Levi Cyril Loveland

Levi Loveland’s parents are Chester Loveland from Ohio and Fannie Call from Vermont. They met and were married in 1838 in Ohio. Levi was the fifth child born into their family.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Loveland family joined the Warren Foote Company, leaving Iowa June 17 for the Great Salt Lake Valley. Levi became ill and passed away and is buried along the Mormon Trail. No information was found as to the cause of his death.

According to Kate Carter’s, “Heart Throbs of The West,” the read records, “While traveling across the plains a little child in the family of Cyril Call became very ill. The parents had made a little basket-cradle for it and hung the cradle to the wagon bows so it might rock back and forth with the swaying of the wagon. Upon taking the basket down, the parents discovered that the baby was dead.

“Cyril Call came to Dwight Harding telling him of the sad occurrence and asked him to contrive a casket in which to bury the baby.

“Dwight Harding looked around for a tree with well-fitting bark. He found a suitable one, then sawed a piece of the trunk long enough for the little body. He then sawed the log in half, vertically. He worked carefully with the bark until he could slide the wooded part from the two halves. Then he made the ends, which he fastened to the little trough-shaped bark. The casket was then completed.

“The women lined it making it as soft, cosy(sic) and pretty as they could. The babe was placed in. The half of the bark which formed the cover was carefully laid on and securely fastened and the little one was buried by the wayside."