Edwin Daniel Miller - a Family WWI Veteran KIA

Every year at Memorial Day and again on Veteran's day, I try to post about an ancestor who served in the military. In the past, I've posted lists of names of those whose draft registration records I'd found. The last time I did this, I wrote about a man who had served with the 123rd Pennsylvania Infantry in the Civil War. He had fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. 

Today, I want to tell you about a WWI veteran who was killed in action. His name is Edwin Daniel Miller.

He was born the son of Franklin C. Miller and Emma David on November 8, 1893. Family and friends called him “Eddie”. Frank Miller's parents were Alexander Miller and Ellen Smith. Ellen Smith's parents were August F. Smith (formerly Schmidt) who immigrated from Wurtzbach, Sachsen, Germany to Pennsylvania in the United States and married Catharina Fisher in 1850. I am a descendant of August F. Smith through my paternal grandmother's line, which connects to Ellen's brother Leander. Eddie Miller – the veteran in question – is my second cousin, three times removed.

According to census records, in 1900, he and his family lived in North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. On June 5, 1917, he registered for the draft. On September 19, 1917, he was inducted into the army as a Private at Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Army experts will have to forgive me here; I've done the best I could to make sense of the abbreviations listed on his Veteran's Compensation card and to extract relevant details from an extensive history of the 316^th Infantry Regiment.

On October 19, 1917, he began his service in the army with the 14th Training Battalion, 154th Department of Brigade, likely at Camp Meade. On 9 July, 1918, he was promoted to Corporal and sent across an Atlantic amidst the menacing U-boats to France with Company L of the 316th Infantry Regiment.

Throughout July and August of 1918, he underwent intensive training intended to convert laymen to soldiers. In the first week of September, he marched with the 316^th to Tremont, where mud and rain ruined rations and made the nights miserable. On September 13, with Allied warplanes frequenting the skies overhead, they received marching orders to go to Bar-le-Duc, then down the Verdun highway, to the Argonne Forest. Once there, they often saw enemy airplanes getting shot at by Allied gunners. Nights were punctuated with gongs called "Klaxons" warning of incoming gas attacks – the more cautious among them learned to sleep in their gas masks. The regiment did some training in the trenches while enroute to Camp de Normandie, where they were to relieve the 315^th Infantry, beginning on September 24. Rumors of an offensive began to mount as cannons and naval guns were put in place and big gaps were cut in the barbed wire in front of the trenches.

All day long on the 25^th, tanks and guns on tractors were heard moving into battle positions. The 316^th was to be a second wave of soldiers in the offensive, behind the 314^th on the right end of their mass-movement. They were to cross no-man's land through the German barbed wire and trenches to attack the Montfoucon citadel, which was held by the Germans. All through the night, the offensive guns softened enemy defenses. The battle began at 2:30 on the morning of September 26. In the early morning darkness, the men of the 316^th experienced firing their weapons on the enemy for the first time. At 5:30 in the morning, the big German guns opened up on the American forces. At 6:00, the 316^th stepped out into no-man's land to begin their advance amidst the 20-foot holes made by enemy artillery. They made their advance, taking their first prisoners and their first casualties. By noon, they had established a new headquarters at what just a few hours before had been the German front.

The next morning, they continued their attack. All day long, the 316^th stayed behind the 313^th as they continued their advance on the citadel. On the morning of September 28, the 316^th was ordered to relieve the 313^th and resume the attack at 7:00am – into the teeth of the German mortars. When they got within range, the German soldiers opened fire with their machine guns and began mowing down soldiers of the 316^th, who were forced to leave their dead and wounded behind them as they pressed on toward the enemy. At one point, Company L, commanded by captain Charles E. Loane, Jr., was left alone to make its advance, so deadly had been the effect of enemy fire on other companies.

Corporal Edwin Daniel Miller was one of thousands to die that day in a desperate attempt to break German communications and gain the upper hand in the region. Such had been the objective of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Argonne Forest – a drive that had ultimately proven successful.

A short time later, Eddie's parents, Frank and Emma Miller, received notice that their son had been killed in action in faraway France. His body would soon be shipped home to Pennsylvania for burial.

Yesterday, I printed out ordinance cards that will enable me to honor this WWI veteran in the best way I know how – by making sure that, if he chooses, he will have the opportunity to be part of our eternal family “as though he had been born in the covenant”. I can think of no better way to thank him for his incredible courage and sacrifice in laying down his life to protect freedom from the grasp of tyranny. On resurrection morning, I hope I get a chance to shake Cousin Eddie's hand.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_Argonne
https://archive.org/details/historyof316thre00gloc – a history of the 316^th Infantry Regiment in WWI 


Also of Interest: 

LDS Lower Light Bible Study Articles: 
The Building of Temples  
Dedication and Acceptance 
The Wearing of Garments
Temple Ordinances 
Temple Work for the Dead
Preserving The Sanctity of the Temple

A Tribute to My Grandpa Bernie

Last Sunday, I returned home to Indiana after flying back to Utah for Grandpa Bernie's funeral. At his passing, I thought I'd write a few things that I remember about him.


Flying Over Lehi

At a very young age, I remember him and Grammy coming out from Walnut Creek, California to visit us in Lehi, Utah. On one of those trips, he took us up in his airplane. We were totally enthralled as he showed us our house, our neighborhood, and our elementary school from two thousand feet overhead. I remember thinking the cars looked like little ants as they worked their way up I-15 and over the point of the mountain.


Just Grandpa and Me Down to Long Beach

A handful of years later, as we did every year, I believe we (Mom, Dad, and my siblings and I) went out to visit them in California. While we were there, my Dad left for a business meeting in Long Beach. Grandpa needed to run some blueprints down to him for his meeting, so he invited me to come along in the airplane. Grandpa being the quiet, slightly intimidating introvert that he could be, I was not a little surprised at how receptive he was to my curiosity. For almost two hours, I pelted him non-stop with questions about flying and about his airplane. What does this do? How does that work? What is this called? It seemed impossible that he could tire of my questions. He seemed to take joy in my enthusiasm. By the time we landed, both of us knew more about his Beechcraft Baron 58G than some Beechcraft salesmen!

We landed in Long Beach, met up with my Dad, and we gave him his blueprints or documents or whatever they were. I don't remember if we had dinner, or whether we just got back in the airplane and left. One way or another, before I knew it, it was dark and we were back in the air. I remember Grandpa telling me how we had to circle inside a tight area while we climbed, to get above Los Angeles International Airport airspace. I was caught up in watching as we circled, the wings pointing out into the dark ocean one minute, down at the lights of Long Beach and Los Angeles the next, the big twin engines drumming away in the night, pulling us higher and higher. It was really cool to watch all the instruments and see everything going on around me in the airplane anyway, but with everything all lit up, it was even cooler to see it at night!

During the handful of times he flew us up to Abbotsford in Canada to see the airshows, I remember watching him closely, hardly able to understand what he was saying has he interacted with air traffic controllers, watching the propellers begin to turn as he started the engines, feeling him run the throttles up to the firewall, release the brakes, and pin us in our seats as six hundred horsepower thrust us forcefully down the runway and on to another adventure with Grandpa above slow-moving, intricate earth.

Right up to his dying day, I could always get grandpa talking if I asked him about aviation. I don't know how many times he told me stories of when he and was doing his flight training. He told me about a time when they were practicing emergency landings. They found a  wheat field and made the approach. Grandpa used the lever to put the landing gear down, but got levers mixed up and retracted the flaps instead. Realizing his mistake, he re-extended the flaps, causing the airplane to quit dragging its bottom in the wheat and regain flight before they could crash. He laughed at the thought of the instructor still picking grass out of the landing gear, worried that he'd lose his job. Another time, Grandpa arrived back at his home airport after having flown his required solo cross-country trip. Upon his return, when the instructor realized how low he was on fuel, he chewed him out something good. "There's nothing so useless as fuel left behind!" the instructor had told him. Grandpa never forgot that lesson. He also told me about some of his simulator training experiences. Because he flew a twin-engine airplane, he often trained for what to do in the event he should lose an engine. Some of his training ended with him making a mad dash to the bathroom, unable to keep his lunch down any longer. He used to say, "There are ten things you can do if you lose an engine, and nine of them will get you killed. He also said with a twinkle in his eye, "Anybody can land an airplane. Not everybody can live to tell about it!"

There's an old encyclopedia set at my parents house. If you look at the "A" volume, you can still see the sullied edges of the "airplane" pages where I spent hours learning about everything from Bernoulli's principle and the four forces of flight to Sopwith Camels, Fokker triplanes, Spitfires, Mustangs, F-4 Phantoms, F-16s and the SR-71 Blackbird. Grandpa Bernie instilled in me a fascination with airplanes and a dream of getting my own pilot license some day - a dream that, far from dying, has become a bucket list item for me.


Christmas on Arbolado Drive

When we would visit the grandparents in California, I remember watching for the giant, pre-lit star on the roof coming into view to signal that our long, long drive was over. My excitement at the the thought of seeing both sets of grandparents was too great to contain.

During those visits, we would spend the night in one of the extra bedrooms.  I don't know how many times I awoke early enough that it was still dark, excited for Santa Claus to come, and debating with my siblings as to whether we were brave enough to sneak a peek down the hall at the Christmas tree. I remember minding my own business in my sleeping bag or blankets, feeling the wet nose of a dog coming to see if I was ready for breakfast yet or not. We'd get up and follow the smell of bacon, whipped eggs and coffee down the hall where Grandpa's quiet demeanor and Grammy's bright eyes and excited countenance greeted us with good food, warm hugs - and piles of presents!


Grandpa's Drafting Board

I was caught way off guard at the sudden and deep interest Grandpa Bernie took in me on one of our visits when he caught me using pencil, eraser, ruler and french curve to make scale drawings of airplanes, motorcycles, cars, and anything else that happened to inspire my young mind at the time. Before I had a chance to really, completely wonder what was happening, Grandpa's unbridled enthusiasm rushed the both of us excitedly down the hall to his office. He sat me down at his giant drafting board and showed me how to raise and lower the square and change it back and forth to make horizontal and vertical straight lines. He set me to work on a fresh piece of drafting paper. He expressed some quizzical, feigned ignorance and graciously veiled amusement at my choice of scale: a centimeter for a foot. "I've never heard of that scale before!" he said, showing me some of the scales he uses on his bridges.

I believe it thrilled him beyond his capacity for expression to see in me what he could only hope were the symptoms of engineer-itis and to have such an unexpected opportunity to water my plant in his own way. In retrospect, my interest in drafting had probably in no small way inspired his invitation to fly with him to Long Beach. He wanted to show me more of his love of engineering - and more sides to the family business - first hand.


The White Sands Business Deal

I still remember the day Grandpa came to our home in Antioch, California to offer me a job while I was in high school. He came with a certain amount of fanfare, like the president of a corporation that he was, on official business. As we spoke, he treated me like an equal, or like a recent graduate from a university, a sought-after candidate about to embark on a career at Adams & Smith Inc.

He explained that he was offering me an opportunity to spend a month of my summer vacation working on the White Sands Missile Range on a project he was doing for the military, and he offered me a wage that seemed astronomical at the time. When we had reached an agreement, he concluded the matter as though it were no smaller and no less binding a thing than any other business arrangement he had ever struck in his lengthy and illustrious career.


Ingenuity and Professionalism

While I was growing up, I remember my Dad saying how much Grandpa valued professionalism. His work on the White Sands towers was an example of this. Although the towers were destined to be blown up in a bomb test, he still insisted on placing pulleys for the cable that would suspend the explosive. It was just his way.

I experienced this first hand one college summer while I was home between semesters. My youngest brother, Jake, and I had just been at the hobby shop to buy a model rocket and some engines, and we stopped by the grandparents' home on our way to the park. Naturally, Grandpa wanted to come along for the test launch. We didn't have a fancy launcher at the moment, and so it was quite an embarrassment to hold a couple batteries and some wiring together by hand in the hopes of getting a spark to the engines. Needless to say, our launch experiment failed. That night, we stopped at the Radio Shack and picked up some supplies to make a battery compartment that could be connected to the rocket. We got some alligator clips for connecting to the car battery in case our D-size batteries failed. I spent some time with Jake, soldering and making it all pretty. The next time we went to launch, we invited Grandpa again. Though he never said a word, I remember seeing his expression of surprise and knowing that he was unexpectedly pleased at the launcher I had made.


He Got to Live His Bucket List

Grandpa Bernie certainly wasn't perfect. I didn't always appreciate the way he treated my grandmother or my Dad. Still, in death, I believe everyone deserves to be remembered at their best. For a man who claimed no faith in God and did not have the gospel covenant to guide him, he lived a pretty amazing life. At the funeral, I heard enough stories about the much good he did, the lives he touched - sides of him I'd never seen before. I gained a new respect for him. 

Although I would never trade places with him, there are some things about his life of which I am envious. He knew from the beginning what he wanted to do for a living; he had found something he was passionate about. He was able to acquire the means to do anything he wanted. He had his own airplane. He had the motor coach that he so enjoyed driving. He traveled many countries. He did some good in the world and left it a better place for his being here. I think it no small thing that Grandpa Bernie got to live his bucket list.



He Would Have Taught Us

Given his incredible mind, his strong-willed character in doing anything he believed was important, and his goodness and principled living, I know Grandpa responded frequently to the light of Christ that was in him, despite not being a "believer". When Shelley and I moved our family to Indiana, he counseled me to make sure it "felt right". He told us of experiences in his own life with that inner voice, wishing he had listened. I was very surprised to receive such counsel from my pragmatic, avowed atheist grandfather. Evidently, Grandpa had learned at some point in his life to trust in the whisperings of the holy spirit of God, though he did not recognize it as such. I believe there were things in his mind and heart that truly made him unable to conceive of the notion of faith in God, that his accountability before God in this is indeed very limited. Yet I also believe Grandpa was more a believer and a more spiritual man than he ever realized.

I have long believed that if Grandpa Bernie had been capable of taking the leap into faith he would have made an incredible disciple of Christ. He demonstrated a pursuit of true and deep understanding of the things he studied, and he had a capacity for self discipline that was second to none - perfect ingredients for developing deep spirituality. I believe that if he had ever converted, we would have been teaching him for about the first six weeks. After that, his ravenous mind would have overtaken our lifetimes of study, and he would have begun teaching us and showing us by example how it's done.


On the morning of his funeral, Saturday March 12, I read the following from the Book of Mormon:

"O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave.  And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel.  O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again... Wherefore, he has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him. For the atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel." (2 Nephi 9:10-13, 25-26)

As I read, I felt the Spirit attest to me that, in the Lord's view, Grandpa had not had "the law given unto him", that he had indeed been restored to that God who gave him breath. I am confident beyond doubt that death has broken through many of the things that were holding him back in mortality, that he is now more free than ever to learn the gospel and to accept it. Prior to his death, I felt we should wait a generation or so to get his work done, in case he decided he wanted it. The delay was warranted because of his attitude toward God and the Church. But now, If anyone asks, I feel pretty strongly his temple work should be done as soon as possible, for I believe he has accepted it already. I believe that if we can get his ordinances done, we will see him again on resurrection morning, and it will be a joyous reunion!


Also of Interest

LDS Lower Light: Temple Ordinances (in the Bible)
LDS Lower Light: Paradise & Hell, Judgement & Resurrection, Paul's Three Heavens (Bible)
LDS Lower Light: Paradise & Hell, Judgementg & Resurrection, Three Degrees of Glory (LDS Scripture)

LDS Lower Light: How to Obtain a Spiritual Witness
LDS Lower Light: How to Pray
LDS Lower Light: Harden Not Your Hearts Any Longer; Believe in Christ

 

Why I Do Family History: Let's Go Into the Family Business!

The president of the Corydon 2 branch recently asked me to speak in his sacrament meeting on family history work. The following is a reconstruction of my talk.

leer este artículo en castillano/español


We've got to go into the family business!

During this Christmas season, I saw once again with my kids the movie "Santa Claus". In the movie, Santa Claus falls down from on top of the house. Dad puts his coat on and becomes the new Santa Claus. Seeing this, his son said he wanted to "go into the family business", which was being be Santa Claus.

Our Savior Jesus Christ came to do for us something we can't do for ourselves. He wanted to do this because we are His family, and because He loves us. He wanted to be like His dad - our Heavenly Father - and enter the family business, which for him was saving us.

I think the best way that we can return this great favor and follow the example of our Savior, showing our Heavenly Father that we want to go into in the family business, is by doing family history work, which is to find and perform ordinances in behalf of our family members - something they cannot do for themselves.


A desire to do baptisms at the temple

While I was on my mission in Venezuela, I found out that my grandmother had paid a genealogist to search for a bunch of our ancestors. She was a convert to the church, so not much work had been done on that lineage. She sent all that work to the temple so their ordinances could be completed. That day for me, I gained the hope that someday I could find enough members of my family to take some living members - my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters - to the temple to do baptisms.

That desire never left me.


A week in institute

While I was studying in college, I took a church institute class. As part of that class, I participated in a week of training in the family history lab. During that week, I felt many times the presence of a large group of people behind me, as if they were watching me. I could not see them, but I knew they were there and I knew who they were, because I felt they were very interested in what I was doing, with their names all over my computer screen.

However, at the end of that week , I did not feel I had learned enough to prepare someone's name to go to the temple. All too soon, I gave up.


A small family reunion

A few years passed, and my younger brother married a family historian. Since she was a descendant of pioneers, and her family had been members of the church since then, the family history and ordinances of her family had been done long ago. So, she was very happy to have married into a family that needed so much work.

One night we had a small family reunion with my grandparents, uncles and aunts, dome of my Dada's cousins, and some of my brothers and sisters and our families. This sister-in-law of mine brought some pictures of a grandfather of mine, many back. She told us about his life, his blacksmith shop, his wife, son and daughter, the neighborhood where he had lived. As she spoke, I could feel the presence of this grandfather. He seemed to have a strong desire to be there to tell me these things himself. He wanted to share his life with me, and I realized that the only way he could do that was that I had to looking for him.

That night, for the first time I fully realized that my ancestors, even though they are dead, still exist and are still real human beings - human beings who have feelings, hopes, dreams and fears... human beings who have a great need they cannot meet themselves. I realized that I had to help them with that need.

The problem was, I didn't know how.


We want you to find us!

A short time later, I attended a special lesson on how to index records in FamilySearch. Hearing how easy it was to download a few records, copy them into the computer and then upload them, I decided to give it a try .

I was able to index a lot of records, and I could feel the gratitude of the people I had helped. As I was uploading one project, I felt again the presence of a large group of people - the same group whose presence I had felt in my institute class. They seemed to say how great a thing it was that I had indexed so many records, but they begged me; they pleaded with me, saying, "We want you to find us!" 

At that point, I decided I needed to try again. I decided to ask my sister and my sister-in-law to help me. They taught me a lot of things. They gave me information they already had about my family, and they helped me set up my account in Ancestry and FamilySearch. In the course of learning how to use Ancestry, I found quite a few members of my family - never realizing how many of them had enough information and could have gone to the temple.

But, not knowing how to take that step to submit the names to the temple, I gave up once again. What I needed most was someone to sit next to me, to help me from beginning to end, from finding a new person to having an ordinance card in my hands.


An hour and a half with Brother Celaya
 
More years went by; my wife and I and our children moved to another house, in another neighborhood where there was an excellent family historian named Brother Celaya. One day after sacrament meeting, this brother Celaya grabbed me by the arm, pulled me into his office, sat me in front of the computer, and told me to do this and click here, and then do that... Inside of an hour and a half, I saw for the first time that little temple icon indicating that we had succeeded in preparing my grandfather's uncle whose name was "Mervin" to be baptized in the temple.

Very excited, I went home and found his wife Hallie. Often, while I was looking for more information about them, I could feel the presence of my aunt Hallie, grateful to see her name once again on my computer screen. 

Since they were recently deceased, I had to get permission from the church to do their ordinances. When they gave it, I felt a joy too great to describe! I went to the family history center to print cards for the temple. When I went to the printer to get them, I was not alone. Waiting for the cards to come out, felt the presence of that same group of people again, overjoyed at what we had accomplished! I could feel the excitement of Mervin and Hallie, knowing that they were going to be receiving their ordinances.


Baptism and Great Joy
 
Finally, the day came to take Hallie and Mervin to the temple to be baptized. I will never be able to forget the great joy I felt as I baptized my mother-in-law in behalf of my Aunt Hallie! After the baptism, we left the water, and I went to the locker room to change my clothes. Luckily, I found myself alone, because immediately, I began to cry for of the great joy I felt. It was a joy that filled me completely and then just kept coming, like an unending flood! I could feel how clean and how free my Uncle Mervin and Aunt Hallie felt, almost as if I myself had been baptized that day.


Sealed for all eternity

After a few weeks, we completed the initiatories and endowments for my Uncle Mervin and my Aunt Hallie. At the end of Mervin's endowment, I could see in my mind and feel and know that the two had reunited, rejoicing that they had received so many ordinances. Now the only thing left was to be sealed!

One day, my wife and I decided to go to the temple. At the very moment when my wife said she wanted to do some sealings, I felt the presence of my Aunt Hallie, overjoyed, because she knew that today was the day she would be sealed to her husband for time and all eternity!

In that room, kneeling at the altar across from my wife, the tears flowed, and I felt yet another flood of great joy. As he finished with the ordinance, the sealer's voice was trembling, and he also had tears in his eyes. He thanked us for having shared that experience with him.


Family history work is missionary work

Quite often, when I find a new person in my family, I can sense through the Spirit how that person feels about the fact that I have found him or her. Some immediately rejoice because they know they will not wait much longer to receive their ordinances. Many don't seem to know what I'm doing at that moment. But after I have performed some ordinances, I have felt that some come to accept them anyway. In other words, I believe that in doing this work, I am teaching my ancestors the importance of it. I believe they are able to ask questions on the other side, and I believe there are those who teach them, and so they come to accept their ordinances.
   
What I am saying is that temple work is missionary work. In doing family history work, we are missionaries, and our ancestors are our investigators! We've got to teach them the gospel!

Imagine how it must feel to those who learn and accept the gospel first, and then have to wait for their living descendants to find them and carry out their ordinances! Let us not allow them to wait any longer than they already have!


This work makes temple attendance a personal thing

Before I started doing this work, for me, attending the temple was something I did because I needed to. It was something I did because I had let too much time go by between visits to the temple. It was something I did because I needed to counsel with my Heavenly Father about something important in my life.

But now that I am a historian in my family, attendance at the temple has become an opportunity to serve my ancestors. I no longer do the ordinances I want to do, but rather the ones they need most. I can't let so much time go by between trips to the temple because, every night before I go to bed, I see the pile of cards containing the names of so many members of my family who still have great need of my help.

When I go to the temple, I go for someone I know. When I go to the temple I see that card and I know when he was born, when he died, where he lived, who his wife and parents were, what he did for work, the names of his children. Often when I go to the temple, I know how these people feel about the opportunity to receive the ordinance I am doing for them. I cannot count how many times I have felt the great joy of the person for whom I have done ordinances. I cannot count how many times I have felt the great joy of a certain group of people behind me, as if they were watching me, rejoicing once again at what we have accomplished!

These people are not just members of my family who dwell in a faraway place among the spirits of the dead. These are my dear friends! I believe every one of our ancestors have been promised that if their ordinances can be carried out before that great day when Christ comes again, they will be able to come with Him in the clouds, in great glory. (see Doctrine and Covenants 76:50-69)

I believe that day will be a day of great joy, a day of happy reunion. There will be tears and hugs when, once again, we meet face to face those for whom we have done so much. But this can only be if we get started in this labor of love, this labor of doing our family history!

For me, temple attendance has become a very personal thing!



Spiritual First Aid

Today, President Romney announced an activity to learn to do first aid. He said that if we wanted to learn to save a person who is about to die, we can attend this class.

Brothers and sisters, I invite you: if you want to learn to save a person who has died, both spiritually and temporally, come! Come and learn how to give them a form of spiritual first aid! Come learn how to do family history! Come and experience with me the great joy of doing for them what they cannot do for themselves!

Every third Tuesday from 6:00 to 8:00 pm I'm at the stake building, in the family history center. Come, and I'll teach you. I am willing to do a class here in this building, to make it easier for you to learn. If we don't have the opportunity to sit down together, we can do it by phone - President Romney has my phone number. Come, and I will teach you.

Not so long ago, genealogy was a very slow process that involved spending hours reviewing a whole record, looking for a single name, a single piece of information. We had to write to the First Presidency to ask permission to do the ordinances. We had to wait several weeks for a response. But not anymore! With the computer technology we have these days, it is so much faster! Records and information can be searched and found in seconds or minutes instead of hours or days. We can reserve ordinances instantly instead of waiting weeks. This work has never been easier in all of its history! It is now possible to find enough family members in need so that you and your living family members will never ever have to go to the temple without bringing with you the name of a member of your family!

After a lot of work, I have been able to find hundreds of members of my family who need me and the living members of my family to do their temple work. I do not say this to show how great a historian I am; there are those who have done ever so much more than I have. I say this because I am lazy. I prefer to procrastinate and not have to work. I prefer to spend my Sundays playing with my children or watching a spiritual movie with them. It took me many years and several attempts until I finally learned to do all of this.

If someone like me can manage to do so much work on my family history, you can do it too. I don't want to let it take you as long as it did me to get started. To the extent possible, I want to sit next to each person who wants to learn, and help you from start to finish - from finding a new person, to printing the cards to do ordinances - as Brother Celaya did for me and for my family!


Why in the valley of death should they weep?

Finally, I leave you with one thought: there is a hymn that speaks of the need we have of our Good Shepherd, who is Jesus Christ. It is a hymn that speaks of our faith that He is coming to rescue us from sin and error. But as I read these words, I can't help but think of my ancestors. I hear them expressing their confidence in my effort, telling of the great hope they feel seeing me do it, and the great desire they have to receive their temple ordinances, the great desire they have that I keep trying to find them!

Hymn #6, "Redeemer of Israel" reads:


"We know he is coming
To gather his sheep
And lead them to Zion in love,
For why in the valley
Of death should they weep
Or in the lone wilderness rove?"

"How long we have wandered
As strangers in sin
And cried in the desert for thee!
Our foes have rejoiced
When our sorrows they've seen,
But Israel will shortly be free."

"As children of Zion,
Good tidings for us.
The tokens already appear.
Fear not, and be just,
For the kingdom is ours.
The hour of redemption is near."
 

Let's Get Started!

We have indeed been given much, and we too must give. I cannot see another's lack and I not share. I shall divide my gifts from thee with ev'ry brother that I see who has the need of help from me. How can we enjoy the great blessings of the restored gospel, and not share them with our ancestors? Brothers and sisters, come! Let's learn! Let's do together for our ancestors what they cannot do for themselves! Let's start giving our ancestors the spiritual first aid they so badly need! Let's go into the family business together - the business of saving our families!

I leave you this invitation in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.


Also of Interest

My ward family history website provides tutorials and other resources to help you get started in doing family history research:

http://nastake.org/wards-and-branches/new-albany-ward/family-history-and-temple-work/

Missing Child Found: Harry Edward Moyer

It's not often I feel the need to blog about my family history experiences, but today is one of those days. Some months ago, I was expanding our family tree in FamilySearch. I found my way into three people who deserve to have their story told. Not that all stories shouldn't be told, but I can't tell all the stories I find, and this one is extraordinary. This one bears special mention.

Where they are in the family:

• Granpa Bernie's grandparents: Reuben Clinton Smith and Ellen "Ella" Bowman 
• Reuben and Ellen's son Clyde is my great-grandfather
• Reuben and Ellen's son Mervin (Clyde's brother and Grandpa Bernie's uncle) married Hallie Rehrig
• Hallie Rehrig's mother is Zenobia Wagner
• Zenobia's parents are James A. Wagner and Ellen Hahn
• Ellen's parents are Jacob Hahn and Sophia Cope Diehl (she re-married to a Diehl after Jacob died - need to find him on her death certificate)
• Jacob and Sophia's son Jacob W. Hahn married Minnie Marie Reppert
• Minnie's sister, Maggie is the mother in question
• Maggie married Edward Moyer

On my first pass through this region of the family back in July, I found Maggie and Ed, and I stopped, thinking their children were too close to the hundred-and-ten year "Permission Required" rule to do the work on for the time being. Then yesterday, as I was preparing for our upcoming trip to the temple to do baptisms for all these people, I was reviewing my documentation, filling in missing dates. In trying to find Maggie's death date, I got a list of death records. One of them was hers, and another had her name and Ed's name on it. I had found a missing son, born in 1899: Harry Edward Moyer!

I attached Maggie's death record, set up a new record for Harry in Ancestry.com, and attached Harry to his father. I synched the new information over into FamilySearch and set Harry up there as well. I switched over to FamilySearch to make sure I had everything in order there. I went to reserve the ordinances, and this is what I found:

Knowing that the baptism, confirmation, initiatory and endowment are not performed for children who die under the age of eight, my jaw dropped when I looked a little closer at the birth and death dates. On February 24, 1899, at the age of 21 years old, Maggie Reppert Moyer had given birth to this little boy. Two months and two days later, on April 26, 1899, their infant son died. I have not been able to identify the cause of death, but my presumption is that he became very sick and just didn't make it.

This morning, I found this, cropped out of a church record in Northampton, Pennsylvania:

Tomorrow night, I'll have my Mom be baptized for and in behalf of Maggie R. Reppert, wife of Edward Moyer and the mother of this little boy. I'll see to it that Ed Moyer receives his endowment. I already have the yellow card for Maggie and Ed to be sealed to each other. In the coming weeks I'll print out a little blue card that will have four boxes 'X'-ed out and one box for sealing to parents. My goal is to have this baby boy sealed to his parents for time and all eternity this spring.

I hate to think I would have missed finding Harry Edward Moyer if I hadn't gone back and reviewed these records one last time!

Kynslie and Daddy Home Alone

Today, little Kynslie and I woke up not feeling so well. She had a nose that was so runny it would need wiping all day long, and I had a sore throat and a headache and not a whole lot of energy.

After not a whole lot of debate, I ended up deciding it would be best for me to stay home. I suggested to Shelley that Kynslie ought to probably stay home as well. Shelley could take Owen and Livvy to church, and I'd stay here with the baby. After getting dressed, Shelley came down and got a good look at Kynslie. Instantly, she knew what I was talking about. Kynslie didn't feel so great either. She'd need to stay home with Daddy.

After Shelley and the kiddos left for church, I put Kynslie down for a long nap while I watched a family-oriented show on TV. When Kynslie woke up, she was a happy little thing. Her face was a slimy mess and needed wiping, so I took care of that and changed her diaper, then we headed down stairs. I lay or sat on the floor watching TV while Kynslie crawled around, finding things to play with. At one point, I caught her behind the lamp table next to the couch. Little did I know at the time that while she was there she had managed to steal my glasses and leave them on the floor.

She happily ate her yogurt that I gave her for lunch, and then topped off with a handful of Froot Loops for good measure.

After lunch, I found another TV show, but played with her a little bit. She'd crawl away from me, looking for some trouble to get into. I'd pretend to growl at her, "Hey you, where do you think you're going!" I'd grab her leg or her little foot and pull her gently back and tickle her. She'd laugh, knowing I'd caught her and she wasn't getting away. She'd try to get away again anyway, and I'd pull back again. More laughter. We played Legos for a minute, but then she got bored and headed toward the kitchen again. I don't know how many times I had to pull her away from the garbage can, or stop her from going upstairs by herself - I even had to get her out of the bathroom before she got to the toilet!

Shelley and the kids got home from church, had some lunch, and then left again for Grandma Julie's birthday party. Again, Kynslie and I stayed home.

I ate some leftover rice and broccoli-chicken stir fry and shared some with Kynslie. She gobbled it up - she was quite happy to feed herself. Big surprise! After dinner, I cut up some watermelon for her. I don't know how much of it she ate and how much she played with, but by the time she was done, she was all watermelon from head to toe! I took off her one-sie and scrubbed her down, then figured I'd let

I put on yet another show and rested on the floor while Kynslie crawled around. Every now and then I'd hear her let out this pathetic sort of cry. I'd look over and invite  her to come sit with Daddy, but she just looked at me with this forlorn expression. Her face all slimy once again from her nose, she looked so miserable! Finally, I decided it would cheer her up considerably - and probably help her feel better - to sit in a warm bath. She got a big kick out of having the bathtub all to herself. She didn't have to share toys, space, or Daddy's attention with kids who were bigger and louder than her.

She kept trying to roll over on the changing table while I put a one-sie on her, reaching for lotion and diapers above her head. Her kicking and squirming made it impossible to get a diaper on her - par for the course when you're changing Kynslie!

Once she was all dressed, I put her sleep sack on her and gave her a binki. It didn't take long to rock her to sleep, with her little arms folded up over her face. She seemed so at peace as she slept in my arms. I couldn't help thinking she's the most adorable little thing in the whole world. I felt a special sort of closeness to her right then. We'd spent half the day together yesterday, even going for a walk to the store and to get ice cream, and now we'd spent pretty much our whole Sunday together, playing and laughing and trying to feel better. She was my little buddy. "Night-night Kynslie." I whispered as I lay her in her crib. She was so tired she barely moved a muscle. I hoped she'd feel better in the morning.

Baptism and Confirmation for Uncle Mervin, Aunt Hallie and Aunt Beatrice - June 21, 2014

Hi All,

I'm excited to report that on Saturday, June 21, 2014, I was able to go and do baptisms and confirmations. This is my first time doing such work for people whose names I prepared to go to the temple. It was one of the neatest experiences I've ever had, and probably my favorite day in the temple so far.

All three of them wanted their work done, and it was neat to feel of their spirits, their joy that day. But Aunt Hallie's baptism really stood out to me. Because of the deeply personal and sacred nature of these accounts, I won't publish full details on my blog, but I did record them under the profiles for each person on FamilySearch.

If you have an account and you're related to these people, please feel free to click on the links and read the stories about my experiences with each of them in performing their baptisms and confirmations.

Uncle Mervin
Aunt Hallie
Aunt Beatrice

Trent

Family History: Finding Uncle Mervin and Aunt Hallie (5/11/2014)

For a little over a week, I've felt the need to get back into doing some family history research and prepare some family members who've passed on to receive their temple ordinances.

After several attempts to schedule a meeting with our ward family history expert, Brother Celaya, we crossed paths in church. He pulled me into the clerk's office, where he sucked me into his world and began showing me the new features on FamilySearch.org.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing! This thing is PAF on steroids! With PAF  you have to go and find some resource that has census records or birth certificate or death or marriage document of some kind. You manually copy that information into PAF, where it lets you add pretty much whomever you want, without much in the way of verifying who is who and what the relationship should be. Having never done it before, I didn't know when I would reach a point where someone was ready to go to the temple.

In the new FamilySearch, you have direct access to census, birth and death records and so on. One search pulls up all of it. You click on a record to add to your sources, and then tell the system you want to associate that record with the person you're looking for and tie it into your family tree. The system automatically figures out everything else and copies it in. The data is updated at the Church automatically. What's more, if a census record finds other people in the same household, the system will automatically add them to the person you're working on, and figure out all the relationships: mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter etc... Then you go through the new persons added and attach them to your family tree. Go through and find one more census record to back up all the new attachments, and you have a new family ready to go to the temple!

Inside of about an hour and a half, Brother Celaya and I had found my grandfather's uncle Mervin, and we got him ready to go to the temple. That afternoon, I found his wife, Hallie, and her mother and father, Frederick Rehrig and Zanobia Wagner. With more help from Brother Celaya, I was able to get all of them ready for the temple, and request their ordinances.

That afternoon, it was neat to talk to Grandpa Bernie and ask him about his Uncle Mervin and Aunt Hallie. I'll have to bug him again - I want more!

That night, I told Brother Celaya, "If temple work for my own family really is this accessible, I have no excuse for going to the temple without taking a family member with me!". To this he responded, "I'm glad you feel that way!"

Yesterday, after submitting the request via FamilySearch, I sent the family an email, informing them of my find and my excitement and of submitting their names for ordinance cards. I can't begin to describe how neat it felt to find my Uncle Mervin and Aunt Hallie and get this started for them! I can't begin to describe how neat it felt to have an undeniable sense that, even though they've moved on, Uncle Mervin and Aunt Hallie know what I'm doing, and they're overjoyed by it!

I can hardly wait to have those little blue and pink cards in my hands, and I can hardly wait to go to the temple and perform those sacred ordinances for people I know are excited and waiting to receive them!

Family Home Evening: Temple Square (8/25/2013)

I needed to get some pictures for the blog, and Shelley needed a long nap, so after we got back from attending Baby Tyler's blessing, I loaded up the kiddos in the car, and we went to Temple Square.

 Naturally, by the time we got there, and I found a place to park on West Temple, they were asleep...

Livvy woke up whimpering, but got excited when I put her in the stroller - she was all smiles! We're going for a walk with Daddy!

We walked down West Temple from 100 South toward Temple Square. At the crosswalks, I would push a button, and then have Owen watch for the "red hand" to turn into a "green guy walking", and then we'd cross.

Once we got to temple square, we had a quick bathroom break and got a drink.

Then we went to the North Visitor's Center. Owen thought it was pretty cool to go up the big spiral ramp to the Christus statue. When he saw it, he said, "That's a big statue!". I asked him, "Hey Owen, who's that?" He said, "That's Jesus. He loves us!"

We stayed and listened to the recording... "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world...  And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning... Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world." (3 Nephi 11:10-14)


Naturally, the kids were more interested in playing with the stroller and running around like crazy than they were in seeing the Christus. Even though I had to keep telling them to settle down, the people there seemed to enjoy watching my decidedly cute kids enjoy themselves - Dad's not biased or anything!

After we went back down to the main floor, I lost track of Owen for just a minute. When I found him again, I pulled the stroller back as I turned my head, trying to get his attention. I hadn't realized that, in the split second I was looking the wrong way, Livvy had managed to unbuckle herself and stand up, completely erect in the seat of the stroller. Of course, she went over the bar and landed face first on the carpet. I managed to console Livvy and wrangle Owen into heading out toward the escalator. We went down to see what there was to see on the basement floor.

Owen got a big kick out of the movies in the various kiosks. He seemed to especially like this one about the two thousand stripling warriors. He watched it over and over again!

I sat down to to just rest for a minute and watch the short movie about the church welfare system while kids did a little too much running around despite my insistence to the contrary...

After that, we decided we'd go outside and get a good look at the temple. On the way out, Owen saw some people turn and disappear, with the silver doors closing behind them. Naturally, he found a button to push... a big round one with an arrow on it! "Daddy can we go on the 'alligator'?!" he asked, excited. I thought about it for a minute, then realized that, not only would it be an adventure for him, it meant not having to go back down the escalator with Livvy in the stroller - a win-win situation! Owen was more than happy to push the button. When we got out on the first floor, Livvy of course had to push the button to call the elevator again. I just hope we didn't give anybody too much of a headache!

I took some pictures of the temple while Livvy ran this way and that, checking out every litte thing that even remotely caught her interest. She seemed to be excited just to be free to run! I had to take over the stroller when Owen ran headlong into a nice Australian lady. I apologized for the craziness, and she was very understanding. 

Owen was not happy about having to relinquish the stroller as we entered the South Visitor's Center. 

That didn't last long though, because he found more movie kiosks to occupy him while Livvy and I got in the line that was slowing moving around the model of the temple.

When our turn came, I managed to get Owen's attention. Both the kids enjoyed having me lift them up where they could see. Owen was amazed at all the room and the little lights and chairs in the temple.

We left, and I found our way around to the exit onto West Temple. As we walked, people kept saying how cute the kids were. I think most people just aren't used to seeing little kids dressed up in Sunday best. We went back to the car, where I fought to fold the stroller in vain before stashing it upside-down in the seat next to Livvy. They were happy to know we were going home to see Mom.