Let us begin by thanking those wonderful volunteers at USGenWeb for hosting this research on the Internet free of charge.  Now people from all over the world can have hope to find their heritage.  Since genealogy is the second most popular use of the Internet this should prove to be very valuable to many people.  Because of this service, those looking for their ancestor can now print a page with a color photograph of the headstone and a page with the pertinent vital statistics etc.

The work on this web site is from Brad Jencks and a host of hundreds of volunteers that assisted his efforts.  For almost 9 years Brad tried to help his mother find information about their ancestors buried at this ghost town cemetery.  In the process, it was discovered that the ownership of the cemetery had been transferred to Jordan School District when Bingham City was disincorporated. 

It became clear to Brad that the cemetery was old, in a ghost town and that it would become long forgotten if he didn’t do something about it.  The school district does a remarkably good job of maintaining the cemetery but the fact remains that they are in the business of education not cemetery maintenance. 

Brad came up with a winning solution for everyone.  He proposed a 100-hour Eagle Scout Service project proposal for Jordan School District and Bingham City Cemetery.  The project grew and grew.  Brad made it his goal to preserve this historical aspect of “Bingham” and the people buried in the cemetery.  Thousands of hours later and still going, an important part of history has been preserved.

It was a difficult task to find the burial and genealogical information, as much was simply nonexistent.  Brad decided to perform a tombstone transcription project, headstone photo survey and much more to help his family and others in all parts of the world in their quest to find their heritage.

The exact date when burials began at Bingham City Cemetery is not known.  According to town board minutes, the cemetery was created in 1913. One tombstone was found documenting a death date of 1873 and several others give death dates of 1879.  The earliest documented birth is in 1824. The city of Bingham was located just below Utah Copper/Kennecott Copper Mines.  Bingham was incorporated in 1904, but it is clear that burials were taking place well before that. 

Bingham City Cemetery, also referred to by some locals as the “Kennecott Copper Cemetery” consists mainly of past residents of towns or camps that used to be known as Bingham Canyon, Carr Fork, Copperfield, Copperhill, Copperton, Dinkeyville, Freeman Gulch, Frogtown, Highland Boy, Lark, Leadmine, Lower Main, Phoenix, and Telegraph. 

People buried in the cemetery are from more than 30 countries and 38 states within the U.S.  These people braved crossing the ocean and then found their way across the United States in search of employment at Utah Copper and Kennecott Copper Mines.  

This cemetery has a diverse, multi ethnic background.  Burials were found from various areas of the world including Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Norway, Nova Scotia, Puerto Rico, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Yugoslavia  and 38 states within the United States. 

Many headstones are in different languages.  Please make a notation that names were “Americanized.”  Do not get discouraged it you cannot locate your ancestor at first glance.  Some examples of “Americanized” names are Brkljacic to Blockovich, Busljeta to Bullet, Epop to Error, Jengich to Yengich etc.   Names were also spelled phonetically which accounts for the many discrepancies in spelling.

Parents buried several babies and small children due to epidemics like Typhoid Fever, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough.  Young men lost their lives from mining accidents and violent deaths such as murder. People died from many diseases that are 100% curable today.  The deceased were mostly laborers and many did not have money set aside to buy a headstone.  It is heartbreaking to see the hundreds of deaths of people under the age of 30. Families are buried together in unmarked gravesites with only one parent being noted with a headstone at best.  Times past were hard for these people as they suffered through several wars and the great depression. 

In addition, please note that Kennecott Copper Mines relocated the remains of those buried at Chandler Cemetery (Dry Fork area) to Bingham City Cemetery in 1999.  The Chandler cemetery was moved when Kennecott expanded mining operations in the canyon.  That cemetery consists mainly of burials that were from the Chandler family and snow slide victims from Finland.  

43 known War Veterans are buried at this cemetery, including those who fought in the Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I and II, Korean and Vietnam War. 

A fire and later a flood swept through the cemetery which caused the metal markers to become unreadable.  It also caused damage to some gravesites. Vandalism has occurred at this cemetery.  Time and deterioration has resulted in the inability to decipher some headstones.  Brad received donations and his team of volunteers were able to repair and replace several headstones.

Bingham City was disincorporated in 1971.  By law, maintenance of the cemetery was turned over to the largest state agency operating within the city limits, that being Jordan School District.  The records they inherited were threadbare, incomplete and highly inaccurate.

The information on this website is a compilation of work from the following sources-

• Bingham Mortuary Records
• Bingham City Cemetery Records and an old plat map
• O’Donnell Funeral Home Records
• Information from Fawn Price- (Past Daughters of Utah Pioneers member, now deceased)
• Records from Gordon Bodily-Bingham Canyon Lions Club member
• Bingham Bulletin newspapers on microfilm
• A database compiled by the staff at Jordan School District’s Auxiliary Services 1971-2003
• A tombstone transcription project, digital photograph survey of each burial/headstone and a GPS reading of each gravesite by Brad Jencks and Boy Scout Troop 123 of South Jordan, Utah 2004
• The research efforts and work of Brad Jencks, scout groups, friends, students, family and over 250 community volunteers that have an interest in the cemetery. 2005-2006
• State of Utah Death Certificates, scanned, recorded and copied by Brad Jencks, family, friends and student volunteers that attend 4 schools within Jordan School District. 2005-2006

All of the above information was verified to the best of our ability.  Brad and his mother Lori, an amateur genealogist, worked with a host of volunteers to verify and correct the records.  A new, updated electronic database was created by Brad with the help of his father Paul, who is a computer professional.  The new database includes headstone photographs, transcribed burial information, GPS readings of every readable headstone and unnamed grave and other important genealogical information such as a spouse’s name, parent’s names, birth and death places, past occupation, cause of death, land emigrated from if known etc.  In addition, if you have a GPS device this will enable you to locate your ancestor within 20 feet of our readings. 

To continue the story of the process… Jordan School District’s old burial database was merged with the new records. Many of the records did not match.  There was a lot of duplication and missing information.  Only 700 burials had recorded, proven evidence as of May 2005.

To increase the accuracy of the records, Brad came up with an idea.  He and his family slept in a motor home Memorial Day Weekend 2005. Yes, it seems unusual, but it was done as a labor love to help find the lost and forgotten information.  Brad and his team met with every cemetery visitor.  He did not want one person to be forgotten.  Hundreds of interviews were conducted.  Meeting with living relatives helped add to and verify burial information.  Loved ones of the deceased were source informants and they provided many answers to unsolved mysteries, even many burials that are in unmarked graves.  

In addition, Brad set up a team of students from 4 schools to help.  They left notes on all of the graves with a request to send any known burial information to Brad.  Many letters, phone calls and email messages helped further verify the once sparse records. 

Still Brad made another attempt.  He set up a booth at the annual Bingham Canyon Lions Club 4th of July benefit.  People in attendance helped further correct the information. 

Next Brad found an Internet language translation program that enabled him to interpret headstones in various languages.  He learned to decipher Spanish, Italian, Cyrillic text, etc.  Brad cropped and edited each picture and he helped input information into the database.

In Oct. 2005 the first Bingham City Cemetery Book version 1 was printed.  The burials doubled the previously proven 700. The total burials found at that point numbered 1,408.  (2790 hours)

Days later an avid genealogist who happens to be deaf and cannot speak emailed Brad about a potential source of even more records.  Brad kept going and he set up a team of students and adults to help read, scan and copy thousands of records from microfilm.  Students (elementary age to college level) and adults volunteered their time, talents and resources to obtain and preserve these records.  Brad and his team spent 1100 more hours inputting the 1900 scanned records into the computer.  Finally the puzzle came together and many mysteries were solved.

We are pleased to report that the documented burials now number 1,825 which include over 800 new, previously unrecorded burials in unmarked graves.  Ironically more than half of the burials found are in unmarked graves.  (March 2006)

History has been preserved from flood, fire, vandalism and future deterioration.  The research information was donated to the Utah State Historical Society who placed it on the State of Utah burials database web site.  This is one of the most utilized web sites in Utah State government.  One may visit the web site at- history.utah.gov/apps/burials/execute/searchburials  

Bingham City Cemetery book version 2 with the new, updated information was printed in color and hard bound, March 2006.  The work on this web site is a complete compilation of what can be found in the latest book.

The books in printed or electronic version may be found at several locations including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is the largest genealogy repository in the world.  Inter-library loan of microfilm is available.

In addition one may view the research or books at the Bingham Creek Library, The Bingham Canyon Lions Club, Jordan School District, USGenWeb, RootsWeb, The Utah State Historical Society. 

Brad knows the cemetery well from thousands of hours spent there. He is the look up volunteer for Jordan School District, Bingham City Cemetery and USGenWeb.  In addition to preserving history he has the goal to connect families across the globe with their ancestors and together he and his team hope to help others find their heritage.  Brad and his assistants, Lori or Paul may be contacted by email at binghamcemeteryinfo@jensgroup.com.  No monetary gain has been sought from this service. 

In addition please note that the entire Bingham City Cemetery Book version 2 is on this web site.  You may copy your ancestor’s information in color from your home computer at no cost.  Technology is awesome! 

For tourists, history students, or people seeking their ancestry… a historical preservation brochure is available.  The brochure was created by Brad and his research team.  This free brochure provides a fun, historical tour and a unique learning experience of this diverse, multi ethnic cemetery.  This tour is rich in providing the history of the people who lived and died in this area of Utah.  The brochure can be found at Jordan School District Auxiliary Services/Bingham City Cemetery or at the Bingham Canyon Lions Club gift shop located near Kennecott Copper Mines.    

The Bingham Canyon Lions Club has spent many years helping in the care and upkeep of the cemetery.  These great men donate time and talent in bettering our community.  The Lions Club is in the process of designing a permanent memorial for the cemetery with the information Brad and his team found.  It will provide each unmarked burial and each known burial the respect and honor they deserve. 

Brad met with the American Legion and gave them a listing and map of all of the Veterans buried in the cemetery.  Flags were place on all the military graves Memorial Day weekend 2005 by Brad and the American Legion.  This was exciting to honor our heroic war veterans.  Each year this will continue to be done by the wonderful volunteers of the American Legion.

Jordan School District Auxiliary Services staff members generously donated a large amount of time inputting the previously inherited records before Brad and his team began their quest to find more information.  These good people spent many hours compiling a database that was the backbone of this project.  This was a huge task and a big thank you goes out to all those who helped provide this information. 

Jordan School District upholds the responsibility to properly care for the cemetery.  They are doing a wonderful job.  They are happy to help answer any questions or they will allow you to access the books.  In addition you may send mail to Brad as the look up volunteer for the cemetery c/o Jordan School District at the following address:   

Jordan School District Auxiliary Services  

c/o Bingham City Cemetery, Attn Cemetery Sexton

9150 South 500 West

Sandy, Utah 84070-2533

Phone: 801-567-8750

What you see here started with the effort of one boy whose idea turned into a big community project.  People from all ethnic backgrounds, religions and ages came together for this important historical preservation project.  People including scout groups, students and many adult volunteers donated their time, talents and resources to help preserve the history of Bingham and its people.  This was a once a thriving community.  Mining operations have expanded and Bingham has been covered over.  The records of Bingham and its people will live on forever thanks to the efforts of many who cared!!!

Brad designed a sign that is displayed on the cemetery gate.  It gives information about the cemetery, how to access the records, the owner of the cemetery etc.  At the bottom of the sign is the following statement… ”It takes a community not just a boy.”  A big thank you goes out to all the many people who helped preserve the history of this once thriving community and ghost town cemetery. 

People love and appreciate history, their heritage and their ancestors.  The total time spent in this endeavor so far is approximately 4000 hours.  More good things are in the works for Bingham City Cemetery.  Brad volunteering in partnership with Jordan School District and others will see to that!

Every effort was made to be as accurate as possible in documenting the burials.  The living offspring will need to further verify the accuracy of their ancestors buried at Bingham and Chandler Cemeteries. This gives you the idea.  If you need help please do not hesitate to contact Brad as the look up volunteer.