BY JENNY GOLDSBERRY

Families and individuals today are taking a growing interest in their ancestry. People are seeking out their roots and distant relatives, and others flock to the place their ancestors settled. Marriott-Slaterville City is rich with history. The Marriott and Slater families who founded the community swarm the sites of their ancestors to learn their history and gather together for reunions. Bill Morris, a Marriott descendant, used to put up paper, handmade posters pointing out places of historical significance for different tourist events and reunions that came to town over the years.

Then, three years ago, Bill and his cousins, Russ and Dick Marriott, decided to create permanent, engraved historical markers around Marriott-Slaterville City to identify historical places. After all, it isn’t just descendants coming for a visit and taking an interest in local history. Marriott-Slaterville City obtained a Weber RAMP grant to pay for a portion of the markers. Steve Crane, who served on the Weber County RAMP Board at the time, was especially interested in preserving community history. Other funds were gifted by the Marriott family for this project. Altogether, the city honed the history of the community into 13 engraved historical markers located throughout Marriott-Slaterville City. Bill had the help of his mother Sherry Morris, who knew a lot of the history by heart. Sherry was a member of the Susan Marriott Camp of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, which is an organization that assists in preserving local history. Unfortunately, by the time the project finished, Sherry had passed away.

Today, the legacy of her record-keeping lives on in the 13 historical markers. On the right you’ll find a fill-in-the-blank questionnaire quiz that can be entirely answered by visiting the various historical markers. If, after you’ve visited them all, you find that there are other places of historical significance or there’s a chunk of history missing, Marriott-Slaterville City wants to hear from you! The historical markers are designed to expand in the future. You can contribute what you know about Utah’s Open Space City’s history.

HISTORY QUIZ

How well do you know your city?

HINT: The answers are all found by visiting some of the 13 historical markers

1. 903 West 17th Street: This is the site of a ______________ system still in use today, thanks to John Marriott.
2. 1192 West 12th Street: Here John Marriott settled his family, but there were five other families who soon followed, including the ______________ , ______________ , ______________ , ______________ and ______________ families.
3. 1025 South 1200 West: Today it’s a park, but it used to be the site of the first Marriott ______________ .
4. 1241 West 700 South: John Marriott and his wife ______________ built a homestead here. John went on to have _______ wives and _______ children here.
5. 1359 West 700 South: John Willard Marriott was born here but moved to the ______________ area in 1927.
6. 1850 West 700 South: William Morris built a home on this site after his wife Harriet Evans and five children died as a result of contracting ______________.
7. 2271 West 700 South: Here, Hyrum Willard Marriott and Ellen Morris had their farm. On the farm, they had a “U pond, or oxbow pond, that residents used for______________ ______________ parties.
8. 2075 West 500 South: The building here is the last standing remains of the Rose Lawn Dairy. It was the ______________ , where locals bought ______________ ______________ .
9. 250 North 2200 West: Like Site #3, this site used to be a ______________ in 1910. When the building at Site #3 was demolished, youth came here instead.
10. 2699 West Pioneer Road: Before this was a brick home, Richard Slater and Ann Corbridge were living in a home, made of ______________ with their 12 children.