Hobble Creek Smith Reunion

The one Smith family reunion was in Hobble Creek Canyon. I had been there many times with Pearle and Fred. I think they liked the Rotary pavilion, but at least it was one of those. I was looking closely at the photos and then compared them with a couple I had of just my kids in that area. I am certain I am right. I wonder if Pearle and Fred arranged that reunion.

 To get there: take the 400 South Springville exit (260) from I-15, turning east on U-77. Go straight through Springville. As you begin to climb the foothills, you'll come to a 4-way stop. Turn right (southward) towards Hobble Creek Canyon. Springville City has three parks located in Hobble Creek Canyon. There are ten pavilions in these parks that can be reserved for a nominal fee. Parks are open April – September, weather permitting. Camping Loop is open through October, weather permitting. The canyon parks are watered and mowed at least once weekly. Your group may be asked to accommodate these activities. In an area where tents are pitched, tents will need to be moved every two days to preserve the grass. Ample parking areas are available. Parking vehicles, trailers or motor homes on the grass is not allowed. The camping loop at Jolley’s Ranch is never included with a pavilion reservation. If you choose to camp there, you will pay the camping fee. Camping in Kelly’s Grove and Rotary Park is only allowed with a pavilion reservation.

I Found a Description

Thanks for letting me know where the Hobble Creek Canyon is.

I've found one more direct ancestor. Thomas Mason, who was a taylor in
Bicester, was born 9 Jan 1789 in Bucknell, which is a village next to
Bicester. The register says: "1789 Jan 11 (privately; admitted Jan
18)(born Jan 9) - Thomas, son of Hannah MASON & Thomas FARRIN". So he
was illigitimate. I can't find either parent's ancestry at all. But they
were both married about 1891 to other people. The Bucknell register also
shows that Hannah MASSON (x, otp) married Thomas POWELL (x, otp) on 30
May 1791.[The x means they had to sign with a mark and otp means "of this
parish".] 

I found that Hannah and Thomas Powell had five children, and was able to
trace three of them - half siblings to Thomas Mason - and about 80 of
their descendents. I had a few of the descendents already in my PAF as
they had married people I had traced before. Quite a bit of intermarriage
in those little parishes.

Donnette

To Donnette Smith

Myrna wrote: Our family is lucky to have you! Thanks so much for the new information you have found. I think you have a genius for research and, in addition, are guided to the records of those wanting to be found. I wonder how you do it. I just marvel at what you find. How do you even know what record to search? As I said, I am certain you are guided.

You mentioned there had been a lot of intermarriage in some of the small parishes. I think that there was a lot of intermarriage in our church among the early saints. I am surprised to find relatives (on the Pitts and Edwards lines) with the same ancestry back a few generations. In other words, the lines meld. However, on the Edwards' line, I think there may have been some creative genealogy toward the end of the list of families. They claim to date back to Adam. A professional genealogist once asked me: "If you were the genealogist for the king and he told you to trace his ancestry to Adam, what would you do?" You would, to preserve your head, arrive at Adam through Julius Caesar. Which is exactly what they did. At least, up to the king, the genealogy is correct. I will be interested to see, in the final outcome, what is right.

Research

You are about the only member of the family who knows even a little bit about genealogical research. As you are the only one - I'll tell you what I do.

I took some classes from BYU-Ricks in the 1960s from the world's best genealogical teacher. Richard's Dad was taking the same classes at BYU in Salt Lake and the teacher told the class - "You don't know how to do research yet so why don't you hire someone to start doing it for you."

My teacher would have us spend the first hour telling each other about our genealogical problem. She'd ask the class to give ideas as to where what to do. After we had all thought it through as well as we could she would then tell us other things to do. As we got results we would report to the class and then think as a class what to do next. She would teach us about birth certificates or wills or parish registers - and have our assignment for the next week be to write a letter to get a birth certificate from England, or butter up the minister to see if we could get a parish register microfilmed. When we got films of census or wills or parish registers she would say, "Now transcribe it." We bought 20 microfilm readers at a time and got them for good prices. And then
transcribed the films.

I was lucky that the Smith family pretty much stayed in the Oxford area. The Oxford people wouldn't cooperate with the Salt Lake Library to have much filmed. But the Oxford people had me help them get records filmed and I gave them copies of my transcriptions. In about 1980 Richard and I visited the old gentleman in charge of transcribing parish registers. He offered us drinks before dinner and when we took orange juice he said, "Now, don't tell me what religion you are. When I go to get permission to have a register filmed for you and they ask if you are a Mormon, I want
to be able to say I don't know." We all laughed and of course he knew. When he would transcribe a register he thought I might be interested in, he slipped a 6th carbon in and sent the extra copy to me.

I found a lot of the Kings, Fosters, Holts and Kirbys, etc. were farmers and had wills. I would order a film of wills to Idaho Falls. I would then realize I needed the same roll a few months later. So when a roll came to IF I would abstract all the wills in a 8 mile radius of Bicester. I have many card files of those will abstracts and still refer to them quite often.

The Oxfordshire Family History Society has long ago got all their registers transcribed - and indexed .- most of them up to 2005 - no laws of privacy I guess - and now sell them on fiche or CDs for a tenth of the cost of microfilming. So, I have lots of transcriptions and fiche.

They comuterized all the marriages of all the Oxfordshire parishes and put it out alphabetically by grooms and brides. They are now working on doing that for all the christenings and burials. So when I asked recently for information about Thomas Mason - they told me that the only one in that time period at that area was christened in Bucknell. I had the Bucknell records.

So. When I got this new lead, I just look at the parish registers. And go online to Ancestry.com for the census records - 1841 to 1901 are all there indexed. And go online for FreeBMD which is an index for all births, marriages and deaths in all of England since 1837. So for the Powells I spent three days last week going through the the parish register, the census and the FreeBMD - back and forth.

I'm supposed to be finishing up a new blessing dress for one of my daughters to use for her future granddaughters - but just can't pull myself away from the computer. It is much more fun to be looking for these people.

I think I am guided. It seems as if there is someone up there saying "OK - it is the Kirbys turn. Now it's the Powells turn." And then those people just seem to be giving me ideas.

Somehow I've never had dreams of people coming. It is just ideas. Except a couple of times. Once I was transcribing the Launton microfilm and typing along. Suddenly I heard Richard's Dad say, "There is your clue. Take it and run with it." It wasn't in those words. It was an idea. But in his voice. I turned around but he wasn't there. He had died two months before. That was when I found the parentage of James Smith born 1780. I looked at what I had just typed. It was a christening for a child of Robert Smith, a blacksmith in Launton. I suddenly thought - "There can't be two blacksmith shops in Launton. That is too small a village. They must be brothers. If I can't trace James because he died before the 1841 census, maybe I can trace Robert. I found Robert was born in Bicester and had a brother, James just the right age. Later the Hon. Secretary of the Launton Historical Society found the death notice of their father in an
old newspaper and sent it to me.

So, I belong to the Oxford list online. And to the Oxfordshire Family
History Society.

Well - that is way more than you wanted to know. Thanks for being interested.

Donnette