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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Update to A Family History in Stitches

I've continued tweaking my Family History in Stitches design.  Only one square -- for my Mayflower ancestor, John Billington -- left to design. [Edited to add: I've now designed this square, and it's in the design below.) This sampler design honors my mother's father's family line. He (Albert Lee Fisher) and his wife (and children) are represented by the center rectangle. They were humble dairy farmers in southeastern Idaho.They both lived into their 90s and have a tremendous posterity that now  numbers in the hundreds. We gather at their homestead in the small Idaho town (of about 60 people) every summer for a family reunion -- and basically triple or quadruple the population while the reunion is underway.




The 2nd square in the top row shows the ship and dates when Albert Lee's grandfather, Thomas Frederick Fisher, immigrated to the US from Liverpool. The 2nd square on the bottom row honors Thomas Frederick's work on the Bountiful Tabernacle, and recognizes my grandfather's great-grandfather on his mother's line who was in the Bountiful bishopric when the tabernacle was dedicated in 1863. The last square on the bottom row represents my grandfather's two uncles who were Pony Express riders (Thomas' two sons), while the 3rd square on the top row recognizes Thomas' young daughter who died in 1854 on the trek west.



The right-hand square in the middle row honors Sarah Ann Smith, who immigrated from England in 1856 and crossed the plains in the Hunt company. She married Thomas Frederick Fisher the following year. The square in the upper left is for Sarah Ann's grandmother who planned to immigrate with Sarah, but she died leaving Sarah to immigrate by herself as a 22-year-old young woman.


The remaining squares are all ancestors through my grandfather's mother's line -- Elisha Pace, his wife Eliza and their son Edwin lived in Nauvoo, IL. Elisha died in the fall of 1844, but Eliza and Edwin crossed the plains in 1848 (I think). Eliza's grandfather was Elijah Kingsley, a minuteman who was at the battle of Bunker Hill early in the Revolutionary War. And Eliza's other notable ancestor was John Billington, of Mayflower and Plymouth Rock fame (or rather infamy -- he was the first person executed by the Pilgrims in the new world.)


Lastly, Eliza's line also goes back to King Henry the 2nd who reigned over England from Dover Castle in England (remember the move Lion in Winter), and through their son, John "Lackland" who eventually became King, "signed" the Magna Carta (and was Robin Hood's nemesis). We are descended through an illegitimate child whose descendants didn't inherit land or riches and became commoners.


This is how much stitching progress I've made so far.  Slow work on 40-count fabric, especially because of my bad eyes! I look hilarious with readers in front of my glasses (and yes, my glasses do have bifocals).



11 comments:

  1. Nancy
    I am absolutely amazed at your design and work. And impressed that you've been able to uncover all this history. I wish I could get half as far.
    Good going, girl.
    Linda

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  2. That is going to be one spectacular sampler, Nancy and what a wonderful document of your families history and faith. I will enjoy watching your progress on this - however long it takes!

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  3. Nancy,
    I just found this blog and am sad that didn't find it sooner (I've been reading your "thoughts" blog for months and love it!)

    This is beautiful! I would love to see it in person!

    Love,

    Cami

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  4. Greetings,
    This is my first trip to your blog and I'll certainly be back as it's very impressive work!
    Are you aware that your work is being reprinted at a for-profit blog called Easy Genealogy?
    Evelyn in Montreal

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  5. Cami:
    I'm glad you found me! I haven't gotten very far on the actual stitching, but will have it with me when we get together as a family. Hopefully you'll be at Sunday's dinner to wish Mike well before he goes to boot camp!

    Evelyn:
    Thanks for stopping by! I didn't know that EasyGenealogy.com had used my post on their site. I'm surprised they didn't ask permission. But at least there was a link back to my original post since their "copy" didn't include the picture of the sampler.

    Nancy

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  6. Oh wow!! How cool is this project! And it's beautiful too! So exciting! I loved looking around your blog too. I do the same thing as you -- I wear readers to stitch in front of my regular glasses which have bifocals. Yup! It's all the fashion! lol!

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  7. I think this is my first time to your blog, and what a post to stumble upon. Oh. My. Goodness. Your family sampler is a sight to behold. Absolutely amazing. I am slack jawed looking at it. What a family treasure & heirloom it is, just in the design stage, but when it is finished--wow. I will enjoy watching your progress!

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  8. This sampler is marvelous!! What a great tribute to your family History.

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  9. Mary -- How nice to hear from you. I have made minimal progress on my DJ -- "Bountiful Jane", but still many many blocks to go.
    Nancy

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  10. Thanks so much for posting this!
    My great grandmother was Lillie Fisher, daughter of George Christon Fisher, son of Thomas.
    I've been looking and looking to figure out how Sarah Smith got to UT, but my records had an error that made it impossible to find her.
    I stumbled upon this blog while looking for information on Elisha Pace.
    Awesome!
    Beautiful work

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  11. MNielsen: Unfortunately you are a "no-reply blogger", which means there isn't an e-mail address associated with your blogger account. I'd love to respond to you directly and let you know about a book that was published last year about Sarah Ann Smith. It would have so much tremendous information for you. Contact me with your e-mail address and I'll let you know more.
    Nancy

    ReplyDelete

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