Mormon Migration

BYU just put up a new website featuring accounts of immagration from Mormon immigrants. I found this account that I remember hearing from my mother who was told the story by my great grandmother about her family when they came to America. The boy mentioned I believe was my great grandma's uncle.


The account is an excerpt from Journal of Richard Ballantyne Emigrating Company that I found at http://mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu/


"January 27th I have to record an unfortunate circumstance which happened this morning about 1/4 to 8 o'clock. A little boy belonging to one of the brethren was leaning over the Larboard side of the ship and while in that [p .19] position he got entangled in a rope, which was connected to one of the sails and was thrown over board by it. His father was standing close by and gave the alarm when some of the sailors flew to the boats, others to the ropes with the intention of stopping the ship and towing a boat in order to save the little fellow from a watery grave but the boats were all lashed down and the ship was going at the rate of 8 or 10 miles per hour. Besides there was a heavy sea running at the time which would have made it almost impossible for the boat to have got near him before the [p .20] spirit had left its body and gone to a better place. The captain came on deck and before the sailors had got the boat untied gave orders for the ship to pursue her course. The name of the boy was George Grimmet [Grinnett] aged 7 years, the son of John and Sarah Grimmet from the [-] Branch of the Birmingham Conference.



Sunday January 28th. The Saints held divine service between the decks at the center hatchway. Elder Ballantyne was rather weak and unable to speak much but he felt that it was his duty to say something for the comfort of those [p .21] who had been caused to mourn by unexpectedly losing their little boy in a manner that but few of the Saints have ever experienced while crossing the mighty deep. He brought forward the cases of David, Job and many others of the ancients as well as modern servants of the Lord, to show how they tempered their feeling by the principles they believed when troubles came upon them which were similar in their nature, to this which has befallen Brother and Sister Grimmett [Grinnett]. He counselled the Saints against going on the forecastle and to be very careful and keep their children from the sides of the bulwarks [p .22] and other parts of the ship where there was any danger."

Power of Moms

This counts as a little bit of current family history for my wife's family. Her Sister-in-Law wrote an article for the website she co-founded that is dedicated to helping mothers, and it has gotten some media attention. Here is a TV interview she has done. Here is a link to the article which I think is great. Your Children want YOU!

1940 Census and other stuff

Well I found my first relatives in the 1940 Census today. I decided that looking for my Great Great Grandparents Ed and Luvena Cooley were my best bet since I have some transcriptions of letters with their address written in 1941 that helped me know were to look.

I found them living in or near Connelsville, Missouri. Since I still haven't found them in the 1930 Census I decided to look for them in Connelsville for that census. I didn't find them but I did find living there (in almost the same spot on the census) and A. Jackson Summers Which I recognized as me 3 time Great Grandfather (The father of Luvena). Andrew Jackson Summers I know died late in 1939. I'll have to see if I can find out if the Land Ed and Luvena lived on possible inherited from him. I can't confirm it from the census records but it seems to point to that since in both cases they are found living next to a William and Rosie Davis.

I did finnally find Ed Cooley in the 1930 Census living in the same county as a boarder without his wife although the census had him listed as being still married. I know from my Grandma's Report card that Luvena was living in Fraser, Iowa in 1931 with her Granddaughter Murriel as it was Luvena that signed her report card for the three first quarters.

Murriel must have moved there that year since I just found about an hour ago the 1930 census with her and her parents living in Chicago.  I do not know what year her parent's divorced but I wonder if that might be why the following year she was apperently under the care of her grandmother.

Just thought I'd share what I've been working on the last few days.

Cady Summer Memories #1

The first Cady Family camping trip that I really Have many solid and fond memories was our 1988 trip to Tony Grove, Utah. I was eight-years-old and was finally old enough to have some of my own adventures, free from adults and an older brother who had power of veto over anything I wanted to do.

            We also had a large camp ground to play around in with a steep hill on the corner of it that provided hours of entertainment for all of us kids. To name us quickly, all of us young cousins  constituted my brother and I :Tommy Van Pelt (10), Marc Van Pelt (8), and my cousins; Andy Bay (10), Scott Bay (8), Megan Cady (6),  Shawn Bay (4), with Tisha Bay and Tyler Cady both almost being three.

            We spent most of our time on the steep path going up the hill that ended at a 5 foot cliff. We could walk along a ridge that followed the base of the cliff but weren’t able to find any way to the top of it just yet.

Because of the steepness of the path up, we decided to tie a rope to the tree roots coming out of the cliff wall. This made ascending the steep hill easier and more fun- especially for our younger cousins.

            As we began playing here the adults were quick to warn us not to loosen the dirt from the roots because the tree that they came from was growing right on the edge of the cliff and leaning a little over the edge. They didn’t want the tree to fall on any of us. Since we hadn’t considered the fact that we might make the tree fall we made sure not to dislodge dirt from the roots- at least, we didn’t while the grown ups were watching. When they weren’t present we thought making the tree fall would be awesome and went to task on it.

Lucky for us we failed in this task. Last time I looked, the tree was still leaning in it’s same precarious position in 1997 that it had been in nine years earlier. In hindsight I think getting the tree to fall might have  ended up being less awesome then we thought. I suspect our parents might have been smarter then we gave them credit for.

After a couple of days we gave up on the tree and started exploring more of the area around the camp and it was then that my cousin Scott and I found a narrow path between two large bushes that looked like it might lead to the area above the ridge... and it did!

We were joined by our cousin Megan and the three of us commenced to explore the upper ridge line. We found the tree we had been trying to knock over from below and found out kicking and pushing it from above didn’t work either.

If I remember right it was also at this time that we had an exchange with some of the older cousins still playing below that included bragging about finding the path up first and a few hand grenades shaped like pine cones.

The three of us decided to continue exploring further along the upper ridge for a while and after going a good distance Megan said she was scared and wanted to go back. Scott and I told her that she should go back then, but we weren’t scared and were going to go on with or without her, and started walking on.

I made it about six steps before a memory from the night before came back to me. Us older cousins had noticed a couple of rangers walking down  the road with rifles and we had spent some part of the night debating whether they were looking for a bear, murderer, or Bigfoot.

Now standing there I realized the bear, murderer, or Bigfoot could be hiding behind any tree just waiting to get me.

Scott walked on another five or six steps before noticing I had stopped in my tracks and asked what was wrong. I informed him I had a bad feeling and was going to go back with Megan. Megan was still a few steps back where we left her looking like she was trying to disintegrate us with her eyes for even thinking of leaving her alone.

Scott announced he was going on alone then and commenced waling down the path. Megan and I started back for camp. Most of the way back I spent deciding how I was going to haunt her after the bear/murderer/Bigfoot, that I was sure was right behind us, ate me because she couldn’t run any faster.

I was tempted to scoot around her but decided that leaving a little  be eaten while I ran to safety might be considered unmanly, so it was just as well that there was no room to pass on the trail.

We got back to where we had first found the path to the upper ridge, which was in sight and only a few yards from camp. I was happy to find nothing sinister behind us but I did realize I had a dilemma. Since I was the oldest, that meant I was the one the grown ups would hold responsible if something ate Scott.

When deciding between angry parents and man eating bears/murderers/bigfeet, the answer was clear- I told Megan to wait at camp while I went to look for Scott.

After retracing my steps for a bit I came to a fork in the trail with a small path to the lower ridge that I recognised as being right before the spot we had split up at.

I was about to continue on when from no where the thought occurred to me that Scott had found another such path to the lower ridge and was now making his way back to camp along that path. If I continued on the path I was currently walking then I would unknowingly pass him and spend heaven knows how long looking for him while he’d be safe at camp. Again I don’t know how but I knew that if I went down to the lower ridge and waited then he’d be along in a few seconds.

Years later while reflecting on this I thought it strange that my eight-year-old self didn’t even think anything amiss about this sudden revelation and accepted it as fact with out second thought. Eventually I decided to just blame it on my mother. (I love you Mom, but if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times- Stay out of my Head!)

Anyway I went down to the lower ridge and stood there waiting for Scott with my hands on my hips doing my best angry parent impression. I thought about tapping my toe on the ground like they did in cartoons but decided not to since I’d never seen anyone do it in real life.

After about 20 seconds Scott came scooting around a bend in the ridge line a few feet in front of me, hugging the cliff. Upon seeing me he smiled and announced he had found a way down. I ignored the comment and just proceeded to chew him out for making me worry and told him we should get back to camp. I didn’t mention it but I had a nagging fear that Megan might write us off as dead and organize another funeral for us like she had done for that stupid squirrel.

Which reminds me of another story...

Projects update

Finished the first draft for my story The Stone Cutter last night. So I'll be able to start spending a little more time working on my Cady's Summers project. I'm still looking for stories and photos regarding our summer camping trips and other activities so if you have any send them my way.

As always feel free to visit my Projects page for a list and current status on all my current writing and family history projects.

Blog changes

I made a new static page where is list my current projects and their current status. You can click the tab on top that says projects.On some of my projects I added a brief description of the project.

Also on my short story  page I added a face book like button for my face book page I made for my story Forest Spirit.  Here is also a link to my story's face book page.

Van Pelt Family Line Update

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks working on the Van Pelt line and have found quite a bit. In trying to find out more about Henry B Van Pelt’s parents, George G. and Hannah, I first tried to find a Maiden name for his mother Hannah. Not being able to find anything on her in Ancestry.com I tried Familysearch.org. Not being able to find anything in the new Familysearch website I gave the old one a try and found they had made huge improvements since I tried it last and was able to find the marriage record for George Van Pelt and Hannah Neely Aug 7 1848 in Jeffersonville Indiana.

After that I looked for the parents for George G. and striking out I switched back to Hannah and tried to find her parents. Not having luck I tried to find any other Neelys living in the area at the time. Very quickly I found a Charles A. Neely living in Jeffersonville 2 years younger then Hannah. Incidently George and Hannah’s first son was named Charles A. Van Pelt and I figured out he was her brother and through him found her parents Charles Neely and Hannah (maiden name still unknown).

Going back to George I did a web search on his name and birth year and found some posts of a researcher in Utica, Indiana who was looking for more information. Living near Jeffersonville she had been to his gravesite and mentioned he was buried with his wife and a woman named Sarah Van Pelt born 1796 she believed to be his mother.

Doing searches with this information the only couple that I’ve found that fits all the information I have is Daniel Van Pelt born 1789 and his wife Sarah born about 1795. I haven’t been able to confirm the relation to them but in the list of their children there is a 5 year gap between two of the children between 1821 and 1826. George’s birth was in either 1823 or 1828 and would fit in nicely. I can’t confirm the relation due to the fact George left his family in Ohio and went to Indiana before the US Census started naming all members of the household (1790 to 1840 only listed the name of the Head of Household)

If Daniel and Sarah are the parents of George G then I’ll be able to trace the Van Pelt line back to the Early 1500s to Pelt, Liege, Belgium when they went by the Surname Lanen or Laenen. I found this website about the Van Pelt Lines and how they received the name Van Pelt. Here is a Link to the Website. Here a couple of quotes I found from the site I found interesting.

 “The surname Van Pelt did not come into use in legal documents before
1700 when the Van Pelt children born of Anthonius Laenen deeded
property to their brother Aurt. Van Pelt.”

“Van Pett = surname; van Pelt = from Pelt. The Dutch word 'van' has
four definitions.”

I don’t know it the Van Pett is a typo or written intentionally.

Well, I just thought I’d share what I’ve come across while researching the Van Pelt line. I hope I find more good stuff in the near future.