name them one by one

My Dad grew up in the Deep South, raised by a single mom who supported 6 kids working at whatever she could find. At one point, she was a machinist working on bombers during the years of WWII. They were desperately poor, subsisting on beans and rice most of the time. One winter all they had to eat were blueberries Grandma had preserved the previous summer. After graduating from high school, Dad joined the Air Force. While stationed in Newfoundland, he received the missionary discussions, and wanted to be baptized. However, Mom was at home with us, and he wanted her to also hear the gospel. Long story short, eventually they were baptized when I was about 4yrs old.






Through the years, Dad has worked at his family history with quite a bit of success. One line, however, has proven to be quite difficult. His maternal grandpa is the last one he has been able to trace, until a few days ago. Here is where the story gets difficult to keep track of, so hang on tight if you are still reading.

I have been preparing names of folks to take to the temple for several months. A couple of weeks ago Paul and I took the kids, my sister, and Becca their cousin, and did some baptisms in the temple for 82 of our ancestors. My dad and brother also went. While getting things set for the trip, I noticed that the ordinance work that had been done for Dad's great grandpa still showed as "in progress" on the church's New Family Search website. I printed off what the computer showed and took the appropriate paperwork showing the sealing had been done when we went. I need to back up a little and explain that in '98 or '99 while doing some research I had found a possible cousin from a second marriage of Dad's grandpa. When Mom and Dad were returning from their mission in Buffalo New York, I begged them to stop and do a little investigating. It turns out this WAS a cousin from a second marriage, and Dad was the spitting image of the woman's brother who had been dead lo these many years. The gal about passed out when she opened the door and saw Dad/her bro. standing there!! Louisa gave Dad some info on his great grandpa, and we have been hunting for this man and his wife for several years. Anyway...the people at the temple told us we needed the original slips in order to correct the computer, so Dad went home and hunted for them. After a fruitless search, I decided to order the death certificate of his grandpa in hopes that the great grandpa's name would be on the slip. When the certificate arrived, not only was his great grandpa's name on it, so was his g.gma's, and that name was different from the one Louisa had given him!!

Using this new info, I was able to use Ancestry to search for them, and I FOUND THEM!!!! That death certificate led to 3 more generations that now can progress on the other side of the veil.
I know that this has been a long, convoluted post, but I wanted it recorded for my own posterity.

As an aside, aren't names funny!? One of my ancestor's name is Evilman. Makes you wonder what they did to get that name attached to them way back when! This g.g.g.grandpa's first name was Green, also recorded as Gremberry. Hmmmm....! What are some names in your ancestry that are significant or humorous or whatever?? Please share!