Abraham Hunsaker

Abraham Hunsaker was a convert in the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He was a polygamist and had 5 wives and 50 children!  For this reason, the name Hunsaker comes up often in the state of Utah.  A great book called History of Abraham Hunsaker and His Family was written by the Abraham Hunsaker Family Association and is available for download here.  If you are a descendant of Abramam Hunsaker, it is worth a read.

William Gregg, Harriett Conhope, and their Ancestors

My first study I completed was that of William Gregg (1797-1857) and Harriet Conhope (1804-1864).  They are great, great grandparents of my grandmother, Donna LaLita Russon and parents of my immigrant ancestor, Mary Ann Gregg Tame (1839-1915).  William and Mary Ann also both joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1849 and 1857 respectively.

While I attended Brigham Young University, I visited my grandmother who lives in Pleasant Grove.  I digitized everything I could find.  I found the histories written about this family and when I started my fact checking process, I found the chronology to be rather jumbled.  The following book is a mixture of the stories passed down for many generations and the original records used to reconstuct the timeline:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/william-gregg-harriet-conhope-and-their-ancestors/12202970.

As always, any story constructed from records is only as good as the current information.  As more information is found, I will update it with a second edition.

Goals and Aspirations

What is a pioneer?  It is simply someone who is among the first to do something.  This spans things from settling a region, developing a new product or idea, starting a trend in a family.  I have many pioneers in my family and every ancestor is a pioneer in one way or another. 

The decisions they have made in the past have affected my life today.  Obviously, I am the product of many, many decisions to reproduce.  I am also a product of my European ancestors moving to a new land, their decision to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, their career choices, their successes and failures, their relationships they formed with others, and their reactions to life's curveballs.

While I was dating and forming my own relationships, my dad told me something I've never forgotten.  Friends come in and out of your life, but family, we are here forever.  The relationship we have with our family is special.  Whether or not you believe it will last for the eternities like I do, some of the strongest bonds in my life are with my inherited family (that I was born into) and my chosen family (that which I chose when I married my wife).

The goal of this blog is to study the people who have forged the way for my wife, my children and me in a hope of understanding.  History has a way of repeating itself.  If I am to repeat my ancestors successes or avoid their pitfalls, I need to understand them.  I have been collecting information over my entire lifetime.  I am in the process of compiling it and will share it as I finish each study.

Enjoy and please don't be afraid to comment.