Our Family Connections to RootsTech Speakers

In two of the classes I attended at the RootsTech 2017 Conference, the speakers mentioned who their fathers were. You have to know that, armed with that information, I'm going to see if you might have a family connection to me or my husband!

Two of the guest speakers on Discovery Day were Elder Russell M. Nelson and his wife Wendy Watson Nelson. Wendy told us her father's name was Leonard David Watson and her family lived in Alberta, Canada. From previous research on my husband's ancestry, I knew he had family connections at McGrath and Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada in the early 1900s. They were sent by authorities in the LDS church to settle communities there. So I was curious if some of Wendy's ancestors might have been acquainted with Larry's ancestors.

When I attended the highly enjoyable class that Ron Tanner, Product Manager of the Family Tree for FamilySearch, taught on the future of the Family Tree, I heard him tell us that his father's name was Cleon Burnell Tanner. I have Tanners in my RootsMagic database, so I looked for Cleon Tanner. He wasn't already there, but a bit of research on the Family Tree showed me how he connected to those I already had in my database.  

With that information at hand, I was able to prepare the chart at the top of this post, using Microsoft Publisher to draw the pedigrees and connect them where appropriate. When I finished the tree, I added a few photos for visual interest. 

I won't go into the detail of every family connection, but you can see at the bottom left that I start with Larry Jamison, my husband, and end at the bottom right with ME!

Take a couple of minutes and study the pedigree charts, with the directional arrows showing the descendancies. It probably doesn't matter how we're all connected, but I always find it fascinating to make these discoveries. I don't go along with the adage, "We're all related anyway!" because there are families who can't find a connection to anyone else's ancestry. And we can't simply make them up or force individuals to tie together. I'm blessed to have a pretty good recall of names, which helps me as I discover these connections. And I find them significant.

My Husband's Family Connection to My Family, with cousins in between

The chart at the right looks like a maze to everyone but me. As I'm researching my family names, I often notice a name that actually "belongs" to someone else's family line. In this case it connected from MY family to My Husband's family. When I see that, I'm curious to follow the connection and see it laid out visually so I can understand it. This was the case last night as I looked at Strait descendants. 

Emma Cornelia Strait

You can see my name at the bottom right, as the great-granddaughter of Emma Strait, wife of Joseph Becker. In reviewing the descendant list of my 7th great grandfather, I saw that my 8th cousin, Elaine Litchfield, had married a man named Darwin Oler. The Oler name was familiar to me from research I'd done many years ago on a family connected to my husband. 

You can see those connections by looking at Larry's name at the bottom left of the chart. Larry's great, great grandfather John Haught was first married to Pleasant Horner, Larry's 2nd great grandmother. And John's second wife was Catherine Campbell. At the time of our initial research, I learned really interesting stories about Catherine's sister Mary Campbell, wife of Absalom Critchfield. In fact, I wrote up a small booklet detailing the stories of the interesting ties to the early day Mormons.

The chart shows that Mary and Absalom's great-granddaughter Myrle Jensen married Farrell Oler. Farrell's father was George Oler, who also had a son Roy Oler, whose son Leroy was married to Ruby Savage. Ruby's grandfather was Levi Savage, the well-known leader in the Willy Handcart Company of LDS History. 

Levi Savage, Jr. 

So we see that George Oler had a son Farrell who connects to Larry's Critchfield ancestors. He had a son Roy whose grandson married the granddaughter of Levi Savage, and he had a grandson Darwin who married MY 8th cousin through my Strait ancestor line. 

Call me weird, but I find that quite interesting.

Momma Couldn’t Go to the Funeral

Pictured at far left in the photo above is Myrtle Critchfield Reber with her sisters and mother in 1947. Myrtle was born June 7, 1906 and had a younger brother Arthur “Conrey” Critchfield, who was born February 4, 1908.

I want to share with you a short story that Myrtle has written about her little brother’s death at age 3 on August 19, 1911:

“We moved back to the house that Father had built for us. That was our home for many years. While they unloaded our things, Conrey and I played in the yard all day. That night Conrey woke up and asked Mother to put on his sailor suit because he was going away. He died that night of diphtheria. We were put in quarantine and Father, who was away at work, couldn’t come home. He made a wee wooden coffin for his son and it was passed through a window. Mother and Bonita lined it with white satin, placed Conrey in the box and passed it through the window to strangers to bury her first-born son. It was a terrible time. Mother was grief-stricken, but had to go on without Father to comfort her. I don’t remember how long we were in quarantine but I don’t think it was for very long.”

Myrtle’s mother Lettie (Mrs. Arthur B.) Critchfield is seated in the photo above.

A few months ago my husband and I were blessed with a gift of some family history that contained remembrances about his great, great grandaunt, Mary Campbell (Mrs. Absalom) Critchfield. The story by her granddaughter Myrtle is one of those many stories in the material we received. As we’ve read these stories, our hearts have grown so fond of Mary and the members of her family. We were so saddened when we read this story that her granddaughter wrote about losing her little brother. Learning of these difficult trials in the lives of our ancestors certainly changes our perspective of the trials we encounter in our lives today.

Death Often Came Early in this Family

For the last few months my husband and I have been focusing on the family of one of his great, great grandaunts as the result of family history records that came to us from another descendant of hers.

Larry’s great, great grandmother was Catherine Campbell, wife of John Haught. Catherine’s oldest sister Mary has been the subject of our research. On 10 Feb 1867, when Mary was 28 years old, she married Absalom Critchfield in Glover Gap, Marion, West Virginia. Absalom had lost his first wife Abigail Maine, the mother of their 8 children, on 28 Nov 1862 in Waynesburg, Greene, Pennsylvania.

I love to print out a family group sheet and then take time to really study it and see what stories it tells me. I looked at the family of Absalom and Abigail Critchfield. Since they were married 2 May, 1841, it’s estimated that their first son John Linzy was born about 1842. He died in 1886 at age 44. Their second child was son William Whitlach Critchfield, born 20 Nov 1846. He died 22 Feb 1865, aged 18. Third child David Kennedy Critchfield was born 30 Aug 1848 and died in 1879, aged 30. Their fourth son, James Leroy Critchfield was born 24 Mar 1851 and lived to the ripe old age of 83. He’s pictured below with his wife Sylvania Glover, who is also a distant cousin of my husband’s. 

Absalom and Abigail’s 5th child was daughter Mary Jane, who was born 1853 and died in 1889 at the age of 36. The sixth child of Absalom and Abigail was Thomas Jefferson, born Apr 1857 and died 1921 at the age of 64. Seventh child Sarah Elizabeth, born 12 Oct 1859, died at the age of 15 in August 1875.

If that isn’t enough hardship and tragedy in one family, here’s more. Absalom and Abigail’s eighth child was Nancy Anne, who was born 25 Sep 1862. Abigail herself died two months later, on 28 Nov 1862, then baby Nancy Ann’s death followed one week later, on 5 Dec 1862.

When we take time to study a group sheet like this, we begin to get an idea of what these family members experienced in terms of loss, grief, and tragedy. We gain a better understanding of the emotions they lived with, the troubles they encountered and the strength it must have taken to persevere.