“That sounds like our family’s story!”
A few years ago I taught a Sunday School class when I was serving as a Family History Consultant in our ward. I chose to give a lesson about family mantras or themes that are passed down through the generations. As an example I told a brief story about my great grandmother Thomine Christensen and how she taught her children that “Where there is Heart Room, there is House Room”. I had the photo of my Grandma Johanna Hansen with her siblings displayed (above) as I told my story. It was the shortened version of the story I shared in Chapter 4. When I described the part about the dugout in Mink Creek, Idaho, a sister in our ward turned to our daughter Emily and said, “That sounds like our family’s story!”
After class Emily told me about this sister sitting next to her and what she said. Her name was Jana and I asked about her family. She said her family was from Mink Creek and that they had a family story about a dugout. Keep in mind, Mink Creek has less than 1000 residents today. She told me I should connect with her mom who knew more about her family and she gave me her mom’s name: Patti Keller James.
Patti is related to the Jepsens, who were neighbors and best friends to my Christensen family
So I connected with Patti on Facebook messenger and what I discovered was pretty amazing. I figured out that Patti was related to Andreas Jepsen. No wonder the dugout story sounded familiar to her daughter Jana. The Jepsens lived in a dugout too! And, if you read Chapter 4, Thomine took in baby Julius Jepsen for a short time after his mother Kirsten passed away. And then, Andreas married the half sister of Thomine’s, Dorothea Amelia Thomsen. This was getting interesting.
Patti said she was related to the Kellers as well in Mink Creek. I asked her where she grew up and she said Soda Springs. Really? This was getting very interesting. I told her I had cousins from Soda Springs, and asked if she knew Leo and Afton Johnson. YES, she did.
Patti’s father Doyal Keller gave the invocation at my cousin Joyce’s funeral service
My cousin Joyce Johnson was about fifteen years older than me. I remember visiting Uncle Leo and Aunt Afton and seeing her. I was very young, about four or five years old and Joyce was in high school. I remember her being very kind and soft spoken, just like her mom. She had a heart condition and as I recall she had an operation that resulted in her death. The family and extended family were so saddened by her passing.
After chatting with Patti, I happened to find Joyce’s funeral program among my Dad’s family history photos.
I noticed the invocation by ‘Doyal Keller’. So I reached out to Patti to ask about Doyal on Facebook Messenger again.
“Joyce was my best friend”
And Patti’s response:
And THEN we discover we are related
And the best part of this is that Patti was best friends with Joyce and her older brother Johnny. She didn’t know when they were growing up together that they were cousins!
We are actually related through the Jepsens because my great grandmother Thomine’s sister Dorothea married Andreas Jepsen who was Thomas Jepsen’s grandfather. So Joyce, as well as myself, are Patti’s 3rd cousins. BUT ALSO, Thomas Jepsen married my Grandpa John Hansen’s younger sister Julia Hansen and had many children together before she died. Thomas then married Christina Christensen who is Patti’s grandmother.
Patti’s Best Friend in Soda Springs was her 3rd cousin
(Family tree may be better viewed on a computer)
Coincidence?
Well if so, I like these coincidences. It causes me to learn so much about my family roots. Was there a hidden family bond or trait that naturally attracted Joyce and Patti to each other to be friends? Maybe something rooted in the hardships that their Christensen and Jepsen ancestors went through?
And then there is Jana sitting next to our daughter Emily in a Sunday School class when I just happened to tell the story about Mink Creek. That seemed to spark the discovery of these family connections.
