Thomas Ogden - 1849 - 1931Here is a fine example of collaboration. My younger brother Patrick has a fine eye for finding and also for collecting. While wandering through the endless rows of "stuff" at the DUP museum in Salt Lake, he came across a wooden box with a label indicating it had been made by "Thomas R. Ogden, a early pioneer." It was a tough find inasmuch as it was hiding in a case with dozens of other obscure wooden boxes. Could this be our Thomas Ogden? Maybe... but he didn't have a middle name or initial such as "R". But it was the name of the donor that secured the almost positive ID. A quick look at the pedigree charts shows that a sister of Thomas, Jane, married a Dall and one of their daughters was named Ethel. She of course married a Christensen. It has been long rumored in family circles that Thomas worked in the carpentry shop of the Utah State Penitentiary while he was doing his time for living the "principle" and while there made several of these type boxes as gifts for family members. He probably made this box for his sister Jane who in turn gave it to her daughter Ethel.
Rather than keep it in the family where its significance would probably be forgotten Ethel opted to donate it to the museum where it was preserved and displayed for all to see. It was also no doubt happier in the company of many other box friends.
This collaboration with Patrick helped us reach a conclusion and identification that neither of us would have made alone. We have requested from the DUP's some additional info on the donation which will hopefully confirm our supposition. Another hope is that the DUP's understand this new world of collaboration and share some of those details. Stay tuned....
