Tokotoko

 

In December we visited a wood carver in Henderson, a suburb west of Auckland. Shauna wanted to buy a nativity creche, and found a nice one there. The wood carver and his wife emigrated here some time ago from Bethlehem, in the Holy Land. He has also made some nice kiwi bird carvings for the mission, which they use to give missionaries as rewards for keeping their flats clean. Since my birthday was near, Shauna insisted that I buy a walking stick that he had in his shop, which I gladly did. It is beautiful, carved from Japanese cedar.

Lately, my leg and hip have been giving me some grief, so I now use this cane to steady myself as I walk. It is most useful and is beautiful as well.

I started to get many comments about my walking stick, but especially from the Māori people. There is a traditional stick that the Māori leaders use, as a symbol of their authority, I believe. It is called by them, a tokotoko. I had no idea the significance of my walking stick. It still serves me well, nevertheless.

One of the people who commented on my tokotoko mentioned the spirals carved into it. I just thought it was a decorative touch. It curved a bit so I thought that was to just add to its character. I was asked, "how many generations?" I was then informed that each spiral indicated a family generation. I had noted previously that it had ten spirals.

Upon thinking more on my tokotoko, I reflected on my own ancestry and came up with this amazing observation. If I followed my generations back and forward, I might easily come up with ten. Putting it together, I also thought it would be clever to alternate fathers and mothers in each generation. It worked! I am in the midst of a ten generation span of people who were in the Gospel in their lifetimes. Here is how it works (leaving out names of people who are still living):

1. my great-granddaughter Biesinger, living in Hungary.

2. my grandson Biesinger, in Hungary.

3. my daughter Buchanan/Biesinger in Ohio.

4. myself, temporarily in New Zealand.

5. my mother, Arvilla Jacobson, married to Forrest "D" Buchanan.

6. her father, Eddie Matthias Jacobson, married to Sarah Delilah Anderson.

7. his mother, Rebecca Deseret Dutson, married to Ole Hansen Jacobson, who was baptized in Denmark.

8. her father, John William Dutson, married to Elizabeth Jane Cowley, from the Isle of Man.

9. his mother, Ann Green, married to John Dutson, whose family managed the inn, The Green Dragon, in Herefordshire, England.

10 her father, William Green, married to Jane Prosser, who both joined the church in England and died on their way to Zion.

What a remarkable heritage, and a fitting reminder carved in my walking stick! Also, I love seeing the truly international nature of this progression. The Lord's hand is made bare in the eyes of the world and His kingdom is being established throughout, in preparation to the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. We look forward to that day, soon to come.

In and out of military records and census records, and a surprise connection

I started working on looking into a 5th great-aunt, Ane Jensdatter, sister to my 5th great-grandfather, Niels Jensen. Not much was known about her.

I started seeing some details emerge in some probate records in the area and, along with others, put her marriage(s) and families together.

My first review of the work was described this way:

"Ane Jensdatter - what we know, and what I did to come up with the rest of the details: She is listed in the 1800 probate record of her uncle, Niels Jørgensen, dated 22/26 March 1800, Sorø Akademie-Holbæk, along with her father and siblings and many of her family. That is pretty certain. That is how she was first put into FamilySearch. It was guessed that she was born about 1718, which I question (details at the end). She is listed there as deceased and as having been married to Lars Pedersen of Kirke Flinterup, with the children: Ole Rasmussen (of Egerup), Peder Larsen (of Kr. Flinterup) and Sidse Larsdatter, also of Kirke Flinterup. Her uncle, Svend Jørgensen, (married to Birte Olsdatter) appears in a probate record in 1856 (for Birte/Beatte) and it lists Ane's father, Jens Jørgensen, as a guarantor in that record, being from Saltofte, which is part of the Stenmagle area of Sorø, Ane's area of birth. A number of people in the family area shown as being from Saltofte. Ole Rasmussen appears in a 1813 probate record (his), also in Egerup. Also listed in that record is Peder Larsen of Flinterup as his half-brother. Eggerup is within the Bringstrup parish in Ringsted, Sorø, Denmark. He appears in those records, listed as 57 at death in 1813, putting his birth at about 1756. Ane also appears in a record showing Ole Rasmussen in the probate record for a Rasmus Olsen of Kirke Flinterup, dated 19 Nov/19 Dec 1766, with Ole as ten years old, matching the one we have seen. In that record, the wife's father (Ane) is listed as Jens Jørgensen of Saltofte, matching the other Saltofte points. Based on this, I researched the Kirke Flinterup records and put together this family with her as a wife to Rasmus Olsen and Lars Pedersen. Two problems are confronted based on missing records: Stenmagle/Stenlille before 1790 and probate records between 1770 and 1790. Ane does not appear in a marriage record in Flinterup in 1755/1756 when she must have married Rasmus Olsen, so she was probably married in Stenmagle or Stenlille. Ane also does not appear in the death records nor probate records around 1775-1779 in Flinterup, so we don't know her age at death. Her children appear to have been born between 1756 and 1775, so she was probably born about 1735."

That long-winded description kind of shows the direction I headed.

In the process, also mentioned in the probate record, I started looking into the family of Sidse Larsdatter and Ole Sørensen. Sidse is listed as the daughter of Ane Jensdatter, subject of the above verbose tome.

A number of children were listed in the system for Sidse and Ole. Several were sons with no further information. With that, I turned to the somewhat laborious process of tracing these sons through the military levying rolls (MLR). This process opened a lot of possibilities. 

The focus of this little story (above was prelude only), is on Ole Larsen. The run of his ancestry is thus:

Ole Sørensen  1763-1803 (husband of Sidse Larsdatter, both mentioned above)

Lars Olsen  1795-1855

Ole Larsen  1824-1903 (don't you just love patronymics?)

The MLR helped me trace Lars Olsen to the end of the records and helped me get him connected to his wife and children. I then tracked the son of Lars Olsen, Ole through the MLR tracing him eventually to Copenhagen. Up to this point all of the families had lived in rural Sorø or Holbæk counties. It is not unusual for children to seek their fortunes in the big city, as seems to be the case for Ole Larsen.

After searching and trying census records and hints in Ancestry ™, I stumbled across Ole Larsen and was pretty sure I had the correct one. He was in Copenhagen and the census records said that he was born in Munke Bjergby in one case and in Døiringe in another and the age was correct. (Døringe was a small community within Munke Bjergby.) Ole's military records all state that he was born in Døiringe.

According to MLR, he moved to Copenhagen from Holbæk and Sorø in 1855, after having bounced back and forth between communities in those other counties for several years. He appears in Copenhagen first in the 1860 census. Through some Ancestry™ searches, I found his marriage. 

The 1860 and 1870 census records both listed his wife's last name as Larsen, which threw me off a bit. It usually isn't until the later years that they put the wife's married name (husband's last name) in the record, but apparently they did that here. In this and children records I determined later that her name was Kirstine Nielsen.

I started then searching for details about Kirstine. The census records were pretty consistent in saying that she was born in the county of Roskilde, not far from Copenhagen. I ended up finding a full birth date for her in the 1901 census (she listed as a widow). With that date (with the chance that the date is incorrect, which sometimes happens in census records), I ended up searching and finding her birth and christening in the city of Roskilde in the main parish church of that city.

Often I stop at that point, but I felt that I needed to really establish that she was not already in the FamilySearch system, so I would not be doing duplicate work. 

Bingo. I found her with her parents in the 1840 census in Roskilde. With a little searching, I found a match for her in her family, as a child — and indeed, her individual work was completed. 

The surprise was this:

Ole Larsen is my third cousin, four times removed, on my Sørensen Danish line.

Kirstine Nielsen is my First cousin, three times removed, on my Jacobson Danish line!

I do not often see my lines cross like this (basically never).

Kirstine's mother was the aunt (father's sister) for Ole Hansen Jacobson, my great-grandfather, who joined the church in Denmark with his mother and sister in the 1860s.

Up to this point, nothing was known about Kirstine, other than her existence. Now we have her with husband and children. Now I can work to get her descendants' work done.

End of message. You can stop reading now.

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A technical glitch I encountered was some snafu that is happening in FamilySearch. It seems that the system is becoming more insistent that work be done only for relatives, so connections are such that relationship is checked BEFORE you even get a chance to see whether temple work is available for someone.

I added the wife and children to Ole Larsen one day, and the next connected the wife to her family, that made her even more closely related to me. Then, suddenly, all of those children I added appeared as not being related to me at all. I found, by trial and error, that I could disconnect the child from the family, by using the edit-relationship icon, then I added the child back in by "Add Child." Then suddenly the child became related. That worked until I noticed that one of the sons had a wife, already connected by me that first day, was also now showing as not related, even after making sure her husband had been reconnected to his family to make him related. It turned out that someone from FamilySearch had to specifically make it work that she showed up as related. Oh well, I hope that they get that problem fixed soon.

Anne Christophersdatter, Where Are You?

It all started with my inclination to research more into Ane Jensdatter, the third cousin of my 3rd great-grandfather on my Sørensen Danish family line. I had put her family togther a about six-weeks ago and we sealed her to her parents in the Hamilton, New Zealand temple about ten days later. I did not have any information about her later life nor possible marriage and family.

Today, I thought I would take a closer look to see whether she had any family.

In the process, I found her confirmation record (age 14), so I knew that she lived at least to that age. Nothing else could be found in the records I usually searched.

Now the fun begins...

It occurred to me to take a look at probate records. These death records are not often helpful, in general, for serious searching. This is mainly because they are not indexed much. Plus, not everyone ended up in these records. Most of the time I find nothing. However, thanks to a wonderful person, named Aurelia Clemons, there are web searchable files of information she extracted from many of the probate records in the areas I sometimes search, including this area. I have a number of her files downloaded on my computer, so I can do a simple text search on the ones I have searched before.

Bingo.

I found the probate record for her father, Jens Christophersen in 1836. She was listed in the record as one of the heir children. She was 18 years old at the time. Included in the line with her name I found in parentheses:  (d.8 Dec 1836 pg 37). 

That led me to find her death record in Stenmagle in 1836 which exactly matched her information! No wonder I could find nothing else.

OK. There is not anything more I can do for her. She had no marriage nor family.

However...

I noticed that her aunt, Anne Christophersdatter (sometimes spelled Ane), was someone I had searched earlier, and found nothing beyond her being listed in the 1787 census record. I had added her to FamilySearch back in October, with the little information I had on her.

Today, I thought I would push a little harder.

My normal searches came up with nothing I could really work with, especially with her common name: Anne or Ane. Oh well.

Then I thought, why not try the probate records for her?

Sure enough, I found Jens Christophersen with his sister and the two other siblings in a 1829 probate record for their father: Christopher Jørgensen. These records often include spouses and sometimes even more. 

... and indexed by Aurelia Clemons:

Christopher Jorgensen gmd i Steenlille               18 Mar 1829      pg 339 341

CH:      Jens Christophersen      50 gmd i Steenlille

         Hans Christophersen      46 hmd i Rude-Eskildstrup

         Ane Christophersdtr      = Hans Jensen gl. gmd i MunkeBjergbye

         Karen Christophersdtr    = Herman Ovesen hmd i Saltofte

[Soro Akademi-Holbaek amt; Bk 25 1820-1830; film 52302]

Ane  is listed as married to Hans Jensen in the nearby city of Munke Bjergbye.

From there I searched and found her with her husband and children in the 1834 census records:

Sorø, Alsted, Munke Bjergby, Munkebjergby, en gaard, 14, FT-1834, C6972

Navn: Alder: Status: Stilling i familien: Erhverv: Fødested:

Hans Jensen  48  Gift    gaardmand    

Ane Christoffersdatter  54  Gift    hans kone    [ his wife ]

Jens Hansen  20  Ugift    deres barn    [ their child ]

Maren Hansdatter  22  Ugift    deres barn    [ their child ]

Karen Sophie Hansdatter  17  Ugift    deres barn    [ their child ]

Bodil Hansdatter  14  Ugift    deres barn    [ their child ]

Niels Hansen  8  Ugift    deres barn    [ their child ]

This led me to start searching for information about those children, which I hoped would give me directions to search for her marriage to Hans Jensen.

I knew that birth (and any records in general) in Denmark prior to 1814 are more difficult to read and search, so I looked for confirmation records in the more readable files for these older children, particularly Maren Hansdatter, the oldest.

I looked for and did not find Maren's confirmation record. However, as I went backward and forwards in these records, I happened to notice a confirmation record for a Karen Nielsdatter in 1825, christened in 1810. The reason it caught my eye (as I was not looking for Karen, nor for a Nielsdatter), the record showed her parents as stepfather Hans Jensen and mother Ane Christophersdatter. These are the parents I am looking for!

Hmmm.

I searched the birth/christening records in the more difficult older records and found Maren Hansdatter in 1812 records, with Hans Jensen and Ane Christophersdatter as parents. 

It appears that these two must have married about 1811 or 1812.

I found the marriage record for them in 26 Sept 1811. He was listed as a bachelor at the time of their marriage and she as the widow of deceased Niels Sørensen.

I then took a chance to see whether he showed up in the 1801 census, just to see how old he might have been ( if I was so lucky). Sure enough, I found him listed there in the same city of Munke Bjergby. What surprised me was that Anne Christophersdatter was already listed as his wife, her age: 20. I thought she would have been too young to be married at that point. Most marriages in Denmark in those times were when the parties were over 20.  (Note: "Gift" means "Married.")

From there, I searched for their marriage record in Munke Bjergby and found nothing in the few years before 1801.

I then tried the parish where Ane was born, Stenlille. Sure enough, I found a marriage record, but it was not very informative. It listed Niels Sørensen of Munkebjergbye, widower, as husband and the wife as the daughter of Christopher Jørgensen. Her name was not even given! She would have been about 18 or 19 at the time. Niels was about 47 and had children already, as shown in the 1801 census.

Thinking back. There would have been no way I could have found her original marriage record, had I started there, since her name was not given. However, because I started where I did, it all fell into place and I found what I needed to get her connected to her husbands and children. 

Ane is my second cousin, six-times removed. We can now work to have temple ordinances completed for them, unting them as an eternal family.

I am sure have been led by influence from them from the other side of the veil. These people want to be found and connected to family. I love the process, but especially the results!

A calling to serve - two separate and together, trusting in the Lord

 In Alma 8, and onward, we have the story of Alma and Amulek in their preaching to the wicked people of Ammonihah. As I read that record a little I noticed the difference in each of their calls and instruction.

Both Alma and Amulek were visited by an angel, actually the same angel who first visited Alma prior to his conversion. 

When he appeared and spoke with Alma, Alma was discouraged and about to give up on the people of Ammonihah forever. He was first comforted and blessed and then told to go back "speedily" to tell the people of Ammonihah to repent or they would be destroyed by the Lamanites, a very specific warning.

The angel must have appeared to Amulek at almost the same moment, based on the timing of their meeting soon afterwards. Amulek had been "journeying" to visit a "very near" family member.

The instructions to Amulek was simply to return to his house and that he would meet a prophet, "a holy man, who is a chosen man of God" and to feed him.

Both of these men were traveling and were told to turn around and return to the city, probably the same time. Amulek was still on the way returning to his house when he met Alma, who was still returning on his way back to the city. The timing is interesting.

Alma had been fasting in his concern about his work with the wicked people of Ammonihah. As he enetered the city, he "happened" to meet Amulek, whom he petitioned for some food "as a humble servant of God." Amulek had been commanded to receive him into his house and to feed him and promised that he and his house would be blessed. It is interesting to note that even with this blessing, Amulek's father, Giddonah, was one of those who turned against Alma and Amulek in the end. He (Amulek's father) was specifically listed as one of those who were blessed by Alma among his household in this initial experience.

The two sets of instruction are interesting in what they did and did not request of these two men. Alma was told simply to return to the city and to resume his teaching and prophesying. Amulek was asked to receive the prophet into his house and to feed him.

Alma received the blessing of that reception not knowing what to expect on his return to this hostile place. Amulek was not told to call his own people to repentance. Both did what was asked of him and encountered what was not expected. Amulek was then taught and blessed. 

Alma had, up to this point, fasted for "many days." He remained in the house of Amulek then for "many days."

It was important, first, for Amulek to see the fulfillment of the angel's prediction, complying with the instrcutions given by the angel. Alma, tired and hungry, did not immediately start preaching and proclaiming to the people of their impending doom.

The angel set up this "training session" without much instruction. Each party did what was required and then followed into the next steps as led by the spirit. Alma had not been told about meeting and training his new missionary companion. Amulek was not told about his upcoming dangerous and blessed mission, that we know, based on the scriptural account. Each stepped forward with faith, obeying the angel of the Lord and his specific instructions. The results, both the blessed and the tragic, came by their obedience and trust in the Lord.

Even though there were many great and wonderful blessings resulting from this experience: the blessing of Amulek and his house; the conversion of Zeezrom, who became a great missionary as well; some of the people freed from the wicked oppression of the ruling clergy of Ammonihah. There were also some of the most tragic consequences found in the writings of the Book of Mormon: the burning of believers, including women and children of the believing men, along with their scriptures, also the threatened burning death of Alma and Amulek themselves.

Alma and Amulek learned when to use the power of God, and when not to. It was only after their oppressors — in their mocking and jeering them in prison, proclaimed that they would believe that the Lord had power to destroy them, if they were to be delivered by God, and spoken by every one of these oppressors — that Alma and Amulek were then delivered, to the astonished destruction of these oppressors.

Much sorrow and grief came to the people, but those who were delievered — driven out or rescued by God — were blessed and joined the welcoming people of Sidom.

Soon after this, the entire city of Ammonihah was destroyed by warring Lamanites. 

The imprisonment and release of Alma and Amulek happened around February of 81 BC (12th day, 10th month, 10th year of the judges. The city was then destroyed by Lamanites on the 5th day of the 2nd month of the 11th year of the judges (about June), a week less than four months later.

Amulek first met Alma on the 4th day of the 7th month of the 10th year (about November), so this whole experience lasted about nine months, from their meeting until the destruction of Ammonihah.

Zeezrom was healed from his distraught sickness brought upon by sore repentance, then faith, to become a great missionary as well. Amulek continued to be a great servant of the Lord. Many people were blessed in the process.

The work of these missionaries began with the two companions being called separately, given very different initial instructions, and ended with both great blessings and great destruction. We never will know what will come of our missionary efforts. The Lord directs us and we serve with diligence and trust.

They way they say it here...

 I love seeing the different terms used here in New Zealand. 

I already knew about the boot and the bonnet of the car and other terms. I learned recently that when you change residence, you do not "move," you "shift." The pharmacist is the "chemist."  When you have it all figured out, you have it "sorted." 

A pickup truck is a "ute." 

Those round rubber things that carry the cars down the road are "tyres." WOF means "Warrant of Fitness," meaning an approved safety inspection.

When they fix damage to your auto body, we use a body shop, they use "panelbeaters."

The parking lot is called a "car park." A shopping cart is called a "trolley" or "trundler," and they often have a one-way entrance for bringing in your trolleys into the store (see top picture of the three).

In the store, you see what looks like large ground beef logs, but in fact they are meat for dogs. (Also, here it is not "ground beef," but beef "mince.")

The bacon that we usually see in the US is called "streaky bacon," and roasted almonds are "scorched." 

What we call vanilla pudding, they call "custard" and it comes in cartons already made up and ready to pour. Often, their desserts are served with custard and cream. They love cream on things. I could get used to that, though it might bring about a few added kilos to the waistline. Their equivalent to our 7-11 and circle K are their "takeaways." These are places all over the area in great number, where you can grab some milk, soda pop and some quick meals, usually fish or chicken and chips, a meat pie or other delectables (and also some of those dog meat rolls).

One thing I still haven't figured out, though, is this place that is a café that also sells manure and fertilizers (and liquid lime), along with a hair stylist and massage therapy — a single stop for all your needs.

Old Flat, New House

 We spent the first six months (and a half) in our flat in Dargaville. The mission moved two young missionary elders in to serve in Dargaville, and therefore, they needed to be moved into our flat and we needed to find a new place. After a bit of research, and help from local members, a house was found that exceeded our expectations. It is in the community of Bayly's Beach, about 15 minutes west of Dargaville, right on the ocean (Tasman Sea).

Our first place was a house that sits back behind another house on Plunket Street. It was OK and we adjusted well to it, but it had its quirks. The entry door was a sliding glass door (as was an outside door to our bedroom right next to that door). 

small tree, lots of yummy lemons

One fun fact of that place was the lemon tree in the back.

above: our home, below, the view from our home towards the ocean

Anyway, last week we moved into our new home in Bayly's Beach. We are now quite a ways from stores and petrol stations, but we are often in town anyway, so that is not an issue.

One nice thing is that we hear the ocean at night and it is possible to walk to the beach from our place.

I took a couple of hikes in the past few days. Most of the days since we moved in we have been so busy, we have not been able to do much or see a sunset here. Saturday I took my first hike down to the beach before a busy day. This morning, I took another hike, a little different way that was not as steep.

One nice thing about being in Bayly's Beach is that we are nearer some members, most of which are not currently attending meetings with us. Another one is close who is active. With us now in this home, the Elders can now live in town instead of traveling an hour each way from their current place with other elders in Whangarei.

Family Visit and temple

 The past two weeks were full of happenings. We enjoyed having our son and family visit us from Utah. The children's other grandparents are also serving a mission in New Zealand so they came, spent about a week with us and then a week with them. In between, we went with them down to the Hamilton area to attend the temple and to visit places there. It was glorious.

This shows us at the temple in Hamilton

Before going south, we explored together the ancient kauri forest and the Kai'iwi lakes, then a beach on the east coast, then falls there and then took our trip south to the temple.

Overlooking the Hokianga bay to the dunes on the other side.

Our granddaughter on the beach

Some of the grandchildren at the ancient kauri tree

Whangarei Falls

While we were in the Hamilton area, we visited the Māori experience in Rotorua — a very impressive demonstration (sorry, no pictures) and the Hobbiton filming site at Matamata.

The Green Dragon

The Baggins residence

The mill at Hobbiton

On the way back, we got this picture of the new Auckland temple, nearing completion.

Finally, a couple more photos. The first is one of my sweetheart as we were viewing the Wairoa river from the Dargaville Museum hill. The last one is a picture of a tree. These trees are known for their bright red color around Christmas time in the area here. This one is a block away from our home.

We are enjoying the experience of getting to know the people of our branch. There is quite a varied group of people, most with Māori ancestry, some of other Polynesian cultures. It is quite an education. They are all dear people and It is amazing to know them. One remarkable experience we see is at times going to the local stores, having people (unknown to us) talking with us, and we learn that they are not actively attending meetings. They are happy to see us and often invite us to visit them. The hand of the Lord is here with us!