The Hearts of the Children

I have always enjoyed genealogy.  After we got married, and while I was expecting Hayden, I wasn't working, and we lived in Salt Lake City, so I found myself at the Family History Center often.  I got hooked on finding the missing links in our family history, and I even came across some pretty great family names--Hayden and Porter!  Over the years I've spent a little time here and there on family history, but only in the last couple of years have I really gotten back into it again.  It is so great to be able to do everything from my computer at home!

Recently, I found myself wondering about Dixon's great-grandma.  From Family Search and from the census records, I knew that she had lived in Arizona for some time, and I also knew that she died at age 30, as a young mother.  I decided to find out where she lived when she died and to try to find her gravestone.  Her maiden name was Lizzie Christina Tucker.  I searched cemeteries all over Arizona for any combination of those names, including both her maiden, and her married last name.  Lizzie, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Christina, to no avail.  Finally I decided to just search by her last name.  After quite a bit of searching I came upon a gravestone with the last name of Oliver, that had the same birth and death dates as Lizzie Christina.

It took me a few minutes to put two and two together:  Lizzie Christina....L.C.....Elcee!!!!  I found her!

Yesterday in Regan's church class, the girls learned a little bit about how to research their family history.  Regan was so touched, reading through the names of her ancestors, she was teary for most of the hour.  It's really neat that there are pictures attached to the names.  It makes it so much more real.  So yesterday I told her the story about Elcee, and she was absolutely insistent that we go try to find her grave today, Memorial Day.  

So this morning, off we went.  It was less than an hour away, at a shabby little cemetery at a Baptist Church.  It was a small cemetery, so it didn't take us long to find it.  Dixon and Regan were especially excited to find it.  After talking to his dad today, Dixon found out that another relative is buried there as well, so it looks like I've got some more work to do.

Family History...it's more than just the genealogy.  It's the stories.  It's finding out details like the nicknames, or the fact that a family was left motherless.  It really binds us to the family that we are linked to for eternity.  Today was a gift!

Malachi 4:6

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...