I
don’t have early pioneers in my heritage… but I do have Grandma Jane…
I
have something near and dear to my heart. I don’t even know what it’s called, but I spent many hours
with my grandmother sticking apples in the top and with a wooden pestle and a
tripod of legs {neither of which I have today} we would spend hours squishing
apples through these little holes {skin and all… which I later learned is why
our applesauce was red}.
http://peggy-w.hubpages.com/hub/Old-fashioned-Grinding-Mill-Making-Applesauce-and-Choke-Cherry-Jelly
My
grandmother was not a wealthy woman and other than her engagement ring that is
broken and tarnished… this is my only other inheritance from her………..
Before
they joined the church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Grandpa George and Grandma Jane had some severe
hardships… we have many photos of them… none of which Grandpa was ever smiling!
By 1940, Jane not only was raising two little children, but now
had inherited her two siblings as well.
Her father died when Jane was only 14… and now her mother had died
leaving her brother and sister orphans… Jane and George took them in and raised
them. Grandma Jane was now raising
2 families. She was barely 21
years old!
When Rex Erwin, their forth child, was born in 1944… he had a
hair lip and cleft palate… doctors told Jane and George to take him home and
let him die! Back then surgery to
fix this birth defect was just in it’s infancy. Because George made a decent living, He was able to afford a
high quality surgeon for his son's cleft palate. Today Rex is still living and quite healthy.
One day she offered
a prayer for her son Kenneth to stop smoking, when promptly after her prayer…
the missionaries appeared at her door.
They returned to share the same message with Grandpa George… they both joined
and it changed their lives and the lives of their descendants forever!
One year after
joining the church George and Jane and their 14 year old son traveled from Ohio
to Salt Lake City to be sealed in the temple. They returned to Ohio and for another year or so they
continued to meet in Downtown Mansfield in the upper floor of a store for
Sacrament meeting.
Since George was a
master carpenter and had built many homes and businesses in the area, Grandpa
was the natural choice to hire to build a new building to meet in. It was just down the street from the
German Apostolic Church building his own father built. While showing the inside of the building, which was not yet completed, Great Grandpa stepped backwards and off
the 2nd story balcony… falling to his death. Great Grandpa & Grandma Bogner were
pioneers of their own family and had immigrated from Austria/Hungary in the
early 1900’s. They brought with
them the skills of carpentry and upholstery and set out to make a living for
themselves in that field.
My grandfather’s
special tool (I called it a compass, but I’m sure it was some kind of surveying
tool) was lost by his granddaughter down the drain of the baptismal font in the
Mansfield Ward building… I still have special memories of how upset he was… and
yet so compassionate with a little girl who was just playing with grandpas
“toy”. I was only 3 at the time.
When the building
was complete it was dedicated by then General Authority, Harold B. Lee (future
president of the church). Bro. Lee went back to Salt Lake and told the brethren
that George was the person they needed to go to South America and build
chapels.
Barely 6 years after
joining the church… George and Jane accepted the call to serve a 3-year
building mission in South America.
Jane & George with the work crew (3rd & 4th from right)
They left on their mission sometime in early 1964... They sold
everything... including their home to finance their 3-year stay. During their
time in South America, he built and repaired chapels in Porto Alegre, Brazil; Arica,
Chile; and Soa Palo, Brazil and in other areas of South America. George became ill
towards the end of his mission in 1967, and went to a doctor near the town of
Porto Alegre in Brazil. It was determined he should go home immediately. On the
plane, before it even left the runway, George Passed away... Jane was left with
George until the coroner from Peru came and filled out the paperwork.
Jane came to back to Ohio after Grandpa’s death and My mother
came back from New York after a divorce… and the two of them created a home for
myself and my brother and sister… thus Grandma Jane began raising a 3rd
family!
Years later, as the 3 children grew Grandma Jane made sure she
had her car warmed up and ready to go on bitter cold winter mornings to take
all of us to Early Morning Seminary.
Over a span of 8 years, driving 40 minute round trip, 5 days a week, all
3 of us attained Grandma Jane’s goal and graduated from Seminary…
As we grew she helped send me on a mission (the first full-time
proselyting missionary in our family).
My brother married and had two children, and my sister married in the
Salt Lake Temple and moved to Utah.
My brother would divorce and have custody of his two children… and
Grandma Jane began raising her 4th family… her great grandchildren. How she lived to the age of 82, I’ll
never know!
George and Jane gave they’re all and then some... Photos before
they joined the church show 2 somber individuals… never smiling in the
photos. Photos AFTER they joined
the church are quite different, mostly smiles. I would have never discovered this gem of knowledge if it
weren’t for my work in Family History.
It is amazing to see a physical change in their appearance after their
baptisms. They certainly were
pioneers… giving up most of their families, selling all they had, leaving for a
mission soon after joining the church… then dying while giving their all… Like
the early pioneers, NEVER ONCE in all the time living with my grandma did she
EVER complain about the sacrifices they made… in fact, she lovingly spoke of
their time together building the kingdom in South America.
Their descendants have a rich
heritage... Our heritage and legacy lies in those who've come before us... They
gave us the foundation of the Gospel to build on.
My
mom and Grandmother instilled in us the desire to do right, to obey the Gospel
principles… I don’t remember them EVER PREACHING this to us, they just did it by example!
One
of those examples was doing Family History… of course that was back in the day
when the genealogy papers were strewn all over the kitchen table, the top of
the dishwasher and even a little card table on the side. These women were SERIOUS!!
When
I watched them, I was curious, but not too interested in joining in. I didn’t “roll my eyes”, but I didn’t
have much of a desire to research on my own, though I did enjoy the “genealogy
trips” many of which were to Zanesville and to Athens, Ohio.
There
came a time when I felt the need to know more, so I got out the genealogy and
family history stuff and started studying it. What I realized was that there were just a bunch of names
and dates… almost all of which were NOT sourced. I had NO IDEA where mom & grandma got this
information. So I set out on a
journey to document everything.
What
I came to know was that the work they did was extremely accurate… but I came to
know for MYSELF who my ancestors were.
I came to know why I have some strengths, most of them inherited from grandparents & great grandparents.
I
came to know my ancestors and still am meeting new ones. One is Mercy Ann VanHorn, my 4th great
grandmother. She married Charles Booz. In 1838 they set out for Ohio
from Pennsylvania leaving everything behind them… She began giving
birth to children in 1837 and had one child every TWO years… her last child
being born in 1867… 30 years
after her first child was born… YES, she was the mother of 15 children!!!!
Mercy
Ann’s life shows some traits of physical and mental strength… as well as some
spiritual strength. She endured
what, at the time, was a long journey from Pennsylvania to Ohio. She was probably pregnant with her
second child Amanda, at the time!
She lived through the Civil War, with her son (John) serving in that
war. Her husband died in 1872, Since
he died of “apoplexy”, a term for sudden death, it was probably shocking to
Mercy Ann. Her youngest child,
Cora Belle, was not yet 5 years old when he died.
Mercy
Ann also endured much sickness within her family. In 1869, Esther Ann, her 7th child, died. On the 1880 Census, Louisa, is shown to have
had consumption also known as tuberculosis. This disease seemed to have played a part in attacking this
family. Another daughter, Amanda, contracted the disease as well and died from
it in 1892. Within months Mercy Ann’s son John also contracted the disease and
died from it in 1893 and then Amanda’s daughter Lilly also died from it only
months after her mother and uncle. Mercy Ann was “exposed” to TB five times and lived on at least another 3 years after
having watched 6 of her children and a granddaughter die.
Her
strength in pioneering a new life in Ohio has had a lasting effect on me as I
have done her temple work and studied her descendants…
Nearly seven years before the
pioneer exodus to the mountains of Utah, William Clayton wrote to his fellow
Saints in England, urging them to come to Zion, not realizing that Zion would
soon be in wagons and handcarts moving west. He wrote: “Although we are …
distant from each other I do not forget you. … But to the praise of God be it
spoken, all I have endured has never hurt or discouraged me, but done me good. …
We have sometimes been almost suffocated with heat…, sometimes almost froze
with cold. We have had to sleep on boards, instead of feathers. … We have had
our clothes wet through with no privilege of drying them or changing them, …
had to sleep … out of doors, in very severe weather, and many such things which
you [have] no idea of. … [Yet] we have been … healthy & cheerful. … If you
will be faithful, you have nothing to fear from the journey. The Lord will take
care of his saints.” 1 CLOSED QUOTE
William Clayton would later pen
the lyrics to “Come, Come, Ye Saints” (Hymns, no. 30) during the trek across
Iowa. He and a host of others would learn even more intimately during the
1,300-mile exodus to Utah that there is “nothing to fear from the journey” if
faith is your constant companion.
In his talk “You Have Nothing to Fear from the Journey” in April Conference in 1997, Elder M.
Russell Ballard asked this question:
Is there a lesson in the pioneer experience for us today? I
believe there is. The faith that motivated the pioneers of 1847 as well as
pioneers in other lands and other times… was a simple faith centered in the
basic doctrines of the restored gospel, which they knew to be true. That’s all
that mattered to them, and I believe that is all that should matter to us. Our
faith needs to be focused on the fundamental truths that God lives, that we are
His children, and that Jesus Christ is His Only Begotten Son and He is our
Savior. We need to know that they restored the Church to the earth in its fulness
through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
CLOSED QUOTE
The path of the modern-day pioneer
may look different, but it is no less difficult, I watched my grandparents do
it and I watch my mother do it as a single mom… it presented hardships and
required sacrifice, perseverance, and faith.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell has said, “…
Church members did not become inactive while crossing the plains, when the
sense of belonging and being needed was so profound.” 7 CLOSED QUOTE
Francis Webster, a member of the
Martin Company, stated, “Everyone of us came through with the absolute
knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.”
CLOSED QUOTE (David O. McKay, “Pioneer Women,” Relief Society Magazine, Jan.
1948, p. 8.)
What
a powerful statement… do our “extremities” turn us away or make us bitter… or
will you, like your pioneer forbears… come to an absolute knowledge that God
lives, that this is His gospel, and that Jesus IS the Christ.
I hope that this priceless legacy
of faith left by the pioneers of your family will inspire all of you to more
fully participate in the Savior’s work of bringing to pass the immortality and
eternal life of his children. And to provide the Temple Work through Family
History to make that blessing available to all your ancestors.
