I've recently realized that I owe a lot to my ancestors. (I know, I'm a little slow.) I was asked by the local Daughters of the Utah Pioneers chapter to head a video project. I told them that I am strictly a still photographer but they said they wanted me anyway. I am creating a virtual museum for the artifacts that they have had passed down through generations of ancestors, some of which came across the United States or even the Atlantic Ocean. I've been filming each woman holding her artifacts (or sitting on them if they are chairs, etc.) and telling the stories of her ancestors and these heirlooms. It's been pretty exciting for me to see history come alive. (I'm a big nerd.) So, I began to be more interested in my own family tree. Fortunately, I have siblings who aren't as slow as I am and I remembered that my brother lovingly sent me his PAF (Personal Ancestral File) with tons of our ancestors in it. I downloaded the necessary software from the church website and off I went into my own family history. A friend from DUP told me that on the Church History website, I could enter names of my ancestors and find out if they crossed the plains and even which company they came with and when they came to Utah. I have since spent a few hours figuring out that 20+ direct ancestors of mine came across the plains! I even read some trail exerpts, journals of people in those companies and found some stories about my pioneers (as I like to call them, now). So, if you know the names of your ancestors who might have come to Utah from around 1847-1868, get on it!
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