Financial Advice From the Dead

A couple of years ago, I had an occasion to spend two hours uninterrupted with my father-in-law. We were to drive from his house to the town where I live, a two hour drive. I can't remember the reason, but I decided to pass the time by asking him a question that had been plaguing me.

I was 40 years old at the time, my wife (his daughter) and I had six children, a mortgage, two cars that needed work, and a stack of bills. Sounds pretty average I suppose. Over the 18 years I had been married to his daughter, we had been helped by her parents many times with loans and gifts of money. I had decided that somehow I was going to do the same for my children. As I looked back on how I had managed our money, I realized that I hadn't listened to the financial advice I had been given when I was first married. Iwas finally mature enough to listen to advice at this point, so that was the nature of our two hour conversation.

Orval, my father-in-law, told me about six principles that he says he has lived by most of his life. He doesn't have a lot of money, in fact, he is known for living just fine on very little. I'll list the six principles here it a bit, but I want to get to the reason for my post first. I asked Orval when he started living these principles and he couldn't really say. When I asked him whom he learned them from, he said it was one of his ancestors: Charles Negus Carroll.

Charles Negus Carroll was a businessman known for fair dealing. He was part of the history of Park City, Utah and eventually moved south to Orderville Utah. Orval said to me that he had read these principles in Charles' journal, or in a family history book or story written by one of Charles' family.

So this is what struck me: As a young man Orval was touched by advice written in a journal of an ancestor. Charles Carroll died in 1902, and Orval wasn't born until about 30 years later. Somehow the combination of the man's know expertise with money, his reputation for integrity, and the fact that he was related struck Orval enough to take the advie to heart.

That experience was the beginning for me. I have not yet found the journal or story of Charles that lists these principles, but here they are:

1. Pay an honest tithe.
2. Don't buy something just because you can.
3. Pay cash whenever you can.
4. Buy used equipment (Orval translated this to cars for our day.) and keep it working.
5. Save a regular portion of your earnings.
6. Barter whenever possible.

Now I have to say that I suppose these principles may not have come from Charles Carroll, or may only some of them. My point is to show an example from my life where a connection of relation made a difference in advice taken. Somehow this was the beginning for me and my fasination with personal and family histories.

If any of the family of Charles Negus Carroll has insight to what Charles wrote, please let me know.

Motivation From the History of Others

What is it about reading family history that is so enthralling?

Let's consider the powerful influence of personal histories, some famous ones. The Diary of Anne Frank is a book commonly read by Language Arts students in high school. Why? Because educators know of it's influence on teens. After all, it's a novel about a Jewish teen in hiding during World War II. Take a look at this post by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on her blog, Helene Berr: France's Anne Frank for a discussion of how Anne's diary and Helen Berr's journal have impacted youth around the world. Here is a quote from Helene Berr's publication on Schelly's post:

"We are living hour by hour, not even week by week," she writes. Instead of fleeing she works as a volunteer at a holding camp for children whose parents have already been deported. "They play in the yard ... repugnant, covered in sores and lice. Poor little kids," Berr confides to her diary, recounting how her co-workers beseech her to flee France while there is still time.

Now, if I were today struggling with something, say I was newly homeless due to a hurricane (Katrina wasn't that long ago), and I had read this sometime before. I hope I would remember it, and it would give me strength. I would say to myself, "If this young girl can live hour by hour, can tend poor little kids who's parents have been deported away from them, surely I can handle my adversity." Recently I became seriously ill. I had to live each day one at a time, and it was the words of one of my ancestors that kept me going, little bit by little bit.

Now take this one step further: For a moving example of how The Diary of Anne Frank has changed lives, get yourself a copy of Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition). This movie is the true story of a high school teacher who reaches across racial and social barriers to connect with her students.

This is the essence of connecting with other people by reading their stories. Their true life stories. This essence is the power to make us better people, and that connection is even more powerful when it is your own relatives you connect with. In my next blog, I'll share an example of how an ancestor of mine helped me. In the mean time, share in comments how you've been moved by reading the history of someone, a relative or not.

Digitize Family History

Hello Everybody! And I really do mean everybody. I say hello to everyone who lives on the planet. That might sound sentimental, but stay tuned. I'll explain. And then I'll say HELLO to even more people.

A little over 2600 years ago, a man started a journal of sorts. The man was a leader of a group of people who eventually persuaded him to be their king. He saw himself more as a religious leader. Nevertheless, he influenced many people. His writing wasn't really a journal in the sense of a daily personal record, it was more a history of his people.

He stated two reasons (among others) for writing the history. First, he said he had been greately blessed of God. He listed some of the blessings, and then said, "Therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days." As a way of showing gratitude, he was recording the history of his people.

The second reason why this man made his history is because it was a command. This man said he was commanded by God to make a history of his people.

He says that he "received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written... and the that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should possess the land, and also for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord."

In this, my first blog post, I don't pretend to be some great person. Rather, I seek to follow his example, and state my reasons for starting this blog.

Like this man--his name was Nephi--I have been greatly blessed by God, and I wish to show my gratitude. I also hope that my meager writings might be of some 'instuction to [people]'

The reason for my blog is to further my highest interest: family history. I teach my clients and coworkers that if you are going to make a website, make it about something you are passionate about, something you won't get bored with, something that you won't loathe when you wake up in the morning.

So here we are. Why am I passionate about family history? There are many reasons why people do genealogy. I want to get this right out front from the beginning.

I believe that everyone who currently lives on our planet existed before they were born. They existed in a place many call heaven. They existed with God. God is a real person. He has a body, and as such a being he lives somewhere. Wherever that is, we used to be there with him. After we die, our spirit continues. Someday our spirit will take the body upon itself again.

All the people who ever have lived on this planet, plus all the people who do live here now, plus all the people who ever will live on our planet, will all live again after death... someday.

What does this have to do with genealogy and family history? Consider what can we take with us into death? Not treasure, not a big house, only what we learn while we are here ... and everybody else. If we are all going to be together someday for eternity, we'd better start now getting to know each other!

That's my reason. I believe we (all past, present, and future inhabitants of the Earth) are one big family. I want to get to know you all, especially you who have already passed on. My heart has been turned to my fathers. Find your Ancestors on OneGreatFamily


So I say hello to everybody, And everybody includes all the dead, all the living, and all the waiting to be born. That's a lot of people. Good thing I have eons to get to know all of you--God willing.

You might not be religious. You might even have unkind feelings toward my religion. If so, I thank you for your respect to read this far. Family history and genealogy find interested people from all walks, religions, countries, and ages.

My goal in this blog is to promote the study and sharing of family history. Not as much names, dates, and relationships, but the stories. Whatever your reasons for interest, now you know mine. I invite you along with me in this quest. Visit: Digitize Family History