A Genealogy of my Mothers

I have been one of many who have been blessed with goodly parents. This Mother's Day weekend I have been thinking a little about my mother and her influence on me. I must admit it is a little difficult to break it down into specifics. On one hand I might well say that there is nothing in my life that was not profoundly influenced by my mother. On the other it is difficult to take all of that and specifically point to things which were directly a result of her influence. I hope that makes sense.

Sometimes you hear people say things like, 'my mother always used to say ....' and then some profound thing would follow. What did my mom always used to say to me? She always used to say, 'It has to be somewhere!' when I would be looking for something, which was often. She also used to say, 'If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all'. What did I get from these fairly common statements? Plenty.

'It has to be somewhere', suggests that I needed to look a little harder for the thing myself. One of the characteristics that it appears my siblings and I have in common is a type of self-reliance. We are all pretty independent creatures. We all had jobs of various sorts from our teen-age years on. We are all fairly responsible people now. Even my siblings that went through, and continue to go through, challenging times there is almost always a level of personal responsibility that eventually comes through. We have become a family who takes responsibility for our own lives, our own happiness, and not blamed others or looked for excuses. If we need to 'find' something, especially if it was our fault that it was 'lost', we 'look' for it ourselves. It has to be somewhere, and we can't expect someone else to come to our rescue.

'If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all', is some of the most underrated advice that has ever been given. My mom was not judgmental, nor was she a gossip. She always looked for the good in people, especially in her children. The Mormon creed is 'mind your own business' (did you know that? A future post!). This creed I believe has a similar message to teaching correct principles and allowing people to govern themselves. My mother was a good example of this. I think my siblings and I learned some valuable lessons from my mothers influence in this area. I hope it shows.

I have mentioned a time or two that I have some pioneer heritage. It just so happens that this ancestry goes through the line of my mothers. I would like to someday get enough information to give a couple of paragraphs on each of these women in this chain. For now I will give a simple genealogy of my mothers.

I was raised in the church by my mother, Sharon Louise Pendlebury, born 7/29/1940 in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

She was raised in the church by her mother, Inez Louise Spori, born 10/06/1908 in Rexburg, Idaho.

She was raised in the church by her mother, Martha Ellen Middleton, born 2/22/1889 in Ogden, Utah.

She was raised in the church by her mother, Martha Ellen Fife, born 7/24/1866 in Riverdale, Utah.

She was raised in the church by her mother, Martha Ann Bingham, born 1/29/1850 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

She was raised in the church by her mother, Martha Ann Lewis, born 2/20/1833 in Franklin, Kentucky.

She was married to a man named Sanford Bingham who joined the church in 1833 in Concord Vermont. I have made a post on the life of Sanford Bingham at the Blogger of Jared here.

Anyway, thanks Moms.