Alton, Utah

About 4.5 hours south of Salt Lake City, Utah lies a tiny little town called Alton. Population 100. 

The Heaton's settled there. Matt's great grandmother was a Heaton. Her name was Geneva Heaton Pace.

So it was special to drive into this little dot on the map.

Our mission was to find Great Aunt Alma.

Alton is literally in the middle of no where. The Heaton's were and still are cattle rancher's. 

Great Aunt Alma was  so happy to see us. She'll be 90 in September and her home is 100 years old. She was so emotional when she expressed her gratitude for our visit. It was an honor to meet her.

I hope our children will cherish these memories.

  Great Aunt Alma's house.

There's a coal mine nearby and they supply free coal to the residents of Alton. This is what fuels Great Aunt Alma's stove. To go to Alton is to take a huge step back in time. 

We were delighted to find out that directly across the street from Aunt Alma lives Cousin Dennis. Dennis was hilarious! And yes, these were calf's that were roaming around the streets and hanging out in Dennis's yard.

 Matt. Great Aunt Alma. Cousin Dennis

And all the stop signs in Alton really say, "whoa!" Crazy, huh?

And right up the road, past the pasture and along a lonely dirt road we found the Alton Cemetery. 

Here lies Matt's Great Grandparents, William and Pertussis Heaton.

I'm so glad we made the trip and took the time to connect with Matt's family in Alton. It was fascinating.