents in case children needed parents abruptly, but no incidents were reported. We are grateful for their service so others could hear the program.
Visiting and Cleanup
Following the program, there was more time for visiting even as many helped with the cleanup. We especially wish to acknowledge the help provided by Leon King, Richard, Lynn, Gregory and Crystal, Andrew and Alesha, L-J and Rick, Dave and their families, and Brad Busath.
Financial Report
Out-of-pocket expenditures for the reunion totaled $1,054.50, consisting of expenditures for food in the amounts of $725.43 (BYU Food To-Go) and $92.63 (Costco), ladder and sca?olding rentals in the amount of $36.44, and photo printing and shipping in the amount of $200.
The expenditures were covered by funds in the amount of $1,054.50, consisting of a carry-over reunion fund maintained by Stan Busath in the amount of $480, and additional contributions made in the amounts of $374.50 (for food), and $200 (for photographs).
In addition, many people contributed food and other items—not to mention time—without
seeking reimbursement. We express our profound gratitude to everyone who helped in any
way to make this reunion a success.
The Reunion Committee
Alice Kerksiek
Andrew Busath
Brad Busath
Dave Busath
George Osborn
Gordon Clarke
L-J & Rick Busath
Lynn Busath
Richard Busath