Monday, October 27, 2014

Paying it Forward Again

Two years ago I wrote this story on this blog: 
I had forgotten about it. This morning I received an inquiry about this photo that was posted as part of the story:
The portrait is of Fanny H. Runnells Poole, the author of the book of poems, "A Bank of Violets". In the picture she's holding a copy of the same book. 

The message I got this morning was from Janice Webster Brown, author of the excellent New Hampshire History Blog "Cow Hampshire". She was asking for permission to share this photo. I, of course, would grant her permission to post the photo, but surprised her by offering to send her the book, complete with photos, autographs, and other cool inserts. Janice, who has researched this Runnells family of New Hampshire for 35 years, plans to ultimately donate the book to the New Hampshire Historical Society. 


I'm as excited to send the book to Janice as she is to receive it. It's a win-win-win, for me, for Janice and the NH Historical Society.   

Monday, October 13, 2014

Some Family Connections to the Early LDS Church


This chart shows that my son (blurred out at bottom right) is a first cousin 4 times removed of Almon Linus Fullmer, Jr.  (1844-1919). Almon was married to Jane Eleanor Griffiths (1848-1929). 

My son is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as I am, but these cousins figure prominently in the history of the LDS church. I was fortunate to be able to purchase and download this book by Matthew A. Misbach:

Amazon offers this book description: 
The story of the John and Margaret Griffiths family. In 1856 John Griffiths set out in the Martin Handcart company along with his family: Margaret Ann (age 16), Jane Ellenor (age 8), John (age 11), Herbert (age 5). Along the way John Jr. froze to death 50 miles outside of Devils Gate. Margaret buried her brother Herbert at Independence Rock who had frozen to death. John Sr. died the day after arriving in the Salt Lake valley. Jane Ellenor "lost the first joint of her big toes". Margaret "was terribly frozen up", and "was laid up nine weeks" with her feet. All that survived the trek were two young sisters, Margaret and Jane Ellenor.

The Overland Travels site at lds.org offers this brief summary of Jane Griffith's account of her travels with the Martin Handcart Company: 
Birth: Mar. 6, 1848, England
Death: Sep. 16, 1929, Tetonia, Teton, Idaho


Jane Ellenor (or Eleanor) Griffiths after she arrived in SL Valley as she came in from Wyoming on the Martin Handcart company. It was shortly after her stay in SL that Eleanor went to live with Almon L. Fullmer. She eventually married him. 


Jane Ellenor [or Eleanor] Griffiths, born 6 March 1848, 8 years younger than Margaret Ann, and 8 years old when she arrived in SL Valley with the Martin Handcart Company. She married Almon Linus Fullmer on 31 July 1864 at the age of 16. They made their home in Idaho and were successful farmers. Almon Fullmer came from a strong LDS family who had converted to the church and moved to Nauvoo, he being born in Nauvoo, 26 Oct 1844. Almon Fullmer died 10 Jan 1919 in Cache Valley, Utah at the age of 74. The Fullmer family were close friends of the prophet Joseph Smith and other church leaders. The Fullmer family stayed faithful over the years and the entire family immigrated to Utah with the early Saints. Jane lived until 20 Sept 1929, being just a few weeks after her sister Margaret Ann passed away and at an age of 8 years younger, or 81 years of age. Eleanor and Almon Fullmer lived in Cache Valley, Providence, Utah in their later years where Almon died; he leaving this existence about 10 years before Jane. Jane died in Tetonia, Teton, Idaho when she was staying with one of her children. The funeral was held in Providence. 


Almun Linus Fullmer, Sr.  
Jane's father-in-law carries an interesting LDS history himself. At FamilySearch.org we find this account
Captain Almon Linus Fullmer - The Battle of Nauvoo


       After the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, the majority of saints left Nauvoo in the late winter and spring of 1846 and headed west through Iowa. Several families of saints remained behind. Some being to poor to leave; others, such as John S, and his brother Almon Linus Fullmer, were left to protect the property and business rights of the Church. The persecution and violence continued through the summer, and in September, an organized mob attacked Nauvoo in earnest. Less than 150 men were left to bear arms and defend the city. The Nauvoo Legion Spartan Band (which these men were called) were greatly outnumbered, but fought a heroic battle, the famous Battle of Nauvoo, in which they repelled the advance of over 1,000 men.
Almon was numbered among the forty men with repeating rifles who found and was also at the side of Captain Anderson when he feel in battle. Upon Anderson’s death, the command of the men fell upon Almon and Alexander McKee. (Also Mrs. Sarah Ann Fullmer was with Anderson’s widow when her husband’s body was brought home.)
The men fought fiercely for three days with no reinforcements and would have continued to fight on if the men representing the Church had not chosen to sign the “Articles of Agreement” that were drawn up between the mob and the Saints.
In this treaty the remaining Saints agreed to leave the state and cross the river as soon as possible. The reason for signing was that they Saints had already made the commitment to remove themselves from the area as soon as possible to join the earlier vanguard of Saints as they moved westward. All they wanted was to be left in peace to accomplish this purpose.
In the spring of 1847, they moved to Winter Quarters and in 1848 Almon Linus, his wife and son, Almon Linus Jr., traveled to Utah with the Brigham Young company, with Almon serving as a Captain of Ten. Along the way, Sarah gave birth to a little girl, Sarah Ann, near Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Twin girls had died while in Nauvoo, and this was to be the only daughter to reach maturity. How happy they were to finally reach Zion October 5, 1848. Sarah and Almon had four sons after they arrived in Utah: Buckley Martin, Oscar Myron, Collins DeWitt and Halsey Dean. Almon had been sealed to his wife’s sister, Tryphena, after her death in Nauvoo. He took a second wife, Rachel Neyman, in 1852. Three sons (Thaddeus Edgar, Franklin Pierce and John Hyrum) were born to this marriage before the couple divorced in 1858.
Almon continued his involvement with the military and church after arrived in Utah. He had been elected adjutant to Colonel Markham of the Nauvoo Legion with the rand of Major while in Illinois, and served as a member of the Utah militia, involved in the action to meet and deter the Johnson Army as they marched into Utah. He was active in Indian skirmishes in Utah Valley and Sanpete County, was elected deputy marshall of the state by legislature of Deseret, helping pioneer Iron County with George A. Smith, and held the position of Colonel of the First Regiment for ten years when he tendered his resignation upon moving to Logan in 1870. He served in the Seventies Quorum in Nauvoo and Utah.
Almon Linus was the youngest child of the Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass’ family. He did not join the church with the rest of his family, but converted himself in 1839 while disposing of his Father’s property in the East. Almon was not with his brother David and family, or sister Desdemona at Haun’s Mill or during other periods of persecution while in Missouri, but joined them as they moved to Nauvoo. He married Sarah Ann Follett* in 1843. Her parents were from New York and New Jersey, with her mother’s family, the Van Dyke’s, tracing their roots to early New York City (New Amsterdam) and before that to the Netherlands.
He died 2 October 1890 in Providence, Utah and is buried in the Providence Cemetery. 

*More of my son's Follett Connection: 
My son, whose name is blurred at bottom right in the chart above, is the 3rd cousin 5 times removed of King Follett. 
 Joseph Smith gave an address on 7 April 1844, in Nauvoo, Illinois, at a general conference of the church. Because a church elder named King Follett had died in an accident a few weeks before the conference, Joseph Smith took the opportunity to specifically comment on Follett’s death and to speak on what he called “the subject of the dead.” The address has often been referred to as the King Follett sermon or King Follett discourse.


Book Synopsis:



Who was King Follett? When he was fatally injured digging a well in Nauvoo in March 1844, why did Joseph Smith use his death to deliver the monumental doctrinal sermon now known as the King Follett Discourse? Much has been written about the sermon, but little about King.

     Although King left no personal writings, Joann Follett Mortensen, King’s third great-granddaughter, draws on more than thirty years of research in civic and Church records and in the journals and letters of King’s peers to piece together King’s story from his birth in New Hampshire and moves westward where, in Ohio, he and his wife, Louisa, made the life-shifting decision to accept the new Mormon religion.

     From that point, this humble, hospitable, and hardworking family followed the Church into Missouri where their devotion to Joseph Smith was refined and burnished. King was the last Mormon prisoner in Missouri to be released from jail. According to family lore, King was one of the Prophet’s bodyguards. He was also a Danite, a Mason, and an officer in the Nauvoo Legion. After his death, Louisa and their children settled in Iowa where some associated with the Cutlerities and the RLDS Church; others moved on to California. One son joined the Mormon Battalion and helped found Mormon communities in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.

     While King would have died virtually unknown had his name not been attached to the discourse, his life story reflects the reality of all those whose faith became the foundation for a new religion. His biography is more than one man’s life story. It is the history of the early Restoration itself.
B

I Share DNA with my Adopted Son


This chart shows my ancestry to William Moulton (b. about 1615) and Margaret Page (b. about 1623). They are one set of my 9th great grandparents.  

A few days ago I was researching the Spalding ancestors of my son, whom I adopted as an infant. This is what I discovered.  
This chart starts with my son's birth mother, so if we add one generation to the bottom of the chart for my son, we find that William Moulton and Margaret Page are his 10th great grandparents. Even though I adopted my son, it's wonderful to see that we share some DNA through our common lineage to this couple.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Closed Windows and Open Doors

There's an expression among Christians "When God closes a door, he opens a window". I know the reference this expression is making. But I'm going to change the expression to my own version: "When God shuts a window, he opens a door". When we let people into our homes, it's through the front door. When we invite people into or 'back into' our lives, it's through the front door. 

In March 1976 my step-mother's father died. My step-mom was very devoted and loyal to her father, having worked for him all her life to that point. He was the strong core of her life. But the void left in her life when his spirit fled through that window was filled immensely just 3 months later when the door of adoption opened and brought my son, her only grandson, into our lives. There isn't enough time or room to write about what that blessing meant to her. But as life left her, new life came to her.    

Paul Dyer and niece Patti Wray Milburn
Earlier this week, Paul Dyer, my step-mom's nephew passed away. He 
would be my cousin (through marriage). While I was processing his death and recalling memories of his life as it intertwined with mine, I promptly received an email from another cousin Cheryl, (through marriage in my step-mother's family) whom I have not seen for at least 50 years. I had no way to find her contact information, but have wanted to send her many of the old family pictures I've been digitizing. She found a photo of her

grandmother's headstone on my web site. Her grandmother was my step-mom's step-mother, Laura Evans Jones, pictured below with my step-mother's dad, my Grandpa Jones. 


Cheryl, with her grandmother and my grandfather,
Jim and Laura Jones
A new door opened as this "cousin" Cheryl and I are now corresponding and sharing family information and getting re-acquainted more than 50 years later.



Linda Diane (Mason) Margheim
1947-2014
Yesterday morning I was saddened to learn of the passing of the friend who was my sister-in-law for more than 30 years. Her friend Ann Beebe shared this photo of Diane (Mason) Margheim on facebook. Another sweet spirit passing through that window of life, to join with the angels of heaven.  

While commenting on facebook about Diane's passing this morning, I noticed a reply/question by someone named Milli Wood, asking if Diane was related to the Dennis Margheim who lived at 22nd & Jefferson in Great Bend, KS in the 1960s. I immediately knew who Milli was, though she's not my facebook friend, and not anyone in my life right now.

I replied to Milli that Diane had been married to Dennis Margheim and that I was Dennis's sister. I knew I was
Milli Donner Wood
commenting to Milli Donner Wood, who served as our babysitter when we were in the 5th and 6th grade. I just knew it! We haven't seen each other since the early 1960s when Milli got married. My last memory of seeing her was at her wedding on an August 10th. It's interesting to note that Dennis and Diane also got married on an August 10th.


We know that people come and go in our lives. It's my experience that it's often in the reverse order. When people go from our lives, others come into our lives, usually within a close proximity of time. I've experienced that twice just in the last few days! 

Friday, October 10, 2014

Blessed to have portraits of great, great grandparents

The photo above shows at left that my son is a great grandson of Frank Jefferson Bell and his wife Alma Alice Erhlich. Frank Bell had a brother Charles Owen Bell, indicated at right. In the past couple of weeks I've been very blessed by the son and daughter-in-law of Charles Bell who have sent me these photos of Frank and Alma Ehrlich Bell, as well as photos of the parents of Frank and Charles, John Willis Bell and his wife Emeline Charlotte Crotchett Bell.  
John Willis Bell 1861-1935
Emeline Charlotte Crotchett Bell 1863-1931
Frank Jefferson (1888-1951) and Alma Alice (Ehrlich 1895-1942) Bell
My thoughts as I look at these portraits are of how blessed my granddaughter is to already have photos of her great, great, great grandparents and great, great grandparents. And since I have them now, her grandchildren will know what their 4th and 5th great grandparents looked like. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all could know that. 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Just don't tell me "We're all related anyway"

Tangents! I get off on tangents. And they always pay off. I'm researching the previous residents of my house so this morning I pulled a file out of my file cabinet with clippings that I got from our Local History Center. One particular photo intrigued me, as it was of a man named Charles C. Rittenhouse, who was an architect in Canon City, CO at the turn of the 20th century. As I saw his name "Rittenhouse", my thoughts went to my step-mother's ancestry, as she is related to a Rittenhouse Baird. As a result, I've spent time today on my step-mother's Baird ancestry instead of writing the post I'd planned about the previous residents of my house.  

As a preface to the charts that are posted below, I must say that I adopted my son as an infant. He's the greatest blessing of my life. As the only grandchild my (step)mother Phyllis (Jones) Margheim had, he was also the greatest blessing of her life. When my genealogy research shows me a connection from my son to my step-mom, I'm instantly amazed and very interested.

This chart shows that Phyllis's second cousin 3 times removed was John Bedent Baird. (Click on the charts to make them bigger).
The chart below shows that John Bedent Baird is the 7th cousin 4 times removed of Taylor D. Haining. Taylor is my son's step-daughter by his first wife. 
The chart below shows that John Bedent Baird is the 2nd cousin 4 times removed of Kindall Johnson. Kindall is my son's step-daughter by his current (and last) wife. 
When I share these connections, I sometimes get the response "Well, we're all related anyway!" I don't like hearing that. Yes, we're all part of the human race, but if we're all related, can you show me how John Bedent Baird might be related to my son's daughter? Or to my son? I haven't found those connections yet!

Now back to my research on my house history and possible connection to Charles C. Rittenhouse.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Facebook Unites Cousins with Surprising Connections

Sometimes stories unfold so quickly I can barely keep up! This afternoon I stayed home from work as I'm developing a cold. After taking a nap I got onto Facebook and saw a friend request Gwenda Radcliffe, one of my son's cousins, made to me. She suggested that I become a Facebook friend of another one of her cousins named Jennifer. 

I was happy when Jennifer accepted my request quickly after I sent it. I reviewed her timeline to see who my "new friend" was. I saw that she lives in South Carolina, quite near the town where my husband's half-brother Dale lives. That was the first connection that caught my eye. Then I noticed she has a friend with the same surname as Dale. So I'm anxious to see if her friend knows my brother-in-law Dale. 

I also noticed that Jennifer "likes" some of the "Mormon" pages that I like and through our messaging I learned that she is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as I am. Second cool connection!

As we "chatted" I found that Jennifer is my son's fourth cousin, once removed. Jennifer's third great grandfather is my son's fourth great grandfather. Third cool connection! 

Gotta love Facebook when it's used for the good! Thank you, Gwenda, for bringing cousins together who have quite a bit in common, even though we've never met. I think as we get acquainted we're going to find that we have even more in common!