Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked, and Walked, and Walked, and WALKED

When I was growing up, there were two primary songs I hated. I just could not handle singing these two songs. I clearly remember being very disappointed when we had to sing one of these songs. The first song I disliked I am sure you can guess from the title. Ugh, I was so sick of hearing about those blasted pioneer children. Okay, so they had to WALK AND WALK AND WALK AND WALK. What is your point?! I think part of my attitude about those pioneer children stemmed from the fact that I had no "pioneer children" as part of my heritage. Growing up in Utah, everyone around me seemed to have a heritage rich in pioneer ancestry. Especially where I grew up. I felt bitter and left out. I didn't feel connected to the pioneers at all. I am sorry to say that my attitude about this stretched into my adult life. Pioneer Day in Utah. . . UGH! I just could not handle those Sundays around July 24th when someone would stand up in Sacrament meeting, proud as could be, and go on and on about one of their pioneer ancestors that just so amazing and experienced so much hardship. BLEH.

The second song I hated singing was Genealogy, I Am Doing It. I really, really, really did not enjoy this song. Really. The words to the song have changed since I was a kid. I don't remember the old lyrics that well, because I have blocked them from my memory. Ick, ew, hated singing that one.

My dad was really into genealogy from the time I was a teenager up until he died nearly 8 years ago. I never had an interest(obviously) and could not figure out what he enjoyed so much about it. He asked me to take the work he had done and continue it. I told him I didn't think I would know how to do it. He gave me a copy of the genealogy data he had (through PAF). I appreciated having the information, but didn't think I'd ever do anything with it.

About six years ago I was messing around on a website called Ancestry.com. I had actually signed up for a free 2 week trial membership because I could get reward points through another website I participate in. My mother's family is mostly from Germany, and finding information on her family had been difficult. I typed in her grandmother's name, positive I would find nothing. To my surprise, there was more information than I knew what to do with. Newspaper articles,obituaries, military records, histories, city directory listings. . . the list could go on and on. From that moment on I was sucked in. I could not get enough of learning about my ancestors on my mother's side. I learned about where they lived, where they were from, what they did for a living, the churches they attended, the people they married, their influence in the communities they lived in, and the wars they fought in. I felt like I knew them. I fell in love with genealogy work. Yes, genealogy. That thing I didn't understand. The subject of that song that I hated to sing as a child. Genealogy, I am doing it! And I like it.

During my ongoing love affair with genealogy, I took a look at my pedigree chart. I never thought I should bother with my dad's side of the family. I knew that there were records going back many generations. My dad had spent many years of his life working on it, as well as other family members. When I took a look, I started noticing that a lot of my ancestors on my dad's side of the family lived and died in Utah. Not only did I have ancestry tied to Utah, I was related to pioneers! Those people I didn't feel connected to in any way. The people who WALKED and WALKED and WALKED and WALKED! People who had places named for the place of their birth. People who died on their way to Utah. People who helped build historical places in Utah. I AM A MEMBER OF THE CLUB!

I've been thinking a lot lately about how ironic it is that the subjects of the two songs I hated to sing as a child are now my most beloved and favorite hobbies. I recently attended a meeting of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. I am applying for a membership (this is something I never would have dreamed I would do six years ago). I am so surprised at how many things I now enjoy that I had once decided weren't worth my time. I did a simple thing six years ago. I typed one of my ancestor's names into a search engine on website. It opened a whole new world to me. It has taught me to try new things.