Stories Bring Us Closer

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

When I woke up this morning I saw a new email from FamilySearch titled “Discover Your Faithful Ancestor”.  Curious who that might be, I opened it and found that a 1st Cousin Five Times Removed was in Nauvoo and traveled through Winter Quarters with the Saints.  This may be a bit common-place for many of you, but for me it is exciting.  When my mom, sister and I joined the church in 1962, we were the only LDS in our family. I believed we were 1st generation LDS until about 4 years ago!  Now I am discovering so many of my ancestors were among those faithful Saints who helped spread the gospel and fought for religious freedom in the early years of the Church.  I love these stories and cannot wait to meet these family members. 

Stories bring us closer to those who are still living today and to those who have passed away, such as my newly discovered 1st cousin, Orilla Crandall (1803-1852).  When we add stories to FamilySearch, we are helping someone else grow closer to the family members in our tree. 

Do these sound familiar?

v  Do you remember when……?

v  I remember the time that ……..

v  Tell me about…….

v  He / She taught me ……..

v  He / She used to say / do ……..

These are just a few of the prompts that can start a story about your family member who has passed away.  Stories help us remember those we knew when they were here with us on earth and help us grow closer to those who are on the other side of the veil that we have not met yet. We can add these stories in the Memories Tab on their FamilySearch page. 

Can’t think of what to write?  Maybe these will help!

§  Daily routines

§  Testimonies, beliefs, core values

§  Prices during their lifetime

§  Favorites (food, hobbies, colors, books, sayings, songs, scriptures, etc)

§  Spaces they would go to feel the Spirit or take a break from their regular routine (tree house, beach, mountains, lake, special place in the house, etc)

§  Jobs and areas of responsibilities

§  The style of clothing they wore (dresses, aprons, jeans, t-shirts, suits, cowboy boots and hats, etc) Remember to include their favorite jewelry

§  Events that changed the world during their life and how they responded to it

§  Homes and places (cities, states or countries) where they lived

§  Sports they participated in

§  Classes they liked or didn’t like in school, degrees they may have earned, etc

§  Their friends, if you know who they were

§  How the person made you feel when you were with them

When you are putting your story together, add drawings done by your children, photos, scrapbook items such as tickets & photos of pressed flowers, items that will add to your story and help others “know” your relative better.

To add a story to Memories, you have two options:  Create A Story or Select From Gallery.

Create a Story – Click on this button, then follow these steps:

·         Choose Private or Public for the viewing preference of the story

·         Type in a title

·         Add up to 10 Images (either upload them from your computer or choose them from photos or documents you have in your Gallery)

·         Type your story

·         Click on Save Story

     Select from Gallery – choose a story from your Gallery that you have already uploaded to another relative and add it to this relative

·         When you choose this button, a selection of stories that are in your Gallery will appear

·         Select the story you want by clicking on the checkmark in the upper right corner of the story

·         Select “Attach” at the bottom left corner of the box

Please remember to add your stories to your page as well.  Your page is Private while you are living and is only visible to those who have access to your account.  But when you pass to the other side, your story, in your own words, will be available to all those family members left on earth to enjoy as they grow closer to you. 

In closing, I would like to share a couple of stories about my Grandmother on my Mother’s side.  Her name is Jane.  Jane was born in 1902 in Iowa.  A farm girl who worked hard at the family farm and became an excellent cook.  She married and moved to Washington State, where my mother was born and eventually settled in Bremerton, a Naval town.  Her husband, a truck driver, was killed at a young age in a trucking accident.  She eventually re-married and became the head of the dietary kitchen in the Naval Hospital on the Naval base.  In her spare time, Jane baked and sewed.  She always had a full cookie jar and fresh baked pies on the wide windowsill in her kitchen.  Each year Jane would make rum fruitcakes to give as gifts to her family and friends.  She would start them in January, bake them, and freeze them.  Each month she would take them out of the freezer and lace them with rum alcohol and put them back in the freezer.  In December, she would gift wrap them and give them away.  As a teenager, I remember tasting one of the fruitcakes one year.  Boy oh boy!  It was potent, to say the least!  My grandma Jane had a good number of friends during the holidays when she passed out her famous rum cakes!

    Another pastime of Jane was sewing.  She made flannel quilts and pajamas and gave them away.  She would go to fabric stores and the Salvation Army store in our town and get the flannel fabric that no one wanted. The Salvation Army store started putting it aside for her whenever anyone donated any so she would have first choice.  Then she would make warm flannel pajamas in all sizes, for boys and girls, and create warm snuggly patchwork quilts in children sizes.  The pajamas were sewn on her machine, but the quilt tops were often pieced together by hand.  When she had a number of these completed, she took them to the local orphanage and donated them to the children so they could have something warm just for them. 

Grandma Jane passed away in 1984 at the age of 82.  In her living room was a footstool that opened and Grandma used it to store her current projects.  Inside were several quilts ready to deliver to the orphanage.

You never had the opportunity to meet Jane, but if you do at some time in the future, you will now know something about her and her very generous heart. In addition, you know more about me and the line of strong and caring women I come from.  Stories are the fabric that help us love those around us and those who have gone before.

Brother May and I encourage you to write the stories of your families and include them on the FamilySearch pages in your tree.  If you need help, let us know.  We are here for you.  Brother and Sister May   

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