One last post before I turn to family

The following came from Rubin - who is one of our followers.  I figured his questions were on others minds so I'll answer them.  Then I really will take a break.  (It is wrong to be obsessed with your blog followers :-)).

Rubins questions are ---

Why am I not surprised that you home school? My guess is that those who like the great brain and all historical fiction are more likely to be conservatively inclined (at least on a culture aspect).

 

I take it that you are a Mormon (I base that on your family relation with the late Bishop Ernest Samuel Horsely). I actually always wondered about the portrayal of the Bishop, in both the kids and adult books. There is a tendency to view memories on the basis of current attitudes. Bishop Aden is a paragon of virtue, tolerance and understanding. Yet, the turn of century Utah was full of bigotry, especially over the Mormon issue (as you can see in the Papa Married book), where a newspaper could openly be anti Mormon. Is it likely that a Mormon bishop was SOOO tolerant a mere 40 years after the Mountain Meadows massacre. In the kid series papa declares that "not one person in town would hold it against Abe Glassman" that he was Jewish. This forty some years before the holocaust, when MANY hotels has signs "no Hebrews" or "Christians only". Is it likely that the town was THAT tolerant (even allowing for hyperbole). I have always assumed that there was a little rosy colored memories based on the attitudes of the 1950s and 60's when the books were written. Curious as to your thoughts, but not sure if you would want a post on this issue.

Holding

Hi Everyone -  I am a bit crazed right now.  I have a daughter graduating from high school, my college daughter arrives home tomorrow.  My son is finishing performing in a play.  My parents are do in.  And we are treating a friend to a weekend at the beach.  ----So It'll be a couple weeks before any new posts.  Check back mid-June.
Thanks

Bishop Horsley - Bishop Aden.

Hi Everyone - I am going to try to compile some strong similarities between the two Bishops.  I will type my resources with them to help out.  I will try to use Bishop Horsley first - then contrast it with some of Fitzgerald's descriptions from the book.  - I hope this works.
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Bishop Horsley-(from Utah Since Statehood)  Ernest S. Horsely...1885....Price has since continuously been his home and he has seen it grow from a hamlet of a few houses to an enterprising town of twenty-five hundred population.  He helped build the first canal of this region at a cost of twenty thousand dollars and he has ever given his aid and influence on the side of progress and improvement. He was marshal of Price and afterwards filled other positions, brining him eventually to the presidency of the town board.

Bishop Aden-(Prologue Papa Married a Mormon) "The colonization of Adenville flourished, as our story opens, the population was over one thousand.  There were log cabins or adobe houses for every family.  A grist mill, a woolen factory, a tannery, and soap factory were all producing...The dam wich used "to go out like the wash", every Monday was rebuilt and was strong enough to resist any flash flood...Adenville was made a ward with Ephraim Aden as Bishop.

Ephriam Aden and Me

There are so many beloved characters in Fitzgerald's works.  Uncle Mark, Uncle Will, Queenie, Papa, Mamma, even Aunt Cathy - but one of the most beloved to me was Bishop Ephriam Aden.

When I first was deciding to research I often hid away from anyone.  My family included.  I would work late at night after everyone was asleep, sneak my letters to the mail box, hide the print offs from the internet, anything to keep this secret.  I know there needs to be an explanation and there is but I'll get to it later.

Bishop Aden was one of the hidden ones.  I'd figured out on my first hunts that Bishop Aden must have been a created character.  Price has a huge GENWEB site with nearly every pioneers name, photos and many have histories.  No Aden's existed.

I also knew that Price was named after William Price, who was a mormon bishop, but never a bishop over Price.  This knowledge should have quelled my interest in  Bishop Aden.  If it  was clear he didn't exist in either form, why should I be so bent on finding him.  Trouble was - his name kept nagging me.  It would take me a while before I could get the answer to settle the nag.

Coming Soon - Ephriam Aden

Hi friends.  I have 2 other deadlines to meet this week, but I plan on posting about Bishop Aden over the weekend.  He was one of my favorite finds in this experience.
Thanks everyone of you for making this blog so fun and productive.  I love your ideas, your questions, even your concerns.  It helps me check my work as well as reminds me why I wanted to use this medium in the first place.  The only thing this blog does not afford me is the opportunity to meet you in person.  I remember one time while I was researching I was kind of stuck, so I said a prayer for help.  In my mind I imagined being a school auditorium, walking up to a podium as if I was going to speak. I never could find a way to make that happen, but just know that sometimes when I write I go back to that image and I try to imagine you.

 Thanks for letting this blog be my podium.  Thank you for coming each day.

I promise I will write soon.  Make it a great day.