In June, 2021, the Hales Family came to town. We took a little trip to the desert for some fun.
The same day we hit Bear Trap, we also visited nearby Split Butte. It was quite the adventure.
Bear Trap Cave is huge, but not necessarily deep. Some other caves go in more than a mile. Other caves are nearby too. But this one was safe to take so many little kids.
Working through the family history book of Golden Andra that was given to me, I opened a page to scan some photos and found a surprise. Behind that photo were some ordination certificates. These are originals. I thought I better get them scanned and preserved. I also uploaded them to FamilySearch and got them linked with the names in the documents.
I think they are valuable for family history. They are also a peek into church history. This gives us the missionaries who baptized and confirmed my Great Grandfather in Germany. I have provided some limited biographies at the end.
Also an original Notification of Birth Registration for Robert Lee Andra, son of William and Mary, who died at birth. I am not sure why the United States Department of Commerce is issuing this Notification, or the Bureau of the Census. There is some history behind this I am not aware. Last, a copy of William’s obituary.
I had to do some history on individuals listed on the certificates. Some fascinating individuals, obviously some of them local church leaders.
James Richard Bodily – born 11 February 1872 in Hyde Park, Cache, Utah – died 12 April 1967 in Preston, Franklin, Idaho
Wilford Woodruff Emery – born 16 October 1880 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah – died 10 September 1954 in Salt Lake City.
John Edward Hanks – born 30 August 1877 in Salem, Utah, Utah – died 5 July 1970 in Salt Lake City.
William Gibson Palmer – born 16 July 1884 in Croydon, Morgan, Utah – died 15 May 1977 in Preston.
Henry Helaman Rawlings – born 8 April 1893 in Fairview, Oneida, Idaho – died 14 February 1984 in Fairview.
Adelbert Augustine Taylor – born 9 April 1883 in Springerville, Apache, Arizona – died 15 November 1948 in San Felipe de HÃjar, San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco, Mexico.
Luther Hovey Twitchell – born 17 October 1878 in Salt Lake City – died 15 April 1962 in Bountiful, Davis, Utah.
I continue to work through the massive box/crate of photos and documents that were given to Dad after Aunt Betty Donaldson passed away. Much of it was garbage, some of it was interesting, but I have been getting to some really good stuff lately. One little such item was hit pocket album that belonged to my Great Grandmother, Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson. I pulled all the photos out and scanned them. But first, here is the pocket album.
The first photo in the album was that of her grandchildren. This photo was taken in 1951. The names and dates are on the back.
Berendena went by Dena her whole life. But since her daughter was also named Dena, I usually go with her full name. The next picture is of her and the two Ross girl grandchildren.
Then a picture of her and her husband, David Delos Donaldson.
Then a picture of her daughter Dora.
Then her son David “Dave” Donaldson.
Last picture was of her and all give of her children.
Several of these photos were taken at 639 Wall Avenue in Ogden, Weber, Utah. This photo was not in her pocket album.
We have arrived back in America after a very long day of traveling. I am very glad it is over. Our luggage was lost somewhere on the way. It took another day to arrive. They must have ran it through the oven. All chocolate melted and everything else was jarred. They even opened the luggage to inspect.
I just uploaded 169 photos for the album. After going through and naming all 169 of them, the thing defaulted and then did not save them. So you may want to wait before looking at the photos. I will let you know when I get them named. Additionally, I have ran out of room again for the second month in a row. The photos only run to Northern Wales. Everything for the past week I cannot upload until August arrives. I suppose you will just have to wait!
Life is good. I am glad to still be alive and feeling in one piece after the flights.
Today is officially the last day of our trip to Europe. Can you believe we have passed a full six weeks in Europe??
We visited St. Paul’s, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and the Globe Theatre today. I shared the photos in the previous post. They were all cool. However, at this point another cathedral and I will injure myself. Sir Christopher Wren did a great job on the inside, but the outside seems to be lacking some. Perhaps it is years of paint and wear. Perhaps it is war. The interior was amazing.
A couple of thoughts to wrap it up.
Amanda figured out that in the ‘To Let’ signs around Europe, meaning ‘For Rent’, if you put in an ‘i’ it becomes ‘ToiLet’. We wanted to get up and alter one or two of them, but we did not.
Secondly, on my second to last day, I was the target of a pigeon. On the front stairs of St. Martin in the Fields, I sat pondering life when a large drop fell on my right knee. I thought it was some water until I realized it was warm. Looking over, I saw the signs of whiteness indicating a deposit by some bird. It was a laugh, some disappointment, and disgust. Reminded me of the seagulls leaving a deposit in the Roman Baths in Bath.
Alas, I am humming along with John Denver about leaving on a jet plane.
A brief update of our past two days.
Yesterday was Westminister Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and more. We went to see Wicked at the Victoria Apollo and we both really enjoyed it.
Sunday we went to Hampton Court Palace. It was a very fast tour, but we made it through the entire house.
The rest of the time was enjoyed with the Jeppesen Family.
We have arrived in Weybridge, England. We are staying with a family we knew in Richmond, Virginia; the Jeppesen family. Weybridge is not far from London and this will be our home grounds while we are visiting the London area. We certainly appreciate their hospitality.
Today we have been busy. We spent the morning with the Wise family and saying our farewell. They really spoiled us while we were there. A full English dinner last night. I will tell you what! What a treat!
Yesterday we visited Longleat, which is a living manor house. Quite the treat. It has been there since Elizabethan times. They even have the shirt Charles II was executed in. That was interesting. The Lord of Bath lives there at present.
We made a trip to Poole and Bournemouth, both of which were interesting. We would have spent more time but Amanda left her purse at a McDonald’s which required backtracking some. It was luckily turned in and we breathed a sigh of relief.
Later in the evening Jennie took Amanda down to Weymouth and Portland while Cynthia and I went through family history. We are definitely cousins through Edward Harris and his wife. We are very likely related through my Willett line, but we were not able to show the connection. She doesn’t have her line far enough back to connect to where I have individuals. But by all accounts, the families definitely link, making us double cousins!
Today was much more of a Jane Austen day. We visited Winchester Cathedral where she is buried. But it has a fascinating history all its own. It was falling down and it required divers to correct the foundations. How is that for interesting? The whole time, I could not help but sing the song.
We also visited the Jane Austen home in Chawton where she lived for many years.
We now find ourselves in Weybridge for the next few days. The London Temple is of course closed while we are here. But we are looking at visiting London while we are here.
Tonight we write from the deep countryside of Dorset. We are staying in the little village of Milton Abbas with a cousin’s cousin. We are both related to the Coley and Harris lines in Halesowen, England. Peter and Cynthia Wise have taken us in a day earlier due to the fact we are not going to Merthyr-Tydfil, Wales now. We will be with them two days.
Yesterday went terribly wrong. We left a little late from Walkden, got stuck in a traffic queue for 1.5 hours in Stockport meaning we had to drop our visit to Chatsworth House. Then we decided we better drop Mattersey and Misson on my Sharp family line to at least make Sudsbury Hall. We then found out the M1 was closed with miles of traffic queue so we had to take side roads to Nottingham. There we saw the Robin Hood sites and made our way to Sudsbury for their manor house. Well, all the side roads were occupied with motorway traffic so we were delayed, we got lost, and in the end missed the last time to get into the home. We got pictures with the house but Amanda was devastated we didn’t get in.
In defeat, we made our way to Hagley, near Halesowen, near Birmingham last night. We checked into our little hotel and ran into Halesowen where we found the church of St. John the Baptism. Interestingly, as we wandered the cemetery, we found loads of Coley, Willett, and Harris tombstones. Many were modern, but there were a few in which I am sure they are cousins I have in my family history file. That made it worth it. The other deceased I will have to do some research on to trace them back to the family and connect them in. Hopefully I can find another person who has done research on some of the same lines and can help me with my research. We shall see.
Today we toured Romsley, Hayley Green, and Bromsgrove near Halesowen, more sites of Coley ancestry. We wandered and took more pictures in St. Kenelm’s church. There were more Coleys and Willetts found there. I was pretty excited. None as old as in the Halesowen church, but you never know.
We hopped on the Motorway and went through Worcester, Gloucester, and finally to Bath. There we saw the Royal Crescent, some of the Victoria Gardens, and the Roman Baths. It is a beautiful city. We enjoyed ourselves. From there we wandered to Milton Abbas way out in the countryside. We drove several miles through one car-width lanes to this village.
We are still figuring out what we will do tomorrow. At any rate, it should be fun.
Sagacity 