Correction on last week's genealogy story.

 Hyeji was in a program this week celebrating the train tracks meeting at Promontory Point.  That's what our DUP lesson was on this month, too.  I didn't go see Hyeji's program, but I helped her put her costume together.  She needed a white apron, so we picked a cute colorful one I had and she wore it inside out.

Crista sent this darling photo of Greta, Bridget and Ruby

And Adrienne sent this one of sweet Ila.  This was quite early
in the morning and she's all dressed with he hair done.

Yuna celebrated her 6th birthday on Monday.

Last week I told of an ancestor coming on the Mayflower and I received some corrections from my siblings.  I may not have been listening closely when we talked about it at the meeting because I thought they said that John Howland was my great....grandfather.  Family Search also said he was my 10th great grandfather.  However, my brothers (Bruce, Glenn and Dave) told me that we are direct descendants of his brother Henry Howland, that came to America a little later.

Here are the responses I got:  From Bruce: When I looked into our Mayflower ancestry, I concluded that the Mayflower passenger we descended  from was George Soule, although there may be another one as well.  As to  the Howlands, I believe we descend from Henry Howland, who was the brother of John Howland, and who came over to America after John.  I would be interested in the ancestry by which you believe we are descended from John Howland.  I would also ask David and Christine what they think as they have done much more in genealogy than I have.

From Dave: On the Cook side of our genealogy, Bruce is correct.  George Soule is the only direct ancestor on the Mayflower.  John Howland had two brothers who came to the Plymouth Colony after the Mayflower.  Some think they came in on the Anne (third Ship in). , Arthur was an older brother and Henry was younger. John and Arthur are our 11th great Uncles, while Henry is our direct ancestor (tenth grandfather). The first time Henry is named in the colony is an allotment of cattle in 1624, he appears to own a black cow.  In 1633 he is found in a list of freeman. He is listed as living "by the bay side, near Love Brewster's," and the record continues "He was one of the substantial land holders and freeman".  In 1635 he was chosen "constable of Duxberry"  In 1643 he is on the list of men who could bear arms. In 1657 he was on the list of those who refused to serve on the "Grand Enquest"  The reason for this was he had joined the  "Friends" sect.  After joining the "Friends" aka Quakers, he was greatly persecuted.  Henry stayed true to his faith the rest of his life.  His property was close to the Rhode Island Colony.  Rhode Island was where most Quakers lived to avoid persecution for their faith.  However, Henry's land was subject to the Plymouth Colony, which levied many finds on his household for holding Friends meetings in his home and other crazy things.  

The Howland line is a very religious line.  Their Father apparently suffered many persecutions in England for his faith, which could explain why they were in Plymouth in the first place. 

On the Clyde line, I've heard there may be three ancestors, but I haven't worked on these lines. 

I hope this helps.  

From Glenn: When I visited Plymouth many years ago, I thought we were descended from John Howland.  Going through my family tree, I found that Henry Howland , John’s brother was the ancestor.  However, the pedigree is compiled by people’s submissions.  I don’t know if it’s completely accurate.  I didn’t know about George Soule.  Thanks for the info.

Final comments were made on the fact that Family Search is not very accurate as people are allowed to make changes even without documentation.  Janet Porter (on the CFO board) wrote a letter to Family Search and asked if she could lock our line down because it is complete and documented.  She spends hours updating and correcting information on Family Search only to have it changed by someone who thinks they know.  She was told no, that it was better just to have a place on line that had all the correct information.  We are trying to have all this information at www.cookfamily.org.   I intend to ask Janet about the relationship to the Howland line and clarify what it was I heard at the meeting on Feb. 1.

I had a wonderful lunch with Christine celebrating my birthday.  I love getting together with her and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

We were invited to dinner on Saturday night with friends that we haven't seen for a while.  We met them when we first moved to Bountiful and were in the Canyon Estates Ward.  They told us that they prayed us into their ward as their kids needed other youth their age.  It worked--but we only stayed a year.  Since then they have lived in Hawaii and China.  We had a good time catching up.

I love all of our interactions through letters, Marco Polo, and by other means.  I'm glad we have such wonderful family relationships.  It's worth every effort to maintain them.  I love all of you!