Tuesday, July 8, 2014

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....

Saturday, July 5, 2014

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.