9-18-2011

A few weeks ago, I received a call from Ben Pykles. He works for the church history department. He informed me that he was coming to Nauvoo along with some professors from BYU to identify suitable sites for GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) surveys. These surveys send electronic signals into the ground and depending upon the density of the ground, the signals received back generate data that is converted to electronic images. These images can then be viewed from a computer. Pykles and his team are using this technology to discover and document old home foundations of the early saints here in Nauvoo. Many times they have a rough idea through journals and other sources where the homes were originally located within a plat of land, but the exact location is unknown. With this technology the exact location and structure can be pinpointed. It is actually very fascinating.

Anyway, Ben called me and informed me that he was coming to identify potential sites. He asked if there were any sites that I knew of that would be interesting to document. Seizing the opportunity, I told him that I knew of the original homestead site of David Cluff (my third great grandfather). He told me that when he arrived, he would take a look. So last Thursday we walked the site.

When we arrived at the site, there was a sister missionary and her husband there. They were living in a house close by. When I told her what we were doing, she began to tear up and told me that she was a direct descendant of David Cluff as well, and that she descends through David's son Joseph. She could not believe that she was living so close to where the home of David was located. It was a touching moment. Of David's eleven sons and one daughter, so far I have come in contact with descendants of Lavina, Moses, William and Joseph here in Nauvoo. It seems that they, like me, are drawn to Father David Cluff and the life he lived here in this place.

As I walked north on what was once Wells St. in front of the David Cluff homestead, I felt strongly that he and his family did indeed live there and that they are all concerned with our lives and what we are doing. It was a unique experience that I will treasure. Further work is required to identify the exact foundation of the home, but the team is coming back in October to do further investigation.

Changing gears...

Yesterday we went to the Mule Festival in Kahoka, MO. I have never seen so many mules. They do all sorts of activity with the mules including music chairs, baseball bat-in-a-bucket, panty hose stretch and more. The girls had a good time.

The girls wanted me to mention that two of our oxen (Don and Duke) were just shipped back to Tennessee for the winter. Only Jesse and Owen are here for the winter activities

There were also three girls here over the weekend for a YSA conference from my bother Ty's ward. Here is a picture of two of them. Erin and Stephanie. Olivia was also here, but she left before we could take the picture.


Pics of bending the new ox yokes out of white oak after cooking them for three hours.



More pics with the cousins from two weeks ago..


Girls with the work horses in Nauvoo...