Preserving and sharing family history stories is a passion for many people, and I am definitely one of those. I want my posterity to know, love, and learn from their ancestors. I have found that combining an activity with telling a story often makes all the difference in its long-lasting influence. Inspiring stories of faith and fortitude that is in our FamilySearch “Memories” gallery. Step-by-step instructions for adding documents, photos, and audio files in FS “Memories” are found here in the Family History guide Project 2. Also check out this FamilySearch blog post for more details. 

To combine the telling of stories with a family activity this summer, we decided to focus on my maternal grandfather, Vaughn Elijah Maxfield, who was one of fourteen children (ten boys) born to Mary Ann and Henry Dilworth Maxfield. This hard-working, dedicated couple raised their children in a small two-story house in Emery, Utah. Grandpa Max was fond of saying that when he and his siblings were naughty and their dad would threaten to spank them all, he would volunteer to be first so that he could laugh at the others. We visited his grave site at Camp Williams with some of our grandchildren and shared stories about his life, and the lives of his progenitors. His grandfather (the eleventh child of John Ellison and Sarah Elizabeth Maxfield), was born in a wagon bed at Ham’s Fork, Wyoming in 1851! What examples of faith and perseverance these beloved ancestors are to us.

Search for the stories on your family tree here. Learn more about family activities for gathering, documenting, recording, and sharing family stories and photos in The Family History Guide Activities Section.