Anthony Wayne and Susan Matilda Lane Bessey and their descendants will be honored at the 33rd Annual Commemoration of the “Settlement of Sanpete,” Saturday, September 25, 2021. This event, held at Manti, Sanpete County’s first settlement, is sponsored by the Manti Camp of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. The public is invited to attend.

The Besseys arrived in Manti, Utah, accompanied by Anthony’s recently widowed mother, Thankful Sterns Bessey, in 1857. Here Anthony carried on the rich tradition of his Pilgrim/Puritan Ancestry. He was very active in both civic and church affairs, which included being a captain of carvery in the Black Hawk War, Mayor of Manti, and a regular worker in the Manti Temple when it first opened in 1888 under the Presidency of Daniel Wells.

The “Besse” ancestor who immigrated to Massachusetts from England in 1655 was a “freeman” and part of the Plymouth Colony. Later generations participated in the War of Independence as minute-men in the storied Alarm at Lexington, April 1775.

The schedule of events for Saturday, Sept. 25th:

8 – 9:15 a.m. – Registration & Information on afternoon tours.

9:30 – A short “Laying of the Wreath” @ the Manti Cemetery (Highway 89, W. of the Manti Temple).

10:30 — A Bessey Family Program at the Manti Red Church Chapel (300 S Main) followed by

Noon — DUP Luncheon at the Red Church Cultural Hall

1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. — Tours of the Bessey homes, gravesites, the Patten House Museum with the Beach Cabin, and other historic sites.

For ore information contact Jane Braithwaite @ 435-835-5841 or (janebraithwaite23@gmail.com)

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