Learning from Ancestors

Family History. I love it. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it's part of what we do. It doesn't just mean genealogy work. I means really getting to know your past relatives. In the church, we also use it to discover which portions of our ancestors' ordinances are done.

For me, however, I have to go back a great many generations to find someone without their work done. All lines of my ancestors joined the church back in the 1800s. They've pretty much been doing Family History work ever since then. As a result, I don't focus all too much on that aspect of it. But I do love to follow the doings and stories of each individual. I learn of their struggles to America back before it was a country. I learn of their struggles across the Great Plains to Utah and from there to other parts of the West. I learn of the hardships they faced in the Great War and the Great Depression. I learn how much technology has changed. I learn of their daily lives, their hopes and dreams. It's truly fascinating to me. Much of the lessons my ancestors have learned through their trials are simular to the ones I face now. You learn much wisdom from studying your ancestors' lives.

Palmyra New York Temple

A copy of an account given by Rebecca Bean at a Fireside in Salt Lake City in the late fall of 1964 was handed to my mother while she was in the MTC preparing for her mission. Just a few Mondays ago, my mother used this copy to teach us about my great-great-great uncle Willard Washington Bean who served as mission president with his wife Rebecca Rosetta Peterson Bean in Palmyra, NY for 24 years. Turns out he's the one who bought all the major church sites over there. And organized and helped plant the trees on Hill Cuhmorah. Which are still there. That's just a little bit awesome to me.

I'm really grateful for Rebecca Bean giving her account in 1964. I'm grateful that someone had recorded it. I'm grateful for the blessing it was that the MTC President's wife learned that my mother was a relative and gave a copy to her. I'm grateful that my mother taught it to us.

Learning about your ancestors helps you feel more rooted in the world. It gives you a sense of family togetherness and connectedness. You really get to learn the history of a time through the eyes of your ancestors. I can't really imagine a better way of learning history. You really become interested in it when you realize that in a way you are a part of it.

In anycase, for those of you who'd like to have a copy of Rebecca Bean's account it's here. Click on the symbol for printing and then "save page as..." This way you can actually put it on your computer if you'd like.