Count Your Blessings

"While at Nauvoo, my father William Field and my tow sisters Eliza and Rachael died, leaving my mother with six children to provide for. We were very poor and had very little to eat...we were put on a ration of one pint of corn meal a day for the seven of us...the children cried for a piece of white bread and mother often times would cry with us, as she was unable to give us the bread of get enough food to satisfy the hungry cries of her children.  Mother worked to provide for us and tried to help us the best she could.  You must remember most of the saints were poor after being forced to leave their old homes and be driven from one state to another by the anti-Mormons. We did not complain. We were thankful to be at Nauvoo with the other saints of God and to be aquainted with our Prophet and leader, Joseph Smith and to listen to his teachings."(Barton, Annie Garner. The life of Mary Field Garner. New Canaan, CT: Readex, 199. Print.)

While reading Mary's story, this quote stuck out to me.  This was not the only struggle that they went through, the trials and sacrifices were unimaginable, but, she said, "we did not complain".  I think of that and it makes me re-evaluate my life and to realize the blessing I have and the opportunities that the Lord has given to me.  There is so much we can learn from the pioneers, and I think that one of them is to not look at what you don't have, but to look at what you do have. 

Information about the Podcast

I had a lot of fun doing the podcast that is attached to the top of this blog.  The text was taken from Mary Field Garner's personal history labeled "The Last Leaf", that was recorded by her granddaughter Anne Garner Barton.

This story is a story that I have heard told over and over by my grandmother Janette Trottier.  She is a direct descendant of Mary Field Garner and knew her as a child.   The voice recorded was my grandmother.  This project brought back a lot of memories and helped me connect even more with Mary and her life.

Map of Hooper Cemetery

This is a map of the cemetery that Mary Field Garner that was buried here. I would like to go visit and to the see the headstone in person.

   While searching the online Newspaper Archive, I found that quite a few newspapers seemed to enjoy following the important events in Mary Field Garner's life. The majority of the articles centered around her birthday and also around pioneer or special dates for the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This is a newspaper clipping from, The Ogden Standard Examiner, Thursday January 30, 1941 pg. 7.  I found this article interesting and heart warming as it showed some of this amazing woman's characteristics. 

This picture documents Mary's second conversation on the telephone (her first had been five years previous).  I am sure that it would be a very interesting thing to see so much change and advancement in a life time, the telephone must have seemed to be a miracle.

Her sense of humor was mentioned when the author mentioned a time when Mary, with a smile on her face advised a young girl to not get married because a woman could never learn or understand the ways of a man. 

"The pioneer is often amused at the puzzlement expressed by her friends over some of her remarks. Her humor and subtle wit are so unexpected in a person her age that it takes most people by surprise. She is never so happy as when joking with her grandchildren. And they have to be on their toes to keep up with her."

I find this quote and description of Mary from the article amusing because it reminds me of the women in my life that still hold these same personality traits.  My late great grandmother Erma Platt and my grandmother Janette Trottier have this same humor and subtle wit.