The Family Genealogy - Poem by Donald Lines Jacobus

The Family Genealogy

Compendium of dullness, in your pages

   Name crowds on name; the humble and the great

Each in few lines receives his equal wages,

   And headstrong passions crumble to a date.

Here are the founders of a mighty nation;

   Here are the pioneers who won the soil,

As generation followed generation,

   With axe and plough and with back-breaking toil.

Here are the women of a hardy people,

   Weakness and doubt yielding to faith held fast;

The pulled-up stakes; eyes lifted to the steeple;

   Farewells to home; the new homes gained at last.

Here are the hints of buried old romances;

   The broken families, and the too young dead;

The autumn frolics and the village dances;

   Roll of recruiting drums, the soldier's tread.

And here are darker things, now long forgotten;

   The unwed mothers; the deserted wives;

Misdeeds of rogues far better unbegotten;

   Heartbreak and self-destruction; ruined lives.

All this and far, far more is in these pages

   If we might clothe with flesh the lifeless names,

Parade the knaves, the saints, the fools, the sages,

   And resurrect their obloquies and fames.

Their names, their dates, are entered in a column,

   The unjust here embalmed beside the just;

And in the pages of this dusty volume

   A second time they moulder into dust.

Donald Lines Jacobus

How To Travel The World Vicariously

When my husband and I began our adventure visiting different temples in 2011, we started with a goal of 34 within a year, to celebrate 34 years of marriage. Since that time I have found myself on a very specific journey, learning how to do my own family history research. I became absorbed in the work of indexing marriage, birth and death records which gave me exposure to the variety of ways information was recorded and the spelling variations of a single name. I developed feelings for these people whose faces I had never seen.

Then one day we received a phone call from our youngest son, telling us of a challenge he had been given by a church leader, to find an ancestor and do their work in the temple. He had attempted to search through the family tree with little success, because the tree looked completely filled out. He asked us how he could accomplish this challenge. We dreaded hearing this question, because we had also tried on our own to do research with no success.

My husband, Bill, serves on the High Counsel in our Stake and has had the assignment for many years to assist others with family history work. He felt frustrated in his attempts to do this when he was not having success himself. This question from our son prompted him to ask the Lord how he could help both his son and other people in our area.

Bill's mother was a passionate genealogist when Bill was growing up. She traveled back east to Wellsboro, Tioga, Pennsylvania, where she advertised in the newspaper for contact with descendants of her ancestors. Eventually she made contact with a Judge Charles G Webb and his wife Sally where she was adopted into their home as though she was a daughter. Each summer she traveled there for 2-3 months to gather maps and books, and visit cemeteries to take pictures of tombstones and record the details. She studied the maps to learn where people migrated to with their families as they moved west. As she gathered numerous sources within a single town she began studying all the families within that town. Her research took her beyond her own direct ancestors into the lives of her cousins and their descendants. At home she found 12 foot long pieces of butcher paper and with a yard stick and a sharp pencil she created descent charts of her ancestors.

One day, borrowing a pair of leather boots to protect her from snakes she took a drive into the country. She went looking for a specific cemetery located on land owned by an old farmer. However, she was told not to go there because he would meet her with a shotgun. Her red hair and disposition would not be dissuaded, and armed with one of her decent charts she approached his home. Sure enough, he came out with his shotgun in his hands, in contrast with the descent chart in hers. Needless to say, the descent chart won and they spent the afternoon rummaging through his attic where precious records and family books were found.

Bill grew up hearing his mother share these experiences and watched her meticulously write the details on her descent charts. From these experiences and while searching for a solution for himself and our son, Bill discovered a way to show hundreds of descendants of his ancestors on one page, and puzzilla was born. From the arial view provided by puzzilla.org we can clearly see where research was done and where it stopped. As a result we, and many others have known where to start new research and fill in the holes in our family tree with thousands of new cousins.

My journey in the past few years has taken me to many more temples than the few I have mentioned thus far in my blog. I could not possibly accomplish all the work that needs to be done for all these cousins by myself, so I have been sharing their names with the temple for others to do the work. In this way it could be said I am vicariously visiting temples all over the world. Here is a list of some of the temples where work has been done for my ancestors and cousins:

Aba Nigeria

Apia Samoa

Billings Montana

Bogota Colombia

Boise Idaho

Bountiful Utah

Buenos Aires Argentina

Calgary Alberta

Campinas Brazil

Caracas Venezuela

Cebu Philippines

Ciudad Juarez Mexico

Cochabamba Bolivia

Columbus Ohio

Curitiba Brazil

Denver Colorado

Detroit Michigan

Draper Utah

Edmonton Alberta

Gila Valley Arizona

Gilbert Arizona

Halifax Nova Scotia

Hamilton New Zealand

Jordan River Utah

Kansas City Missouri

Laie Hawaii

Logan Utah

Los Angeles California

Louisville Kentucky

Lubbock Texas

Madrid Spain

Manaus Brazil

Manhattan New York

Manila Philippines

Mesa Arizona

Mexico City Mexico

Mount Timpanogos Utah

Nashville Tennessee

Nauvoo Illinois

Newport Beach California

Nuku/alofa Tonga

Oakland California

Oaxaca Mexico

Portland Oregon

Preston England

Provo Utah

Recife Brazil

Regina Saskatchewan

Redlands California

Reno Nevada

Rexburg Idaho

Salt Lake Utah

San Diego California

San Jose Costa Rica

San Salvador El Salvador

Santiago Chile

Seattle Washington

Snowflake Arizona

Spokane Washington

St George Utah

Tegucigalpa Honduras

Vernal Utah

Villahermosa Mexico

Washington DC

I have become a world traveler....or perhaps I have become an intergalactic traveler....

Spontaneity

Recently, Bill and I left for a short vacation to a favorite nearby lake. We had a few days available in a condo there. But when we arrived, the condo arrangement was rather depressing. It was located in the basement with a view, not of the lake, but of a cement wall. The smells and sights were uninviting and when we discovered there was no internet or phone service we made an immediate decision to leave.

We turned to each other and asked, "Where would you like to go?" I began thinking about a place our oldest daughter and her family visited last year. I suggested it and away we went! Using the miracle of our smart phones we mapped our way to numerous interesting places along the way. We stopped at historical markers and actually read them out loud. It was a fun and spontaneous adventure.

Here is a picture of our final destination. You will recognize the place and most of the faces.

On the way home we experienced some severe storms. I am totally impressed at the pictures my camera took from a moving rain-drenched car.

Snuggle - Poem

Recently, I wrote this poem for one of my granddaughters, who is loving and snuggly and sweet.

Snuggle

S t r e t c h and awakening Lydia treat

  Daughter of My snuggledaughter sweet

       Dripping with stuffed bunnies and animals galore

       Dragged from the bed, bursting basket and floor

  More numerous than arms and laps can hold

  Child wrapped in glorious snuggleicious fold

       Droopy eyes dip into mountain of fluff

       Tussled hair covered in soft pixie dust

  Just one moment more in cushion retreat

  Billows of stuffed pillows and snugglelydia sweet

                                                            Janice Harten, 4/20/2014
                                                            Copyright © 2014 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Run Jonah Run! - Poem

Run Jonah Run!

Run Jonah run!

From God’s only son

See how far you can go

Farther than any boat can row

Run Jonah run! 

Toward the setting sun

Surely God can prepare

A different prophet to serve Him there

Sail Jonah sail!

Escape to ocean’s mighty whale

Prepared to swallow thee whole

To wrest your eternal soul

Pray Jonah pray!

From the belly of hell today

Seek His all searching eye

Who waits to hear your humble cry

Speak Jonah speak!

That Nineveh might repent

Awakening from sinful sleep

In one day their souls to save

See Jonah see!

Witness wind and withering tree

None can from His power flee

God’s love saves them and thee

Janice Harten

Apr 21, 2014
Copyright © 2014 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

How to Fish: Puzzilla.org training and Family History Research

Bill and I have been giving training on how to use puzzilla.org to do family history research and how to find and add cousins to our family tree in familysearch.org. He has been invited by several family history centers and groups to give presentations. We have given personal one-on-one training to family and friends. He is working hard to add additional features and useful tools to the program.

Most of my ancestors have been well researched and my pedigree lines go back many generations on all sides. By using the view on puzzilla.org I can now see all the descendants of ancestors that have already been found by others in family tree, and I can see where the research stopped. When I find a place or "hole" where someone does not have any children I go to their individual page within family search. Next I click on the search button on the right hand side of their page to go into the historical record data base, where all the indexed records are found. I search to find them in a birth, death, census or other record and look for their spouse or children so I can add them to my family tree. Using this process I have found hundreds of new cousins to add to my family tree. Some short videos on puzzilla.org main page easily demonstrates this process.

I like the analogy my husband uses about a father taking his son fishing. He does not take him to the supermarket to pick out a fish that was already caught by someone else. Instead, he takes him to the stream to catch a new fish in the wild. In the same way we search in the historical records to find someone who has not yet been found, and then we add them to the market, or family tree. (The bait is the person already in family tree.)

I am experiencing the phenomenon of moving from a scarcity of temple work to do for my ancestors, to now having such an abundance of names that I am asking family and friends for their help doing the temple work. Even after involving those I know to help me, I am left with much more work than we can possibly do. So I have been sharing the work with the temple. This means anyone attending the temple on any given day can be doing work for someone I have found. I feel that these people have waited long enough to have their blessings and I am excited to share the work.

I track the progress of my work on a spreadsheet. My husband calls it my workflow. I create columns for their Name, ID number, Temple work, Shared Work, Research, and Notes so I can keep track of my progress on each individual. I enter them on the spreadsheet in the order I discover them in my research. Information on one individual stays on one line and is condensed or coded so my mind can easily visually process the information. For instance, in the research column I use the symbol SS, to indicate that person does not have a spouse and I need to find a marriage record. Or I use the symbol SP to indicate they don't have parents.

Typically the names become grouped one family at a time, and I occasionally separate families using a colored line in the spreadsheet. This helps me visually identify families quickly, to follow or share with others. I also use different colors to highlight when my research or temple work is done, where I need to focus more attention, or names I have shared with different family members. This helps me see where I have been and where I need to go next.

Besides this I also have a program on my computer for my own pedigree and their descendants, in addition to the one on familysearch.org called family tree. This allows me to see the relationships I have to each of the people I found and enter other personal details that cannot be changed by someone else.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

HIS - Poem

HIS

HIS understanding Sickness Hurt Pain Confusion Misunderstanding Exhaustion Hunger Fatigue Loneliness Abandonment Weariness Doubt Ridicule Despair My Life

Health Healing Comfort Confidence Wisdom Strength Satisfaction Endurance Friendship Companionship Peace Hope Love Joy My Life HIS gift Janice Harten Copyright © 2014 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.