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....
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