Mormon Bloggers

Easter 1959. Edith center rear and Delores rear far right My guest writer is Jill Willoughby, oldest grandchild of Edith Andersen Holst. This is a letter that Dolores Price wrote to me, dated 24 July 1998, where she tells us she could not make the reunion that year as they would be in Denver. She wrote this additional information about her mother, Edith: Delores Price As a young teenager she did housework for Norma Lee who lived in a big house on about 2nd North and Main. She was a hard worker and picked fruit to make money so she could give her children a wonderful Xmas. She loved Xmas and enjoyed going from house to house seeing her brothers and families Christmas. She could sew beautifully. I can remember my 1st grade teacher having me stand up to show the class a dress Mother had made. Mother and Dolly Rockwood would make Betty and I pretty dresses and bonnets. We both were bald and they would sew hair in bonnets. I have pictures with hair in my eyes and others bald as a cue ball. She... Read the rest of this entry »

Edith's children: Glenna, Dolores, and Robert My guest writer is Jill Willoughby, oldest grandchild of Edith Andersen Holst. This is the third of three parts of the history of my grandmother, written by her on 21 May 1960. I have included Edith’s handwritten history in the first post. Edith Andersen Holst, born 25 March 1908, died 10 August 1966, age 58. Edith and Ross with their children and grandchildren We have three children, Dolores born January 23, 1928. She married David Price and live in Salt Lake City, Utah. She taught school in Bear River 2 years also after being married she taught at West High also at Hillside Jr. High. She has three children Julie Anne, Cindy Sue & Kenneth David Price. Robert was born in 3 Oct 1930. He married Janet Joy Jensen they have 4 children Jill Annette, Susan Joy, Scott Robert and Randy Ross Holst. He graduated from High School, joined the National & was called to active duty in the Korean campaign 19 Aug 1950. Received a honorable... Read the rest of this entry »

My guest writer is Jill Willoughby, oldest grandchild of Edith Andersen Holst. This is the second of three parts of the history of my grandmother, written by her on 21 May 1960. I have included Edith’s handwritten history in the first post. Edith Andersen Holst, born 25 March 1908, died 10 August 1966, age 58. I was married in the Salt Lake court house August the 18, 1927, then married in the Salt Lake Temple, 3rd of October 1928 — before Dolores was born. We first lived in the upstairs of mother’s home for a few months. We then bought a new bedroom set with pink roses painted on it, new grey stove and blue kitchen set. I was so thrilled with it all. Then we moved down to Gram. Holst till we was able to move in a 2 room apt at Aunt Bell Squires on 7th North Main. We lived there when Dolores was born. I remember when Uncle Dave broke his leg. When Dolores would cry toward morning Uncle Dave would make Aunt Bell get up and come & get her, change & play with her. They... Read the rest of this entry »

I have only recently decided to start using the New Family Search of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have all of my family history – genealogy in the old PAF files and I was not too excited to start uploading information on the internet and connect what is already there in my family tree. However now that I have started doing it, I can see already some benefit. The first surprise was to find that someone in Argentina had submitted information about one of my ancestors who lived in Italy. Through the New Family Search I found the email address of this person and I wrote to her. It was a great surprise when she sent me a complete family tree of that ancestor, a family tree that goes back to the year 1623. An article on Deseret News suggest the use of blogs to gather even more information by connecting with people over the Internet. According to the article There are thousands of blogs related to genealogy and family history used by Mormons, Catholics, Jews, Baptists,... Read the rest of this entry »

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is passionate about family history and genealogy work. And while some Mormon genealogy work does have its uniquely Mormon elements (such as the work done in Mormon temples), much of Mormon genealogy efforts go far beyond the bounds of our faith. Many Latter-day Saints involved in genealogy spend a combined total of thousands upon thousands of hours to transfer myriad microfilm records to a digital format. These records are then available to anyone and everyone at Family Search. Recently, 25 million more records from 16 different countries were added to 55 different collections on the Family Search website. If you are interested in learning more about how to access these records, see the Family Search website. If you are interested in helping digitize historical records (you don’t have to be LDS to do this), see the Family Search Indexing page. For more information about the aspects of Mormon genealogy that are more specific to our faith,... Read the rest of this entry »

Giving away lots of worthwhile genealogy-related prizes over next few months at http://truemiracleswithgenealogy.com. Check it out! Copies of my book, True Miracles with Genealogy kick things off this week. Simple rules. Eight copies available. Go for it! Anne Bradshaw Author, True Miracles with Genealogy: Help from Beyond the Veil at http://truemiracleswithgenealogy.com Epic Genealogy Giveaway Starting Soon!  Read More →

Edith with her mother and brothers My guest writer is Jill Willoughby, oldest grandchild of Edith Andersen Holst. This is first of three parts of the history of my grandmother, written by her on 21 May 1960. I have included Edith’s handwritten history in this post. Edith Andersen Holst, born 25 March 1908, died 10 August 1966, age 58. Edith Andersen Holst I was born 25 March 1908, in Brigham City, Utah, a second child of Louis and Zina Jensen Andersen. I was raised and lived in Brigham City, Utah all my life. My first home was in the first ward on 2nd East and 1st South, then we moved to 1st North & Main in a large red brick home. I remember cleaning the long stair case with a nail, brush and rag and taking all day to do it. I attended the Lincoln School for 6 years and it is located on the corner of 1st West and 3rd North. I went to Box Elder Jr. High 2 years and High School three years. I quit school and went to work at Andy Pathakis Bakery. Spending most of my money on... Read the rest of this entry »

I recently discovered a great genealogy magazine based in England. Individual issues are available in both electronic and hard copy formats and are a generous read. The title is Your Family History and more information can be found at www.your-familyhistory.com. To quote from the front page of the current issue: Your Family History magazine is different from other genealogy magazines you might have seen in two important respects. Firstly, we’ve assembled a team of leading experts, researchers and historians to show you not only how to discover who your ancestors were, but also guide you into the rich local and social history that brings context to their lives. Nick Barratt, a lead researcher from the BBC’s “Who do you think you are” series, is the Editor-in-chief and is joined by a number of genealogy experts on the editorial team. Your Family History magazine features a range of topics each issue, linking your personal research with local and national... Read the rest of this entry »

Are you interested in family history or genealogy, but aren’t quite sure where or how to start? There are new — and free — family history training videos available online. The Church’s FamilySearch program has partnered with other experts in the field to provide excellent training. There are dozens of courses available, including research courses as well as accreditation, certification, and professional presentations. See a complete list of the online family history courses available and/or access the courses. (What courses sound interesting to you?) We’d love to hear feedback from anyone who has used these courses. Here is more information on what kinds of classes are available (or that will soon be available): Currently, there are classes on family history research in England, Ireland, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Poland and Russia. Most of the classes are available only in English, but there are three classes available in Spanish.... Read the rest of this entry »

One of the projects I’m working on is compiling the autobiography of my grandma, Leola Jex Freshwater Curtis, who died when I was 13. She’s a hero of mine, and I’m touched by her writings. She wrote enough stories and letters about her life to fill a book, but never compiled it into one work. I’ve already hit 50,000 words, and there’s a lot more to compile. Anyhow, here’s a sample she shares about the night Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight in a one-man plane. She was a young girl at the time, and was staying with her Grandma, Louisa Watling Jex.   I was at Grandma’s house the night Lindbergh flew across the ocean. I still remember her prayer that night. As she asked a blessing on the food, she also talked to the Lord about watching over this brave boy, alone over the great ocean. “Please help the young flier Lindbergh to get across the ocean in his plane,” she said, “and help him to return safely.” I can still see the tears... Read the rest of this entry »

In 2009, one of my Christmas gifts to my children was my personal history. Mine was modeled after my mother’s which she gave us as gifts, too. Both my mother and I wrote our histories when we were each about 50, though mine took a couple of years for editing before I finally gave it away. When I was much younger, I assumed personal history writing was for the “old” folks. (Of course when I was much younger, I thought 30-year olds were old!) But I’m glad that I wrote my first volume at 50. I was old enough to have made significant choices in my life and seen the impact of those choices, and young enough to remember them! I’m thinking about this, because I recently re-read my history. As I began, I was struck with a horrible thought, that the whole project had been a little presumptuous in the first place. After all, who was I to think that someone would actually want to read it? And yet I did (and do) enjoy reading my mother’s history. And my... Read the rest of this entry »

The St. George Family History Expo is approaching fast. Today, I’m posting some extracts (together with the complete agenda below) from the website at Familyhistoryexpos.com. “Learn about researching your family history from our expert speakers.  Try out the latest genealogical tools in our Exhibit Hall. Whether you are a beginner or a professional come learn the tech to trace your roots!” Friday Night Event Registration is $33.00 Featuring M. Bridget Cook, National Bestselling Author   “Handling and Healing the Skeletons in Your Genealogical Closet”   Registration for the Expo as follows: Pre-registration is $65.00. At the Door Registration is $75.00. One Day Registration is $40.00. Attend just a few classes for $12.00 a class (At the door only)                      Each registered attendee will receive a complimentary copy of the CD Syllabus with their... Read the rest of this entry »