remember me...

Last night a few of us were gathered in the chapel to learn from Earl C. Tingey.  The theme for the evening was "I've had many glimpses of heaven."  He spoke of temple work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He has been a temple president of the Washington DC temple and is currently a sealer, sealing couples in a marriage ceremony for time & eternity.

He spoke of a woman he knew in Africa many years ago.  She wanted to gather her family history in the hopes of sealing her family forever.  At that time (and maybe still now) in Africa there were no offices for vital records.  No birth, marriage or death certificates on file.  The woman traveled to the village where her parents were born to talk to the tribal chief.  The tribal chief recited to the woman orally her history.  She wrote as he gave her the names of her grandparents, great-grandparents and so on.  After this meeting she was greeted by a woman she had never met.  The woman knew her and when she heard of her arrival in the village she brought her a book.  The book had been written by an ancestor of the visitor.  In it she wrote the history of their family.  At the top of the first page this ancestor had written "remember me."

"Remember me."  Elder Tingey related that the average individual is forgotten after 3 generations.  In 150 to 200 years that average individual is completely forgotten.  REMEMBER ME.  I thought about four generations back on my mother's side.  Henrietta "Nettie" Tucker.

• She died at an early age, July 13 1894---a mother of two daughters.
• She had a sister named "Lizzie" that was cherished.
• She married Wilson Wade Durand in Newark, New Jersey.

What I want to know...

• How/why did she die?
• She was born to Seymour and Margaret Dodd Tucker...but what was the date?
• Where was she raised?
• Did she have other siblings?

As I reflected on the thoughts shared last night...I remembered a book.  Nettie Tucker's autograph book.  As I turned through the pages I looked for clues, enjoyed the penmanship, and wondered...what was she like...

her faint signature

drawn by a Durand...the family she married into

Notice the names and pictures that fill this tree...who are they?

I love the note from her sister "Lizzie."

One of my favorite entries (not photographed) states:

"To Nettie,

In future years, when time has

dimmed this page,

and youth's bright visions flitted from thy sight,

When friends you loved are changed by care or age,

And things that please thee now,

give no delight.

When thou shalt smile and think

how soon the dreams of youth did vanish

and how bright they were

Then Nettie, if these lines ere read should be

give one kind thought to him whose name you see."

A. T. Manning

dated: April 6, 1977