Kindred Spirits

MARILYN YOUNG ALARID, Helaman Halls, BYU, 2012

 My cousin and I have never lived near each other, but for the first 15 years of our lives, spent a week or two during the summer staying at Grandpa and Grandma Young's or Unicle Lamar and Aunt Olive Nielsen's home in the Uintah Basin.  We were inseparable.  Marilyn lived in California or Nevada, was about 9 months older than I was, and quite honestly was the kindest, nicest person with just the right touch of a sense of humor.  She was, quite rightfully, the sweetheart of the family.  She was like my "Jiminy Cricket", the little voice in the back of my mind, prompting me to be kind and helpful.  I adored her.
A few years ago, as I was going though family papers, I found a "will" Marilyn had written at probably 12 or 13 leaving me all her earthly possessions.
Her mother, my Aunt Ruth was killed in an automobile accident which also shattered Marilyn's leg and maybe hip when she was about 15.  A couple of years later, she married, and we went for years without seeing each other.  She had a rough marriage, divorce, and a lot of grief with her two sons who had severe drug and alcohol.  She worked hard to support herself, and was too busy to come with her family when they visited Utah.  Kirk and I went to see her once or twice when we visited Northern California.
Fast forward until Tina's death, when she called me, and then later invited me to join her at BYU Women's Conference in Provo when she drove a group of women up.  I, of course, accepted, and the almost 45 years melted away.  We were a team -- taking up where we took off with a lot of life experience behind each of us.
Marilyn had remarried a nice man who died a few years ago.  He was a staunch Catholic and wanted nothing to do with the LDS church.  Marilyn's mother was not LDS, and she was not baptized until she was a teenager, if I remember correctly, and wasn't active for most of her life.
Faithful home teachers took note of her interest in family history a few years ago, and got her visiting the family history center in Sacramento.  Things progressed from there, and she prepared to go to the temple around the time the Sacramento temple was dedicated in 2006.

I was able to go to my Uncle June's funeral in Chico, CA with my dad and Kirk.  It was wonderful to be together in Aunt Jeri's home for a couple of days.
We had to miss a year or two of Women's Conference due to Marilyn's work, but met up again this year.  What a great experience to share the spirit sitting next to each other in the Marriott Center.
We both are crazy busy, (and a little just plain crazy) and mainly just exchange email forwards of humor, politics. and beauty, but it's like we know we are connected.
I'm so thankful for the blessing of a renewed friendship, that we are cousins, and most of all sisters in the gospel with a shared faith in Jesus Christ.

A Plea on Behalf of Your Posterity and Your Peace of Mind

I AM THE POSTER CHILD FOR LESSONS LEARNED.  There is one thing that I would suggest will save you time and effort at some point in time whether you are "into" family history or not.  Make a file or a box where you can file birth certificates, baptism certificates, and dates of importance for your family.
For a few years I entered pertinent facts into a software program for genealogy.  Then I changed software and computers and didn't get all the information saved correctly.  I am on an exciting errand for Dad, and have had to call siblings and nieces and nephews as well as my own kids to get information.
I feel like a pest.  I know how annoying it can be someone calls looking for information needed with a deadline.  How I wish I would have just entered the info when I got a wedding invitation from a niece or nephew or a birth announcement.
Some of my relatives have the info at their fingertips.  Others struggle. WORD TO THE WISE: eventually you or your kids are going to need those dates and data.  Save yourself some grief and have the info someplace where you can get to it easily.  Just saying'.  

Great-Great Grandmother Myler and Tithing Blessings

My great great grandmother Ann Mariah (Pronounced MARIAHR) Thacker had been married to Joseph Myler for six years when he told her he wanted to take a plural wife, and she gave consent. After the marriage she was heart broken and she threw mud at them as they drove away in a buggy. 8 months after the marriage she took her three children and went back to Daniels to be with her family. One time when living in living in Strawberry, she took 3 dozen eggs to Bishop Clarence Ivie to pay her tithing. While talking to him, she told him she didn’t know if she should pay her tithing because she needed to buy flannel to make petticoats. Bishop Ivie told her to pay her tithing, and she would have the flannel to make the petticoats. She paid her tithing and left. While walking home she found a package in the middle of the road at the old Strawberry river bridge. She opened the package and there was the flannel she needed for her petticoats. She went back to the Bishop and told him what had happened. She went along the river and asked everyone she could find if they had lost the package. No one claimed the flannel so it was hers, and she had her petticoats. She had walked about 10 miles that day.

Poem for Pioneer Day

Mormon Pioneers, originally uploaded by AllAboutMormons.com.

COUNTERPARTS by Susan Noyes Anderson

Great Grandma walked across the plains,
Her blue dress grey with travel stains,
She bore the hardship, for she knew
Her faith in the Lord would see her through.

Her once pink hands were calloused now,
And she had said good-bye somehow
To husband dear and children lost,
Praying the end would be worth the cost.

I walk the darkened city street,
My hurried footsteps keeping beat
With a trembling heart, but I swallow my fear.
Reminding myself that the Lord is near.

I wear my travel stains deep inside,
Where I battle iniquity's rising tide,
Praying husband and children will not be lost';
And that the end will be worth the cost;

We all must walk these earthly miles;
Different times bring different trials.
***********************************
Used this in the talk I gave in church today "Remembering our Heritage.

My Thoughts on "Genealogy Meets the Blogsphere"

On July 14, 2011 there was a front page article called "Genealogy Meets the Blogsphere" on Mormon Times in the Deseret News.  One interesting point:  GeneaBloggers.com has a listing of 2,000 genealogy and family history blogs.   It's quite mind boggling. It seems the internet is exploding with tutorials, networking, and sharing of information regarding new trends and resources connected to the world of family history.
The article points out  places where one can watch videos on how to make a genealogy blog.  Even though I have been quite remiss in making frequent postings, I am so glad I met the challenge issued  last year in Web 2.0, 23 things.....embracing lifelong learning in the family history field.
It was fun for me to realize I was actually pro-active about something that was becoming a trend.
There is so much more to do than I can ever get done, but I want to post more frequently....even if it is just for myself.  Also I am trying to be selective in how I spend my time with Fam. Hist.  I have to keep up to date to be able to teach the Family History class in Sunday School, am trying to organize materials I already have in my possession, and want to pinpoint some incidents and qualities of grandparents and great grandparents and get them recorded in one source.
Kirk and I are speaking on the 24th in church:  Remembering our Heritage and Honoring our Heritage.
Loving and appreciating our ancestors more each day.  The spirit of Elijah has definitely settled upon me.

Brigham Young's Summer Home

We went to St. George on Spring Break.  The one thing I most wanted to do was visit Brigham Young's summer home, as I never had.  Kirk and I went one afternoon.  This portrait was hanging in the home.  Toward the end of his life, he stayed in St. George.  He had a lot of problems with his feet (not sure if hips and back were also involved.)  Anyway when he had an addition built onto the main home, he had his bedroom on the second made large enough so that he had an office and a dining table in it.  At times in order to get upstairs to his room, two men would carry him in a chair up the stairs.  There was a balcony outside his room so that he could spend time sitting there.  At times he would visit with people from there.

His bed was a tall four poster.  Most interesting item there to me was an upholstered stool next to it for him to kneel on to pray.

My relation to him --- his 3rd great niece.  Two of his brothers, my 3rd great grandfathers -- Lorenzo Dow Young and Phineas Howe Young.