Names Remembered: Honoring the First Samoans Buried in Utah
In the United States, Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May, in honor of military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. Memorial Day weekend has become a traditional occasion to commemorate deceased loved ones, regardless of military service. This weekend, SAILI honors the first Samoans laid to rest in Utah by sharing their names and encouraging Samoan language learners to practice basic expressions of condolence.
Ia manuia lau malaga. May your journey be blessed.
E momoli atu ai le faʻamāisega ma alofaaga i le ʻāiga faʻanoanoa. I express my condolences and love for the family in mourning.
Ia faʻamāfanafana e le Atua le ʻāiga i lenei taimi faigatā. May your family be comforted during this difficult time.
Amuia lava le māsina e alu ma toe sau. How fortunate that the moon departs but returns again. (Traditional proverb that mourns the loss of loved one who, unlike the moon, is unable to return again)
Toto’a Soli’ai (Lurleen Goates)
In August 1904, fourteen-year old Totoʻa Soliʻai (daughter of Muliufi Soli’ai and Si’itia Te’o) was brought to Utah by Elder George Albert Goates and given the name Lurleen. Totoʻaʼs family desired for her to be educated in the states then return home, however, Totoʻa never reunited with her family; she died of pneumonia on Christmas Eve 1904 (within a year of arriving in Utah). Totoʻa Soliʻai is the first known Samoan to have died in Utah; she is buried in the Goates family plot at the Lehi City cemetery.
Orange Mackie
In 1901, the family of Simeafua (daughter of Rev. Sataraka of Taputimu, Tutuila) and James Mackie Sr. immigrated from Sāmoa to Castle Dale, Utah. In 1907, the family was living in Pleasant Green, where James Sr. worked as the Postmaster. Their 12-year old son, Orange Benjamin, tragically drowned and was pronounced dead on September 8, 1907 and is interred in the Pleasant Green cemetery (present day Magna).
Emma Purcell
A daughter of Matafua Afualo and Viliamu Purcell, Emma was born in Malaelā, Aleipata, ʻUpolu, Sāmoa in 1883. She was brought to Utah by Elder John W. Beck in 1896 where she attended school for five years before being called back to Sāmoa as an LDS missionary in 1901. The Church started to allow single women to serve full-time missions just three years earlier, as such, Emma was the first Samoan woman and the youngest at the time to serve a full-time mission. After returning to Utah, she married Henry Liloa Kahalemanu in 1907 and lived at Iosepa, Tooele County, until her death in December 1909. She is buried at the Iosepa cemetery.
Simeafua Sataraka Mackie & Catherine Mackie
Shortly after losing their son Orange, the Mackie ʻāiga moved to Iosepa in 1908 (except for the oldest son, James Jr., who lived in Garfield, near present day Magna). A year later in September 1909, the family welcomed a daughter named Catherine, who was the first Samoan baby born at Iosepa. Sadly, Simeafua and her daughter Catherine died in 1910 within a month of each other and both were laid to rest in the Iosepa cemetery. Today, memorial markers for mother and child are located at Iosepa and the Salt Lake City Cemetery (where James Mackie Sr. is buried).
