I recently finished researching and straightening out all of the vital statistics, and seeing to the temple work, of all of the descendants of the eighth set of my 3^rd great grandparents.  That leaves eight more to go.  I had a prayer.  I asked which of the remaining eight sets of 3^rd great grandparents is most anxious to have me next do their work.

The Johnson family jumped off the page.  I have previously skipped over that family because I felt that lots of work had been done for them, and that there would probably not be much for me to do.  Besides that, it looked very confusing.

I began by looking at 3^rd great grandfather, Daniel David Johnson.  I looked at his parents.  From that point on it was like someone was standing beside me and directing my attention to this and then to that.  I quickly realized that the generations before Daniel David were all in a tangle.  Finding information on those way-back generations is difficult.  Information is simply not available.  Many times I told myself that there just wasn't enough information, that I couldn't straighten things out, and that I'd just have to ignore the problems that were so obvious.  I didn't want to be working that far back in time anyway.

But then my unseen helper would seemingly say, “Look at this.  There are four boys in this family, all born in 1782!  Daniel David is OK, but the others don't belong in this family.

“And look at this.  All three of these other names were put there by one researcher, and no reasons or sources were given.  You're dealing with carelessness here.”

Then, “It's obvious that these two couples are the same people, and that they should be combined, but other researchers have been afraid to combine the duplicates because the children in the two families are all different.  The reason the listed children are all different is because of those three boys that shouldn't be there in the first place.  Daniel David is in both families.  Get rid of the three extra boys, and then you can combine the two sets of parents.”

Then, “And now look over here.  See that last child in that family's long list?  He was born 19 years after the next nearest sibling!  His mother would have been 55, and his father was already dead.  You're dealing with careless researchers who find an individual and just insert him into any family having the same last name in the same area.  Detach that individual from the family.”

Then, “Now look at this family of 14 children.  Notice that there are two Betsys, two Sarahs, and three Reubens.  One Reuben is a duplicate and should be combined with number two.  Number three Reuben was born in Kentucky.  All the rest of the children were born where the family actually lived.  The Kentucky child doesn't belong in the family.”

“There, you've got the 14 children whittled down to 10, and half of the remainder died without descendants.  Going through the remaining descendants doesn't look so daunting any more, does it?”

Then, “Those individuals born in North Carolina are obviously interlopers.  Your family was all in what is now West Virginia.  People didn't move around so freely back then as they do in your day.”

Several times I was ready to give up, but my unseen helper pushed me through.  He and I, or she and I, as the case may be, undid a slew of tangles.  The family is looking good, and I no longer feel daunted.

Arthur Johnson, born 1690 or 1693 or 1698, is still a puzzle, however.  I'm going to have to leave him with two sets of parents.  I can't tell if he's the son of Edward Johnson and Elizabeth, or of Alexander Johnson and Elizabeth.

Thank goodness that we'll have the Millennium to straighten these things out.

And thank goodness for prayer and for family history consultants who actually know the families.  I must remember to ask their help.  Together we're accomplishing a great work.

—10 January 2023.