EXHIBITS
I Remember When . . . : Memories and Moments in Mendon, Utah: Missing Rosa Thurston
Missing Rosa Thurston
On April 7, 1868, thirty days after the alleged incident with Chief Pocatello, George W. and Sarah Thurston’s two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Rosa Thurston, went missing while playing outside her home during a sudden storm. The entire town of Mendon came together to look for Rosa, and some Native Americans also aided in the search. George W. Thurston placed an advertisement for a reward of flour and meat for information leading to his daughter’s recovery. The town even drained the nearby pond where she could have drowned, but Rosa was never found.
On April 12, 1868, Mr. Thurston wrote to the editor of the Deseret News to give information about his lost daughter, including a summary of his account of the day she went missing. After a few years with no new information about Rosa, the Thurston family moved on to California.
Known facts: Rosa went missing during a storm in spring 1868. After being unable to locate their young daughter, the Thurston family moved to California, mourning her loss.
It was commonly believed by Mendon locals of the time that Rosa Thurston was taken by a Native American woman picking berries nearby and delivered to two Native American men who took her out of the valley. The story claims that she later died of abuse. This version of the legend was published years later in the book History of Cache County.
However, the only fact known is that Rosa Thurston went missing. A letter sent from a former Mendon resident living in California in the 1930s to a Mendonite (a citizen of Mendon) notes running into a member of the Thurston family. The letter surmises that Native Americans adopted Rosa and she lived to adulthood, even marrying a chief. One of the Thurston boys claimed to have seen a woman with “characteristics of a Thurston” playing the part of an extra in a film with a band of Native Americans from Blackfoot, Idaho. When he visited with the director of the film to meet with the band, he discovered they had broken their contract and had already left the area.
Still, others think that she may have drowned in the pond. Even with the search party draining the muddy water, her body might have gone through a natural outlet and the dark waters made it impossible to locate her.
The legend of “Pocatello’s Revenge” was tied with “A Stolen Child” as a way to explain the reason for Rosa Thurston’s disappearance. There are no other reports of children being taken from Mendon. The images below include the diary of Isaac Sorensen where he mentions Rosa’s disappearance, radio transcripts from the 1970s recounting her story, and a manuscript outlining what could have happened to her. Click on the images below to learn more about these items.
Those who remember hearing the story as children talk about how their parents were terrified of being stolen as a child after hearing about a little girl being taken away. The below quotes are from Mendon residents describing what they remember about “A Stolen Child.”
I’m not really sure if I have the right story because I don’t remember the name Rosa, but long-time resident Margorie Willie once shared her memories of hearing the story about a little girl who supposedly was stolen by the Indians. —28 year resident
Just that she was taken by the Indians. My mother had been terrified of being stolen as a child. —Shara Swan
Legends had an uneasy effect on early settlers because they were often steeped in fear and involved stories recalled from the trail and from tense interactions with Native Americans. The community used the legend and story of Rosa Thurston and “Pocatello’s Revenge” to keep children close to home during the 1930s and 1940s. This reveals the importance which the community had towards the feeling of safety.
Isaac Sorenson’s diary and the Deseret News in 1868 both documented Rosa Thurston’s story. Furthermore, a local radio station retold the tale in broadcasts during the 1970s, making the legend of “A Stolen Child” more persistent than “Pocatello’s Revenge.” Modern Mendon residents are much more likely to know about Rosa Thurston, the “girl taken by Indians,” than the story of Pocatello.