Hunger Games

Dave downloaded the three Hunger Games books onto the ipad. I totally devoured them. Books 1 and 2 are very fast paced with tons of stuff going on, but Book 3 is slower and more in Katniss' head. If you haven't read them go do it!

Nerdy

One of the professors at the University of Split emailed me the link to the conference website. It has a picture of me at the end of my presentation. You know you put clothes on in the morning and think you look good in the mirror, then you see a picture of yourself (see below). I didn't realize what a nerd I look like! 

Thomas and Elizabeth Wright

I just got an email from the Patriarchal Blessing dept that Thomas and Elizabeth Wright, my 4th Great Grandparents, did not have PB's, but when I was researching Edmund and Maria Walker I found that they were neighbors in the 1860 Census. I looked up Thomas and Elizabeth on the Pioneer Overland Travel website and found an interesting story. While they were crossing 30 people in their company died of cholera. A man named  Edward Middlemass accused Thomas of murdering his wife. Even though she died of cholera, Edward said Thomas poisoned her. Go read the story here. It turns out Edward Middlemass caused a bunch of trouble while they were crossing the plains and Thomas was exonerated. You have to read the trail excerpt to get the effect of the scandal.

the News

I lived in South Africa from December 1995 to May 1997. I got there after the Rugby World Cup, but everyone was still on a high from the first international win since Apartheid was over. While I was there Nelson Mandela was the President and I was able to witness the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when I was in East London. The Constitutional Convention also occurred while I was there.

While living in a foreign country you get to see events from someone elses perspective. England got a new Prime Minister the first week I arrived in the country. The end of the French Presidential campaign occurred while Dave and I were in France in April. Last summer the phone hacking scandal engulfed England and this summer was the Olympics/Paralympics. Dave works for a company called the RAC, which is like the AAA in the USA. A few months ago Dave came home from work and told me a crazy story about two patrols fighting and it ended up in the Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago. But I do miss watching Fox news, CNN, and Morning Joe on MSNBC. Dave was able to download the Fox, CNN, and Morning Joe apps on the new ipad so I can watch the US Presidential campaign commentary even though I have to do absentee ballot for the second time in a Presidential election.

It's not Mother's Day today

While I was at the Kinesiology conference in Croatia, another speaker gave a presentation on exercise & childhood obesity. He said the only statistically significant factor to combat obesity in his research was if the Mom was physically active.

The LDS church does tons of research on itself and the members. When I was finishing up at BYU the first time (Winter Semester '99), there was a rumor that the church did a study to find out what was the main influence to get young men to serve missions. The answer: if their Moms had served a mission.

My Mom had a phrase she said to me over and over and over and over and over (you get the point), while I was growing up: "The best kind of Mom is a returned missionary, college educated kind of Mom".

David O. McKay, the 9th prophet of the church, is quoted as saying: "No other success can compensate for failure in the home." [Conference Report April 1935, p.116]

Can you see a pattern here? And people think a Mom's job isn't that important. My Aunt Sally gave me some great advice a while back. She told me to join the PTA and be involved in your kids education. The story she told me is that other parents had been complaining about an English teacher at the high school for a while, but because they weren't on the PTA nothing happened. My genius IQ cousin Brittney ended up getting this teacher and did not get an A+ like she usually did, so my Aunt got this teacher transferred to another school.

When my nephew was a toddler on the verge of learning his ABC's, my Mom found a website that helps kids learn the alphabet and grammar. This made me realize my Mom, Grandma Jensen, and Great-Grandma Amy are the reasons why education is so important in my family. Now research is catching up to the importance of women/Moms, which is the opinion my family always had.

So thank you Mom and all the other women who make me a better person! Hopefully, I can be a better Aunt and future Mom!

Dear Future Children

Another month has come and gone and I am still not pregnant. We finally have an appointment to a fertility specialist after the GP's office totally messed it up. We have done all the preliminary tests, but to be honest I don't really trust the GP. All they do is order a test and read the results off a computer screen. I would prefer to see the ultrasound myself or know the doctor has seen the video with their own eyes. I know I have mentioned before that I am not a fan of socialized medicine (NHS in England), but this really is annoying having to wait so long for an appointment to a fertility specialist.

I haven't mentioned that a few months back Dave and I went to an adoption information night. It was pretty painful, the lady that interviewed us was not a nice person. She basically told us that we didn't qualify yet. It really felt like we were being discriminated against because I am American, we are Mormon, and because we didn't live together before we were married. I called my Mom afterward to complain about how mean the lady was. We haven't made any decision about adoption. They have a crazy system here on how to place a child, I won't get into details, but one thing for sure we will not be adopting in England.

In another blog I follow, the wife writes "Dear Future Children" posts every once in a while. They are really cute. So this is my post to our future children:

Dear Future Kids

Can't wait to meet you!

Love, Mom w

PB Edmund Walker and Maria Antoinette Swallow Walker

This week I got in the mail my 4th great grandparents, Edmund Walker and Maria Antoinette Swallow Walker, PB. After reading both, it looks like the Patriarch, John Smith, was in town and did a bunch of PBs. They both took place on 3 Sept 1872 in Peoa, Summit, Utah. Edmund was born on 11 June 1818 in London and Maria was born 7 November 1816 in Guilford, Surrey, England, which is southwest of London. When I went to check them out on FamilySearch it shows that Edmund was christened when he was 16 years old, 17 July 1834 at the St Andrew Holborn Church in London. Go check out the history of the church, it's really old and was rebuilt by Christopher Wren after 1666. I'm not familiar with Church of England christening protocols, but 16 seems a little old, so I emailed the current pastor for information, I'll let you know what happens. I found Edmund and Maria and their children had crossed the plains in the Abraham R. Wright Company and arrived in SLC on 11 October 1859. There were only 18 people, including Abraham, in this groups, which is really small, so I checked the sources and it had a excerpt from the Deseret News on 12 October 1859:

"ARRIVED.—On Thursday last, Daniel Davis with a small train of merchandize; on Friday, M. J. Snedeker and Gen. J. Hunt with four or five wagons each, and on yesterday, A. R. Wright with a train of eight wagons arrived from the States, all well and in good condition. Col. Thomas S. Smith of Farmington, with a drove of Sheep, about one thousand in number, and a train of merchandize will arrive in a few days, and R. K. Homer, E. R. Young and J. C. Naile are expected ere long, each with trains—Mr. Naile having in his company eight or ten families of emigrants."

It looks like they were in a group that was just transporting supplies to SLC. I am related through their son Walter who was 14 when they crossed. This is who was in the family when they crossed the plains:

Walker, Edmund (41)

Walker, Maria Antoinette Swallow (42)

Walker, Stephen (16)

Walker, Walter Phares (14)

Walker, Charles Swallow (10)

Walker, Cyrus Simpson (9)

Walker, William Swallow (3)

Walker, Isabella (1)

And FamilySearch says that Edmund and Maria had a total of eight children:

Stephen Walker (1842-1922)

Walter Walker (1844-1929)

Charles Swallow Walker (1848-1929)

Cyrus Simpson Walker (1850-1915)

Maria Antonette Walker (1852-1857)

Isabella Walker (1853-1854)

Harry Walker (1855-1856)

William "S" Walker (1856-1931)

But when I found them in the 1860 US Census, which took place in June 1860 and they had arrived in Utah in October 1859 (8 months) it shows the family as:

Edmund 42

Maria 42

Stephen 18

Walter 16

Charles 12

Silas 10

William 4

This means that their children Maria and Harry died before they crossed, Isabella died after they crossed, and Cyrus is not living with the family.

Edmund and Maria are in the 1860 Census and Edmund is in the 1900 Census, but not the 1870 or 1880. Maria died 24 August 1889 and Edmund died in 22 November 1903. The 1860 Census shows that their neighbors were Thomas and Elizabeth Wright. Their oldest daughter Charlotte married Walter in 1864.

This is Edmund's Blessing. In the beginning it says "thy life has been a chequered one but thy guardian Angel hath preserve thee from many of the Evils of the World". This may explain why I haven't been able to find them in the 1870 and 1880 Census records. Now I want to know what they did in those missing years!

This is Maria's Blessing.

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