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How does hearing pioneer stories affect you?
A few weeks ago, my husband was talking to a room full of teenagers. He told them a story about a young African man that walked several miles a day to earn money to visit a religious temple. As far as worldly riches, the young man had nothing and it took him a few years to earn the money, but he did it. He made a real and significant sacrifice for his faith. “In each of your families you have someone like that. Someone that sacrificed for their faith. Find out who they are and what they did. You will be stronger for it,” he told the kids.
I sat up a little straighter in my chair too. What had my pioneer ancestors done for their faith? What sacrifices do I make in my life? Do I make them proud with what I do, in the same way I am proud of them?
Sheri Dew shared how her ancestor’s stories encourage her
His comments piggy-backed on some of Sheri Dew’s thoughts she shared with us at RootsTech in February, 2017. I loved what she had to say about how pioneer stories give her some encouragement to be better. Her ancestors lived through the dust bowl in Kansas over 100 years ago. “When I start whining about my life and think, ‘my life is so hard,’ well you’re not livin’ through the dust bowl. You’re not pulling a handcart through Rocky Ridge,” she said. “I think that’s the power in those stories,” she noted. I agree whole-heartedly. There have been many days of my life when I even think of my own grandmothers and challenges they faced – they were both working mothers in a time when women didn’t work much. But they did it and they did it with finesse. It helps me every day. Thanks, Sheri, for that beautiful reminder.
What are my pioneer stories?
Some of my pioneer ancestors immigrated from Holland. Two of my great aunts came to the United States and worked hard, long hours in Utah to make money for the rest of my family to come to Utah. They came in pairs until the whole family got here. There was death, struggle and sacrifice along the way. It was hard. I am proud of them. I love them dearly even though I only met my Great-Grandma Kap. Baptisms in Holland were done by cutting a hole in the ice. When the last part of the family got off their ship on Ellis Island strangers generously gave them some bananas. My great-great grandmother threw them away because she had never seen a banana before. My Great-Grandma Kap always felt bad about that when she realized it.
Two great-great-great grandmothers walked every step of the way from Iowa to the Salt Lake Valley with the wagon companies. One even nursed a baby as she walked. They both lost children, parented alone while husbands were called on missions and suffered many other hardships, yet they had much joy and rejoicing in their life.
One thing that always strikes me in reading their stories is their gratitude. My great aunts, who I mentioned before, never felt put upon for coming to the United States to earn the way for their family, only gratitude. One of their daughters writes: “[I am also impressed with] the gratitude [they expressed] for their blessings and the joy [they felt] in seeing their children grow up without suffering the hunger pangs and poverty that seemed their common lot in their native land.” I agree with her. Their gratitude and thankfulness is something I am going to try harder to apply in my own life.
Lessons were learned by them. Am I learning my lessons? I hope so. Bless those pioneers and their stories. I have no doubt I am a better woman today because of them and I also know they are cheering me from the other side. How do your pioneer stories strengthen you? I would encourage you to take a moment and record your thoughts, and even throw in a family pioneer story with it!
How can you get the most from Pioneer Day with your family?
We have a few ideas of how to really bring the Pioneer spirit into your home this week.
- Read some family pioneer stories or enjoy a book about them. There are a some Gerald Lund classics we love: The Work and the Glory series (traces a fictional family all the way across the plains), Undaunted series (details the story of the hole in the rock pioneers). Also checkout pioneer stories that have been saved online. The LDS’s church’s database contains stories about nearly all the wagon and handcart trains. I was delighted to read accounts of many of my own ancestors there after finding their names on FamilySearch’s own database with my pioneer relatives. If you have an account, this is accessible to you as well. (See below for that tip.)
- Check out FamilySearch. If you don’t have an account, this is a great time to make one and if you do and then do a little searching you just may find a treasure trove of pioneer stories that someone has included in your tree. I just found a golden stash today and spent some quality time and shed a few tears reading some of my pioneer stories.
- Watch a great pioneer movie. 17 Miracles or Ephraim’s Rescue are two that come to mind. Your children will be enthralled and it will open the floodgates with questions about your own pioneer heritage.
- Visit a Family Discovery Center or a pioneer museum. The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers has locations in Ogden and Salt Lake City and they have amazing collections of artifacts and docents that have limitless knowledge and great stories to tell. We try to take to our kids every year.
- And if you do nothing else, just take a moment, as a family or personally, to reflect on the sweet sacrifice of the forefathers of your family.
