What Oddities Dream Collection

                Last night I had a dream that we had gone to the Enchanted Forest and somehow ended up with a book of names.  The names were written in my father’s handwriting – or so I believed.  The only name I can remember was Priddy Meaks – who is an ancestor on my mother’s side.  So maybe it was my mother’s handwriting?  I, of course, do not remember the details as I had when I initially woke up.  I remember telling Jaime that we should collect all the pressed pennies that we could for they each had the names of our forefathers.  Lies.

               First of all, Enchanted Forest didn’t even exist when Priddy Meaks crossed the plains with the pioneer company.  There is some monument or structure that bears his name.  I have never seen it but my mom said she did when she was in Illinois.  It is not in Oregon.  It is not in the Enchanted Forest.  I think the furthest west that Priddy had ever gone was Salt Lake City, Utah. 

               Odd dream.  Though I can figure out the triggers.  I just recently looked up the schedule for Enchanted Forest.  They MAY be open March 24 – but no other info is available.  Both Come Follow Me and the lesson for this Sunday’s RS lesson focus on genealogy.  Jamie has been collecting pressed pennies for a number of years.  Apparently my mind encompassed them all into a single focus.  Weird.

I Found Priddy Meeks Autobiography Through Google

        My first week at the Myrtle Creek Ward was on Father’s Day.  Several members introduced themselves to me and Roland.  During Relief Society I was sitting with a sister who thrives on family history. 

        A sign up list had been passed around for an activity that would take place in a three weeks time.  The sister asked if I had pioneer ancestry and would I be willing to share something from my history.  Sure, I guess.  I do have pioneer ancestors. 

        When a received a reminder call, I realized that I didn’t have any stories.  As mentioned on previous posts, family history is not my forte – and I don’t do all that well at Church history either.  There is definitely need for improvement.

        I do remember my mom telling us about an ancestor named Priddy Meaks – though I didn’t really have any details.  I have since added his name to my ancestral files and do have more information on him than probably mom did – but still not a story. I didn’t see any stories come up on ancestry and so decided to put his name into Google to see if anything would come up that way.  I didn’t expect an excerpt from a volume (or volumes) found here. 

Sarah Meaks was his wife at the time they crossed the plains

 

So this is certainly interesting.    But it presented a new problem. I was given three to five minutes in which to tell my story.  So what story should I tell.  I’d have to read it all first.  As I have also mentioned: No matter how interesting the material,   I am a rather slow reader.  I tried skimming through words and pages until I realized it just wasn’t connecting for me. 

Priddy had written this all down when he was 85 years old.  I wonder how long he was writing.  I decided I would have to pray about finding the appropriate selection that would help benefit the results of said activity. I was blessed to be called upon first and shared a brief piece of his history.  My night blindness caused me to leave before the last sisters were through sharing their stories (I think I was actually the only one who didn’t go over) – perhaps the one behind me as well.

I would have liked to stay and offer my assistance with clean up.  I guess next time I’ll just have Roland drive me so that I can take that opportunity.

It was a really nice activity, and very well attended.  I'm grateful to the pioneers and to those who took the time to translate Priddy's words into print that it could be shared on the Internet - otherwise I wouldn't have had it to share.  I'm so happy to be here in Myrtle Creek and for the ward that I currently attend.