It's been quite awhile since my family got an email from me with the latest interesting tidbit of genealogy I had learned, so I've more than made up for it today. Since I've been thinking a lot about my grandmothers recently and am planning an upcoming trip to France, I thought it would be interesting to think of my grandmas' and see if I have any ancestry near the parts of France I will visit. The family of my Grandma Jones, born a
Mourtensen, come from Denmark, where they met missionaries in 1856 and subsequently traveled to Liverpool, England where they sailed to America, walking the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. From there their family was eventually sent north to Idaho, where they lived around the Blackfoot area. Interestingly, my grandmother grew up in
Pocatello, ID just a few blocks from the boundary of the last area in my mission, and within the area I was Zone leader over. Interesting, but no french connection. I know of a few interesting lines on my Grandma
Bingham's side as well. She is a Powell whose direct ancestry comes from England. One ancestor, Nathaniel Hall, was born in Coventry, England in 1601 and arrived in
Massachusetts shortly after the Mayflower and was married about 1626 in Concord, MA to Mary Wilcox. Their great great grandson, (7 generations from my) Roswell Stevens, was born in
Plainfield, Connecticut and somehow ended up in Mount
Pleasnt, Ontario, not too far from Niagara. He was introduced to the gospel in 1833 when Joseph Smith worked as a missionary in Upper Canada. He joined the church, received his endowments in the
Nauvoo temple in 1845 and was with
Amassa Lyman and Sam Brennan as they entered the Salt Lake Valley just 3 days after Brigham Young in July 1847.
Click here to read an interesting story about a hunting experience he had with Wilford
Woodruff. Meanwhile,
his future wife Mary Ann Peterson, was born in Rancocas, NJ, not far from Philadelphia, to a father that met the Church and moved to
Nauvoo in 1842, eventually moving to Alpine in 1852 where Mary Ann was married to Roswell in 1854. One other interesting note about her father is that he served in the legislature for two terms, from 1864-1866 before moving to Mesa,
Arizonia (where my
Bingham Grandparents now live) and then to Mexico. The above picture is of the Utah territorial building in Fillmore, Utah where he did his legislative work.
Ok, so I billed this as a post about my french connection and I'm way off topic, but now I'll tell you about another line on my Grandma
Bingham's side.
On a different line, Grandma
Bingham's family came from England and includes historical figures like Charles the Bald, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the 9
th century,
Berenger II, 1
oth century King of Italy, and Henry I, King of England in the 11
th century. Going back a little further, we are related to Charlemagne (Charles the Great) who was King of the Franks (what later became France) from 768-814, conquered Italy in 774 and was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire on Christmas Day 800, by Pope Leo III. He had a cousin through his mother named William who I am particularly interested in. William spent his youth in Charlemagne's court and eventually became Count of Toulouse in 790.
This is where Sarah's parents now live and where I'll be staying for the first leg of our trip. Count William was a major player in local wars, including a war led by
Hisham I from the south, proclaimed as a holy war against all Christians, as well as a war that took control of Barcelona from the Moors. In 804 he founded the monastery of
Gellone, about 30km northwest of
Montpellier in what is now southern France. He eventually retired as a monk there in 806 and died there around 812. The above picture is the setting of his monastery in France. His burial site became a major stopping point for Christian pilgrims, as he became the subject of much folklore, even getting a mention in the Da Vinci Code (according to wikipedia). The monastery received additions over the years, but during the French Revolution, its 12
th century cloister was threatened and systematically dismantled.
If you recognize this picture, then you will have probably figured out that his is one of the Cloisters that was brought over from Europe, and assembled piece by piece by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a beautiful park in Washington Heights, Manhattan, located just minutes from where I grew up. It's hard to comprehend that the cloister at a monastery built more than a millennium ago was eventually located along my walk to Church and was the turnaround point of my 2 mile jog from home. One final tidbit about William was that his father
Makir Theuderic, was from Iraq in a city called Babylon. So in a way, William helped bring my family out of babylon to the gospel! (ok, it's a stretch, but I couldn't resist) All of this research has reinforced the feeling that while we each have free agency, we are largely products of those who have come before us, and that each link in the chain is essential to my being who I am today. This morning I feel most profound gratitude for my 2 grandmothers and my beautiful wife, the grandmother of my grandchildren, as they have profoundly shaped my life and are leaving a great legacy for my posterity.
It's been quite awhile since my family got an email from me with the latest interesting tidbit of genealogy I had learned, so I've more than made up for it today. Since I've been thinking a lot about my grandmothers recently and am planning an upcoming trip to France, I thought it would be interesting to think of my grandmas' and see if I have any ancestry near the parts of France I will visit. The family of my Grandma Jones, born a Mourtensen, come from Denmark, where they met missionaries in 1856 and subsequently traveled to Liverpool, England where they sailed to America, walking the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. From there their family was eventually sent north to Idaho, where they lived around the Blackfoot area. Interestingly, my grandmother grew up in Pocatello, ID just a few blocks from the boundary of the last area in my mission, and within the area I was Zone leader over. Interesting, but no french connection. I know of a few interesting lines on my Grandma Bingham's side as well. She is a Powell whose direct ancestry comes from England. One ancestor, Nathaniel Hall, was born in Coventry, England in 1601 and arrived in Massachusetts shortly after the Mayflower and was married about 1626 in Concord, MA to Mary Wilcox. Their great great grandson, (7 generations from my) Roswell Stevens, was born in Plainfield, Connecticut and somehow ended up in Mount Pleasnt, Ontario, not too far from Niagara. He was introduced to the gospel in 1833 when Joseph Smith worked as a missionary in Upper Canada. He joined the church, received his endowments in the Nauvoo temple in 1845 and was with Amassa Lyman and Sam Brennan as they entered the Salt Lake Valley just 3 days after Brigham Young in July 1847. Click here to read an interesting story about a hunting experience he had with Wilford Woodruff. Meanwhile, his future wife Mary Ann Peterson, was born in Rancocas, NJ, not far from Philadelphia, to a father that met the Church and moved to Nauvoo in 1842, eventually moving to Alpine in 1852 where Mary Ann was married to Roswell in 1854. One other interesting note about her father is that he served in the legislature for two terms, from 1864-1866 before moving to Mesa, Arizonia (where my Bingham Grandparents now live) and then to Mexico. The above picture is of the Utah territorial building in Fillmore, Utah where he did his legislative work. Ok, so I billed this as a post about my french connection and I'm way off topic, but now I'll tell you about another line on my Grandma Bingham's side. 
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