Here's a story, of a man named....

Ebenezer...

My son is such an optimist. He figured he didn't need to finish his genealogy project on Wednesday night because school was destined to be closed on Thursday. I made him do it anyway. School wasn't closed. Then it was. Coarse, we didn't find this out until the kids were already at the bus stop. So they came home and said "HA! I knew I didn't have to finish my project last night."

Yeah yeah yeah... bite me

So how'd he do?

First off, I have to explain that an epiphany came to me as I was in the shower, where they always come, and I remembered that my big brother, sibling #1, compiled a book just last year about my dad's family. This includes family information, genealogy information going back as far as the eye can see, life histories, patriarchial blessings, photos, and newspaper clippings. Anything and everything he could convince aunt Carol and the rest of his relatives to share with him. I forgot all about it. So I retrieved it from the corner of my desk where it has sat since I took posession of it last summer and did some research.

Thus...

#1... Five generation worksheet. This became very easy. I also remembered in that same epiphany that my son had to do a five generation worksheet for a scout merit badge. All it took was a little effort to find it. I automatically deducted points from his overall score as he double checked the instructions to find that the five generation sheet should take up 1/3 of the overall posterboard, and my lacsidaisical child (I don't even know what that means for sure or even if it's spelled right since my spellcheck won't seem to work, but it just rolls of the tongue so well, like Plaxico, I'm using it anyway), my lacsidaisical child decided his single sheet of type paper was more than big enough. I wonder if his teacher will notice?


#2... Family crest. Thanks to sibling #1, the wonderful and fabulous family history book included in the front cover the official family crest. Well, I don't know if it's the official one, he found it online, a place I couldn't peek at. Instructions didn't say anything about using information someone else found online.


#3... Family story. I did a bit of digging in my stuff and found the biography of Ebenezer Bryce. I handed this along with the family history book to my son and said "find a story you like." He decided after reading the first paragraph on Ebenezer Bryce that this was indeed his man. Ebenezer Bryce joined the church when he was 17 in Scotland. He wanted to sail to America but his dad didn't want him to go. He told his dad he would stay home, but when he became of age, he was going to leave anyway. So his dad gave him permission to leave. He eventually wound up in Salt Lake City where he lived with George Albert and Bathsheba Smith for a time, until he married his wife, Mary Ann. Eventually they settled in the St. George area, at the mouth of a canyon they named Bryce Canyon, which is now a National Park. He said of the canyon, "it's a heck of a place to lose a cow." I've never been there, but looking at this picture, I will totally take his word on it!

He also built a church in Pine Valley, Utah, where the attic rafters were built like a bottom of a ship. Ebenezer only agreed to build the church if he could do it his way, so being a boat builder by trade, he did it the only way he knew how! I've never been there either! Have you?


The boy wrote his story, and my 11 year old, an avid writer herself, read it, rolled her eyes and told him he needed to work on his story telling abilities. (The above written was MY story... which needs it's own work, I know.)

#4... family traditions. This was a bit hard for him since we have none. Certainly nothing passed down from family member to family member... none that I am aware of anyway. He told of eating Sunday dinners at grandma's house every week, and what we do for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even the Easter egg hunts. He used lots of small descriptive words to get all 300 words, that was for sure.

#5... Pie chart. Turns out 69.some odd percent of my relatives come from England. Others come from Ireland, Scotland, and Denmark. 6% are unknown... as Canada doesn't count as a country in this pie chart project and one was apparently hatched in South Carolina in the early 1800's. The most exciting part of this pie chart was learning to make one on Excell.

#6... Map of the movement westward. Another difficult challenge, or so I thought. As luck would have it, dh's crazy grandma's insistence that I find out not just names, but details on her lineage came in handy. I never did find much, as old Sam Parker was hatched in the 1800's in Liverpool England. However, he arrived at Ellis Island. He moved to Elgin, Illinois where he farmed. He got married and had two children. He moved to Kemmerrer Wyoming and had his last child. He moved to Pocatello, Idaho as a railroad worker where he divorced his wife and the rest is history. That's all we needed... where did they start, and where did they end in Idaho and with whom. Easy peasy!

Extra credit included turning that five generation worksheet into a 7 generation worksheet which would have required the internet and several phone calls to relatives, as well as perhaps even hours of research at the family history library. Or perhaps we could have done a timeline of our family history beginning with the oldest ancestor. Rumor has it that mom can trace her line all the way back to Charlamagne... that was way more work that lacsidaisical child was willing to do. He's more of a "straight A's doing the bare minimum of work" kind of guy.

No internet was required in the making of this project. No late night phone calls to grandma begging for information she knows nothing about. It all came from a family book, my cedar chest, and many diligent hours of research from years past. And for that... I am quite proud if I do say so myself.