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Reader's Tributes to "My Mother-in-Love"
As a Mother's Day tribute, here are three stories of mothers-in-law who became mothers-in-love.
By Meridian Readers

Jumpstart Your English Research Online!
The Internet is loaded with information about Englishmen and women from the past. One needs only to know where to find it.
By Nathan W. Murphy, MA, AG®

Turning Mothers-in-Law into Mothers-in-Love
People tend to place other people high on pedestals, or low in pits. Mothers are spoken of in idyllic terms, and we hold the position in esteem; yet for some reason the term “in law” turns an idyllic being into the enemy, and we have to decide which person our spouse's mother really is.
By James W. and Mary Ellen Gleason Petty

Coming to Your Census!
Modern technology has taken away much of the tedium of doing family history.  Whoops and hollers of success are much easer to come by in the computer age than they were in days of old.  And if you want to seek your ancestors, census records are the place to start.
By James W. Petty, AG, CG

Why Hire a Pro to Do Your Family History?
Family history and genealogy require a great of time, effort, and skill. When it comes to doing our genealogy, hiring a pro can make these important responsibilities all the more possible to accomplish.
By James W. Petty, AG, CG

Why Won’t Anybody Talk About Aunt Hattie?
Is there someone in your family that everybody avoids mentioning? Do your relatives shrink when you talk about doing family history? You might want to consider doing a genogram of your family.
By G.G. Vandagriff

Going Home — A Family History Letter To Brooke
Visiting an ancestral home plays an important part in compiling pictures of our ancestors. In traveling to such places we see the community they lived in, or the countryside they saw every day, and we begin to appreciate their culture and way of life.
By James W. Petty, AG, CG

Bringing Genealogy to Life
If your ancestor is nothing more than a name and a date on a page, it might be time to give your great, great grandmother or grandfather, aunt, uncle or cousin a life.
By Bettyanne Bruin

Planning a Family Homecoming
Whether your ancestors helped settle the frontier of Utah or the penal colony of Sydney, Australia, you can celebrate their lives with an event-centered Homecoming. Here is how one family is doing it.
By James W. Petty, AG, CG, and Mary E. Petty

Bring History Home A Genealogist's Call for Valiance
Linking the lives of our ancestors to the events of recorded history helps us understand what has happened in the past and why it happened, and the part our families played in that history. And then history has meaning in our lives, and can encourage how we live.
By James W. Petty, AG®, CGSM

The Legacy of Shirts
A son's status in life may depend on how big his shirt is. This story of shirts tells how one son tried to live up to his father's expectations.
By James W. Petty, AG®, CGSM

Turning the Hearts of the Parents to the Fathers
How can parents help turn the hearts of their children to the fathers, if the parents don't know who the fathers are? It is vital that husbands know the genealogy of their wives; and that wives know the genealogy of their husbands.
By James W. Petty, AG®, CG(SM), BS (Genealogy), BA (History)

Do You Have an Elephant on Your Menu?
If your family history problems seem as big as an elephant, tuck in your napkin and reach for your salt shaker.
By James W. Petty, AGCM, CGSM

Happy Hunting on the Imperfect Road of Internet Genealogy
The wunderkind of family history today is the Internet. Or is it? Rumor has it that there are "all encompassing"
databases on the web that you can access for free that will give you your complete family tree just like a pedigreed registered dog. Or so the myth goes about online family tree research. Unfortunately, there is more fiction present on the Internet than documented fact. But it is a most valuable tool that if you know how to use it.
By James W. Petty, AG®, CGSM

MIRACLES – Are Where You Look For Them
I am not surprised when people tell me they have never experienced a miracle. Experiencing miracles requires recognizing them.

By James W. Petty

Slavery and Redemption on Every Family Tree
Evidence shows that the author's father's relatives helped redeem a family owned by her mother's. History sometimes reads better than fiction.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

A Tool to Read Old Manuscripts
A problem facing Latter-day Saints who want to research their family history is that handwriting has changed over the years.
By John Tvedtnes

Family History: Why Do We Resist the Blessings?
Some people feel that doing family history is one more thing in a hectic life that they can't fit in.
By Darla Isackson

How to Chronicle a Life
How can we contemplate resurrection, after all, until we admit death? I don't know about your mother, but mine would rather die than pass away.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Small and Simple Things
Making the gospel of Jesus Christ available, either to the living or the dead, is one great, glorious whole, with eternal returns and ramifications. Certainly those hearts turned most, by "small and simple" means, may very well be our own.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Are They Commuting from the Celestial Kingdom?
Since I have been working as a temple worker in the Provo, Utah Temple, I have met many dedicated patrons and workers who offer extraordinary examples of service and commitment.
By G.G. Vandagriff

Hang Those Ghosts of Christmas Past
Given the option to use their traditional tree ornaments, with all those memories and sentiment, they instead were excited to have me recreate for them the “Christmas Family Tree” that had become a tradition in our home.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Fabulous Fayre
Why, in my deep fascination with ancestors, did I overlook the living legacy they left behind?
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Haunted or Hallowed?
Our ancestors want to be found and often remarkable things happen in the search.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

“My Time Was Not Yet Finished:  More Was Required of Me.”
As Kendon Eakett emerged from the hospital, he knew his life had been spared for a purpose.
By G.G. Vandagriff

Ye Shall Always Rejoice
Should you tell your life history, warts and all? Do you want your descendants to know your perils and pitfalls?
By G.G. Vandagriff

Prayers, Genealogy, and Personal Revelation
This is His work we are engaged in, not ours, and sometimes we need to be reminded of that.
By James W. Petty, AG, CGRS

Rehearsing Celestial Reunions
It’s that season when somebody in the family is going to get the bright idea that we ought to hold a reunion.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

“Automagically” Millennial
This year's BYU Computerized Genealogy Conference highlighted some exciting new developments that will make your head spin.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

The Hearts of The Fathers
There is an almost inexplicable yearning in each of us to know who we are really, and to connect ourselves to a greater whole. Is this not the joyous blessing of Elijah?
By Barton L. Carter

Accelerate Your Genealogy through Collaboration
New innovations in genealogy research make it easier to collaborate and faster to accomplish.
 by Chelsea Beattie

Who Craves Rest from “Work” Like This?
Temples are those places on earth where the veil between the living and dead becomes more thin--we see beyond material things more clearly, begin to understand that death walks us quite simply from one room into another.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Silent Nights

Casting Right with 'the Net'
Have you considered setting up a family web site that is open to the public? Here are some great tips.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Gold Diggers, We!
Buried treasure and ghosts banging in the fireplace eventually lead to hints on how to unearth these types of fascinating stories and more while probing for your ancestry.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Having the Spirit as a Guide:Our Greatest Duty --- to Preach the Gospel
Throughout the ages the members of God's church have been charged to do good, promote righteousness and teach the principles of truth that they, as well as others, may obtain eternal life.
 By Peggy Proctor

Treasure of Heart and Spirit
Sherlene gives us a personal look into her search for family and the Unseen Hand that unfailingly guides those efforts.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Strange Family History Tales from Internet Cousins
If you find your cousins on the Internet, be prepared for some unusual skeletons in the family closet.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Family History - A Sometimes Haunting Avocation
A cousin, discovered on the Internet, tells a beautifully, haunting story from the past, right when it is needed.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Easy Does It--In Family History Too!
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Family history can be more digestible than you think.
By Darla Isackson

Made Rich by Our Poor
Learning about the occupational lives of our ancestors can be humbling, as well as illuminating. We don't have a clear picture who they are, until we see how they worked.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

And Save Ourselves with All Our Dead: The Stories of Three Women
Erma Rosenhan had a mission to serve and neither financial hardships nor Germany's Hitler would deter her. Her story gives genealogy 'work' a whole new meaning.
by Terry Bohle Montague

Love Letter to the Future: Writing Family Histories
Now is the time to blow the dust off your good intentions and start writing family histories instead of just thinking about it. Here's some ideas to make it easy.
by Darla Isackson

The People of Parley Street
by James W. Petty, AG, CGRS

A Smorgasbord of Classes at BYU Genealogy Conference
While planning next summer’s family or personal activities, circle BYU’s annual Genealogy and Family History Conference. Bartholomew reviews this year's conference and gives it a big 'thumbs up'.
by Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

When was Great Grandpa Baptized?
With as ordered, compartmentalized, structured and recorded we are today in the Church, you would think getting your Grandpa's baptism date wouldn't be that hard a thing to do. Think again! We haven't always been such a 'house of order'. James Petty takes us through some of the maze of 're-baptism's and binding your heart to your ancestors.

By James W. Petty, A.G., C.G.R.S.

He Was Looking Directly At Me
It was just the two of us alone as if we were in a photo studio together. The close-up lens was focused tightly on his face, and his dark eyes looked straight into mine. It was a magical moment, one I will never forget.
by Steve Orton

A Testimony From the Grave
The only way to describe it was that a spirit enveloped me, or perhaps touched my spirit. I felt a pleading, a prayer, a request, a longing, a need communicated to me that this priest who lived between 100 and 200 A.D. desired to receive baptism and temple ordinances.
by James W. Petty, AG, CGRS

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor...
So wrote Emma Lazarus in 1883.  Her words are found inscribed on the base of  the Statue of Liberty; a Welcome, beckoning to all nations and people, to come to America.
by James W. Petty, A.G., C.G.R.S., BS (Genealogy)

God Hears a Mother's Cry!
I wish I had space to tell about all the cousins I have “met” on the Internet.  For now I will tell about those descended from a special mother—one three generations ahead of me—Clarinda Evick Hall.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

McLean Family History Center to Hold Fair on Genealogy for the 21st Century
Editor’s Note:  The McLean Stake has become a model in using family history as an outreach to the community.  Read on to see how some of their ideas might apply in using family history to invite neighbors to the church in your own area.

Standing In Holy Places
Everyone needs to have places of refuge, where we can go to feel the Spirit of the Lord, and enjoy relief from the daily trials and influences of the These are places where we can reach out to our Heavenly Father, and receive personal communication from him, and be uplifted from the cares and contentions of society.
by James W. Petty, A.G., C.G.R.S., BS (Genealogy)

Such Fun not Forbidden?
The way to meet fascinating people and to make fast and sure eternal friends is to get involved in “The Search” after our kindred dead.
by Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

Find a Hero in Your Past
There is an old saying, 'what is good for the goose, is good for the gander.' This really came home to me this last Sunday evening. Mary and I, along with our son Will, attended a Stake Fireside. TRUE TO THE FAITH, promoting this Summer's Stake Youth Trek. For those few days, Zion's youth have the opportunity to experience the life and trials of the Pioneers who endured the trek west a century and a half ago.
by James W. Petty, AG, CGRS

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission...
William Henry Wright hurried up Guildford Street and past New John Street, to Geach Lane. It was raining here in Birmingham, England, and he needed to get to the Latter-day Saints Meeting place on Hunter's Villa near Farm Street. Today was Sunday, December 24th, 1882; the day before Christmas. He was supposed to speak to the Saints about the Gospel, and what Christmas meant to him.
by James W. Petty, A.G., C.G.R.S., BS (Genealogy)

Ho Cakes and Heritage
She can only be described as a character. We called her Aunt Luella even though technically she was not a blood relative. It is just that in the small Mormon community where I grew up, with its heritage of polygamy, everyone was related more or less somewhere on the genealogical tree. Moreover, the adult women of the town adopted the role of “defacto aunts” as they watched over each other’s children, monitoring their behavior regardless of bloodlines.
By Steve Orton

Put Life Into Your Life Stories!
The story of Paris Wimmer illustrates some of the principles of writing a life story. Every life is a fascinating
account of personal growth and experience, and it is made valuable and meaningful by the way
we relate it.
by James W. Petty, A.G., C.G.R.S., BS (Genealogy)

Christmas with Ain’t Nick
Editor’s Note: In Sherlene’s last column, she talked of learning about her ancestor, Nicholas Pinion, whose wife accused him of killing children. Her column set off an explosion of letters both defending and deriding Nicholas. It wasn’t “children” but chickens, Nick’s side claimed.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

New Internet School for Researching LDS Genealogy and Family History
Can your lost ancestors be found? Are there family stories to be discovered in your family lines? Is it possible to learn the details in the lives of our early LDS pioneer forefathers? Here’s information on an online school that teaches family history skills.

by James W. Petty, A.G., C.G.R.S., BS (Genealogy)

The Ancestor I Didn't Want to Find
One of my husband Dan’s ancestors came over on the Mayflower, and his are among those first migrant Separatists who celebrated our nation’s First Thanksgiving and who, in turn, are honored by us each November.
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

The Book Fell Open to the Right Place
A fantastic story of hope and love on this side of the veil and the other
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

The Face Beyond the Veil
I prayed to know my great-grandmother better.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Grandma Wilda's Carrot Cake
by James W. Petty

My Grandfather's Story Makes it to New York
Great things happened when one person decided to preserve her grandfather's life stories.

Genealogy, I am Doing It...Plotting a Trip to the Cemetery
Everyone who searches for their ancestors' names in genealogy and family history, hopes to discover new information each time they visit the Family History Library, or go on a research trip. But not every genealogy effort produces fruit. Fruit comes only after weeding, clearing, digging, planting seed, nurturing, and pruning—then comes the harvest and fruit.
by James W. Petty, A.G., C.G.R.S., BS (Genealogy)

Little Miracles
A celebration that will linger in our minds and memories as an experience to be remembered for a long time to come. But it was much more than that. Much, much, more.
by James W. Petty, AG, CGRS, BS (Genealogy), BA (History).

Missing Links vs. Myth-ing Links: Using FamilySearchô To Find Your Correct Ancestors
Every Lee family member wonders if they were related to General Robert E. Lee. Every Franklin wonders if there was a Benjamin in their past. And every Humphries has a claim to a man named Pelham (Sorry, but that's a whole other story). Finding the link to that possible relative or set of earlier ancestors points to an interesting genealogical dilemma.
by James W. Petty, AG, CGRS, BS (Genealogy), BA (History).

The Clues Line: Where Do I Start?
There is always something that can be done, even if you aren't a genealogist.
by James W. Petty, AG, CGRS, BS (Genealogy)

"Genealogy - I Am Doing It...": Family Activities in Genealogy and Family History
This series of articles "Genealogy - I Am Doing It..." are intended to provide families with activity ideas they can use to introduce genealogy and family history to one another as an interesting and enjoyable family experience.
by James W. Petty

The Clues Line at Meridian Magazine
A reader who was adopted as a child asks, "Where did I come from?"
by James W. Petty

"Tradition!"
Whenever I hear the word "tradition" I think of the theme song from the musical Fiddler On The Roof—"TRADITION!" His society was founded on cultural practices and religious beliefs handed down from his fathers, generation upon generation.
by James W. Petty

Let My People Go: The Healing Stories Behind the Freedman Bank Records
The outpouring of gratitude from the African-American community following the recent release by the Church of a CD containing the indexed names of 484,000 former slaves was something nobody could have anticipated. Operators at the Distribution Center say people call in tears, to receive a copy of the CD that could unlock their past.
by Maurine Jensen Proctor

Healing the Deepest Wound
The deepest wound in the spirit of the United States was caused by the enslavement of Africans prior to the Civil War. One of the worst effects of slavery was the dismemberment and in some cases the total obliteration of the family. Fortunately, the profound "turning of hearts" through genealogical research is helping to heal some of the wounds inflicted by slavery.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Love is the Ladder
Inasmuch as February is the month when our hearts turn to thoughts of love, it is appropriate to remind ourselves of the big picture, from a family history perspective.
by G. G. Vandagriff

The Heavens Were As Brass
If you want to be close to the spirit, if you want to have miracles happen in your life, turn your mind and your heart to your family history.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Gift Giving and New Year's Resolutions
This time of the year we turn our thoughts to our loved ones, to the less fortunate among us, and to the miracle of the atonement.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Cousins Online
Here are some tips for using the Internet to find your vital genealogical records.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Healing Blessings of the Temple
I realized that though their earthly lives were done, lived out for the most part in pain and suffering, I could give them that which their hearts must desire above all things. I could give them the assurance that they would never be separated again.
by G. G. Vandagriff

The Surprising New World of Molecular Genealogy
You literally carry pieces of your ancestral past within you.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Diamonds Among the Dust
Some of my greatest breakthroughs in genealogy have come through very unlikely means.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Do You Want An Extra Portion of the Spirit In Your Life?
In the foyer of the family history library there is a mural depicting spirits literally reaching through the veil handing their records to people on this side.
by G. G. Vandagriff

Do You Have Irish Blood?
If so, the rest of us owe you a debt we can never repay!
by G. G. Vandagriff

How to Make the "Voices In Your Blood" Come Alive!
That "something" that stirs in your blood may have come directly from your ancestor
by G. G. Vandagriff

I Will Go and Do the Things Which the Lord Hath Commanded
Before he was deported and then killed, Karen Martin's great grandfather hid the records in the little chapel.
by G. G. Vandagriff

I was in Prison and You Visited Me
He knew that he had just performed the greatest missionary work of his life. His father had accepted the ordinance work that had been done for him in the temple.
by G. G. Vandagriff

 

 

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