That would be true in this house.

After watching the movie Cinderella, five-year-old Sarah started using her 
pinwheel as a magic wand, pretending she was a fairy godmother. "Make three 
wishes," she told her mother, "and I'll grant them."

Her mom first asked for world peace. Sarah swung her wand and proclaimed the

request fulfilled. Next, her mother requested for a cure for all ill 
children. Again, with a sweep of the pinwheel, Sarah obliged. The mother, 
with a glance down at her rather ample curves, made her third wish, "I wish 
to have a trim figure again."

The miniature fairy godmother started waving her wand madly. "I'll need more power for this!" she exclaimed.

Ann Olsen wrote:  It definitely would be true in my house!

From Charlotte Kilfoyle

Hello and how are all of you? Just printed the July Newsletter and plan to read it this evening.

With all the heat and our part time jobs (between) we must keep that water going on the beets, zuchs, tomatoes and cukes. All are harvesting in astounding numbers. The ground hogs have caused my purchase of gas bombs, they have severed many bean plants at the stem.

I do hope you are feeling better and the shoulder is mending. We have a visit with the
Abdominal Doc at this months end in SLC. Wally seems to be doing well overall. Take care, E-mail us.

Love, Charlotte

Kimo's Words

Kimo prepared the following to hand out and the viewing and the funeral services for Marie. He gave this out along with the program and obituary.

What happened on Saturday July 14, 2007

Marie and I were hiking Knotted Rope Canyon on the San Rafael Swell. While crossing a ledge around a pothole 20 feet across and 20 feet down, she fell. The rope she was on saved her from falling 20 feet but not from swinging and hitting the wall and breaking her arm and hurting her back. She then lowered herself down to the bottom into the water which happened to be over her head. I was supposed to bring her back up where I was. I had been able to protect, help and assist her in any situation she had been in since we were married. This time it was different. I was unable to lift her more than a few feet, she was still in the water up to her waist. I tried for 4 hours to get her up but failed. At 9 p.m. she succumb(ed) to pain, hypothermia & fatigue and couldn't keep her head out of the water and passed away.

President Spencer W. Kimball said in the Ensign December 1985 "It has been said that the of a righteous man is never untimely because our father sets the time. I believe this with all my soul."

Even though I'm torn up inside and can't imagine my life without Marie. I know now it was her time to go. She went doing what she loved. Exploring the beautiful wonders of the outdoors. There is a heavenly purpose in this experience and blessing will come to many in this life and the spirit world.

Kimo Coray

July '07 Newsletter

Myrna, 

What  a great job you do on this newsletter. Thanks so much for including me. I would love to come to visit you and learn about the family geneology. When would be a good time for you? 

Peggy Ann Self Olsen

How to get my Ged.com

Go to ancestry.com

Type in MyrnaTrauntvein (note the connection between names) and use the password I gave you on the phone and the e-mail address of mandlht@msn.com

When the page comes up it will say: "Looking for your family tree?" In the white box will be the following:
Go to "Myrna's .GED" and an arrow. Click on that and you have the whole thing. It is not finished but I am working on it almost every day trying to get it to the point where I have my ged that cannot open.

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

Beverly Sills Died and I Was Her Fan

My favorite opera star, Beverly Sills, died on July 3. I had a great deal of hero worship for her and always enjoyed her singing as well as her acting of the various parts. I was a fan before I married LHT. 

To read about her, go to the following: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/arts/music/03sills.html?ex=1199073600&en=afa91c4aee407e59&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNbeverlysills

Love, M