Carnelia

Born in 1851, Carnelia Gifford was named by her father after the warm-colored gemstone, carnelian. After surviving a childhood disease, Carnelia grew to become a willful woman who bore 13 children, 86 grandchildren and, with her husband William Robinson Crawford, homesteaded 300 acres on land that is now the main entrance to Zion National Park. She has thousands of descendants, many of whom still live in the area.

Carnelia, you’re my gemstone
That’s what her father said
She got very ill and didn’t have the will
Prayed to die instead
     Her father said you pray as hard to live
     You’ll have life enough to give
     More than you now know

Down Grafton road a cloud of dust
A scout from the Indian War rode home
Was not her brother Alpheus
But a stranger who had come
     Tall on the horse he sat
     A buckskin braided hat
     Hair to his shoulders
Down the shy road of romance
Caught her peaking through the fence
Her eyes shone like gold
     Carnelia (x4)

    “A carnelian is a talisman, brings good luck to child and man
     It drives away all evil things, to thee and thine protection brings
     From such a gem a woman gains sweet hope and comfort for her pains” *
          Carnelia (x4)

When William and Carnelia
Moved from Rockville to Oak Creek
They built a blacksmith shop
And an overshot waterwheel
     The Virgin River fed their crops
     It flowed across the rocks
     Polished them like gemstones
On these rocks they built their home
With woven willows in the walls
Warmed by precious stone
     Carnelia (x4)

*Quotation by Goethe