Updated Apostles chart

For those of you who have been looking for an updated Apostles chart from me, I have it for you here.

I am currently having problems getting into my buchananspot server, so I decided to at least post the updated PDF document here (I hope it works).

We had a wonderful conference. I am excited to see the work of ministering ramp up. As I told a few people, it seems that all members are going to be like us as MLS missionaries. Instead of Member-Leader Support, I thought of a new application of the initials: Ministering, Loving Service.

The Lord is wonderful! He is hastening this great work!

I did try them as a PDF, but the blogger server would not accept it, so these are jpeg documents. If you would like the PDF, please let me know (with email).

Thanks!

The Tale of Three Brothers, my Face and Twins

This is about three brothers: Søren, Hans and Niels Jensen, sons of Jens Mortensen and Sidsel Jacobsdatter. Hans Jacobsen, our ancestor mentioned in the next paragraph, was the brother of Sidsel.

My great-grandfather, Ole Hansen Jacobson, was a young man of 13 years when he and his mother and sister were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark in October 1866. His father, Hans Jacobsen, who had just died a few months prior, was set against the family joining the church. Shortly after being baptized, the family emigrated to America and settled in Northern Utah, Ole Hansen eventually taking up residence in Oak City, Utah.

Much genealogical research has been done on this family, including communication with researchers in Denmark. In a recent blog post here, I mentioned the first cousin of Ole Hansen Jacobson, Inger Kirstine Jensdatter. I am still researching her family. A few days ago, I thought I would look into her three brothers, Søren, Hans and Niels Jensen. The records show that they lived beyond childhood, but no other information was shown in FamilySearch. These three were first cousins of Ole Hansen Jacobsen whom he probably never really knew. He was born about 25-30 years after them.

This blog is written to show one method that helps in situations like this, particularly for males.

Denmark was very particular and detailed in recording all males in their Military Levying Rolls (MLR). The records available are best in our research for years between about 1790 and 1855. Each parish or village has a record that is kept, updated generally each three years or so, and updated each year with moves or births. With these, most male child can be found and traced through those years. Each location was assigned a number, a lægd number. With the lægd number you can find the specific location and within that place, each boy or man has a number, actually two numbers— one from the previous registry and one (ascending numerically) in the current registry. With that, a person can go from year to year following a boy through his life up until they stop registering him, usually at about 40 years of age.

With the Lægdruller (MLR records) I was able to find these three brothers and trace their movements from place to place. In this case, there was a lot of movement, mostly in the county of Roskilde The mobility explains why previous research did not come up with much. I also learned in this process where Søren and Hans were actually born — in the county of Holbæk, which was not correctly recorded in FamilySearch (until now). I have included the MLR tracing information for each of these boys as documents in their records in FamilySearch if you wish to follow them.

Because of the Military records, I learned that Søren died in a military hospital in Copenhagen at age 23, presumably unmarried at the time. I did find out where Hans and Niels ended up: Hans in Lindby and Niels in Glim, then Gadstrup. In this process I found their marriages and some of their children and families — which are now recorded in FamilySearch. If you wish to see them, the number for Hans is L8RL-QMM, Niels is MYW4-22K. From there you can get to the others.

An interesting side note in all this is the appearance of twins in this family. I know that the Jacobson family has a history of twins being born. Hans Jensen's first children were twins. As mentioned in the earlier post, Inger Kirstine had twin boys who died shortly after childbirth. I am interested to know about other twins being born in this family. We wondered about that happening to us or our children, but so far, no twins have been born.

As another postscript, I was recently invited on FamilySearch to have a picture of my face compared with that of my ancestors to see whom I most closely resembled. It is my grandmother, Sarah Delilah Anderson Jacobson. Others of my Danish ancestors also were close matches. I guess my Danish ancestry shows in my face!

This whole work may not be interesting to many people, but I find it exhilarating when discoveries are made. I am sure I have help from ancestors who are prodding my spirit from the other side of the veil to keep up the work. It is fun. I love to show others how it is done. The door is open for any one of you to join me in this!

In Like a Lion

We have had some wonderful experiences so far in this wintry land. March definitely came in like a lion. Despite the weather, it has been very inspiring to see the hand of the Lord in the events of the past week or so.

Ken, who was baptized last November, came with us to the temple last Tuesday — the first day the temple was open after their two-week closure for cleaning. Ken had the name ready for his father and names of his great-grandfather's family. It really was inspiring to be part of this great work. He was amazed at the spirit he felt, especially when he was baptized for his father. After the baptisms, we took a tour of the sacred grove together. It was cold, but the spirit of the Lord warmed our souls.

Also of note is the fun we are having helping a certain man with his family research. As family history consultants for the branch, we get to work with members and non-members. This particular man is one we know from our work at the local churches' ecumenical Sunday meals for the disadvantaged people. Don is always there helping with the cleanup, washing dishes, etc. Shauna usually goes every week as well. I go a little less often, but still enjoy visiting with Don in this way. He found out that we run the family history library of the branch here and expressed an interest in getting help on his family work. He has a lot of involvement with his family groups and looked for help in getting it organized better. He has come to our library a couple of times and we really enjoy listening to his stories and helping him get the information recorded in FamilySearch.

As you can see, we still have winter upon us. A strong "nor-easter" hit last week and dumped about 10 inches of heavy snow here. The biggest problem was the winds, tree damage and loss of power for many of the people in the state of New York. We did not lose any power, but many of the branch members had power out for as much as 24-30 hours.

The last picture is a view from the front of our church parking lot across the valley. There is a corn field which covers most of the view, but they started building new apartments and homes in the area. One of our former members gave a prophecy years ago that someday there would be homes there and that the bishop of the Hornell Ward (when it becomes a ward) would be from those homes. We have high hopes for our Branch! The Lord is blessing us here.

Forrest D Buchanan - 100 years

Today is my father's birthday. He would have been one hundred years old today if he were still alive. I miss him very much. He has been gone over 38 years now.

The pictures tell his story.

You were a hard worker. Your heart and kindness were without limits. We truly had a home of love. Many lives are so much better because of you. We love you dearly, Dad.

Danish research opportunities

I am continually amazed at how much there is still to be done on our Danish family research. For those of you not that closely related to me, if you have any Danish ancestors, this will still be of interest to you.

My father and mother and previous ancestors worked hard over many years to collect as much as they could on family research and we benefit greatly from their tireless work. Much of their work was focused on poring over page after page of microfilmed documents in the old genealogy library, only able to do their research when they could get away and go to downtown Salt Lake City to get access to these films (or later, have them shipped to local libraries, then using that same process).

I have mentioned several time to many people about the wonderful resources now available on the internet, both from the Danish state archives and also now on FamilySearch resources. It helps to understand some basics, including the language, but anyone who wants to spend a little time can start to pick up some techniques.
Try my page: http://buchananspot.com/joseph/genealogy/DanishHelper.html

With all that said, I want to show exactly what I mean by the many names still available to be researched and done. Granted, it is for cousins and their families, because most of the direct line work is complete as far as it can be with the records at hand, but I am still amazed at the close cousins that I have been finding.

A month ago, on my Grandmother Sarah Delilah Anderson Jacobson's line, I found some close cousins and have 55 names ready for temple work to be done. These are mostly 3rd cousins of our ancestors. Then, just two days ago, spurred on by a research suggestion on FamilySearch, I looked into the family of another close relative: Sidsel Jacobsdatter, the aunt of our ancestor Ole Hansen Jacobson. Her daughter Inger Kirstine Jensdatter was the suggestion to me, a simple source suggestion was offered. As I looked at it, I wondered why there were not any other children listed for her, or what her husband's last name would be. Just in the last two days, I have started filling in her family and have added 9 children and two husbands (most of those shown in dark blue on the right in the list below).

My point is this. Go to any of our ancestors, look at their aunts, uncles, first cousins, and then click on the descendancy chart and list 4 generations. If there are any without death dates, or if they lived to adulthood AND in either case do not show spouses or children, then there is likely someone to be found. This can be for people born even in the 1900s.

In this case, I haven't even started looking at the children of these children. As it is, many of these are second cousins of my grandfather, Eddie Jacobson. How many of you know personally some or all of your second cousins? These are not distant relatives! And they can be found in resources available from your home.

I am very willing to spend time helping anyone who would like to try their hand at this. It is fun. I love it when I have those "Eureka!" moments and I find someone. It is exciting.

It was particularly touching for me to find the twins in that Johansen family. They are listed as only living 1/2 hour and 1 hour respectively and were not given names, but they are now not forgotten.

As it happens, I have so many of these people that I cannot get to all of them for temple work. I would love to share them. I am getting to the point of sharing those a little father removed with the temple so that they can at least get some attention sooner. I would rather have those closely related do their proxy work.

Please pass this on to others in the family.

- Joseph

February Update

The mission continues in keeping us busy. We are enjoying our experiences, especially the combination of helping members and friends here, finding new friends, and being with our daughter's family.

One of our highlights (of many) is being in the temple with one of our dear families of the branch- the parents this time. We went with them as their boys were baptized for family members last fall and a few weeks ago we were with their parents as they did other ordinances, this time for his parents and paternal grandparents. It was the first time they had been back for these ordinances since they were sealed in the temple over 16 years ago. It was an amazing experience.

We visit with their family every week, mostly because we teach their two older boys as their seminary teachers. Shauna also has been helping them in their kitchen remodel.

They have a pet dog, named Silly, who is extremely paranoid and skittish. She finally is willing to take some food from my hand (if I do not look at her). She is loved by the father of the family (as you see above).

Ray has been in the military and has had a lot of difficult times in his life. He has an interesting collection of pictures and other items. One picture I wondered about, until it was explained to me that this is a famous painting of a buffalo-hunting Indian as he reloads while in pursuit of his prey.

The area here is still somewhat in winter. We have had all sorts of weather, besides the real cold times I mentioned earlier. On interesting thing I have noticed is that along the roads, where the roadbed has been cut away from the bedrock, there is a lot of seeping of water continually, and in some places in the cold times, ice flows develop where you really do not notice water flowing. It is gradual and forms there flows of ice. This picture was taken when it had gotten up to above 70°F, so it has melted some, but you still can see the ice flow. The flow does not come from the top, but seeps from the rock itself.

The hills in the warmer months are thick with trees and overgrowth. At this time of the year, especially with some snow on the ground, you can see through the bare trees. Here are some pictures of the hills around here. (The local people refer to these as "mountains.")

One of our recent activities was an Elders Quorum bowling night. These show some of our people, including one man who was baptized just a few months ago, and another who is recently coming back to church. The branch members are doing well in helping these people feel welcome. The last one is a wall mural in the bowling alley depicting Hornell as it was in the heydey of the railway boom.

(Elders Lawrenz and Kerwin)

The New Year in Frosty Hornell

frost on the window

Winter came with a vengeance here in the Southern Tier. Last Sunday church was cancelled, partly because of the wintry conditions, partly because we had no water in the church building. We did meet with one of the families that morning to get a little feeling of association with members for Sunday.

The previous Sunday was Christmas Eve and we had a simple music program for Sacrament meeting and no other meetings. A highlight of the meeting, though was the confirmation of two young girls who were baptized the previous day. It has been wonderful seeing the change and growth in that family. They moved into the branch a few months ago and the two oldest girls had not been baptized yet, one aged 8 and the oldest 10.

Mark, our son, came to be with us over Christmas time. We enjoyed some fun and happy times together. It is nice to have someone new in the house to play games with. He even some with us on some visits with people and we enjoyed time in the Palmyra Temple together.

 Letchworth Park, the Grand Canyon of New York

Right around Christmas Day, winter cold weather arrived and is still with us. Today, we are around zero all day (Fahrenheit) and the winds are fierce. With the dangerous effect of wind chill, we are staying in the house all day. Shauna is making quilts and I am writing this.

We look forward to continuing in our work this year. The Lord is blessing us and our family and we love His care for us.