i am "running from the truth of the genocide of the Indians?" huh?
not even sure what we are "disagreeing" on. That because we slaughtered, displaced, and infected the native population it was okay for some mormons to massacre a wagon train?
If the U.S. had perceived them as a serious threat they would have been obliterated, as the cavalry was skilled at eliminating groups of people.
People didn't settle in utah because it is beautiful. that is more a modern construct, as jagged and jumbled rock formations don't raise crops well, and that was a critical point of survival. They went there BECAUSE it was desolate and offered seclusion and isolation, even if the water was often foul and the soil alkaline.
When i said "But mitt was only a gleam in old Gaskell's eye and one of his three wives, so not sure what mitten's connection is other than by birth?" i perhaps should have been clearer that i don't blame the grandsons for the grandfather's actions any more than you would feel animosity to present-day Southerners for having fought on the side of slavery. Peace.