Christmas, 2009

Merry Christmas 2009. We missed the Carters in New York and Mike and Desi and their cute family in Colorado but it was great to talk to them on the phone. We are very excited that Desi got a new laptop for Christmas. Check out her fun blogs. We were so happy to have most of our family home for Christmas: Brandon and Melody from Kansas City, Keith, Kira, Talisa, and Kim, Kathryn and John, Kristilyn and Mark in back and James and Grant in front, and Julie and Jason who are also enjoying a special Burningham Family Reunion in Alpine this week with his entire family. Brandon's parents came down from Boise and are staying with Brittany, Seth and their 7-month-old baby girl Shaeley.

Watching the Christmas video with the red chairs.

Grandpa Rogers read the Christmas story from the Bible and we acted it out with the parts being traded around many times depending on the the emotional state of the participants.

Grant is holding the donkey and James has the camel.

Brandon, Melody and Grandma are the shepherds, Talisa is Mary, and Baby Kira is the Holy Infant. Keith was both the donkey and Joseph.

Melody had her turn as the donkey.

Mark was a camel carrying James.

Christmas morning at the Eliason home following breakfast with the Bouns' special recipe pancakes!

Grant knows how to use the tools. Mark just hopes that Grant will leave Mark's tools alone.

Mark is giving James a lesson on the difference between a screw driver and a Phillips tip.

Getting the packaging off the tools was a major task and Grandpa was right in there helping!

Cutting the ribbons on the packages was very important. In fact the ribbons were saved to be cut into smaller pieces later with their own scissors.

Melody and Brandon on Christmas morning. She got clothes and he got a PDA.

Talisa and Kira in front of their Christmas tree.

Talisa shows Grandma her "Pet Shop." Notice the new table and chairs in the background.

Keith, Kira, Kim, and Talisa in front of their Christmas tree.

Julie and Jason are still in the newly wed stage.

Melody and Brandon were so happy to be home in Utah for the holidays!

Christmas on Temple Square with Family

Temple Square is so beautiful at this time of year. They have been decorating for the last four months and it is a joy to be here. This is a view of the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Temple Square has been even more beautiful the past week because all of our children and grandchildren who live in Utah have been to visit us. The picture below shows Keith, Kira, Kim, and Talisa in the Training Center. Talisa was very excited to try out my computer.

It was really fun to have Keith and Kim and their girls and Kristilyn and her boys over to visit at our home on Friday afternoon.

After they left I noticed that the Nativity set under the tree had been rearranged so that every figure was looking toward the Christ Child. "And a child shall lead them..."

Sunday night, December 20, the Elijah Choir performed in the Assembly Hall. It was a challenge because the choir was divided into two sections, separated by this beautiful pipe work. We performed the same program on Monday morning and it was streamed to all the FH Church Service Missionaries throughout the world. It was wonderful to be back singing in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building surrounded by the people we knew singing the same part. If you wish to hear the stream it is http://stream.lds.org/FH/Devotional/FHCH Christmas Devotional 21Dec09 ENG.wvm

This picture was taken just before sunrise one morning as we were coming to Temple Square when the lights were on.

We were very pleased that Mark, Kristilyn, Grant and James as well as Julie and Jason were able to come and hear our concert and see the lights. James and Grant were very happy to push their strollers around Temple Square.

Grant is hiding behind his stroller. I didn't realize that when I took the picture. See his mitten.
John, Kristilyn, Mark, Julie and Jason with James and Grant in front.

We are grateful that Anna is out of the hospital so Katrina and Anna can be home in Olean with Neal and Daniel after 10 days away. We are excited about the big package that arrived from Mike and Desi. Brandon and Melody will be here Thursday at 8:00 AM on Christmas Eve and will be able to be with us until Dec. 29. We are receiving beautiful, newsy Christmas cards, pictures, and letters from family and friends. We are so very blesssed. The joy and peace that come through the Savior's birth and atonement mean more to us every year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL. We love and appreciate you very much.

Anna Renee Carter--Gastric Tube

Katrina took Anna to Buffalo to the Children's Hospital on Tuesday to rehydrate and boost her nutrition before the gastic rube was inserted on Thursday. The procedure went well and Katrina was to bring Anna home on Saturday. However, Anna has had a low-grade fever every night. They were hoping to come home Sunday but the fever continues and Anna vomitted twice Sunday morning so they are still at the hospital. Neal is getting through the end of the semester finals and work pressures. Sisters in the ward have been wonderful to care for Daniel but now he has developed a bad cold. Neal was able to come from Olean to visit with Katrina and Anna for a few hours Saturday afternoon. Our thoughts and prayers continue with them.

HEAVEN’S VERY SPECIAL CHILD by Edna Missamilla
A meeting was held quite far from Earth.
It was time again for another birth.
Said the Angels to the Lord above—
“This special child will need much love.
“Her progress may be very slow,
“Accomplishment she may not show,
“And she’ll require extra care
“From the folks she meets down there.
“She may not run or laugh or play,
“Her thoughts may seem quite far away.
“So many times she will be labeled
“’Different,’ ‘helpless’ and ‘disabled.’
“So, let’s be careful where she’s sent.
“We want her life to be content.
“Please, Lord, find the parents who
“Will do a special job for you.
“They will not realize right away
“The leading role they are asked to play.
“But with this child sent from above
“Comes stronger faith, and richer love.
“And soon they’ll know the privilege given
“In caring for their gift from heaven.
“Their precious charge, so meek and mild
“Is heaven’s very special child.”

Rogers Family History

We presented our project for our English research this week and it was well received. Sister Murdock had never seen it done with the attached digital images and thought it would be a good idea for the other missionaries in the British Zone to see what could be done. This is might be one of the blessings of the cross training.

This first image is the actual marriage register for the parents of John Rogers (1800). We also have a copy of the banns. For three consecutive Sundays their intention to marry was announced in the St. John the Baptist Parish, district of Thanet, town of Margate, in Kent, England.
The following in the christening of their first child John. The second image shows the source.

Daniel and Elizabeth had a daughter Sarah in 1802 but she only lived a short time. We have christening and burial records for her. They had five other children who were christened in the adjoining parish--St. Peter, in Thanet District, Kent England. Their children were Daniel, George, Sarah, Thmas and Ann. This is an example of the naming pattern of England. John was named for his paternal grandfather. Sarah was named for her paternal grandmother but inasmuch as she died early, the next daughter was given that name. It isn't unusal to have several children of the same name in a family if a child died young. Daniel was named for his father. George was named for his maternal grandfather.

John has copied the above images directly from the microfilm with technology which has just become available in the Family History Library. The machines can clean up and sharpen images and do the kinds of things you see on television. We still have some intranet lessons on England to finish via internet at home then we will start our lessons on Ireland after Christmas. Agnes McConnell's family came from Ireland and Scotland because her father was a sea captain so after we finish our classes we hope to do a project on her. This is very much like being in school. The Training Center is our day job and we're taking classes in our "spare" time. We love it and are so grateful for the privilege we have of being in the Family and Church History Mission. We are being blessed.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Brigham City with the Smith Family. Julie and Jason slept over at our house in West Jordan on Wednesday and Thursday night which was a treat for John and me. The rest of our family were out of state:
Neal and Katrina stayed in Olean and had dinner with just their family or with friends.
Keith and Kim drove to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving and Mike's birthday (Nov. 28) with Mike and Desi and their family.
Kristilyn and Mark flew to Virginia for the holiday with all of the Eliasons.
Melody and Brandon had dinner with friends in Kansas City, It was fun to know that we all had about the same menu.
Tracy and Doug

Kristina and Christopher

Jamin, Marilee, and Michael who were doing their best not to smile.

Tim, Nesy, Teaghen, and R.J.

Dennis and Kathie Smith

Julie and Jason were the favorites of all the grandchildren. Cecily and Shannon loved them.

A relatively composed pictures of the Smith Grandchildren plus Julie and Jason Burningham. Those in the picture beginning the left of the front row: Michael Perez (almost 6), Shannon (almost 4), Celcily (1 1/2 on Julie Burningham's lap. Back row: Jamin Perez ((8 near Christmas), Jason 4, Sydney 7, Tara 6, Sam (almost 2) and Jason Burningham.

Wild and crazy picture!

Tim is such a proud, cute grandpa. He is holding 14 month old Teagham. Little Ayden was born on Melody's birthday--October 5. Their pretty mother is Kelli! We were sad that Ronell wasn't able to be with us.

We also missed Kaiden who was with other grandparents and Kevin, Candice and their tiny new twins--Cerice and Serrah who were also with other grandparents who don't have any small children. They continue to be vigilant in protecting their babies from the flu which is so common these days.

Sydney demonstrates the fine art of getting as much whipped cream on pumpkin pie as possible for Jamin and Tara! Dinner was delicious with all the favorite and traditional foods.

The volleyball game was excellent. John and Kathie still can keep up with the younger generation. Notice how Julie is jumping for the ball. Julie and Jason used some of the techniques they learned at their last BYU volleyball class. Sometimes it was more like soccer but everyone had a great time. There are excellent players in the family. The set-ups, spikes, etc. were amazing. Kristina was so sad that she couldn't play because of her broken foot.

The blow-up jumping castle was a great hit with the younger set.

We have so much for which to be thankful. We hope your weekend continues to be wonderful.

Our Thanksgiving and Mayflower Heritage.

Short Version:
Thanksgiving is especially meaningful to our family because two of our direct ancestors were in attendance at the First Thanksgiving in Plymouth in 1621. Three of our ancestors, William White, his pregnant wife Susannah, and their five-year-old son Resolved came on the Mayflower. These ancestors come through the Whitlock line. Susannah delivered her baby boy, Peregrine, December 2, 1620 aboard the Mayflower while it was still anchored off to top of Cape Cod. Peregrine was the first English child to be born. William died during the winter and Susannah married Edward Winslow a few months later, being the first marriage to occur at Plymouth.

Long Version:
The Pilgrims, who celebrated the first Thanksgiving in America, were fleeing religious persecution in their native England. In 1609 a group of Pilgrims left England for the religious freedom in Holland where they lived and prospered. After a few years their children were speaking Dutch and had become attached to the Dutch way of life. This worried the Pilgrims. They considered the Dutch frivolous and their ideas a threat to their children's education and morality.

So they decided to leave Holland and travel to the New World. Their trip was financed by a group of English investors, the Merchant Adventurers. It was agreed that the Pilgrims would be given passage and supplies in exchange for their working for their backers for 7 years.
Originally there were two ships, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. The Speedwell left the Netherlands on July 22 to join the Mayflower in England. The Speedwell took on water so after many problems many of its passengers boarded the over-crowed Mayflower for the trip to America. By Sept. 6, 1620 when the Pilgrims left, many had already been living aboard ship for a month and a half. They sailed from Plymouth, England and aboard were 44 Pilgrims, who called themselves the "Saints", and 66 others, whom the Pilgrims called the "Strangers." Our direct ancestors were among the “Saints” from Leiden in the Netherlands.

The long trip was crowded, cold, and damp and took 65 days. Since there was the danger of fire on the wooden ship, food had to be eaten cold. Many passengers became sick and one person died by the time land was sighted about November 10. They were supposed to settle further south at the mouth of the Hudson River but a terrible storm kept them north. They spent the next month and a half exploring the Cape Cod area and on Christmas Day decided to stay in that area. Of 102 passengers on the Mayflower, nearly half of them died that first winter but none of those remaining chose to return to England in the spring.

Susanna gave birth to son Peregrine December 2, 1620 while the Mayflower was still anchored off the top of Cape Cod waiting for the Pilgrims to discover a place to build their colony. William died 21 February 1620/1 (double dating) in Plymouth, on the same day as three other passengers, including William Mullins. His wife Susanna remarried to Edward Winslow a few months later on 12 May 1621, being the first marriage to occur at Plymouth. Susanna was one of only four adult women to have survived to see the "First Thanksgiving" at Plymouth that autumn. Susanna died sometime after 1654, when she is mentioned in her husband's will.

Resolved White came on the Mayflower at about the age of five, with parents William and Susanna. He was raised by step-father Edward Winslow following the death of his father William and remarriage of his mother in 1621. They moved to Marshfield in the 1630s, and later moved to Scituate where he married Judith Vassall, the daughter of William and Ann (King) Vassall. Resolved White moved his family back to Marshfield in the early 1660s, and Judith died and was buried there on 3 April 1670. He then remarried to the widowed Abigail Lord in 1674 in Salem, was a soldier in King Philip's War of 1676, and became a freeman in Salem in 1680 before moving back to Marshfield a couple years later. He died sometime not too long after 1687, presumably in Marshfield.

There is much information on the internet about the Mayflower and those families if you have interest, including a picture of the cradle which William and Susannah brought over on the Mayflower for Peregrine.

First major snow storm of the season.

We had our first major snowstorm of the season which left 2-3 inches of snow on our lawn. When we went to the Jordan River Temple Saturday morning to do sealings it was still relatively warm and sunny but then the storm blew in. We spent Saturday afternoon bottling apple slices from our yellow delicious apple tree and listening to Christmas carols while watching the snow fall. This year was the best apple harvest we've ever had. The apples are big and sweet with hardly any wormholes. We will get at least 14 quarts of apple slices for apple crisp or pie.

Today John sang at both the ARTEC Branch and our Spanish Branch. The ARTEC Branch provides religious services for juvenile offenders and is under the jurisdiction of of our West Jordan River Stake. It brought back a lot of memories from our four years serving at the Olympus Branch at the Utah State Prision. John sang well both time. At ARTEC I had only a mini-keyboard to accompany him so it was a pleasure to have the grand piano in our chapel for the second time.

We both taught lessons today. John always makes detailed preparation and gives excellent lessons. This week he taught about the spirit of Elijah and there were many spiritual experiences shared. Serving in the Training Zone of our mission has blessed us to witness miracles and spiritual experiences on a weekly if not daily basis, if not with our own family history, then with our students or with other people in the zone. It is not uncommon to find others to whom they are related. Sometimes a person will walk past someone else's computer and be stunned to see exactly the same people listed and they discover they are search for the same people. Sometimes someone will have already thoroughly researched and documented a line and is thrilled to share the information. Often my "only member of the church" students discover that they have other relatives who are members of the church who have submitted information. This is becoming increasing common with new.FamilySearch. Because the submitters have emails it is easy to contact one another. This week Sister Lorraine Whitaker is here as a full time missionary from Kanosh. It has been so pleasant especially for John to catch up on Kanosh and Whitaker family news. Before the end of the year all temple districts except the seven Asian temples will have access to new.FamilySearch. After the Asian Temples districts are online, new.FamilySearch goes to the world. Nonmembers won't have access to ordinance data but they will be able to make contributions and corrections to what is there. More of the patrons at the Family History Library on Temple Square are not members than are members and they come from all over the world. How we appreciate their contributions and expertise.

Next Tuesday I will be taking some of my Young Women to a special regional fireside at West Jordan Middle School with General YW President Elaine Dalton. Our YW took 3rd Place in Regional Volleyball and lost their last game by just two points.

Life moves along so quickly. It is hard to know even what month it is because the days are so much the same. We count our time by Go Forth Days when our FTM (full time missionaries) get their assignments and we all go to the temple together which happens the third Friday of the month. We have 41 FTM's this month. Last month was a mission record of 43 FTM's. Our days are especially full lately as we are doing certification in the British Zone as well as our regular work but it seems that everything we learn, we need to teach or use within a day or two. It is amazing. The walk through Temple Square is fascinating. We had no idea what was involved in putting up the lights and Christmas decorations. The grounds crew has been working on it for months and every day there are new garlands, pre-lit trees, nativity figures, or other elements added to the displays. No detail is overlooked in keeping the area clean, beautiful, and in perfect repair. I'm sure the heated side-walks will be a blessing for snow removal during the winter season.

Mark, Kristilyn, and the boys were over Friday evening. We were looking at some pictures of the nativity scene and asking who the people were. Grant and James were certain that the infant in the pictures was "Baby Kira." She is a beautiful baby and certainly the resemblance was striking. It was fascinating to hear Grant and James say the blessing on the food simultaneously. It was a long prayer and they each had their independent thoughts but they didn't pay particular attention to what the other was saying because each was so intent on expressing his own prayer.

We are grateful for the loving homes that you children have created and for the way that you live the gospel. There is peace and happiness there sprinkled with occasional chaos and challenge. We are grateful that you keep your covenants and are responsible people and serve others. We appreciate the fine examples that you set and we love and honor you. We are appreciate all of our extended family for the love and support the provide for us. Truly we have been born of goodly parents and into goodly families. At this Thanksgiving time we are especially thankful for you.

Love, John and Kathryn Ann

Finding Great, Great Grandfather John Rogers' Parents

Letter from John S. Rogers:
The last two weeks in our missionary assignment have been very different. Instead of having students to teach full time each day we have only had part-time teaching hours which has allowed Kathryn Ann and me the opportunity to spend our remaining time in the Family History Library training as though we were going to have our assignment there instead of the Training Zone. The cross training is to help us become more aware of what is available in the Library to help us become better trainers for our students as well and increase our ability to improve our own research skills. Since most of my ancestry is British, I chose to train on the British Services floor of the Library and Kathryn Ann chose that as well. There are two thick manuals to go through in our training (one for the apprentice and the second for the journeyman level). The apprentice level usually takes new full time missionaries about 4 weeks to complete. Since we have some skills that were useful from our Training Zone experience, we were able to complete the apprentice book in two weeks of half days.

Since I and other of my family members have been searching for the parents of my 2nd great grandfather’s parents for many years, I thought I would see how useful the new tools and information I had learned would be in helping me in my research. I first checked in the Pedigree Resource File that I was aware of previously but not familiar enough to use effectively and I discovered a submission by an Amanda Rogers who had submitted a pedigree sheet for a John Jenkins Rogers born 2 July 1800 in Margate, Kent, England. The birthdate we have for my ancestor was 1 Jun 1800 in Ramsgate, Kent, England. We found this information in John Rogers’ obituary through Utah Digital Newspapers last February. This is the closest date and place for a John Rogers I have ever found so I checked the pedigree and learned that the parents were Daniel Rogers and Elizabeth Doughty who were also married and (Elizabeth was born) in Margate. I used a new site called 1851 English Jurisdictions to check where Margate is in relation to Ramsgate. I learned that Ramsgate had no parish churches and thus no records for this time period, so I looked for surrounding parishes and discovered that Margate is the closest parish to Ramsgate. I found microfilms that contained the baptisms and marriages for that area and time period and was about to go start reading them when I had the inspiration to check the IGI (International Genealogical Index) to see if Daniel Rogers had another son John. That is when I discovered that John Jenkins Rogers was not the son of Daniel and Elizabeth but William and Sarah with several other siblings. I then started looking in New FamilySearch and discovered an extraction record for a John Rogers with a christening date of 20 July 1800 in St. John the Baptist, Margate, Kent, England with parent s of Daniel Rogers and Elizabeth Doughty. I found additional extracted records that showed Daniel Rogers christened 8 May 1766 in Cowden, Kent, England and married to Elizabeth Doughty 13 April 1800 in St John, Margate, Kent, England and learned that Elizabeth was born and christened in the same place. I also found additional records for Daniel’s parents as well as Elizabeth’s parents and siblings. I was a little disappointed to learn that the temple ordinances have already been performed for their parents because I was looking forward to doing that work but was just so very elated to finally have located his parents as well as grandparents as well as other family members.

November 1 Sunday Dinner

Julie and Jason made delicious hot apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Talisa, Grant, and James had a great time playing with the uncles and Grandpa Rogers. Kira likes to be on her stomach, can roll over, and smiles a lot.

This dinner was to celebrate birthdays. So sorry that Melody and Mike couldn't be here but we enjoyed Melody and Brandon's blog and a lovely, long telephone call from Mike. Emily was more impressed with the 2 feet of snow that fell on their lawn than Halloween!

We love having our family come home. We're grateful that Neal arrived home safely from his 3-day trip to Ohio. We love and appreciate all of you.

October Fun

John and I went to Hogle Zoo with Kristilyn, Grant and James. It was so fun to see the baby elephant, baby giraffe, baby monkeys, etc. The boys pushed their strollers the entire way. The boys were glad that the lions were "not hot" like they are in the summer. Grant and James didn't want to wear shoes to do zoo. Finally after Grant had been outside walking in the leaves he decided it would be a good idea but James firmly declared, "The animals don't wear shoes!" Eventually Krisitlyn reasoned with him that they don't need shoes because they grow fur on their feet and she pointed that out at the zoo. In this picture the boys are running through the leaves and Kristilyn is standing in the back with James' shoes in her hands. I enjoyed visiting with Desi this week. She has been called as Primary music director in their ward. I'm sure she will do an excellent job with her lovely singing voice, her ability to play the piano, and her creativity. This is how our tree looked a week ago but it dropped a lot of leaves. Saturday John and I spent a couple of hours raking leaves and putting the yard to bed for the winder. Things looked really good then a big wind came up and it looked like we hadn't raked a leaf because most of the leaves were off the tree in front. The globe willow in back hasn't lost any leaves yet. We spent another hour raking leaves so the yard looks much better and the bins are full for the garbage/recycle trucks tomorrow. Keith, we have six large bags a leaves for compost for your garden. We really enjoyed Kim's blog with the cute Halloween costumes, fun outings, and delightful pictures of the family.

Friday night John and I had a wonderful dinner and visit with Julie and Jason then went to the BYU Homecoming Spectacular. They are such fun company. It focused on Mount Timpanogos. We especially enjoyed the choreographied music of the Mens and Women's Choruses as well as the Ballroom Dancers.

Katrina's ward RS had 24 sisters including the 3 YW at their special new.FamilySearch and Indexing activity this week. She was so excited that so many attended and that it was a fun, bonding time. Anna's upper GI x-rays were taken in Olean instead of Buffalo but it still took six hours because of a 1 1/2 delay in starting and an hour instead of minutes for the fluid to get from one area to another. Next week will be full of appointments and Neal will be in Ohio for three days with Model UN for St. Boneventure. She really appreciates the blogs, emails, and calls because "they keep me sane" but she is sorry she isn't very good about keeping the rest of us informed of her life. She has her hands completely full just getting from day to day. It was fun to talk with Daniel on the telephone. He was eager to tell me that he wanted to come to my house on the airplane again.

Melody and Brandon, we loved our blog this week about your church history trip around your area. The pictures and insights were excellent. Thank you for sharing.

We had an interesting week last week. We were supposed to train Church Service Missionaries but the one assigned to me never came. John's came for three days and it was special that when we went to the Jordan River Temple on Thursday night, his student last week was the one who took him through the veil. That's what the church is all about--we just take turns doing different roles. Some of students couldn't be trained in the day so last week they had night classes for them. I ended up staying late teaching them so we just took two cars. This week will be very different. We will be starting to certify for British Reasearch so we will be spending time going through the activities as if we were assigned to the Bristish Zone. There is so much to learn. We will have the mornings to work on the certification this week then we will have to do it on our own. In the afternoon we will have inservice training so this week will be trained instead of training others.

Funny things: A couple come in for training this week and the sister carefully followed directions to bring a flash drive for her and her husband. The flash drive she brought for herself didn't have any family history on it. She didn't think she needed to bring any personal genealogy. The flash drive she brought for her husband turned out to be the remote controller for the mouse for their computer at home.

Tonight was our YW in Excellence. It turned out well with 9 of the 12 girls there. The theme was "The Worth of a Soul" with the word play on sole talking about the different roles (shoe soles) that we can develop--slippers, tennis shoes, hiking boots, etc. ending up with temple shoes. Sister Postic ordered a cake from Costco and wanted them to put some white temple slippers on the top as a decoration to carry through the theme. She wrote a note, "Do you have white slippers we can use." When she picked up the cake those words were carefully written out on top of the cake. Hilarious and really appropriate in a strange way.

It's late and 5:00 AM wake-up call for Elijah Choir comes way too early. We appreciate the way you keep in touch. We love you each so very much. --Mom and Dad