All Work and No Play . . .

In our letter from the First Presidency our call was "as a records preservation specialist."  We've written a lot about our work in that regard, but our life here has been more than that 8-to-4 schedule at the county's document warehouse.  Being official full-time missionaries has brought us some added opportunities.  We have a closer connection with the young Elders and Sisters as they do their proselyting work.  We've joined them in lessons.  We meet their investigators and share in the joy as they accept the gospel and are baptized.

One of Terre Haute's newest members--Otto Ghrist in the center

We are included in the Zone and Mission training sessions and conferences, allowing us to "feel" like missionaries spreading the gospel to God's children.

At the All-Mission Conference at Christmas, 2014

Our call also included this catch-all phrase: "Your assignment may be modified according to the needs of the mission president."  And so it has been.  For a month now we have been the "group leaders" for the LDS Family Services Addiction Recovery Program meetings here in Terre Haute.  This is usually done by part-time church service missionaries from the area, but the local leaders had not been able to find "the right couple."  Thursday nights at 7pm we change badges and meet at the church with wonderful men and women seeking support recovering from addictions.  Our roll is to bear witness of the power of the Lord's atonement.  We love this opportunity.

My three "hats"

Being members of the local ward has been a blessing to us as well.  As called on, we teach lessons, play the organ or piano, sing in the choir, talk in meetings, and generally be stalwart members in the ward.  We are enriched by the new friendships and by sharing in their lives and feeling their testimonies.

What do we do with the rest of our day?  Most of the time we come home to our comfortable duplex apartment and crash, exhausted from the stresses and physical exertion of our FamilySearch work.  We enjoy emailing family and friends, Facebook-socializing, and some simple hobbies,

What better hobby than Family History!  Time seems to fly by for both of us when we sit down to "find our cousins."  Ann sees it as the best of puzzles.  For me it is like solving the most obscure of Miss Marple mysteries.  For us there is no better way to spend an evening than "digging about, pruning, and dunging" the Family Tree.  And we've enjoyed the fruits of our labors as we spend a day at the temple each month offering those cousins the ordinances of salvation.

Our "Day at the Temple" for May--St. Louis

Ann has taken up card-stock embroidery, creating beautiful greeting cards.  Each one is a mini-masterpiece, unique and tailor-made for the lucky recipient.

Hand stitched for a granddaughter

I cook for pleasure, keeping up my reputation of never following a recipe, which results in some pretty "interesting" creations of my own.  Trying to meet the goals of gluten-free, low-fat, high-protein, low-GI carbohydrates, etc. can make for some strange concoctions.

It's usually eatable, and once in a while, even good

We both love our music.  Ann has missed having a piano to practice.  The Lord loves her so much that things "fell into place" this last week.  We are now "storing" a piano for a sister who just didn't have room for it in her new apartment.

Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Delibes in the background as I fix supper.  

I enjoy my organ and French horn playing

We play games--Rummykub, Bananagrams, Monopoly Deal, Farkle, and Dominos.  We watch an occasional Redbox movie.  We indulge in Kroger's "death by chocolate" ice cream (yes, I realize it falls short on every point of my healthful food requirement list).  And we exercise--I lift and swim and Ann walks.  She has enjoyed photographing flowers and trees in the neighborhood while she is out.

My grandma used to say, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  These little diversities in our lives are helping us recuperate and rejuvenate ourselves for the main work of our ministry, doing our small part in linking families together through the generations of time.

Camelot

It's true! It's true! The crown has made it clear.

The climate must be perfect all the year.

A law was made a distant moon ago here: 

July and August cannot be too hot. 

And there's a legal limit to the snow here 

In Camelot. 

Springtime in Indiana

     Terre Haute isn't Camelot, although I had to post this picture to show how much better our new town looks now that spring has arrived. Right now the weather is almost like Camelot. The flowering trees have been absolutely beautiful. The day time temperature is a sunny 70 degrees.  Everyone promised we would be thrilled living here in the spring.  They were right.

     As I thought about the possibility of a Camelot setting, I realized there may be one place that can boast of the perfect climate 365 days of the year.  Its location is tucked safely in the mountains east of Salt Lake City, Utah.  The place is known as the Granite Mountain Record Vault.  

Granite Mountain Record Vault

     The vault is operated by the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Construction began in 1960.  Five years later, in 1965, the project was complete. Carved deep into a mountain of solid quartz monzonite, the vault protects microfilm and digital images from the elements outside.  It is an ideal environment for preserving historical records.

     The images we captured in Crawfordsville, and now in Terre Haute are joining the millions of other data stored at the vault.  A few weeks ago, as we were preparing a presentation to the Wabash Valley Genealogical Society, we opened up the Wiki menu on FamilySearch and found a description of our project.  It showed examples of documents we had captured when we first arrived in Vigo County three months ago.  We will be excited when the entire project is eventually searchable online.  But for now, we know they are safe, secure, and in good hands.

Aren't our images lovely?

     I found some interesting facts about the vault.  There are three conditions that are required to maintain the perfect climate:

• a constant temperature of fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit
• a relative humidity of 30 percent
• a computer-controlled ventilation and air filtration system, ensuring air is scrubbed of dust and other particles."  (Ouimette, David S., “The Vault: A Mountain of Granite and Gold,” Ancestry Magazine, Vol. 23, No. 2, March/April 2005.)

     Why would these conditions be so critical?  The cool temperature slows any decay of the film and emulsion.  Maintaining the relative humidity under 50 percent is optimal; if the relative humidity were below 10 or 15 percent the microfilms may become brittle; if it were above 50 percent, fungus could actually grow.  The removal of particles from the air helps keep the surface of the microfilm clean and scratch-free.  It all seems so reasonable and makes sense. 

         

Stock certificates from the Wabash and Erie Canal Company

     Several weeks ago we captured our biggest set of individual images. Mr. John W. Wines gets the distinct honor of having approximately 1,150 images attached to his estate folder. Included in his documents were hundreds of stock certificates from the Wabash and Erie Canal Company dated in the 1840's. The paper was so fragile. We knew that trying to handle them would take valuable time and possibly harm the documents. We wondered what the next 150 years would do to these pieces of history.

     Under the right conditions, records can be preserved for hundreds of years.  Of course, just like "45's", "78's", 8-track, cassettes, CD's, etc., preservation procedures will evolve necessitating constant technology updates.  Thankfully, the Family History Department is on top of that. 

Michael entering the Probate Index into a database.
A big thank you to those who have volunteered to help.

     No blog would be complete without an analogy.  Unlike Camelot, it WILL rain before sundown.  It WILL snow in June.  July 24th WILL be unbearably hot.  But my analogy is not about the jet stream or El Nino effects.  I am more concerned about the climate in my home. Often my temperature soars depending on the crisis of the day.  My relative "humidity" varies depending on my relative "humility".  Harmful particles of sin and discouragement settle in all too often.  

     The Granite Mountain Records Vault has found a perfect balance to preserve its precious content.  I must do the same.  I am challenging myself to check my thermostat and barometer periodically.  In fact, every Sunday during the sacrament might be a good time to do that.  I will commit to filtering what is heard and seen through the criteria of what is "virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy".  Camelot may be a fictional place, but I can still strive for the ideal climate at home.  I just need to remember the formula: a "cool" head, "relative" humility, and an effective "air filtration system" for my words and thoughts.  

   

     

I Once Was Lost, But Now I'm Found

I can personally relate to the line from John Newton's hymn, Amazing Grace.  Every day I am grateful for the miracle the Lord has performed in allowing me to be His disciple.  "I once was lost, but now I'm found."  Our work here as record preservation volunteers has become a metaphor of sorts--seeing the disarray in the "lives" of these documents, and patiently working with them, as Christ does with me, organizing and preparing them for an "eternal life."

We've been working on Vigo County's probate records now for 2 months, nibbling away "one bite at a time" on the "elephant" that is in our room at the warehouse.  There are 1,041 boxes of probate packets.  We've done 41.  Yup, that's about a box per day--two years to go.  I hope Daddy doesn't make me eat everything on my plate before I can go out to play.

We open a box and most of the time find a hodge-podge of papers, some loose, some tied in bundles.

Each box is a surprise, some neat and tidy, others a jumble of random papers

Ann is good at getting them into stacks of documents according to the testator, the deceased person for whom the probate hearing was held.

Each pile, documents that were generated by the death of an individual

The county's record of all of these probate cases is contained in two large index books that were made in the mid-1900's.  After getting the stacks organized, we have to verify that the packets are each in the right box so that our "tagging" of the images will agree with the county's information.  Often we find documents that belong somewhere else and have just been stored incorrectly, like a librarian finding a book about snakes in with the biographies.  

The Probate Index Books--Would you help extract the data?

These two books have become so invaluable that we've taken it upon ourselves to extract the information from them so that we can search it digitally, and so that we can correct and add information that we are finding as we work with the documents.

I've "unofficially" digitized both books.  They are not part of our FamilySearch project, and FamilySearch doesn't want the extraction data, but the county clerks do.  It will save them handling the fragile books, and make it easier for them to locate specific images for their purposes.  I've got the images on my personal computer, so we work on it at home each night.  It takes about 20 minutes per page.  There are nearly 400 pages in each book, however, and it's becoming pretty obvious that we can't keep up.

A page from the Index Books like I would send to you 

Would any of you like to help?  I'd send to you, via email, a few "tif" format images and a blank Excel spreadsheet into which you would enter what you read on the image.  You'd email me back the completed spreadsheet.  I'm sure that it would bring the spirit of this Family History work into your life more fully, and you can be assured that it would be helping us in our small corner of the Lord's Vineyard to produce some good fruit.  Let me know of your willingness to help:  PackhamMichael@gmail.com

The next step in the journey for that jumble of documents is getting unfolded, flattened, uncreased, and uncovered so that we can lay it quickly on the capture table and image it without a lot of fuss and fiddling.  The goal is to keep that camera clicking.  I can almost prep the documents as fast as Ann can capture them, but with all the organizing and verifying to do, we just can't do it all on our own.

Thank goodness for volunteers from the local LDS congregations, the Wabash Valley Genealogical Society (of which we are now members), and the Terre Haute community.  We've had 2 or 3 people for a couple of hours most mornings during the last month, which has nearly doubled our daily productivity count.

Community and church volunteers preparing documents for the camera

Each document then gets its turn in the bright lights, probably its first appearance on stage since it's debut nearly 200 years ago.  It is then stored in a folder and returned to its original box, ready to be restacked in a dark corner of the warehouse, more than likely never again to see the light of day.

A box of documents organized and ready to return to the stacks,
a little better than we found it.

It's fate is to crumble to dust or to face the eventual paper shredder, but its spirit will live on.  The image we took of it will be available for millions to view, and the man or woman of whom it bears record can guide us to it as we turn our hearts to our fathers. (Malachi 4:5-6)

Be A Part of the Picture

I'm grateful for the daily reminder that no matter how crumpled or torn my life is, God will find me, lift me, heal me, and perfect me if I am willing, ready to live with him forever--not in some dark corner, but in his eternal light.

Our Friend, Andrew

I want to introduce you to our new friend.  His name is Andrew.  We got acquainted with him at the warehouse last week.  He is spending a lot of time here in Vigo County, Indiana these days.  In fact, our calendar is marked for his big birthday party on May 26th.  However, it will be difficult to put 230 candles on the chocolate cake with white frosting and green sprinkles!

Untouched photo of Andrew

 How did we meet Andrew, you ask?  Let me give you some background information.  

FACT #1: The majority of our documents are old, but in unusually good condition.  Every once in awhile we find one that has been torn, has pieces missing, or is damaged beyond being readable.

FACT #2:  The documents have been rummaged through periodically over the last 150 years and have not always been returned to their proper storage place.  Occasionally we find John Doe's letter in with Jane Smith's certificate, or Sally Brown's inventory list among Susan Brown's debts.  We start each day with prayer so that we can be sensitive to this problem and catch as many errors as we can.

FACT #3:  Our work at the warehouse needs to be productive.  We've got to keep the camera clicking.  We often don't have the time to sit and read the documents in front of us as we prepare them or capture them.  That's what makes Andrew's story so fascinating.

We pray that we can be guided in our work

MIRACLE #1: Last week we found the bottom half of a document that had been torn. It described property and contained other legal verbiage, but no identifying names. When this happens, we usually give the document to the county's record custodian, who files it away in a miscellaneous folder, and sadly, it may never be looked at again. This time, for some reason, Michael suggested we tape it to the wall beside the camera in hopes that we would come across the other half later. It stayed on the wall for several days, and, honestly, we didn't pay much attention to it.

MIRACLE #2: I remember being in the middle of capturing images for Alvah Hotchkiss.  It was a large file with several hundreds of papers.  I was just feeding the camera one document after another when "something" made me stop.  I looked at the handwriting in front of me, the color of the paper, the torn lower edge, and suddenly the idea came that perhaps this could be a match.  I asked Michael to look at it while I continued working.  

MIRACLE #3: At first, he didn't think the lettering along the torn edges lined up with each other.  But as he worked with bits and pieces that had been curled and folded, he declared the two pieces indeed belonged together.  It was a simple, good feeling that we had solved a little mystery, and I was ready to put the completed document on the capture board and add it to Alvah's folder.

MIRACLE #4:  But, again, I was stopped.  I started reading.  This was not a probate record for Alvah Hotchkiss.  It was a record for Andrew Hottell... and it contained names!  Both Michael and I were speechless.  The continual unfolding of miracles was overwhelming.

Two puzzle pieces fit together

It has taken the weekend to see how truly marvelous this experience was.  From start to finish, the spirit directed our efforts.  We were guided to save the first half, which resulted in a visual alert when the second half came along.  The spirit made us LOOK.  Otherwise, Andrew's family names would have been lost in another man's images.

We have since found that Andrew Hottell was born May 26, 1785.  He died on August 18, 1840 and is buried about 20 miles away in an old, rundown graveyard.  No other information seems to be readily available.  We have faith that somewhere, sometime, the images we are preserving for FamilySearch will lead a great-great-granddaughter to find him.  We believe Andrew will make sure of that.

Barbour Cemetery in New Goshen Township, Indiana

"This work is a spiritual work, a monumental effort of

cooperation on both sides of the veil, where

help is given in both directions."

Elder Richard G. Scott  General Conference October 2012

At times Michael and I wonder what difference we are making in this work. With so many wonderful historical documents available in the world, why were we sent to Montgomery and Vigo counties? This miracle has reminded me that every soul is important to Heavenly Father.  No one is lost to God, not me, and certainly not Andrew.

Our weekend getaway to the St. Louis Temple

"Never underestimate the influence of the deceased

in assisting your efforts and the joy of ultimately

meeting those you serve."

Elder Quentin L. Cook General Conference April 2014

   

"I'm Small, I Know . . ."

One of life's big questions is "Why am I here--does my life have a purpose?"  I have no trouble answering that in the bigger context of this mortal existence with relationship to eternity.  That's the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the revealed words of our loving Father about His purposes for us, his children.

Our half of a really nice duplex--a nice place to come home to.

But, "Why am I here in Indiana?" is a question that keeps resurfacing.  What possible difference will our work here make?  Vigo County is one of 92 counties in Indiana, each county with its own courthouse full of old wills, marriage licenses, and probate records.  It would take 100 more missionary couples capturing images to prepare an adequate data base for Indiana research.  Indiana is only one of 50 states.  The job is MAMMOTH, and there are only 88 couples doing digital imaging, as we are, in the whole world!

The warehouse we go to every day (as Google saw it last spring).
It's wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling boxes, file cabinets and shelves
of old documents and books.

This last week we've been able to get a better feel for the scope of our probate project here.  There are over 700 boxes of probate packets that fit in our project's time frame--1818 to 1935.  Each box contains the probate documents for, on the average, 18 people.

Some of the boxes that contain our old probate packets.

We can image about one box a day.  That's over 2 1/2 years--our remaining 10 months plus another couple's full mission.  What is there about the importance of Vigo County's records that we are here instead of some other county or state or country?

Ruthanne and Stephen Thompson.
I'm convinced that they "prayed" us here to Indiana

It could be as simple as the squeaky wheel getting the grease.  Stephen Thompson, an avid genealogist and member of the church in Crawfordsville, is a "front man" for FamilySearch.  He finds archives of documents that meet FamilySearch's needs and then initiates the contact between FamilySearch and the custodian of the archives.  He and his ancestors are Montgomery County natives, and he has ties to Vigo County.  He paved the way for our two projects--Squeaky wheel. Our call--Grease.

Somewhere written on this old, curled scroll may be the missing name or date
that some genealogical researcher is looking for.

Or it could go deeper?  The spirits of our departed loved ones know where their names can be found.  They know where the documents are that will facilitate the linking of their particular branch of the Family Tree, documents that will lead to the proxy ordinances in the Lord's temples that open the way to exaltation for them, sealing generations together as families.  If I am here in Indiana to preserve that particular document, then the work will not have been in vain.

Just a bundle of old, decaying paper?  It's a treasure
if it links someone to their ancestral family.

A third consideration?  God knows me.  Being here, doing this work, will in some way inch me along on His intended path for me.  I surely have been learning patience, submission, humility, and dependence on the Spirit.  Pres. Uchtdorf described it as "Lift Where You Stand."  Elder Holland observed that "she hath done what she could."

These are hardly the hands of a musician, but that's often
what they look like after an hour at the warehouse.

The lyrics to a Primary song, "Give, Said the Little Stream," come to mind, "I'm small, I know, but wherever I go the fields grow greener still."  I guess that's the point.  My only concern should be to "Give, then, as Jesus gives . . . For God and others, live."  And to do it "Singing, singing, all the day, 'Give! Oh, give away.'"

Potential

     2015 brought us change, unwelcomed change for me.  With the completion of our project in Montgomery County, we were transferred to Terre Haute in Vigo County, Indiana.  It has been a difficult adjustment for me.  It was not good timing.  We initially arrived in Crawfordsville, Indiana in July when the trees were full of leaves.  The grass was green, spotted with the most unique and beautiful flowers I had ever seen.  Neighbors were out visiting on their front verandas.  It was a close-knit community of ward members.  We were soon encircled in the arms of good friends.

The Elders and Sisters helping us move from
Crawfordsville to Terre Haute

     Seven months later we find ourselves in Terre Haute.  It is winter.  The trees are bare.  The grass is brown, spotted with no flowers of any kind.  Neighbors are tightly tucked into their homes to avoid the cold.  It is a bigger community of strangers.  Even our new apartment is not "home."  It is a holding place until something smaller and less expensive comes along.

The Wabash River just a block west of
the Courthouse

     Our FamilySearch work seems to be completely different in Terre Haute.  I loved working with the older probate documents in Montgomery County from the 1800's.  Here in Vigo County we are capturing applications for marriages from this current decade.  I question: "How will my work help someone find their great, great grandmother?"  I have resented the stark contrast.

Setting up shop at the Vigo County Courthouse

     The scriptures and prophets tell us that the Spirit usually communicates to us through the still, small voice, sometimes even a whisper.  I guess I haven't been listening.  It took a "clunk" over my head recently to hear a message of hope.  The clunk was one simple word: POTENTIAL.  I see Terre Haute as it is today, February 2015.  I was told to be patient.  In a few months, Terre Haute will be just as beautiful as Main Street in Crawfordsville.  In time, Terra Hautians will be beloved also.  Everything has potential.

The potential of a child - We are all
growing and becoming.

     Just a few weeks ago, we spent the day at the Louisville Temple.  As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed a man sitting in a beat up, old truck next to us.  I could see into the cab.  It was full of garbage, food, peelings, paper, and personal belongings.  It was a big mess.  From the window I judged the man to be of very humble circumstances.  He had a long, gray beard and wore very ragged clothes.  I was apprehensive about getting out of the car because I assumed he would ask for money or give us some verbal abuse.  Why else would someone like that be sitting in an LDS temple parking lot?
     As usual, Michael led the way.  As we got our bags out of the car, Michael approached the man and asked if he would be willing to take our picture.  What?  I couldn't believe what Michael was saying.  The man mumbled something and my anxiety grew even more.  His mumbling must have been a reply of consent because he got out of his truck and attempted to maneuver the camera.  It was apparent he was not a seasoned photographer.  We thanked him and hurried into the temple.  I was glad to leave the encounter behind me.

Louisville Temple - Michael, Ann, and Mr. Truck Man's finger.

     There were more surprises.  When Michael and I had a moment to chat in the temple, he informed me that he saw our new acquaintance doing ordinance work.  Several hours later, as we exited the temple, just a few steps ahead of us was Mr. Truck Man.  He had also spent the day in that holy house.  Michael chatted with him as we opened the doors to our respective vehicles.  He admitted he comes to the temple often and enjoys doing work for others.  As we were ready to depart, he asked if we had any food.  By this time my heart had been softened.  I quickly looked in our lunch bag and found one banana and a left over piece of bread.  He was grateful as I handed it through his window.  At the beginning of the day, all I saw was a person to be feared, who had chosen or who had been handed a tough life.  Heavenly Father saw him as one of His precious sons who loves to serve in the temple.

     I shouldn't judge Terre Haute because it is February.  

It has the potential of being beautiful in May.

     I shouldn't judge the marriage application I captured yesterday because the

union took place in 2001.  It has the potential of helping 

Mary Smith's descendants 100 years from now.

     I shouldn't judge a stranger because of any outward appearance.  Everything God has created has the potential to "fulfill the measure of it's creation" (See Ensign January 2014),

 even Mr. Truck Man and Ann Singleton Packham.

Looking UP - a view of the dome of the Courthouse
four stories above

     As the saying goes: Please be patient.  God isn't finished with me yet.

"But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, 
and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually...
and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, BECOMING humble, 
meek, submissive, patient, full of love, and all long-suffering."

Alma 13:28

Lest We Forget

We've finished our first project--the Probate records, Wills, Indexes, and Marriage Records of Montgomery County, Indiana.  It ended up totaling 230,000 images, a worthy accomplishment for the first 7 months of our mission.  We have begun work on our next project in Vigo County, 2 hours to the south.  It consists of similar documents, but is estimated to be over 800,000 images.  That should keep us busy for the rest of our 18-months.

Vigo County Courthouse

Our last 55,000 images in Crawfordsville and our first ones in Terre Haute have been large, old books.  They present an entirely different challenge than do the individual documents from the probate packets.

Some of Montgomery Co. books of wills and marriages

With the books, the size and rotation of each picture stays constant, but the focal length is constantly changing as we move through the book.  It's a handy thing to have a capture table that we can easily raise and lower to match the thickness of the book.  We have different foam wedges and supports that help us minimize the curve of the pages due to the binding.  We have to watch for page movement as the shutter clicks, so we usually end up clamping the pages down so that they don't blur.

Chuck, our field supervisor, showing us his "book" technique

We're grateful for the computer software, keeping track of not only the image, but of "metadata" connected with each image--it's page, book, project, date, etc.  With one click the camera captures both sides of the opened book, separating the pages into separate images--a great two-for-one special.  Some of the more recent books are not permanently bound, allowing us to dismantle them and lay the pages flat.  That's a lot easier.

Vigo's book storage in the attic of the courthouse

With all of this technical attention to the record-preservation process, it's easy to get lost in the "physical" side of things.  I have to keep reminding myself that there are people behind these documents.  Modern revelation teaches us that "the spirit and the body are the soul of man" D&C 88:15.  So it is with these images.  They have a "spirit."  They represent lives--the joy of a marriage, the heartache of death, the pride of worldly possessions, and the desire to provide for loved ones.

Here's little Ida May Largent, 5 months old, being adopted.  Her mother died, probably in child birth, and her father, Leonard, is living in another town and doesn't want to, or is unable to raise her.  William P. Dagget and his wife are asking the court to let them adopt her and raise her like their own child, changing her name to Loretta C. Dagget.  Real people dealing with life's tragedies.

This might be the only document linking little Ida to her past

Here is William Parsons renewing his license as a physician in 1863.  He's 43 (as recorded in the US 1860 Census) and practicing in a little town south of Crawfordsville.  He married as an older man and has a young wife and 2 small children to support.

Dr. Parsons' License

Here's Archelous C. Austin, receiving his inheritance at the death of his grandmother, Nancy Austin.  He and his 4 siblings each received $75.45, the total sum received from the sale of their grandmother's house and property.  All 5 children and their birth dates were listed in the accompanying probate documents--a goldmine for Family History research.

A Grandson's Inheritance

Clicking the camera two to three thousand times a day doesn't give us much time to ponder on the lives of these people.  But the images we are preserving will give SOMEONE the chance to step into the lives and times of their ancestors.  Ann and I are SO grateful to our colleagues who have preserved and indexed so many vital records from England, helping us to discover our roots.  Truly our "hearts are turned to the fathers" and we are assured that their spirits are helping us in our genealogical endeavors.  Likewise, I don't doubt that the spirits of deceased Hoosiers are supporting the preservation of these documents so that their descendants will be able to find them.

Every morning Ann and I passed this statue going into the Montgomery County Courthouse, erected to memorialize those who fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy.  There isn't one of us who is not enjoying blessings in our lives that were earned by the toil and trials of our progenitors.  We have a work to do in linking us all together in that one big Family Tree.

A call for us to do our part in linking together the human family