I’ve just met a room full of relations I never knew before! What fun to gather in Enterprise, Utah, about 45 minutes north of St. George, in a James Holt Family Reunion this Labor Day weekend. We spent the day visiting and learning about James and his family. I was one of the very few who descend from his first wife, Mary. Last month was her 200th birthday. She died at age 30 after giving birth to 8 children. You can read about her on my 16 July post here: http://annlaemmlenlewis.com/2014/07/16/mary-pain-b-16-july-1814-celebrating-200-years/
I told her story in our morning meeting, then was the guest speaker in the afternoon. The family wants to do a Descendant Gathering Project. I’ve had some experience with that gathering Theodore Turley descendants, so I gave these cousins some ideas about how to get started gathering their family lines. You can read more about that on my Ann’s Stories blog here: http://annlaemmlenlewis1.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/how-to-gather-descendants/
Here are a few photos from the reunion:
One of the most exciting parts of the day was seeing and looking through James Holt’s Family Record Book, written in his own hand. I quickly photographed the pages just to have them in my phone. A CD with this book and many other family histories was available to purchase, so I’ve got better scans on hand. I love seeing original signatures of my family members. I love touching what they created, seeing the names lovingly entered, with birth, marriage and death information. Those few pieces of information reveal joy, heartache and tears.
Below are a few of my distant cousins. I really wish I had everyone’s photo. We had about 150 attending the reunion.
Afterwards, John and I and a few others drove to the Holt Family Cemetery, about 6 miles out of town. Barbara Holt Prestwich told us story after story about family members buried there. It’s a sacred spot. I feel connected when I’m there.
This weekend we also visited some other historical sites:
The Jacob Hamblin Home, Santa Clara:
Brigham Young’s Winter Home, St. George:
We spent a few hours at the lake on Monday with all of Heidi’s family and their 2 boats. Fun in the sun! Tomorrow the kids start BYU. We have come to the end of a perfect summer.
