Category Archives: Family History

Family History Friday (FHF): Inventory Sheet!

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An inventory sheet is a great place 
to keep information about the family heirlooms and collectibles that are in your possession. If you have things that were given to you and you want to give them to one of your children when the time comes, you can keep track of them here. Put the surname of the family that the item belonged to at the top. List items on the left. Give them a number if you like. If the item is a picture or a vase, you could put a number on the back or bottom. Where is it located? On the wall in the family room, or in the china hutch. What if the item is journals, and there are 10 of them? You could list them as one item or number them from one to ten. If different people have them, you could still have a list of who has journal # 5, etc. In the comments section you write who that item will go to when you die. It would be one way to help your children to know your wishes when you’re not there to tell them. It’s a great information sheet! 
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Family History Conference

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Do you live in Northern Utah?
Next Saturday September 11th, 
there will be a
***Free*** 
Family History Conference 
@ Weber State University 
in Ogden. 
For more information go here!
————————–
There will be plenty of experts on hand to help 
with any questions you might have concerning 
Family History Research and it’s Free!
Happy Family History Friday! 
Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Hot Seat!

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I know summer is 
basically over. 
For my youngest, 
school started this week,
 but I thought you might like 
some fun ideas for your next 
family reunion or gathering. 
I found a great web site 
that has a fun idea. 
It’s called the 
“Family History Hot Seat.”  
You can find it here at 
FamilyHistoryProducts.com. 
I plan on doing something like this 
at our next Christmas Party. 
What a great idea! 
I’ll then make copies of the 
Hot Seat recording for each family.  
Check it out. Fun! 
Happy Family History Friday!
 Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): On Family History!

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“We must not be weary in well doing.

 Should we feel our 
contribution in this sacred 

work is small or insignificant, 

we remember that ‘the worth 

of souls is great in the sight of God.’
D&C 18:10

Is it any wonder that when we 

receive a testimony of this 
work, we desire to give so much 

to its progress and its 
advancement? Barriers evaporate 

as mists before the morning 
sun. When we perform our work 

with abiding faith, we will 

qualify for the desired blessings.”
                                                     
        -Thomas S. Monson

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): First water skier?

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When John Howland came with the other pilgrims to America. He had quite an adventure. He was just a young man in his early 20’s.
What an opportunity!
 To come to a new world and 
start a life of his own. 
While the Mayflower was at sea a storm came, John Howland fell off the ship. It wasn’t like it is now. If you fell off a ship now, they could just turn around and come get you. No, this was a ship with sails and turning around would be almost impossible, especially in a storm and how would they find him, even if they were able to turn around? Luckily, or by divine intervention, John was able to catch hold of the topsail halyards and was rescued. When I spoke with friends today about this story, someone said, “Hey, he was the first water skier!” Funny! His story is an amazing one. He married Elizabeth Tilley, after her parents both died the first winter. Years ago our family had the opportunity to visit Plymouth, Massachusetts. What a great trip!! The things we heard, and the things we saw, will always stay with us. We are so thankful for the pilgrims. If you took the time to look, to see all of John Howlands descendants. You would be amazed. If he had just fallen of the ship and not been recovered, so much would be different. I’m glad he caught hold of the halyards. I’m sure his descendants are too! Heres a list of some of them:
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Joseph Smith
Dr. Spock
George H. W. Bush  
George W. Bush
Sarah Palin
Christopher Lloyd
Humphrey Bogart
Alec Baldwin
My friend Julie
and My darlin!
Happy Family History Friday! 
Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): She really wanted to be baptized!

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Mary Malden Peek 
was my 4th great grandmother. She was born in England. When she was just a young girl, she lived a life similar to other girls her age. 
One of her favorite things to do was sew. 
Another was to enjoy tea,
 when she was invited with her mother and some of the other ladies. While she was still quite young, her father died, leaving the family with not enough money to live on. Mary took jobs sewing to help with the family’s income. One day their family met some missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “the Mormons”, and they were touched by the things the missionaries said. 
Mary knew in her heart that what the elders were teaching her was true, and she wanted to be baptized. 
At the time this happened, there was some persecution happening to members of the church, as well as the missionaries. They had to meet in barns and other places that they might not regularly meet. Also, when someone wanted to get baptized, they would have to do it in secret. Mary wanted to be baptized so bad, she didn’t want to wait until others were okay with it. So they made a plan. She would be baptized in the shed. They dug a hole and spent the whole day filling it with buckets of water till it was deep enough for her. That night, after dark, she was baptized. When I was baptized the water was clear and clean and warm. My family was there and it was safe and wonderful. Mary must have really wanted it, to go through all that. I’m not sure if she felt safe, but I’m pretty sure that water wasn’t clean or clear or warm. She and her family later left England to come to Utah to be with other members of the church. Mary walked to the Great Salt Lake Valley. She married a good man, and lived a good life full of happiness. She never regretted her choice to join the church. I love her for all she went through, for her courage, drive and purpose.
Her life was full! 
Find one of your ancestors who was amazing and tell the story to your family!  Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Write A Book!

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 Write a book.
You heard me right!
 If you don’t want to write a whole book, one that gets bound and published, that’s OKAY! You don’t have to do that. You can just write your story in a book. I have several of these types of books at my home right now. They are super! If you don’t feel like you’re ready for that yet, but you have a loved one who you would like to know more, you can give one to them. In these books, they give you a question and you answer it. Sometimes we (or maybe those we leave behind) want to know something about a person long after the opportunity is still there to ask them. Sometimes we don’t or can’t think of questions. This is one way to leave a legacy of your feelings and experiences. Or find out how your family members feel about their life and experiences. Priceless!
My darlin’s father is one of the many who has been dealing with the challenge of Alzheimer’s. He’s only 77 years old, and a lot of his memories are gone. Sad.
He has led a wonderful life, full of adventures and experiences that will not be shared, except by family members who were there with him.
One of these books has you answer just one question a day for a year. How easy is that? Anyone can do that! Others are more like a journal and you write as you have time. Write your memories down, and there won’t be one person who is not thrilled that you did, including you. Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Where are they?

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Part of
Family History
is
Family Present!
We all have loved ones! Some live near, some live far away. The challenge in this day and age is to stay connected, to talk to each other, about each other. Stay in touch! One really fun activity you can do as a family to keep your family aware and thinking about those you love is, to place little reminders around your home and yard.
I saw a wonderful project in the
 Family Fun
magazine you can find it here!
You could make one of these Family Signposts to put either in your yard or in your home. It doesn’t have to be made exactly like the one Family Fun made. It’s just a reminder of
your relatives far and wide. It would be fun to know which direction from your home, your relatives live and how far from your home they live. 
Next, you could write each of them a letter or email with a fun spotlight questionare,
like this one (I found it at ldsactivitydayideas.blogspot.com).

Family History Friday (FHF): The Love Boat!

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Long before there was ever a show called
“Love Boat”,
 there was a real love boat. When my husbands ancestor left Norway to come to America she met and fell in love with her husband. They had a common goal, to come to Utah and join the members of their newly found religion. She married him on the William Tabscot. The ship that was bringing them to America. They were one of many couples who “tied the knot” on the ship. They continued their journey once here in America, across the plains. They ended up in the Bear Lake Valley. In a town called Montpelier, Idaho. They loved each other all their lives and were happy. Now that’s a LOVE boat.
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Another Interesting Trip!

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Several years ago, our family decided to visit some of the pioneer history sites in Wyoming. You can read about them here! We wanted to see at least two places. The Willie handcart sight, called Rocky Ridge. And Martin‘s Cove, a sight where many of the pioneers lost their lives. We were already going to Yellowstone on this trip, so we thought
-what the hay?
 In order to get from the Willie handcart site to Martin‘s Cove, you travel many miles through the middle of Wyoming. Nothing but sage brush and a few rolling hills. (Not that sage brush and rolling hills aren’t beautiful in their own way. But we’re talking kids, who have been in the car for hours.) The kids were tired of being in the car and said things like, “This is boring!” and “How soon are we going to be there?” I would tell them, “This is an adventure!” And remind them that we were going 60 miles per hour and the pioneers went about 15 miles per day. “Wow!” they would say. They found things to keep them busy while in the van and when we arrived at the sites, I believe they did have an adventure.
When we were at the Willie site, we borrowed a handcart and took it for down the dirt road. We all took a turn pushing and pulling. Emily fell in a gopher hole in the road, that she couldn’t see because she was pushing behind the cart. Whoops!  Alex’s favorite part about the whole trip was, as we were leaving Martin‘s Cove a dog chased our van for about a half mile and stayed up with us, even though my darlin was going pretty fast. Funny! Great memories, great adventures! And a new appreciation for the pioneers!
Like I always say, take a trip! Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy