Author: Sagacity

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Andra Effectual Doors

Sometimes when we least expect it is when some of the doors open for us and others.
I have not been spending very much time with family history as late.  I took a breather for a while and I had some other things in my life I wanted to focus on a bit more.  However, I have kept my thumb in the water to see if it was hot.
On the 4th of August is the Andra Reunion scheduled in Lava Hot Springs.  A number of the family were each asking me if I knew more details so I took it upon myself to find out the details.  I then took all the information and assembled it into an e-mail and sent it out to the 40 or so individuals whose e-mails I have who are linked to the Andra family.  As a sneaky little family history person, I placed a chart with all the descendents I have for the Andra family.  I asked that if I was missing any or needed an update, to please let me know.  I also encouraged people to pass on the notice about the reunion to those who did not or may not have received it.
Within a week I received about a dozen e-mails with updates on those directly related.  But then the more exciting e-mails started to appear.
As I have written about earlier, the only real family I have had difficulty in obtaining their information is that of the eldest son, William.  He passed away in the early 90’s and Edith continues to live in Missouri.  She has moved in recently with her son, Marc, and has slowed in her age.  In about 2001 she insisted I would not have their records for privacy and legal reasons.  I met with her son, Kent, the same day and they pretty much insisted on the same.  I left it behind but continued to foster friendship.
Kent passed away in 2003 and my communication with his family opened up.  His wife Mary gave me group sheets with all the information on all of Kent’s family and opened up e-mail communication.  Ever since, I have been updated with every new addition.  But she has insisted she doesn’t have contact with the rest of the family.  In sending out the family reunion e-mail, I don’t know how, but I received an e-mail from 2 of Kent’s brothers inquiring about the family reunion.  It opened communication with those families.  Already, I have added one of those two brother’s information to the family records.  The other one is openly willing to share.
What added to it more is that I was able to ask about the other two brother’s families for whom I did not have any information.  They openly gave me their e-mail addresses and I look forward to e-mailing them.  This was pretty well the final major hole in any of the descendents of the Andra family.  I am very thrilled to have had it fall together so well.  Even if it has been 6 years in banging my head against the wall.
The next bit I would like to add relates to another Andra door.  This is through Donald’s line though.  As I have related before in 2006, I have pursued another line which had been lost to the Andra family.  It was Don’s daughter Lori Kaye.  I finally was able to track her mother’s family down and then her.  It fit nicely that at the time we lived only a few miles away.  At that time they welcomed me in, we became friends, but there was no option of expanding that door to allow Don back in to her life.
Friendship and continued communication with Lori Kaye kept things good.  Then the change came.  Her daughter, Sunny, was getting married.  I received an invitation and invited some of the rest of the family to go in on a gift.  Don also sent Lori Kaye a birthday card, the first one in over 50 years of her life.  Add to that her husband’s call as a Bishop, Don & Lolane’s call for a mission, and everything just came.  Don so earnestly wanted to make some mends in this case and I seem to think the Gleim’s wanted to resolve the difference as well.  Completely unknown to me until after the fact, they met and enjoyed dinner together one night.  In visiting with Don and Lolane later, it was absolutely amazing.  All animosity, if any, was not present.  They enjoyed each other’s company and the night was wonderful.  I really wish every story of estrangement could work out so well.
I look forward to those other doors which I knocked on to open up completely.  I wonder what the next one will be…
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Pulaski Roots

Speaking of roots, I had a dental appointment on Friday.  Due to Measles as a baby, I have ameliogenesis imperfecta with several of my teeth.  Basically, some of my teeth have deformities.  One of which is that the nerve in one tooth reaches quite a bit higher than normal.  Also linked with the deformity of the drugs (legal!) I took in the early 80’s, those teeth are weaker and more susceptible to problems.  Many, many years ago I had a filling put in the tooth that touched on that high reaching nerve.  Over the years that nerve touching the filling, in addition to a slight tapping from the tooth having moved (from squash racket trauma about 2000), and just normal advancement of time that root has decided to pass away.  Yes, I am the owner of a slowly dying tooth.  I have been placed on antibiotics to keep the nerve from getting infected as it decays.  In the next few weeks I will experience my first root canal. 

On an interesting note, once Dr. Spitzer saw my x-ray of the teeth he quickly noted how long the roots are on my teeth.  Amanda confirmed to me later that during the freak show discussion that ensued my teeth roots were measured at 25 mm long.  Amanda tells me that the normal individual has roots approximately 15 mm long.  The dentist commented how he may have to order some longer tools to work on the tooth.  Whether it was in jest or not, I have come to appreciate how different I really am.  Deep down inside I always knew I was special.  Now I know it is a good 10 mm deeper why I am special.
So we have frantically tried to figure out how we would pay for what a root canal and crown would cost without insurance.  When in the mail today I received an invitation to join the insurance for my work.  As generous as they are, I will now have dental insurance.  Now I just have to find how long of a waiting period I will have with a tooth that has become highly sensitive to hot and cold with slight throbbing from time to time.
Anyhow, on to the story of Pulaski County, Virginia.  My Ross line left Pulaski County about 1912 and headed to settle in Rupert, Idaho.  The daughter, Fannie had married a Phibbs from Pulaski and Carroll County and moved out previously.  Her husband was the Minidoka County Judge in Rupert.  With the opening of the new Sugar Factory at Paul, the rapid expansion of irrigateable farm land, and an economic downturn in Pulaski it was time to move.  James Thomas Meredith Ross who I have written about before followed his daughter Fannie.  His other three children would follow to the west.  James would later settle in the Vernal area.  The Phibbs would eventually end up north of Sacramento, California.  John would roam for many years marrying in West Virginia, Colorado, and Wyoming.  He would die in Alameda County, California.  Robert we don’t really know what happened to other than he died in California about 1944.
While I have written about all of that previously, James Thomas Meredith Ross would leave behind his half brother William Andrew Ross.  William would marry and move to West Virginia.  He lived in Gary, WV most of his life and raised his family there.  He worked in the mines coal mines.  He and Sarah (Sallie) had 12 children.  The youngest of which is Howard Ross born in 1925.
It was Howard we went to visit this weekend.
Howard is the only remaining individual of his family.  He was born in Thorpe, West Virginia and moved to Bluefield, West Virginia many years ago.  He lives in a home perched on the side of a hill on Essex St.  He had 3 children, and a step child he helped raised.  He worked in or with the mines all his life.  His wife past away a few years back and he lives in the home with his grandson and future granddaughter-in-law.
I knew of Howard because he had spent so much of his life pursuing family history.  Grandpa gave me a copy of one of his books he had written about 1972 on the Ross family.  That is how I knew who he was and that he was related.  By the time I came home from my mission I did not expect him to be alive anymore until one day in Twin Falls I was visiting with a missionary who had served in the West Virginia Mission.  I told him of Howard (I knew he was LDS) and the missionary not only knew of Howard, he had his address and phone number.  He gave it to me and I called Howard.
I have looked forward to meeting Howard for several years and of visiting the famous Pulaski County.  The valleys surrounding Pulaski County had already been home to the Graham and other families for over a hundred years by the time Pulaski County was formed in 1839.  There Meredith, Martin, Booth, Shepherd, and other families were well entrenched.  But my main interest was in going to the area where my family left before heading west.
Friday we drove out to Pulaski County and arrived after dark.  We spent the night in a hotel at Claytor Lake just over the border into the county.  The next morning we drove into Pulaski and just got a feel for the town and then headed for the hour and half drive to Bluefield to see Howard.
Bluefield turned out to be what you would imagine a town 50 years ago.  The little streets, little yards, flags on every house, and a good percentage of people sitting on their porch.  It was a lazy, hazy, day in summer.  We wound through the streets of Bluefield following our directions to Essex St.  Wow, as if we were not impressed.  One side of the street was wood and the other side of the street were homes perched on the side of a hill probably 75 to 100 feet up.  This hillside was probably at a 45 degree angle.  We found the home and climbed the steep stairs to the rickety old porch.
I don’t mean to sound negative, but we had entered what you joke about with rednecks.  These homes sat precariously sitting on the side of this hill and had not had any care in the last 40 years.  There was a hand made 2X4 railing up this terribly steep hike and at the top the porch wood buckled with every step.  Howard met us in the open door and invited us in.  We sat there in a relic of the 1930’s with only the television and sofa to remind us we were actually not in the mid 20th century.
Howard sat there talking with us in a most happy manner with his eye patch and asking for us to repeat often what we said.  Moreover, he spoke with that thick gentleman manner which so permeates the old confederate ideal.  His joking ways were jovial and we had quite the good conversation.
I took him with my computer through all the descendants of William Andrew Ross and he updated quite a bit of my information.  We also showed him a number of pictures I thought he would be interested in from my side of the family.  He then told us a few stories.
Uncle Jim (my great great grandfather who went west) had come to visit in the 1930’s where they lived in Gary, West Virginia.  It was the late 1930’s because the family had all gone to attend a Conference of the church in Grundy County, Tennessee.  One of the speakers that morning was Jim Ross, Howard’s Uncle.  The children did not attend but afterward all these people kept coming to his mother and commenting about how powerful Mr. Ross had been in his preaching.  Howard’s mother had to set them all straight that it was not her husband but her brother-in-law.  Howard remembers the day because it was the day he was baptized.  They would meet for the morning meetings and then have a big meal and baptisms in the middle, and go back to conference in the afternoon.
They went back home after the conference and Uncle Jim came and stayed for a spell.  Howard remembers Uncle Jim taking the wash basin out to the fields and coming back with a huge amount of corn.  He then told Howard’s mother to cook all the corn and they would eat it for dinner.  When Uncle Jim found out they did not have any milk, he went out and purchased a milk cow and brought it back for them to have milk.  (This isn’t necessarily all the same night).  Howard remembers that he was so thoroughly struck by how much Uncle Jim could eat.  Howard swears Uncle Jim must have pushed near 300 pounds and that man could eat.  Howard laughs and laughs about how when Uncle Jim left he went and sold the cow and they didn’t have milk for years afterward.
Howard remembers Uncle Jim was missing a finger.  He doesn’t remember which one, but he did ask how he lost it.  Apparently he had been bitten by a spider and as the finger started to rot and decay he finally just cut it off.  The Dr. apparently told him he had saved his life by taking the finger off.
That was about all he remembered of Uncle Jim.  He knew he moved to California after Idaho and Oregon.  While in Fresno he served as a Bishop of an LDS ward for quite a few years.  Uncle Jim was always a Ross to him even though he took the Meredith name back after moving to California.  The timeline in relation to the name I have told previously.
John Ross, or Jack as he was known, also made a trip out to West Virginia to visit.  He came out after his second wife had passed away (my great grandmother) and tried to convince his first wife to marry him again.  She wasn’t having any of that and Jack left empty handed.  Howard never met Hobart Day, Jack’s oldest child with his first wife.
Howard doesn’t remember ever meeting any of the rest of the family.  Donna Phibbs Beachell came out to visit in the 1970’s and spent quite a bit of time with Howard.  They wrote often over the years, some of which letters I mentioned were sent to me in the papers of Howard from John Ross.
Howard was very interested in what I had found out on the Meredith family and I told him what I was pretty sure to be correct.  He related to me more of the stories of what he believed happened to his grandfather but until further information comes out to prove the James Meredith story of the Harvy Ross story, we still really don’t know for sure.  I think mine is pinpointed quite a bit more firmly than his.
Howard then gave us a bit of the history of the LDS church in West Virginia.  He had us drive him down to the Bluefield Ward Building over the border in Bluefield, Tazewell County, Virginia.  He gave us a tour of the building.  We met the Bishop and a few other people.
We went back to the house and he asked that I give a blessing to his daughter, Sarah who lives next door.  She has MS and various other problems that come with smoking, MS, and the redneck lifestyle.  I will tell you now, I was alarmed that 82 year old Howard regularly climbs and descends those stairs out front.  They were so steep I didn’t feel safe especially with an old man struggling up them.  I gave a blessing to a woman who didn’t want it but whose father insisted.  Talk about a little awkward of a position.  We then went next door where he asked I give his future granddaughter-in-law a blessing.  Not only did he want a blessing for her, but the unborn child as well.  That was my first experience I remember blessing a baby in the womb.  Both turned out to be special events.  I enjoyed them and Howard became choked up after the second of the two.  My oil holder had become cracked and did not stay together any more and so we had to make due with a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a small glass bowl.  Under the circumstances it was the best we could do and we were richly blessed on the occasion.
Interestingly, the kitchen is exactly how you would have found it in the 1940’s.  The sink, the ironator, cupboards, and more were all of proper vintage.  Sadly, that was probably the last time they were cleaned.  It was quite humbling to see the faith of this man in such humble circumstances.
We left with my promising to do the ordinance work for his son and him after he had passed away.  He joked, part seriously, that through family history he had prepared the way for hundreds to enter heaven despite his own lack of achieving the same goal.
Amanda and I left and wound our way back to Pulaski County.  There we wound our way through the desolate parts of county roads trying to cross the New River.  We found our way across and went through the little towns of Allisonia, Hiwassie, and Snowville.  All towns of which were heavily populated by those of my ancestry.  It was interesting to drive along and recognize names on mailboxes and say to Amanda, “They are probably related.”
We drove back across the river up to Newbern, past Dublin, and back to Pulaski.  There we enjoyed our dinner, as we had our breakfast, at the Sonic Drive-In with gift cards that had been given to us for helping a lady move into the ward.
Afterward we hit the road to try and make Tennessee for some souvenirs and then across Southern Virginia to other ancestral locations.  We realized we were too far from Tennessee too late in the day to make it so at Rural Retreat (how is that for a name?) we turned and headed east.  We drove through Independence (Grayson County) and crashed for the night in Galax (Carroll County).  Both counties are heavily tied to me as well.  Sunday morning we awoke and made our way to Hillsville (Carroll County Seat), Martinsville (home of the Martins of which I am related), over to Danville, north to Keysville and Farmville, and home to Richmond.
It was a long weekend but very worthwhile.  I really enjoyed getting to see Allisonia, Hiwassie, and Snowville.  Maybe someday we will get to go back.  Maybe Howard will be around when it comes time for us to head back west in a year.
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Assistant Underwriter

It has been a few days now I have been working for the most part on my own as an assistant underwriter.  While technically I am called a Home Servicing Specialist, it is still an assistant underwriter.  It has turned out to be an eye opener.  I will share a couple of the things I have learned so far.
I sit between the assistant underwriters and the validators.  Validators are those who take the loans that come through a system of basically computer underwriting.  You put your information into a computer and it recommends the program and loan for you.  These validators then take the information you put into the system and make sure it is accurate and the computer recommended the right things.  With loans from a few thousand to millions, we cannot take the chance there is fraud or computer malfunction.  After a loan comes in from either a broker or online, people take a good look at the information.  We have to verify the identity of the person to eliminate fraud.  Everything from SSN checks to personally calling the employer to verify your employment.  There are even hotlines where we can call to verify the account information you provided is accurate and the account is active.
The underwriter or validators then place conditions on the loan after verifying the program and information for the assistant underwriters to do more homework in question areas of a loan.  Often a title is not present yet, or a purchase agreement, or flood certification, or hazard insurance, or an appraisal, or all sorts of other things.  We have to keep reminding people we need these things and when they come in to check and verify them as well.  Sometimes we need bank statements, w-2’s, paystubs, gift letters, canceled checks, letters of explanations, and so forth.  We keep on the brokers and clients until we have all the satisfactory requirements fulfilled.
In working with some of these people, I already have learned you can take very few at their word.  If they say they faxed it in, they may have, but it is just a ploy to get you off the phone and then they will fax it, if they remember.  If there is really something questionable going on then those people will make up the most random on the spot explanation.  You then ask for documentation to check their statements and something totally different comes in.  You go back and they tell you a whole new variation with the new information.  On and on it goes until you either get the real story or the loan is declined.  I am sure some loans go through under less than honest situations and we just can’t catch them.  There are some good liars out there.
When large amounts of money are included people will say anything to make it happen.
I do not wish to say all or even most of the people I associate with on the phones are dishonest, but there are a few that instantly you can smell a rat.  I feel like an investigator in many ways as I have to keep asking the questions and looking for the evidence.
Many of the documents don’t meet a certain standard.  The address is a little funny, the person has had a name change, they are not citizens yet, a paystub has some information written in, etc.  So we have to add another condition that clarifies or confirms what the applicant is stating.
One thing is for sure generally, most people procrastinate!  In the loan business and when large amounts of money are involved, people get very, very angry when their procrastination costs them.  For the broker it can be a change in rate, or the ire of the applicant, or delay in payment.  For the applicant it can mean a few more days in a hotel, debts waiting a little longer from a cash out, and more.  I just don’t understand how they can think I am going to stay at work after five to review the five documents they just sent in.  Especially when it is 5 now and they know the deadline was at 1.  Boy oh boy do they yell and scream when you tell them that we just will have to reschedule the closing and delivery of the loan.
The best part is those who have sob stories.  “This family has been living in a hotel for the past month with three kids and the mother swears she will kill them and us…”  “He needs to pay off his wife’s doctor bills so she can continue her treatment”  It makes you sound mean, but please.
One broker I notified I needed to prove his clients assets from statements and verification of deposit.  I let him know this on Monday.  On Wednesday when the deadline had arrived for his loan, he then goes on to tell me the client has been shipped out with the Navy.  I remind him that his wife probably still receives the mail and the client even has a Power of Attorney.  Well if I didn’t get a good yelling.  This broker had the nerve to send a supervisor to the next two tiers of management against me.
Heaven will certainly fall if I ever procrastinate in relation to anything for them though.  A document will show up in my system at 1:00 and by 1:15 I have somebody calling me to know if I have looked at it.  No, I have not.  I will look at the other 4 loans I have in my queue first that are closer to deadline.  I can’t tell them that, other than I will get to it as soon as I can.  Some brokers I have already learned their phone number they call me so often and I know not to answer.  Relax people, if you quit calling me I can work on the file and look at your document.  When everyone keeps calling me it means I spend time on the phone and not on your files.
This job requires a maximum capacity at multi-tasking.  If this is any indicator, I have two computer screens I use all day long.  I have my document viewer I keep track of new documents, read and approve others.  I have my e-mail that I need to keep up on at all times.  I have my data entry system for which I keep track of conditions and enter information.  I have a system that is open which is constantly tracking my clear to close loans, loans for delivery, and loans for closing.  There is the system that then keeps track of my pipeline, to let me know which loans are mine and how long they have been in the system.  On top of that, I have my web browsers which I check for ineligible appraisers, community identification and development, whitepages for addresses and phone numbers, and whatever else I need.  The entire policy and procedure guide is online and must be checked from time to time.  That is just work.  I like to keep my personal e-mail open just in case something comes in I need to take care of in relation to Elder’s Quorum or who knows what else.
So I have a half dozen things open and working at the same time and then I have people who want to call and ask a question or make a demand.  Surely I would not be so unkind as to put them on hold so I can at least get to a point where I can drop everything I am doing to switch whichever system I need to work on their problem.  For example, if I am working on an appraisal, I am working on most of the systems.  If someone calls, I have to drop what I am doing and then back out of one or two systems for them.  Then when I can go back to the appraisal, I have to take both systems back to where I was and then pick up where I left off.  Sometimes too much time elapses and I haven’t a clue what I was doing and have to back up the appraisal to a point I know I completed.
I like fast pace jobs, and this is certainly one of them.  There is not a dull moment.  There is always something to do.  I get so into work and am so busy that to take off lunch seems like such an interruption.  I typically take lunch at my desk and eat as I go.  Most people do.  The time away from the desk and what you were doing is often too long that everything gets backed up.  If I take a full hour for lunch, I may return to 10 to 20 e-mails most of which need to be addressed.  Where if I just keep plugging along I can take care of them quickly.  It is like the old blond joke, “why don’t they let blonds take breaks?  Because it takes too long to retrain them!”  It seems to hold a certain amount of truth in this situation.
Things have been hectic because a couple of people are on vacation this week meaning we are overloaded.  By the time 5 rolls around I don’t feel like I have made much of a dent.  But typically I would be caught up and feeling pretty good about life.  There will always be those who say they faxed me at 10 and it will suddenly arrive at 4:30 that won’t be caught up, but that is their problem, not mine.
This in many ways is a job I really enjoy.  I sit down and before I know it the entire day has passed.  I can look over at WIT and see that I gave 6 clear to close, scheduled another 6, and put another dozen into pending documents status.
I am very much enjoying my job at Bank of America.  The pay is good enough for me too.  I wouldn’t mind more, but I am happy.  I am somewhat sad this will probably be only a year.  Certainly it is a good learning experience and I this education will come in handy all my life.
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Ross Family Album

I was finally able to upload the Ross Family Album.  I ran out of monthly space and then just got busy.  Finally, I have posted the photos related to the Ross’ in their own album.  I have not uploaded my own family yet.  This is just what I have under the Ross files on my computer.  This includes mostly photos of my Grandpa and Grandma Ross’ family, my Aunt Caroline’s family, and a few other random photos of related Ross people.  There are a couple of my half-siblings when they were younger.

Here are some of the family groups.

James Thomas Meredith Ross

Born Ross, raised and adopted Meredith, legally Meredith, married Ross, baptized Ross, children named Ross, endowed Ross, married again Meredith, died Meredith.

22 Sep 1868 – Snowville, Pulaski, Virginia

13 Apr1951 – Fresno, Fresno, California

Married

9 Aug 1887 – Snowville, Pulaski, Virginia

Damey Catherine Graham

25 Nov 1874 – Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia

3 Feb 1933 – Marysville, Yuba, California

Children

Robert Leonard Ross

25 Apr 1888 – Draper, Pulaski, Virginia

John William Ross

2 Sep 1890 – Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia

Fanny Elizabeth Ross (married Phibbs)

18 Nov 1893 – Reed Island, Pulaski, Virginia

James Thomas Ross Jr

19 Oct 1895 – Radford, Montgomery, Virginia

Married again

? – ?

Etta

Married again

14 Jul 1947 – Fresno, Fresno, California

Martha Elnora Cackler (married before to Brewer)

3 Oct 1877 – Otter Creek, Lucas, Iowa

31 Jul 1974 – Fresno, Fresno, California

John William Ross

2 Sep 1890 – Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia

13 Jun 1948 – Livermore, Alameda, California

Married (Divorced)

6 Jul 1910 – Squire Jim, McDowell, West Virginia

Nannie May Day

6 May 1892 – Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia

19 Jan 1971 – Bluefield, Tazewell, Virginia

Children

Hobart Day

1 Jul 1911 – ,, West Virginia

Apr 1983 – Fairlawn, Radford, Virginia

Married again

12 Jan 1920 – Fort Logan, Arapahoe, Colorado

Ethel Sharp (I have written more about this marriage at this link: Ross-Sharp Wedding.)

9 Apr 1898 – Plain City, Weber, Utah

6 Aug 1925 – Plain City, Weber, Utah

Children

Milo James Ross

4 Feb 1921 – Plain City, Weber, Utah

Paul Ross

14 Feb 1922 – Paul, Minidoka, Idaho

John Harold Ross

7 Nov 1923 – Burley, Cassia, Idaho

Ernest Jackson Ross

16 Jul 1925 – Plain City, Weber, Utah

Married again

29 Nov 1926 – Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Wyoming

Zana Cogdill (Married before to Coffey)

7 Nov 1892 – Dixon, Carbon, Wyoming

2 Oct 1966 – San Diego, San Diego, California

Milo James Ross

4 Feb 1921 – Plain City, Weber, Utah

Married

4 Apr 1942 – Plain City, Weber, Utah

Gladys Maxine Donaldson

20 Sep 1921 – Ogden, Weber, Utah

25 Aug 2004 – Ogden, Weber, Utah

Children

Milo Paul Ross

Judy Ethel Ross

Caroline Ross

John Harold Ross

7 Nov 1923 – Burley, Cassia, Idaho

24 Oct 2004 – Syracuse, Davis, Utah

Married

19 Nov 1946 – Evanston, Uinta, Wyoming

Colleen Fowers Hancock

2 Oct 1929 – West Weber, Weber, Utah

12 Aug 1969 – Ogden, Weber, Utah

Children

Terry Jay Ross

3 Oct 1947 – Ogden, Weber, Utah

Married again

2 Dec 1974 – West Weber, Weber, Utah

JoAnn Payne

5 Jan 1934 – Ogden, Weber, Utah

Children

Jody Valate Ross

Caroline Ross

Married (Divorced)

Lynn J Taylor

Children

Kristy Lynn Taylor

Cindy Lou Taylor

Lonny J Taylor

Married again

Abe Maxamilia Gallegos

Milo Paul Ross

Married (Divorced)

Victoria K Feldtman

Children

Scott James Ross

Jeffrey Paul Ross

Becky Collette Ross

Married again (Divorced)

Sandra Jonas

Children

Paul Norwood Jonas Ross

Andra Ross

Married again

Janice Faye Higley (Married before to Osterhout)

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Maymont

I just added some more photos to the Virginia Living Album.  It contains photos from our adventures today to Maymont.  We went and walked about half the grounds and toured the house.  Quite an impressive little home from the Gilded Age.
The photos are in chronological order.  We enter the grounds and walk toward the house.  We passed the out buildings, the silo, the carriage house, barn, and all the other buildings.  Since it was nearing 90 degrees outside we decided we would walk the grounds before going to the house.  That way we could get air conditioning before heading back across the grounds.
You see where we ventured down some paths, all lined with flowers.  There are the Italian Gardens and then the Japanese Gardens.  There was a wedding this morning in the Italian Gardens in the covered walkway.  We walked through the Italian Gardens, followed the fancy water feature down the hill until we found the Japanese Gardens.  Below the water feature is the waterfall you see through the bamboo.  They claim it is 42 feet.
The Japanese Gardens were pretty large.  We walk around numerous little lakes and through all sorts of little additions.  The fish were huge.  Some of them were honking huge!  There were white fish, gold fish, blue fish, and not to mention everything in between.
I thought all the grounds were absolutely beautiful.  Virginians don’t know how to have nice full lawns, or incapable of it, so that was the only negative point.
We wound our way back up the hill, past the Dooley Mausoleum and to the house.  Amanda was not a happy camper by this point.  The high heat, the humidity, claimed bloating, and flip flops made the last 1000 feet a miserable sop of her.  The good news is we tested every bench there was available and found them to be solid, firm, and maintained.  The birds were kind enough to leave deposits on them for us.  Amanda didn’t think they were spaced very well since they were all at the top of the hill on the easy walkways.
The house was quite impressive.  Very ornate on the inside.  Just like you would imagine a millionaires house from the turn of the last century to look like.  We were not allowed to take photographs inside the home.  Oh well, guess you will have to go there yourself to experience it.  Or you can go to Maymont.org to see what few pictures they have, but they do give the history.
So there you go.  Our visit to Maymont in pictures.
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Stepping on toes

It is time I added another update for the blog.  Many interesting things are happening in life.  Last Saturday the car passed 200,000 miles on the way to Washington.  We celebrated by having all the front seals and head gasket replaced on Wednesday.  That put us out a good $400.  Sure has been a good car.  Amanda said one of the mechanics told her about a car that had just come in which had 640,000 miles.  I sure hope this little Camry gets that many miles.  It has been worth the cost so far.
We purchased a vacuum recently.  That is a great thing.  This apartment had just enough fine dust that I was nearly constantly sneezing.  I don’t have allergies, I don’t have problems with dirt, but somehow fine dust blown around by the fan just makes my nose attempt self-destruction.  My record so far is 12 sneezes in a row.  I did not set that this week, but that is my record.  I have no hopes of attempting it again, hence the vacuum.
I received a phone call from a Mr. Frank Overfelt yesterday.  His mother is Vay Amanda Carlisle.  She was born in 1900 and passed away in 1962.  She married more than once, but eventually to Mr. Ira Overfelt.  However, this good man, Frank, went to the Salt Lake Temple to see what he could do in relation to family history for his mother.  The temple told him it had not been done been submitted by a Mr. Paul Ross.  They went on to give him my address and phone number.  It had my Idaho number and they called and visited with Jan.  She gave him my cell phone and he wasted no time in contacting me.  Before I go on, I try to make sure that all those for whom I submit to the temple are within the guidelines.  I admit I let that slide a little bit where I know the descendants are not LDS.  The principle is that if they were born in the last 95 years, you do not do their temple work.  Mrs. Vay was born 107 years ago so I was not too worried about it.  But Mr. Overfelt called wanting to know why his mother’s family history had been done.  Luckily for him, very little had been done on the card and I called the Boise Temple and had it cancelled.  I let him know he should have a free and clear light to go ahead.  Now I just have to hunt down that card, wherever in the world it is!    I surely hope somebody doesn’t try to do another ordinance on it or I will have the temple calling me with a few kind, direct words.  I really enjoy family history, I enjoy seeking people out, but I feel bad when I step on other’s toes.  But I was well within guidelines and Mr. Overfelt should not have waited so many years to do the work.  Interestingly, he sealed his parents in 1979 but did not have his mother’s work completed beforehand.  I hope the temple doesn’t call him wanting an explanation like they did once to me!
Amanda and I received a letter in the mail this week with a check for $10,000 from Capital One.  It was one of those write your own loan scenarios.  With us looking at the purchase of a car, it was a very tempting offer.  We soon realized we could go to the bank and probably get half the interest rate.  It was hard to shred that check for such a large amount.  We continue to pay off our debts and prepare for the future.  Amanda has made enough now she can pay for her $900 pair of glasses for dental hygiene.  Now she just has to make enough for the service trip to Jamaica to help poor people with their teeth (If you wish to donate, I do have a paypal account!  Feel free to send $5 or $50.)
Work continues well.  I am becoming more confortable navigating the tedious screens and pages of 20 year old DOS based program.  But hey, if nobody can come up with a more reliable program, why change?  I do believe there is probably a program out there, but BOA isn’t willing to spend the money on it.  Until then I learn the codes and pages and then do the mortgages on top of it.  I am becoming quite a bit more comfortable there as well.  So much, I went through 25 new loans on Friday.  I think that is quite the achievement.  I will have this mortgage business all sorted out by the time I am done.
Well, it is Sunday, it is naptime, and I am surely in need of it.  I was assigned to teach Family History to the Elder’s Quorum today.  It went alright but I was very short on time.  I generally felt the lesson went well but I didn’t get to drive some of the points home as directly as I would have wanted.  Leave no doubt, they definitely know I feel passionately about the topic and that family history is a requirement for them now in their lives.  I drove around for a half hour handing out new Home Teaching Assignments.  Caught them all home but one and he is my companion so I am covered there.
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Who is elected President?

I know I wrote this some time ago but I have had so many hits on this blog I decided to repost it again.  I will remove the older post.

The last time, I did not really explain why I was interested in this topic.  I have heard it before that it is historically against those who are already in office to be elected to President.  So I wanted to verify that point.  It holds true.  Only three people have ever been elected President from being an elected sitting Senator, Representative, or Governor.  It just doesn’t happen.  So the odds are against McCain, Clinton, Obama, Dodd, Biden, Hunter, Paul, and more.  The odds are in favor of those who have been out of office for some time.  That tends to point an affirmative finger at Thompson, Romney, Huckabee, Gilmore, and others.  I am not trying to come out for one group or another just wanted to know the historical trend.

I finally got around to doing some homework.  I was curious to how many senators in the past have made it to become the President of the United States.  Only 2 have ever succeeded to become President while still a Senator; John Kennedy and Warren Harding.

Only one representative made it to become President while still a representative: James Garfield.

Looking at these three individuals all three died while in the office as President. Obama, Clinton, and McCain do not appear to have odds in their favor for becoming President and living out their term.

I went on to do some more homework.  We are on our 43rd President.  Five of those Presidents were not elected to office: Chester Arthur, Millard Fillmore, Gerald Ford, Andrew Johnson, and John Tyler.  That drops our number of elected Presidents to 38.

Looking at those 38 Presidents, 13 served in the Senate previously.  Two of those Senators became President while acting as Vice President: Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman.  We do not know if they would have been elected President in their own right had they not served as President before.  The history of Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson does not appear that they would have ever become President or would have sought to.  Accordingly, only 34.2% (13 of 38) of elected Presidents have served previously as a Senator.  If you were to rule out Truman and Johnson, that would give us 30.6% (11 of 36).  Here is the time frame for those Senators who would become elected President (Truman and Johnson at their elected date).  Andrew Johnson and John Tyler also served as a Senator, but were never elected to the Presidency.

Senators elected to the Presidency
John Kennedy
Warren Harding
Benjamin Harrison – 2 years
Andrew Jackson – 4 years
Lyndon Johnson – 4 years
Harry Truman – 4 years
Martin Van Buren – 9 years
Franklin Pierce – 11 years
James Buchanan – 12 years
William Henry Harrison – 13 years
Richard Nixon – 16 years
John Quincy Adams – 17 years
James Monroe – 23 years

Looking at elected President’s who entered the Presidency within 10 years of their leaving the Senate we have only 18.4% (7 of 38).

Looking back at the 38 Presidents, 14 of them served in the US House of Representatives.  The same case applies here to Lyndon Johnson as it did above in the Senator category.  36.8% (14 of 38) of elected Presidents served in the US House of Representatives.  If you exclude Johnson, 35.1% (13 of 37).  I have listed below the time frame for people entering the Presidency after serving in the House of Representatives.  Millard Fillmore, Gerald Ford, Andrew Johnson, and John Tyler served as members of the House but were not elected President.  Johnson is listed at his elected date.

US Representatives elected to Presidency
James Garfield
William McKinley – 6 years
James Polk – 6 years
John Kennedy – 8 years
Rutherford Hayes – 10 years
Abraham Lincoln – 12 years
James Madison – 12 years
Lyndon Johnson – 16 years
Franklin Pierce – 16 years
George H W Bush – 18 years
Richard Nixon – 19 years
William Harrison – 22 years
James Buchanan – 26 years
Andrew Jackson – 32 years

Looking at elected President’s who entered the Presidency within 10 years of their leaving the House we have only 10.5% (4 of 38).  Looking at the historical information, it has been a good while since anyone has gone from the House to the President.  Those on the list that are more recent had other positions between the House and Presidency.  Johnson, Nixon and GHW Bush were Vice President and Kennedy served as a Senator.

Previous Presidents who served as an elected Governor of a state are the next order of criteria.  Only two Presidents were sitting elected Governors when elected: Rutherford Hayes and Woodrow Wilson.  There are a few who were appointed governors or military governors of territories but I did not include those.  Two governors would become President and later elected in their own right: Calvin Coolidge and Theodore Roosevelt.  Calvin Coolidge most likely would never have become President.  Theodore Roosevelt may have.  At any rate, 39.5% (15 of 38) of Presidents were Governors.  If you remove Roosevelt and Coolidge, 36.1% (13 of 36).  Here is the timeline of Governors who would become President later.  John Tyler also served as a Governor but was not elected President.  Coolidge and T Roosevelt are listed at their elected dates.

Elected Governors elected to the Presidency
Rutherford Hayes
Franklin Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
George W Bush – 1 year
Grover Cleveland – 1 year
Bill Clinton – 1 year
William McKinley – 1 year
Jimmy Carter – 3 years
Calvin Coolidge – 4 years
James Polk – 4 years
Theodore Roosevelt – 5 years
James Monroe – 6 years
Ronald Reagan – 6 years
Martin Van Buren – 8 years
Thomas Jefferson – 22 years

Accordingly,
34.2% of Presidents served in the Senate.
36.8% of Presidents served in the House.
39.5% of Presidents served as an elected Governor

For other information, John Adams, George H W Bush, Thomas Jefferson, and Martin Van Buren went directly to become President after their Vice Presidency.  Richard Nixon is the only one who would have time off before becoming President.  This is not a good indicator, only one person ever went from Vice President to President of their own accord.

Here is a list of all President’s and their positions before the Presidency.

Washington – Virginia House of Burgesses, Continental Congress, Commander-in-Chief of Continental Army, President of Constitutional Convention

J Adams – Continental Congress, Minister to Netherlands, Minister to Great Britain, Vice President

Jefferson – Governor, Minister to France, Secretary of State, Vice President

Madison – Continental Congress, Representative from Virginia, Secretary of State

Monroe – Continental Congress, Senator, Minister to Great Britain, Governor, Secretary of State, Secretary of War

JQ Adams – Minister to Netherlands, Minister to Prussia, Senator, Minister to Russia, Minister to Britain, Secretary of State

Jackson – Representative, Military Governor, Senator

Van Buren – Senator, Governor, Secretary of State, Minister to Britain, Vice President

W Harrison – Appointed Governor, Representative, Senator, Minister to Colombia

Tyler – Representative, Governor, Senator, Vice President

Polk – Representative, Governor

Taylor – No previous office

Fillmore – Representative, State Comptroller, Vice President

Pierce – Representative, Senator

Buchanan – Representative, Minister to Russia, Senator, Secretary of State, Minister to Britain

Lincoln – Representative

A Johnson – Representative, Governor, Senator, Vice President

Grant – Army General

Hayes – Representative, Governor

Garfield – Representative

Arthur – No previous office

Cleveland – Mayor, Governor

B Harrison – Senator

Cleveland – Mayor, Governor, President

McKinley – Representative, Governor

T Roosevelt – Governor, Vice President

Taft – Solicitor General, Judge, Secretary of War, Appointed Governor

Wilson – Governor

Harding – Lieutenant Governor, Senator

Coolidge – Lieutenant Governor, Governor, Vice President

Hoover – Secretary of Commerce

F Roosevelt – Governor

Truman – Senator, Vice President

Eisenhower – Army Chief of Staff, Allied Supreme Commander

Kennedy – Representative, Senator

L Johnson – Representative, Senator, Vice President

Nixon – Representative, Senator, Vice President

Ford – Representative, Vice President

Carter – Governor

Reagan – Governor

G H W Bush – US Ambassador to UN, Representative, Director of CIA, Vice President

Clinton – Attorney General of Arkansas, Governor

G W Bush – Governor

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Happy Birthday Gordon

I am supposed to be completing a letter to send off to my mother.  There is not really much tonight I want to write.  There is a bit of a reflecting mood in the air and I thought I would write a few thoughts in relation to it.
This week has been one of particular interest to me.  We have moved into a new apartment and have downsized when it comes to sleeping space.  We emigrated from a queen to a full.  My feet hang over the end by a full 4-6 inches and I find myself sleeping way too close to the uber-radiator that occupies the other spot in the bed.  I naturally move like a rotisserie in the night.  Somehow though with the feet hanging over the end of the bed it seems the blankets want to catch on the feet that spin.  Inevitably, I wake up every 4 hours at least because I have quit turning.  I have to remove my feet from the tangled mess in the end, flatten and smooth things out some, and then start over.  The good change up is that instead of regularly having to tuck in the sheets, with queen sheets on a full bed they never come untucked!
I like to sleep in a cool room.  The head stays cool but yet the bed warms up and prepares a sort of cocoon which is highly preferred by me.  However, the cold cannot come into contact with the rest of my body.  The leakage of cool air into my blissful state only can be tolerated for so long before I wake in a form of disgust that the elements could be so cruel.  The leaks are usually caused by one of two situations.  1) I have slid down into the bed some and the overhang of my feet over the end require double sheet length to cover.  Only a few more inches are given until the shortage quickly becomes apparent at the top of the bed.  2) Amanda and I both turn on our sides opening a tent-like edifice between us.  Warm air must be trapped or it flees, which it always does in this situation.
The third situation is the most unfortunate.  I can do much myself to prepare against the mentioned issues.  The last is not easily resolved.  Amanda due to some phenomenon unknown can close her eyes and her body temperature immediately jumps 14.4 degrees Celsius.  Just like their counterpart in space, female solar flares fly through space and wreak havoc on all bodies they come in contact with.  Unlike male energy fields which remain close to their source, sometimes with small hints of lunch floating, the female energy flares and seeks to travel elsewhere.  Accordingly, I not only fight the blanket monster attacking my feet, the tentacles of frigidity, but I have to combat the forces of burning radiation.  Only distance can tame this monster and that simply is not available in our lives at this moment.  So after several hours of a valiant fight, I crawl out of bed early in the morning to find refuge elsewhere.  I often find myself sitting in the living room thinking about things and watching the sunrise.
There is something about the early morning hours which seem to naturally draw a man to prayer.  I remember being out in the field moving water lines and feeling the dew settle.  The world goes suddenly silent and it is as if the world holds its breath.  There is almost a switch that flips when you recognize it is no longer night but is now day.  The nocturnal world seeks its rest to prepare for the day and the rest look with hope to the east.  Invariably I found myself looking to the east as well and yearning for what the light would bring.  Somehow I think it is much the same spiritually.  I find myself looking to the Son and yearning for what light they day will bring.
Some mornings I read, others I ponder, others I just pray.  Two or three mornings this week, particularly in prayer I received answers.  One concerning an individual whom I had been asked to consider what calling should be given.  Another answer came in relation to my own personal life.  Answers so distinct that I can tell you the very moment they are whispered.
What a strange thing it is.  At night I feel I just want to collapse and move into slumber.  But in the morning as my body awakens I nearly always feel the urge to pray.  There are times I don’t but when I do there is great power.  The more often I do, the more I recognize the solace that comes in having communed with heaven.
I sat with the missionaries in a discussion this week.  At a point in the conversation the Elder made a comment along the lines of, “Then you will come to know God exists.”  The thought struck me so hard my bosom shuttered.  Where would I be if I had to have someone try to convince me God exists?  There is not any question in my mind of the existence of God.  Did this Elder really have to condescend to such a state as to try and convince someone just that God may exist or may be interested in our lives?  What does this say of this man?  What does it say of his parents?  What does it say of any religion he did have?  What does it say of his community as a child and now?
Thank God there is no doubt or even discussion over the existence of God in our religion.  The question is not if He exists.  The question is not who is and who isn’t saved.  The question is not which church is God’s.  The question has nothing to do with doctrine.  The question we find our lives centering around on a daily basis as Latter-day Saints is what would God have me do today?  It is like the barking of dogs at us with these other religions.  They don’t have anything to even entice us away.  Our foundation and strength is so strong that those who are reared on that foundation are sure.  That foundation is continuous revelation.  That foundation is a daily walk with God.  It is when our communications disappear or disabled that we find our distance growing.  It is those who sever themselves enough that end up in forbidden paths or open rebellion.
Those who follow the path of prayer will find themselves full of the gifts of heaven.  They find themselves full of love and character to give.  They find their lives led and directed by heaven.  They find their lives full of the greatest of blessings.
I wanted to share a couple of my dearest blessings.  First my testimony of heaven and eternity.  It is sweet and beautiful to me.  There is no way I could ever designate what has been given to me anything other than a gift.  It is a gift of heaven which has been given with little or no effort on my part.  I know certain things I have done which have enabled or opened doors and literally there has not been room enough to receive it all.  I have entertained my own deceased relatives, received ministrations from angels, and gazed upon the thrones of heaven.  There have been entrances given into the past, comprehension of places, and experiences with unexplained.  The Priesthood, the Gospel, the Plan, and the Atonement are all present in their fulness for our day.  The question of the existence of eternal things isn’t even an option.
The next greatest blessing is my family.  My wife is ever patient and full of that look in her eyes which is only love.  Her hugs, her kisses, and her heart are dear to me and freely offered.  The companionship and connection that is present is a gift and comes from no other source.  Two hearts could not communicate the way ours does without the aid of beyond.  It binds us and holds us together despite the fact we are mortals in a broken world.  The same goes for the rest of family.  Only the gift and love of above could allow individuals who are willing to heed to so freely communicate and connect despite the separation of time, distance, and death.  What is even more remarkable is how people fall in and out of communication of heaven and in a sense fall in and out of their full family fellowship.  I see how family members come back in spurts and full of hope and joy and then fall back out again.  But while they are in fellowship with the spirit they find themselves relinking to the whole family while out of fellowship the shun and avoid, demean and destroy.
What other blessings there are I do not know.  Life and health are only temporary concerns.  All other aspects seem so small and insignificant.  But the testimony and family we have are the only things I know which will continue with us for eternity.
That is some of what I have contemplated in those early hours this week.  There is definitely more which pertains more to this earthly existence.  Just as important as those gifts and blessings is how I walk in accordance with that which makes those available.  Trying to figure out to help someone, coming to interpret my thoughts and feelings on subjects, and how to make a difference.
Particularly this week has been the poignant thought of President Hinckley.  What is his life?  What has he given it to?  What is he doing now?  What will I be doing at 97?  What would he really want for his birthday?  What is that which is important to him?  I really don’t think a building at BYU named after him is what he really cares about.  I don’t think his turning another year holds much significance.  What is significant to him is serving and helping others.  What holds importance to him is keeping in contact with the divine and acting upon it.  What is important to him is his gifts.  The gift of God, the gift of Heaven, the gift of Love, the gift of Spirit, the gift of Family are all his most prized gifts.
What really is it to say to someone ‘Happy Birthday’?  It is to focus on another step of mortality.  What really is important is to daily look to the east and say ‘Happy Day’ and get back to work, the required occupation of life.  So President Hinckley, Happy Day!