Joseph Bodily

Joseph Bodily is the son of Jane Pittam and Robert Bodily Sr. He was born in South Africa where his father was working. They joined the LDS church and immigrated to the United States on the Alecrity (Barque) on April 5, 1860 with his parents and siblings making a total of 70 passengers.

Word had gone out that a shipload of Africans were going to land in Boston harbor; the impression among the people was that Africans were all colored people. The docks were crowded with people who had come to see the colored people land, but to the surprise of the crowd the Africans were all white and of different nationalities.

He married Isabella Phillips February 16, 1874 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Joseph Bodily was a pioneer of Syracuse, Utah. He homesteaded eighty acres and built the first log cabin in Syracuse in 1877.

-From his brother, Robert Bodily Jr.'s history
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The obit of Joseph Bodily is very touching, yet rather lengthy, so we added only selected parts of it which were submitted by findagrave contributor Sue Sterling Tretter.

Joseph Bodliy

"Joseph Bodily, aged 72, one of the early residents of Syracuse, was found dead Saturday evening at about 6:30 o'clock."

"Mr. Bodily had attended a ball game there that afternoon and cheered heartily for his favorites. Returning home, he called on the telephone to take his daughter and some neighbor children to a picture show in Odgen. Then he went across the road to drive some cows home. His body was discovered by a youth who was about the enter the pasture."

"... Mr Bodily was born in South Africa on 21 Dec 1854. His wife, Isabella Bodily, died three years ago. ..."

"... 34 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren ..."

"... Mr Bodily had been a resident of Syracuse for 50 years. ..."

-Ogden Standard Examiner of Ogden, Utah, 13 Jun 1926.
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Funeral Services for Joseph Bodily

On June 16th, 1926, Joseph Bodily's funeral was held at Syracuse. He had died suddenly.

There were a lot of people who attended and many good words were said about him. He had been to a ball game between Syracuse and another ward and became very much excited over it and after it was over he started home. One of the boys drove the car and put it in the garage. Joseph got out to drive the cows home. He had not gone far when, to all appearances, he fell over dead. The boy waited but his father did not come. Another boy was coming up the road and saw a man lying in the road and his horse would not go past. He went back and met Joseph's boy and said "There is a drunken man lying in the road and my horse won't go past." They went to where the boy led them and found Joseph lying dead in the road.

-From his brother, Robert Bodily Jr.'s history