From a few years ago . . .

Today is my birthday.  I’ve always felt a little strange that no one else that I know shares my birth date.  There are no cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles – in my entire Family Tree Maker database there is no direct or close ancestor or family member that was born June 30th.  In my database of 11,740 there are only 5 born on this date – four are distant cousins, twice removed and I have no relation to Mary Ann Baker.

• Ellen Augusta Carrico – 1838
• Ann Rachel Linton – 1846
• Mary Ann Baker – 1884
• Mittie E. Moran – 1885
• John Carl Linton – 1889

 So I thought I would check some of my other databases – Excel spreadsheets I have made over the years.  From my gravestone charts I found the following people born on June 20th:

• Paul Louis Elder – 1846
• Frances Mary Lancaster – 1853
• George K. Smith – 1869
• Mary Ethel Mattingly – 1893
• Joseph Sidney Donohoo – 1857
• Joseph Marvin Myers – 1968

Even this didn’t produce many finds.  The next choice was to visit the internet – and there I found a list of famous people born on the 30th.  First on the list was Mike Tyson – I’m sorry, but I cannot be happy sharing a birthday with him!  However, I did find that Lena Horne was born June 30, 1917.  Things were looking up!  But there were no more I knew on the list of 50 or so people – and they are supposed to be famous?

My daughter was born April 15th – now there is an exciting day in history – although none of us are too excited about paying our taxes on that date!  April 15, 1912, the steamship Titanic sunk.  More than 1,500 people lost their lives.  President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre on April 14th, and died early on April 15th, 1865, throwing our nation into overwhelming mourning.  Kate shares her birthday with an uncle, along with several others in the database.

My son was born February 7th.  He shares a birthday with Charles Dickens!  And Eubie Blake, an American composer and pianist, who died five days after his 100th birthday in 1983!  Linton also shares his birthday with quite a few others in the database.

I suppose I will have to make June 30th my day – as we all should on our birthdays.  Make it a day to be proud and happy to be alive – and to do that which makes us happy!  Genealogy makes me very happy – so in some ways I share this day – and every other with all of you!  Happy researching!

(Warning: Lots of exclamation points and joyful statements ahead.)

- After four months of running around Italy and eating gelato, my two sisters (and co-maids of honor), Sarah and Mary Ann, are back in the States! They are over in Vancouver with my family, who moved in February, but i found out yesterday that they’ll be able to visit this weekend for my bridal shower!

- A few hours after getting my sisters’ texts, my dear friend and former D.C. roommate, Katie, called to let me know that she’d booked her flight from Nebraska to Spokane for my wedding! I literally was jumping around my living room when she told me she was able to make it. It’s been more than a year since we’ve seen each other, so a visit is right about due. I can’t wait!

- Last night, after our Bible study group wrapped up, I got a text from my former Liberty University quad mate, Courtney Clark, letting me know she’d gotten engaged! I’m so excited to share in her joy, and I’m looking forward to seeing her get married soon! Congratulations, love!

This isn’t the briefest of my Super Brief posts, but containing excitement has never been one of my strong points. Hope God is showering his blessings on you this week, too!

The music for Master, the Tempest is raging came really fast to me.  Sometimes I struggle with a song.  I’ll have the melody stuck in my head but no accompaniment.  But it wasn’t that way with this song.  It just came and stayed in my brain.  It was all I could think about when I woke up in the morning and all I could think about when I went to sleep in the evening.  The original music is much more cheerier than my version.  However, I like the way the song reads in this new order (verse, verse, verse, then chorus).  I think that it portrays a heart-felt plea that we sometimes have in life, and the response we can eventually feel.

Mary Ann Baker lived between 1831 and 1921.  Raised with a belief in Christ, she was orphaned at an early age.  A life of much hardship followed.  As she grew up she became what she termed as “wickedly rebellious”.  She wrote:  “But the Master’s own voice stilled the tempest in my unsanctified heart, and brought it to the calm of a deeper faith and a more perfect trust” (quoted in Phil Kerr, Music in Evangelism, Glendale, California.  Gospel Music Publishers, 1939, pages 167-168).  Though her life was difficult, I am deeply thankful to Mary Ann Baker for writing these words down.  I hope you enjoy this new version.

Copyright 2009 Laurel Blair