A Matrilineal Chart for Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! For the occasion, here is a chart of matrilineal descent, with pictures where possible. I have joked before that my matrilineal line goes straight back to Scotland, and that's where I got all my qualities of frugality and thrift. (This post is originally from May 2011, here updated and republished.)

My mother with her mother, Beverly Lucille Glade Wessman (1924–2008). Grandmother Beverly was a friendly and hospitable woman and enjoyed spending time with her large extended family.

Beverly's mother was Lucy Lucile Green Glade (1898–1980). She lived in Salt Lake City her entire life and liked to travel during her long widowhood.

Lucile's mother was Mary Isabell Pettit Green (1866–1905). We have a copy of her charming diary from when she was dating her husband. She died from complications of childbirth, and left several young children.

Mary's mother was Rebecca Hood Hill Pettit (1845–1922). She liked to tell the story that when she was a teenager she was so sick that the doctor told her she would never have children. She had fourteen, plus her three step-children.

Rebecca's mother was Isabella Hood Hill (1821–1847). She was born and married in Canada, and died as a young mother and Mormon refugee at Winter Quarters, near today's Omaha, Nebraska.

Isabella's mother was Margaret Bisland Hood (1791–1856). Born in Glasgow, Scotland, she and her husband emigrated to Canada in 1820 with the Lanark Society Settlers.

Margaret's mother was Agnes Pollack Bisland or Bilsland (1762–1842) of Glasgow, Scotland. Agnes's mother may have been Jean Glass Pollack, and her mother may have been Marjorie Geddes Glass, but there does not appear to be any comprehensive and reliable research on these families.

The picture of Rebecca Hill Pettit is from FamilySearch, courtesy of Sharon Wilbur. The next picture is from a family collection and is said to be Isabella Hood Hill and is historically possible, but the exact source of the attribution and any knowledge of the existence of the original has been lost to time. The picture from the gate of the Winter Quarters Pioneer Cemetery where Isabella Hood Hill is buried is from Flickr, courtesy of Dan McLean. The picture of Margaret Hood's gravestone in Creemore Union Cemetery, Simcoe, Norfolk, Ontario, is from FindAGrave, courtesy of Jan Darby. The photo of the Glasgow Cathedral is from Pixabay. 

Editor's Note: Comments!

Blogger hasn't been sending notifications for the better part of a year, and just the other day I noticed that there were about a dozen unapproved comments. Thank you to all who have left questions and comments. 

It is surprising to see that this blog is approaching half a million page views. I started it in September 2007 when my youngest was at home full-time with a serious medical condition and I needed a project. My first efforts mostly consisted of sharing short biographies written by deceased family members, plus a few of my own preliminary efforts. Some of my earlier forays into biography are cringe-worthy, but given some time, practice, education, expert mentorship, and an audience, I've learned valuable biographical-writing skills.

So, before unquestionably sharing them, how do you assess the reliability of a family history? It's fairly straightforward. 

First, ask a series of questions. Who wrote the biography or family history? What personal connection did the author have to the subject? Did the author know the subject of a biography personally? If so, what was the nature of the relationship? What resources did the author have available when he or she wrote the history? Are sources listed? Did the author silently edit family accounts?

Next, source check every detail that can be checked in the history. Are names, dates, places, and events reasonably correct? Are historical movements and themes correct? Does the author understand what was happening?

The project I'm currently finishing is on slavery in the American West and most family histories written by descendants of slaveowners compromise themselves through many woeful misunderstandings of the events and times. Many of the authors of these accounts made an attempt to reconstruct events and people about a century after the original events and I cannot recall that a single one said: Here's what we can remember, but it was all so long ago, so please forgive any errors that have crept into the narrative. That's a lesson to learn from the Book of Mormon, which specifically does that ... on the title page.

So, looking back at a decade of content (including a trailing off in the last few years as I've been busy with the project on the enslaved pioneers of Utah Territory) this blog has been a labor of love and my best efforts, and fortunately those best efforts improved with time and practice. The best part of all with this project has been the new and strengthened relationships as parts of the project became collaborative, as cousins sent materials, or began their own research into aspects of these family histories. What an adventure!

Speaking in Texas

I'll be speaking in the Dallas area on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. Here are details. (Link.)

A quick update since I'm not posting much. I've finished a preliminary draft of my book and it needs some revisions, which I will begin when the children start school at the end of August.

Here are some of the other things happening while I'm not blogging.

* I recently attended and presented at the 2nd Annual Meeting of Sons and Daughters of the U.S. Middle Passage. Once again, a delightful conference.

* I've been copyediting and updating a friend's manuscript for publication. It's a great project, and I am delighted to get to help.

* Another project I've contributed to is the amazing and newly-released database A Century of Black Mormons.

* A new part-time job. Okay, so it's barely a job; it involved a good amount of work up front but now it's two or three hours every couple of weeks. It's three minutes from my house, and I can set my own hours, and it wouldn't come close to paying any of our bills, but it's nice to have a new cast of characters in my life.

* I'm slowly identifying all the people mentioned in the Winter Quarters Burial Records and gathering materials related to the cemetery. So far I've been able to identify most everyone, but there are some elusive people. It started as a casual project, and I still spend at most an hour a week on it, but once I'm finished identifying everyone, the plan is to write a journal article.

* I continue to direct our local Family History Center. We've finished a transition from mostly microfilm-based operations to mostly computer-based operations. It was a huge project, but the center is now working better for our patrons. Some of the others involved in the project and I took a field trip recently and helped another center make the same change. It was a lot of work, but things are now up to date.

* And, I'm planning on what to do once the book is done. More about that later!

Trek 2018: Who Were the Mormon Pioneers?

The youth of my Philadelphia-area LDS stake are participating in "Trek" this year and I am helping prepare historical information and serving as a historical advisor for the different activities. Here are my remarks for an opening fireside this past Sunday.

One hundred and sixty-four years ago, a young Irish immigrant named Samuel Linton picked up the Philadelphia newspaper and saw a notice that said, “Elder Samuel Harrison of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would preach at ten o’clock on Sunday at 7th and Callow Hill.” Seventh and Callowhill is just a few minutes’ walk from the Liberty Bell and a few minutes’ drive from the temple. Samuel Linton said, “They were the most presumptuous people I had heard of, to style themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I thought I must go and hear them first. I was there on time.” He heard the missionaries preach the gospel and said, “I was convinced that the Lord had restored the Gospel and the authority to administer the Ordinances thereof, [so] I applied for baptism.”

In those days the Latter-day Saints would move to live with other Latter-day Saints, so a few months later, Samuel left Philadelphia for Utah.

“Remembering Utah's Forgotten Black Pioneers”

Last week I had the amazing experience of giving a presentation at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. Here is a promotion for the event.

Here is an advance notice in the Salt Lake Tribune. The quotes were from an interview for a story that did not run.

Historian to discuss black Mormon pioneers such as Green Flake and Utah’s relationship with slavery

Here is a write-up of the event from Deseret News.

Histories of black Mormon pioneers remind us ‘all are alike unto God’

And here is one from KSL.

“Remembering Utah's Forgotten Black Pioneers”

Note: Salt Lake Tribune commenters will complain about anything and everything (it’s best to leave them alone) but one woman left a touching comment on the KSL story about the experience of living in the Samuel and Amanda Chambers house.

I will be giving the presentation again at my stake's upcoming women's conference, and possibly also at a meeting of the local chapter of Sons of Utah Pioneers.

Refugees

Due to the events of the past few days, here are some portraits of refugees. One was a peace-loving man who fled Denmark to avoid conscription in the Second Schleswig War. Others fled religious violence or persecution in Europe or America. All hoped to find peace and security here. And as you could probably guess if you've known me for any length of time, these are my ancestors. Do my ancestral stories inform my politics? You'd better believe it. If you're American, there's an excellent chance that you have refugee ancestors as well. Can you name them? Do you know about their experiences?

Names (left to right). First row: Ove Oveson, George Jarvis, Ann Prior Jarvis, Sidney Tanner. Second row: Mayflower pilgrims Richard Warren, Francis Cooke, John Cooke; Rebecca Hill Pettit, Edwin Pettit, Archibald Newell Hill and son Samuel. Third row: Isabella Hood Hill, Samuel Shepherd and wife Charity, Adeline Springthorpe Thomas.

Just One New Year's Resolution for 2016

Just one New Year's Resolution this coming year: finish my book.

The book is called Slaves in Zion: African American Servitude in Utah Territory, and is under contract with an academic publisher. It will tell the story of approximately 100 African American slaves who lived in Utah Territory between 1847 and 1862. 

Why 1847 and 1862? 

In 1847 the first three African American slaves, Oscar (Crosby) Smith, Hark (Lay) Wales, and Green Flake, entered the Salt Lake Valley several days ahead of Brigham Young.

In 1862 Congress ended slavery in the territories and the blacks who remained enslaved in Utah were freed.

About a quarter of the 100 slaves in the story went to San Bernardino in 1851. At least one man lived his entire life in Utah, from birth to death, and some of his descendants still live in the Salt Lake Valley. It has been a real pleasure to work with the descendants of the slaves, and with local historians, academics, and librarians all over the Western United States.

A number of authors and historians have told parts of the story of African American slavery in Utah Territory, but the time had come to use the many resources now available online to figure out what was legend and what was fact, and give an accurate and honest account of the lives of these many men, women, and children.

Follow-up to "You've been assigned a random ancestor for Memorial Day..."

I finally checked my husband's Memorial Day email from FamilySearch. Here are the results:

Ancestor Column

3/10

(Seriously!) The rest may be relatives on a family line, but definitely are not ancestors, including the person named in the email.

Ancestor's Headstones

3/10

One of them was fun to see since I am not too familiar with my husband's colonial ancestry.

View My Relationship

2/10

The listed connection to Nathaniel Tilden (1583-1641) included an incorrect generation, but despite the error in "View My Relationship" it does look like he is an ancestor.

Total

8/30 = 27% accuracy

In Conclusion...

It looks like FamilySearch needs to keep working on its computer matching, with the caveat that since the matching is using user-generated trees, it is unlikely to reach 100% accuracy. Hopefully most people saw accuracy closer to what I saw. (85%)

I haven't kept track, but fortunately FamilySearch hints seem to have a much higher accuracy rate.

You've been assigned a random ancestor for Memorial Day...

Today FamilySearch sent the following email...

It was bemusing since I have an ancestor with that name, but not with those dates or burial location, but I still followed the link, signed in to FamilySearch, and saw the following list...

It is pleasant to read through and think about the named ancestors and look at their graves, but the last woman on the list is not an ancestor of mine.

This is all computer matching, so how accurate was it? I'll ignore the Map Location data and just look at the three other columns. In all, there are 30 links to my tree and information within the tree.

Ancestor Column 

8.5/10

The entry for John Tanner still has the wrong dates but links to the correct ancestor, correcting the data in the email.

Not sure who Martha Morgan is, and it links to a woman named Matilda Nelson.

Ancestor's Headstone

8/10

John Tanner: wrong person

Martha Morgan: wrong person

View My Relationship

9/10

Martha Morgan: a relationship is listed that is not supported by the actual Family Tree. Martha Morgan disappears and Matilda Nelson is shown as the fifth great-grandmother of John Tanner, but that relationship is not in the tree.

Total

25.5/30  =   85% accuracy

In Conclusion...

Of course I have no idea how these statistics would represent what all the FamilySearch users saw, but my husband also got an email listing someone not an ancestor. Hence the title of the blog post.

In any case, Happy Memorial Day. We're happy to remember all these people, related or not, but most especially we remember our war dead.

Just a quick reflection

Not long ago the counter on this blog passed 250,000. That's not much compared to some blogs, but nothing I could have imagined when I began this blog back in 2007 with the sole purpose of converting my family history files to a usable format. It's been a great adventure! I've met wonderful people and developed many new skills.

In other news, I've been appointed (called as) director for the local Family History Center. That'll be another adventure! I'll occasionally write about the experience at my father's blog Rejoice, and be exceeding glad...

Happy Thanksgiving!

This post is originally from November 25, 2010, but since the information and sentiments are still true, here it is again [and again in 2013 and 2014!]. Happy Thanksgiving to friends and family all around the world.

 

Every year at Thanksgiving we have a tradition of reading a quote before our Thanksgiving dinner. This quote is from one of the Pilgrims, an ancestor of my children although not of mine, William Bradford. [1]

Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. …

But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at this poor people’s present condition; and so I think will the reader too, when he well considers the same. Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation, … they had now no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies, no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succor…. And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent and subject to cruel and fierce storms… If they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them from all the civil parts of the world. If it be said they had a ship to succor them, it is true; but what heard they daily from the master and company? … Let it also be considered what weak hopes of supply and succor they left behind them, that might bear up their minds in this sad condition and trials they were under; and they could not but be very small.… What could now sustain them but the spirit of God and his grace?

May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: “Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord his loving kindness, and his wonderful works before the sons of men.” [2]

[1] One of these years I will get around to posting about the Pilgrim ancestors on the Tanner line, Richard Warren and Francis Cooke. [Ed.—And John Cooke. See comments.]

[2] William Bradford was quoting from Psalm 107. The Pilgrims brought the Geneva Bible with them to the New World rather than the King James Version, and the text of the psalm in that translation reads as follows:

1 Praise the Lord, because he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. 2 Let them, which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor, 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South. 4 When they wandered in the desert and wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, 5 Both hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress, 7 And led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. 8 Let them therefore confess before ye Lord his loving kindness, and his wonderful works before the sons of men.



The image of the Bradford journal is from the Wikipedia entry Of Plymouth Plantation. The Robert Walter Weir painting "Embarkation of the Pilgrims" is from the Wikipedia entry on William Bradford. Autumn photo from D Sharon Pruitt from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/4050741912/. 

A Remembrance

As time moves on, the meaning and experience of memory and grief shifts and changes. Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, reunions come and go, and our loved ones are sometimes with us, sometimes far away, sometimes beyond the veil. John A. Widtsoe wrote long ago to some grieving parents,

You have hard days ahead of you; that we know from our own experience in losing children. We can tell you, however, that though your bereavement is seldom equaled in a generation of time, yet through the possession and help of the Spirit of God and the healing influence of time, your grief will be assuaged. Your loss has been so grievous, so great, so unusual that mortal power of itself is unable to bring peace to you. Look upward. Continue to take the Lord into partnership, and the sweet influence of heaven will touch your hearts and transform your feelings.

Elder Widtsoe could not know have known that he was echoing and expanding upon words Abraham Lincoln wrote to another grieving family.

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all, and it often comes with bitter agony. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You cannot now believe that you will ever feel better. But this is not true. You are sure to be happy again. Knowing this, truly believing it, will make you less miserable now. I have had enough experiences to make this statement. 

Remembering our beautiful niece, cousin, granddaughter, daughter, and sister Allison Ann Bowers (January 21, 1999 - October 26, 2010).

Our thoughts and prayers are with Allison's family on this tender anniversary.

We are, as ever, grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the promise of the resurrection and that families can be together forever after death.

The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame. And now...this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets—And then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God. (Alma 40:23-25.)

(Obituary. Thoughts from Jared, November 1, 2010.)

Perpetual Fund: A Personal Response

From Wikipedia.

As the descendant of those who used Perpetual Emigrating donations to gather to Zion, and a descendant of others who contributed to the Fund and helped the poor Saints immigrate, John Lyon's poem "Perpetual Fund" strikes an emotional chord as I consider the lives and sacrifices each of these people made as they worked to obey the commandments of God and provide a heritage to their descendants.

Many thanks to Ardis for publishing this poem at Keepapitchinin: The Mormon History Blog.

For more information on the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, see my brief history and summary of resources: The Perpetual Emigrating Fund.

Joseph Litson and his sister Eliza Litson Glade.

Perpetual Fund

By John Lyon (1850)

Come on, ye rich, with all your gifted store,
Give to the poor, and God will give you more!
Your feeling hearts, responsive to His call,
Will find His love and blessing best of all:
Yes, tenfold int’rest on the things you have,
And more than all your charities e’er gave!
Why should the rich not help the lab’ring poor?
Both are compell’d to knock at Mercy’s door!
As well the river scorn the stream and brook
From which it all its swelling greatness took;’
Or the great sea retain her liquid store,
Nor give one drop to quench the parched shore;
As Wealth withhold accumulated toil,
And say to Poverty, starve on the while!
Let richer Saints pour in their glit’ring gold,
‘Twill pave your way to Zion’s mountain fold!
Ten thousand hearts with prayerful ardour seek
The means to live, yet mourn from week to week,
Who could be blest through your beneficence,
To go where labour gains a recompense!
Oh, then! let love your names in sums record
What you will do for Zion and the Lord!
Ye poor who labour, learn with pure delight,
How much in value was the widow’s mite!
How farthings multiplied to pence make pounds,
And pounds to hundreds, thousands, have no bounds!
‘Till ev’ry Saint’s relieved, and sinner stunned,
Will shout, look here! at this Perpetual Fund!

“One Line a Day”

A few weeks ago as I was transcribing Ann Prior Jarvis's diary, I realized that most days she just wrote a line or two but over time her consistent effort resulted in a valuable record of her life and the history of her family and community. So why couldn't I do the same?

As a child, my father took seriously the counsel of Spencer W. Kimball to keep a journal, so he did that faithfully, and also trained his children to do the same. Here is one quote from President Kimball on journal keeping:

Any Latter-day Saint family that has searched genealogical and historical records has fervently wished its ancestors had kept better and more complete records. On the other hand, some families possess some spiritual treasures because ancestors have recorded the events surrounding their conversion to the gospel and other happenings of interest, including many miraculous blessings and spiritual experiences. People often use the excuse that their lives are uneventful and nobody would be interested in what they have done. But I promise you that if you will keep your journals and records, they will indeed be a source of great inspiration to your families, to your children, your grandchildren, and others, on through the generations. Each of us is important to those who are near and dear to us—and as our posterity read of our life’s experiences, they, too, will come to know and love us. And in that glorious day when our families are together in the eternities, we will already be acquainted.

After I married and my family grew and I became busier, I fell out of the habit, but thanks to Ann and her diary, I decided to look for a new journal and resume the habit.

It turns out there are a number of “one-line-a-day” diaries on the market. I chose one from Amazon and a few days later it arrived. It's a great format for me. The space allows a few lines of small text. I keep it next to my bed and can write at the end of the day without it taking more than a minute or two.

The cover is not too well done, which was a disappointment, but the diary still works and the important thing is to leave this record of my own life.

Building a Home for the Relief Society [Updated]

Before the modern correlated era, the Relief Society was largely in charge of its own finances and programs. In many pioneer communities the organization built a Relief Society Hall for meetings and service projects. The Relief Society helped new mothers, cared for the sick, and dressed the dead. They held testimony meetings, spoke in tongues, blessed each other, stored wheat for a time of need, and kept generally busy.

Around the time of World War II, the general Relief Society in Salt Lake City decided (once again) that it needed its own office. In 1945, new Relief Society President Belle Spafford began to plan and arrange for the building. Read the story in this lovely new picture history:

A Home of Our Own: The Story of the Relief Society Building

Each sister in the Relief Society was asked to donate five dollars and the First Presidency would match each donation. Five dollars was a lot of money in that time, so many Relief Societies held fund raisers and bazaars to raise the necessary money. The building was dedicated in 1956.

Here you can see it on Google Streetview in its location across from the Salt Lake Temple, Church History Library, and Conference Center, and next to the Church Office Building.

View Larger Map

The Church History Library has just put a list of the donors online. Here are some names that will be familiar to readers of this blog:

(Why was Margaret in St. David at the time?)

Here is the card Mary Linton Morgan received upon sending in her donation, which was certainly the widow's mite, given her circumstances.

The picture of the Relief Society Hall in Bicknell, Utah is from Flickr, courtesy of Jimmy Emerson, DVM.

Happy Pioneer Day!

Happy Pioneer Day! The Family History Library emailed out an interesting link to registered users it identified as having Mormon pioneer ancestry. It didn't find everyone, and I haven't had a chance to compare it to my own list, but it was pretty cool.

It's been a strange blogging month with only two posts so far, but my family and I were out of town for a couple of weeks and had some medical appointments afterward that took a lot of time and energy, so posting here was low priority. 

Some interesting things have happened, though. I got an email from a teacher at Washington School in Salt Lake City who wanted to know more about a memorial bust of Washington in the school library with Merle Hayward's name and death date on it. He sent these pictures:

Here's a picture of Leah Merle Hayward. 

Cousin Emily and I will work on providing the school with some family memories.

I also got a lead on another possible amazing project, but I won't mention that now.

Here's a fun guest post I wrote for Keepapitchinin: Elizabeth Kane Meets the Madonna Dolorosa.

Elizabeth Wood Kane

And, finally, I needed a break last week, so I sat down and did some research on the Godfrey family. This is in the Tanner line: Wallace Ove Tanner > Eva Margaret Overson Tanner > Margaret Godfrey Jarvis Overson > Charles Godfrey Defriez Jarvis > Mary Anne Godfrey Defriez > William Hindes Godfrey and Rebecca Bailey. It was a well-connected, literary, and artistic family, and had a history quite like a Jane Austen novel.

Happy Independence Day!

It's the Fourth of July, a day to celebrate America, to celebrate the birth of independence, to celebrate our liberties. Have a lovely and safe holiday!

Picture of the flag from Flickr, courtesy of "kristy," used under a Creative Commons license.

Guest Posting Again: Free LDS Access to Genealogy Services

Don't miss my review of the new memberships soon available to members of the LDS Church. It posted yesterday at Keepapitchinin: The Mormon History Blog.

Exciting Times for Mormon Family History: Free Access to Ancestry, MyHeritage, and findmypast

Guest Posting: Oh, What a Puzzle

I've been resisting getting more involved in the field of genealogy, but with a recent call to serve as a Family History Consultant for my congregation, I've seen the writing on the wall and have started seriously considering some form of genealogical certification.

Anyway, here's a guest post at Keepapitchinin: The Mormon History Blog, complete with discussion by readers:

Oh, What a Puzzle: What if Your Genealogy is “All Done”?

Puzzilla is a new resource for users of FamilySearch Family Tree. It shows an overview of the ancestral lines and is helpful in finding where work needs to be done.

Here is a follow-up article on my father's LDS-oriented family history blog, "Rejoice and be exceeding glad...":

Why can't I find any undone families in Puzzilla?

He specifies the difference between finding research that needs to be done, which Puzzilla can do, and temple work that needs to be done, which may be the ultimate purpose, but not what the application does.

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“I will open your graves, and cause you to come up”

For Good Friday tomorrow, this is “O sacred head, sore wounded” from Bach's St Matthew Passion. The original oratorio was written in German.

In the LDS tradition, we sing a version with words by Karen Lynn Davidson, “O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown.” I am planning to attend an English-language performance of the oratorio with friends and whichever of my family care to attend the three-hour event.

Good Friday is a solemn time as we remember Christ and his atonement and crucifixion and also spend some time thinking of those who have gone on ahead, or as it says on the gravestone of Thomas and Mary Ann Bryant Parkinson:

There is a bright region above,

We long to reach its shore.

To join with the dear ones we love,

 Not lost but gone before. 

And then as Friday turns into Saturday and Saturday into Sunday, the solemn remembrances change into a time to rejoice and celebrate the resurrection of Christ and of all the dead:

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

So, for Easter Sunday, here is a performance of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” (The performance repeats twice, but is one of the more energetic recordings available online. This hymn should sound joyful, not solemn!)

Happy Easter!

The scripture in the title is from Ezekiel 37:12. The picture is from Flickr, courtesy of mjs_2009.