Click on the picture above to check it out.
Do you want a challenge? Once your registered, time yourself and see how fast you can get a family name ready for temple ordinances. Let me know how long it took you. (My time was approx. 30 min, and I thought that all of the work was done for the ancestors that we knew about.)
I printed up two of every card, and they each have the name of the ancestor and how they are related to Tate. We are just going to play the basic "Memory Game" with matching up the two that are the same. I'm hoping that he can learn who everyone is... I only went up to his Great Great Grandparents, and this is only my side of the family. I'm planning on doing Bryan's side soon.
I meant to post this earlier, but I'm just now getting around to it. Anyways, this is the gift that I gave to my family for Christmas this year. What is it you might ask? It's ALL of the pictures, life histories, PAF (Personal Ancestor Files), and other related material of my ancestors on CD's. I've been collecting and gathering material on my ancestors for years now, and I thought that this would be a good way to share these things with my family.FRONT COVER
BACK COVER
INDEX OF FAMILY HISTORY PACKAGE
CD'S INSIDE-THERE ARE 9 CD'S TOTAL
I bought the cases and inserts from POLYLINE a company located in California.
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What do you think? Any guesses on who I look like? I haven't quite figured that one out yet.
Also, this is a picture of the small cabin that he built in 1852. It's been turned into a museum and is located at 400 North 100 West Bountiful Davis County, UTAH 84010. Click HERE to read the incredible story of how the Willey Cabin was found and restored.
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This is my Great Great Great Grandma on my Mother's side. Rachel David Chambers was born March 3, 1842 in Llanelly, Wales. She was the youngest of 6 girls. When she was five years old, her family moved to the United States. Their voyage was long and Rachel and many other family members were afflicted with cholera while at sea. After 7 weeks and 5 days, they finally arrived in New Orleans. In 1852, the family traveled to Utah to be with the Saints.
As a young child, Rachel lost her hearing, and learned to lip read. She grew to be a very small woman-under 5 feet tall!
At the age of 21, Rachel married George Harrison Chambers. They lived in a two room dobe house. Rachel cooked by the fire for fourteen years before she had a stove. She used water from a ditch until they were able to have a well dug. In the winter time, Rachel had to go break the ice in the ditch.
Rachel and George had 12 children, 3 of which died as infants. Rachel knitted her children's stockings, and sewed pants for her husband out of wagon cover cloth. She also enjoyed baking bread.
Rachel's husband George built a large brick house out of brick he had made. She often wondered why he had built such a BIG house. George would tell her that he was going to have some more women. She replied, "You better not bring them here. I will have some scalding water for them all!"
Rachel David Chambers died at the age of seventy nine, from a throat infection. At the time of her death-she had forty two grandchildren and twenty five great grandchildren.
4 Generation Picture
Left to Right-Rachel David, Ora Wilson, Mary Chambers, and Ada Parkinson (Baby)
This is my Great Great Great Grandfather on my Mother's side. Elisha Hildebrand Davis was born October 22, 1815 in West Township, Ohio. He was the oldest of ten children. Elisha was baptized into the Mormon Church on August 19, 1838. He served many missions, the first being east of the Allegheny mountains, less than 6 months after joining the church. He traveled 300 miles on foot in the middle of the winter wearing only a pair of thin calf-skin boots and a suit of homemade clothing which had been made by his Mother and Sisters clipping the wool from a sheep's back, then washing, carding, and spinning it into yarn, weaving it into cloth, and then making it into the clothes he wore. Elisha assisted in establishing many branches of the Church in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut. He also served in Iowa, Illinois, and Liverpool England (where he presided over the mission).
Elisha Hildebrand Davis was a MILLER by trade. He had operated and managed several grist mills in the different places that he lived. He also built most of his houses and farmed and stock raised.
Elisha married Mary Ann Mitchell on December 25, 1846 in England (shortly after his mission), and they left the very same day for the United States on the first ship available. Almost immediately upon arrival, Elisha was ordained a Seventy by Wilford Woodruff. He was later made president of the 36th Quorum of the Seventy. In his older years, Elisha presided over the High Priest Quorum and continued to do so until his death at the age of 82 years.
To My Posterity:
During a life of nearly 82 years, 59 of which time having spent in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I can testify to the happiness of a life of moral honesty and religious devotion. Experience has taught me the high value of moral purity and religious sentiment, as reaching far above earthly pleasures, and the gratification of appetite and passion, which cannot produce lasting joy.
My success in life has come through not borrowing money or mortgaging my home, but through always living within my means, and sustaining myself and family by the sweat of my face. When I owned little, I lived on little and was satisfied.
My married life of 46 years has been a happy one. My wife was always true, gentle, faithful, kind, and wise, a help mate in very deed to me. During our entire married life of 46 years, we never had a hard feeling, or cross word, but lived in love together, always adopting the rule of speaking gently and kindly to and of each other; and now, at the the advanced age of 82 years, standing as it were on the verge of eternity, my great desire and advice to all of you is to be faithful and true to our holy religion, to never depart from the faith and turn against God.
Every day that I live, I rejoice more and more in the great work of the Lord, and in the hope of Eternal Life.
Your loving father and grandfather,
Elisha Hildebrand Davis
Jeremiah was born in Northfield, New Hampshire on November 6, 1804. When Jeremiah was but 4 years old, his Father indentured him to a wealthy farmer who had no children of his own. His Father did this in hopes that Jeremiah would get a portion of his property when he should leave it. Years flew by, and this man's wife died. The man sold the farm, and Jeremiah got nothing. 
Jeremiah then returned to Kirtand where he met in the temple with Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The prophet addressed the people there and bore testimony! Jeremiah Willey was then chosen and called as a member of the first quorum of the seventies by the prophet Joseph Smith. Jeremiah then served a mission through Ohio, where he visited many branches and received much persecution. 
When Joseph Smith was in Carthage Jail, Jeremiah went to his house to see and comfort his wife (Emma Smith) in her distress. Emma gave Jeremiah a letter to take to Joseph Smith. Jeremiah then traveled to Carthage Jail, in the midst of mobs and murders. When he went in to the prison, the keeper wouldn't let Jeremiah see those who were in the prison.
Jeremiah was asked by Brigham Young to travel with him, and was appointed Captain of Train No. 1. He traveled for about a month, and then returned to Nauvoo for his family. Jeremiah traveled for some time with his family, and soon after was called to serve in the Mormon Battalion. These are Jeremiah's words of the experience... "This to me, was a trying time after being driven from my home and leaving all, both land and house in the hands of the enemy, and now to leave my wife and children with nothing but a blanket over them to keep them from the hot sun, But leaving them in the hands of the Lord". Jeremiah suffered much during this time, and came close to losing his life, but his faith was VERY stong! He was gone from his family for one year and two months. While in Winter Quarters, Jeremiah drove a team for the government and was able to make enough money to help them continue their trip to the Salt Lake Valley. 
When they arrived in Salt Lake, Jeremiah was able to purchase 25 acres of land for $750.00. He built a house and farmed wheat. On May 21, 1868, while crossing a foot bridge spanning a creek near his home, Jeremiah fell into the stream and was drowned! I seriously have the BEST ancestors! Wow!! I can hardly believe all the hardships that he and his family suffered-and all for the church! How grateful I am for wonderful ancestors and all of their sacrifices!
I think that I'm officially ADDICTED to Family History Work! Ever since I was just a little girl, I've loved doing geneology stuff (reading family histories, figuring out who's who, etc). When I was eight years old, my grandparents made me my first "Family History Book". It included pedigrees, pictures, histories, and all kinds of interesting things. From that moment on, I have loved learning about and studying my ancestors lives.
This is my Great Grandma Ora. She was born in Taylorsville, Utah on March 11, 1892. She was raised as an only child (her older brother died as a young toddler). Ora was raised by her grandparents so that she wouldn't hear about the LDS church. Her Mother was an inactive member, and her Father wanted to make sure she didn't join the church, so he had his parents raise her. She attended the Presbyterian church.
Top: Ada, Donald, Helen
This is my Grandma Manning. She was born in Burley Idaho on May 17, 1929-just three months before the GREAT DEPRESSION hit. When she was 12 years old, World War II began. This was a very difficult time for her and her family as they felt the effects of the war. Some of Marva's memories during this period of time include: Marva met her future husband Don Duane Manning while still a sophmore in High School. He was a Senior at the time. As soon as he graduated from High School, Don was drafted, and spent 1 1/2 years in the Signal Corp.
During this time, Marva found comfort in playing the flute, working at her father's grocery store, school, and hanging out with friends.
Don and Marva were married August 11, 1947 in the Salt Lake Temple. 
Don & Marva with their children
I love Grandma Manning so much!!! She is the BEST GRANDMA ever, and is indeed a Marvelous person! She is always smiling and optimistic, cares SO MUCH about her family and loved ones, and is constantly doing things to serve others.
Don and Marva currently have 19 grandchildren, 30 great-grandkids and 4 more on the way!
This is Bryan's Paternal Grandma, Carol Barton Stradling Ozment. Carol was born in Mt. Pleasant, Utah on 23 October 1927. She was born the youngest of nine children, however three of her siblings had passed away before she was born.Some of her favorite childhood memories consisted of...
Carol married Merlin Stradling in the Manti Temple in 1947, where his father married them. They had a total of eight children, six of which lived to adulthood. She went back to school after her and her husband divorced, and graduated in 1967 from ASU, with a degree in teaching. Carol spent the next 28 years alone rasing her children. She later said of her experience, "Through my trials I had many miracles of my own and many answers to prayer". I truly think that Carol was an amazing woman to be able to work full time and raise a wonderful family all on her own. Carol finally retired from teaching in 1989, and just four months later married Bob Ozment in the Mesa Arizona Temple. At the time of her death in 2004, she had a total of 33 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Carol loved garage sales, she not only bought things for herself, but for others as well. In fact, that's where our kitchen dishes, office desk, and guest bed came from.
She seriously COLLECTED EVERYTHING (No Joke)!
Carol and Grandkids -1987
Carol's children at her funeral-2004
This is my Great-Grandpa Call. I never actually met him (he died five months before I was born), but I've read and heard a lot of GOOD things about him! Russell was born May 6, 1894 in Bountiful,Utah. At the age of 23, he and his family moved to Burley, Idaho and it was at this time that he met Lavern Bowcut. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple by Joseph Fielding Smith in 1917. 
I'm going to quote a story that my Great-Grandpa Call wrote about his life, just three months before he passed away...The year of 1927, we bought a forty acre farm in Starrs Ferry, Idaho for $5,000.00. We had to pay $1,000.00 down. We had been married ten years and had five children. Well, we lived on that little farm for three years and did very well. We made all the payments and just owed $400.00 on it. Our main crop was sugar beets. This year as usual, we planted them and they came up well and looked good. A killing disease got in our neighbors beets and killed most of them but not ours. We were advised to plow them up and plant something else. They looked so good we hated to. So as usual, our family fasted and prayed all Sunday to know what to do. Late Sunday evening my Father and Mother pulled up in front of our house with their horse and buggy. My Father knew nothing of our beet crop but immediately said, "Russell, I've been thinking about you all day and have come to tell you to plow up your beet crop and plant potatoes". I did not hesitate and went out the next day and plowed them up. We have never had a more direct answer to out prayers. I did leave just two acres of the beets, and they turned out to be the best beets I ever grew. The potatoes were a complete failure. We never sold a sack of them. Our entire living came from the two acres of beets and our milk check that year. The next year we had a good crop of potatoes and beets. We harvested 2000 sacks of them and were offered $2.00 per hundred out of the field. We were advised to store them for they would bring more money later, which we did. We harvested the beets and put all the money in the bank. We did not make the land payment for our farm of $400.00 which was all we owed on the farm. We planned to do that after we sold the potatoes. We planned to buy a 20 acre place across the road. We bought a new car that spring and made a trip to Arizona that December. When we got back from our trip, the "Great Depression" had hit! Everything had collapsed. The bank where we had all our money had closed and never did open. We lost every cent we had! The potato market was gone and we couldn't sell one potato. That was December 23, 1929. Our farm payment of $400.00 was due on January 2nd. The man was there to collect. Of course, we could not pay. There was not that much money in Idaho. He said, "That's your tough luck, I want my money as our contract says, or I get the farm". Which he got. We walked out of our nice little comfortable home and 40 acres of land into about one foot of snow, in sub-zero weather, with five small children, and not ONE CENT! I managed to buy a pile of second hand canvas, got together a few old boards, and Mother sewed the canvas into a 12x16 tent. We put it up under a neighbors tree and moved in with three full sized beds, a cook stove, and a table and chairs. We lived there for eight months...
Grandpa Call lived to be 87 years old! He never had a single gray hair on his head. Grandma and Grandpa Call served a mission in Texas (Which was his childhood dream). They also served as ordinance workers in the Mesa, AZ temple in their later years. He served in many other church callings, and led an exemplary life!
This is my Grandma Ada. She was born in Blackfoot, Idaho on September 26, 1915. She spent much of her childhood in California. Her family lived close to the beach-practically every morning she would run a mile with her father and then body surf in the ocean before school.She married Harold (Jack) Thomas in the Mesa Arizona Temple in 1940. They had 10 children (5 boys, and 5 girls). Grandma was a great cook and baked 10 loaves of bread just about every day (At least that's what my Mom says). For Ada's Recipes click HERE.
Ada served a four year term on the Arizona State School Board from 1986-1990. President Reagan awarded her a flag of the US that had flown over the capital building for her devoted service.
Grandma's favorite things included: garage sales, birds, the ocean, music, cool weather, and people (She was a very social person and enjoyed visiting with everyone).
At the time of her death in 2005, she had 62 Grandkids and 75 Great-Grandchildren! I love my Grandma Ada very much and I cherish the time that I spent with her. I admire her faith and testimony. She was a great example to all who knew her!
In her later years Grandma Ada developed dementia. I worked for a company called "Home Instead", and had the opportunity of caring for her in her home. It was during this time, that I learned to truly appreciate my Grandma. I learned a great deal about her life (mostly childhood) as she was able to recall many of her early memories. How grateful I am for this precious time with her!
