We left the Tetons and drove toward Salt Lake City. The campground I had selected about half way to SLC was small and had no spots so we drove another 100 miles to Evanston, WY  and the Philips RV  Park .  The park had an interesting history starting as the  Phillips Camp and Sinclair Service  in 1936  on the Lincoln Highway. At one time they had cabins and motel rooms but now it's only a campground although still owned and operated by the Phillips family.  Across the street are what remains of the Evanston Sunset Camp,

Evanston Sunset
        Camp

Which served as a tourist camp for travelers along the Lincoln Highway. Built in 1920 "these cabins represent an opportunity for adaptive reuse and historic preservation". "The Lincoln Highway was established in 1913 as the nations first coast to coast automobile route. In dozens of towns along the Lincoln Highway tourist camps sprang up. providing roadside lodging and camping facilities for travelers."
We also walked on a very pleasant Greenway trail along the Bear River

Bear River
        GreenwayBear River

and a day latter we arrived in Salt Lake City. Our fourth visit to the city for a stop at the Mormon Family Heritage Center. In addition to visiting the Family History Center we walked on the Jordan River Trail. Not that Jordan River but that’s what the river is called in honor of the original.

Jordan RiverJordan
        River

We also saw less homeless people then we had last time. On the other hand it does look like Salt Lake City welcomes refuges
Refuge garden

Between my retirement in 1998 and our beginning of the RV lifestyle in 2002  I dabbled in genealogy and the creation of a family tree. I didn’t pursue this seriously  for many years although we did stop at the Mormon Family Heritage Center in Salt lake City on our first trip west.

During those years we tested our DNA As past of the National Geographic Genealogy study both one and two. We learned about our respective ancestors migration out of Africa but nothing personal. Then after the second phase there was a tie in with Family Tree DNA and we took advantage of that tie in by buying and taking the Autosomal, and Full Mitochondrial DNA tests I also took the “Y” DNA test only available to men because it’s what’s determines our sex. Men get a Y from their dads sand an X from their mother while women get an X from each parent . Men have an XY and women an XX. We also inherit our Mother Mitochondrial DNA which has been passed down from mothers since before we left the trees. Autosomal is a combination of DNA you inherited from both parents and is used to identify you matches people you are related to, both known if they tested and unknown. Those that take what's available at FTDNA also get matches on mitocondrial DNA and of course men get matches on their Y DNA as well.

Some years ago the Mormon’s supposedly to trace or locate Joseph Smith’s antecedents began collecting Genealogical records. Along the way they attempted to baptize all the world’ dead. Well you can guess the Jews weren’t to happy and created a real storm. The Morman’s relented but continued to collect data which is available in SLC and at satellite centers all over the world. The volunteers helping visitors search for their genealogical history are friendly and  don’t proselytize.

Over the years I have discovered my father’s birth record and Debby has discovered her Great grandfathers actual surname name along with other interesting tidbits. Many organizations such as Ancestry  have tapped into the Mormons data base as have several others including the free site Jewish Gen which is an online volunteer organization that collects, translates and makes available a very extensive database of Jewish Genealogy.

In addition to Family Tree DNA, several other companies  test   DNA and all offer health analysis if your interested. I am not but Debby has taken some tests regarding a family history of cancer. There are also several organizations that offer family tree software which helps you record and organize  your tree. The biggest and best known is Family Treemaker  which has a tie in with both Ancestry and Family Search, the Mormon free software. My Heritage offers free software with an online version, DNA testing and a premium membership which provides data.  I find Ancestry a better source for information as  MyHeritage keeps pushing stuff I don’t care about like information on my wife’s second cousins mother in law and similar information that doesn’t interest me.  I would say the best source for Jewish genealogy is  Jewish Gen. This is online and free although they offer extra access for a voluntary charitable contribution. They have a very extensive database of Jewish  Genealogy obtained from Ancestry and the Mormon  Family History archives. There are also local Jewish Genealogical groups with meetings and events all over. We belong to the Jewish genealogical Society of Palm Beach County. Membership is $18 a year, non  members pay $5 a meeting and there is a library in a local area synagogue. We also belong to an Escapee genealogical group so even RV’ers who move around a lot can find support, research material and yes there are even facebook and MeWe group. You never know who your related to unless you test.

Next


Larkspur. San Rafael, San Francisco and Bilbo Baggins



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