The Big Bad Challenge

OK, this one is going to be a tough one!  And because it's a tough one, the reward is $20.  That's right. Twenty bucks.  An Uncle Jackson.

It's going to be a race between me and any of my nieces or nephews who want to take the challenge.  The race is to see who can find a new name to add to your family tree.  I'm talking about adding someone who is non-existent on your family tree right now.  One of those places on your tree where you get to the end of the line and your tree just abruptly stops.  I'm talking about a place on your tree that looks like this.

See the spots that say Add Husband and Add Wife?  We need to find these people!

So if I find a person first, I'm giving MYSELF the $20 and I get to go blow it on whatever I want.  If one of you beats me, I'll send the $20 to you.  Let the games begin!  (You'll probably need to use ancestry.com)

The challenge: find a name to add to your family tree which does not exist on your tree right now.

Wanna Be In DAR or SAR?

Hey!  I found out we have an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War!  His name is Zebulon Moses and he was born in 1754 in Connecticut.  That would have made him 22 years old in 1776 when the United States won the war and declared independence.  So if you want to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution, you can apply for membership.  :)  In order to belong to one of these groups you have to prove that you had an ancestor who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

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I want to find out more about him.  All I know is that he fought in the Vermont Regiment and was at the Battle of Bennington.  The marker for the Bennington battlefield is in the picture above.  There's also a "Zebulon Moses Farm Complex" in Lima, New York that is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Road trip, anyone?  Wouldn't it be cool to go back and see where he lived??

Guess who won the last challenge?  It WASN'T TRAVIS!  Can you believe it?!?  It was David!  Five bucks on its way to San Antonio with David's name on it.

Who's Named After Who?

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Time for another challenge!  This time the challenge is to find out who in Harold Jones' (your grandpa) family was named after another family member.  This one will be pretty easy if you go onto familysearch.org, click on Harold Guy Jones who is your great grandpa and find out the names of his kids.  Then look at their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to see who was named after a family member.  I found 8.  In the comments of this post put the name of Grandpa Jones' brothers or sisters and who they were named after.  Don't forget to include your Grandpa Jones too!  Middle names count as well as first names.  Good luck!  And may the best niece or nephew win!! The prize is a $10 gift certificate to one of these eating places, you choose: Arby's, Domino's Pizza, or Olive Garden.

Do you know who YOUR mom and dad are named after?  Go ask them!

Take a Family Name to the Temple! Another Challege

Have you ever found a family name to take to the temple so you can do their ordinance work?  I know Easton has.  I have and it's a very cool thing.  I found a woman, Grace Davis, who is my 6th great-grandmother.  She and her husband, William Sanger, are the first two names I found when I started doing research.  It was VERY EXCITING!

There are 6 ordinances that our ancestors need to have performed for them in the temple: 1) baptism, 2) confirmation, 3) initiatories, 4) endowment, 5) sealed to parents, 6) sealed to spouse.  I stood proxy for Grace in each of the ordinances performed for her and now I feel like I somehow know her a little bit.  I can't WAIT to meet her after I die.

Which ordinance do you think I felt the spirit most powerfully while I was performing it for her?  Her confirmation!  When the temple worker spoke the words, "I confirm you a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," I felt this amazing, powerful feeling and a HUGE rush of joy that I believe came from Grace.  It was a very special experience for me and I think that Grace is overjoyed to finally be a member of Christ's church.  No doubt she has been taught the gospel in the Spirit World and I believe she has been waiting for the opportunity to belong to this church.  Grace was born in 1723 at a time when Christ's church had been taken from the earth so she had no chance of finding it during her lifetime.

Here's YOUR chance to find a family name of one of our ancestors to take to the temple.  I've already done some of the work for you and so I know this person's temple work needs to be done.  The challenge: all you have to do is go find John Kelbrick on Family Search, click on "request ordinances", print out a request form, then take it to the temple and do the baptism and confirmation for them.  There's also a $5.00 reward for the person who accomplishes this first.

You need to get on Family Search and do the hunting to find him.  I'll give you a hint, look at Mary Grayson's ancestors (she's my grandma.)  After you've found John Kelbrick and completed his baptism and confirmation (girls, you can print the name and ask your dad, brothers, or husband to do the temple work) then post in the comment section to let me know it's done.  I'll go to Family Search and be able to see that his baptism and confirmation are completed and then I'll send you the cash!  Good luck!

The Little Birdies Story Winner!!

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Travis has done it again!  He won the little birdies challenge and $5.00 is on its way to Texas.  OK, cousins, is anyone going to challenge Travis or are y'all going to let him win every time?

In case you didn't get to read the Little Birdies story, here it is.  The person telling the story is Grayson Hyrum Jones.  He is Harold Jones' (your Grandpa Jones) big brother.  Harold wasn't born yet when this story took place.

LITTLE BIRDIES LEARN LIFE'S LESSON

Mom had baked a cake.  Cakes were few and far between.  Most of the eggs were bartered at the store for needs such as baking soda, matches, and coal oil, but this day we were getting a cake.

Boy, did it smell good.  Gertrude and I watched its creation every step of the way.  After it was out of the oven and cooled, mom did a strange thing, she set it down on the low bench by the side of the table.

"Children, I am going to the post office.  I am leaving this cake here.  Do not touch it.  We will eat it later tonight after supper.  Grayson, you are responsible for Gertrude and Alice."  She put on her broad-brimmed black hat and left for the post office.  She always wore her hat to keep the sun from damaging the skin on her face.  It was approximately a half mile from the outskirts of Tabiona to the post office.  

We were good for about ten minutes.  Then I said, "I am a little birdie.  I will eat just this crumb."  I selected a small crumb on the edge of the plate.

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Gertrude copied me.  "I am a little birdie too."  She selected another crumb beside the cake.  I took another peck.  She took another peck.  Soon it was necessary to select a small spot on the bottom of the cake, where it was not too obvious, for me to take my little peck.  Gertrude, being three-and-a-half, was not as coordinated as I was and her peck really showed.

Baby Alice, who was just beginning to walk, toddled over.  She took a handful.  I knew we were doomed.  We all began to eat as much as we could.  Finally, Alice climbed up and straddled the bench beside the cake.  Needless to say, it was a mess.

As soon as I heard mom walking up to the door, I headed for the bed and crawled under it.  Gertrude followed.  Alice sat contentedly with the cake between her legs, eating.

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Mom came in, methodically took off her hat, picked up Alice, washed her off and set her on the bed.  She put the remains of the cake up on the table.  Then she took the razor strap off the door handle and called for Gertrude.  Gertrude did not budge.  Mom came over, leaned down beside the bed, grabbed Gertrude's foot and dragged her out.  Gertrude got several swats with the razor strap.  I knew I was really going to get it.  I flattened myself tightly against the wall but then I realized that if I resisted it would be worse so I crawled out from under the bed.  I got five swats, one for each year of my life.

Three or four years later I asked mom why she left the cake right where we could get it.  "I knew you would eat it," she replied.  "That's why I left it there."  

This is who WE are!  We were raised by parents and grandparents who were taught to be honest and obey their parents.  My Grandma Jones set her kids up for failure that day.  She knew they would eat the cake while she was gone.  And I really respect her for it.  It was a difficult lesson to learn but one that really stayed with them the rest of their lives.  Grayson was an old man when he told this story to his little sister, Meada, to put in her book, but he still remembered it all of those years later.

Little Birdies...An Important Life Lesson

If you still live with your mom and dad, you have a book that looks like this somewhere in your house.

My aunt, Meada Jones Ouzounian, wrote this family history of the Joneses.  I haven't read the whole thing yet, but one of my favorite stories so far is about some little birdies.  Are you ready for another challenge??  I'll send $5.00 to the first person who finds the story about the little birdies and summarizes it in a few sentences.  Be sure to include the important lesson that the little birdies learned.  Just click on comments and write the summary.  Hint: look in the Table of Contents of the book to find where the Little Birdies story is.

Summer Who?!?

While I was poking around on Farmily Search I found a guy who's related to us named Charles Summer Jones.  Thought Summer might get a kick out of that.  ;)  He's probably not as cute as OUR Summer though.  Maybe we should rename Ken so he could be Charles Summer Jones.  ;)

OK, who's ready for the first challenge of this blog?  I'm going to suck you all in by giving away prizes if you read my blog and take my challenges.  Hope this works!

The first challenge: Find Charles Summer Jones on familysearch.org and tell me his birthday.  Hint: once you're on Family Search, go to FIND, ID, then just plug in the unique number they've given him which is LHPJ-8FF.  It's easy to find someone you want to revisit on Family Search if you just jot down their number.  I'll send the winner a big bag of their favorite kind of chips.  Ready?  Set?  Go!!  Just make a comment on this post with the correct answer.