Once upon a time there was a young girl named Agnes. She was born in Scotland, but moved to Canada with her family when she was 4 years old. Her parents cleared the land for farming, and that is where she spent her childhood and early adult years. She was the 2nd of 10 children.
In April 1832, she married a fellow named Alexander Hill. A few years later, a couple missionaries came to town and taught the Hill family about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1840, they were baptized as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had 6 children at the time.
In 1842 they left most of their belongings, and moved to Nauvoo to join the other members of the church. Like the rest of the saints at that time, Agnes and Alexander faced a lot of persecution and eventually made the trek to the Salt Lake Valley, settling in Millcreek. Also like the rest of the saints, they left behind friends, family, and property at great sacrifice for their beliefs. They ended up with 13 kids and Agnes claimed to have a baker's dozen children.
Her granddaughter wrote: "Agnes taught her children the gospel by example as well as by Precept. She was very industrious. She made lye to make soap, from the wool; and spun the wool into yarn and made it into clothes for her large family. She lived the laws and commandments of the Lord as revealed."
One of their thirteen was a daughter named Agnes, who had a son named William, who had a son named Dennis, who had a son named William, who had a daughter named Carol, who had a daughter named Brittan.
I have another great, great, etc. grandmother named Jane who was a midwife. She saved money from her work and left $25 to each granddaughter named after her.
I have another named Elizabeth. She came to the US from Scotland on a boat (because how else would she have done it...). On the journey, many people suffered with black diphtheria, and she was able to help them as a nurse.
I have one named Hugh who had a stroke at a young age, and was an invalid the rest of his life. He built each of his sons a brick home to live in when they got married.
- - -
Several years ago, my grandma wrote a book called Wildcats, Wagons, Wives, and Wardens. It is written from the perspective of her father, Albert Barlow, about his life, childhood, what led him to choose to live polygamy, and how that affected him and his family.
Reading that book, it was fascinating to see how much I have in common with my great-grandfather. Some of the beliefs and world views he had were definitely passed from him to my grandma, to my mom, to me, and I think that's pretty cool. It was also interesting to learn about his parents and siblings, and what it was like growing up in Utah in the early 1900s.
- - -
A couple weeks before my 12th birthday, my father passed away. A year later, my mom took us children to visit his grave, but I haven't been back since. I guess it's because I don't really associate that spot in the ground with him...? I don't know. But I decided Family History month would be a good time to visit. So one sunny Saturday morning, I took Benjamin with me in search of our dad's grave. First of all, it was an ordeal just finding the cemetery because google was being ridiculous and my memory of its location was 13 years old. But find it we did! Unfortunately, we hadn't a clue where in the cemetery to look, and the help desk people were closed. So we just searched at random for a minute. Then we called my mom who led us astray for several minutes. Then we called my grandma who gave us some hints (thank goodness for cardinal directions, everyone). After maybe 40 minutes of wandering, we finally found it!
1. I was surprised how old it looked. It doesn't feel like it's been there that long.
2. Believe it or not, I still don't associate that spot with my actual dad.
3. I felt a little bad about the fact that we didn't even have any flowers to put there or anything. What kind of children are we?!
4. I think it was worth the trip. It was nice to dedicate some time to thinking about him and what he taught me and about the Plan of Salvation, and etc.
What else did I do during my Family History month, you might ask?
I indexed 72 records. The goal was 100, which I did not quite accomplish, but it was still a valiant effort. Previous to this month, I had done a total of 7 in my life.
I got a few names to take to the temple (which I have not yet done, so here we go August).
I attended Family History class at church. That was definitely a highlight of the month. The teacher would present a little lesson/discussion on some related topic and then we would spend time on familysearch.org. It was nice to be reminded about why we need to learn about and find our ancestors, about the importance of the family, about making covenants with God, and about God's plan for his children.
Last week in class she read to us from this talk by Elder Renlund. Here is what he said:
"As we participate in family history and temple work today, we also lay claim to the "healing" blessings promised by prophets and apostles. These blessings are also breathtakingly amazing because of their scope, specificity, and consequence in mortality. This long list includes these blessings:
- Increased understanding of the Savior and His atoning sacrifice;
- Increased influence of the Holy Ghost to feel strength and direction for our own lives;
- Increased faith, so that conversion to the Savior becomes deep and abiding;
- Increased ability and motivation to learn and repent because of an understanding of who we are, where we come from, and a clearer vision of where we are going.
- Increased refining, sanctifying, and moderating influences in our hearts;
- Increased joy through an increased ability to feel the love of the Lord;
- Increased family blessings, no matter our current, past, or future family situation or how imperfect our family tree may be;
- Increased love and appreciation for ancestors and living relatives, so we no longer feel alone;
- Increased power to discern that which needs healing and thus, with the Lord's help, serve others;
- Increased protection from temptations and the intensifying influence of the adversary; and
- Increased assistance to mend troubled, broken, or anxious hearts and make the wounded whole.
If you have prayed for any of these blessings, participate in family history and temple work. As you do so, your prayers will be answered."
This is huge. In the last few weeks I have had multiple friends talk with me about big and real and deep and intense trials and struggles they are facing. Not to mention the pit of despair the world seems to be plunging into willy nilly. It's scary! And confusing. It makes me feel tired.
But hearing those promises from Elder Renlund's talk is truly inspiring. Many of those blessings I have prayed for almost word for word. It is hopeful and wonderful to know that there is light! There is good in the dark world, and we have tools and means to access it.
I'm grateful for the blessing July was in my life. August 1st me is a little better than July 1st me because of it.
(P.S. If you have no idea what the crap I'm talking about with family history and indexing and temple and etc. send me a message and I'll be glad to fill you in)
In April 1832, she married a fellow named Alexander Hill. A few years later, a couple missionaries came to town and taught the Hill family about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1840, they were baptized as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had 6 children at the time.
In 1842 they left most of their belongings, and moved to Nauvoo to join the other members of the church. Like the rest of the saints at that time, Agnes and Alexander faced a lot of persecution and eventually made the trek to the Salt Lake Valley, settling in Millcreek. Also like the rest of the saints, they left behind friends, family, and property at great sacrifice for their beliefs. They ended up with 13 kids and Agnes claimed to have a baker's dozen children.
Her granddaughter wrote: "Agnes taught her children the gospel by example as well as by Precept. She was very industrious. She made lye to make soap, from the wool; and spun the wool into yarn and made it into clothes for her large family. She lived the laws and commandments of the Lord as revealed."
One of their thirteen was a daughter named Agnes, who had a son named William, who had a son named Dennis, who had a son named William, who had a daughter named Carol, who had a daughter named Brittan.
I have another great, great, etc. grandmother named Jane who was a midwife. She saved money from her work and left $25 to each granddaughter named after her.
I have another named Elizabeth. She came to the US from Scotland on a boat (because how else would she have done it...). On the journey, many people suffered with black diphtheria, and she was able to help them as a nurse.
I have one named Hugh who had a stroke at a young age, and was an invalid the rest of his life. He built each of his sons a brick home to live in when they got married.
- - -
Several years ago, my grandma wrote a book called Wildcats, Wagons, Wives, and Wardens. It is written from the perspective of her father, Albert Barlow, about his life, childhood, what led him to choose to live polygamy, and how that affected him and his family.
Reading that book, it was fascinating to see how much I have in common with my great-grandfather. Some of the beliefs and world views he had were definitely passed from him to my grandma, to my mom, to me, and I think that's pretty cool. It was also interesting to learn about his parents and siblings, and what it was like growing up in Utah in the early 1900s.
- - -
A couple weeks before my 12th birthday, my father passed away. A year later, my mom took us children to visit his grave, but I haven't been back since. I guess it's because I don't really associate that spot in the ground with him...? I don't know. But I decided Family History month would be a good time to visit. So one sunny Saturday morning, I took Benjamin with me in search of our dad's grave. First of all, it was an ordeal just finding the cemetery because google was being ridiculous and my memory of its location was 13 years old. But find it we did! Unfortunately, we hadn't a clue where in the cemetery to look, and the help desk people were closed. So we just searched at random for a minute. Then we called my mom who led us astray for several minutes. Then we called my grandma who gave us some hints (thank goodness for cardinal directions, everyone). After maybe 40 minutes of wandering, we finally found it!
1. I was surprised how old it looked. It doesn't feel like it's been there that long.
2. Believe it or not, I still don't associate that spot with my actual dad.
3. I felt a little bad about the fact that we didn't even have any flowers to put there or anything. What kind of children are we?!
4. I think it was worth the trip. It was nice to dedicate some time to thinking about him and what he taught me and about the Plan of Salvation, and etc.
What else did I do during my Family History month, you might ask?
I indexed 72 records. The goal was 100, which I did not quite accomplish, but it was still a valiant effort. Previous to this month, I had done a total of 7 in my life.
I got a few names to take to the temple (which I have not yet done, so here we go August).
I attended Family History class at church. That was definitely a highlight of the month. The teacher would present a little lesson/discussion on some related topic and then we would spend time on familysearch.org. It was nice to be reminded about why we need to learn about and find our ancestors, about the importance of the family, about making covenants with God, and about God's plan for his children.
Last week in class she read to us from this talk by Elder Renlund. Here is what he said:
"As we participate in family history and temple work today, we also lay claim to the "healing" blessings promised by prophets and apostles. These blessings are also breathtakingly amazing because of their scope, specificity, and consequence in mortality. This long list includes these blessings:
- Increased understanding of the Savior and His atoning sacrifice;
- Increased influence of the Holy Ghost to feel strength and direction for our own lives;
- Increased faith, so that conversion to the Savior becomes deep and abiding;
- Increased ability and motivation to learn and repent because of an understanding of who we are, where we come from, and a clearer vision of where we are going.
- Increased refining, sanctifying, and moderating influences in our hearts;
- Increased joy through an increased ability to feel the love of the Lord;
- Increased family blessings, no matter our current, past, or future family situation or how imperfect our family tree may be;
- Increased love and appreciation for ancestors and living relatives, so we no longer feel alone;
- Increased power to discern that which needs healing and thus, with the Lord's help, serve others;
- Increased protection from temptations and the intensifying influence of the adversary; and
- Increased assistance to mend troubled, broken, or anxious hearts and make the wounded whole.
If you have prayed for any of these blessings, participate in family history and temple work. As you do so, your prayers will be answered."
This is huge. In the last few weeks I have had multiple friends talk with me about big and real and deep and intense trials and struggles they are facing. Not to mention the pit of despair the world seems to be plunging into willy nilly. It's scary! And confusing. It makes me feel tired.
But hearing those promises from Elder Renlund's talk is truly inspiring. Many of those blessings I have prayed for almost word for word. It is hopeful and wonderful to know that there is light! There is good in the dark world, and we have tools and means to access it.
I'm grateful for the blessing July was in my life. August 1st me is a little better than July 1st me because of it.
(P.S. If you have no idea what the crap I'm talking about with family history and indexing and temple and etc. send me a message and I'll be glad to fill you in)
So happy to read your post this morning. Vulnerable, honest, and enlightening.
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