My Last Entry here was just weeks before Connor’s death
in Taiwan {Aug 22, 2014} while serving a mission for the LDS church. I haven’t felt the desire to blog, nor felt that anything
was of value to share… until now!
On
August 30th 2015, we had a special Priesthood / Relief Society /
Young Men / Young Women meeting in our 3rd hour of meetings. {for you not of the LDS faith, it’s a
combined meeting of Men, Women and youth age 12-18}. It was mostly about Sabbath Day observance, but also some
sprinkling of Family and Family History in there as well.
David
A Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke (In a video) of how to help
families be happy at home. He
quoted Boyd K. Packer: “Our
ultimate purpose… is to unite parents and children in faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that they are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, linked to
their generations, and assured of exaltation in the presence of our Heavenly
Father.”
“In
the Saviors Restored church on the earth today MULTI-GENERATIONAL families are
a primary source of spiritual strength and continuity.” ~~David A Bednar
We watched a video as he spoke:
“A tree begins as a small seed that germinates and
begins to grow and becomes a small tree.
This, we often refer to as a small seedling. Over a period of time a young seedling develops into a
mature tree and produces seeds that fall to the forest floor. As conditions are right, the new seeds
germinate, begin to grow… and the cycle is renewed. Interestingly, growing trees are nourished in part by the
nutrients re-deposited into the soil by older and dead trees. In a similar way, multi-generational
families provide the spiritual nourishment and stability that greatly increases
the likelihood of sustained faithfulness across the generations.” ~~David A
Bednar
This
video brought to mind a quote from an obituary of one of my ancestors in 1908,
it reads:
“She
was a true believer in God and His power to save.” This woman was not of the LDS faith… but nonetheless was a
true believer in God… AND His power to save. The heritage of faith in my ancestry puts me in awe! Especially when, after studying their
lives and documenting their journey through it, I realize that their lives were
just as hard… if not harder than my own… and they still held to their faith in
God! I want to be just like her…
YEARS later, have someone read my obituary or life story and say: Gosh, she was strong… I want to be just
like her.
Some
have commented about me or my family who were within the LDS faith, and even
those NOT of the LDS faith who I come in contact with while working in Salt
Lake City… Oh you’re so strong, how do you get through this. I grin as I envision one immigrant from
Cuba who looks at me and just shakes his head… trying to understand why I am
not a pile of “jello on the floor”… all weepy and completely a mess! I will explain as best I can in a
minute…
That
same night after the Sunday School presentation, I watched my favorite show:
Who Do You Think You Are… this one featuring Tom Bergeron. One of his quotes epitomizes my
feelings about Family History:
“It’s not an intellectual exercise… it’s an emotional
experience.” ~~Tom Bergeron
Isn’t that so true, isn’t that what we all feel when we
study the lives of our ancestors?
Whether you know it or not… you ARE emotionally connected to those
who’ve come before! And it’s the
reason today for this blog… I wish to share some deep feelings about my 4th
great grandmother and her influence in my life.
Tom Bergeron stated in the segment, memorialized in
this meme:
“Someone dead for over 300 years, if you’re willing to
listen, can teach you things about what you are doing now.”
When he said that, my heart was touched
and I knew EXACTLY where that extra strength had come from during our grieving
of Connor! YES, I have a testimony
of Jesus Christ, of his Father and MY Father… His restored Gospel. I have a testimony of the Atonement of
Jesus Christ and what it means to me and how it has application in my life… but
I needed more… and it was there! I
just didn’t know it until the presentation in Sunday School and the segment on
Who Do You Think You Are that it all came together that night… it all makes
sense now…
Let
me tell you how… My 4th
great grandmother is Mercy Ann VanHorn.
She married Charles Booz about 1836 and began having children quickly
and in rapid succession… a child every other year… for 30 years! Yes, she was the mother of 15
children!! 12 of those children
lived to marry, 3 of them died at varying times in their childhood.
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 about 1839. 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. She moved from Springfield
Township to Newton Township in September of 1868 and only 4 years later lost
her husband Charles to death. His
cause of death was “Apoplexy”, a term for what would now be referred to as
sudden death. This could have been
a stroke, heart attack or any other cause that would be quick. Since it was quick, 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.
On the 1880 Census, Lulu (aka) Louisa, had consumption also known as
tuberculosis. This disease seemed
to have played a part in attacking this family. Louisa survived it and went on to marry and have 5
children. Another daughter,
Amanda, contracted the disease as well and died from it in 1892. Within months
Mercy’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 was “exposed” to TB
at least three times, but more likely 5 times. What mother wouldn’t visit a sick child (Amanda and John)
while they lay dying? Louisa lived
with Mercy Ann in 1880 and Lilly lived with her in 1893.
At the point in
her life that we still know she was alive, Mercy Ann had lost a total of 6
children, and her husband!! The
most recent deaths culminated a series of deaths that occurred within a span of
8 months of loved ones close to Mercy Ann. Her daughter Amanda died 21 Nov, 1892… Her son John died 29
Mar, 1893 and her granddaughter Lilly (Amanda’s daughter) died 16 Jul
1893. Mercy Ann lived at least
another 3 years! I could hardly
imagine her grief as I studied her hard life and I had great respect and
reverence for her. HOW, I wondered,
could I love someone so much who died more than 160 years before I was even
born???
I studied and
found all these facts long before Connor’s death… and he knew about the
discoveries as I shared them with him.
I love her, I
love that her children attended church, raised good, God-fearing families who
loved their families and from all accounts had happy and successful marriages
for generations (except her youngest child whose marriage sadly ended in
divorce, through no fault of her own).
It’s amazing to me that she raised that many children, and did it for
the last 24 years of her life without a spouse living to help financially or
physically. Good Grief!!! She was a tough chic!
So now I watch
the “multi-generational” video by Elder Bednar, then I watch the segment with
Tom Bergeron and his quote ”Someone dead for over 300 years… if you are willing
to listen, can teach you things about what you’re doing now.” and I come to the conclusion, I am NOT
doing this by myself!! I am not
“left alone”!! I have my “Father”
and my Savior, my family, my church family, my friends and yes, even those
“family” members… my “multiple-generational family” on the other side of the
veil, who firmly declare to me… “YOU can do this”, “you can do hard things”…
and I’ve shown you HOW!
God bless them for their strength and for sharing it with me! I love you all so much!
