Family Tree

We are making a really neat family tree picture in Relief Society.  The other night when I went to get my 5 generation pedigree I couldn't find it anywhere.  I looked everywhere for those dang family history documents - even up in the attic - but no luck.

I emailed some family members for basic information and got to work on FamilySearch.org.  Through a bit of trial and error I was able to find everyone back to all of my great-great-great grandparents.  For Lance's side of the family I got stuck at great-great grandparents.  (But that's okay.)  My mother-in-law really helped me out with that side of the family, too.  (Thanks again, Joy!)

I've never done much genealogy before.  I know, it's really important, but to everything there is a season, right? But this little taste of it was pretty fun.  I can totally understand how people get addicted to it.  It's like a giant puzzle, only you don't have a picture on the box to follow.  I now fully plan to devote lots of time to genealogy when I'm a little grey-haired old lady.  Or when my kids/home/life stops demanding so much of my time and attention.  Whichever comes first.

I love looking at all the old names, birth dates, and birth places of my ancestors.  I wish I knew their personal life stories; I wish they had written them down for me, because I'm sure even the most mundane of tasks back then would be pretty fascinating to read about now.  It's neat to think that now we have blogs and such that can really track our own personal histories; my posterity won't have to wonder about my feelings about, say, Cub Scout patches or how Cole misbehaves in church, that's for sure.

I'll end with just a few of the most interesting names I have found.  Could you imagine being a Jacobina?  Neither could I.  (But then again, who am I to talk?  I mean, seriously, Maren?)

-Caroline Delight Allen (How... delightful!)
-Jerome Napoleon Remington (How distinguished!)
-Jacobina Katrina Cederlund (What a mouthful!)
-Olof Andersson Cederlund (Okay, it's not that weird.  I just like Olof.)
-Helen Rose Hamblin (Okay, that's not weird either.  Just checking to see if anyone out there is also of Southern Utah Hamblin stock.  We're most likely related!)
-Sarah LaVerna Isom (Oh man - can't get much more southern Utah Mormon than LaVerna!)
-Beata Christina Tornquist (I just like the name Beata.  (Think be-ay-tah, not beet-ah.))
-Zillah Greensmith (Zillah.  Enough said.)