More NYC

Family Reunions must have family photos and we had many. Notice the matching tulips! This time we scored with the Captain America.

 hopefully the adults liked their liberty bell shirts that just happened to match the kids. Karina missed the first part of our tour when she stayed back with Calvin who was sick. It was great when we caouth up with us at the Lady, She brought the sun with her.

before the Utah group came we walked the Brooklyn bridge

we saw the Empire State building from our hotel

We had to catch up on a lot of hugs that we have been missing while serving our mission. We miss our children and grandchildren more than words can express. Hopefully they will feel our love while we continue to serve our mission.

Miracles on 34th street and other blessings of our family reunion in NYC

After much preparation we met in NYC March 31 for our family reunion. Jim and I left early Thursday, aiming to be at Mt Olivet by noon to look for my grandma Aagot Marie Lund's birth mom. Val, Jason, plus 4, left Wednesday from Michigan and would meet us at 1:30, Well,,,No one really explained really how difficult it is the drive in NYC. After circling, one way streets we noticed that we were close to the Empire state building and our hotel right in front of us.Soon Val, Victoria, Karissa, Austin, and Erik came with Jason following with cots, coolers, stuffed animals and lots of snacks. ALL necessities for happy children. 

Derek, Missy plus 4  and Karina plus oldest 5 flew in later. After sleeping with 5 in a room (cots between full? size beds) and a great Marriott

breakfast we started our adventure and  our miracles continued. We traveled by plane, car, ferry, bus, subway, rented van and shuttle, but most of all feet. Karina estimated 16 plus miles each day.
Above is the memorial for 9/11

Derek's back started hurting. so of course yoga was necessary ( with Layla for morale support ) Later on Derek continued to carry Izaak on his back, but this turned out to be one of the miracles yet again. We were looking for a place to eat in China Town and being the naturally outgoing person I am, I stopped a lady to inquire a good place to eat. She walked with us about 10 blocks, turning and crossing and chatting all the time. She said that she knew we were good people because in her country the men never carry the children! What a joy it is to have family together ! And we really enjoyed our Chinese meal right in the heart of it all.

Of course,

the men had to go see the financial district with the bull and gold.
The day started out with a little rain, but, NO one rained on our parade

It fills me with great joy to share my love of freedom and America with my children and grandchildren.

Laurel Hill Cemetery

Here we are at Laurel Hill cemetery, just a few miles up the Schuylkill River. It was founded in 1836 after a Quaker John Smith buried his young daughter and then the site couldnt be  located. So he started what eventually became 80 acres of a quiet, peaceful resting place. We dont know if any of our family is buried here. What we do know is that there is so much to learn from those who have passed before us.  

One day last week I found 15 pages with Wooly/Woolly/Wooly listings. Children and marriage of George and Elizabeth Wooley. So far I have found 8 children. I  havent been to family search yet to find out how and if they are related to Thomas and Sarah Woolley but since starting this journey through 1,500 books in Pennsylvania and reading about the settlement started by William Penn, I have pondered this idea. Cicily Wooly came over in 1683 as an indentured servant and soon after came Thomas, who married Sarah Coppack in 1729 in Christ Church. These are the only Woolley names I have found. This leads me to believe that after that date, most of the other Woolleys settling in Chester county could be related. I will continue to look for our family name through my mothers mother Celia Woolley Morrison Larson. I owe my love of the Pioneers and family history to her. She served at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Building for many many years.
So, why were there so many George and Elizabeth Woolleys?? I am guessing that just like today, the y were the popular names. King George and Queen Elizabeth.

This map shows how the plots of land were divided in the area around Philadelphia. William Penn set up the city with the two rivers on either side. The Delaware River being larger in where Penns landing is.

So who celebrated St. Pattys day,,ME! We are part Scot- Irish through my grandpa Morrison

 

Spring Fever

This morning I walked Jim to the subway so he could attend the first of many meetings. We leaped forward into spring without much strain. Yesterday Jim cleaned the chapel and I helped Amy prepare and serve our 300 Stake Relief Society Sisters. After standing in my stiff shoes (for the first time, without any stockings/tights..yes, I did start working on my tan those two days last week when we had 70 degree weather) and got about 10 blisters. After returning home to drop off Bev and pick up Jim we went to our clean chapel to start the first practice for our Young Women talent show.  Needless to say, even though my feet hurt, they are very happy doing what I love to do.. Music, dance, and helping the sisters.

Thursday evening we attended an interfaith meeting next to a building which the community wants to turn into a place to distribute food, clothing and other goods to the needy, We came to show our support and were very humbled.

Honoring those who have passed before

Jim organized a great temple trip to Washington DC. Here we are with those who did baptisms for those who have passed before. Others went for the first time with escorts.

Here is the latest in the Philadelphia Temple. There is an inscription which says House of the Lord.

The site that Jim is standing near is the Stake center across the street from the temple and the high rise that will be finished way after we leave Philly. The stake center will be complete for the temple open house and used at that time for instruction and organizing during the open house in August. 

Each day I take time to read about the formation of our government and the settlement of the Philadelphia area. And each day my testimony is strengthened as to the importance of the restoration happening here in the Eastern States. We honor those who have passed before us by writing their stories, researching the dates, and encouraging others look for information about their families. As I read and look data each day I am happy to be a part of this search.

Finding more work to do at HSP

Here is Jim with a book from the British collection. It is a book about Leeds, England, his first mission. We had heard about all these books in the basement but finally got to see how many there were.

This is a photo from the World War ll collection

And look what I found. My Utah Woolley book in the Pennsylvania Room! It brought tears to my eyes !( my name is on page 633 )

Our boss, Manny, from Canada came for a visit on his way back from Haiti. Since we will soon have 3 couples working together at HSP (historical society of Pennsylvania)  with two scanners. We are all eager to do our part we took a tour of the basement at the Library. There more than 7,000 books in the British collection, Canadian 2,500 and about 2,000 photos from World War ll . These all contain important dates and history needed for Family Records. In our own Brown and Green collection we found about 300 from other Eastern States, some Foreign and some Bib (Bibles.)  Our challenge with the books we found in the area that we are working is...there is no easy card catalogue system for these books. It is necessary for us to make them up. Fun times ahead for us. Presently we are serving with the Donahues. They use one scanner designed for over sizes books which we cant scan. We got to know all the Senior couples better this week when we had a party at the Mission home. We celebrated Memories of the Heart by playing Name that Tune. Funny thing was, the two teams ended up with a tie score,,, 21 to 21!

New Friends, New places to visit

 I have as yet failed to mention the pressure we have here at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It starts with pleasing our many bosses. We represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as Full time Missionaries, serving in the Family History, records preservation Family Search. We work with people in Salt Lake City, Utah and Montreal, Canada. Then we have the directors here who are hoping to get the Brown and Green collection scanned so that the records will be on line meeting the contract they have set up with Findmypast head quartered in Ireland. So, a few weeks ago the Donahues came from Seattle, Washington to serve with us using a much larger scanner for the books that would not fit on our scanner. We have had fun helping them get adjusted and getting to know them.

Russ and Loretta are great scanners and are already pushing ahead for great works.
So, being the good tour guides we are, on Presidents Holiday we took them to two of our favorite thrift stores and we enjoyed a visit to Doylestown. One that snowy day we saw the James Mitchener Museum, Fonthill Castle, and Mercer Museum-- a National Historic Landmark.

Henry Mercer was an Anthropologist. He believed that Man's story was told by the tools he had! Sound familiar!

He made concert castle using rebar reinforced concert showcasing  his collection of tiles and prints, He mixed Medieval , Gothic and Byzantine architectural styles and highlighted his Moravian pottery. This was great fun for the men, the thrift store were great fun for the girls