My Great-grandparents, Emanuel Richard Lundquist and Grace Honor Bushman were married on this day in Thistle, Utah.
Marriage Licence to Emanuel Lundquist and Grace Bushman issued 6 January 1892
Emanuel R. Lundquist and Grace H. Bushman Married 6 January 1892 in Thistle, Utah by Commissioner Greenman
From Emanuel Richard’s autobiography:
While being engaged in the mercantile business for some 15 months at Thistle, I lost all, and more, that I had previously gained by working myself in debt hundreds of dollars through thoughtless and unprofitable investments, and also aiming to help others who by carelessness and wreckless neglect have been overcome and failed in business. I, however, gained a great deal of valuable experience which I could not have obtained through any other source.
It was during this stay at Thistle I met a young lady from Fairview, Utah, then named Grace Bushman, who later became my first wife. Many months later we were married at Salt Lake, the 6th day of January, 1892, Justice Greenman performing the ceremony. Five years later, however, we were sealed and received endowments in the Salt Lake Temple, June 24, 1897. As far as my observation is concerned we must have been well matched, as we have been well satisfied and contented with our union so far. Our four children, three boys and one girl have been very healthy and bright as we have been successful in raising them. [This part must have been written before 1902, as 4 more children were born into this family.]
Thistle Utah by Genevieve Atwood https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/t/THISTLE.shtml
Thistle became an important junction on the railroad with the 1890 completion of a branch line south through Sanpete Valley. When the Utah Railway Company began to construct its own line in 1912, a second set of tracks up Spanish Fork Canyon to Helper, the D&RGW contracted to maintain the tracks for joint use and to maintain the Marysvale line. Ninety years later, because the Thistle landslide buried the exact junction and joint tracks, the two companies fought out legal responsibilities and insurance claims in the courts.
The town of Thistle expanded and contracted with the fortunes of the railroad. The town saw its heyday in the early 1900s. Six hundred residents lived in Thistle in 1917. Changing economics and technologies reduced the need for an active rail town with its large depot, water and coal supplies, roundhouse, and supporting stores, post office, schoolhouses, and saloon. The depot was torn down in 1972. Shops closed, and even the post office closed in 1974. A few families stayed; others moved in. In March 1983, fifty residents in a dozen houses claimed the town of Thistle as their home.
Here are a few photos of Thistle from years gone by:
The Junction House at Thistle
Thistle, Utah
Thistle, Utah
The Thistle Schoolhouse
Ann's Stories 