Utah Territorial Pen - Where Families Meet

Utah Penitentiary at Sugar House (date & source unknown)

Approximately same location, Sugar House Park & Highland High School
(note the peak above me in the center is in the other picture on the left)

There is a particular branch in my family tree haunting me. And I mean that in a good way. I can't go into the personal and family reasons in a public forum, but the series of incidents lead me to a spiritual conclusion that this is no accident.

Having been recently startled photographically and geographically by connections to the Rice Family, I shouldn't have been too surprised when my collaborator cousin of my Dad's family sent me some information on the Bybees. Among the materials was this about my 2nd-Great Grandfather, David Bowman Bybee (1832-1893):

Wendy Davis: Democratic Hero

Jimmy Stewart in filibuster as "Mr. Smith"
(public domain from trailer via Wikipedia)

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has recently staged a couple of old-fashioned filibusters and proposed others in the populist style of Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” However, it was a Texas State Senator who won the respect and love of Democrats throughout the country Tuesday night when her filibuster delayed the vote on a restrictive abortion bill.

Abortion is a very challenging issue of the culture wars. While MormonDems bloggers support the LDS teaching that abortion is a serious moral issue, we also support the Church’s provision for rare but sometimes necessary exceptions. These include rape, incest, “serious jeopardy” to the “life or health of the mother” and when “the fetus has serious defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.” These exceptions should only be considered after discussions with the woman’s family, her doctor, and bishop or branch president. As this is a challenging personal and religious issue, the law should allow those consultations and decisions with the least amount of intrusion. It should be recognized that the Church takes no position with regard to any particular abortion legislation. You can find the Church’s official statement at this link.

Republican Honor Roll - Immigration Reform

The U.S. Senate passed Immigration Reform today!! It's not perfect, but it follows principles of enforcement,  a pathway to citizenship, opportunities for entry to work, etc. It's a "compromise." Just like our wonderful, inspired Constitution itself.

Indeed we could say it follows the principles of the Utah Compact supported by the LDS Church along with the admonition that immigration reform should balance enforcement with respect for families and all people.

It passed with all of the Democrats, both Independents, and a good number of Republicans. The Republican "yeas" are those who get my "statesmen (and women)" award this evening:

Ancestor Watch - William Kelsey Rice (1822-1913)

Have you ever felt that your ancestors are watching you? I was startled yesterday when a photo popped up with an ancestor staring me down. Maybe he'll do the same for you when you click on "Read more" below.

I am amazed to see the new resources on New.FamilySearch, particularly the Family Tree that is much more navigable and has links to source materials, histories, and photos that people have uploaded. I was playing around in there when Grandpa Rice jumped up. This was the guy born in Manchester, New York when the Smiths lived nearby. His family joined the church in Michigan and went to Nauvoo where Grandpa married Lucy Witter Geer and received their own ordinance work in the Temple. They were pioneers of '47 (Hunter-Foutz Company, October 1, 1847), only two months and a week after the first arrivals. William (Bill) settled in Farmington, 1848 and donated the land for the Farmington Cemetery. He  helped defend Echo Canyon during the Utah War (1857), and helped relieve Johnston's Army of some of its government cattle up in Wyoming.

I've known for some time that my 3rd-Great Grandfather Rice died in Centerville in 1913. While wondering where he may have lived, I was clueless as to where or how to figure it out. That changed after he stared me down out of that picture.

Mormon Conspiracy Theorists

Well, leaving the infamous Bro. Beck to the side for a moment, Anonymous D and I have been highly entertained this week by the LDS Church debunking anti-government conspiracies about modifications to the Church's welfare canning operations. The Church put out this statement:

Over the past several weeks, misinformation and unnecessary concern has been circulating on blogs, over social media channels and by email regarding changes in operations at the Church’s home storage centers, which are located in the U.S. and Canada. No home storage centers are being closed, but the Church is making welcomed modifications in its operations at most of these centers that will help to better serve the needs of members of the Church, as well as significantly improve efficiency.

There's a bit more to the statement you can find at the link above or by going to Newsroom at LDS.org.

Anonymous D and I went to some of the websites spreading "misinformation" which I decline to link here. But you can find them. One has a special 3-DVD course you can buy on home storage for only $150!! It also has gun training for women, etc. Another is by a Cleon Skousen wannabe who I just don't think is brazen enough to get as far as Bro. Skousen (SLC Police Chief, Teaching at BYU, etc.) But you can buy this new guy's books on his site too!! (Seems to be a common theme here I'll leave for now.)

Anyway, D had some great insights I wanted to share, so take it away D!

"I Don't Need Ethics Because I'm a Good Man."

That phrase was spoken by someone I worked with long ago and maybe in a galaxy far, far away. But it was spoken. The Speaker was LDS and well connected in the community and even to LDS Church leaders. It appalled me. Yet I understood the sentiment.

I think I've explained on the blog that I didn't really like law school because it's a bunch of arrogant smarty-pants competing against each other on stage before professors supposedly trying to make us think and reason by creating impossible-to-resolve hypotheticals. I hate hypotheticals. Once, infuriated by the whole process I told my "Ethics" Professor I understood that one needs to learn the rules of professional ethics to comply with the requirements, but if I didn't come in his room already an ethical person there was no way he could make me one. (I especially hated hypothetical ethics).

But the point is, being good or ethical is not enough. We have to follow some basic rules of professional conduct across the board especially in a profession already suspect because we deal with law, crimes, and peoples' livelihoods and lives. And the biggest problem is that sometimes when we walk into that lecture room or profession being a "good" or "ethical" person, we can fool ourselves into thinking we still are while making terrible mistakes that any five-year-old could point out.

The Utah Attorneys General, current and past, are in the midst of a scandal spinning out of control. The bottom line is this. They had some financial dealings with a man who was a convicted internet fraudster. Some of that was for campaign funds, some for nice holidays at posh and expensive resorts on the fraudster's dime (or hundreds of thousands, actually). Many of the receipts are publicly available (click here). (As a fed, I'd get in trouble for a mere $16 muffin! Actually, gift acceptance is limited at $25. The whole golf resort vacation was a bit more than that.)

Closing in on the Tailor

We spent some time this evening in the Family History Library with my wife's childhood friend who found some great info on her Jewish side of the family in Nancy, France. In fact, she shared the fascinating information that before the French Revolution, Jews were not considered citizens of France. They were allowed to register as citizens under the Napoleonic Civil Code, so the little dictator wasn't all bad.

Anyway, my wife stole my netbook so I was stuck on the FHL computers and I was googling like crazy on my 1789 illegitimacy problem. Our prime suspect remains the same, but so far it's all still circumstantial evidence. What I found of interest were three different requests for information on genealogical discussion boards on the same guy! Our suspected ancestor! And I learned a little more about the family that they were innkeepers as well as tailors and shoemakers. Best of all, a picture of the inn:

The Three Horseshoes Pub, Velindre (Felindre), Glasbury, Wales
Courtesy of Andy Dolman under Creative Commons license