Writing Is In My Blood

My blog and this book are a collection of articles published in my later years, primarily the Provident Ponderings columns I wrote for the Blue Mountain Panorama. I also included a few other essays, and letters, but didn't have the energy or time to retype any articles I wrote for the Deseret News, San Juan Record, and Navajo Times, when I was a "stringer" back in the '70s.  I was also a high school reporter and editor, and then wrote newspaper articles at both Ricks College and BYU.  So yes, journalism and writing are definitely in my blood.
    I didn't realize it, until I started doing family research in 2000, that there have been many scribes, record keepers, letter writers, and agitators in my family tree.  I learned I had two great great grandfathers who were very diligent at recording details about their lives, as well as the history of the LDS church, and their surroundings and family. To those listed I give credit for my interest and passion for writing, research, and preservation.

*** Edward Giles Roberts  *** Robert Henderson *** Jess Thomas Keeler ***

*** Margaret Henderson Keeler *** Geraint Bowen ***       

    My own parents, Margaret and Jess were always very keen on writing, and often sent letters to government officials both on the local and national level, letting their concerns be heard.  They encouraged me to write, found me pen pals, and gave me diaries, in which I faithfully wrote.  They also took time to read what I wrote, often commenting on my careless spelling. My dad was always sending me to the dictionary to get it right. Later I learned from Mark Twain, “Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.”   Luckily, today it is so easy to correct documents, though sometimes computers try to help too much.  A person still has to use their brain.

Margaret Henderson and Jess Thomas Keeler on their wedding day, Pocatello, Idaho 

     Geraint Bowen is another writer in the family, though I didn't know just how significant he was until 2001.  He is a distant relative and a Welsh scholar, historian and bi-lingual proponent. The National Eisteddfod is the largest and oldest celebration of Welsh culture. In 1946 he won the bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and from 1978 to 1981 he presided over the Eisteddfod ceremonies as Archdruid. He wrote extensively about Welsh history and the early LDS converts who emigrated, though he professed to be an aetheist. His interest in Mormons was pricked because of his great aunt, Francis Bowen, who converted to the LDS church in Wales, along with her husband, Jonah Evans. Three years later, they left for American with their young son Thomas Bowen, never to be heard of again--until relatives in Wales started getting curious! Our family's first contact with Geraint was when he and Ron Dennis (Welsh BYU professor) came to Malad and Pocatello, Idaho to meet the Evans relatives in the 1990's. I was teaching school at the time and couldn't get away but Geraint met dozens of Evans/Bowen relatives.   In the process of his visit with my Great Aunt Connie, she gave him a copy of the history I had written about my father, Jess Thomas Keeler. Geraint called me before he went back to Wales, with questions about the Evans family,   Finally, in 2001 we were able to meet him and his wife Zonia.

2001 Janet visits with Geraint & Zonia Bowen

Steve and I took our first trip to Wales and Scotland in 2001. We traveled with Ron Dennis as part of a Welsh heritage group.  We met Geraint and his wife in Llanduno.  They live close by and we were even able to spend an afternoon with them at their home, meeting their two daughters Nia and Siân and their children. I gathered a great deal of genealogical information from the Bowens at that time, as well as a copy of Ar Drywydd y Mormoniaid, in Welsh, of course.  I learned a few basic words from him, so I knew if the information was related to births, deaths, blessings, etc. I appreciate Geraint's great effort to write such a book and his interest in the history of the LDS church in Wales.

         In preparation for that 2001 trip, Ron Dennis, asked for our ancestral pedigree chart, so he would know our Welsh relatives. The LDS church had great missionary success in Wales during the 1840s and 1850s, and many thousands of Welsh converts emigrated to America. They headed west with Brigham Young as part of the great Mormon migration, which began in 1847. Today it is estimated that approximately twenty percent of the population of Utah is of Welsh descent.

Edward Giles Roberts
 Ron also introduced me to the Welsh Mormon Web site which he helped to create.  He not only knew of my ancestor, Edward Giles Roberts, but every Welsh family who had emigrated to Zion from Wales 1847-1888.  Brother Dennis was a huge help in finding, not only their histories, but their actual homes, churches, and little villages they came from. He asked me if I had seen the translation of Edward Giles' journal on his site. I didn't even know existed. Upon reading it, I instantly I felt connected to this Welsh ancestor.

       Edward's conversion story was very inspiring, and the fact that he wrote about it, makes his journal especially valuable.  Edward Roberts came from a humble working class background. Along with other members of his family he was one of the earliest Welsh converts to Mormonism. "Indeed, the Roberts family was to provide a devoted nucleus of believers for the faith in mid-Wales. He not only wrote his family genealogy, but he also became the counselor in the branch and kept records of the branch in Machynlleth. The compact 70-page journal gives an unadorned account of his life and labour on behalf of the Saints over a twenty year period between 1845 to1865."  He preached there as well as in many other little towns in the area. In 1850 he became the president of the Dinas Mawddwy branch. After 15 years of very active church service he sailed for America 23 April 1865, and the branch was dissolved later that year.  Edward Giles' journal is included on the BYU site. His writings are very important to our family. 

On the road to Gelli Gron (Round Grove)

      The Roberts line ties into another Welsh family, the Thomases, who also settled in
Malad, Idaho.  Edward's daughter, Jane Lewis Roberts married David Davis Thomas.  She died in 1947, but I remember going to their home in Malad, Idaho.  In September 2016, we were finally able to visit the location of Gelli Gron where our Thomas relatives were taught about the restored Gospel and joined the church. One man we met even knew about the big flat rock where Mormons used to hold their meetings.

Finding Robert Henderson's Journal
      Another Thomas relative was my Grandma Mary Louise Thomas.  She married William Henderson, the son of a Scotsman, Robert Henderson, who was the next important family scribe. This is how we obtained his journal:  Some time prior to 1984 our family went to SLC on a trip, and I was able to convince Steve to stop for a few minutes, to see Mary Peters, the Thomas historian.  Despite his objections, we stopped, but I learned she had died.  Fortunately, one of her relatives was there and had mimeographed copies of the Robert Henderson Journal, which Mary had completed.  I was so thankful to have that copy, so we had some sort of record of Robert Henderson's conversion, emigration, and life. I made copies for all the family, and those copies remained in a mimeographed state for another 20+ years. Then another miracle happened.

April 2007 Janet's Journal Entry:

       "I've seen the Lord's hand so much as I've been trying to collect information for family histories, both last fall, and again just this week.  I had been trying to track down living relatives of Mary Peters, the Henderson family genealogist who died in 1984.  Since she had no children, I had no clue who to contact.  Your Dad was finally able to find Mary's obituary and learned that her married name was also Peters, but again we came to a dead end."   

       In the mean time, I found a web site with reunion information, that included Solomon Warner, who is on the Henderson line.  Even though the site was 5 years old, Jaelynne Hathaway's e-mail was still current, and we exchanged quite a bit of information.  My last e-mail from her was March 9, 2007 the year we went on our mission.  At that time I promised her that I'd type up a history of one of our common ancestors and send to her. 

      Then an interesting thing happened just this week.  A relative of Mary Peters Peters happened onto the same web site, and asked Mrs. Hathaway, some of the same questions I had, and so she connected us up.  Yesterday Dona Barlow sent a 6 page single spaced history of one of our Warner relatives. Ironically, it was the same document I had promised that I would type for Jaelynne.  (I've had it in my possession since 1958, when I typed it up for my Mom. I just hadn't had time to enter it into the computer.)  Now I'm going through and comparing data and making corrections. Dona's mother is my mom's 1st cousin, and she lived in California when I was on my 1st mission. She actually took my companion and I to dinner once, but I had no recollection of her name.  So it was great to get all that figured out. They are meeting in June to go through all of Mary's genealogy records, and Henderson journals, so I'm praying that I will discover additional information about Robert Henderson at that time.

On an earlier trip to the Church Genealogical building I read more about Robert Henderson in the Willard County History.  It reported, “Henderson, Robert: Born May 9, 1830 in Glasgow, Scotland.  He came to Three Mile Creek in March of 1853 but later moved to Willow Creek.  Mr. Henderson served as secretary for most of the auxiliary organizations at Willow Creek.  He kept a daily journal of his life and from his diary and minutes he compiled a history of Willard.”  So I feel confident that there are more journals of his yet to find. I really believe Elijah is ready to open the doors for us anytime we put out effort to do genealogy.

 P.S.  Added July 2007 
 After the cousins met in June, I received additional journal entries from Dona.  Her cousin had entered in all the journal entries into a computer, from Mary Peters' typed manuscript.  I went through and carefully compared the new version with the record I had, and found several errors, and have now fixed those.  Her record included three additional years I did not have, and she is still typing in additional ones.  I really feel like I’ve learned a great deal about my great great grandfather Henderson from this experience, and am so thankful for the ways I’ve been helped by unknown angels."  I also gained a great appreciation for Robert and the excellent records he kept. Yes, writing is in my blood.