BritishSmarts: Week 38 in the Great Country of England

Not a lot of fan fare this week, but Paul was called upon 2 times to do his thing and talk about genealogy research and family history. He did his usual every other week talk at The National Archives. He shared information about "Parish Chests". For most of us...that means the information stored in the chests at each parish, such as poor law records, records of illegitimate children, government orders of removal and so forth.

Annie has discovered the value of these records in her genealogy. She found...

Upholland to Halsall. Order of removal of Fanny, wife of Henry Windus, sailor, and William their son QSP/2393/19 1797 24 Apr These documents are held at Lancashire Record Office .

Annie has discovered the value of these records in her genealogy. This told her that her ancestor, Henry Windus, was originally from Halsall. When a family could not afford to take care of themselves and needed help, they were forced to go back to their place of origin for help.

This also let her know that Henry was in the Navy. She searched for him in the Navy records at The National Archives (the same place that we work). Interesting stories were uncovered. It will be told at the next Ward family reunion. Hopefully we will have time to go to the Lancashire Record office and see the entire record before we go home. Since it is not in our mission boundaries it will have to wait until we finish.

We had a senior missionary conference at the London Temple visitor's centre on Saturday. We heard from our mission president and others. One of the others was ....you guessed it....Elder Smart taught about using Family History as a proselyting tool. Annie has to remind him regularly how important it is to share his talents. He has been blessed with a huge talent in genealogy research, understanding and speaking.

Today, Sunday we found ourselves enjoying teaching classes and sharing with the members. It is always a highlight for us.

This is an important time in the work of the Lord moving forward. Now is when we all need to work together to share the gospel with our friends and acquaintances.

We love serving our Lord. We know that this is God's work and He loves all of us. The Church is true!!!!

Happy Birthday this week to Aaron (Stagg) and Eli.

Guess we should congratulate ourselves. Tomorrow, Monday, is our third anniversary and our "hump day" (exactly half way through our mission -- we entered the MTC on January 21)

Love you all,
Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie, Elder and Sister Smart