The Salem Witch Trials and You

Recently we read "The Crucible",  a play written in the late 1940's about the Salem Witch trials.  It was a horrifying part of American history that I was facinated by.  Something that was extremely interesting to me was that even though the judges had a petition with signatures of 91, upstanding, land owning adults they still listened to the "afflicted children".  I found myself asking myself - "What would I have done if I had been there?"

Now you are saying to yourself why do I care about this? 

This is why you should care - your ancestors were there ... and they signed the petition for John and Elizabeth Proctor, asserting that they were former neighbors of the Proctors in Ipswich, Mass. and they knew them to be good people.  They signed this even though they were risking being arrested and with the accusatory air of the times, could've ended up being accused of consorting with the devil themselves.

The one I have been able to track down thus far is William Andrews, born in 1658 in Ipswich, Mass. 

You can see here http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-salem?id=BoySal4.xml&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=2&division=div1

a list of those involved with the trial with his name on it. 

We come from good people!

This line goes back through the Sperry side, through Hannah Libby Knight Carter on her mother's side.

We also watched a recent filmed version of this play - with Daniel Day Lewis in it.  We did watch it on clearplay which did edit out a few parts - notably the scene with the girls in the woods.  It was  a very compelling performance.  Mary and Joseph watched something else upstairs - about sled dogs I think.

Rebekah's Blog

Hey everyone,

Rebekah has a blog - http://bekahphoto.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Go check it out. She has some pretty cool pictures.

Cyndi

Smith History at the Church History Museum

Remember this? Time for another docent lecture. Thanks Docents, we sure are glad to have you working at the museum!

Getting excited

HONK HONK

Carpet Fishing

Hello everyone,

When I was doing my usual Dilbert reading I stumbled across this comic that reminded me of us and thought I'd post it for everyone to enjoy. Happy reading!

Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade

3 1/2 cups water
1/2 pound rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup sugar
2 3-inch strips of lemon zest removed with a vegetable peeler, plus additional for garnish
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice

In a saucepan stir together the water, the rhubarb, the sugar, two strips of the zest, and the vanilla. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the strawberries and boil the mixture, covered, for 2 minutes. Let the mixture cool and strain it through a coarse sieve over a pitcher, pressing hard on the solids. Stir in the remaining 1 cup strawberries and the lemon juice. Chill and serve. Garnish with lemon zest if desired.

Here is Mary's winning pieces of art. She won first place for her sketch of Rosie and Doug and second place for her watercolor of the rain boots.

Easter Picture Parade

Anyone look familiar? Pick a favorite picture from a sprinkling of the

Smith Family Easter Parade.

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Come prepared to have YOUR picture taken at our Easter gathering on Easter Sunday, the 24^th at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Days of '47 Pageant

It's time again for the ever beloved Days of '47 Pageant and we have two Smith Family girls participating. Both Sarah and Rebekah are throwing their very high heeled shoes into the ring (because you don't wear hats in a pageant). It is on Saturday, April 16th at 2:00 and then for a second helping and to find out who the top 10 and the winners are come back at 6:30. There is a new feature this year where the girls have a 40 second moment to talk about their pioneer ancestors and I am actually really looking forward to hearing them. The tickets are free and we'd love to see any and all of you. You can get them from the church website under Temple Square Events. I can't make the link paste in here so you'll just have to go click around yourselves.

p.s. (from candace)
Here's a link: http://lds.org/events/info/0,8197,726-1-785,00.html#
to order tickets online click the button in the upper right corner.

cabin dates

Hello family! I just wanted to let you know that I've put the cabin schedule on the calendar to the right. So far I've only added the dates that Grandma and Grandpa have reserved.  If your family wants to reserve a time, just talk to Becky!

And, in case you're interested, here's a sneak peak of our little girl!

Funky Town!

Kathy and Jannae take us on a tour of Funky Town.

Name that movie.....

Turn up the sound for the full effect.

Winter on the Shores of Lake Michigan

Here is some catch up on Thomas. He left the Lansing/Williamston area the first week of December and headed for St. Joseph/Benton Harbor on the east shore of Lake Michigan (the very southwest corner of the State). His apartment is right across the street from the lake on a road appropriately named Lakeshore Drive. Lakeshore Drive continues around the lake towards Chicago. You may remember on the news about the massive blizzard that hit the mid-west. When they showed shots of Chicago they liked to show the hundreds of cars snowed in on Lakeshore Drive near Chicago.

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You can see in the photos that Thomas has his fair share of snow and ice. He also shares with you pictures of typical homes in parts of the Benton Harbor area. He reports that about 30% of the homes are boarded up like that, and that many boarded up homes still have people living in them. The Michigan economy has really been hit hard and has been suffering for years and is only one of two states that goes down in population each year. But Thomas really loves meeting and talking to the people in this new area. His companion is Elder Kohler from Ammon, Idaho -- so he knows snow and cold.

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They really don't seem to mind the weather. At the beginning the work was really tough because previous missionaries in the area the past year or so were not good missionaries. They have now won over the confidence of some of the members so they get better support for rides, etc. Hopefully, the members will now bring some good contacts for them to teach. They spent a lot of time knocking, as that was about all they had to start with. But slowly they have built up a great pool of investigators and contacts. One week they had 22 follow-up appointments which is way high for their mission. Last week they had 17, so all the work paid off. You may have read his email of February 12 where he reported they had an investigator attend church, which is very good for his mission. They are teaching some promising contacts and our prayers are with Thomas and all the missionaries.

We love Thomas!!

Best to all, John.

Elder Kenton Smith Hits the 6-Month Mark Serving in Paysandú

The following is a piece from a letter sent on Tuesday, January 11, 2011. For the full version email Jannae. Can you believe Kenton's been gone for 6 months?

We have a bunch of other investigators that are slowly moving along and are all showing interest. They just have to come to church and then the will realize that this is really what they need. I have noticed that that is what usually happens; when they start feeling the spirit when they go to church they realize that they have a better week and they want to keep coming back.

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I really got to see a miracle this week, our investigator Oscar got baptized this week and Carla´s son Giancarlo was the one who baptized him! He only received the priesthood last week so it was the first baptism he ever did! He had to do it twice because he did it wrong the first time but he got it done! It was such a cool experience. During the service we had Carla give a talk on baptism and on the gift of the Holy Ghost and she just walked up to the stand without notes or scriptures and gave a 5 minute talk quoting scriptures! She is so amazing and she has been coming to lessons with us recently.

I am so grateful for my calling and am very excited to keep going and changing lives. I will be hitting my 6-month mark on Saturday and it is mind blowing that I have been gone that long. Hard work really makes the time fly. Thank you for all of your support, please support the missionary work in your wards the missionaries there will love that gift. The church is true and it is the only one that has the power to make families forever. Make sure people know that about the church when you get all those fun questions!