Austin

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.

High Priest Ordination Certificate (Front)

High Priest Ordination Certificate (Back)

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 Híjar, 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.

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.

Amanda with Robin Hood statue near Nottingham

A Robin Hood shrubbery at Nottingham Castle

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.

Tombstone of John Crumpton (1817-1869) my first cousin six times removed

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.