Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I wrote about my great-grandfather Haden Wells Church in blog # 23, last December 3, 2013. That was about the day the original pioneers arrived in St. George, Utah, and he was among their number.  In that blog there is a very brief history of his life.  In this entry, I will tell more details.  He was a great pioneer, and went on 5 missions, the last of which was in Tennessee, where he died of typhoid fever, and was buried next to his father, in his home town of Shady Grove, Tennessee. Haden was a member of the Mormon Battalion, and this story begins with their arrival back in the Salt Lake Valley on July 27 or 29th, right after the very first company arrived with Brigham Young, when he said "This is the place!"  The battalion members were listed as being mustered-out of the army on July 16th since their year's enlistment ended on that date.       Little is known of Sarah Ann and her baby, Hyrum , before they were reunited. But it is kn...

              HADEN WELLS CHURCH, AND SARAH ANN ARTERBURY A brief history of these ancestors was first told in entry # 23, on Dec. 3, 2013      The enticements of new land and adventure probably encouraged newly married Abraham and Polly (Mary Jane) Emmons Church to leave home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and go westward about three hundred miles into Tennessee.  It was in their newly established home in Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee, that their first child, Haden Wells, was born on August 29, 1817.  While living there, seven more children were added to the family.  Haden was well into his teen-age years when the family moved a few miles westward to Shady Grove, Hickman County, where the ninth and last child, Charles Houston Church, was born.      The new home was near the Duck River and also close to the Natchez Trace which was the main travel route between Na...

IF YOU LOOK ON THE LEFT SIDE, UNDER "POPULAR POSTS", YOU WILL FIND A SMALL BOX THAT YOU CAN CLICK ON, AND TRANSLATE INTO ALMOST ANY LANGUAGE!  TRY IT!

Today I read this article in the June 2014 Ensign Magazine.  It really touched my heart.  I hope you'll enjoy it.  I will probably edit it, and highlight thoughts that meant a lot to me. Agency and Answers: Recognizing Revelation BY ELDER RICHARD G. SCOTT Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles From an October 1989 general conference address. What sometimes seems an impenetrable barrier to communication is a giant step to be taken in trust. Across from me a woman sat sobbing. With tear-filled eyes, she told me, “I don’t know what I believe anymore.” She spoke of having struggled and prayed many days to know how to make a vitally important decision in her life, without success. She anguished, “I don’t know what to do. If you’ll tell me what to do, I’ll do it.” With her hand on the scriptures, she said, “God told us He would help us. He answers everybody else’s prayers. Why won’t He answer mine?” When one is caught in a whirlpool of emotion, i...

My mother Ruth Allen (Miles)'s direct Allen ancestor was in New England in   New Haven in 1640, when he was 28 years old. There were several with the  surname of Allen there already, so he took  the surname of Alling. They were Allings until about 1800, when they reverted back to the original name of  Allen. This is the history of Roger Alling, our Allen immigrant ancestor, down to Philo Allen who joined the Church in 1835 .        The origin of the Allens is lost in the unrecorded ages.  The name is very ancient, and supposed to be of Saxon origin, and to have been originally written Alwyne -- signifying "beloved of all."  It is a very common name in England, appearing often in history.  The origin of the name Alling, more ancient than Allen, is probably from the Athelings --, a dark brunette race of the Angles, who came with the Saxons from Germany to Britain in the 500's.  They drove out the Scots and took pos...

Although June 8, 1978, was the day the revelation on the Priesthood was given, thirty six years ago tomorrow the announcement was made public to the Church and the world, that the Priesthood would be granted to all worthy males without regard to race or color.  On June 9th, (tomorrow) when it was announced, it was the wedding day of our oldest son, who was married in the Salt Lake Temple.  We lived in Sandy, and on our way in our car down to the wedding luncheon, the announcement came over the radio.  In the luncheon, that was all the talk!  That is how we remember that great announcement.  I put the entire Latter Day Light Daily Devotion in today, as you read about that announcement at the very bottom.  It is interesting to learn about Church History and what occurred on this day during the years since the Church was organized.  THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH! Latter Day Light DAILY DEVOTION _________________________ The Righteous Person ...