The ancestors following these, to the 4th generation from Dad, on the pedigree charts, were featured in the Ellis Darrel and Nora Bellamy Biggs book. I wrote as much as I could find about them in that book. And they are very interesting. Please share their stories with your children. I have read that children who are raised with a sense of connection and respect for their forbearers are more well adjusted and happy, even in this stressful world, because they have a firm sense of identity that goes back for generations.
One set of Dad's 3rd great paternal grandparents, the 5th generation, are John Biggs and Mary Bocher (Sometimes spelled Boher). I Googled John Biggs and found one born about the same time who served in the Revolutionary War, so I got all excited, but then, on further investigation, found that it could not be our John Biggs because ours was born and died in England.
John Biggs was born on February 2, 1746 in Birmingham, Warwickshire England and Married Mary Bocher. Mary was born in 1745 in Warwickshire England. John's parents were Thomas Biggs (1721) and Mary Chatwin (1718-1800) They were born in England and lived there all their lives. Family Search has no record of Mary's parents. That's some research we need to do. John and Mary were married in 1767 in Birmingham, England and are the parents of Jonathan Biggs and 7 other children. John died in England, but no date is given. Mary died in February 1819 and is buried in Warwickshire, England.
One set of Dad's 3rd great maternal grandparents are Jesse Parker Bellamy and Jane Walker. I was not able to find much on these grandparents either, but I did see what the name Bellamy means. It is French and it means "handsome friend." They are the parents of James F. Bellamy. Jesse was born in 1791 in Virginia and died August 21, 1886 at the age of 94, an amazingly great age in those days. He is buried in the Bellamy Cemetery in Marion, Iowa. He married Jane Walker in 1816 when he was 24. Jane was born March 17, 1791, and died in July, 1832. Family search has two places of birth for Jane...York, England and Kentucky. I'm leaning toward Kentucky because Jesse was born in Virginia and they were married there. Her parents are William Walker and Margaret (no information available.) Jesse's parents are Elisha Bellamy (1760-1839) and Nancy Parker (1763.) I found one picture of Jane Walker, but I hesitated to put it on because she looks scary. Most people did in those days because they had to sit stone-still for such a long time that they couldn't hold a smile. (You know, a cute hair style and a little smile would do wonders.) I wonder if Dad and Connie are related through their Walker lines.
Our January birthdays, thank goodness, are anything but scary and they smiled happily for pictures.
Jovie turned 2 on the 2nd of January...her golden birthday.
Shad's birthday was the 7th...Rebecca and Scott's 30th anniversary.
Rebecca and Scott, married January 7, 1989
Connie's birthday was the 14th
Reygan turned 21 on the 20th.
Albert turned 19 on the 25th, in California on his mission.
Raymond turned 10 on the 29th
Alonzo turned 10 on the 29th.
Weatherwise, January was an interesting month of extremes. It started off snowy and ended fair and sunny. Of course, it's almost February and that is usually when we start our spring, with trees beginning to bud. I've even seen tiny magnolia buds already on the trees at the temple. We even had a rare blood moon lunar eclipse this month.
The Gila Valley Temple in the snow.
Jenn posted these photos of the eclipse. I don't know if she took them herself or not. I tried to take one with my phone, and it didn't look anything like these. 🌝
By the end of the month, Springtime was creeping in a little early. We usually start our spring in February, but our daffodils are already blooming.
~OUR JANUARY~
On New Year's Day, Esther invited us all to a Masa party. Some ate it the old, traditional way, and others liked putting meat on it. Either way it was good and the company was even better. It was fun having Dallin and Sara there, as well as the regulars.
On New Year's Day, Esther invited us all to a Masa party. Some ate it the old, traditional way, and others liked putting meat on it. Either way it was good and the company was even better. It was fun having Dallin and Sara there, as well as the regulars.
On January 2nd, when we were in Gilbert, and not even there to see or enjoy it, Safford had a freak snow storm! The last time we had so much snow was 2007. Rachel took this picture of our house in the snow and texted it to us. I could hardly believe what I was seeing.
Jenn took these pictures while it was snowing and also texted them to us. Even though we weren't there to see it for ourselves, we got to enjoy it vicariously through Rachel's and Jenn's eyes.
I took these are pictures of the road on our way home from Gilbert on the 2nd.
While we were there, we tried out our new rocking chairs from Cracker Barrel. They were my Christmas present from Dad. Isabel took the picture.
She and Polly are staying at our Lydia house for a while. Here they are, enjoying the amenities, comfortable home and warm pool. They understand that whenever someone needs to stay there, they will probably have to double up in one room and that they have to keep things clean and ready for visitors...and no wild parties or boys when they are there alone. :-}
Before we got home from Gilbert, Esther and her boys went to Safford and they and the Safford kids put away our Christmas. It was so nice to see everything all cleaned up when we got home.
While they were there, everyone went up to Mt. Graham to enjoy the snow. I think they had a lot of fun, but I was glad to stay home in my nice, warm house and enjoy it through pictures.
Jenn's huge van got stuck in the snow, and everyone worked to get it free. Finally, Tammy Johnson, who was also up there, enjoying the snow, hooked up to it with her vehicle, and pulled it out.
They had a weenie roast at Rachel's after the snow. It looks as if they are enjoying the warm sunshine after the cold snow.
When they finally got back to our house, we had a pot of hot chicken noodle soup and cheese biscuits waiting for them.
I think everyone enjoyed it, until poor Camille spilled hot soup on her wrist. She came to me and asked for a towel to wipe up spilled soup, and I gave her one, never suspecting that she had burned herself. She proceeded to wipe up the soup and then showed her wrist to her mom. It wasn't until then that I knew what had happened. I was horrified! That really is a blister on her arm! Dad and Thomas and Tyson gave her a Priesthood blessing. Dad blessed her that she would be able to sleep comfortably and that she would heal completely. She took ibuprofen and kept cool water or covered ice packs on it until she went home and went to bed. She didn't have any more medicine at all, yet was able to sleep the whole night and awaken feeling so much better. In fact she never had to take any more pain medicine than the ibuprofen she took at our house. It was truly a miracle. While they were blessing her, I was desperately praying that the Lord would grant her a miracle that would forever hold her close to Him, that in times of trouble, she would remember how much she is loved by her Heavenly Father.
When we went by the next day to take her a medicinal milkshake, she already felt so much better.
On the 6th of January, we had our first 2-hour church. It was just fine. I loved it. That night, when families came over, Thomas brought a King cake, celebrating El Dia de los Reis. Hidden inside was a tiny baby doll, representing the Christ child. Whoever gets the doll in their serving of cake is guaranteed good luck the whole year. Maya was the lucky one. The kids are hiding each other's eyes so they don't accidentally see anything when Kirtlyn cut the cake.
We also enjoyed watching old home movies...Joel doing Three Little Monkies rap and Rebecca stealing the show, as usual, along with other fun family memories.
On the 8th, Dad and I and Rebecca and Rachel and Jenn attended a session at the Temple. I know that pride is a sin, but I was totally walking around the halls of the Temple with pride in my heart for my beautiful, righteous young daughters. What a joy it was for us to be there with them. Afterwards, we treated them to lunch at El Charro, where Thomas was able to join us. We absolutely need to do this again...often.
On Saturday the 12th, Thomas and Carson came over to help Dad clean up and trim our plants before Spring gets here. I'm so glad he has such capable and willing helpers.
On the 13th, Luke was ordained a Priest. He is the first in our family to have been moved up according to the new Priesthood ordination schedule. He doesn't turn 16 until May, but he is already a Priest and can bless the Sacrament and baptize at the Temple.
After his ordination, we went to Gilbert. The next day, Esther and Jeremy happened to be at Lydia at the same time and we really enjoyed visiting with the two of them.
They were not able to go to lunch with us, however, and Joel was in Europe, so we took Isabel to Joe's Farm Grill and had lunch with her.
We ate dinner that night with Esther and Shad at Black Angus.
I had an appointment with Palmer at his dental school the next day, so we went by to see Bethany and Jovie when I was done. Jovie even warmed up to us and sat on our laps and shared her toys. I loved it! Bethany invited us to dinner and she made a delicious chicken jambalaya.
On the 16th, we got home just in time to see Thomas' game at the middle school. He's a good player and usually makes at least one 3-point shot per game.
On Friday, the 18th, Rebecca, Scott, Thomas, Jenn, Mary and Tyson all met us at the Temple to do some family sealings. Dad was our sealer, of course, and we were able to seal some of our family members to their parents. What a blessing. Of course, we had to hit El Charro afterwards :-)
On Saturday, Thomas, Carson and Lindsay all came over to help Dad in the yard and garden.
After finding out that even though Brianna and Lindsay are in the community youth theater production of Mary Poppins, they had never even seen the original movie (I didn't know that was even possible in America!), I invited them and Kirtlyn and Maya over to watch it with me. The twins were in Mesa at the time, so we'll have to do another movie night soon, when they can come.
On Sunday, the kids came over to visit, including the Alders, who were home from Mesa. Isabel even brought her boyfriend, Logan Sherwood from Pima. He's a very cute cowboy and seemed to be comfortable with all of us. I liked him.
Monday the 21st was a MLK day, a holiday from school, so those of us who could, (Biggses, Richins) took a field trip to Willcox. Dad has been wanting to go to Apple Annie's Country Store to get some soup, and I wanted to see the "thousands" of sand cranes that supposedly fly into the dry lake outside of Willcox this time of year. The picture below is from Google and it is what I hoped to see. Not so much. We saw bunches of cranes circling in the air, but none close enough to really get a good look and none on the ground. We did go to the Country Store, though, and got lunch, so at least Dad got his soup.
On the 23rd, we went to Thomas' semi-finals game. They won, and had their final game the next day when we were in the Temple. They won that game, against Thatcher, as well and are now the middle school champions.
On Sunday, the 27th, we went to Mary's Ward to hear Brianna sing her original composition, "You're Never Alone." She was absolutely amazing. This is a screen shot from her rehearsal the day before.
Then, after their Sacrament Meeting, we went to the ordinations of Thomas (a Teacher) and Hyrum (a Deacon). So now, even though he is just 13, Thomas can start preparing the Sacrament, and Hyrum, at 11, can start passing it.
After that, we left to go to Gilbert, and Joel and Stephanie invited us to dinner. It was delicious and Stephanie prepared it, with Joel's help. She has been suffering from a severe sciatic attack, much like the one Scott has been enduring. But she still prepared dinner for us. Stetson and Lindsay came, bringing Junie. I took her picture, eating cereal while we ate roast and potatoes.
The next day, we had lunch at PF Chang's with all the kids we could gather.
Then that night, we visited Jeremy's family for a little while. It's hard to catch them, so we were glad we got to see them. We even saw Erika for a few minutes. She got home from her office late because she was filling in for someone else.
We finished our Gilbert trip this time with a lunch at Pete's. Dad really wanted to eat there before we went home. Esther was able to go with us, so we had a good visit with her.
*NEWS FROM AROUND THE FAMILY*
~NATHAN AND SHAUNA~
Poor sweet, little Jovie, following in the footsteps of her aunts Rebecca and Rachel, knocked out one of her baby teeth. She was at the zoo in Omaha and fell. Her Grandpa Jeppesen is a dentist and he removed the rest of the tooth and advised just what Uncle John (also a dentist) advised when Rebecca knocked out her tooth, and what Dr. Gibbons recommended for Rachel...to just leave it alone and not worry about it. All little kids are snaggletoothed anyway.
Here she is with her doting Grandpa Nathan at the airport.
Hannah and Seth got to take a dream trip to Israel, visiting fabulous places. Here is Hannah at Petra (which you might remember from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.)
Joshua has been busy, now that he's finally finished...and passed...his masters' program at UofU, taking preservationist pictures in Omaha. I loved what he posted along with this picture.
Jovie visiting with Grandpa and Grandma
Near the end of the month, Nathan and Shauna went to Glendale to visit Bethany, Palmer, and especially Jovie. I think they enjoyed the Arizona sun and especially their sweet, beautiful granddaughter. Bethany says her parents are crazy about Jovie. :-)
Nathan sent me these pictures of his granddaughter.
Hannah and Seth at the Winter Quarters' Temple wedding of some friends.
~JOEL AND STEPHANIE~
Stetson and Lindsay and Junie visited Lindsay's family in Washington this month,
Sweet little Junie
Joel and Levi had meetings in France this month, for their annual DDay memorial event, but on the way, they were asked to check out some Swiss Chalets. Flying into Switzerland was a problem, though, as they had a terrible storm, said to be the worst they had had in years. They were stuck in Austria for a while. Actually, I don't know if they even made it to Switzerland before they had to be in warm, sunny France.
Levi in Austria, and then in France, with one of their event coordinators, Earl.
Joel, seated among French political leaders, discussing plans for D Day.
I think Junie has Joel totally wrapped! I took these pictures after lunch at their house. Seeing them together makes me so happy. I love seeing what wonderful grandparents our children are.
~DANIEL AND CONNIE~
Elder Uchtdorf spoke at a BYU Devotional this month, but before he did, he visited the MTC where Shadrach works as a teacher of Hmong. Somehow, Shadrach had the cool responsibility of getting their lunch!
Devynne and Brock's family enjoying the St. Louis snow.
And a production of Paw Patrol. Ethan would have loved this! Devynne said Theo absolutely did.
Theo with his friend.
And visiting a science museum. This is a screenshot from a terrific video of him putting slides under the projecting microscope and looking at them on the wall. Then he put new slides on, knowing just what to do and how to do it. Devynne says he's training to be a scientist like his dad.
There are fun things to do in Colorado, too, as well as in St. Louis. This is Aila, all bundled up for a romp in the snow. She and Shannyn are on the sled, being pulled behind their gator (or whatever it's called.)
And she also loves helping her aunts as they prepare and wrap their newly butchered pork for the freezer.
Shadrach at I don't know which Temple, maybe the one in Fresno (?) with a family he baptized on his mission there. Also other people he learned to know and love.
And with some BYU friends.
This is Emma with her Middle school basketball team. This is from a local newspaper clipping. Evidently, even though she is cheering from the sidelines in this picture, she is a starter and sees a lot of playing time. Daniel says her coach calls her the beast.
Connie had a birthday on the 14th of January. I'm so glad her kids make amazing cakes for her. She goes to so much work to make special ones for them...and she has a lot to make, with 12 kids!
Three of whom have January birthdays. Albert's was the 25th, and he was in California for his birthday. Raymond and Alonzo turned 10 on the 29th. Thanks to Shannyn, I have cake pictures.
~REBECCA AND SCOTT~
For an interesting change, a picture of Rebecca's Arizona house, looking like it belongs with a picture from Dallin and Sara's Syracuse house.
And Lillian and Kelin's Cedar City snow.
On one of their trips to the Valley, Rebecca and Polly stopped to explore the old Queen Creek tunnel. Dad remembers going through it when he was a kid, before the new highway and tunnel were built.
Parley in his new Sunday suit; congratulating his dad upon entering his final semester of Architect school, and enjoying a warm drink on a cold day.
This one is captioned perfectly already!
Harvey and Lucy, playing together. I'm sure Harvey is glad that Lucy is getting old enough to play with and not just look at.
Pretty Polly
DeWitt and his cousin, Bryce at an ASU game.
Rebecca went with Rachel to Las Vegas where Rachel went on a buying trip for Ashley Furniture. Ashley paid their way and for all their accommodations and food, so it was a really fun, but a very quick one-day, one-night trip.
~JEREMY AND ERIKA~
This is Erika's grandparents' house in Colorado, I think.
They set up a wonderful workshop, and bought some things they needed for the work table with their Christmas money. They are totally remodeling their house and I am amazed at the really complicated things they are doing themselves. They are so creative and talented.
Jeremy and Erika and Tayte and Hayden went to California for a quick vacation.
They went to a concert while they were there and on the way home stopped at the infamous Saltensea...a manmade sea full of chemicals and dead fish.
While they were gone, the girls enjoyed some girl time with their friends and a spontaneous trip to the Temple to do baptisms.
Daynen, crashing after completing his latest movie trailer, to be seen on YouTube.
While we were visiting their family, we saw Reygan's wrecked little car, reminding us of how close she came to disaster, and how protected she was. We also saw Hayden's 1967 Impala. We used to have one of those! Ours was light blue, though, but otherwise just the same, even to the seat covers.
~RACHEL AND TONY~
The Alder family playing in the snow on Mt. Graham
A snowman at their house.
Camille's burn experience. She slept well that night, thanks to a Priesthood blessing.
The healing process-Dr. Hargis saw these pictures and asked if he could use them to teach about burns.
Rylie's future grandfather-in-law made this beautiful table for her and Brandon.
Luke was ordained a Priest on January 13th.
Their dog, Karen, had puppies again, and Luke was the only one awake. She had 8 puppies this time.
One time when Rachel was in Gilbert, she and Esther and Shad and Harrison and Bridger went to Matta's grill where they saw Nancy and Dale. :-)
Brynlie and Camille at their Young Women fashion design activity. Their creation was the best by far!
Rachel was sent by Ashley Furniture as a buyer at a Las Vegas home show. She took Rebecca with her and they had a great time. Rebecca said she was so impressed with how professional and knowledgeable Rachel was with the whole buying business.
~ESTHER AND SHAD~
At their New Year's masa party
Esther was sick one Sunday and missed Primary, where she is the singing lady. All the Primary children heart attacked her 💞
Shad's birthday is the 7th, and they always take a picture of him with all the kids. Here is their 2019 edition.
Pretty amazing date, I would say, Marlie.
When Rachel was there, Harrison gave her a book tour. He gave me one and I loved it. Esther also made sugar cookies, with the help of Brynlie, at least...maybe others as well.
Esther with Nancy and Dale at Matta's Grill
When Rachel and Rebecca went to Gilbert before they left for Las Vegas, they went with Esther and Harrison to a movie.
And to Chick-Fil-A, where she saw her old school chum, Candace McCrea.
Soren, with the school superintendent at the science fair and with his mom when he got his Arrow of Light.
Marlie, with her truck, wrapped in cellophane, as an answer to her invitation to MORP.
~THOMAS AND JENN~
Biggs kids loving the unusual snow.
Snow, falling at home and at El Charro, all over town.
Posted by Jenn, celebrating the Day of the Kings.
Jenn and her younger kids went to Mesa to see her brother who was visiting. It looks like they also took a side trip to Lehi, visiting Biggs family history.
Hyrum in his new Sunday suit, getting ready to receive the Aaronic Priesthood as an 11-year-old.
Kirtlyn got her braces off. Beautiful smile, Kirtlyn! Show it often.
Thomas had a great basketball season. I think his team was undefeated, in fact. They ended up being the regional middle school champions.
Thomas flew in President Goodman's plane to check out Brentwood as a possible site for a Young Men's campout. But they were not able to go all the way because of snow.
Dad has been having Carson and Thomas and Hyrum helping with the lawn and garden. He has also had the help of Brianna and Lindsay from time to time. It's good for all of them to work with Dad.
While the big kids were working, the little boys found leaves to play in.
At the Apple Annie's Country Store
Maya got to sing with her Primary class at their Primary teacher's missionary farewell. Charlotte Peterson was her teacher.
On the 27th of January, Thomas was ordained a Teacher (he turned 13 in December) and Hyrum was ordained a Deacon, having turned 11 in December.
~MARY AND TYSON~
Ethan and Brianna loving the snowy weather.
Carson and friends
Unfair? A blessing! Reminds me of our dog, Daisy, and her pups piled all over on top of her.
Brianna wrote and sang a beautiful song "You're Never Alone." This is a screenshot from the video. She was asked to sing it in church and she was so good. Her voice was sweet and pure and her music and lyrics were amazing...not just good for an almost 14-year-old, but for any age.
Jared has been playing baseball and enjoys practicing on our hoop. He's getting pretty good too.
Carson helped in the yard and they all got a thrill from walking on the pool.
The next week, when Carson and Thomas weren't available, Brianna and Lindsay and Hyrum helped Dad.
While the big kids worked, Ethan played in the leaves.
One Sunday, Jared was the only kid in his class to bring back a survey his teacher had sent home, so he got the prize...prizes!
Perfect!
In Willcox, when we went to see the cranes.
Mary and Tyson taught a family home evening about the baptism of Jesus, and then let Alex play with the pictures, reinforcing, I hope, what he learned.
"Ok, you boys, quit fighting and give each other a hug!"
~MISSIONARIES~
From Docker in Boston
From Albert in California
~SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE~
I smiled at this post from Melissa. She posted it on my birthday, but I thought it would fit after the December post of favorite Biggs meals.
Shad, enjoying his boys' Christmas scooter. Ha Ha!
I loved this. Brynlie and Camille are Arizona snow angels...hardly any snow, in shorts, no less.
Which brings us to Jenn's post about Arizona snow that made me laugh out loud.
I have to say, as much as I love the English language, it is tricky.
One time I was stopped at the stop light on 5th and main and saw the real Marlboro Man...until I cropped it and saw what I was really seeing. 😉
So true, so true. Never forget it.
So darling.
~LAST WORDS~
I once heard Pres. Uchtdorf quote an old proverb that says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” He said, “There is something wonderful and hopeful about the
word ‘now.’ There is something
empowering about the fact that if we choose to decide now, we can move forward
at this very moment. Yes…today…with
the whole year stretched before us, waiting to be filled with our goals and
plans and choices…this is the time to decide if we are truly on the Lord’s
side." We need to decide if we are on the lord’s side or Satan’s
side. There are really only two
sides, and in this great and terrible war, we know which side is going to win, don’t we?
When I was young,..don’t you just hate it when some old
person says, “when I was young?” Well, when I was young it was common for
people to be considered good people if they just didn’t do bad things. We could be fence sitters. We could be comfortable Mormons. We could go to seminary, go to church and
consider ourselves active in the Church.
The kids my age who regularly read their scriptures, wrote in their
journals, fasted all day on fast Sunday were considered “Gospel Geeks.” So, the categories were roughly, bad
kids, good kids and Gospel Geeks. But now, in the 21st century, I can see that the
good kids are so much better than we ever were. They know that there’s no middle of the road anymore, no
sitting on the fence. We are
either for the Savior or against Him.
It’s time to choose sides.
We all need to be Gospel Geeks. It fills my heart with joy to see that each of you are choosing to be on the Lord's side. We all have room for improvement, though, and I hope we can each take stock of our lives and choices. I know that I can improve and start now to center my life and my choices more on the Savior and what He would have me do and less on what is convenient and comfortable to me.
Now, at the beginning of the year, I pray that 2019 will see
each one of us stronger and more valiant, choosing to be on the Lord’s side.
We love you all so much and are so thankful for you. Please continue to share your lives and activities with us as we record our family history in this family blog. It helps us keep in touch with you and with each other.
2 comments:
I loved reading the blog and I really liked hearing more about our kin!! Thank you Mom for this blog! It truly is an act of love and sacrifice
I loved it all mom!!!! Do I remember that blue Impala? I kind of feel like I do. Also I don't get the Marbolo Man thing?? Loved catching up with everyone!!
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