An inside View

Dad's handwritten daily journal

I've already recorded my thoughts and feelings about this family history project. But even more interesting to me is what Dad recorded in his journal about his interest in sharing his family history with all of us. Obviously none of us would be enjoying his life through this blog if he hadn't followed the counsel to keep a journal and a history.

January 7, 1989 – I’m spending a lot of time sorting pictures into envelopes by families. Then I will start putting them into albums. It has been interesting – both new things and seeing pictures of things I enjoyed in years past. I want to get this project finished and then get started on my old diaries, appointment books, and photos to make a meaningful and interesting journal. I am finding the old pictures very fascinating and leading to some genealogy work. I wish Mom and Dad would have written on pictures or on the albums so I would know who people were. I have to try to put them into albums so as to save them, but also to make them meaningful to our children and grandchildren.

I found pictures of both of my grandparents and also their golden weddings. Those group pictures brought back some memories, but I have forgotten so much! I’ve purchased 12 – ½ inch notebooks and 200 page protectors for the photo albums.

Family pictures in the notebooks

20 January 1989 –Since I don’t have any page protectors I am just slitting the paper for the corners of the pictures to stick through to get them to stay in the notebook. Then I print about the pictures in the very smallest print on my computer printer and tape it to the picture or next to it in the notebook.

2 July 1992 – I went out in the garage [in Pleasant View] and started getting some of the things that I want to take back to Greeley with me. I found a lot of pictures and old journals that I need for my autobiography. I also got a lot of books that I want, including some books from our trips to Germany and also of our mission. I could fill the truck with just what I looked at today. I piled them up by the front of the garage. Now I have to go through them and dust them all off good before I re-box them for the trip to Greeley.

28 July 1992 – I got all of the pictures put together in the top of my closet. I am now getting close to being able to start getting my autobiography started in earnest.

Journal entry
10 April 1989

31 July 1992 – I went through all of my notebooks of journals, appointments, agendas, etc. and filed them in folders by the year. Now I will have to go through them and put them in chronological order as the next step. I have them in five boxes. I also found several more notebooks full of pictures, so it is now about 63 notebooks full of pictures, plus the briefcase and a few boxes of pictures. I must get the rest of the pictures in page protectors and label a lot of them before I forget all about them.

19 April 1993 – I started on my autobiography by setting up a file cabinet with sections of topics and began writing. I will be able to write about any section now, such as service time, scouting, church service, etc.

7 August 1993 – Davis Family reunion. Every time we got a chance, I was showing Aunt Florence and Uncle Norman my pictures and trying to get names to go with old pictures. I showed them how I am working my pictures and journal together.

1 September 1993 – Spent most of the day working on my journals. I did some work on 1930 – 1953. I’m just putting information on the disk that I had in the files. I can add a lot more if I take the time to think about what I have listed, and if I look through the pictures of those years.

7 September 1993 – Worked some more on my journals, finding pictures and trying to remember.

19 November 1993 – Aunt Florence is here to visit for a few days. All week long she and I have been talking genealogy. She told me many things about her genealogy trip with Uncle Evan, and I got some information on many of Grandpa Harker’s brothers, etc.

Thanks for all your work, Dad.

Pieces to the puzzle

Dad loved to work jigsaw puzzles, and with only a couple of exceptions he stayed with each puzzle until completion, no matter how hard. Often he worked the edge first, but sometimes he'd start in the middle of the puzzle. Other times he'd focus on a small area within the big picture of the puzzle, and after completing that section, he'd carefully place it in the framework he'd already put together. Regardless of the technique, all of his children and many of his grandchildren spent lots of pleasant hours hunched over the table with Grandpa and Grandma, hunting for just the right puzzle piece. "Puzzling" was relaxing and a time for comfortable conversation about almost any topic - past, present or future.

And so will be these memories. The stories won't follow any specific order. Sometimes they will present the edges, or the framework of his life. Other posts will be a specific section that will later fit in the larger picture. But regardless of how they come, together they will preserve a life well lived and our cherished memories - a completed puzzle.

How it all began

In December 2005, in the course of some redecorating, Don and I encountered his dad's collection of loose-leaf binders containing his pictures and assorted other memories. Dad had passed away the previous July, and none of us in the family had given much thought to Dad’s notebooks. We all knew he was a great picture taker, and he never could get rid of any – no matter how unflattering. We also knew he faithfully kept a journal and also liked to keep copies of letters, newspaper clippings, church programs and other random bits and pieces. But what we didn’t realize was how his collection had grown. Our awakening occurred, however, when we moved 140 loose-leaf notebooks from their garage to our basement. We lined them up on the floor of our family room and, totally overwhelmed, wondered aloud what we would ever do with all of them. We did a quick and very surface initial inventory, combined a few, and reduced the count by maybe 10! Still overwhelmed.


I began to feel a real pull to these notebooks and the family history that I knew was inside. I knew I could not leave these family members in the garage or basement, uncared for and virtually ignored. I wanted them to be safe inside our family circle. I was drawn to sort and label and organize and create a family history from these 130 notebooks we had stored on shelves in my sewing room.

On January 28, 2006 I left my job to devote my time to family history. Over the last two years as I've sorted and organized, consolidated and preserved, I’ve become acquainted with the Butler family. I’ve learned about hard work, happiness, heartache, and determination. I’ve learned about long lives as well as those cut short. I’ve learned a little about shearing sheep, teaching school, working the railroad, and getting two college degrees while taking care of a young family of four boys. I feel as if I’ve come to “know” these family members.

So let me introduce you to Jess and Della and Lou and Sarah and Chuck and all the others that are part of our family tapestry. Hopefully you will come to know them and in the process learn a little about yourself.