My wife and I were in downtown Salt Lake City the other day, meeting with a young man, Andrew, from our mission in New York, along with his mother, who attended the Salt Lake Temple with us. That in itself was a wonderful experience and we loved being with them once more. Andrew is now in the MTC in preparation for his mission service (to the Utah Salt Lake City mission!).
As the proceedings began, one of the officiators in the session looked somewhat familiar to me and as I finally could see his name tag, it was confirmed that he was my high school German teacher, Mr. Vreeken. What a blessed "tender mercy"! I wondered, with the sacred nature of the whole experience, whether I would actually be able to speak with him. As we approached that final step in the process, I was overjoyed to have him be my guide through the last step. Still, it was a sacred experience and the solemn nature precluded my speaking with him, so I just smiled as he finished and I said a quiet, "danke schön" as I moved on.
In the next gathering area, I wondered whether he would be coming through that place as well. After visiting with our New York people for a time, I was excited to see my dear old teacher come through and I made my way to greet him. He was very happy to see me and wished to see my wife as well. We had a wonderful, yet brief, reunion (still in quiet tones befitting the sacred place). What wonderful "tender mercy" blessing!
I had not seen him since graduating from high school almost exactly fifty years ago. I loved seeing him again, especially in that wonderful place.
The Lord blesses us when we least expect it.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Monday, March 25, 2019
Touch
Touch
I touch,
yet ripples move
beyond my grasp.
They are,
yet none
precede the flow.
Ere long
the sheen's
restored to glass.
Yet still
I rest
and think I know.
All changes:
Others come and go
and touch
and grow —
together on
we flow
and touch each other.
Until the end
when One
who can and loves,
will touch
to make a sea of glass.
- Joseph F. Buchanan, August 2008
[ up to this point unpublished ]
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Random thoughts found in my old Journal entries
I am in the process of going through old hand-written daily planner pages, which eventually became the place where I wrote journal entries. I am typing these into the computer. Sometimes I wrote thoughts that occurred to me at the time. Here are two that I recently found in my 1990 transcription process.
Thought:
"As society and its economy becomes more refined, the more brittle it becomes. It is less tolerant to problems. Things that used to be commonplace irritations or setbacks now become tragic catastrophes. We become more and more dependent on artificial supports. [In other words, ] Life goes on, don't expect it to be perfect." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 23 Feb. 1990, while on ice fishing camp at Deer Creek , Utah.
Observation:
"All people have the same basic life characteristics. They just put a lot of appearances in the way. Accept a person — let them be without judging rapidly." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 24 Oct. 1990, West Jordan, Utah.
The last one shows a common theme I had in my writings. I was quite guilty of judging people and things quickly, especially my own family. It has been a struggle most of my life. I hope I have made some progress, though I still suffer from this practice of unfair judgement and the ensuing feelings of frustration and anger. I am trusting more and more (at least trying to) in my Savior to make me a better person and to be meek, understanding and loving to all around me. It is only through Him that I can be who I should be.
Thought:
"As society and its economy becomes more refined, the more brittle it becomes. It is less tolerant to problems. Things that used to be commonplace irritations or setbacks now become tragic catastrophes. We become more and more dependent on artificial supports. [In other words, ] Life goes on, don't expect it to be perfect." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 23 Feb. 1990, while on ice fishing camp at Deer Creek , Utah.
Observation:
"All people have the same basic life characteristics. They just put a lot of appearances in the way. Accept a person — let them be without judging rapidly." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 24 Oct. 1990, West Jordan, Utah.
The last one shows a common theme I had in my writings. I was quite guilty of judging people and things quickly, especially my own family. It has been a struggle most of my life. I hope I have made some progress, though I still suffer from this practice of unfair judgement and the ensuing feelings of frustration and anger. I am trusting more and more (at least trying to) in my Savior to make me a better person and to be meek, understanding and loving to all around me. It is only through Him that I can be who I should be.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Interesting Family History research experience - Jens Andersen Pind
Anders Jensen Pind is one of our ancestors. I remember my father spending a lot of time sorting out this Pind line. In my recent efforts, I am going through my father's research notes from way back in the 1970s. Most of the work was completed at the time and the temple work done.
As I was going through one file, labeled "PIND," I saw that most of the records were from the 1600's. In reconciling my father's notes and charts with the current state of things in FamilySearch™ my experience is mainly to leave things alone in FamilySearch™for such older records (before the early 1700s). One reason is that there have been many others work on this line and the second reason is that a lot of the current state of things is a bit confused by the many people who unknowingly have combined a number of these people out of existence. It is a battle I do not want to get mixed up in. Since there are so many similar names in these old records, people have mistakenly combined people where they should not have merged. Rather than try to get things back in the correct state, I am resolved to know that they have once been correct and their temple work done, so leave it be.
I hesitated on one particular sheet, however, and felt I needed to give it a little attention rather than throw out the entire file. Jens Andersen (sometimes referred to by the last name Pind) is in the system and some of his temple work is being done again. On my father's research notes sheet, he lists a wife and her parentage. This is not listed in familySearch™. I started working to get her connected to him and look for children. I researched his military records and am reasonably sure I have the correct information for him now, and the children attached to the couple. They already existed and were elsewhere in the system, but I was able to bring them together. They have four children I have found: Karen, who died in her twenties, apparently not having been married; Anders, who lived to adulthood; Magrethe (or Margrethe) who also lived to adulthood; and Kirstine who died as an infant. A couple of years after the passing of their youngest child, their father, Jens Andersen died, and then Ane Jørgensen died soon after that, but got married again shortly after Jens died, but (obviously) before she died. She ended up with a child from this second marriage, but the little girl died soon after birth. At the time, I searched quite extensively and could not find any information concerning marriages for Anders and Margrethe.
They did not leave me alone, however. I finally tried my last resort method: do a general Google™ search. As it occasionally happens, I found a hit! There is a web site where a person in Denmark has published his family information and he is related to Anders. I went through his information and verified the names and places there with published church records in the Danish State Archives and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints genealogical images scanned from the original microfilms. When I was finished, I ended up with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for Jens Andersen and spouses of his posterity numbering about 46 people, most of who were previously not known in the FamilySearch™ records. I am attaching a scan that shows the original research sheet of my father's. The posterity can be found on FamilySearch™.
I must mention that I decided to not reserve these names for temple work (for the most part). I have found that I can come up with many, many names for the temple, but do not have the time to do them myself, and I do not have more than a few of my family who are able or willing to help, so I tend to get swamped in the work. I decided to instead just get them entered (along with source info) and leave them to see who might pick them up. So far a a handful of people have taken a few of these names, I assume they are cousins of some sort, most likely descended from Ane Pedersen Anderson Lovell, my great-great grandmother with a huge posterity (Jens Andersen Pind is her great-uncle).
I am monitoring the list to make sure no one gets lost in the end. I feel the influence from the spirit and from the spirits of these people driving me to find them and get them in the position to have their work done.
I love this work. It is so rewarding. I really love these Danish ancestors and their families. I hope to meet them in the next life.
As I was going through one file, labeled "PIND," I saw that most of the records were from the 1600's. In reconciling my father's notes and charts with the current state of things in FamilySearch™ my experience is mainly to leave things alone in FamilySearch™for such older records (before the early 1700s). One reason is that there have been many others work on this line and the second reason is that a lot of the current state of things is a bit confused by the many people who unknowingly have combined a number of these people out of existence. It is a battle I do not want to get mixed up in. Since there are so many similar names in these old records, people have mistakenly combined people where they should not have merged. Rather than try to get things back in the correct state, I am resolved to know that they have once been correct and their temple work done, so leave it be.
I hesitated on one particular sheet, however, and felt I needed to give it a little attention rather than throw out the entire file. Jens Andersen (sometimes referred to by the last name Pind) is in the system and some of his temple work is being done again. On my father's research notes sheet, he lists a wife and her parentage. This is not listed in familySearch™. I started working to get her connected to him and look for children. I researched his military records and am reasonably sure I have the correct information for him now, and the children attached to the couple. They already existed and were elsewhere in the system, but I was able to bring them together. They have four children I have found: Karen, who died in her twenties, apparently not having been married; Anders, who lived to adulthood; Magrethe (or Margrethe) who also lived to adulthood; and Kirstine who died as an infant. A couple of years after the passing of their youngest child, their father, Jens Andersen died, and then Ane Jørgensen died soon after that, but got married again shortly after Jens died, but (obviously) before she died. She ended up with a child from this second marriage, but the little girl died soon after birth. At the time, I searched quite extensively and could not find any information concerning marriages for Anders and Margrethe.
They did not leave me alone, however. I finally tried my last resort method: do a general Google™ search. As it occasionally happens, I found a hit! There is a web site where a person in Denmark has published his family information and he is related to Anders. I went through his information and verified the names and places there with published church records in the Danish State Archives and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints genealogical images scanned from the original microfilms. When I was finished, I ended up with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for Jens Andersen and spouses of his posterity numbering about 46 people, most of who were previously not known in the FamilySearch™ records. I am attaching a scan that shows the original research sheet of my father's. The posterity can be found on FamilySearch™.
I must mention that I decided to not reserve these names for temple work (for the most part). I have found that I can come up with many, many names for the temple, but do not have the time to do them myself, and I do not have more than a few of my family who are able or willing to help, so I tend to get swamped in the work. I decided to instead just get them entered (along with source info) and leave them to see who might pick them up. So far a a handful of people have taken a few of these names, I assume they are cousins of some sort, most likely descended from Ane Pedersen Anderson Lovell, my great-great grandmother with a huge posterity (Jens Andersen Pind is her great-uncle).
I am monitoring the list to make sure no one gets lost in the end. I feel the influence from the spirit and from the spirits of these people driving me to find them and get them in the position to have their work done.
I love this work. It is so rewarding. I really love these Danish ancestors and their families. I hope to meet them in the next life.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
An update about everything, including mission
I really haven't written anything for a long time. I guess it is time to put everything together for you (if any of you are still reading this blog)...
We finished our mission in the New York Rochester mission in the last part of September 2018 and then took a long trip getting home. We stayed for a few days with Mary's family in Medina (Mary, Quinn, Tova and the baby gone to Argentina at the time), then visited Montreal (the temple there), the Adirondacks, then the Boston and Hartford temples, a visit to family in Maryland, then to Virginia rto see Beth and Ray, on to Ohio, Chicago, a weekend in Sioux Falls to see Jonathan and family, then home.
We got settled in at home, then visited family in the Boise, Idaho area. After a few more weeks, we did a temple trip to southern Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. In the process of time, we prepared for and then submitted applications for our next mission.
Over the New Year's holiday weekend, we visited sunny Sioux Falls, South Dakota to see Jonathan and his family for a while. It was sunny, but below zero at times.
Through all this, we have also attended temple sessions fairly often here at home.
(deep breath)
Now we are looking for our next service opportunity.
Yesterday we received our mission call to serve in the California Carlsbad Mission, to work in the office there. We will head out on May 20th (MTC and then drive to Vista, California) for an 18 month mission there.
We miss our dear friends in New York. We hope to go see them before heading to California (just on the way, right?) and also to visit with Mary and Aaron's families there.
We love being involved in family, friends and in serving the Lord. His blessings are beyond comprehension at times.
We finished our mission in the New York Rochester mission in the last part of September 2018 and then took a long trip getting home. We stayed for a few days with Mary's family in Medina (Mary, Quinn, Tova and the baby gone to Argentina at the time), then visited Montreal (the temple there), the Adirondacks, then the Boston and Hartford temples, a visit to family in Maryland, then to Virginia rto see Beth and Ray, on to Ohio, Chicago, a weekend in Sioux Falls to see Jonathan and family, then home.
We got settled in at home, then visited family in the Boise, Idaho area. After a few more weeks, we did a temple trip to southern Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. In the process of time, we prepared for and then submitted applications for our next mission.
Over the New Year's holiday weekend, we visited sunny Sioux Falls, South Dakota to see Jonathan and his family for a while. It was sunny, but below zero at times.
Through all this, we have also attended temple sessions fairly often here at home.
(deep breath)
Now we are looking for our next service opportunity.
Yesterday we received our mission call to serve in the California Carlsbad Mission, to work in the office there. We will head out on May 20th (MTC and then drive to Vista, California) for an 18 month mission there.
We miss our dear friends in New York. We hope to go see them before heading to California (just on the way, right?) and also to visit with Mary and Aaron's families there.
We love being involved in family, friends and in serving the Lord. His blessings are beyond comprehension at times.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
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!
Saturday, March 10, 2018
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)