William Cheney 10th Greatgrandfather

William Cheney born 31 July 1603 in England. He arrived in Boston in about 1635 and was living in Roxbury by 1640. He was the " Founder & Dire Roxb Latin Sch Roxbury Free School" . He died in 1667. He begins his will with his Testimony:

"Being sick of body and of perfect understanding & memory according to my measure I doe make this my last will & Testament. I doe committ my soul into the Armes of the Everlasting mercy of God my saviour & deare & blessed Redeemer & my body unto my friends & relations to be decently interred by them in hope of a blessed Resurection."

We come through his daughter Mehitable who was born in 1643. She is the direct maternal ancestor to Alpheus Gifford (1849).

Selina Jane Sabine: GGrandmother

Selina Jane Sabine is Mom's grandmother and was born 29th July 1861 in Chippenham, England about 90 miles straight west of London.
Her mother joined the church soon after the first son was born. Selina was the second child. She was baptised when she was 11. Her father joined the Church a few years later. They emmigrated to America where she met her husband, also an English immigrant, John A. Maynes. She was 20 and he was 22 when they married. Later in life, they returned to England as a missionary couple with their youngest daughter Dorothy, and served there at the beginning of World War I, which was also a time of severe persecution for the church in England. Her husband died on their mission at age 55. She returned home and passed away 11 years later, about 5 years before Mom was born.

She received two patriarchal blessings, one before the mission and one soon after her return. Copies are on the Maynes family CD.

Joseph Clark 9th GGFather born July 27, 1642

Joseph Clark was born July 27, 1642 in Massachusetts. His father (also Joseph) had come originally in 1630 to Boston but went back to London to find a wife. He brought his new wife to America soon after they married in 1640 and settled in Dedham Ma.
Joseph married Mary Allen in 1663. They had 12 kids including 2 sets of twins. We come through their first born child, also Joseph born in 1664.

July birthdays

Alpheus Gifford 26 July 1849 and Sarah Elizabeth Hansen 11 July 1856 were Dad's grandparents. I already mentioned them in a blog on her mother. Somehow I left Sarah's birthday off my list until now.

They were both born in Mt. Pisgah Iowa. Alpheus was born during the pioneer exodus. He was the oldest. His next younger sibling ( a sister) was born in Manti in 1851. The family stayed in Manti till after 1862 but had moved to Southern Utah by 1867 when another sister(9th child) was born. Alpheus was 24 when he married Sarah (age 17) in 1873 in Springdale Utah.

Sarah's family had settled in Iowa and didn't complete the emmigration until after her youngest sister, the last of 7 children was born in Iowa in 1860.

At the time of their marriage, the St. George Temple was under construction. It was dedicated in 1877 and they were sealed as a family the same year in St. George. At the time, she was expecting her third child (The first had died at birth, the second was 2 years old. He died at age 14). We come through their 13th and last child, Elsie Gifford McGee, born when Alpheus was 46 years old and Sarah was 39.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Linda!!! Add my wishes for a great day to the others that have posted!
(p.s. I'm still waiting for my invite to read your trip blog!!)

Happy Birthday Laura! I know you have better pictures of just you but this one makes me smile every time I see it :-) Hope your day is full of smiles!

Happy Birthday Mom

We just wanted to wish Mom a happy birthday. Hope that she is having fun up there in Alaska. Glad that you made it home safe. Here is a picture of her with Kleigh from when they came down to visit. And if anyone asks, she is still 22.

Love, KC Jenn and Kleigh

Happy Birthday!

Aww, Mom and Dad beat me to the punch! Guess that is what happens when you sleep in on a Saturday!
Happy B-Day Frank! (He actually had to work inventory today :-( )


And of course Happy BIrthday to Cherry! Hope you didn't have to work :-)
Love ya both!

Ok, I had to throw in this picture of Frank because I love it (even though I'm sure he's not thrilled with it!) (And here's Benjamin too!)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Cherry
Enjoy your great day. Great being with you at the family reunion/vacation.
See you next year
love G&G.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Frank
Hope you are enjoying your day and have a lot of exciting things in store for this big day.
Have a good time keeping cool in your pool
love
Mom & Dad

Lion Gardiner: 10th Great Grandfather

Lion Gardiner is probably our earliest European ancestor in the Americas. He married his wife, Mary Duercant, in Holland on 10 July 1635. We come through his first child, David, born in Connecticut.

" Born in England in 1599, Gardiner was an adventurer at an early age. His exact birthplace is not known, nor who his parents were. A laudatory description of Gardiner, published in 1885, gushed, "He was . . . of fine military presence, well proportioned although slightly under the average height, with quiet face, eyes keen, intelligent and deep-set, and the manners and bearing of a gentleman."

His recorded history begins in his early 30s, when he served in the English army in the Netherlands. There, in a protracted war between Protestants and Catholics, Gardiner earned a reputation as a "master of works of fortifications" -- a fort builder.

His fame spread across the ocean, and in 1635 he was summoned by the backers of a fledgling English colony in what would become Connecticut. The tiny colony was in a precarious position -- Dutch traders from New Amsterdam had begun to make inroads into the area, trading from their boats with the local Indians and constructing permanent outposts. By doing so, the Dutch hoped to keep the English from expanding south from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

But the Dutch were the least of the colony's problems. Of even more immediate concern were the Pequots, a group with a fearsome reputation who lived along the same stretch of coastline where the English hoped to build settlements. Records of the day show the English feared and despised the Pequots, as did other Indian groups such as the Mohegans, who lived in the same territory.

Gardiner was 36 years old the year he and his Dutch-born wife, Mary, sailed to Massachusetts aboard the Bachelor, arriving in November after a stormy 31/2-month voyage. The couple spent the winter in Massachusetts, and by April, 1636, they were living with a small group of colonists near the mouth of the Connecticut River. They were well south of the English settlements in an area largely untracked by white men.

Gardiner supervised the construction of a fort near the mouth of the Connecticut River, and commanded it while farms and homesites were carved out of the surrounding wilderness. As the fort was being built, two momentous events happened in his life -- his wife gave birth to their son, David, the first white child born in what is now the state of Connecticut, and a war broke out with the Pequots that would forever change the fort-builder's life. "

July 11th Birthday

Anthony DeMille our 8th Great Grandfather married Elizabeth Van Der Liphorst in Holland in 1653. Their first born child was a daughter Maria born 11 July 1655 in Holland. We come through her brother, their third child, Isaac DeMille born in 1659 in New Amsterdam, present day New York City, the first in that line born in the Americas. So that family immigrated with two small kids sometime between 1657 when their 2nd daughter was born and 1659 when Isaac was born.

Birthdays for July 10th

Looks like the recent family doesn't have very many in July. Here are some distant relations:

John Knight born 10 July 1712 in Massachuasetts. Already 2nd generation in America, he was kid brother to Samuel Knight born in 1710 who is our GGGGGG Grandfather. Both lived through the American Revolution. Samuel was the grandfather of Joseph Knight.

John, Prince of England born 10 July 1266 was the third child and first son of Edward I, King of England, our 21st Great Grandfather. John died at age 6. We come through his sister Joan of Acre (our 20th GGrandmother) who was born the year that John died. Joan got her name from her birthplace, Acre, in Kingdom of Acre in present day Israel. It differentiates her from an earlier Joan born to the couple, who died in infancy. Joan of Acre was born while her Royal parents were traveling to the Middle East on the Ninth Crusade.

New links

So, I added a link to Dave and Linda's blog. That will only work when they invite everyone to be able to read it. I couldn't remember who else people said had blogs, so if you have one and want people to be able to read it, either send me the link or comment on this posting with the address so I can add it to our links. By the way, I had fun this weekend and wanted to thank everyone for going all the way to California to celebrate my birthday! (j/k). Anyway, I hope everyone had rather uneventful and very safe trips home.

Family Meeting Information

Ok, so I am sitting here at work waiting because my first kid cancelled. So I figured I would plot out tentative dates and locations for the next reunions so everyone would have a clearer idea. It is not set in stone and is always up for negotiations but here goes:
Reunions (date~location~sibling in charge)
2009 Summer ~Utah~Karen (of course this is shared among the Utah relatives to help out Rachel, Lizzy and Sara)
2010 Summer ~ Oregon ~Linda (Cherry is hosting in Oregon in lieu of us all going to Alaska)
2011 Summer ~ Utah ~ Jim
2012 Christmas ~ So. California ~ John
(Since we don't think we could do a reunion within 6 months the next one gets bumped out 18 months instead)
2014 Summer ~ Utah~ Bob
(again 6 months is too soon)
2015 Christmas ~Arizona~ Patti
2017 Summer ~Utah~ Heidi
2018 Summer~No. California ~ Larry

And to help with Christmas planning (although this surprised me that anyone would need to know this since we've been doing it for at least 19 years possibly 20 now)
2008 Christmas:
Larry buys for Bob
Karen's girls buy for Patti
Jim buys for Heidi
Linda buys for Larry
John buys for Karen's girls
Bob buys for Jim
Patti buys for Linda
Heidi buys for John

Focus the gift on the siblings and spouse except in the case of Rachel/Lizzy/Sara. Suggested dollar amount to be about $25 and gift cards are not taboo.
Does that sound right to you all? Remind us to appoint a secretary for next year's meeting so we actually get minutes. I nominate Linda :-)

Love ya all
Patti

Happy Birthday!

Hope you had a great one, Rachel!!!!! Hope you also enjoyed the "shark fin soup"!



And Larry & Michelle! Awesome job on the Family Vacation as it didn't feel like a traditional "reunion" but rather a fun vacation with the whole (almost whole) family!
Love ya!
p
(as you can tell we arrived home safely :-))!

Reunion 2008

Updated Family Pictures

























44 out of 54
Still searching for a better picture

Thanks for coming. It was great having you visit.






Grandkids










and Great Grandkids

Reunion2008- Tidepools

For those of you still traveling (or sleeping in) here is a taste of the tide pools from this morning.

Marilla Terry Hansen GG Grandmother

Marilla Terry Hansen was born 2 July 1823 in Ontario Canada. She was the 10th of 13 children. The first 8 from 1803 to 1819 were born in Palmyra New York. Sometime near 1821 the family moved to Canada. Her brother Jacob Terry was born 4th of July 1805. When the Joseph Smith Sr family moved to Palmyra around 1815-16, the two familes knew each other with Jacob being closest in age to the young Joseph Smith.

When missionaries came to Canada in 1838, many of this family joined the church. They moved to Nauvoo soon after the Saints had been driven out of Missouri. In 1846, Marilla married a recent immigrant from Norway, Niels Hansen, whose first wife had died. She was 22 and he was about 39. Together they had 7 kids, all born in Iowa after the exodus from Nauvoo. Sometime after the last child was born in 1860, the family moved to Utah to be closer to her parents and siblings. Niels took his oldest son and continued on to California. Marilla's daughter Sarah married Alpheus Gifford in 1873 (coincidentally he was born at the same place in Iowa) when she was 18.

Marilla died in 1894 in Rockville Utah (inside the current boundaries of Zions National Park)

Family Reunion begins

Anna arrived in town on Monday morning. She's staying at her Mom's new place to help free up space at our place.

Josh and Catie with Benjamin arrived Tuesday night near 9pm. They have about 3 days worth of things planned for today. We'll join them for a trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco (free admission on the first Wednesday of every month). For those coming later, follow the link to enjoy the online version and see some of what you missed.

Carla's Birthday

Carla McGee on 1 July

Congratulations and Happy Birthday.

See you this weekend when we can update your photos. Drive safe.

3 MONTHS!!!!

Hey everyone just wanted to let you all know how we are doing. Daniel is now 3 months old and is doing really well. Last we checked he was 13lb 4oz and 23" tall. He is getting bigger with each passing day. It ceases to amaze me at how fast he learns. This past month Daniel discovered that he has a tong, and he loves to stick it out, and lick is gums, it makes him laugh. I am sorry this is kinda a couple of days late but out computer was not working. But any how, Here are some new pictures.
The one of all of us is from Daniels blessing, and the other is just one of him he really likes to takes naps!!
Well I got to run but we are all really looking forward to seeing all of you this week.

Love Adam Betsy & Daniel