Tuesday 4 ~ Pioneer Spirit

Tuesday 4

 

Pioneer Spirit


Howdy Partners and Buckaroos... Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4

Americans are descended from truly intrepid stock.

In Utah, the Days of '47 are starting. This was 1847 when the first Mormon pioneers came into the state with the great handcart movement. The celebration is huge in Utah with fireworks, rodeos, picnics, fairs and all manner of things. In America everyone, including the American Indians are immigrants having come from elsewhere, such as Mongolia, as well. There really are no "native" Americans at all! Let's talk about pioneering. When we think Pioneer we think the Old West.. but the Pilgrims were pioneers. The Spanish were pioneers too.

1. All our ancestors are pioneers who came to America from someplace else. Where did your people come from?

After having my DNA study done through Ancestry.com, I have discovered that I have quite a diverse background, but primarily my ancestors came from England and Northwestern Europe (37%), Scotland (23%), and Germanic Europe (11%).  The rest were scattered throughout places like the Baltics, Sweden & Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Wales, Eastern Europe and Russia.  I was most surprised to learn that the largest percentage was from England and not Germany!  My maiden name was Mursch, which was definitely German, so I just assumed all my life that I was primarily of German descent. My paternal Great-Grandfather came over from Germany with his mother in the mid-late 1800's. My mother's side of the family claimed to be Scotch Irish, but upon further research, they are much more Scottish than Irish. The biggest surprise was when I discovered my paternal grandmother's birth parents through my ancestry research, since she was adopted as an infant.  Her father was decidedly English, and her mother was mostly German.  

2. Do you know when and why they came to America?

I haven't gotten that far in my research to know the when and why for everyone, but it seems most of them came in the mid 1800's.  However, on my paternal grandmother's side, my 5th Great Grandfather, George Sowers, Sr., was born in 1750 in York County, PA., and served in the Revolutionary War.  Here is his headstone:

And here is his record of service, taken from an application for one of his descendant's eligibility record for admittance into the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.).  

After discovering this bit of information I realized that I could have been a member of the D.A.R. and never knew it! Oh well...I'm not sure if that is still an active organization or not or what they do. Perhaps I should check into it further. Anyone have any information about that?

Oh, I almost forgot...my Great-Great-Grandfather, also on my Paternal Grandmother's side, John N. Sowers, (1843-1918) served in the Civil War.  in the 72nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers.

Most of my ancestors settled in Western and North Central Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and upstate New York.  My father was born in western Pennsylvania, and my mother was born in Des Moines, Iowa, but mostly grew up in Ohio.  I was born in western Pennsylvania, and moved to Florida when I was almost six years old.

3. Have you been a bit of a pioneer in some way? Does that spirit live in you? Perhaps moving on to a new job, new home, new state, new country, maybe a change in religion or church?

Yes, my husband and I have always felt like pioneers. We were always on the move, in search of a better place to live and also to serve God. My hubby was called to the ministry after first teaching school for a few years and also working as a Florida State Trooper for a couple of years.  I shared a bit about that story in a post a couple of years ago, which can be found HERE.  Here is a copy of the newspaper article that was written about him when we accepted the call to his first church:

Our choice to serve the Lord led us to many interesting and different kinds of places throughout the southeast, midwest, and north east. I may have mentioned before that if I ever finish writing the book of our life story, it will be entitled "Giant Leaps of Faith and Other Crazy Moves".  We are hopefully settled down now back in our home state of Florida for the duration of the rest of our natural lives, but I wouldn't guarantee it.  The "pioneer spirit" still lives strong in us, but our bodies are worn out from so many moves and I really wouldn't want to do it again unless it was for something really really really special...LOL.

4. Do you enjoy Western movies or TV programs? They don't make many now but there are re-runs available? Which do you watch?

I always enjoyed western movies and TV programs back in the past, but haven't really watched too many of them recently.  I enjoyed Wagon Train, Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, etc.  They were all full of adventure and excitement, and I always wanted to be able to ride a horse and roam the wild west. LOL.  

This is the picture of me that I call "Pioneer Pammy"...with my wooden rifle on top of my fort ready to shoot any intruders.  I loved playing like I was a pioneer, but I haven't yet had to shoot any intruders to my fort, thank the Lord.

Hebrews 13:14-16  (The Living Bible translation) tells us that this world is not our home, we are just passing through...

"14 For this world is not our home; 

we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.

15 With Jesus’ help we will continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by telling others of the glory of his name. 

16 Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to him."

Hebrews 11:13 (NKJV) tells us about all of the old patriarchs of the faith, who were still waiting and watching for the promised Messiah, they realized that they were strangers and pilgrims here on earth:

"13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

So from that standpoint, we are all pioneers or pilgrims here on earth. This world is not our final home, we are just passing through.  Our real home is in heaven, and that is where I look forward to being for eternity.  But until then, I'll keep living and loving and doing the best I can here to serve the Lord in whatever way He deems best.

Thank you, Annie, for this fun Tuesday 4 topic today. I look forward to reading everyone else's posts!