The man I grew up to know as my great grandfather was Pete Petersen. He really was my grandmother’s step dad. But you’d never know it by the loving way he treated all of us great grand kids. Going over to visit them in Ogden, Utah was always an adventure. He was a bit of a prankster. He would always take us kids downstairs and we could play. He had this old tin can of “peanut brittle” when you opened the top out sprung these fake snakes that were all coiled up in the can. Without fail it pleased us and made us all squeal with joy.

When he passed away I secretly hoped to get the tin “peanut brittle” can. I didn’t and frankly to this day I don’t remember what ever happened with it. I got something I didn’t really know what to do with. I was only about 15. My grandmother handed me an old brown leather satchel. She said that I would be the best person to take care of something that meant so much to my great grandfather. I don’t think I even opened it for about a week. To my surprise it was full of old musty papers. It was several hand written pedigree charts and many family group record sheets.

This was really the first exposure I had to genealogy. I came to find out that Pete was really into recording his genealogy. He had kept very good records and now they were all in my possession. What a love and a passion has come from me getting these old musty papers. Truly one of the things I treasure the most is that old leather satchel and the wonderful treasure it was full of.

George Albert Earl in Tonga

My great grandfather George Albert Earl went to Tonga in the early 1900s. He stayed there for almost 3 years serving a church mission. He taught and loved the people. For years my family has cherished a set of glass negatives that were all pictures from his time in Tonga. I recently discovered that somehow they have been misplaced. I wanted to get a copy of he pictures from these negatives to upload online and preserve them. It seems maybe I am too late. They have vanished. I am hopeful that someone will find them tucked away in a box they didn’t know they had.