Tag Archives: road trip

The Spirit of Elijah

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Since I still haven’t received my visa, I am still in Chicago, waiting for the next stage of life. My husband has his visa, so as soon as I get mine we can mail off our 800 pounds of stuff and then get on a plane ourselves.

I’ve started some projects in the interim. The one most interesting to me right now is family history work.

The History of This Family History Project

A few years ago, when I first got off my mission and did not yet have a job, I scanned a number of personal histories from Dad’s Big Box of genealogy. I found them interesting. I wanted to continue the project but then I got a job and got busy. The files were backed up to a CD and on my computer.

Of course, at least once in the next few years, my computer crashed and I lost the hard drive completely. Last year, someone asked me if they could have a copy of the files. To my distress, I found that the CD backup was cracked. Thus, hours of scanning and OCR-ing (is that a verb?) were lost. Back to the Big Box, I guess.

So when I found out last week that I still don’t have my visa, I thought maybe this was a good time to pull out the Big Box and start over. Besides, last year I acquired a more powerful scanner when I married my husband. So, I set the scanner on autofeed, and in a few days the files were scanned. (Of course, the scanner lamp is almost burned out…) Now I am OCR-ing those that didn’t read well. I’ll add files to the server as I get to them.

I have simply loved reading the stories of my ancestors. My husband and I just returned from a Church History road trip. Now I find out that our ancestors were there at Winter Quarters and Far West and Nauvoo. Reading their stories makes it even more real than it was last week.

Here are some questions for the immediate family. Do you know who is who?

Did you know…

  • One ancestor was attacked by Indians and left for dead?

    • (an elderly Indian came along and had pity on her; after she healed, he sold her to the settlers at New Amsterdam [supposedly])

  • We had two ancestors on the Brooklyn?

    • (the mother and daughter, both midwives, paid their way by caring for the captain’s wife)

  • Our ancestor was the one who first settled Miller’s Hollow, later to be the site of the Kanesville Tabernacle (i.e., Council Bluffs, Iowa)?
  • One ancestor served a mission to Australia?

    • (he was shipwrecked coming home, landed on a remote atoll in the South Pacific, and lived on turtles for two months before a rescue party was successful)

  • One ancestor married a widower when she was 19, immediately becoming a mother of three?

    • (she later had 14 children of her own, including our ancestor)

  • One ancestor once made a profitable living by making beer?

    • (in Utah!)

  • Our ancestors helped settle the Big Horn in Wyoming?

    • (I have a friend from there)

Are you intrigued? Click on the Sorenson Family History tab above to find these personal histories. Here are the ancestors from above. (As I add files in the next few days, I’ll update this post to indicate which file to reference for the details.)

  • Penelope Kent Van Princis (Stout) [see any of the Stout, Richard or Stout, Penelope sources]
  • Hannah Tucker Read (later, Graham) and Christianna Gregory (Reed) [see Read, Hannah Tucker]
  • Daniel Arnold Miller [see personal history of Daniel Arnold Miller, plus book excerpt and sketch by daughter]
  • James Graham [see personal history of James Graham and account of Julia Ann]
  • Amanda Melvina Fisk (Stout)
  • Allen Joseph Stout [see life history of Allen Joseph Stout]
  • Franklin Jamison Graham and William Benona Graham and families [see life histories]

Church History Tour

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To celebrate our anniversary, we went on a road trip to church history sites.

We started in Winter Quarters in Florence, Nebraska (outside of Omaha). I have never been there before. Because it was the first stop and we hadn’t yet talked to dozens of missionaries, I enjoyed it the most, I think. I was very impressed with the sacrifices the early Saints made AFTER all the struggle in Missouri and then leaving Nauvoo. They were driven out of their homes time and again. Now they were so grateful to have a roof over their heads. 10-15 people spent a year in a tiny cabin smaller than my storage unit. They had gone through so much. And then they would have the ordeal of crossing the plains. So many people died, and yet they were grateful to the Lord for the gospel in their lives.

And should we die before our journey’s through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell–
All is well! All is well!

My husband and I attended a session in the Winter Quarters temple. It was a special experience. I felt close to the early pioneers who gave so much. I wondered what Heavenly Father will ask me to sacrifice. Has he already asked me? Have I willingly given of my time and talents? Will I be ready and willing to do what is asked of me in the future? I don’t yet know what “plains” I’ll have to cross.

We then drove to Missouri. We visited the Independence Vistors Center, Liberty Jail, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Far West, and a few other locations where various sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received.
Then we headed to Nauvoo. We’ve both been there a number of times. By this time, we’d be driving a lot over the past few days. So we were pretty tired. We went on a tour of the Joseph Smith Mansion House and Red Brick Store, and we enjoyed walking the streets of old Nauvoo. Tuesday morning we enjoyed the sunrise over the Mississippi River (though we were a little too late for good pictures) and we went to a session in the Nauvoo temple. Another good experience.

After a stop for Nauvoo fudge, we headed on home.

When (if) we have time again, we’ll have to go to Kirtland and Palmyra. For now, I sincerely hope our next trip will be to Australia!