I virtually met a new cousin last week. Actually she’s my fourth cousin. We share common great-great grandparents. She had been doing some family research and came across my blog when she found we had common ancestors. It has been fun for me to correspond with her via e-mail. So far I don’t know her last name or where she lives. She closed her first letter with, “I am also a born again Christian and enjoy that part of your blog very much. Again, nice meeting you.” I felt an immediate connection with her because of our common faith and the fact that we’re biologically related adds to that connection.
The first photo she sent me was of my great-grandmother, her second husband, and the kids: his, hers and theirs. It was taken in the late 1890s or early 1900s.
That’s my grandpa, Wesley Ira Crow, standing by his mother on the right. Laura was pregnant with him when her first husband died in a mill accident in 1895. The two boys and the shorter girl in back are the other children of her first marriage. The tall girl in the back is Robert Gillespie’s daughter by his first marriage, Maude, through whom my new cousin is descended.
We wouldn’t be blood relatives if only Maude was her great-grandma, but Maude married Laura’s brother, Ira. Ira and Laura’s parents, Nancy Wells and John Quincy Bertwell are our common great-great grandparents. See how fun genealogy can be! It’s almost like Ira is his own grandpa!! The youngest children in the photo are Robert and Laura’s sons they had together: Roy and Fred. (I’ll list all the names and dates at the end of this post for any family members or others who may be interested.)
My new cousin also sent me a photo of our common great-great grandmother, Nancy, seated in the chair, with her daughter, my great grandma Gillespie, standing by her:
Thinking of the generations past and Mother’s Day this weekend also led me to think of the generations coming after me. My parents have three grandchildren. Their first, my son James, arrived two days before my dad’s 50th birthday. Dad was overseas on business the day James was born, but he arrived home on his birthday, the day we brought baby Jamie home from the hospital. I said, “Happy birthday, Dad,” as I placed Jamie in his arms for the first time. Dad’s eyes and mine clouded with tears as we realized again the preciousness of life. Each new addition to the family is seen as a unique gift from God, on loan to us to raise and train in a manner pleasing to Him.
Sarah Elizabeth Yancey arrived just under two years later. From birth she had some of the same striking characteristics her Grandma Carol Crow has: blue eyes, brown hair, beautiful nose, full lips and long neck. It’s not her beauty though, that makes her so precious to our family. She is a bundle of potential which God has designed. We have watched her grow up to develop and use that design.
The third grandchild is an extra blessing because of the circumstances of her arrival. We were all teary-eyed at the airport that grey February afternoon in 1987. Ours were tears of joy, though, as the whole family gathered together.
I had taken James and Sarah out of school early that day. We met Mom and Dad for lunch, but had been much too excited to concentrate on eating. Then we headed for the airport to meet Byron and my brother and his wife, Jerry and Charee Crow.
Grandma Pearl Crow had gone home to be with the Lord seven weeks earlier. Our Lord is so faithful, though. Even in the midst of death and sorrow, there is always comfort and hope for the future. At the dinner after Grandma’s funeral, Jerry and Charee had announced they had received a phone call that morning. After twelve years of marriage and waiting for a child, they had been assigned a baby for adoption. Their baby girl had been born in Korea in November.
We were all at the airport to see her arrive and welcome her into our family. We were allowed to go right to the gate in those days. It was so hard to wait until all of the other passengers got off the plane. Then at last came an escort holding two precious babies. She placed a little baby girl in Charee’s arms, while Dad recorded the whole event on video.
She was so precious! Her round cheeks and arms indicated she had been well fed. Her short black hair was standing straight out all over. She looked tired after her long trip.
After we had sufficiently admired her and praised God for her arrival, Jerry and Charee took her home. They bathed her, dressed her in new clothes and gave her their name: Hannah Jinee (a combination of her Korean names) Crow. It would be several months until she was legally adopted, but as far as we were all concerned, she was now a part of our family. Hannah had taken her place, fully entitled to the family heritage.
I wrote Hannah a letter on the occasion of her dedication at church in August of 1987. It expresses how I feel about each of my ancestors and descendants. I think it expresses part of God’s heart for each of His children. I’ll share part of it in hopes that you’ll take it as a personal Mother’s Day letter to you from the heart of your Father, God.
Dear Hannah (or insert your name here),
Your family is so proud to come together with your parents and you and your church family and pastor and dedicate you to the Lord today. Of course, you’ve really been dedicated ever since your mom and dad knew about you, but this day is a day to tell the whole world that Hannah Crow (or insert your name) will be raised up to know the Lord Jesus and will be dedicated to His service by her family.
You have been the pride and joy of our family ever since you joined us. You are so precious to us and we love you very much. You aren’t precious because you’re so cute (though we think you’re a very cute girl). You aren’t precious because you have such special parents (though your parents are two of the most special people in the world). You’re not even precious to us because of how smart you are (though we all think you are so smart as you learn so many new things each week). You’re precious to us, Hannah (or insert your name), because God has made you such a special person. You’re the only Hannah Crow (or insert your name) there ever will be, and God has a wonderful plan for your life. You’ll never have to worry about being prettier or smarter than anyone else to try to prove you’re special. You’re already precious enough for God to send His only Son just for you. If you’ll always look to Him for the plans He has for you, you’ll always be able to be happy about who God has made you.
I’ll be praying for you and loving you as you grow up. Remember, you can never do anything which will keep God from loving you and I will always love you, too. I know you have a great future waiting for you as you grow up to be the girl God has made you to be.
“I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:16-19; NIV)
With love, Auntie Beth
Key to family photo above: Laura Bertwell (b. July 1, 1870; d. 1957) married Charles Wesley Crow (b. Nov. 20, 1865, d. January 23, 1895 in Silver Creek, Neb) on April 5, 1887 in Howard Co. Nebraska. Their children were:
(tallest boy in back row): Charles Henry (Hank) Crow (b. May 30, 1888; d. July 27, 1976) married to Doris Haile July 11, 1925. Their children were Laura Alice and Charles (Chuck).
(boy at left in back row): John Clarence (Clarence) Crow,(b. April 6, 1890; d. December 31, 1977) married to Beatrice (Bea) Williams on October 6, 1915. Their children were: Charles W. Fred. R, Cleo, Roy, Grace, Lloyd, Evelin and Cathrine,
(shortest girl in back row): Grace Agnes Crow (b. October 6, 1892) married to Joseph Fry on October 18, 1911. They had one son, Howard.
(boy standing next to Laura): Wesley Ira Crow (b. July 10, 1895; d. December 24, 1970 in Newberg, OR) who married Cuba Pearl (Pearl) Wallace (b. January 2, 1898; d. December 28, 1986 in Dufur OR) on August 30, 1920. Their children were: Reva, Dorothy, Kenneth, Richard, Gerald (my dad), Mary, Ethel, Howard, Lily, Freddie, and David Roy.
(parents in photo): Laura Bertwell Crow married Robert H. Gillespie (b. Dec. 23, 1856; d. Nov. 30, 1928); Robert had a daughter, Maude (tall girl standing behind Robert): (b. 1881; d. 1910) when they married. Laura and Robert’s children were:
(boy leaning on his mother’s knee): Roy (b. Dec. 3, 1899; d. Nov. 19, 1964) who married Alice Dawn on September 6, 1924.
(baby in dress on Laura’s lap): Fred (b. April 22, 1903; d. Feb. 2, 1936) married to Margie Leibing in 1927
Nancy Wells (b. March 24, 1850 in Saline Co, Crete Neb.; m. Peru, Nebraska; d. May 11, 1931) and John Quincy Adams (b. August 16, 1847, d. Peru Neb) had three children known to me: Laura, Ira and Andrew. Maude Gillespie married Ira Bertwell (brother of Laura Bertwell Crow Gillespie) in 1899 in Howard Co. Nebraska, and died while homesteading in 1910 in Logan Co. Colorado from typhoid fever. Maude and Ira had three children: Lloyd was born in 1901, Agnes in 1903 and Howard in 1909 a few months before Maude died. Agnes was my cousin’s paternal grandmother.