Heritage

I'm grateful for my rich heritage. I'm related to all sorts of good, hard-working, faithful people. Their example and legacy means a lot to me. I love reading stories about my ancestors. One of my favorites is about my great-great-grandmother. Her family immigrated to the United States (Chicago) from Quebec, Canada and were French-speaking only. She refused to learn English. Her family taught her one phrase to use when traveling salesmen came to call, "I don't speak English. Go to hell." She had no idea what it meant, or so the story goes.

A more serious story that warms my heart is about my relatives who traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with the Willey Handcart Company. My direct ancestor was a baby during this time, but he had an older brother who was perhaps 4 yeas old. They were crossing through a mountain pass during one of the horrible snowstorms that they endured. The tied a rope around the 4-year-old and tied him to the back of the handcart so that he wouldn't wander off. He was scared with the snow and cold. One of the women who was traveling with them noticed his distress and took his hand and walked beside him. I believe he lost some of the digits on his one hand to frostbite, but because the warmth from this good woman's hand, he made it with the digits on his other hand intact. It will be interesting to get to know these people again someday. I'm grateful for them and for the good choices they made and their example.