 Mormon Pioneer Cabin Salt Lake City, UT
"Residence of Osmyn and Mary Deuel and Osmyn's brother Amos,
from Fall 1847 to Spring 1848. this historic structure is one of two
surviving log homes built by Mormon pioneers upon arrival in the Salt Lake
Valley in 1847. Originally it was part of the north extension of the
pioneer fort erected by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day
Saints one mile southwest of here. The home, 15 feet by
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20
feet, was constructed of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine brought from the
mountains east of the city. As restored by the Museum of Church History
and Art, its furnishings reflect the lifestyle of the Deuels. Osmyn and
Mary were among the most prosperous of the 1847 pioneers. Osmyn was a
blacksmith, but he also farmed. Another log structure owned by the Deuels
in the fort's north enclosure probably served as the blacksmith shop.
There Osmyn and his brother William H, whose family lived next to Osmyn and
Mary, carried on their trade. It is supposed that Amos worked in the shop
also. The Deuels tilled and planted fourteen acres their first season in
the valley and also had a garden plot near their homes. The Deuels were
natives of New York. A number of this extended family were Latter-Day
Saints converts in the early 1830's. They lived in Kirtland, Ohio and
Nauvoo, Illinois before emigrating west. After the Deuels left the log
home to settle in Centerville, Utah, it is reported the cabin was used briefly
as a militia armory. In 1849 Albert Carrington, later an apostle in the
Church, purchased the home and moved it to his property one and one-half blocks
north of here. It was acquired by the Deseret Museum in 1912. From
1919 to 1976 it was exhibited on Temple Square, then stored until it was moved
to its present site where, amidst a landscape of pioneer and native Utah plants,
it was opened 19 November 1985.
