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Diaries, Journals and Records, oh my!

One of the things we all hope to find as genealogists is personal histories. Wouldn't it be fantastic if everyone could have written even a paragraph about themselves and it aaas preserved and findable? Unfortunately this is not the case. This is actually the reason I began looking into my ancestors about a year ago. I was determined after getting a BA in research aka history, that I could find more information than what we currently had available. I was right in my impulse.

Our greatest source has been the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. They have been collecting histories on the pioneers for a very long time, and luckily I have a lot of pioneer ancestors. My first stop at their archives revealed a lot of treasures but one of my favorites has been the personal history written by Mariah Taysom.

Mariah Jaynes lived on the border of Wales and England in the Monmouth area. She met a Mormon missionary by the name of Charles Taysom and became converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She also became enamored by this Charles and they were soon married. Her family disowned her and she never heard from them again. Charles and Mariah immigrated to Navuoo, Illinois and later came across the wilderness to Utah. They lived in Salt Lake until they were called to settle in the Fillmore area. They built a cabin that is still standing in Meadow, UT, they had to deal with the Indians and grasshoppers and all the troubles of making an area habitable. Eventually they moved to Rockland, ID with a few of their children and remained there until Charles passed away. Mariah went to Montana to live with her daughter until she too passed away.

Her history is beautiful to read. I loved that it was a personal history. When she talks about her family not speaking to her she mentions how grateful she is that her husband named the children after her family members. At the end, she leaves this poem.

"If you could see your ancestors all standing in a row,
Would you be proud of them or not, Or don't you really know,

Some strange discoveries are made in climbing family trees,
And some of them you know, Do not particularly please.

IF you could see your ancestors All standing in a row,
There might be some of them perhaps, You wouldn't care to know,

But here's a question, which presents a different view,
If you could meet your ancestors, would they be proud of you?"

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