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By J. Malan Heslop
Deseret News
managing editor
Tucson, Arizona
Deseret News, Church
News section, March 31, 1979, page 13.
Eli Abegg, 86, is a living
history
book. He has earned that distinction because he is in charge of the old
LDS
Cemetery at Binghampton, near Tucson, Arizona.
It is an interesting cemetery,
hidden in the chaparral and sagebrush, and protected by small
hills around it.
When Eli took an interest in
the
cemetery, nearly 15 years ago, there were more than 100 unmarked
graves. There
was an overgrowth of weeds and the cemetery was generally in a run-down
condition.
Eli has worked without pay. The
grounds are clean. Small stones and pebbles mark the paths and outline
many of
the graves. Identification has been established for all but 35 of the
graves.
Stones and markers are at most burial sites. A good deal of pride has
developed
for the cemetery.
Brother Abegg's years of study
and
research have given him a reputation as a living history book.
But more than that, he has
been
part of the history. As a young man, he lived in the Binghampton Branch,
organized early in 1910. The branch was fully organized and enjoyed
musical
entertainment, speech, and
drama as part of its Mutual activity. Eli was part of
a male quartet; which also included Gordon Kimball,
Frank Webb, and Oscar Jesperson. The four sang together for 21 years.
The community was named after
the
Bingham family. Nephi Bingham settled in Tucson in the spring of 1900,
according to Edna Bingham Sabin, his daughter. Tucson had one street at
the
time; which was unpaved.
Jacob Bingham and his family also
settled in the area and soon they moved about six miles away to the
south side
of the Rillito River where farming was better. Members from Mexico
joined them
so that enough members were present to organize the branch.
The Binghampton Branch chapel
was
the first Latter-Day Saint
meetinghouse in the Tucson area. Construction was
started Sept. 15, 1927, and the building was dedicated Feb. 26, 1936.
The cost
was $40,000.
Many of the historic events of
Binghampton that Eli wasn't part of he has found from his research.
Sister Sabin tells the history
of
the LDS Cemetery as follows:
"In the year 1901, an old
man, living on the south side of the Rillito River, passed away. His
friends
asked my father, Nephi Bingham, if he would pick a place to bury him.
He picked
the place that is now called the Binghampton LDS Cemetery.
"In 1913, Heber Farr's little
girl was buried there and then one of the Young girls was buried there.
"My father passed away in
1916 and was buried there."
She tells of seven people
being
killed in an accident at Jacob Lake, Arizona, in 1934. Their
graves are at the LDS Cemetery.
"I would look out of my
kitchen window while washing dishes and I could see the cemetery," she
said. "It looked so bare and all alone.
"The last time I was over
there, in 1969, the ground was covered with pale yellow flowers. It
looked so
beautiful."
Eli's ambition is to always
have
the cemetery looking good. He
has built a beautiful stone entrance
and involved many people in the project.
Interestingly enough, the
whole
project began as a home teaching project.
"I was home teaching a part
member family when the lady told me that she had a gripe," he explained.
"Her gripe was that the LDS
Cemetery was a disgrace to everybody. So I took a look and it wasn't
very well
kept."
Eli asked his bishop if he
could
form a committee to see that the cemetery was cared for. The bishop
said yes,
and made Eli the chairman.
In turn, Eli
asked the sister who had complained to be on the committee; and
with others they met on a regular basis and the cemetery, though not
lush green
in the hot Arizona climate, is clean and well organized.
"It is the most interesting
and longest home teaching assignment I have ever had." Eli said.