Family Reunion Time

We held the annual reunion for the Lloyd R and Marna McGee family at the home of Heidi Pickrell in West Ogden Utah on Saturday June 22, 2019. Separately, I took Mom on Monday 25 June to visit her brother as the last two children of their family. Here are the pictures. All Mom's living kids and about half of the grandkids and great grandkids were able to come.

Generation 0: Fred and Colleen Maynes  with Marna McGee

Mom's family:

Generation 1

left to right: Back row: Heidi Pickrell, Patti Kasten, Bob McGee, John McGee, Linda Anderton

Front row: Jim McGee, Marna Maynes McGee, Larry McGee

Generation 2 and 3

15 (of 30) grandchildren and 5 (of 16) great grandchildren

back row: Rach Atwood, Trishel,  Ben, Catie, Katie, David, Isaac, Cherry Wolf, Andy Chow, Brittany

middle row: Carson, Josh, Grandma, Emree, Noelle, Ariah, Cade 

front row: Jaya, Brianna, Jasmine, Elise, Sam Anderton

Thanks to Linda Anderton and Cherry Wolf for coordinating everything and to Heidi and Monty Pickrell for hosting at their home. 

and with spouses. Rachel McGee, Carla McGee, Catie McGee, Monty Pickrell, Michele McGee, Frank Kasten, Dave Anderton and Julie McGee.  Thanks for coming.

Alpheus Gifford in Missouri

I recently came across a document from 1839 that was written or dictated by Alpheus Gifford in 1839. Alpheus is my 3rd Great Grandfather. It appears to be signed by him as well so that would be the earliest primary document that I have for an ancestor, followed by the Bible of Sarah Jane Holder of which I have the original book.

The LDS church requested affidavits from families who had lived in Jackson, Clay and Caldwell Counties and had been driven from the state by Mobs. These are saved as the 'Mormon Redress Petitions' at the Church History Library. Pages 17 and 18 at that link are from Alpheus Gifford. --- additional record indicators: Call Number: MS 2703 Language: eng Containers: MS 2703/b0001/f0012 --- Caldwell County was specifically set up for Mormons so they could evacuate the other parts of the State. But they were driven from Caldwell in 1839 over to Quincy Illinois and from there to Nauvoo. --- I have stories from another ancestor who moved into Caldwell County IN 1839 and lived there for 10 years. --- Here is my transcription of the Redress Petition with punctuation added for clarity. [Feel free to suggest improvements and corrections] ---- May I take this opportunity to relate [a much] of my Sufferings in Missouri. I moved into jackson County march 1833. After laboring through the summer [I] was driven from the county into Clay to suffer with my sick family without a house, after living there three years and a half and laboring under many disadvantages and suffering much through sickness and other fatigues on the account of being driven. Then we was driven from there into Caldwell. After remaining there one year and a half we was driven from the State into the state of Illinois where we now dwell and are now destitute of bedding Clothing and provision and all most every comfort of life. All this on the account of being driven. A charge for actual losses by being driven from Jackson County two hundred dollars; from Clay two hundred and fifty dollars; for losses in Caldwell three hundred dollars; for the act of driving from the state I charge ten thousand dollars; for being deprived of liberty of living in the state of Missouri nothing will satisfy but being and protected Alpeus gifford I certify the with in to be just and true according to the best of my Knowledge Alpheus Gifford The within Sworn to, before me this 14th day of May AD. 1839 C. M. Wovels clerk (circuit court) State of Illinois

Are Prayers Answered?

Yesterday in Sunday School in the Half Moon Bay ward we were discussing answers to prayers and the fact that a key to getting answers to prayers is to Ask and Seek. In discussing examples of answered prayers, I shared one from our family that is a perfect example of an incident that can be viewed by a believer (like myself) as an answered prayer but by a non-believer as an unanswered prayer. _ This morning, exploring a new Family History feature at MyHeritage.com, I came across some results that made me realize we have another such example. High School Yearbooks are now indexed by name and crosslinked to pictures. Here are 3.

Cool Pictures of my Dad Lloyd Ross McGee from 10th grade at Jordan High School in 1943; Junior Year in 1944 in American Fork Utah and Senior year in 1945 at American Fork. MyHertitage, in addition to indexing, also estimates the birth year and gave this:

which jumped out at me since Dad's birth year is 1926 instead of 1928. His natural graduation class would have been 1944. As soon as he graduated in May of 1945, he joined the Army and was in basic training by the time World War II ended in Europe in May and in the Pacific in August. He ended up being sent to Europe as part of the after-war occupation. While that was still a dangerous time, it was far less dangerous than 1944 had been. So what was the Miracle that kept my father safe during the war? For that, you need to jump back a few years, before the war. Somewhere between 5th and 9th grade, the Ross McGee family was living in Granite Utah. They were a large and religious family, their family prayers often included requests for protection from harm and danger. But one cold winter day during that time, their home caught fire. It had something to do with warming engine oil on the stove that then caught fire. The home was destroyed and the family moved in with Aunt and Uncle Washburn a block or so down the road but in the course of the disruption, my Dad missed a year of school and got delayed one year from his peers that he had started with. So were their prayers NOT answered because they lost their home? ...or was my father's delayed schooling the REAL answer to all those prayers? Believers and non-believers can view the same events and have their own desires confirmed.

Omer Martin McGee 1910-1998

Omer Martin McGee 1910-1998. He is a second cousin of my Dad.  Omer and his wife Elinor, ran the McGee Christmas Tree farm in Placerville CA. It seems like the Tree farm is still in operation by their kids. My dad met him once and I remember stopping at the tree farm in Placerville CA, but before I knew what our relationship was.

In 1991, Omer McGee helped compile a book on the descendants of Amos Kilburn and Henry McGee. This book is no longer in print.  It does include the court documents when the McGee clan tried to gain membership in the Cherokee nation.

Omer's Find-a-Grave entry discusses his experiences during World War II.  His wife's [Elinor Cole McGee] obituary has more details about their life together including pioneering the McGee Christmas Tree farm. She has her individual accomplishments, including graduating from UC Berkley at age 17,  at that time [1930], the youngest person ever to receive a degree from Cal Berkeley. 

Family History picture

Shadow of Lloyd Ross McGee photographing the headstone for his father, Ross Solon McGee in St. George Utah.

Even from the shadow, I can see who it is.

Graduation announcement

I just connected to the website MyHeritage via the free access available through Family Search.  Lots of nice original material.  Here is one, the Graduates at the University of Utah printed 31 Aug 1957.

I'm pretty sure we weren't still in Utah for this date even though the address is listed as Midvale. We lived in a basement room at Grandma Maynes for about three months  while Dad finished his PhD before moving to Delaware. We moved onto his new job at DuPont as soon as possible, He probably just asked them to mail his diploma to Grandma's home in Midvale. By the time.of the graduation ceremony,  Jimmy was on the way in time to be born in Jan 1958 in Delaware.

From the announcement, co-graduates of Dad's, Bruce Barton was also at DuPont and maybe even moved to Thiokol at the same time.  David Grant became a professor at the University of Utah and was there when I was an undergraduate.

Appreciation from President Spencer W Kimball

Related to Alpheus Gifford,  This letter from Spencer W Kimball in 1975 comments on the missionary work of Alpheus Gifford who shared the Gospel with Heber C Kimball.

This letter was read at the family reunion held September 6, 1975 in Zion Canyon.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

47 East South Temple Street

Salt Lake City Utah 84111

Spencer W. Kimball, PRESIDENT

September 3, 1975

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE GIFFORD FAMILY

Dear Friends:

       As one who is very grateful, may I express the gratitude
of the Kimball family that your ancestor, Alpheus Gifford,
was so responsible for bringing our ancestor into the Church.

     I believe in family reunions and believe that much good
can be accomplished by the association of family members to
recount stories of the family and keep them fresh in the
memory of the people of the family.

     I hope also that the members of your family will keep rec-
ords of their own lives and the lives of their family members.
Such biographies and autobiographies become very precious as
time goes on and generations succeed each other.

     Please accept my best wishes, and may I express apprecia-
tion for the other members of the Kimball family and also for
the Church for your faithfulness and devotion and loyalty.

     With kindest wishes,
                                                                Faithfully yours,

                                                                  Spencer W Kimbasll
                                                                          President