The Pioneer Cemetery in Overton, Nevada has a new historical marker honoring the very first baby born in the City of Las Vegas.
Her name was Genevieve Lytle, born to Latter-day Saint couple John A. Lytle and Mary Virginia Perkins Lytle. John and Mary were sealed in the St. George Utah Temple on March 24, 1904, and on August 18, 1905, Mary gave birth to their first child, Genevieve.
Genevieve’s entry into the world was incredibly primitive but celebrated. Her parents were living in a two-room tent located somewhere near the area that is now I-15 at Washington Avenue in Las Vegas. To commemorate her birth, The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce gave the newly-born child a small locket as the first baby born in the newly-formed City of Las Vegas.
The historical marker was first suggested by Genevieve’s niece Naomi Lytle Gibbs and her husband Rollie Gibbs. Earlier this year as they visited Genevieve’s cemetery plot and wanted to do something to honor her. The marker at her gravesite now includes a monument and metal fence installed to protect the site.
“The history has been fun,” Kurt Lytle, a nephew of Genevieve, said. “Our family has enjoyed it and it is wonderful for this monument to be present now at her gravesite.”
Sadly, Genevieve passed away at just 18 months old after contracting whooping cough. And like something out of a movie, her mother Mary wore the locket her baby girl was given by the Chamber of Commerce throughout her life. The locket has since become a treasured family heirloom for the Lytle Family.
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