Mothers

This will be my last post. I have really enjoyed writing for this blog for the last 7 months. It was hard to decide what to do, but I feel like right now I really need to concentrate on my own personal writing. I do love reading all of the posts and will be a frequent visitor. I wrote this article for my mom, her mom and so on. I come from amazing women that I strive to be like. Never forget where you come from. Talents are often passed down through generations. I never knew when I was younger, but as I have done more genealogy I have learned several women from various parts of my family tree who were writers, teachers and mothers. I strive to be half as wonderful as them. Enjoy! 

 

Abraham Lincoln said, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Isn’t this statement so true? I feel that it can be true to every single person. If you had a wonderful mother, who was everything that a mother should be than you want to be like her, thank her by having a wonderful life. There are some who didn’t have such wonderful mothers, who maybe made the wrong choices and that weren’t around. But you still owe everything that you learned to that person. Your experiences growing up made you the person who you are today, good and bad.

A few years ago my brothers and sisters and I wanted to make a picture for our mom and grandma. I went and found pictures as far back as I could go. As I have looked at those names, memorized each face I have learned more and more about each woman. What they were like and what they passed down from generation to generation. 

I learned from my mom, Janeen, to be strong and giving. That I can be a fun mother who puts her kids first. We learned from my grandma, Merle, how to be faithful, kind and how to love. Mary Viola Allred, my great grandmother, was patriotic, faithful through storms, and always knew how to make us laugh. My 2^nd great grandmother, Mary Eliza Tracy was a quiet woman, content with her life and supported her husband and church. Emma Maria Burdett was an inspiration of love, she’s my 3^rd great grandmother and she was beautiful. She passed down her faith, talents and love.

I am so thankful for these wonderful women to learn from, it reminds me of a quote by Virginia Woolf, “For we think back through our mothers if we are women.”

Another Branch to Our Tree

A lot has happened for my family the last few months.  The most significant being that we have moved from Virginia to Texas.  Moving can be so crazy.  Lately I have felt like there's been too much to do in the few short hours of the day.  Now that we are in our new home and starting to get settled I am looking forward to being able to do a few of the things that were pushed aside during our move. 
 One of the bigger projects I have anxiously been waiting to do is my husband's family's genealogy and temple work.  I wrote a post a few months ago about receiving a packet of genealogy for my husband's paternal side.  We never thought it would happen, so we were very excited about it.  We felt that it was an enormous blessing and we were grateful.  Little did we know that that first packet of family history was only the beginning.  A couple of months after I finished going through the first packet we received word from my husband's maternal side of the family that, while going through some things, a relative had found copies of an extensive genealogical collection.  She had asked if anyone was interested in having a copy.  My husband jumped at the opportunity and within two weeks we had received the packet of information.  My husband and I were unprepared for the amount of information that was being given to us.  This amazing collection of family history contains dates and stories dating back to the 1500's.  As I had stated in my previous post, my husband and I did not expect to be given any information.  My husband is a convert to the LDS church and is the only member of his entire family.  While we had prayed that some day we would be allowed to do the work for his ancestors, we never thought it would happen so soon or that we would be given so much.  I don't think it is a coincidence that we were given this great blessing at the same time we were moving to a place where we would be within a short drive of a temple.  Previously, it would take us hours to get to our nearest temple.  The thought of being able to complete all of the work for his family was daunting.  
I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and that if we have faith and a good deal of patience we will truly be given all that is promised.  
To any of you who are awaiting the opportunity to do the temple work for your ancestors, or to anyone who feels that because of certain situations or family conflicts that it seems it is not possible or that it will never happen - please have faith and don't give up.  It may happen when you least expect it.  And for those of you that have already been blessed with information - Get to work! :) I am so excited to dig into this information and get to know these people from long ago.  I would love to hear any stories you have about your own genealogy experiences.  

Writing for posterity - the good, the bad and the boring?

By Lacey Gunter

I have recently started to get into genealogy. FamilySearch.org has done a major overhaul of their website and tools, making genealogy work dramatically more accessible and interesting.  One nice thing they have added is the ability to post pictures and stories about deceased ancestors. Looking through these pictures and reading stories about my ancestors has helped me to see these were real people who have had an affect on my life and has helped me to feel more connected to them.

Reading through these ancestral stories really highlights the importance of keeping a personal journal for ourselves and our posterity. How will the story of our life get painted if we choose to be silent on the matter. Will your posterity get the messages you are hoping to pass on to them?


What should these messages look like? It seems like a certain subset of the LDS faith (and likely in other Christian faiths) believe only positive, happy, wholly faith affirming stories and messages should be written in journals.  In essence, leaving out our doubts, mistakes, misgivings, failures and painful or embarrassing experiences.  On some levels I  understand this mode of thinking. It's difficult to admit and reveal one's imperfections. However, I find this idea short-sighted and superficial.  

The 'everything turned out just like it was supposed to' stories are nice to hear once in a while, but I find myself less moved or inspired by them. I find myself much more moved by the stories of relatives facing an awful or difficult situation, expressing their true feelings of hurt, doubt or fear, but hearing they eventually soldiered through somehow and found a way to cling to or come back to their sometimes wavering faith.  These stories make the person seem so much more real and relatable and help me to develop an appreciation and love for the kind of person they were.

But what about the dull, the mundane and the every day?  Let's face it, life isn't always exciting or romantic. It involves a lot of typical day to day repetition. This is where I struggle in my journal keeping. How do you keep your motivation and drive up when most things seem to feel the same as yesterday? I don't really know the answer to this, but I would love to hear from any of you who have figured it out.

However you do it, I encourage you to actually do it! Don't be silent in this one part of your life. Who needs the messages of you heart more than your posterity? Today is as good as any day to start.

My Family Tree

This last week my husband and I received an incredible blessing, a small miracle.  After waiting almost eight years we have been given the genealogy to my husband's paternal side.  Having access to this information was something we had pretty much given up hope for. 
The day after the packet of treasured information came in the mail I sat down to look through it.  The moment I took the papers in my hand I was overcome with emotion and a great sense of urgency to prepare this information and allow these ancestors to receive their long awaited ordnances.  I could feel a tingling sensation in my fingers as I turned each page.  All my life I've heard peoples' stories of doing genealogy for their family and I never quite understood the feelings they described.  I never felt the sense of importance of genealogy.  While going through these papers, though, I quickly learned why the people who have done genealogy work have such a passion for it.  The excitement I feel and the collective sense of urgency from somewhere beyond me is something I am unable to ignore.
As of yesterday I have made it half way through the packet of information and I've managed to create a very extensive family tree.  However, there are holes here and there where information has been lost.  . One name, or rather, a lack of name stood out to me.  In all the information that my husband's family had collected there was one woman, a second wife, where the only information was for her children, there was no information about the woman at all.  No name, nor birth date, no death date.  Nothing.  I immediately singled her out as one of my priorities.  Over the course of two hundred years this woman's name was forgotten, disappearing into history.  The idea that a prominent figure of this family had disappeared broke my heart and I committed to find out who she was.  It took some digging, but thanks to the amazing records and resources of the church I have found her. I don't think I could describe the feeling when I found her.  She became real again.  Even thinking about it gives me such a high and renews my excitement.  I'm hoping that this sensation will help pull me through some of the difficulties I may face in the process of completing this genealogical work. 
I have so much to learn and yet in spite of the fact that this is such an overwhelming task I don't feel overwhelmed at all.  I realize that this is only the beginning, but my testimony of family history and genealogy work has blossomed overnight, and is becoming something I never knew I had inside me.



Have any of you done genealogy work?  Have any tips for a newbie?