Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Kathleen Sweeney Cragun
This is Kathleen Cragun, Formerly Kathleen Sweeney. An awesome wife.
Happy Valentine's Day Kathleen.
The photo shows off one of Kathleen's many skills: interior design. Whether we had a small home or a large home, it was always a work of art to live in. She worked for major high end furniture stores as a designer as well as having her own business. This photo was from a Street of Dreams competition. Kathleen was an award winner in this and 4 other annual events. One year, her work was published in a national magazine. Many of her colleagues have told me that she was the best designer they have worked with.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Shooting Deer - 2 stories
When I was a teenager my dad took me deer hunting. It was not fun for me. I wounded a little guy. Dad told me I had to track it down as I only wounded it. It took a while, but I had a trail of blood to follow. I did find him, he was lying down and alive. Have you ever had a wounded young deer look up at you in pain and sadness? That's what happened to me. There was nothing sporty or fun about having to finish him off. Deer hunting was over for me forever.
Now, to lighten things up - here is a story that might make you smile:
Why we shoot deer in the wild (A letter from someone who wants to remain anonymous, who farms, writes well and actually tried this)
I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up-- 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold..
The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it, it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope .., and then received an education. The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer-- no Chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined.. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite?
They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when ..... I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and slide off to then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.
It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.
That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp... I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away. So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope......to sort of even the odds!!
I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up-- 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold..
The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it, it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope .., and then received an education. The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer-- no Chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined.. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite?
They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when ..... I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and slide off to then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.
It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.
That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp... I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away. So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope......to sort of even the odds!!
Edward Rich South - A Persuasive Man
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| Edward Rich South |
When I publish my grandmother, Nancy Athena Porters story, you will see another evidence of Edwards persuasiveness.
This first trip to Omaha was a great thrill for Edward. In 1896, at age 27, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Rich County, which brought many more exciting experiences. One criminal was caught by Edward's efforts, then tried, found guilty, and sentenced to prison. Upon his release, the criminal boasted that he was going to kill Edward. Due to this malcontent cantankerous disposition, many people believed this to be the end of Edward. They inevitably met one day when Edward was at a popular eating establishment, in a small village in the county. The criminal pulled out his gun and ordered Edward outside. He then commanded Edward to get inside a buggy. As they rode away, Edward's salesman ability went to work as he talked to the man, finding out how much he disliked the stigma of being a criminal and how people shunned him. The felonious man then said he would kill, if necessary, for a thousand dollars. Edward pulled out his wallet and offered the criminal half of what he had in it. This softened the man, with him commenting that this was the first time in his life that anyone had given him anything. Edward then inquired if the criminal still liked horses; the reply was, "yes." Edward then suggested that the man get a job driving horses. At the end of the talk, they were friends
A complete story on Edward is here: Edward Rich South
How To Create an Exciting Interactive Family History Story Tour with Google Earth
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| Temple Square
One of the classes I missed at RootsTech was the one in the title of this post. I attended a good one, Mining Newspaper articles. I wish I could have taken both of them as now I want to learn how to create an interactive family history story using Google Earth. Any tips you have on how to or sites that how to this topic, please leave me a comment and let me know.
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Patrick Cragun A Tea Party Kind of Guy
Cragun, Patrick Story
Patrick Cragun Biography as told by J.O.Q. Cragun and retold by Eva Cragun Heiner
Late one November evening in 1931, an elderly gentleman and his son knocked at my door, and introduced themselves as distant relatives from Minneapolis Minn. Th e older man was Johnathan O. Q. Cragun a Professor of Phrenology, and his son Leland Cragun. They were on their way to California to spend the winter and were visiting relatives along the way.
We soon discovered that they were very interesting and that Johnathan, at the age of 78 years, had a very keen mind. They were our guests for several days and related many interesting events to us.
Johnathan was well informed on Mormonism. He said that his father had been a devout Latter-Day Saint, having died in Nauvoo on the trek to Utah. His mother never joined the church but went north after his father is death and settled with her family in Minnesota. This probably accounts for the indifference of that family toward the church.
It is from this distant relative 's account that I am able to give the following history of our great-great grandfather, Patrick Cragun, who was the first of our direct line to come to America.
His father, Caleb Cragun, born about 1700-1720, is the very first ancestor that we have any knowledge of. At one time he lived either in Oxford or Hunting-don, Huntingdonshire, England, near the hone of Oliver Cromwell. He moved to Ireland where it is believed that he married an Irish lady.
They had a son, Patrick Cragun, born about 1745 or 1746, who had a most interesting life and was closely connected with our American Government in it is making. He had a great desire in his early life to come to America, so when an opportunity came he joined a company of 40 Irishmen who obtained a sailing vessel and provisions sufficient to last the journey through. They set sail and all went well until in mid-ocean a current, together with the trade winds, sent their ship sailing to the calms around Cuba. The peculiarity of these calms is that not a breeze stirs for weeks at a time. Here their ship floated and they waited. They were careful of the provisions, but no breeze came to carry them on and they were not prepared for any such happenings.
Gradually the food and water supply was gone and they resorted to eating candles, boiled ropes and anything at all. Some of the men became prostrated others with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, became savage.
One day, when hope was despaired of, someone saw a ship in the distance and made feeble attempts to attract attention, which proved successful. It was an English ship on its way to America. The crew came aboard the ill-fated vessel, bound the men with strong cord and carried them onto their elm ship, keeping then Wand, nursing them and gradually increasing their diet until they became well. Great wisdom was shown in this treatment.
They arrived in America about the time that England was demanding a tax on everything. Patrick became a citizen of the United States by choice and, naturally, he became concerned with the treatment of England toward these colonies. Many meetings were held in Old Faneiul Hall in Boston to discuss the tax problem. In March 1770, after the King of England’s troops had been in town for nearly a year, there occurred a scrimmage in which several. English soldiers fired into a crowd of townspeople, killing five and wounding several others.
Many other incidents occurred and England insisted upon the colonies paying taxes, but they continued to refuse to pay. Finally ships laden with tea were sent from England in the autumn of 1775 to Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Charlestown, and consignees were appointed to receive the tea. This was purely a political trick of King George III. A way of saying "What are you going to do about it?"
In the other cities they were forced to accept the tea but not in Boston, for under Samuel Adams, who knew that he was backed by public opinion at the whole continent, they did not accept the tea. Patrick Cragun was in the midst of this excitement, and with a small party of men, some of the best of the towns 'folk, disguised as Indians, they ripped open the tea chests and spilled their contents into the ocean. This was a formal defiance to the King and was so accepted.
Patrick married during this time or about 1780. There are many different ideas about wife’s name. She has been called Rose Alley, Elizabeth, Hannah but in her son Elisha’s Patriarchal Blessing, his mother is called Elsy. Their children were first twins Joshua and Caleb, Elisha, John, Tyresha, Lydia, Tabitha Hannah, Isaac, Elizabeth and Syren.
Of these eleven children, Joshua was killed in the Mexican war fighting under General Scott at Vera Cruez. Caleb lived in North Indies. Elisha, my great grandfather, joined the L. D. S. Church and began the trek west with the saints but died and was buried in 1847 in Pleasant View, Indiana. His wife, Mary Osborne, and daughter, Abigai1, died also and were buried there the following spring. The fourth son, John, lived in New York and had two sons, both eminent physicians. The rest of the family became scattered.
Elisha Cragun and Mary namely : Rebecca, James, Hyrum, Mary, Enoch, Abigail, Tyresha, Simeon, Tabitha and Sarah Jane. Of these children we knew that James, Simeon and Tyresha kept the faith and came to Utah.
James Cragun married Leaner Lana in 1836 in Harrison County, Indiana. He fought in the civil war under General Lott Smith and was later called to settle St. Gorge Country in southern Utah.
Simeon Cragun, who is my grandfather, married Susan Mower in Kanesville Iowa in 1847 where their first child, Mary Wahalia, was born in 1848 and died in 1850 while crossing the plains. The second child William Henry was born on the banks of the Platte River. The company of saints waited over me one day and then the mother, Susan, cared for her infant on from then on.
They traveled in Captain Terry’s Company of 50, arriving in Salt Lake City 25 September 1350. In l850 they moved to Cold Springs near Willard, Utah and the following spring of 1852 they were the first to settle what is now Pleasant View, Weber County, Utah.
Little William Henry died here at the age of 3 years. Wilford Elisha, my father, was born the first white child in Pleasant View, Weber County, Utah on 4 December 1853. The other children born to this couple were: Willard Uriah, born 7 November 1854, Wilson Elijah, born 14 October 1856, Wilbert Simeon, born 13 October 1858, and Wiley Gidoni, born 6 October 1860. Susan wanted her sons to be named with the first name beginning with “W”, and so it was
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
We Are All Stuck on Some Names Aren't We?
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| STUCK? |
Here are some examples of where I am stuck:
In my Porter line:
William Shaw married Martha Pool - Who were Martha's Parents?
Neil O'Neal Married Agnes or Alice - Last name would help & What
about her parents?
In my Bingham line:
Sarah Rebecca Adams, born 1800 - I don't have info on her parents either.
In my Cragun line:
I'm Stuck on Sarah Catherine Plank.She lived in the late 1700's early 1800's.
Andrew Mauer married Barbara and that's all I know.
Alexander Osborne married Martha, and that's all I know.
Charles Abbey married Fannie - who were both of their parents?
and of Course Patrick Cragun could have left us better info all around. I
would appreciate as much as possible as this original Tea Partier. (as in
Boston Tea Party)
There will be Another RootsTech and I Suggest you Attend
RootsTech is a leading edge conference designed to bring technologists together with genealogists, so they can learn from each other and find solutions to the challenges they face in family history research today. At RootsTech, genealogists and family historians will discover emerging technologies to improve their family history research experience. Technology developers will learn the skills to deliver innovative applications and systems. They will also have the opportunity to receive instant feedback from peers and users on their ideas and creations. Attendees will learn from hands-on workshops and interactive presentations at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level
Who Should Attend?
This cutting edge conference has something for everyone, whether you are a software developer, a genealogist, a society member, technologist or a genealogy hobbyist. No matter your technology background, this uniquely designed conference offers customized experiences to help you become a valuable part of finding solutions that will bring technology and genealogy together. RootsTech also gives you a firsthand look into what new technological tools are available to power up your research experiences.How Much Does It Cost?
- $189 Full Registration Price
- $35 Student Price (must show valid school ID)
- $79 Single Day Pass
There was information on the cloud, wiki's, newspaper archives, social media, mobile applications, DNA, YouTube, Google+, to pay or not to pay, building websites with genialogy focus, tools, searching on line, 1940 census, England and Wales, genealogy webinars, and so much more.
Here is the link to the RootsTech website: RootsTech
A Sincere Desire To Help
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| Joseph Smith Memorial Building Lobby |
Our zone is the world wide patron support zone. It consists of professional staff, full time missionaries like Kathleen and I, part time church service missionaries that serve a couple of days a week, and hundreds that serve at home 15 or more hours per week. We answer questions difficult or easy. They may be on research, PAF software, or other facets of family history and genealogy.
It doesn't matter if the question comes from a church member or not. We strive to answer every question completely and accurately.
Each morning our zone starts the day with a brief devotional which consists of announcements, a hymn, a spiritual thought, and a prayer. I was touched this morning by the spiritual thought. The Elder that was speaking was being transferred from our zone to the family history library zone. He humbly shared that he loved being here. It is important that we answer even the very simplest of questions. He pointed out that many of those who call or contact us are frustrated and full of desire to search out their answers.
Even what may seem simple to us is of great importance to the patron.
It is a marvelous thing to witness how the spirit of family history and genealogy grabs the hearts of people from all walks of life. At the recent RootsTech conference we had the opportunity to converse with people attending. Many were serious genealogists. I am thinking of one lady from Arkansas. I asked her if she had signed up to index the 1940 Census. She not only had done that, but had enlisted her entire genealogy society to help and was now going to other societies recruiting their help. A comment she made that stood out was, "You know it's funny, when it comes to genealogy, when someone asks for help I just go and do it."
Surely, the church is a leader in providing resources and support - but we are not alone in this effort and attitude. There is an amazing spirit to it. We know it as the Spirit of Elijah. Have you caught it yet?
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