Whenever I have a few free moments, I enjoy tracking down the descendants of each of my great-great-great grandparents. We each have 32 third-great-grandparents. Theodore Turley was one of those 32 in my ancestral lines.

Last night as I was looking for his children’s children and grandchildren, I came across this photo taken around the turn of the century. These lovely women are my “half 1st cousins, 3 times removed.” I love looking into their faces and I love their amazing dresses.

What a thrill to have this photo and to see their faces. What I wouldn’t give to have a hand-written journal kept by each. Their mother’s mother was Mary Elizabeth Rollins. Mary and her sister Caroline were two very brave little girls who had the courage to quickly run to gather up some pages from W. W. Phelps’s printing press as the mobs in Missouri were trying to stop and destroy the production of the Book of Commandments containing modern-day revelation from God. These girls fled with the large paper sheets into a nearby cornfield, where they hid while angry men searched for them, threatening to kill them. They were not discovered, and those few pages were preserved.

I wonder what our 3rd great grandchildren will think when they see photos of us, the fashions of our day, and read of the brave things we may or may not do. I hope I will be one of the brave. And I hope they like my clothes!