Ancestors

Today is a blogging day.  I am not sure why but I just want to.

I got a package from my Aunt Laurie yesterday and in it was a wonderful scrap book that my Grandma Elaine had made about a year before she passed away.  It was the life story of my Great Great Grandmother Emma Catherine Barrus.  She is who Emma Kate is named for.  My Grandma Elaine's own parents died when she was 11 and her Grandma Emma raised her and her two brothers.  It was a wonderful tribute to her.  I learned so much from reading it.  I started reading it around 9pm and didn't finish reading it until midnight.  It was so interesting.  I hope that my ancestors some day read my life story and are amazed at the life I had.  Not because I did anything extraordinary but because I endured to the end.  I feel blessed to have ancestors that worked hard and had strong testimonies of the gospel, enough to have passed down their beliefs and traditions to their children and so forth.

I also learned that Emma Cathrine's  great grandfather Freemen Nickerson who joined the church in 1833 and served two missions one with Joseph Smith to Canada in 1833 and another to Boston in 1840-42 was a man with a great testimony of the restored gospel.  He was one of the first group of missionaries to open up a mission in Boston.  He baptized over 40 people there.  He then died in Jan. of 1847 as he crossed into Iowa after he was forced out of Nauvoo.  (And now Tanner is serving in the Boston MA mission!)

This is all new genealogy to me!  I love learning about my ancestors!  It makes me want to be a better person.

I am grateful for Emma and Elle, they make my life wonderful!