I have finally officially arrived as a history professional. How could one tell that I have arrived? If one were to look into the back of my car, they would see a giant hoop skirt. And they would see me driving around in said car wearing a shirt with gigantic poofy sleeves. Tonight as I was driving home from Camp Floyd, listening to my "Songs of the CSA" CD which I purchased at Vicksburg a while back, I was thinking to myself, "I love my job." Today I didn't have to go to work until 5:00 p.m., and I got PAID to wear a hoop skirt, tell people about history, and watch part of two of my favorite movies with the Boy Scouts: "Gods and Generals" and "Gettysburg"! Could it get any better than that? Certainly not. I am not really looking forward to being back to Camp Floyd by 7:00 in the morning for roll call and musket drills, but I will not complain because I pretty much get to spend the whole day playing pioneer games and, again, I get the added bonus of being paid to do so.
I am truly a history nerd, but that's okay--I love it. I realized that anyone who owns both "Gods and Generals" and "Gettysburg" and enjoys watching them multiple times (they are both about 4 hrs. long) is truly a history geek. Speaking of history, I just realized that the other day when I posted my Nauvoo blog, I neglected to mention the COOLEST birthday present in the entire world that Greg gave me!!!! My birthday is not until the end of the month, but I have been curious about the gift for a long time and I didn't think I could wait any longer to find out what it was--and it was nice to be able to open it while I was there in Illinois with him. Greg gave me this really nice framed picture of Abraham Lincoln, and included with it are . . . a REAL, TRUE, AUTHENTIC piece of Abraham Lincoln's hair and a REAL piece of the American flag that was draped on Lincoln's funeral train!!!! How cool is that???!!! How many people can say that they own a piece of Abraham Lincoln's hair? The author of one of my favorite books, Sarah Vowell, who wrote Assassination Vacation, received one of John Brown's eyelashes from her sister for Christmas one year, but she does not have Abraham Lincoln hair!! Well, I'm off to bed (and will probably dream about muskets and hoops skirts--and Abe Lincoln's hair) so that I can get up bright and early tomorrow.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Family Rosebush
This past Monday I began my internship at Camp Floyd State Historical Park, which is a very fun place and I think I will enjoy my time there very much. I will write more about the internship in the future. Meanwhile, I've had yesterday and today off of work, so I have been working on my Zion book 24/7. I nearly went insane today as I was writing the chapter that tells about the early settlers of the Springdale area--because THEY ARE ALL RELATED!!! I was having a terrible time trying to figure out how people in the pictures I have tied in with other people, but then Mom and I finally discovered that they all just tie in together.
I was trying to make a family tree to help myself figure out who people were, but then all of a sudden, my family tree tied back into the top of itself--so I guess you could say that instead of a tree it's more of a rosebush!
The whole Springdale population basically started with two families: the Crawfords and the Rueschs. A Crawford married a Ruesch, then their daughter married a Jolley, whose aunt married Oliver DeMille Gifford, whose son married the daughter of the first Crawford family. The Gifford and the Crawford who married were first cousins! I know that none of this makes sense, but that's the way it really is. Not only is the family rosebush a tangled mess, but now my brain is too!
I was trying to make a family tree to help myself figure out who people were, but then all of a sudden, my family tree tied back into the top of itself--so I guess you could say that instead of a tree it's more of a rosebush!
The whole Springdale population basically started with two families: the Crawfords and the Rueschs. A Crawford married a Ruesch, then their daughter married a Jolley, whose aunt married Oliver DeMille Gifford, whose son married the daughter of the first Crawford family. The Gifford and the Crawford who married were first cousins! I know that none of this makes sense, but that's the way it really is. Not only is the family rosebush a tangled mess, but now my brain is too!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Nauvoo the Beautiful
One of my favorite quotes about Nauvoo is from Thomas L. Kane, a politician from Pennsylvania and friend of the Mormons who later served as a Colonel in the Civil War:
"I was ascending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its bright new dwellings, set in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble marble edifice, who high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. . . . The unmistakable marks of industry, enterprise and educated wealth, everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most striking beauty."
I love Nauvoo so very much, and I just returned from the most wonderful trip to Nauvoo ever!!! My whole family, including Greg, was able to be there and I was able to go through the Nauvoo Temple, which was a very special experience. Here is an overview of some of our fun Nauvoo adventures:
On Wednesday, June 4, Mom, Dad, Rich, Lindy, Nate, Camden, Riley, Sidney, and I flew from Salt Lake to St. Louis. This was the girls' first airplane ride, and they loved it! They especially loved singing "Meet me in St. Louie" as we approached the city. Sarah was not feeling very well, so she, Joel, and Eliza waited one more day to fly out, but I am so glad they were able to come join us as well. Camden, Riley, and Sidney loved staying at Motel Nauvoo (not to be confused with Hotel Nauvoo). In fact, Riley thought it was a "magical" place because elves made her bed every day.
On Thursday, June 5, we began the day with some carriage rides which took us around the city. Sidney thought this was all very wonderful, and she especially loved all of the beautiful flowers at the visitor center. The girls also really enjoyed the "Remembering Nauvoo" video we watched.
Rich, Lindy, Sid, Camden, and Mom all posed in front of the original Nauvoo sunstone on display in front of the visitor center. Sidney tried her best to imitate the look on the sunstone's face:
Camden and Riley loved the model of the Nauvoo Temple at the visitor center. Their favorite part about the model was that there were some toy people standing on the temple stairs--including a group of beautifully-clad ladies in various colors of dresses.
I think one of the girls' favorite places was "Pioneer Pastimes," where they could dress in pioneer clothes and play pioneer games.
They look like they just got off the boat from England!
Sidney, the daredevil, rode one of the fake sheep. "Look, no hands!"
Sidney recognized that Nauvoo is a very reverent place:
Here are Lindy and Camden in the middle of a vicious stick-pull challenge. This was one of Joseph Smith's favorite games:
We then had lunch at the Nauvoo Bakery, then went on a tour of the blacksmith shop so that everyone could get a souvenir prairie diamond ring. Camden was the lucky one who got the miniature horse shoe that one of the missionaries made at the blacksmith shop. Then we took a walk down Parley Street and thought about the sacrifices of our pioneer ancestors as they left Nauvoo.
Here are Camden and Riley standing by another of my favorite Nauvoo quotes. This one is by Wilford Woodruff: "I looked upon the Temple and City of Nauvoo as I retired from it and felt to ask the Lord to preserve it as a monument of the sacrifice of his Saints." I will never forget the morning of February 4, 2003, when I had the opportunity to participate in the pioneer memorial service held there at the end of Parley Street. I have truly never been so cold in my entire life, and even though it was hot and muggy as we walked down Parley Street the other day, I could still vividly remember the cold ache in my hands that morning, the stinging cold on my face, and my throbbing feet. I cannot imagine how the Saints had the courage to leave their city and strike off into the cold, unknown future. I am grateful for their examples.
At the end of Parley Street is the Pioneer Memorial which contains the names of many of those who died while crossing the plains from Nauvoo to Utah. One of our ancestors, David Stoker, is listed on the wall. He died at Winter Quarters and is buried in the Stoker-Graybill family cemetery there, which I was able to find in 2005 when I was on a research trip to Omaha! Here are Camden and Riley learning about the importance of ancestors.
Sidney told us some stories about other pioneers:
That afternoon, Lindy, Mom, and I went to see the Sarah Granger Kimball home where the Nauvoo sisters began gathering to make shirts for men working on the temple--so it is basically the birthplace of the Relief Society. After our tour there, Greg arrived in town! It was wonderful to see him and to get to spend the weekend with him. I miss him very much already but am eagerly looking forward to the wedding in October!
Friday, June 6, was a very, very special day. I had the opportunity to receive my endowments at the Nauvoo Temple! It was a very special and spiritual experience--especially since my whole family (and Greg!) were able to be there. The Nauvoo Temple is beautiful inside and out, and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be inside that sacred place.
That afternoon, Nate and Joel, who had been tending the little girls, were able to do a temple session with Sarah and Lindy while the rest of us stayed with the girlies. Camden, Greg, Rich, and I went on a little excursion to the Red Brick Store, the Smith Family Cemetery, and the Jonathan Browning Gunsmith Shop. Camden especially enjoyed getting some root beer at the Red Brick Store. She said, "Why did Joseph Smith sell so much root beer?" As we drove past the Sidney Rigdon home, Camden said, "Was that a boy or a girl?" I said, "He was a boy." She was quite concerned, thinking that Sidney is a girl's name, and said, "Why was he not a girl?" :-) She's so cute!
That evening, we all went and had the most delicious meal ever at the Hotel Nauvoo buffet. It was divine! The girls loved being able to eat whatever they wanted. I love the food there. Greg and I then went for a walk to the end of Parley Street as the sun was setting. We love this picture because it looks like I was photoshopped into a picture of a beautiful sunset--but I was really there!
Greg took this great picture of the moon over the river:
He also took this great picture of the Nauvoo Temple that evening:
On Saturday, June 7, we had one of our delightful breakfast buffets at Grandpa John's. Then we walked over to Parley P. Pratt's house, which now belongs to the Catholic church, and Dad told us some stories about our great, great, great, great grandfather Parley P. Pratt and his family. He was another remarkable man! We then walked around the temple and headed to Carthage.
Carthage is a very neat place to visit, though its story is a tragic one. When I was in Nauvoo for the semester in 2003, one of our activities was to walk the 19 mile Martyrdom Trail from Nauvoo to Carthage. That was a bad idea (we got caught in a snow storm and nearly froze to death) and I will never do it again, but at least now I can say I have done it.
That evening we went to some more sites around Nauvoo, then we attended the "Sunset on the Mississippi" program that the missionaries put on. Greg and I were then able to go over to Susan Easton Black's house to visit with her and her husband Harvey. They are so nice and I miss working with Sister Black! Their house in Nauvoo was just finished last summer, and it is beautiful! I don't think that anyone in the world could ever love Nauvoo as much as Sister Black, so I am glad she has a house there now. She was in charge of a BYU Alumni tour while we were there, so she was not able to break away and come to the temple with us, but it was fun to run into her in town and then especially to stop by for a visit.
On Sunday, June 8, we went to the early church meeting, had breakfast, and then took off for Hannibal, Missouri. It was very sad to say goodbye to Greg! My family and I love him very much. This trip was the first time that Sarah, Joel, and Eliza had been able to meet him, and he quickly became Eliza's new boyfriend. She loved having him hold her, sharing her binkies with him, and showing him her big, toothy smile.
We stopped in Hannibal on our way to the airport because Camden, Riley, and Sidney love the story of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. They thought it was so much fun to be in the city that inspired those novels--where Mark Twain grew up. Here are Cam and Riley in front of THE whitewashed picket fence that Tom tricked his friends into painting:
And, of course, you can't leave without posing as Tom and Becky:
What a fun, wonderful trip we had! Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for making it possible for all of us to go to Nauvoo. I know that we will always remember this trip as one of the best experiences of our lives.
"I was ascending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its bright new dwellings, set in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble marble edifice, who high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. . . . The unmistakable marks of industry, enterprise and educated wealth, everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most striking beauty."I love Nauvoo so very much, and I just returned from the most wonderful trip to Nauvoo ever!!! My whole family, including Greg, was able to be there and I was able to go through the Nauvoo Temple, which was a very special experience. Here is an overview of some of our fun Nauvoo adventures:
On Wednesday, June 4, Mom, Dad, Rich, Lindy, Nate, Camden, Riley, Sidney, and I flew from Salt Lake to St. Louis. This was the girls' first airplane ride, and they loved it! They especially loved singing "Meet me in St. Louie" as we approached the city. Sarah was not feeling very well, so she, Joel, and Eliza waited one more day to fly out, but I am so glad they were able to come join us as well. Camden, Riley, and Sidney loved staying at Motel Nauvoo (not to be confused with Hotel Nauvoo). In fact, Riley thought it was a "magical" place because elves made her bed every day.
On Thursday, June 5, we began the day with some carriage rides which took us around the city. Sidney thought this was all very wonderful, and she especially loved all of the beautiful flowers at the visitor center. The girls also really enjoyed the "Remembering Nauvoo" video we watched.
Rich, Lindy, Sid, Camden, and Mom all posed in front of the original Nauvoo sunstone on display in front of the visitor center. Sidney tried her best to imitate the look on the sunstone's face:
Camden and Riley loved the model of the Nauvoo Temple at the visitor center. Their favorite part about the model was that there were some toy people standing on the temple stairs--including a group of beautifully-clad ladies in various colors of dresses.
I think one of the girls' favorite places was "Pioneer Pastimes," where they could dress in pioneer clothes and play pioneer games.
They look like they just got off the boat from England!
Sidney, the daredevil, rode one of the fake sheep. "Look, no hands!"
Sidney recognized that Nauvoo is a very reverent place:
Here are Lindy and Camden in the middle of a vicious stick-pull challenge. This was one of Joseph Smith's favorite games:
We then had lunch at the Nauvoo Bakery, then went on a tour of the blacksmith shop so that everyone could get a souvenir prairie diamond ring. Camden was the lucky one who got the miniature horse shoe that one of the missionaries made at the blacksmith shop. Then we took a walk down Parley Street and thought about the sacrifices of our pioneer ancestors as they left Nauvoo.
Here are Camden and Riley standing by another of my favorite Nauvoo quotes. This one is by Wilford Woodruff: "I looked upon the Temple and City of Nauvoo as I retired from it and felt to ask the Lord to preserve it as a monument of the sacrifice of his Saints." I will never forget the morning of February 4, 2003, when I had the opportunity to participate in the pioneer memorial service held there at the end of Parley Street. I have truly never been so cold in my entire life, and even though it was hot and muggy as we walked down Parley Street the other day, I could still vividly remember the cold ache in my hands that morning, the stinging cold on my face, and my throbbing feet. I cannot imagine how the Saints had the courage to leave their city and strike off into the cold, unknown future. I am grateful for their examples.
At the end of Parley Street is the Pioneer Memorial which contains the names of many of those who died while crossing the plains from Nauvoo to Utah. One of our ancestors, David Stoker, is listed on the wall. He died at Winter Quarters and is buried in the Stoker-Graybill family cemetery there, which I was able to find in 2005 when I was on a research trip to Omaha! Here are Camden and Riley learning about the importance of ancestors.Sidney told us some stories about other pioneers:
That afternoon, Lindy, Mom, and I went to see the Sarah Granger Kimball home where the Nauvoo sisters began gathering to make shirts for men working on the temple--so it is basically the birthplace of the Relief Society. After our tour there, Greg arrived in town! It was wonderful to see him and to get to spend the weekend with him. I miss him very much already but am eagerly looking forward to the wedding in October!
Friday, June 6, was a very, very special day. I had the opportunity to receive my endowments at the Nauvoo Temple! It was a very special and spiritual experience--especially since my whole family (and Greg!) were able to be there. The Nauvoo Temple is beautiful inside and out, and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be inside that sacred place.
That afternoon, Nate and Joel, who had been tending the little girls, were able to do a temple session with Sarah and Lindy while the rest of us stayed with the girlies. Camden, Greg, Rich, and I went on a little excursion to the Red Brick Store, the Smith Family Cemetery, and the Jonathan Browning Gunsmith Shop. Camden especially enjoyed getting some root beer at the Red Brick Store. She said, "Why did Joseph Smith sell so much root beer?" As we drove past the Sidney Rigdon home, Camden said, "Was that a boy or a girl?" I said, "He was a boy." She was quite concerned, thinking that Sidney is a girl's name, and said, "Why was he not a girl?" :-) She's so cute!
That evening, we all went and had the most delicious meal ever at the Hotel Nauvoo buffet. It was divine! The girls loved being able to eat whatever they wanted. I love the food there. Greg and I then went for a walk to the end of Parley Street as the sun was setting. We love this picture because it looks like I was photoshopped into a picture of a beautiful sunset--but I was really there!
Greg took this great picture of the moon over the river:
He also took this great picture of the Nauvoo Temple that evening:
On Saturday, June 7, we had one of our delightful breakfast buffets at Grandpa John's. Then we walked over to Parley P. Pratt's house, which now belongs to the Catholic church, and Dad told us some stories about our great, great, great, great grandfather Parley P. Pratt and his family. He was another remarkable man! We then walked around the temple and headed to Carthage.
Carthage is a very neat place to visit, though its story is a tragic one. When I was in Nauvoo for the semester in 2003, one of our activities was to walk the 19 mile Martyrdom Trail from Nauvoo to Carthage. That was a bad idea (we got caught in a snow storm and nearly froze to death) and I will never do it again, but at least now I can say I have done it.That evening we went to some more sites around Nauvoo, then we attended the "Sunset on the Mississippi" program that the missionaries put on. Greg and I were then able to go over to Susan Easton Black's house to visit with her and her husband Harvey. They are so nice and I miss working with Sister Black! Their house in Nauvoo was just finished last summer, and it is beautiful! I don't think that anyone in the world could ever love Nauvoo as much as Sister Black, so I am glad she has a house there now. She was in charge of a BYU Alumni tour while we were there, so she was not able to break away and come to the temple with us, but it was fun to run into her in town and then especially to stop by for a visit.
On Sunday, June 8, we went to the early church meeting, had breakfast, and then took off for Hannibal, Missouri. It was very sad to say goodbye to Greg! My family and I love him very much. This trip was the first time that Sarah, Joel, and Eliza had been able to meet him, and he quickly became Eliza's new boyfriend. She loved having him hold her, sharing her binkies with him, and showing him her big, toothy smile.
We stopped in Hannibal on our way to the airport because Camden, Riley, and Sidney love the story of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. They thought it was so much fun to be in the city that inspired those novels--where Mark Twain grew up. Here are Cam and Riley in front of THE whitewashed picket fence that Tom tricked his friends into painting:
And, of course, you can't leave without posing as Tom and Becky:
What a fun, wonderful trip we had! Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for making it possible for all of us to go to Nauvoo. I know that we will always remember this trip as one of the best experiences of our lives.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
It's Official!
Hooray! It's official--Dr. Rugh is now THE Associate Dean in the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at BYU, the best school in the whole world!!! She is a great one for the job. She's one of my favorite people in the whole world, and this will be an exciting opportunity for her. Look at her cute new official BYU photo! Here is the link to the press release: http://byunews.byu.edu/archive08-JUN-rugh.aspx.
It seems that it will be another wild day of weather in the Midwest. Here is a picture of Friday night's tornado south of Springfield which ended up going along a path just eight miles south of Linda's house! Linda e-mailed me this morning, and luckily she, her family, and their house were okay, but she said it was a pretty crazy night as they watched bad storms go both north and south of them. Today I was reading a severe weather blog posted by the State Journal-Register in Springfield. My favorite blog entry was from 9:35 a.m. It said, "So as to not freak anyone out, the Springfield Fire Department has canceled its monthly test of the city's outdoor warning sirens. It was scheduled for 10 a.m." Besides, a test would be kind of pointless since they successfully used the sirens just the other day :-)Tomorrow is the big day when the Taylor, Barrett, and Agate families head off to Nauvoo! I was originally going to be getting married on this trip, but things got a little crazy with trying to finish school and my Zion book, and I found that internships in Illinois are quite hard to come by, so we bumped the wedding back to October. But, why not still have a fun trip to Nauvoo? Greg will meet us there on Thursday, so it will be great to spend the weekend with him. We're all planning to go to the Nauvoo Temple on Friday, and we'll spend the rest of the time sightseeing, eating delicious food at the Hotel Nauvoo buffet, and having a fun, relaxing time together. It will be extra fun because one of my other favorite people, Susan Easton Black, is in Nauvoo right now with a BYU alumni tour, and she's going to try to hook up with us while we're there. She and Harvey might even be able to go to the temple with us on Friday! Camden, Riley, Sidney, and Eliza are all very excited for their first airplane ride. :-) We will surely have many good times, and I'll write all about the trip when we return home on Sunday evening.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Berle
I am very, very sad because I just learned today that my good friend, Berle McKay, passed away from complications with lung and brain cancer :-( I met Berle and his cute wife Ayne in Mississippi. Ayne and I were the two seasonal park rangers in Natchez during the summer of 2006. Berle was not officially employed by the National Park Service, but he was always there at the park helping us with anything we needed. I became great buddies with cute Ayne and Berle. They were always so kind to me, and they always made me smile. Berle had a twin brother--named Merle! When he first told me that, I didn't believe him, but it turns out that it was true :-) Ayne and Berle were from Texas, and he was a retired police officer, and she a retired judge--so they were in Natchez just having a fun post-retirement adventure. I am so glad that I got to spend those six months with them in Natchez during 2006, because after that they went back to Texas to be near their children, and then Berle got sick. The last time I saw Ayne and Berle, when I took this picture of Berle, was at the "Christmas at Melrose" program in December 2006. Ayne was one of the actresses inside the house, and Berle and I were on the support crew--out in the cold :-) (That was one of the few times I was ever cold in Mississippi.) Berle and I were out freezing in the carriage house trying to keep refreshments on the table for the visitors, but our main job was to keep the candles lit in the 120 luminaries outside. That was quite a feat considering that it was a windy night in Natchez! Berle was a really sweet, kind person, and so is Ayne. I can imagine that she is very heartbroken. Even though it was only for a short time, I am grateful that I was able to know Berle McKay. He made me want to be a better person, and he made the people around him happy. I feel blessed that he was a part of my life, and I am going to try to do a better job of staying in touch with Ayne. When I first went to Natchez I wondered what on earth I was doing there, but in looking back I realize how enriched my life has been because of the friendships I made there. I think that in life it's not so much about the places you go, but it's the people you meet that are important.
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