Chris W. Kite

Nativity Festival

2011-12-26T18:29:00.000-05:00

Our 4th annual Nativity Festival was a success.
See http://nativityfestival.wordpress.com/4th-annual-community-nativity-festival/

The Innovator Invests: Clayton Christensen's Stock Picks

2011-12-26T18:07:00.000-05:00

Here is an article about my cousin's stock picks:
http://www.technologyreview.com/business/39352/?mod=chfeatured

Musing on a Mormon President

2011-10-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

There once was a Mormon named Mitt,

Whose faith gave some people a fit,

With claims of a cult,

The vote could result,

In a precedent quite heretic.

Precedent is a pun on president. Creating a religious test for president is a bad precedent. It is heretical to the Constitution. Or we could end up with a president that many Christians consider a heretic. I think those that do so have badly biased views of Mormons, but the word heretic is interesting. It literally means "to think for oneself" and we would want a president to do so.

In contrast, when people hear the word cult they typically think of mindlessly following a leader. Rev Jeffress and others make the claim that Mormons are a theological cult and not a societal cult. I do not think the distinction and word use is fair as they should expect people to think of the societal cult. And as Romney has said, he is not being campaigning for theologian-in-chief.

Here are a few articles on the topic:

James Freston, Charleston SC, was asked to respond to an article
in the Charleston Post and Courier. This is the original article:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/oct/08/romney-in-a-cult-perry-backer-says/

This is Freston’s printed response:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/oct/16/qa/

Article from USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2011-10-16/mitt-romney-mormon-christian/50794458/1#uslPageReturn

Blacks and the priesthood
http://politic365.com/2011/10/16/mitt-romney-and-black-mormons/

Come Join the Sin'in' Mothers

2011-09-14T19:46:00.001-04:00

When I was a boy, our church used a mimeograph machine to copy the bulletin. For one Sunday the 'g' was not working on the typewriter that made the master copy. The note for the Singing Mothers said:

"Come join the Sin'in' Mothers!
We sin' every Wednesday and always
welcome new people to sin' with us."

My mom always got a kick out of that.

good without God by Greg Epstein

2011-08-07T16:59:00.001-04:00

Our book club is reading “good without God” by Greg M. Epstein, a Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University. The cover includes these phrases: “Finding purpose, compassion and community” and “What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe”. It is a thought-provoking book and one of the first thoughts is how does he know what a billion people believe? As he notes, categorizing these people is like herding cats. In effect, he circumscribes a community of ethics and dignity for people who prefer our coins said “In Good We Trust”.

I like how Greg says we should ask what we believe about God rather than do we believe in God. However, I disagree with his view that the word God becomes meaningless because of the diversity of meanings. “Life”, “truth” and many other words have a rich range of meaning that we should explore. I would change the title to “Good While Seeking God”, but I know how turned-off some people are by how the word God has been used.

I would note that the author and Alan Dershowitz flunk their Book of Mormon test. Perhaps they only saw the Broadway show and not the real book at their last Marriott hotel visit or at www.mormon.org. On page 139, the author quotes Alan’s clever triad:

“Alas, the claim that rights were written down by the hand of the divinity is one of the founding myths to which we desperately cling, along with the giving of the Tablets to Moses on Sinai, the dictation of the Koran to Muhammad and the discovery of the Gold Plates by Joseph Smith.”

The Book of Mormon title page clearly states whose hand wrote the book. It is an account written by the hand of Mormon. The book introduces multiple record keepers with Mormon as the editor, all quite human who recognize their human limitations. Several ask to be excused for the weakness or brevity of their writing. The miracle was in how Joseph Smith dictated the translation from plates (having the appearance of gold) as consistently witnessed by many reputable people.

The book and related Mormon theology actually support ideas similar to what Greg and Alan are touting. Alan says “Rights come from human experience, particularly experience with injustice.” The Book of Mormon says there needs to be opposition in all things. We learn truth and expand rights from human experience. God gained experience in a similar way and seeks to teach us and redeem us.

Even the Tablets to Moses were based on what the people were ready to receive according to their experiences as recently freed slaves. The Ten Commandments can be translated into other cultures. The author puts the commandments into concise English and then gives a Humanist comparison:

Do not worship any other god

(Humanist) Seek the best in yourself and in others, and believe in your own ability to make a positive difference in the world.
Do not make or worship idols or images of God.

Pursue truth and honesty in all you do; and be wary of allowing power, status, or possessions to substitute for moral courage, dignity and goodness.
Do not misuse the name of God.

Be positive and constructive rather than negative and disrespectful.
Keep the Sabbath day holy. You must rest on that day each week.

To be healthy, you must balance work, play, and rest.

These first four commandments are what differ most in Humanist beliefs. The other commandments are similar beliefs for Humanists. The first commandment of believing you can make a positive difference in the world seems to thankfully go against an absolute view of evolution as determining the course of life. Here is where Humanists should explore the implications of intelligent and ethical action. As we can change the world by such action, then we should consider what intelligent beings in the universe have done and will do similar and greater actions. I humbly suggest that the title of God is fitting for the greatest of these beings whether or not that being fits with a particular professed theology or cosmology.

The book lacks balance regarding key Christian beliefs. It should share reasons Christians believe in the virgin birth and resurrection. While I do not know of a scientific explanation for Jesus’ resurrection, we do have credible witnesses in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and modern accounts. As for the miracle of the virgin birth, we also have modern parallels for artificial insemination that would seem miraculous to people in the past. The book simply says these miracles are false and does not bother stating the reasons for or against.

You can certainly be good by human standards without believing in God. Religion seeks a power greater or purer than human goodness. One of the messages of the book is that human standards are all we have. However, respect for the past and hope for the future should reveal that there continue to be miracles and mysteries beyond our current understanding. When we do discover a science behind a miracle or mystery, we should trust that there is more for us to discover. That more is a greater good and God that we should seek.

Creation - In the Beginning the Editor Creates a Buzz

2011-07-02T21:57:00.000-04:00

A couple of years ago, an article told how a Bible scholar concluded that the Hebrew word for create has typically been misinterpreted as creation out of nothing. She said it is better understood as spatially separate or organize. Then the editor slapped on a controversial title to grab attention - "God is not the creator of the universe!". Instead the message of the article was to have a new understanding of how God created the universe and this world.

Understanding a nothing that we came from is beyond my pay grade. To me "Nothing is impossible". Our words in time and space can not describe a nothing supposedly before or beyond time and space. So my speculation on the sparks in the speck of the Big Bang is that either what caused the Bang or what is the greatest spark in the speck - most intelligent, most loving, most transforming - is the one we should seek and give the title God. As well as my inner eyes have grace to see, the one who hung on Calvary is the one who leads us to what we seek.

Editors reporting on Stephen Hawking's book "The Grand Design" follow a similar tact by saying God did not create the universe.
Article on Stephen Hawking's Grand Design

We should continue to learn how the universe seems to work regardless what the editors and commentators are Hawking.Here is my cousin's response:

Clayton Christensen on Stephen Hawking

Here is a beautiful video about creation:

http://www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html

My father was a geologist and a Bible scholar. We would discuss ways to reconcile science and religion. Here are key concepts:

The days of creation (yom in Hebrew) could be periods of billions of years for each stage of creation where God oversaw the process. He could allow plants, animals, and other creatures great freedom to evolve while intervening as needed.
Days and seasons of time were being defined during this creation. The day was over when the job was done, that is when God said that it was good.
The Hebrew for creation can mean to spatially separate or organize. You do not have to believe in creation out of absolute nothing to believe in the Bible.
As far as we can perceive in science, energy and matter always have and always will exist. Time and space as we know it may come from a Big Bang yet there are various theories of multiple bangs and busts and universes. We can explore these theories while having confidence in God, the greatest power of love, light and truth who connects to our mind and heart and in flesh through His Son.
We have confidence that God provides a way to overcome entropy, disorder and death. With all its beauty, we live in a fallen and broken world due to error and sin. God did not choose evil or create it out of nothing. God provides the way and grace for us to overcome evil.

A Latter-day Saint view of Book of Mormon musical

2011-07-02T21:04:00.022-04:00

A Latter-day Saint view of Book of Mormon musical by Michael Otterson

Reviews of “The Book of Mormon” musical have been all over the entertainment media in the past few weeks. According to the reviews, the play sketches the journey of two Mormon missionaries from their sheltered life in Salt Lake City to Uganda, where their training and life experience proves wholly inadequate to the realities of a continent plagued by poverty, AIDS, genital mutilation and other horrors. While extolling the musical for its originality, most reviewers also make reference to the play’s over-the-top blasphemous and offensive language.

Dealing with parody and satire is always a tricky thing for churches. We can easily appear thin-skinned or defensive, and churches sometimes are. A few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have seen this musical and blogged about it seem to have gone out of their way to show how they can take it. That’s their choice. There’s always room for different perspectives, and we can all decide what to do with our free time.

But I’m not buying what I’m reading in the reviews. Specifically, I’m not willing to spend $200 for a ticket to be sold the idea that religion moves along oblivious to real-world problems in a kind of blissful naiveté.

Somewhere I read that the show’s creators spent seven years writing and producing “The Book of Mormon” musical. As I reflected on all that time spent parodying this particular target, I also wondered what was really
going on with Mormons in Africa during those same seven years.

So I checked.

•The World Health Organization estimates that 884 million people worldwide don’t have access to clean water. This is a huge problem in Africa, not only because of water-borne diseases but because kids who spend hours each day walking to and from the nearest well to fill old gasoline cans with water cannot attend school. According to church records, in the past seven years, more than four million Africans in 17 countries have gained access to clean drinking water through Mormon humanitarian efforts to sink or rehabilitate boreholes.

•More than 34,000 physically handicapped African kids now have wheelchairs through the same Mormon-sponsored humanitarian program. To see a legless child whose knuckles have become calloused through walking on his hands lifted into a wheelchair may be the best way to fully understand the liberation this brings.

•Millions of children, meanwhile, have now been vaccinated against killer diseases like measles as the church has sponsored or assisted with projects in 22 African countries.

•More than 126,000 Africans have had their sight restored or improved through Mormon partnership with African eye care professionals in providing training, equipment and supplies.

•Another 52,000 Africans have been trained to help newborns who otherwise would never take a first breath. Training in neonatal resuscitation has also been a big project for Mormons in Africa.

•Then, of course, there is the tragedy of AIDS. A couple of weeks ago I attended a dinner where the Utah AIDS Foundation honored James O. Mason, former United States Assistant Secretary of Health. When he was working for the Center for Disease Control in 1984, a project to research the epidemiology and treatment of AIDS was established at the Hospital Mama Yempo in Kinshasha, Zaire. After visiting the hospital and examining the children and adults with AIDS, Mason described the death rate and the
associated infections from AIDS as “horrific.” Mason, a Mormon, knows quite a bit about AIDS and a great deal about Africa.

•None of this includes responses to multiple disasters, like the flooding in Niger, where the Church provided clothing, quits and hygiene items to 20,000 people in six inundated regions of the country.

Of course, parody isn’t reality, and it’s the very distortion that makes it appealing and often funny. The danger is not when people laugh but when they take it seriously – if they leave a theater believing that Mormons really do live in some kind of a surreal world of self-deception and illusion.

A couple of weeks ago a review about the musical appeared at the New York Times from a Jewish writer who simply listed himself as Levi. “As someone of Jewish faith,” he began, “I take personal offense at this show….I cannot believe that New York, MY New York, where I was born and raised, would ever do such a thing. Shame on you, New York Times, shame on Broadway, and shame on all of us who stand idly by and do nothing while the faith of others is mocked. Religious and cultural Jews need not support such bigotry.”

Levi’s point was echoed by some reviewers, but by surprisingly few. So why hasn’t there been a huge outcry from Mormons?

In my opinion, three reasons. The first is that in the great scheme of things, what Broadway does with “The Book of Mormon” musical is irrelevant to most of us. In the great sweep of history, parodies and TV dramas are blips on the radar screen that come and go. Popular culture will be whatever it will be.

The second reason is related. Jesus’s apostle Paul put it rather well when he said that Christians seek out the positive and virtuous things in life. His New Testament phraseology was adapted in the early years of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this formal Article of Faith:

“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men…If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

Finally, if we Mormons really do follow Jesus Christ in our lives and look to him as an example, then it’s hard for us to ignore the injunction to turn the other cheek. There were times, to be sure, when Jesus roundly
criticized others, but it was almost always for hardened hypocrisy. He dismissed the criticism he received personally and told his followers: “Do good to them who despitefully use you and persecute you.”

It takes strength of character to do this, but it’s the Christian mandate. Sure, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pushes back when the record needs correcting or when legal rights need defending, but the world of popular entertainment is more likely to be met with a collective shrug than by placard-waving Mormon protesters.

Meanwhile, what of those thousands of remarkable and selfless Mormon missionaries who opted to pay their own expenses during the past seven years to serve in Africa while their peers were focused on careers or getting on with life? They have returned home, bringing with them a connection with the African people that will last a lifetime. Many will keep up their Swahili language or their Igbo dialect. They will keep in their bedrooms the flags of the nations where they served. They will look up every time they hear Africa mentioned on the evening news. Their associations with the people whose lives they touched will become lifetime friendships. And in a hundred ways they will become unofficial ambassadors for the nations they served.

Related articles:
Missionaries in Africa

Amos and Andy and The Book of Mormon

Mormon Ads in New York City

Hinkle's Fort 1761 thru Revolutionary War

2011-06-26T12:12:00.000-04:00

Here is a marker for a fort that my 6th great-grandfather, John Justus Hinckel (or Henckel), started as a blockhouse for his family. Then a fort was built around the blockhouse and other families joined them. It is near the current town of Riverton, West Virginia.

In late 1775, the women of the fort defended it against an Indian raid while the men were gone on an expedition. The British were stirring up the Indians against the colonialists. On a June 18, 2011 family reunion, reenactors talked about the local history related to the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

John Justus died in 1778 and is buried at a family cemetery in the area of the fort. He was born in Germany and came to Philadelphia at age 11 with his father, Rev Anthonius Jacobus Henckel. Here is his grave marker.

Here is a depiction of the fort by an artist.

At the reunion, archeologists reported on efforts to find the original foundation of the fort. They hope to extend their search to neighboring farms. Here is a picture of this area known as Germany Valley.

Here is a picture of the foundation of the Abraham Hinkle home that was built near the fort.

John Justus' grandson Paul Henkel was born in North Carolina in 1754. John Justus had taken his family to North Carolina in the 1750's and settled near Dutchman's Creek in Rowan County (north of where I now live). After having trouble with the Catawba Indians, John Justus moved the family to Virgina in 1761 and built the blockhouse noted above. The area became West Virginia in 1863. Here are grave markers for Rev Paul Henkel and his son Rev Ambrose Henkel who is also of my direct line. There graves are at Emmanuel Lutheran church in New Market, Virginia.

See this link regarding 1775 militia muster roll.

The Three Bears Skit at Yellowstone 1948

2011-06-06T21:19:00.006-04:00

My father, Robert Kite, played saxophone in a dance band at Yellowstone Park in Wyoming in 1948.

He was a student at Kansas University during the school year. He met a waitress, Fredora Fuller, at Canyon Lodge. She came from Brigham Young University. See my prior post on their romance and eventual marriage. Fredora loved to tell about a skit at the lodge about Goldilocks and the Three Bears done in a jazz style. Here is the script she recalled.

"The Three Bears" by Marty

Once upon a time in a wee little cottage

there were three bears.

Now one was a Daddy Bear,

and one was a Mama Bear,

and one was a Wee Bear.

One day when they were stalkin',

through the deep woods walkin',

came a little girl with blonde hair.

Now her name was Goldilocks,

and upon the door she knocks,

but no one was there.

So Goldilocks went in,

had herself a time,

'cause she didn't care.

Just then, home care the three bears.

"Someone's been tasting my porridge," said the Papa Bear.

"Someone's been tasting my porridge," said the Mama Bear.

"Bear baba re bear," said the Little Wee Bear,

"Someone has eaten my share."

"Someone's been sitting in my chair," said the Papa Bear.

"Someone's been sitting in my chair," said the Mama Bear.

"Bear baba re bear," said the Little Wee Bear,

"Someone's broken my chair!"

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed," said the Papa Bear.

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed," said the Mama Bear.

"Bear baba re bear," said the Little Wee Bear,

"Here's the girl who's broken my chair!"

Just then Goldilocks woke up,

broke up the party,

and beat it out of there.

"Good-bye," said the Papa Bear.

"Good-bye," said the Mama Bear.

"Bear baba re bear," said the Little Wee Bear.

So ends the story of the Three Bears.

Children, maybe Goldilocks didn't really do such a bad thing

by going inside the cottage -

because the sign on the door said WELCOME.

Here are pictures of the dance band. I am not sure which ones are at Yellowstone and which ones are at Kansas University. I think the Serenaders are at Yellowstone.

Here is a picture of Bob and Fredora. I think it is at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, but since it says 1949, I wonder if they went to the one in Arizona..

Here is one other photo. We think it is in New Zealand, but could be earlier at Yellowstone or KU..

Photos of Humans - New Light Shows Good and Evil

2011-05-29T20:27:00.001-04:00

Click here for an Oct 2010 article on an 1848 photo including human images

This article awakened me to a new light on good and evil that came with the advent of photography. Daguerre took the first photos in 1838. Some photos had enough human stillness to capture their human images. This article shows an 1848 photo in Cincinnati with faint images of two men. It helps me realize why people or cultures not used to photos viewed them as taking their souls, particularly if that culture dd not typically have mirrors.

No one in the body on earth has ever seen his or her own face. We only see reflections or reverse images in photos. Then converging this idea to our inner eye, the Hindus say "That which sees cannot be seen".

"Daguerre" ironically means "of war" and the new science of photos got a gruesome debut in the Civil War particularly at Antietam with the photos of the dead by Matthew Brady. This was the dark side of the new light of photography. It awakened people to the horrors of war.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/
http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/
http://www.ipeters.de/photography.html

Now we are so used to photos and videos, our view of the world has changed for both good and evil.

Book of Mormon ties to Other Religions

2011-05-29T17:54:00.008-04:00

Click on the title below to see an article by Grant Hardy, a Professor of Asian Studies at UNC Asheville. He compares the teachings of the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon to the teachings of Buddha and Confucius.

Why Alma Would Have Liked Buddha and Confucius

Book of Mormon Research - Arabia

See www.nephiproject.com for interesting articles relating the Book of Mormon to Arabia and Muslim History. In particular, a recent article looks at a tribe called the Lihyanites. "In brief, the tribe called the Lihyanites (meaning, the people of Lihy), were among those who migrated to Spain from Arabia and built the beautiful Moorish cities in southern Spain. Originally called the Dedanites, the people changed their name to the Lihyanites around the same time Lehi would have passed through their capital of Dedan (sixth century B.C.) while crossing Arabia to Bountiful."

Here is a picture of what these people built in Spain. It may be a baptismal font.

Mormons and Baha'is

The book "How Great a Cause" ties the Book of Mormon and teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith to the 1844 emergence of the leaders of the Baha'i faith - the Bab (The Gate) and Baha'u'llah (The Glory of God). The main idea is that God has called prophets in the West and the East to help prepare the world for a new age of cooperation. See this site as example of how Baha'is view Mormon scriptures and prophecies relating to their leaders and faith:

http://www.bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/mormon.htm

While Mormons could accept these leaders as inspired, they typically would not view them as Messianic. The author of the book "How Great a Cause" was/is a Mormon who became a Baha'i. He could consider himself to be of both faiths as Baha'is seek to bring together all world religions.

Baha'is note how the Bab's mission began on the day that William Morse introduced the telegraph with the message "What hath God wrought?". As a related study of Mormon involvement in the advancement of the telegraph, other forms of communications and new transportation means, see these links:
www.mormonmigrationwest.com
Atlantic Monthly article on Mormons and the Telegraph

For more about Baha'is, see this Wikipedia article.

Yes, We Have No Nirvana

2011-05-19T20:49:00.002-04:00

Our book club continued discussing Steven Prothero's book "God Is Not One". See prior post.

Here is a humorous song I shared with the group about the goals of various religions. what verse could you add?

Yes! We have no Nirvana, we have no Nirvana today,
We’ve got havens terrestrial and others celestial,
And all kinds of cool pathways!
We’ve got an old fashioned salvation and mystic meditations,
But, Yes! We have no Nirvana, we have no Nirvana today!

We’ve got Brahmins and Buddha, Orishas Yoruba
Oh what would Confucius say?
We’ve got universal ethics of fun loving ascetics,
But, Yes! We have no Nirvana, we have no Nirvana today!

I also wrote a limerick about Bishop Spong, a liberal theologian:

There is now a Bishop named Spong,
Who thinks fundamentals are wrong,
He liberally edits the miracle credits
While preaching a Bible love song.

Now Spong says if God were a being,
Would God's eye be source for all seeing,
So Tillich he quotes and Jesus demotes,
From miracles to beams of love feelings.

Here are some sources to read about Spong and the theologian Tillich he often quotes. I think they would say God is not a Being, but the source of being. Read about Spong's rejection of Biblical miracles. Although Mormons disagree with his view of miracles, I heard him express love of his wife that echoes our hope for an eternal relationship. I think Spong might say the purpose of worship is to come into touch with this source of love. A friend of mine found that the rituals of the worship service did not do that for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shelby_Spong

http://johnshelbyspong.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich

Marriage - the end of the word as we know it?

2011-05-07T09:08:00.000-04:00

Gay marriage would not be the end of the world as we know it, but it would be the end of the word as we know it. Of course, the word gay has changed meaning in my life from being happy to homosexual to hokey. Teenagers say "That's so gay" meaning "That's so hokey" without meaning to refer to gender issues or politics. Of course, they should be aware that people will be offended by such phrases.

Here are recent editorials on gay marriage:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/04/30/2260741/bullying-doma-case-lawyers-is.html
Even supporters of gay marriage recognize the serious problem of bullying the law firm that had agreed to defend DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage for federal laws.)

Here is another editorial mixed in with a Bin Laden editorial:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/05/07/2278250/even-al-qaida-says-bin-laden-is.html

Brazil's Supreme Court OKs gay unions with the same financial and social rights. This editorial misstates the comparison to the USA. For example, California has had comparable domestic partner rights and Prop 8 did not change those rights. Most supporters of traditional marriage would support comparable domestic partner rights in other states while keeping the word marriage for what it means. Should the courts invade the voting booth and overturn Prop 8, DOMA, and the votes of over 30 states?

I would also note that extending the same federal rules to domestic partners as married couples would be as much responsibilities as benefits. There can be higher taxes, more responsibility for debts, and lower government benefits. That's why the HRC, as an advocate for gay marriage, says there would be no net cost to the government.

Respect the voting process and obligations to defend laws in court. The courts should not make the state a quasi-religion that usurps the word marriage as its affirmation. Clergy in California can perform a gay marriage ceremony as per their beliefs and then have the couple register as domestic partners per the state. A similar process can occur in other states. Laws and word meaning will continue to evolve.

What kind of Christians are Mormons?

2011-05-04T18:20:00.000-04:00

As Mormons, we view our church as the true and living church of Christ. I have often not been comfortable with this phrase because it does not seem to reflect the many positive and inclusive statements Mormons have about other faiths. We believe there is a place in heaven for all and we continue to learn and progress after this life. We also believe we need to work together as communities now and in the worlds to come. These are key reasons we support interfaith efforts.

I recently got a better sense of how our "True and Living" phrase fits with our interfaith inclusiveness as well as with criticisms from Christians who otherwise seem similar to us in lifestyles and beliefs. Using similar phrases, I see most conservative Christians as belonging to "True and Limited" churches. God's Word is focused on the Bible only and they see the chance to profess Christ limited to this life. Mormons have the faith (and to some the arrogance) of offering this chance in the next life, even by proxy to those who have died. We are conservative in the ultimate profession and liberal in the timing. Mormons are reminded by Evangelicals the importance of being true to the Bible and submissive to God.

"True and Loving" churches or other faiths tend to be liberal in their professions and uncertain as to what time or place we have after this life. They remind Mormons to be more accepting and loving as we serve in the community and as we seek to share additional truths in which we believe.

"True and Sufferring" and other descriptions could apply to other groups. And yes, at times, some groups lean too much toward being false and worldly. Hopefully our core values and the GPS-style corrections of other groups keeps us from going on such a path.

I have also thought of various labels for Mormons as Christians. Some are meant to be humorous while still being meaningful:

Pre-Nicean Christians
Mormon Christians
Restoration Christians
Temple Christians
Humble Heretical Christians (you think for yourself, but are willing to submit to group action)
Joeish Christians (tribe of Joseph)
Muslim Christians (used in a recent article about Mormons in CA)
muslim, catholic or other uncapitalized descriptors would have nuances of true meanings

A few years ago I heard an Evangelical speak on "Loving Mormons to the True Jesus". We had a good discussion. I think we strive to be "Loving Mormons, True to Jesus". A balance of encouragement and criticism can be healthy. We believe in the same Jesus as a different Christ - as the Messiah who also visited Ancient America and perhaps other sheep after His resurrection. We also believe He came in vision to a young Joseph Smith and others in modern times. What will ultimately matter is not the labels we use, but how we reflect His teachings of love.

The Gospel of Nat King Cole

2011-05-01T19:57:00.004-04:00

Nat King Cole is one of my favorite singers. I hear a Jazz Gospel in his voice and lyrics. His dad was a preacher on the south side of Chicago whose sermons influenced Nat's songs, particularly his first hit in 1943 "Straighten Up and Fly Right". It is based on lyrics he heard in one of his father's sermons about a buzzard that took a monkey for a ride in the air. Nat was a jazz pianist before being a professional singer. This song began a wonderful singing career, but his jazz piano fans.were upset at his change.

His daughter Natalie Cole also gave us the Gospel of how to bring new life to her father's voice 26 years after his death. "In the summer of 1991, Natalie Cole and her father had a hit when Natalie mixed her own voice with her father's 1961 rendition of "Unforgettable" as part of a tribute album to her father's music. The song and album of the same name won seven Grammy awards in 1992."

When I play Natalie Cole's Unforgettable album, I hear it make a Gospel progression from mind to spirit to body; from thought to belief to action in the first three songs. Then it sings of perfect love. The first three songs are (You Tube links added for Natalie or Nat):

The Very Thought of You conveys how the mere idea of you, the longing here for you, gives meaning to life. Then Paper Moon teaches the importance of belief as it says it would not be make-believe if you believed in me. Beliefs and feelings of the heart matter more than the physical world. Next Route 66 sings of all the fun and dangers along life's road, the kicks on Route 66. Nat first recorded Route 66 in 1946 and it is obviously about the famous highway from Chicago to LA. It reminds me of the Biblical symbolism of 666 for evil. Route 66 is fun and dangerous, add a 6 and you are in trouble.

The next song is Mona Lisa, an ode to perfect love. The album continues with great love songs and finishes with the Unforgettable duet that connects father and daughter across time and death.

See this You Tube video and website about a show tribute to Nat King Cole:
An Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole
Straighten up and fly right

"God is Not One" by Stephen Prothero

2011-04-30T21:08:00.000-04:00

Our book club is reading Stephen Prothero's "God is Not One". The subtitle is "The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter". If I were his editor, I would have chosen the same title. It is short and provocative. It helps sell the book. However, I think the title that tells the truth would have been:

We are Not One with God

God is in unity. We often are not - whether in religion, politics, or social interaction. As for the subtitle, I prefer to focus on times when we do achieve an 8-part harmony rather than a mix of 8 rivals. H + 8 = hate. Turn them on their side and the symbols become I and infinity. I can do my part to bring harmony and harmony tunes us to the infinite. While religious differences do matter, we can often harmonize with the different voices.

The book does not have the space to go into the beliefs of the Baha'i's. I have enjoyed getting to know them at their temple in Wilmette IL and in our interfaith group in Charlotte NC. Their temple is a beautiful symbol for how to harmonize the differences. They quote from the sacred texts of world religions in their services and temple inscriptions. The temple has 9 sides that include symbols of the world religions. In effect they have taken the 8 rivals, added a 9th side and created a beautiful unity. Here are pictures of the temple:

I also relate this geometry to a theology I call the Unity of a Trinity of Trinities. Each person is a trinity of mind, spirit, and body. We connect to others in thought, feeling and action. We think, we feel, we act; therefore we have been, we are, and we will become. I, you, them - when our connections expand, we at times transcend the normal and feel divine love and peace. I also relate this to the 10 dimensions of both mathematical and mystical models of the universe - inner and outer.

Clayton Christensen on Forbes Cover

2011-03-31T17:57:00.001-04:00

Here is a great story of faith and insights about my cousin! Includes pictures and videos.

Link to the Forbes Story: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0314/features-clayton-christensen-health-care-cancer-survivor.html

Link to David Whelan’s Blog about the story: http://blogs.forbes.com/davidwhelan/2011/02/23/the-survivor-part-8-what-the-journalist-learned-from-clayton-christensen/

My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen

2011-02-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

Here are My Jesus Year notes for our local book club meetings in Nov 2010:

How about starting with a favorite Jesus song? Here are some links:
Jesus Loves the Little Children
Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam - a Mormon Favorite
Jesus is Just Alright - Doobie Brothers
They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore - Kinky Friedman (a satire not for the faint of ears or heart)

Questions by chapter:

What's a nice Jewish boy doing in a book like this?
If Ben had not lost his mother at 13, would he have made this journey?
What words of wisdom does Mother Mary speak to Ben in this book? Let it be?
How do you balance discipline and freedom for a teenager?
How are clergy the unshakable bedrock for many people (see pg 8)?
What is your bedrock?
Were Ben and Elizabeth, daughter of a Methodist Minister, meant to be?
When is family more important than faith?
Do the details of Orthodox Judaism do more to positively maintain culture and values than to negatively separate them from society?
With half of Jews in interfaith marriages, how has Jewish life changed and will continue to change in the USA?
How might synagogues adopt practices from churches?
What do you think of the recent allegations about teenage young men against Eddie Long, the muscular founder of the New Birth mega churches?
How often do you think these types of allegations are true versus being trumped up by rivalries or leading the witness to false or exaggerated allegations?
What types of religious practices lead to higher than average scandals?
What do you see as the future of the mega churches financially and spiritually?
Religious Pop Culture - When is it a wonderful buffet versus a trap to overeat?

Pray Ball, Chritian Publishing, Veggie Tales, irreverent T shirts?, He'Brew, tatoos, Madonna and Kaballah, Fiddler, Left Behind, Passion of Christ violence vs Ben Hur's imagery (see my article on Ben Hur), World Vision

WWJD, CTR (Choose the Right for LDS), PBUH (Peace be Upon Him for Muslims)

Tish B'Av - when Jerusalem Temple was destroyed 586 BCE by Babylon and 70 CE by Rome. Coincidentally, it is also the date when the vanguard of Mormon Pioneers went into the SLC Valley in 1847 as the place to build their temple and community. See Margaret Barker, a Methodist scholar who shows how the links to the feminine divine were lost or perverted after the 586 BCE temple destruction.
What do you like or dislike about "Prosperity Gospel" pastors such as T D Jakes, Paula White, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, etc.? When is it uplifting vs mesmerizing?
Jews wear white robes on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as part of asking forgivenesss. Muslims wear white robes on the Haj to Mecca. Mormons wear white clothing in the temple. Clergy have various robes ans sashes of different colors. Academic robes originate from religious practices. Hindus wear saris over different shoulders depending on formal or family occasions. Woody Allen said " I believe in the afterlife. I just don't know how to dress for the occasion."

How has dress helped or hindered your spirituality? How would you like to dress for the afterlife?
Contrast experiences in the movie Leap of Faith to church serivces noted in this chapter - Milestone Church (Zionist), John Hagee, Holyland Experience, St Bartholomew Episcopal (Ron Peterson in his wheelchair).
African Hebrew Israelites - Fascinating, but what does this have to do with Jesus? Do you feel that their 1985 arrests that were later overturned shows bias against atypical groups or do you feel uneasy about what this group does?
Do you think their family values and allowing up to 4 wives do much more good in their communities than harm? How should laws be enforced or changed?
Christmas at Cohen's - see A Christmas Menorah that would be a great gift for friends of any faith tradition. See the post on my blog for "How Hanukkah Set the Stage for Christmas".

See this link for our Community Nativity Festival

Happy trails - WWJD, CTR, PBUYou,

Chris

Malcolm X and Brigham Y - Molecular Genealogy

2011-01-04T23:11:00.003-05:00

In June of 2001, my daughter Andrea and I were featured in a Chicago Sun Times article on the use of DNA to help with family history research. The picture shown above was printed in black and white on page 3 of the Sun Times along with an article explaining how DNA can help to verify and extend family history research by using genetic markers. I got involved when Andrea started at Brigham Young University the year before. She got involved in extracting the DNA and I coordinated two studies in the Chicago area with the university and the Sorenson group that has continued the project. See www.smgf.org

We knew the project would take about 10 years to build up an extensive database, develop analytical tools and coordinate with other studies. In 2010, we were able to corroborate 5th cousins on 25 of 25 markers on the Y chromosome and have preliminary matches (32 of 37) that suggest the Luxembourg area, close to the Palatine areas noted in my Windle Kite history notes.

When I attended Brigham Young University, the Autobiography of Malcolm X written by Alex Haley was an important book I read. Alex Haley had written Roots after his work on Malcolm X. Malcolm Little was his name with slavery surname roots that he rejected. He chose the X to represent his unknown roots and said he would keep the X until God (Allah) gave him a new name. After he went on the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, he opened up to accept all races. This change brought conflicts that led to his death.

Now the X and Y of DNA are helping people find their roots. See the PBS series by Henry Louis Gates, the story of Pearl Duncan in NYC finding roots in Ghana, studies of the Cohanim in Judaism, a story of linking to royalty in Cameroon, and many more. Our mayor in Charlotte recently found his roots to the Fulani tribe in northern Nigeria.

These Xs and Ys are keys on life's keyboard. We decide how to play them.

12 Saved Before Christmas - A Partridge Inn, but how free?

2010-12-27T21:13:00.003-05:00

In late 1831, a Black family near Arrow Rock, Missouri rescued twelve Mormons after their boat capsized in a cold Missouri River. If anyone has a record of such a family, I'd like to give thanks to their descendants. Very few Blacks were "free" in Missouri during that time. Let me know if you think that this family likely would have had been free to have carried off this act of charity.

The title of this post is a play on words for the Christmas carol. I am not sure how close to Christmas the event actually occurred. The Mormons included the wife of Edward Partridge, her children, and the Morley family. Edward Partridge was the first bishop of their Church, formed in 1830. Followers of the church were given the nickname Mormon for the Book of Mormon that speaks of the resurrected Christ coming to ancient America. Edward Partridge would catch up with his family later. He continued as an important church leader.

Arrow Rock is toward the center of MO where Saline, Cooper and Howard counties come together. See this link for the 1830 census that says only about 2% of Blacks were free in Missouri. This percentage was about the same for this Arrow Rock area. So about 98% of Blacks would have been enslaved at the date and location. However, perhaps they would more likely be in the 2% group as otherwise an owner might know and object.

Of this historic crossing at Arrow Rock, Wikipedia notes:

"Dr. Timothy E. Baumann has conducted excavations within the community, exploring African-American life and culture. His excavations span the periods of slavery and post-emancipation. He has worked on homes of enslaved African Americana at two plantations, as well as on a post-Civil War African-American community. There he did research on multiple households, a schoolhouse, a church, a Masonic lodge, and a speakeasy. Dr. Baumann is the museum consultant for Friends of Arrow Rock, Inc."

The article notes that the J.P. Sites Gun Shop dates back to 1830. Perhaps an 1830 census and contact with Dr. Baumann would point to potential family names. See this link for Jones and Thompson families.

See this link for information on this historic crossing and this focus on African-American history:

"One of the tours sponsored by the Friends of Arrow Rock interprets the African-American history of the village. In 1860 the population of Saline County was 15,000, with one-third of the people black. Most, of course, were slaves. By 1900 many of the blacks still remaining in Arrow Rock owned their own homes. Other sites include Brown's Chapel Freewill Baptist Church and Early School and the Black Masonic Lodge. The buildings were erected on land deeded by the Sappington family, the church around 1871 and the lodge in 1881. Both buildings were key in the cultural and social life of the African-American community of Arrow Rock."

Perhaps the Sappington family is tied to the 1830 rescuers. This link provides information on a Dr Sappington who arrived in Arrow Rock in 1819, owned slaves, set up a family cemetery in 1831 and gave land as the Sappington Negro Cemetery and other sites.

Additional Notes on the Story and Related Mormon History

In 1831, anti-Mormon sentiment would not likely have been a factor, but a slave owner might object to any extra boarders. Things heated up soon after as the Mormon population grew quickly and there was a clash of religious as well as regional cultures. I do not know how the typical slave owner's land was set up in Missouri in 1830, but I think it was different than the large plantations in the East. I have toured large plantations where the guides say slaves preferred quarters further away from the master's house.

Here is the story told by a Partridge descendant:

"... (Edward) Partridge was away on church business when his wife Lydia Clisbee and her children and another family by the name of Morley had to flee Kirtland. They were saved from the ice-swollen Missouri River at Arrow Rock, MO in 1831 by a Black family and lived with them for a short time. Considering the date and location, I can only assume this was a family of slaves who risked their lives to help these strangers.

Another story is how Edward Partridge was tarred and feathered on 20 July 1833 because he was the local head of the LDS church, and the anti-Mormon, pro-slavery mob was upset to be told that LDS policy was that free agency was incompatible with slavery. The main elements of these two stories are told in the Ensign article “Steadfastness and Patient Endurance”: The Legacy of Edward Partridge by Dean Jessee (June 1979) and is online at this link.

The same stories were also told to me as a child (1960s) and are part of the extended Partridge family heritage."

Here is the story in the Ensign article:

"Undaunted, Lydia and the children left Kirtland that same year—late 1831—with Isaac Morley’s family and others. A hundred miles from their destination, the ice-swollen Missouri River cast them ashore at Arrow Rock. Lydia, her five children, and the six Morleys were saved from disaster when a Black family offered them shelter in a windowless room of their two-room log cabin."

Eliza’s account of the Partridge family sharing a cabin with the family is also recorded in her journal, as quoted in Carter, Treasures, 2:215 using racial terms common for that day:

“We children were five in number and the weather was so cold that we were obliged to leave the Missouri river . . . and wait for Father to come with wagons to meet us. We procured a small, dark room from a family of Negroes, our only light being what came down the chimney and no way to get in or out of the room except to go through the room occupied by the Negroes. We occupied this doleful place about a week. . . .”

Henkel - Lutheran Ministers

2010-12-26T00:02:00.002-05:00

My 4th great-grandfather, Rev Paul Henkel, kept a diary of his work and travels to the states surrounding his main church at New Market VA in the Shenandoah Valley. He set up churches and German schools in these areas. His grandfather Rev Anthony Jacob Henkel came to Philadelphia in 1717.

Original of Rev Paul Henkel's diary in German at Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg PA

The Henkel Press of New Market VA is on display at Duke University in the Perkins Library. It was used for printing sacred and secular books, newspapers, and music in German and English. Rev Paul Henkel had six sons. Five became Lutheran ministers and the oldest an apothecary. His son Rev Ambrose Henkel ran the press and served in New Market VA. He is my 3rd great-grandfather and his wife, Mary Kite, is a daughter of Martin Kite who is mentioned in Rev Paul Henkel's diary as Martin Geit.

Here is an example of school book from the Henkel Press. One story from the press was about twin boys kidnapped by a Turk who later help to convert him to Christianity.

Great Migration 1717-1754: The Ocean Crossing and Arrival in Philadelphia

2010-12-25T23:29:00.001-05:00

This link is to an article that gives insight into the ocean crossing of our ancestors.

Our Windle Kite (Wendel Geit) ancestor could have come as early as 1717 with Rev Henkel to Philadelphia. He has a 100 acre farm near Rev Henkel by 1734. This article describes what was involved with the migration across the ocean. They came from the Rhine River area known as the Palatinate. Many came from the Neckar River valley that feeds into the Rhine. They went down river (north) to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Some ended up staying in Rotterdam at least for a few years and others went on to Philadelphia as quickly as possible. The article describes the risk of life, health, and means along the way depending on the scruples of the ship's captain and the uncertainties of the journey. It describes one ship ironically named "Love and Unity" that took about 6 months for a journey that typically took 6 to 8 weeks. Only about 30% of the people survived the "Love and Unity" voyage.

The Palatinate is now mainly part of Germany. It sounds like Palestine, but is not related. It refers to royaly territories that had been part of the Holy Roman Empire. They were often principalities subject to various empires at times. Germany then became unified as a nation in 1871.

These migrations began after the War of Spanish Succession. See this link for more information. As this war ended in 1717 with France controlling some areas up to the Rhine River, this control and the long history of conflict in this area would have influenced the Henkel's and other Lutherans and Protestants in their decision to leave.

(Map copied from Wikipedia article for limited and non-commercial use.)

Birth of Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes

2010-12-22T20:37:00.005-05:00

The Birth of Jesus as seen through Middle Eastern Eyes
Click on the link above to gain insights on the birth of Jesus from a Middle Eastern perspective.
Source: www.sviewp.com/

Monte F. Shelley's Summary of the Middle Eastern view begins with a quote:

“With this understanding in mind, all the cultural problems … are solved. Joseph was not obliged to seek a commercial inn. He does not appear as an inept and inadequate husband who cannot arrange for Mary’s needs. Likewise, Joseph did not anger his wife’s relatives by failing to turn to them in a crisis. The child was born in the normal surroundings of a peasant home sometime after they arrived in Bethlehem, and there was no heartless innkeeper with whom to deal. A member of the house of David was not humiliated by rejection as he returned to the village of his family’s origins. The people of Bethlehem offered the best they had and preserved their honor as a community. The shepherds were not hardhearted oafs without the presence of mind to help a needy family of strangers.”

(Then Mr. Shelley concludes:)
When I read the Christmas story, I prefer the Middle Eastern view filled with love and hospitality over the heartless Western view. The King of Kings was not born in a palace or a dirty stable, but in the home of a peasant (probably a relative) with the help of a midwife and others as was customary

Fredora Kite Takes Flight to See Her Father

2010-12-21T19:21:00.024-05:00

Fredora Fuller Kite's flight for heaven left peacefully at 8:37 pm CST on the evening of November 19, 2010. Her flight attendants at the nursing home took great care of her. A service celebrating her life was held in Houston on Friday the 26th. Family and friends shared wonderful and humorous stories about her life, triumphs, and struggles. My brother Greg and I dedicated her grave in Odessa MO on Saturday the 27th

The happiest parts of her flight are her long life of love and service in the gospel and community despite her medical problems, her reunion with Robert Lawson Kite, and her first time to see her father Freddric Clarence Fuller, who died before she was born.

See this link for my Wonder Mother posting for pictures and the story of how Robert and Fredora met in Yellowstone in 1948. Also see this posting. Her are other pictures of her life:

Fred and Ruth Fuller in the 1920's prior to Fredora's birth

Fredora at 18 months old in 1931 - she always had great hair

Fredora just before age 14 and 5' 4 1/2", passport used in move to Utah

Fredora in July 1944 just before age 15

July 1945 just before age 16

1946 or so

Robert Kite on Sax about 1948 at Kansas University or Yellowstone

Bob and Fredde - Yellowstone, KU, or New Zealand? 1948 - 1951

Fredde and Bob graduate from KU in 1950 or 1951

Married in Wellington, New Zealand on Sept 8, 1951

Fredde working in New Zealand about 1951

Four children were born from 1952 to 1961.

1964 Aspen Grove - Kite family upper left

Fredora with her 5 sisters and their mother

Fredora and Robert around 1989

1990's Reunion with her sisters

Fredora loved to write new lyrics

She called herself the Lovable Old Knit Wit

Her son Greg visits her at the school library in 1999

May 2006 Mother's Day Surprise

Aug 30, 2009 Birthday - Frowny Face song and turns it to a Smiley Face

How Hanukkah Set the Stage for Christmas

2010-11-17T06:52:00.000-05:00

Here is a story I first wrote in 1999. Now I will relate it to our upcoming Nativity Festival where we will celebrate an Interfaith Lunch and how the words of Isaiah apply to Jesus and generations of sons and daughters who bring light and deliverance.

Hanukkah is not a Jewish Christmas. Gift giving is a common practice for both holidays, yet each tells its own drama. Even so, the dramas are woven together by a theme of deliverance. Christmas would not have been the same without Hanukkah. Hanukkah set the stage for Christmas and is also the prologue to what many believe will be Christmas’ second act.

Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the temple and the Jewish deliverance from Syrian oppression. Syria had defiled the temple and subjected the Jewish people to bondage. About 165 years before Jesus was born, Judas Maccabeus led a revolt that brought Jewish independence and a cleansing of the temple. The miracle of lights occurred as part of the temple dedication. Oil that was only enough for one day lasted eight days.

Years later, the Jewish nation would be subjected to Roman rule. Though still oppressive, Rome was more lenient than Syria. As long as they paid onerous taxes and submitted themselves to Rome’s peculiar laws, Jewish people had freedom to practice their own religion. And the temple was the center of Jewish life. The people hoped for a deliverer who would again bring political freedom.

The New Testament story is also centered on the temple. Zacharias, a priest at the temple, became the father of John the Baptist who would prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. After Jesus was born, he was brought to the temple to be circumcised. At age 12, the gospels say he lingered at the temple to be taught and to teach. Later, his ministry would focus on the temple, cleansing it and preaching his message. He alluded to his body as a temple that would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days.

All Christian faith started with this Jewish luminary and teacher. Christians often wonder why most Jewish people did not accept him as the Messiah, their deliverer. Hanukkah reminds us why. The people yearned for political freedoms. The scriptures spoke of both a suffering messiah and a triumphant one. If we had been under the Roman yoke, we too would likely focus on our hope for a politically triumphant messiah. Jesus presented spiritual triumph as a first act and left his followers with the hope of resurrection and a future kingdom of peace and goodwill.

Tragically, Christians have often rejected their Jewish roots and not maintained respect for Judaism’s rich cultural and religious heritage. Often as part of a defense against persecution, Jewish people have not allowed themselves to appreciate Jesus and his Jewishness. Yet a modern Jewish scholar, Pinchas Lapide, showed how Jews and Christians can gain greater respect for their common heritage. He accepted Jesus as a messiah for the Gentiles and confirmed the historicity of his resurrection. He rejected the erroneous condemnation of Jews as the crucifiers of Christ and reminds people of the biblical covenants God still has with Israel. The messianic fulfillment of peace on earth, goodwill to men has yet to occur. If Jesus returns to fulfill that promise, Dr. Lapide would be ready to accept him.

Ironically the limited acceptance of Jesus by his Jewish brothers and sisters was a catalyst for the apostles to take the gospel to rest of the world. Christianity emerged in part due to rejection by Jewish people. But later, each culture went too far in rejecting the other. Now we should all celebrate the messages of spiritual and political deliverance found in both Christmas and Hanukkah. To do so I highly recommend the book, The Christmas Menorahs - How a Town Fought Hate.

Constitution & Sharia, Pathway to the Waterhole

2010-11-09T21:42:00.001-05:00

Recently friends have sent me articles about Australia and other places rejecting Sharia law. I certainly agree that Sharia law should not replace the constitutional laws and freedoms we have in this country or in places like Australia. As people of faith, we should however, consider where people, particularly children and students, need pathways to guide them and protect them from the many dangers and false images in today's world.

Sharia is a foreign word that most people in our country do not understand. Its basic meaning is a pathway to the waterhole, the only way to survive in the desert or rough terrain. It could be in Arabia, Australia, west Texas, etc.

Or even in our new virtual world with little virtue - students need ways to avoid the filth, hate, and lies on the Web. They need ways to filter out what is inconsistent with their core values until they are ready to reassess these values. Even adults should have better choices for guidance and how to filter what they view. The Web is a Wild West of Highways with few traffic rules or speed limits.

Sharia also has financial principles of fairness and balance that may have avoided the recent financial crisis if practiced. They prescribe balances of risk and return for the parties involved. As in the desert, the ethic came from survival where travelers had to rely on the generosity or fairness of people at the waterholes. The giver found as much joy in giving,

After its founding, the Muslim world soon developed the trust of cashing a check from Morocco across the world in Indonesia. Sadly over recent centuries many Muslim countries have been greatly harmed by totalitarians who falsely claim to follow Islam. Now in our country we have a great opportunity to get to know Muslims and show how our constitution and freedoms can provide a structure in which their true faith can flourish.

See also on my blog for my article on Ben Hur and the Light of Christ to all. I hope these ideas give you something to share with others and bridges of understanding with Muslims true to the values of peace and respect.

Thomas Jefferson

2010-11-03T08:13:00.003-04:00

Thomas Jefferson reminds me of the rich young man who asks Jesus what he should do to gain eternal life.
http://picturesofjesus4you.com/136.html
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/jesus-and-the-rich-young-ruler-scott-easom.html

Jesus says that he should sell all he has and give it to the poor. Although the young man was a good leader, he could not at the time accept the full sacrifice as he had much wealth. Similarly Jefferson was a great leader and had wealth and also debts tied to land and slaves he bought. He had advocated freeing the slaves, but felt it had to be all or none. So he never freed his own slaves due to the financial ruin it would be for him and due to his view of the political need over the personal one. I wonder if he had made this full sacrifice whether he would have stirred the nation to a faster and peaceful emancipation. The young nation could then have helped him back into financial health.

Here is a note a friend sent on his life. I need to verify the information.

Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early
in life and never stopped.

    ·         At 5, began studying under his cousins’ tutor.

    ·         At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.

    ·         At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.

    ·         At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.

    ·         At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.

    ·         At 23, started his own law practice.

    ·         At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

    ·         At 31, wrote the "Summary View of the Rights of British America" and retired from his law practice.

    ·         At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

    ·         At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.

    ·         At 33, revised Virginia's legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and statute for Religious Freedom.

    ·         At 36, was elected the second Governor of VirginiaPatrick Henry.

    ·         At 40, served in Congress for two years.

    ·         At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.

    ·         At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.

    ·         At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.

    ·         At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.

    ·         At 57, was elected the third president of the United States.

    ·         At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's size.

    ·         At 61, was elected to a second term as President.

    ·         At 65, retired to Monticello .

    ·         At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.

    ·         At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.

    ·         At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams

    Thomas Jefferson knew because he-himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be waaay more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the
past to lead us in the future:

    John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

    When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe .
    Thomas Jefferson

    The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
    Thomas Jefferson

    It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
    Thomas Jefferson

    I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
    Thomas Jefferson

    My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
    Thomas Jefferson

    No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
    Thomas Jefferson

    The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
    Thomas Jefferson

    The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
    Thomas Jefferson

    To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
    Thomas Jefferson

    Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
    “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people succeeding ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

See The Strange Connection Between the Mormon Church and Telegraph.

2010-10-24T14:07:00.002-04:00

See The Strange Connection Between the Mormon Church and Telegraph.

"The first transcontinental telegraph line went into operation 149 years ago on October 24, 1861, when the gap between the country's eastern and western networks was closed. The year before, Congress passed the Pacific Telegraph Act, subsidizing its construction and Hiram Sibley, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, organized crews to build west from Omaha and East from Carson City to Salt Lake City.
While Abraham Lincoln received the very first message sent all the way across the nation that day, a different kind of leader was the first to test out the Salt Lake -- San Francisco wire: Brigham Young, leader of the Church of Latter Day Saints. ..."

See also www.mormonmigrationwest.com

Souls of Our Students

2010-10-16T22:22:00.004-04:00

Souls of Our Students is an excellent video and training program from Mecklenburg Ministries, an interfaith group I support. It is used by schools and churches to teach respect and to counter bullying. It is an excellent teaching tool for both youth and adults. Due to recent student suicides, there is a lot in the media about bullying of gays.

The program is best used with a training dialogue. For those who support traditional values, the message should be that we can be true to our values of morality while respecting people with differing ethnicity, values or beliefs. It could also include a discussion of how do Mormons feel when people say they are not Christian and that the church is a cult.

Listed below are recent articles on related controversies regarding a talk in our church conference by Apostle Boyd K. Packer. When he gave the talk, I thought it would be controversial. Although he could have been more diplomatic, I think his critics are looking for a scapegoat. Cultural causes apart from Mormon moral views are far bigger causes of bullying. Mormons teach that we are all God's children, heaven has a place for all of us, and we will continue to learn and overcome our challenges even in the next life. We recognize that nature and nurture are both involved. Attractions may not change even though behavior can be limited.

A bigger problem for Mormons seems to be that our high ideals can at times turn into unhealthy perfectionism and guilt. One tragic case was where a returned missionary who struggled with same gender attraction committed suicide in the year 2000 when the church was supporting traditional marriage laws. His bishop had expressed love and counseled him to choose his life over the church. The bishop recognized that this young man was not able to live the ideals of the church. His death was tragic. I believe the Savior helps him now in heaven to deal with his guilt and struggles. I don't know what glory in heaven he will obtain, but trust he is in a place of love and healing.

Deseret News editorial addresses recent protests of Boyd Packer's talk

October 10th, 2010 @ 2:15pm

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Deseret News' Sunday editorial calls for civility after a week of protest and public scrutiny of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Apostle Boyd K. Packer.

During last week's 180th Semiannual General Conference Packer, President of the Quorum of 12 Apostles, spoke about same-sex attraction and said homosexuality is an immoral condition that can and should be overcome.

The lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community has called Packer's words hurtful, hateful and dangerous, prompting the LDS Church to re-emphasize "that there is no room in this discussion for hatred or mistreatment of anyone."

In its editorial the Deseret News says, "the LDS Church has consistently reached out with understanding and respect to individuals who are attracted to those of the same gender" and accuses activists of using "a grossly misguided caricature of the LDS Church's support of traditional morality" for their own political agenda. The editorial calls for all to read President Packer's talk "rather than simply rely on the media interpretations and selective quotations."

"Contrary to what some have written in provocative press releases, nothing in President Packer's talk says that 'violence and/or discrimination against LGBT people is acceptable,'" the editorial reads.The editorial says the "distortion" of President Packer's words can prevent those with "different perspectives to constructively address the serious problems under consideration."The editorial closes by promoting thoughtful and civil dialogue that "should respect context, should not prejudge motive and must work to include instead of isolate."

See LDS Church News

See Human Rights Campaign
See Salt Lake Tribune

Amazing Grace for Our Eye's Flawed Design

2010-10-03T14:17:00.002-04:00

In our worldwide church conference this weekend, a speaker recommended the powerful movie Amazing Grace and the story of William Wilberforce who worked in the English Parliament over many years and with great personal sacrifice to end the slave trade. It also tells the story of John Newton who was a slave trader for many years, eventually repented, and then dedicated his life to serving God and mankind. He wrote the song Amazing Grace. His humble lyrics tell a great truth with the irony of physical versus spiritual sight:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind , but now I see.

John Newton lost his physical sight as he aged, but gained a more important spiritual sight of his sins and the grace of Christ and forgiveness. When he was a slave trader, he had his physical sight, but was blind spiritually. Here is a wonderful video that discusses plausible origins of the tune.
Amazing Grace by Wintley Phipps - Just the Black Notes

Around this same time period of John Newton and William Wilberforce, Charles Darwin was developing his Theory of Evolution as eventually expressed in the groundbreaking book "On the Origin of Species". It gave new vision to science while also stirring social, philosophical and religious debates. Intelligent Design (ID) recognizes processes of evolution while also arguing for the initiation or intervention of a designer or designers. In the school board debates in Dover PA, creationists with a religious agenda (and often favoring a young earth view) were overeager in co-opting and altering the ID arguments to the consternation of ID authors. See Wikipedia article vs Conservapedia view.

A key claim in ID is that some systems or organisms are irreducibly complex. That is the steps to create the system or organism fit with a designer and not random evolution. A mouse trap is given as an example of a simple, yet designed system. It is hard to see how a mouse trap could be created by random evolution. The human eye with its remarkable functions and complexity is given as an example of ID. All the steps needed to get to its complexity do not seem to be sufficiently explained by evolutionary processes.

Evolutionists counter by saying that simple cells reacted to light, later added curvature and other aspects over long periods of time. Redundant or unused features would be carried over time and eventually find a use in the random evolutionary cycle. The human eye is then criticized as a flawed design with a blind-spot or reversed images that seem to be flaws casting doubt on a designer. Design supporters argue that these supposed flaws actually have a purpose such as protection or better access to blood supply. And the brain learns how to interpret the images.

Critics of religious views on creation should recognize that this world is viewed as imperfect and fallen. So flaws exist due to the fallen state of man and nature. The hope is that these flaws can be overcome. And there is a teaching purpose in us struggling in an imperfect world. As with John Newton, we have flaws in our eyes and flesh. We can go physically blind, but spiritual sight is far more important.

Also science implies a purpose of designing a better world. We hope to learn more about how the world and universe work so that we can make life better, perhaps even control our own evolution. If there is any intelligence or design now, then why not in the ancient past?

Captain Hiram Kite - Stonewall Jackson's HQ April 1862

2010-09-20T22:00:00.003-04:00

Hiram Alexander, born 1818 in Elkton VA, was the 7th child of William Kite and cousin to my 2nd great grandfather, also named Hiram A. who lived less than 20 miles away. Hiram Alexander became a member of the VA state militia before the Civil War. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 and became Captain of Co. H, 2nd Regt. of 7th Brigade, VA. Militia. His Elkton home was used as General Stonewall Jackson's headquarters for the planning of his famous Valley Campaign leading up to 2nd Manassas and European powers ready to recognize the South as a separate nation until Antietam.
See Elkton Historical Society

He developed Elk Lithia Springs. Elkton was called Conrad's Store before and during the Civil War. He lived in a brick home built in the early 1820's. It is a different home than the one built by his wife's grandfather. It became known as the Hiram Kite House. All the family lived in it.

Reuben Kite 1833 - 1863 & Peter Kite 1845 - 1912

2010-09-20T21:42:00.000-04:00

Reuben Kite served as a Sgt., Company E. 29th Tennessee Infantry, CSA death was listed as Chattanooga. Family sources say it was the Battle of Chickamauga. His brother Peter served as a Private in Company D., 31st Tennessee. He survived a bullet shot through his face that blew out his pallet. When he was found near dead, a woman had to run a hot rod through him to clean him out and seal the wound. He lived to the age of 67 in 1912. He had to stuff cornbread in his mouth each morning so that he could talk.

John & Lazarus Kite - Rebel Spy & Resurrected Yankee

2010-09-20T21:09:00.001-04:00

John & Lazarus Kite of Dodson Creek, Hawkins Co. TN were brothers who fought in the Civil War in unusual ways. John was a Confederate spy. His brother Lazarus started as a Confederate and then switched to the Union. The brothers remained friends after the war. I have wondered if Lazarus was also a spy, but I do not think he was. Here are accounts of Lazarus (born 1843):

"Lazarus Kite was born at Dodson Creek in 1843. He was the brother of John Kite. He married Eliza Coffey. He enlisted in Co. E 29th Tennessee Infantry, at Knoxville, Tennessee on August 13, 1861, along with his two cousins Reuben Kite and Martin Kite. Jr. He apparently became disenchanted with the life of a Confederate soldier, and somehow arranged to "die" in 1863, as that fact is included in his Confederate records.

He then joined the Union army, enlisting in Co. D 8th Tennessee Infantry, U.S.A., in June of 1863. Later he seems to have again became dissatisfied with his life as a "galvanized Yankee". At which time he deserted the Union army, in October of 1864. He took with him an "Enfield rifle and appendages" which the U.S. charged to his pay account, the amount of $21.25. He seems to have returned to his regiment later, and made up the "bad time", as he was mustered out in June of 1865.

He "died again" on June 18, 1911, and is buried at Zion Cemetery near Baileyton, In Greene County, Tennessee. Despite his "side changing" during the war, he and his brother John Kite, seem to have maintained a good relationship as long as they lived. They were two of the more "interesting" Kite soldiers!"

Another account:

I've been to the actual homesite of Lazarus in Greene County where he settled after the Civil War. I was fortunate to meet some descendents of Eliza Coffey's family... They related to me that his great grandfather, William Cromwell Coffey and Lazarus Kite were good friends during the Civil War. They both went AWOL (absent without leave) to go home and plant their corn. Their commanding officer did tell them they would be forgiven of AWOL status if they came back. Which they apparently did and Lazarus fought the rest of the war on the Union side.

Interestingly, his grave has an old Federal Marker with a new confederate marker at the base. I was back in the area in Feb of this year and found out the new confederate marker is due to a Kite descendent in the area, Donohue Bible. Don Bible has written an account of the Kites during the Civil War, From Persia to Piedmont.

...You are aware of the Kites being murdered right before the start of the Civil War, aren't you? I figure this made an impact on the family as a whole as to which side they might fight on.

Mt Olive Baptist Museum Project - Pictures Before

2010-09-18T20:41:00.015-04:00

Here are pictures of the house before the Fall 2010 cleanup and scraping

Saving Cincinnati from Sept 11th - Photos

2010-09-12T11:28:00.002-04:00

On a recent trip, I visited Ft Wright, part of 8 miles of forts that saved Cincinnatti from attack on September 11th, 1862. See my article on this preparation directed by General Lew Wallace.

Mystery of G L Kite Sword at Fort Ward VA July 1862

2010-09-06T21:55:00.002-04:00

A prestigious German (Eisenhauer) sword was awarded to a citizen G.L. Kite at Ft. Ward, Alexandria VA in July 1862 by the 2nd New York Artillery. We do not know why.

The Ft. Ward Museum provided the following note from G.L. Kile. The museum representative thought the sword was given to Kile and not Kite, but as shown above it is Kite. Although G. L. Kile could be a different person. I suspect he is the same person and did not cross his “t” when he signed his name. I sometimes do the same.

I would like to find out what business G. L. had with Sheldon Hoyt & Co. of New York City. See notes at the end.

Kite’s in PA, NJ and other Union states would likely have been of English descent. My Kite line is most likely of German, Dutch or French descent. My line comes from John Windle Kite (or “Geit” or other spellings) who came into the Shenandoah Valley of VA in the 1740’s after apparently being in Philadelphia County by 1734. He appears as Windle Kite or Wendel Keit on the 1734 tax (quit rents) lists for a 100 acre farm in New Hanover. Also on this list is Mordecai Lincoln, the great uncle of the future president Abraham Lincoln. Abraham’s father was in the same area of the Shenandoah Valley.

Many Kite’s in Virginia fought for the Confederacy. I do not know of any who fought for the Union. If G. L. Kite is my ancestor then he would have been hesitant to share the story of the sword and his befriending the Union.

George Kite, my third great-grandfather, died during the war. His son Hiram fought for the Confederacy. Hiram’s son Hieronimus David Kite, my great-grandfather, was in Jeb Stuart’s Cavalry. A cousin David Kite and his sons fought for the Confederacy. Hiram had a cousin named Hiram Alexander Kite from Elkton VA who was a Captain in Stonewall Jackson’s army. Captain Kite’s home was used as Jackson’s headquarters in April 1862 just prior to his famous Valley Campaign. This campaign along with Confederate victories at Manassas in August of 1862 and elsewhere were leading to European nations recognizing the South as a separate nation until the Union’s bloody success at Antietam on September 17, 1862 and the anniversary of the Constitution.

Hiram Kite had a cousin named G. L. L Kite who was also from the Shenandoah Valley. He is the best fit from my line so far due to his middle initials. Other cousins may also fit.

See “Drum Taps in Dixie”, the story of Delavan Miller, a teenage drummer boy for the 2nd NY artillery. Just prior to July 1862, he tells of how he got a new drum and band members got other instruments. Perhaps G. L. Kite helped to arrange these supplies.

See http://www.dodgefamily.org/History/BrooklynEagle.shtml for July 30, 1866 Mr. Dodge, employed by and playing 3rd Base for the Sheldon Hoyt and Co. Baseball team.

See 1866 book that lists Sheldon & Hoyt and an Isaac Sheldon (see Isaac in Kile letter).
http://books.google.com/books?id=LO8pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=Sheldon+Hoyt+%26+Co.+of+New+York+City&source=bl&ots=ihwAEIXeNf&sig=p8v9T3cvZ9m2ig8wQdcT_2vUmCU&hl=en&ei=se8hSu_bMITgyQXOk8TFBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

Paul Robeson and Changing Lyrics

2010-08-13T12:43:00.002-04:00

When I took voice lessons in my college years, Old Man River was one of the first songs I learned. I then started to study the life and music of Paul Robeson, perhaps the greatest singer of the song. He changed the lyrics of the song from racial subjugation to ones of defiance and deliverance. In the 1990's we got to see Avery Brooks do a one-man show in Chicago about Paul's life. In 2010, I got to see Tayo Aluko do his one-man show in Charlotte.

Article on controversy over Robeson's relation with Stalin

Here are some lyrical variations that Paul did not sing:

"Cold Chopped Liver" (musical parody of "Old Man River") sung by Cantor Henry Rosenblum in a concert at Toronto's Beth Tzedec Synagogue in January 2010.

The Ballad of Thomas and Hill

(Lyrics I wrote back in Oct 1991 during the Clarence Thomas hearings to go to the Joe Hill ballad and on You Tube)

In the Thomas hearings, Senator Simpson quoted from Othello about the tragedy of a noble black man and the theft of his good name. Of course, Senator Simpson did not go on to read the part where Othello, in mistaken rage, strangles his wife, Desdemona.

The Othello quote reminded me of perhaps the greatest actor to play that role, Paul Robeson. Robeson was a remarkable and controversial man who layed a foundation for black pride and dissent in the first half of this century. He was the first black All-American in football, a top graduate of Columbia law school, a great singer, actor, and speaker, fluent in several languages and internationally acclaimed.

In the late 1930's, Robeson became concerned with politics. He was active in the peace movement, in bettering labor conditions, and obtaining racial justice. His strong beliefs led him to picket the White House, protest lynching, and refuse to sing before segregated audiences, and sympathize with Communism. (Extraordinary Black Americans)

In 1946, not long before Clarence Thomas was born, Robeson appeared before a Senate Committee regarding his communist sympathies. A concert in Salt Lake City in 1947 added to the controversy as Robeson sang the labor ballad "Joe Hill". Joe Hill was a labor organizer who battled the copper bosses, was accused of murder, and was executed. To the labor unions, he was a martyr whose spirit lived on.

So Clarence Thomas now faces his Senate committee and his Hill. In the tradition of Paul Robeson, I can imagine Clarence Thomas awakening from a night of troubled dreams and singing:

I saw Anita Hill last night,
A ghost on my T. V.
Your charges should be ten years dead.
I never lied said she.
I never lied said she.

From Oklahoma's dusty soil,
To Washington D. C.
You dug up filthy tales of me.
I never lied said she.
Nor was it fantasy.

The interest groups, they spurred you on
To air a woman's cry.
We all heard words we won't forget.
Said Hill, I didn't lie.
Said Hill, I didn't lie.

And standing here as big as life,
The nation looks at me.
Are lessons learned on human rights ?
And sensitivity ?
Said Hill, I guess we'll see.

And what of Hatch and Metzenbaum,
And Teddy Kennedy,
What Specter yet will haunt the vote
On their incumbency ?
And who's the Hill to be ?

And now at last, supremely called,
My day in court is here.
So take a poll that Harris-meant
To gauge our nation's cheer,
Our Judgment Day is here.

Interfaith Youth Service & "In Their Shoes"

2010-07-28T22:06:00.001-04:00

Our interfaith organization completed another successful "In Our Own Back Yard" Interfaith Youth Service Camp. Youth learned about various faiths and service organizations in the community, and the experiences of the needy and homeless.

See this Charlotte Observer article.

Also, here are links to the articles/TV coverage from our "In Their Shoes" experience with Mayor Foxx and elected officials.

Observer Article: 7-22 Observer Slideshow

Channel 14 News 7-21 Channel 36 News and slideshow

Songs My Mother Never Sang to Me ... but wished she did

2010-07-25T14:29:00.010-04:00

My mother has long enjoyed writing new lyrics to church hymns and other songs. She used them in teaching children in church and for fun and preaching to friends and family. Here I will add some of my lyrical creations.

In church, children now sing "Follow the Prophet" about Biblical and latter-day prophets. It has a rhythm like a Jewish folk song where you dance the hora. The link in this paragraph takes you to a site for the music and words. Here are my new lyrics with some Jewish or Joeish (tribe of Joseph) humor:

Moshe was a prophet, gave us lots of rules,
He went up the mountain for his Sunday Schoo-ool
Aaron made a golden calf, Moshe came back down,
He said "Oy vey! I shoulda let ya drown!"

Follow the prophet, follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet, don't go astray-ay!
But if you do not, you should repent,
You'll hear the prophet, he'll say Oy Vey!

Adam was a prophet, Eve came from his side,
She gave him an apple, first one that he tri-ied,
Then they left the garden and had lots of kids,
Cain got rid of Abel and Adam flipped his lid! (any suggestions?)

more later ...

In the 60's and 70's, mom also had fun with pop tunes such as Elvira, Walking My Cat Named Dog, The Eggplant that Ate Chicago, etc. My sisters played the flute so mom and dad got us Jethro Tull albums. They took us to see Simon and Garfunkel at Jones Hall in Houston. My friend and I made baseball lyrics for Beatles songs and called ourselves the Batty Busters. My first album was "The Mamas and Papas - Farewell to the Golden Era". We also had musical comedy records by Stan Freeberg, Alan Sherman, Tom Lehrer, Homer and Jethro (one album was "Songs My Mother Never Sang to Me" - On You Tube Crazy Mixed Up Song Battle of Kookamonga and others.

In high school, my friends and I got into the Marx Brothers.
Lydia the Tatooed Lady - I did lyrics for my friend's little sister
more later ...
Paul Robeson and Changing Lyrics

Wonder Mother!

2010-07-16T22:05:00.004-04:00

Fredora Fuller Kite will soon be 81 years old unless her warranty expires before then. Although she has had many health struggles, she taught us her faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and His gift of atonement and resurrection. One of her favorite photos of her youth is this one in July 1945 at Cameron Falls in Waterton International Peace Park in Alberta, Canada. Fredora was born in Taber and raised nearby in Barnwell, Alberta until the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah with her sisters going to Brigham Young University. She was the youngest of 6 girls and her father Fred died before she was born. Her mother Ruth worked as a nurse and midwife through the Depression and had all the girls graduate from college.

One of Fredora's nickname was Fritzi Lou. Her father Fred (who she never met) had Fritz as a nickname. Here is a poem Fredora wrote about her time at Cameron Falls:

Cameron Falls for Fritzi Lou,

How about you?

A swing is a wonderful kind of swing,

When swung with Fritzi Lou.

So, don't be a square,

Just let down your hair,

Come swing with Fritzi Lou!

I swing! I swing! I swing! I swing!

When I'm with Fritzi Lou.

I swing! I swing! I swing! I swing!

For she knows what to do

Three years later in the summer of 1948, Fredora goes to Yellowstone Park and meets Robert Lawson Kite, student at Kansas University and a saxophone player in a jazz band at the park. During the day he worked as a gardener. Fredora worked as a waitress at the Canyon Lodge. A romance bloomed. Robert was also interested in Fredora's faith as a Mormon. They would read the Book of Mormon together out in the beautiful park.

Fredora is on the lower left, Robert is in shades, upper right

See additional photos and the rest of the story at this link.

See this link for The Three Bears skit at Yellowstone, dance band photos, and more of Robert and Fredora at this time.

Ships to America 1717 to 1734 - Palatine Project

2010-07-12T21:22:00.002-04:00

Updated 7-12-2010 - Windle Kite is on the 1734 tax list for a 100 acre farm in New Hanover Township in Philadelphia County (it becomes Montgomery County). We have not yet found a record of him on a ship. By checking where other ancestors came from during that time, we may find clues for him. He may have come as early as 1717.

1717 Three Ships - Rev. Anthony Jacob Henckel

This list only has two names - Rev Henckel and his son-in-law Valentine Geiger - of the 363 passengers on the three ships. I see postings that these lists are not directly available.

Anthony Jacob Henkel, patriarch of the Lutheran Henkel family in America, was born in 1663 at Mehrenberg of Nassau, Germany (Prussia). He was educated at Giessen and ordained as a minister in 1692. He came to America with his family in 1717 and helped form a colony at New Hanover, also called "Falckner's Swamp," in what became Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was a Lutheran pastor there and served Lutherans also in Philadelphia. He started St. Michael's Lutheran in Germantown, Philadelphia and was buried there in 1728 after his death due to falling off his horse. His descendants include many ministers and relations to the Windle Kite's descendants. See http://www.stmichaelsgermantown.org and Lutheran Church Cyclopedia - The Henkels

The name Falckner's Swamp came from a Daniel Falckner who promoted the land and from the German word Schwamm for meadow. More on him later. Sales of farms in the area began about 1718 and there was a 1723 list that we should review. Most were 100 acre farms. In the 1734 tax list as compiled by Rupp, the Windle Kite (Wendel Keit) farm seems to be five farms away from the Valentine Geiger and Henkel (Anthony Hinckle) farms based on the name order. The Rev Henkel who died in 1728 had a son Gerhard Henkel who was also a Reverend for the area. I recently learned that Gerhard was a nickname for Anthony Jacob so the farm listing could have kept the Anthony name. Windle Kite could have come after 1717 and bought the farm from someone else, but since we have not found him on other tax lists; he may have come in 1717 and bought his farm about the same time as Henkel and Geiger.

Here are other ships to consider for lines that later intermarry with Kite lines or other potential links..

1734 Hope (Galley) - Passenger List
Johannes Keyser, 50 is probably from Rumpenheim, Hesse, Germany. Windle Kite's grandson Martin marries Catherine Kiser.
See http://www.arslanmb.org/kiser/kiser.html

Windle Kite moves to the Shenandoah Valley of VA in the 1740's. He is also listed as Wendel Keit or Windlegite. Rev Paul Henkel lists Windle Kite's grandson as Martin Geit while others call him Martin Kite.

1732 Samuel - Passenger List has lots of Wendels
Augustine Wendel on the Samuel on August 17, 1732 and this ship may have also included Johann Philip Wendel, wagon maker from Framersheim who made a land purchase from Jost Hite in 1737, while traveling south with his sons from Pennsylvania into the Shenandoah Valley. From other readings about Jost Hite, I do not see him directly related. However, if Hite is pronounced with a hard sound similar to G or K, then Hite associating with the Wendel family at similar places and times to Wendel Keit suggests potential ties.

1733 Samuel - has many from Alsace

I think the town of St Wendel that is near these areas has potential. St Wendel is the patron saint of herding and Geit may relate to goat herding.

1739 Samuel

Johann David Lautenbagh is from Staudernheim, Germany. Also known as Louderback.

1750 Sandwich

Hans Adam Biebel, 22 and Maria Eva (Müller) of Goesdorf, Alsace-Lorraine
Their Bible family descendants go to NE Tennessee and mix with Kite and Louderback descendants.
http://www.genealogyforyou.com/surnames/bible/ notes research by Daniel Peter of Archiv du Bas Rhin in Strasbourg, France. Don Bible recommends him.

Descendants of George Kite in Tennessee

2010-07-11T22:01:00.000-04:00

George Kite seems to be the oldest son of John Windle Kite. He moves to Tennessee near Rogersville in about 1796 when it first became a state. He was following Davy Crockett and other pioneers.

(to be added - Civil War stories of Lazarus and John Kite, slave uprising, Peter Kite, and others)

Below is a photo of some of his descendants around 1900 to 1908 along with a 1951 photo of Mohawk, Tennessee marked with family places. In 1908, George Rufus Kite's family moved to Texas. I recently got to meet his descendants at a family reunion in Tennessee. See the photo below at the old train station where their family departed in 1908. This family line includes the pro golfer Tom Kite.

Romper Room Teacher - Virginia Hassenflu, My Kite Cousin

2010-07-06T18:18:00.000-04:00

My second cousin Virginia Lee Green Hassenflu celebrated her birthday on July 2nd. She has helped me with Kite family history research and provided me the letter from Areanna Henkel Kite that is posted on this blog. Virginia is a wonderful lady and teacher. Here she is as one of the Romper Room teachers.

If you were not raised as a Do Bee on Romper Room you can learn about it by going to the link below. If you were (or are still) a Do Bee, go to the link for a refresher course and some fun.

Romper Room website:
http://www.tvparty.com/lostromper1.html

Here is Virginia teaching a class. Must be philosophy - Camus says to do is to be, Sartre says to be is to do, and of course Sinatra and Romper Room say Do Bee Do Bee Do!

Virgina met President Harry Truman and made him a Do Bee Driver.

Virginia served in the Red Cross and the Daughters of the American Revolution. And loves her hats!

Forever Young!

Who’s in the House with Henrietta Housden?

2010-06-25T21:52:00.002-04:00

Based on talk given by Chris W. Kite on May 25, 2003 at church

I would like to tell a story from my family history that I hope would interest both children and adults and all those in between. It starts in the 1830’s in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It is a time of new ideas and new frontiers, regional and cultural conflicts, questions of land, liberty and property that lead up to the Civil War. The nation had inspired beginnings, but was not living up to the ideal of being a land of liberty for all people.

I call the story “Who’s in the House with Henrietta Housden?”. The children can see the pictures and draw their own ideas of what Henrietta might look like and the life she led.

How many of you children and teenagers clean your own room? How many of you help to clean the rest of the house? Now, how many of the adults can say the same? Would you like to have someone do this cleaning for you? How about your brother or sister or even someone you do not know?

Henrietta Housden was born in the 1830’s in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It is a beautiful place with mountains, rivers, forests, and hills.

John Windle Kite farm along the Shenandoah River, founded in 1740’s

Henrietta’s mother Susanna Housden was the housekeeper for George Kite’s house near the Shenandoah River. It was a river of Kites who moved and made goods for market. You can see a picture of his home with his son Hiram and Hiram’s daughter Areana.

George’s son Hiram Kite (1818–1883) and Hiram’s daughter Areana Heleah Kite (1856–1941)

If I grew a beard like Hiram’s, would I look like him? Do you think that my daughter Andrea looks like Areana? What do you think Henrietta looked like? We do not know who her father was. In fact, her mother may not have been married when she was born. Some people say that George might be her father. That’s embarrassing. People sometimes put embarrassing names on a child, but it is not the child’s fault. And don’t expect parents to be perfect. People also gossip. People gossiped about who Jesus’ father was. Whatever the situation, parents should do their best to care for their children. We all need to know we are part of God’s family.

George’s first wife Mary Susanna Long died about this time. Then George married the housekeeper, Susanna Housden on February 23, 1835. People gossiped that George married beneath him, meaning they thought Susanna was not good enough for him. How do you feel when people say mean things about you?

Henrietta lived in George’s home with her mother, Susanna, and George’s children Noah, Martin, Hiram, Harden, Catherine and Jane. Martin moved to Missouri in 1835 and started a sawmill. Noah would later run a mill close by on the Shenandoah River. George and Susanna then had five children together George Jr., Amanda, Siram, Charles, and James. Lots of people were in the house with Henrietta Housden!

Home of George Kite, my 3^rd Great-Grandfather

Do you think Henrietta helped clean the house? Do you think she helped on the farm with the hens and chicks? Do you think she ever read the Bible verse about how God watches over us as a hen that gathers her chicks?

In 1860, a census was taken to see how many people lived in each town. It said Henrietta was 30 years old, but she may have been younger. As far as we know, she never married. Do you think she was shy because of what people said about her mother? The next year the Civil War started and most of the young men would go away. Many would not come back. No one would come back the same. Did you know the war could have been avoided if people had been true to God’s inspiration?

George’s daughter Catherine Kite was about to marry, but died from an accident (falling into a cauldron of boiling water). George died during the war, not in battle, but as an old man. He did not mention Henrietta and so some say she was not his daughter. Even so he had provided a house for Henrietta Housden.

Hiram Kite’s wife, Areana Henkel, was from a family of Lutheran ministers. Before living in Virginia, they came from this area of North Carolina. They would print books and music and take them all around Virginia and the Carolinas. The Henkels tell how the Yankees raided their town, but they would spread flour outside their door to make it look like their house had already been raided. What would Henrietta do if the soldiers came to her house?

Hiram’s wife Areana Elizabeth Henkel Kite (1820 –1877)

After the Civil War, Noah Kite continued to live by the river. When a big flood came in 1870, Noah and most of his family died in the flood. I guess he should have built an ark. After the flood, my great-great grandfather Hiram took his family from Virginia to across the wide Missouri, just like the folk song “O Shenandoah”.

In 1880 the census counted all the people in the United States. In the home of Charles Kite, it shows Henrietta as age 45 and an African-American servant Ellen Bird, age 48 – sounds like they could be feathered friends.

Henrietta stayed in Virginia in Madison County. The newspaper said she died in the home of Charles Kite on January 12, 1882 at the age of 43, but she was probably older. Do you think she started to say that she was younger just to avoid the gossip about her mother? Or did the newspaper just make a mistake? By February 23^rd of that year, the anniversary of her mother’s marriage to George Kite, her will was read in court. It said that she called herself Miss Henrietta Kite and she gave her belongings to her brothers Charles and James Kite. Was she saying that George was her father? Or was she so close to them that she would not call them half-brothers? Had she adopted the name Kite?

Henrietta Housden or Kite is now a name we remember in our hearts and in the House of God. She may have lived a life without much attention - cleaning the house, helping on the farm, unsure of her last name and no one to give her a new name in this life. And yet she is a special name to the Lord. Each of us is special in His House and in His family. If we do our best to clean our soul - our eternal house, Jesus will do the rest through His atonement. Jesus says his Father’s house has many mansions. One is ready for Henrietta. The hen gathers her chicks, and the Lord gathers His Henriettas. And the rooster will crow new mornings until the resurrection day.

May we remember the Henrietta’s of the world. May we see that we are all brothers, sisters, and cousins. May we bring unity and peace, using strength wisely and respecting the liberty and eternal worth of all God’s family. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

For a story on another Henrietta, see this link.

The Life of Christ - Paintings by James Tissot

2010-06-21T09:43:00.000-04:00

http://www.ldsmag.com/radio/100618.html

http://www.stevenkappperry.com/tissot/tissot.htm

I would like to put together samples of different artists interpretations for Jesus. See the BBC special from a few years ago where research suggested a different look based on what a typical Jewish man might look like at that time.

Windle Kite 1734 - 1751 clues to his roots

2010-06-01T22:22:00.001-04:00

Windle Kite (or Wendel Keit) is on the 1734 tax list (quit rents) of New Hanover township of Philadelphia County. Daniel Rupp shows this list with the German heading describing the people as German, Dutch, & French inhabitants. See the Palatine Project for listings of ships. Windle Kite seems to be the same as John Windle Kite who in the 1740's settles in the Shenandoah Valley, now Page County Virginia.

St. Paul's in Page County found old records in German of Rev. Paul Henkel teaching John Windle Kite's grandson Martin Kite in German. Rev. Henkel wanted to preserve the German language among the people. Martin's marriage record includes a note wholly written in German (see Harry Strickler's book). I am not sure if it is written by him or the recorder. I have also heard of John's son Philip or other descendants signing or writing in German.

Rev Paul Henkel is also my ancestor as his son Ambrose married Martin Kite's daughter Mary. There are other Kite - Henkel marriages as well. In the diaries of Rev Paul Henkel, he writes Martin Kite as Martin Geit. In Dutch, Geit means goat and the "G" has a hard sound similar to a "K". I suspect that Geit is the original surname or part of it as Rev Paul Henkel was a reputable source and scholar. Dutch is also referred to as Low German. I assume the Low is for Lowlands.

See also Augusta County Virginia records that show last name as Windelgite. Other records show Windleheit or Windlecoit. Page County was formed from Rockingham County which was formed from Augusta County.

Several descendants of John Windle Kite have family traditions of German descent. One is that they are Dorch Germans. Dorcheim is a town near Frankfort. The Kites frequently married people who came from towns near or south to southwest of Frankfort, Germany. In court records from 1748 to 1768, Martin's last name is noted as Coite and his father, uncles, grandfather and grandmother are referred to as Windlecoit or a few times as Windelgite.

I have read that John Windlecoit had a Dutch Bible in his estate list. It could be a Deutsch (German) Bible or it could be Dutch. On Jan 1, 2004 I talked with Jean Kite Bittner of Wisconsin. She descends from Philip Windlecoit, one of John Windlecoit's son. The family had a pair of wooden shoes that apparently belonged to Philip or one of his descendants. Warren Bittner, a German research expert, told me that Dutch or German or others could have wooden shoes. I have also received reports of the surname being Von Windleheit. Is Von a Dutch or Low German name?

In 2010 DNA research confirmed that one of my distant cousins is related by DNA markers on the Y chromosome Kite line. Initial checks with lines around the world show a possible link to a Magerotte family in the Bastgone - Luxembourg area, but this significance of this link is very uncertain. The area is interesting as Luxembourg has at times been part of Germany, Netherlands, France or Belgium.

I was referred to "The Story of the Palatines," by Sanford H. Cobb, originally published in 1897 by Putnam's, reissued in 1988 by Heritage Books in Bowie, Maryland (FHL Film #1320865, Item 4). A great numbers of Palatines went to Rotterdam in the 1700's and from there went to England. Here is a quote from the book:

"Both for charity's sake and in their own defence, the people of Rotterdam speeded them [Palatines] over the channel into England and to London, where their swarming numbers put to the proof, not only the ingenuity of the government to devise their future destination, but also its ability to provide for their pressing and immediate needs. They began to arrive in London in May of 1709, and by the end of June their numbers amounted to five thousand. Before August was passed this number was nearly doubled, while thirteen thousand is set as the aggregate by the end of October."

We hope to find a ship manifest or some other document perhaps in Pennsylvania or Europe that shows Windlecoit, Windelgite, Von Windleheit , Wendel Keit or Geit origins. The Kites in Virginia and Ohio ran mills and riverboats. I suspect their ancestors worked along the Rhine River and had trade with Germans, Dutch, French and English. Quaker Kites came from England to Pennsylvania and Quaker (Friends) missionaries went along the Rhine to recruit settlers for the colony.

One impression I had on July 24, 2008 was that Wendel Keit was a Dutch sailor on a slave ship and then decided to settle in Pennsylvani. I have no evidence of involvement with slavery. On that day, I was giving a presentation on pioneers at the Levine Museum in Charlotte and ended with a tribute to enslaved people who built this nation. My impression may have just been a romantic notion, but it is plausible. I would like to learn about records of sailors

See 12 Feb 2001 report by Warren Bittner. He checked on land records in Pennsylvania and ship records before 1734 and did not find any other evidence so far. In 2010, I started noting German and other towns of origin for Kite relatives.

The family history of George Kite, son of John Windle Kite, who moved to Hawkins County, Tennessee in March of 1796 (published in 1987 by Sydney C. and Jolene L. (Anderson) Kite, and Gary L. Anderson) notes:

"In 1751 David Louderback is listed as one of the appraisers of the estate of John Wendelkeit. David Louderback (actually Johann David Louderback) is of interest to this Kite history because two of his granddaughters, Betsy and Susannah Louderback, later married brothers, John Kite and George Kite II of Hawkins county, Tennessee. Johann David Louderback was born 1716-17 in Staudernheim, Germany and came to America at the age of 23, arriving at Philadelphia on the ship Samuel on August 27, 1739."

July 2010 note from Jeanne Fuller who is from this George Kite line:

My dad (James Eugene Kite) said that his dad (Homer Lacy Kite) told him, and it was common knowledge among the family, his dad (George "Rufe" Rufus Kite) and other family members...that their Kite heritage WAS from Germany.

He remembered his dad telling him that the family was from Germany, but had changed their name (couldn't remember why) from something to Kite. I asked him if it was WindleKite and he said "No, that's not quite it..." and I asked if it sounded like Windlecoit. His face lit up and he said, "That was it! I remember Dad saying that name. Dad would say it with a gutteral roll and emphasis on the the last syllable as he said it.".

I asked if grandad had ever said anything about the family coming from England and he said, "No. Everyone knew they came from Germany. I didn't realize anyone was even thinking the family came from England. That's just not accurate."

Notes on other Kite information (related to English lines):

Family histories such as "The Kite Family" by Virginia Ann Kite assumed John Windle Kite's line was connected to James Kite of English descent who came to Philadelphia about 1680. This assumption seems to be clearly mistaken. It may have been due to a natural eagerness to make a connection, the relative abundance of information about the Kites from England, and perhaps a preference at the time to claim English ancestry. This assumption may have also affected assumptions about the birth years of John windle Kite and his sons.

Posts on www.Ancestry.com Oct 18 2002
Shirley Brethower found:

1. John Kite, estate settlement in Westmoreland Co. Va ( I believe in 1735)

2. Baptism of a John Kite, son of John Kite in Stafford Co, Wharton Parish Va, 7-14-1754.

In Cavaliers and Pioneers Abstracts of Va Land Pat & Grants there is a William Kite, and John Kite...[could this be our original 'wendleheit"?]....who came to America with a Wm Bird, in 1653.

My response:

A William von Wendleheit coming to VA or PA with a Quaker Wm Bird fits well with how Wm Penn recruited settlers and how Windle Kite ties to Germany. However, the Johns you mention do not fit with Windle Kite in PA in 1734 and John Windlecoit or Windlekite in Augusta VA in 1747 - 1751. I assume these two Windle Kites are the same person since it fits with migrations and no other records found so far in PA.

Hard to say how many John Kite's there are. The John who came before 1653 could be a grandfather or great or 2 great grandfather of John baptised in 1754. Or William could be the ancestor. I assume the John in 1 is not the one in the 3rd note. If he were 20 in 1653 and he were #1, then it would be 102 years.

Around 2004, Tim Dupy posted the following potential English ancestry:
Abraham G Kite, James H Keyte, Thomas I Keyt, Humfrey J Kyte, Thomas K, John L Kyght

Opportunity arises in Texas history dispute

2010-05-29T23:43:00.000-04:00

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-05-25-column25_ST1_N.htm
(USA Today, May 25,2010)

While DeWayne Wickham shows the obvious connection of the Civil War to slavery, he neglects the economic problems and the North’s complicity. The North transported and sold slaves, and continued to profit from commerce and tariffs. (Read “Complicity” by journalists from the Hartford Courant.)

The nation needed to help the South make the economic transition from its addiction. Lincoln’s first inaugural address said the North believed slavery was wrong. Yet many in power were content to profit from it while limiting the slave states and their power to reduce tariffs. Lincoln’s second inaugural address more astutely sees the sins of both sides.

In 1844, a presidential candidate from Lincoln’s area of Illinois proposed buying the freedom of the slaves by selling public lands. This candidate, Joseph Smith, was killed a few months later. Ralph Waldo Emerson proposed a similar plan in the 1850’s. Lincoln tried to do so in the early years of the war, but met stubborn resistance. The war ended up costing far more and the violence entrenched racism that delayed the day of Civil Rights.

The lessons continue today. Economic issues must be addressed to avoid conflicts and correct injustices.

See the following article for economic issues related to current war:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?pagewanted=2&no_interstitial

"The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. ..."

Iraq War - need for tribal factions to resolve sharing of oil wealth and political power

Keith Mallett's Art Work

2010-05-04T05:58:00.000-04:00

Strong Roots

See www.keithmallett.com for beautiful art focused on African-American experiences. I first learned about his work when I saw "Family Circle" in front of the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City. With his permission, I have used his artwork for Black history presentations in the area. Here are two pieces that I showed at Mt Olive Baptist on April 24, 2010 as part of our celebration for "Roots and Branches in God's Arbor". I encourage people to order his prints and for churches to add them to their buildings.

Tree of Life

Gnostics and Interfaith Gnuggets

2010-04-30T10:38:00.000-04:00

Our Interfaith book club just finished discussing "Fingerprints of God - The Search for the Science of Spirituality". We may next read about the Gnostics. Here is my limerick and links to info on Gnostics and other books:

There once was a circle of Gnostics,
Who drew lots of Bible acrostics,
But Council Nicaea,
Said Gnostics, we'll see ya,
Your heresy burns too Ro-man-tic.

(What do you suggest as the last line? I first had "... burns too Rome mantic" to play off the Church of Rome and the Gnostics viewed by the church as heretics, and also play off "romantic" tales of the Gnostics (think Da Vinci Code) and "mantic" as prophetic or divine.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic_Gospels http://www.amazon.com/Gnostic-Gospels-Elaine-Pagels/dp/0679724532
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/pagels.html

Evangelical views on Gnostics:
http://www.equip.org/articles/gnosticism-and-the-gnostic-jesus
http://www.equip.org/articles/the-gnostic-gospels-are-they-authentic-

Other books:
A World of Faith - easy read with beautiful artwork, used in 2002 Olympics, widely endorsed
http://www.amazon.com/World-Faith-Peggy-Fletcher-Stack/dp/1560851163

Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning
http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0671023373

Eternal Man by Truman Madsen (Mormon Philosopher)
http://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Man-Truman-G-Madsen/dp/087579002X
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/656341.Eternal_Man
http://www.mormontimes.com/people_news/newsmakers/?id=8026 19 minute video about author

General Petraeus: Top 10 reasons BYU grads make great soldiers

2010-04-07T13:29:00.000-04:00

By Sara Israelsen-Hartley

Deseret News

Published: Friday, March 26, 2010 10:37 a.m. MDT

As Gen. David Petraeus began his remarks at BYU Thursday night, the commanding general of U.S. Central Command shared his sense of humor by reading the following list, which was received by waves of laughter and applause.

General Petraeus' Top 10 reasons BYU grads make good soldiers:

10 — They have already been on many a mission.

9 — Army chow is no problem for folks accustomed to eating green Jell-o and shredded carrots.

8 — It's not a problem if they don't know what rank someone is, they just refer to them as Brother or Sister so-and-so.

7 — They never go AWOL. They just call it being less active.

6 — They will seize any objective swiftly if you tell them refreshments will be served.

5 — They know how to make things happen. In fact if you ever need a base built quickly in a barren wasteland, stride out to where you want them to start, plant your walking stick down and say in a loud voice, "This is the place."

4 — They have innovative ideas for handling insurgents — like assigning them home teachers.

3 — They always have a years' supply of provisions on hand.

2 — They are the world's most reliable designated drivers.

1 — They understand how far Iraq has come over the last seven years, and they think that Iraq's old spot in the "Axis of Evil" can now be filled by the University of Utah.

Passover

2010-03-31T09:59:00.000-04:00

See article on Mormons celebrating Passover Seder

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5isKmJXhXm8xhEPBAEdirse-LSpnw

Here is a text our friends used. They are a Jewish and Mormon couple. We enjoyed this Seder with them. As part of the theme of peace and unity, they purchased foods for the meal from a Muslim Halal store.

Welcome to our Seder!

Seder means order. The Seder is made up of ordered parts structured around sharing four cups of wine. Each cup will convey a theme:

Sanctification, History, Thanksgiving and Hope. The purpose is to tell the story of Exodus.

Read Exodus 13:8

In every generation we must see ourselves as if we were personally liberated from Egypt. We gather tonight to tell the ancient story of our origins as a people. We gather as two hundred generations before us to retell the timeless tale of what God has done for us.

We must do more then just tell the story; we must live the story!

Tonight we will remember. We will remember the suffering of slavery and we will feel the joy of newfound freedom. We will re-taste the bitterness of enslavement and savor the sweetness of redemption. We will remember the suffering and bitterness in order to deepen our commitment to end all suffering. We taste the sweetness of our own liberation to reinforce our commitment to universal freedom.

The Seder story is not confined to history alone. We all have stories of enslavement, the struggle for freedom, and liberation. Let us begin our Feast of Freedom's Sweetness by sharing our stories.

Lighting the candles.

The first word in the creation of the Universe out the unformed void and the dark earth was God's, 'Let there be Light'.

To share the light of justice, compassion and knowledge so that it may penetrate the darkness of our time is the hope, faith and obligation we have to others. Let us continue to make this light within ourselves and share it until the prophecy be fulfilled that wickedness vanish like smoke and the earth be filled with the knowledge of God.

Isaiah 11:9

Let us pray for that light:

Baruch Attah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzbotav, v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel yom tov.

Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fill the universe, who has sanctified our lives through Your commandments and commanded us to kindle the light of the festival.

Light candles.

Baruch atta Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, sheh'hech'iyanu v'kiy'manu, v'high'iyanu la-z'man ha-zeh.

Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fills the universe, who has given us life and strength and enabled us to reach this moment of joy.

Kiddush-Sanctification (First cup)

Let us rise and sanctify this singular moment.

We share this table tonight with one another and all the generations that have come before us. We belong to God, to one another and to the generations that have come before us and who will come after us. We and they will share this sacred story and celebration!

Baruch atta Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, borei p'ri ha-gafen.

Baruch atta Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher bachar banu mikol am, v'rom'manu mikol lashon, v'kid'shanu b'mitzvotav. Va'titen lanu Adonai Eloheinu b'ahava, mo'adim l'simcha, chagim u-z'manim l'sason. Et hyom chag ha-matzot ha-zeh, z'man cheiruteinu, mikra kodesh, zecher litziyat Mitzrayim. Ki vanu vacharta, v'otanu kidashta mikol ha'amin. U'mo'adei kosheh'cha b'simcha u-v'sason hin'chaltanu. Baruch attah Adonai m'kadesh Yisrael v'ha-zamanim.

Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose presence fill the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fills the universe, who has called us for service from among the peoples of the world, sanctifying our lives with Your commandments. In love, you have given us festivals for rejoicing and seasons of celebration, this Festival of Matzot, the time of our freedom, a commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt. Praised are You, Lord, who gave us this joyful heritage and who sanctifies Israel and the festivals.

Baruch atta Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, sheh'hech'lyanu v'kiy'manu, v'hig'iyanu la-z'man ha-zeh.

Praise are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fills the universe, who has given us the gifts of life and strength and enable us to reach this moment of joy.

Urhatz- Washing

Slaves eat quickly, stopping neither to wash nor to reflect. Tonight we are free! We wash and express our reverence for the blessings that are ours.

Baruch atta Adonai Eloheynu melech ha-olam ahser kid-shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzee'vanu al ne'teelat yadaim.

Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fills the universe, who has sanctified our lives through your commandments and commanded us to perform this washing of hands.

Karpas- Rebirth and Renewal

Baruch atta Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, borei, p'ri ha-adamah.

Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fill the universe, who creates the fruits of the earth.

As spring re-awakens all that is green, let us re-awaken our awareness to the miracle of creation the earth displays each year. As we dip greens into salt water, let us acknowledge that there is a Creator and he has a purpose for us and for the universe. He has turned our tears into rejoicing.

He has given us renewal and rebirth of His creation; our blessing is that he has made us partners in this work of Creation.

The Second Cup- The Cup of History

Raise the Cup of History and recite:

Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fill the universe, who has redeemed us and our ancestors from Egypt, who has brought us to this night when we eat Matzah and marror. Lord, our God and God of our ancestors, enable us to celebrate in peace holy days and festivals, joyful in Your service and singing songs of thanksgiving for our redemption and for our spiritual liberation. Praised are You, Lord, redeemer of the people Israel.

Barach atta Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, borei p'ri ha'gafen.

Praised are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fills the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

(Drink)
The story is eternal, it repeats itself again and again. After Exodus, we wander in the desert on our to the Promised Land.
These are the wanderings of the people Israel after they went our of Egypt:
And Israel traveled from Raameses and camped in Sukkot. They traveled from Sukkot and camped in Eitam. They traveled from Eitam and camped in Babylon. They traveled from Babylon and camped in Spain.

Yahatz- Breaking the Matzah

We are free, but we remember when we were slaves. We are whole, but we bring to mind those who are broken. (Break matzah) The middle is broken but the larger part is hidden, because the future will be greater than the past and tomorrow's Passover nobler than yesterday's Exodus. This is because of what Adonai did for me me and you when we came out of Egypt. This is because of God's prospects for our future are overwhelming to the point of making us mute. We dream of this future and so it is in silence we hide the matzah and long for its recovery and our redemption.

Pesach, Matzah, Marror

In the great Temple of Jerusalem our ancestors ate a special sacrificial offering called the Pesach which means to 'Pass Over'. The offering is eaten as a symbol that God passed over the house of Israel. As the Torah teaches, “You shall say, 'This is the Pesach offering we offer to God, because God passed overr the house of Israel when he destroyed the Egyptians, but our homes God saved.'”

Matzah: Exodus 12:39

Ha lachma anya d'achalu avantana b'ara d'mitzraim.

This is the bread of my affliction, which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.

Break top Matzah and give to everyone, eat.

Baruch atta Adonai Eloheynu melech ha-olam asher kid-shanu b'mitzvotav

v'tzee'vanu al achilat matzah.

Praise are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fill the universe, who has sanctified our lives through Your commandments and commanded us to partake of matzah.

Marror: Why do we eat bitter foods? To remember that the Egyptians embittered the lives of our ancestors with hard labor and in every manner of drudgery and worked them ruthlessly in all their labor. Exodus1:14

Break pieces of bottom matzah and give to everyone. Sandwich marror between pieces and recite:

Baruch atta Adonai Eloheynu melech ha-olam asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav vtzee'vanu al achilat marror.

Praise are You, Lord, our God, whose Presence fills the universe, who has sanctified our lives through Your commandments and commanded us to partake of marror.

Take one bite then place charoset on the matzah and say:

This sweet mixture is not to meant to eradicate the bitter but to remind us that there is goodness in the world, however small, and hope in the promise of the future, however slight. Our lasting memory should not be the torture and the shame of enslavement but of the sweetness of the redemption of our God. On this night of the Passover, we eat theology and drink ethics;

Our God brought us

from bitter to sweet

from slavery to freedom

from despair to joy

from mourning to celebration

from darkness to light

from enslavement to redemption

Our God teaches us that where there is poverty we are not to call upon the heaven for angels to help. We know the language of the poor for we where poor in the land of Egypt. We know we are called to feed the poor and call them to join our celebration of freedom.

Let all that are hungry come and eat.

Let all that are in need, come and celebrate the Passover.

Today, we are here. Next year, in the land of Israel.

Today, we are slaves. Next year, we will be free.

Baruch Ha-Makom, Baruch hu. Baruch Sheh-Natan Torah L'Amo Yisrael.

Praised is God. Praised is the One who gave Torah to the People Israel. Praised is God.

Serve dinner. Discussion should center around the Exodus.

Blessing of Thanksgiving (Third Cup)

Let us praise God of whose bounty we have partaken, by whose goodness we live.

Baruch Eloheinu she'achainu mi'shelo uv'tuvo chay'inu.

We give thanks to God who endows us with the wisdom and goodness to turn sheaves into bread and grapes into wine. We who rejoice in this Feast of Freedom now share a sacred mandate: to deal bread to the hungry, to cover the nakedness of the poor, and to loose the fetters of the bound. When we were slaves our God did not hide himself, we will not hide ourselves from our fellow human beings.

Baruch atta Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, borei p'ri ha-gafen.

Drink third cup.

Serve dessert.

Afikoman: As God has ransomed us so we ransom the Afikoman!

Fourth Cup of Hope

We raise this Cup of Hope with all our dreams for ourselves, for those we love and for the world. We recite:

Praised are You, Lord, our God whose Presence fills the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. Next year may we celebrate in a Jerusalem at peace. Next year may we celebrate in world healed and free.

Ben Hur & the Light of Christ to All

2010-03-02T09:02:00.001-05:00

Ben Hur was my favorite movie as a child. I would play with my Ben Hur City of Rome and Chariot set while my sisters teased me. A friend recently viewed this movie with her daughter and talked about how it also tells about Jesus.

I believe all people have the light of Christ and decide whether to follow Him even if they do not know Jesus by name or do not know him truly due to culture and bad examples of those who profess his name. Ben Hur dramatizes why people would want liberation from Roman rule and not be focused on Christ's liberation first over sin and death.

The movie also has a Muslim value in that the face of Jesus is never shown. You only see how people respond to his love and light. Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus (Isa) and that he will return to destroy evil. The main difference is that they do not call him God. They do accept to varying degrees that he was given power by God. Some of the differences are semantics and some are not. The Koran says that Jesus did not die on the cross. They believe that Allah did not want His beloved prophet Isa to die and so a substitute or specter was placed on the cross to fool the Romans and Jews. Some Muslims say Isa's body was on the cross for a time, but then his spirit left. Christians could say that Jesus did not die on the cross in the sense of a normal death. You could read the Bible as saying his spirit left just before his body died and certainly his spirit never died. For the rest of us, does our spirit leave right after the body dies?

See my article about Saving Cincinnati from Sept 11th . It tells how General Lew Wallace, the future author of Ben Hur, saved Cincinnati from Confederate attack in 1862 by diligent preparation.

Andrea Kristin Fuller Kite - poem about a baby not sleeping

2009-12-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

Andrea Kristin Fuller Kite
(same rhythm as “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stoudt” by Shel Silverstein)
http://www.totlol.com/watch/T_mxsjHrMmY/Sarah-Cynthia-Sylvia-Stout/0/

Andrea Kristin Fuller Kite
Would not go to bed at night.
And though she played
All through the day,
She just seemed to say,
“Awake I will stay!”
And so her dear mother,
So pretty and sweet,
Would plead with her darling
On hands, knees, and feet.
But Andrea Kristin Fuller Kite
Would not go to bed at night.

She’d play with her toys,
Cry and make noise,
Till Mommy and Daddy
Would soon lose their poise.
She’d drink down her milk,
Then eyes close like silk,
Teasing of sleep
In a sly baby’s bilk.
For just as soon
As her mom leaves the room,
Her cry cracks the door
With a shriek and a boom.

“Wah!” she would utter,
“More milk from my mother.”
“Cree!” she would cry
To make her dad shudder.
“Grrr!” she’d say,
“Don’t go away!”
“Oy!”, sad and coy,
She’d plead for a toy.
“Da …”, she’d moan,
“Don’t leave me alone.”
“Ma!”, she’d yell,
“I’m not feeling well.”

And so went the cycle
All through the night.
Deceptions of silence
Preceding her fight.

For Mother and Father
Must know who is right.
And who is the master,
“Me or the night?”
For Andrea Kristin Fuller Kite
Would not go to bed at night.

Then suddenly …
Andrea Kristin Fuller
Showed sleepy eyes
That looked much duller.
True sleep had come,
Not to be taken.
A slumbering babe,
Not soon to awaken.

Yes, my children,
You heard it right.
She went to sleep
Both snug and tight.

But, O my children
Don’t dismay.
Dear Andrea had had her way
Because by then
The night was day
And that is all there is to say.

Battle Hymn of the Republic and 133rd Psalm

2009-11-18T16:12:00.000-05:00

Notes on the 133rd Psalm (Hineh Ma Tov) and the Battle Hymn of the Republic

Video of Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the hymn

In 1976, a Sephardic Rabbi in southwestern France chanted the 133rd Psalm to me to the Glory Hallelujah tune. He talked about how he preferred the plaintive, pleading style of the Sephardic chant compared to an Ashkenazi chant. In 1999 I learned from Jewish musicians that the Glory Hallelujah tune for the 133rd Psalm was popular in Jewish youth camps after WWII. They doubted that the two were used together prior to then.

As the chanting of Psalms influenced many hymns and other music, I have wondered if there could have been an earlier use. The music is so simple and catchy that it may have been remembered more for the lyrics used than for the tune. My understanding is that most music was passed along as folk traditions until the 1800's. My Henkel ancestors were Lutheran ministers from Germany who set up a printing press for books and music in New Market VA in the early 1800's. My Kite ancestors were also German or Dutch. They were riverboat men and had farms and mills along the Shenandoah and other rivers. I wonder if they worked along the Rhine River or were sailors on emigrant or slave ships.

Folk tradition says sailors brought the tune in the 1700's. I wonder how often sailors had Jewish roots - as acknowledged or hidden Jews or other ties to ancient Israel. By the 1840's the song was a Christian Revival Hymn called "Say Brothers Will You Meet Us on Canaan's Distant Shore". It is expressed a Christian hope for pilgrims to go to the Holy Land. Christians often use the word Canaan for the Holy Land whereas Jews would likely use different words.

The 133rd Psalm is one of 15 songs of degree or ascent that pilgrims would sing going to Jerusalem and ascending the steps of the temple. The themes of pilgrims, brotherhood, and life evermore fit with the revival hymn and make me wonder if the Psalm could have influenced the hymn.

In 1861, soldiers at Ft. Warren in Boston were preparing for the war and passing time with songs. They changed the lyrics of the revival hymn to "John Brown's Body" because their Scottish Sergeant had the same name as the abolitionist John Brown. See Wikipedia

On Nov 18th 1861, Julia Ward Howe, her abolitionist husband, and Rev Freeman toured the forts around DC and visited President Lincoln. They heard the soldiers singing John Brown's Body and sang it as well. Rev Freeman challenged Julia to come up with new lyrics. That evening at the Willard Hotel next to the White House she studied the Book of Isaiah. Early the next morning she awoke and the words to the Battle Hymn came to her. Her lyrics remind me of Simeon seeing baby Jesus - mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. I have photos of her original writing and listings of alternative lyrics (including one for African-American soldiers).

Nov 18, 1861 is also the day President Lincoln got the Book of Mormon, other Mormon books, and the works of Victor Hugo from the Library of Congress. He had the books for eight months. Did he want to better understand Mormons to deal with any ongoing problems?

In 1857, President Buchanan had sent one-third of the US army out to Utah to quell a perceived rebellion. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War. Debates about slavery and polygamy had become intertwined in the 1856 election. General Albert Sidney Johnston led the army out to Utah. In 1861, he joined the Confederacy as did my Kite ancestors. (My junior high school in the heart of Houston’s Jewish community was named for him. I started going to this school in 1968, the year I was ordained to the Mormon priesthood at age 12 and the year Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. Next I went to James Madison High School named for the key author of the Constitution. What coincidences!)

In 1861, President Lincoln had said he was "plowing around" the Mormon problem. He called on Brigham Young and the Mormons to secure the communication lines between the East and California. Mormons had discovered gold in California in January 1848 (see http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist2/gold.html). According to the military historian and rabbi, Bertram Korn, California gold was essential to financing the Union war effort. It was critical to victory at Gettysburg and elsewhere.

Did President Lincoln receive any inspiration from these books?

A key theme of the Book of Mormon is that America should be a land of liberty for all. This time from Nov 1861 through 1862 is when the purpose of the war changed. In Sept 1862, ministers visited from Chicago visited President Lincoln to urge him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln shocked his cabinet by telling them he had promised his maker that he would do so. His cabinet told him he must wait for a victory. President Lincoln prayed for help and got it with Lee's lost orders. On Sept 17th at Antietam, the anniversary of the Constitution, the nation was hanging by a thread. Europe was ready to recognize the south as a separate nation, but Lee's army was pushed out in the bloodiest day in American history. Sept 17th was also the anniversary of Dred Scott’s death in 1858. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was issued on Sept 22, 1862, the anniversary of Moroni's visit to Joseph Smith. See D&C 101:79 & 80 and D&C 87.

See my article “The Constitution Hanging by a Thread”

Battle Hymn Tribute Site

This article criticizes the hymn from a Confederate view

The Constitution Hanging by a Thread

2009-07-05T09:40:00.004-04:00

The 17th of September is a day to remember. It is the day of the Constitution's birth, symbolic death, and bloody atonement leading to emancipation.

On September 17, 1787 the Constitution was born. See the BYU video "A More Perfect Union" to learn of its birth (available at http://www.nccs.net/ ). A tragic compromise in 1787 was that the states gave up their western territories in order to keep their slaves.

On September 17, 1858, Dred Scott died. In 1857, his infamous Supreme Court case denied slaves the chance of freedom, rejected the Missouri Compromise, and led to the Civil War.

Then on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest day in American history, the Battle of Antietam gave President Lincoln a providential victory. It prevented the European nations from recognizing the Confederacy as a separate nation and allowed President Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later. Yet due to the violence of the war and the persistence of racism, over 100 years passed until the era of Civil Rights.

In 2007, the St. Louis region of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helped to sponsor a commemoration of Dred Scott to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the infamous decision by the Supreme Court. The event built bridges to the community and shared family history resources. My study suggests there are poignant links between Mormon themes of liberty and the Constitution, the life and legacy of Dred Scott, and the Civil War. Consider the following questions.

What people were called upon to save the nation and the Constitution in the Civil War era? Were any of them connected to the Biblical covenants of Israel? When else has the Constitution been threatened? What do you see as future threats and the means of rescuing it? How should we learn to better appreciate and assist people of other faiths in these principles?

Here are excerpts from Wikipedia (8-29-2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott) on the life of Dred Scott:

"Dred Scott (1799 - September 17, 1858) was a slave in the United States who sued unsuccessfully for his freedom in the famous Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1856. His case was based on the fact that he and his wife Harriet were slaves, but had lived in states and territories where slavery was illegal, including Illinois and Wisconsin, which was then part of the Illinois Territory. The court ruled seven to two against Scott, finding that neither he, nor any person of African ancestry, could claim citizenship in the United States, and that therefore Scott could not bring suit in federal court under diversity of citizenship rules. Moreover, Scott's temporary residence outside Missouri did not affect his emancipation under the Missouri Compromise, since reaching that result would deprive Scott's owner of his property."

While the Mormons were in Nauvoo, Dred Scott and his wife traveled down the Mississippi River past Nauvoo to go from Wisconsin to St Louis, Missouri. Prior to going to court, Dred Scott sought to buy his freedom. Coincidentally around this same time, the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, ran for President and proposed that the freedom of the slaves be bought by the sale of public lands. Dred Scott first filed suit to obtain his freedom on April 6, 1846, coincidentally the anniversary of the church founding. Two months prior, Mormons had left Illinois to escape the troubles that followed them from Missouri. Mormons had been similarly frustrated in lawsuits and petitions for civil liberties and redress of wrongs in Missouri.

Back on July 19, 1840, these frustrations led to Joseph Smith prophesying about the Constitution being brought to the "brink of ruin" and then being rescued by "this people". The idea of rescuing the Constitution became a recurring theme and a debated prophecy in Mormonism. Many years later, it also became embellished in myth known as the "White Horse Prophecy" where imagery of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse was used with new meanings. Although this myth has insightful elements, it has many false claims that have been rejected by church leaders as spurious. See a 2003 article by George Cobabe (www.fairlds.org/pubs/whitehorse.pdf) and the appendix in the 2008 book "The Mormon Quest for Presidency" by Craig Foster and Newell K. Bringhurst (http://www.johnwhitmerbooks.com/books/details_MQP.asp).See also www.bycommonconsent.com/2008/09/a-red-horse-prophecy/ for a recent American Indian museum exhibit related to these ideas.

"The Mormon Quest for Presidency" provides fascinating accounts of Mormons who have run for president starting with Joseph Smith. It notes how Orrin Hatch and Mitt Romney were questioned on this Mormon theme of rescuing the Constitution. While viewed as a patriotic expectation among faithful Mormons, this theme is portrayed by Mormon critics as grandiose thinking and indicative of a goal to impose Mormonism on the country. By viewing how these themes were fulfilled in Dred Scott and the Civil War, I suggest we gain new perspectives on Mormon history and key aspects of Mormon scriptures. With this perspective, we should be better prepared to work with others to defend and support the Constitution and promote its principles as appropriate to cultures throughout the world.

A key idea is that we should be focus on the Constitution being preserved and not be concerned about who gets credit for the rescue. The Apostle Paul tells us that prophecies may fail, but charity never faileth. As Joseph Smith ran for president in 1844, he was doing his best to have his prophecy on wars fail. If the nation had accepted his plan of Compensated Emancipation, war would have been avoided. The nation would have helped the South make the economic transition away from slavery. Civil rights would have come far sooner. Ralph Waldo Emerson proposed a similar plan in the 1850’s. Abraham Lincoln tried to implement this plan in the Border States in the 1860's, but the effort was too late to be accepted and the bloody war continued.

What are the key prophecies and teachings of the church on these themes?

On December 25th, 1832, the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded a revelation about future wars that became section 87 of the Doctrine and Covenants. It focused on a war that would start in South Carolina over issues related to slavery. Some critics of Joseph Smith claimed this revelation must have been fabricated after his death due to its insights, but it was published several times before his death. Other critics claim that Joseph Smith's insights were not divinely inspired, but were based on his judgment of events in late 1832 when South Carolina threatened to secede. However, Joseph's view of divine inspiration included the need for personal study and did not preclude others from receiving similar insights. He held to the views of the 1832 revelation even when circumstances had changed and war was not expected.

A year later in 1833, a revelation to Joseph Smith clarifies the purpose of the Constitution. The reference to the land being redeemed by blood foreshadows the coming war.

Doctrine & Covenants 101:79 & 80 - December 16, 1833 – “Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.”

The Mormon theme of the Constitution hanging by a thread was explained by D. Calvin Andrus for his gospel doctrine class (October 26, 1996):

Who said, "The constitution will hang by a thread, and it will be saved by the Elders of Israel?"

These are Harold B. Lee's words based on John Taylor's extrapolation of Brigham Young's and Orson Hyde's expression of an idea originating with Joseph Smith.

Joseph Smith gave a talk on 19 July 1840. The only known journal account of this speech was made by Martha Jane Knowlton. Her journal did not surface publicly until the 1970's. She records The Prophet saying,

"Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground; and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean; and they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction. " [spelling and punctuation modernized] (Dean C. Jessee, "The Historian's Corner" BYU Studies Vol. 19, No. 3, Spring 1979, p. 392) (See appendix for additional comments by D. Calvin Andrus.)

Joseph Smith's phrase "this people" has been understood as referring to Mormons and later restated as "Elders of Israel" by Mormon leaders referring to Joseph Smith's prophecy. A new perspective would be to consider "this people" to refer to not just Mormons, but to the people of the Mississippi frontier surrounding Nauvoo. This area produced President Lincoln, several Union generals and other leaders during this era. I do not know of any evidence of this being Joseph Smith's intent and only offer it as a perspective in hindsight.

The first use I have found of the phrase "hanging by a thread" is in 1854 by Brigham Young. The thread theme fits remarkably with Civil War events. Prior to the war, Ralph Waldo Emerson described the economic and political ties between North and South by saying "Cotton thread holds the union together." You can read an analysis of these economic and political threads in the book "Complicity - How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery" written by journalists from The Hartford Courant and published in 2005. Southern apologists tend to emphasize economic and political conflicts and discount slavery as the cause of the Civil War. However, as a descendant of numerous Confederates who were in the thick of the fight, I see slavery as the central cause with a key qualification. The war began as a struggle over who would control the profits from slavery. Later emancipation became the higher purpose. Lincoln's Second Inaugural prophetically describes these threads of complicity of North and South in the nation's sins.

The thread theme also fits with the soldiers. Ragged, threadbare, and sometimes shoeless Confederate soldiers invaded Maryland in September 1862 and would scour the countryside for supplies. Similar scenes were repeated in Pennsylvania in June and July of 1863 and elsewhere. Confederate generals would sew General Lee’s orders into their clothing, but the threads did not hold prior to Antietam. A lost copy of General Lee’s orders ended up in Union hands and changed world history in September 1862.

The Confederacy had been financing the war with Cotton Bonds, promising to deliver cotton at pre-war prices to those who lent them money. Then the loss of New Orleans in April 1862 to the loss of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 divided the South with the Union control of the mighty thread of the Mississippi River. Bond holders lost trust in the ability of the South to deliver cotton and the world found new suppliers. The financial devastation led to the defeat of the Confederacy.

Mormon authors have not viewed the Civil War as fulfillment of these Constitution prophecies due to no apparent “Elders of Israel” or Mormons being called upon to rescue the Constitution. My key response is that we should be more concerned about the Constitution being rescued than who gets credit for the rescue. God called on many people during the Civil War. Mormons were probably not ready to do all they might have done particularly due to the sins of Mountain Meadows in September 1857.

We do, however, find President Lincoln "plowing around" the Mormon problem and calling on Brigham Young and the Mormons to secure the communication lines between the East and California. Young Mormon Elders were Pony Express riders along the lines and Mormons also assisted in connecting the telegraph and the railroads from East to West. See The Strange Connection Between the Mormon Church and Telegraph. Mormons had discovered gold in California in January 1848 (see San Francisco Museum article and Mormons Migrations West guide for schools). According to the military historian and rabbi, Bertram Korn, California gold was essential to financing the Union war effort. It was critical to victory at Gettysburg and elsewhere.

Following service as a US Navy chaplain in World War II, Bertram Korn wrote "American Jewry and the Civil War" in 1951. He documents the influx of Jews to the United States prior to the Civil War and the fascinating involvement of Jews in both the North and South during the war. Abraham Lincoln had several Jewish confidants. They helped him get nominated after being sixth on the Republican list at a contentious convention. They helped him get elected as president and aided him in diplomatic missions and financing during the war.

Abraham Jonas, one of Lincoln’s Jewish confidants, was the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge in Quincy, Illinois. As a town leader, he likely was involved in the rescue of Mormons from their Missouri exodus in 1838. His lodge sponsored the Masonic Lodge in Nauvoo. Later a rivalry grew between these lodges. The quick Mormon growth and success in Nauvoo also added to political and social conflicts that led to the Mormon exodus in 1844.

In December 1842, Joseph Smith was held in a room in Springfield, Illinois for a hearing on extradition to Missouri. The room was below what was or would soon be the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office. Mary Todd Lincoln and other prominent women attended the trial. Joseph was freed just before New Year’s Eve and met with community leaders across the street at a New Year’s Eve event. Joseph could have met Abraham Lincoln, but there is no evidence of such. The setting would be perfect for a Mormon fiction similar to “The Da Vinci Code” with a secret calling of Abraham Lincoln to rescue the Constitution. Although Lincoln and Mormons would later have their disagreements, Mormon respect for him grew greatly during the war and after his assassination. In August of 1877, Abraham Lincoln was posthumously ordained an Elder of Israel in the St. George Temple based on a vision to Wilford Woodruff. So in this sense Abraham Lincoln could be considered an Elder of Israel who was called upon to rescue the nation and the Constitution.
(see http://www.meridianmagazine.com/byustudies/060301woodruff.html).

Another idea of who could be considered an Elder of Israel would come from a peculiar verse in the Doctrine and Covenants. The verse refers to literal descendants of Aaron having a claim to the bishopric. It implies a latent priesthood that could be called upon. In the early days of the church, the bishop was more of a practical role and less of a spiritual one. So I wonder if people could be considered of Israel’s covenant even if they held no active LDS priesthood authority. Perhaps this covenant could be given secular callings that do not involve priesthood ordinances.

A remarkable story in 1856 ties Mormons to the Constitutional struggle to overcome or maintain slavery. In this year, Biddie Mason and twelve other slaves gain their freedom in California due to a courageous ruling by Judge Benjamin Hayes. Their Mormon owner, Robert Smith, had brought these slaves from Mississippi to Utah after his conversion in 1847. To partially offset California becoming a free state, Utah was officially a slave territory, but never had more than 100 slaves. They were primarily brought by Southern converts to the Mormon faith. Consistent with the predominant Mormon view of gradual emancipation, Brigham Young arranged for the freedom of some slaves in Utah (including Green Flake and a slave owned by my wife's ancestor). At least indirectly, Brigham Young's actions led to the emancipation of Robert Smith's thirteen slaves as Young assigned Smith to Bakersfield, California to build up a Mormon settlement.

Robert Smith did not remain faithful in tithing and Brigham Young's assignment. Smith tried to take his thirteen slaves to Texas to avoid their emancipation in California. These actions led to his excommunication from the church. Amasa Mason Lyman and other Mormons helped Biddie Mason and the other slaves by alerting the sheriff, lawyers and the Black community. They were then brought before Judge Hayes. Despite great pressure from pro-slavery forces, Judge Hayes emancipated all thirteen of the slaves. Shortly after doing so, his ten-year old son was rescued by one of the former slaves from being killed by a runaway wagon. Judge Hayes saw this rescue as a sign from God that he had done the right thing. In the next year, the March 6, 1857 Dred Scott Decision would have precluded his ability to judge in favor of emancipation.

Biddie Mason then rejected her Smith name and started using the Mason name, perhaps in recognition of Amasa Mason Lyman. Biddie had been a hard worker as a pioneer to Utah and California. Now emancipated, she continued her hard work and bought land that eventually became the heart of the Los Angeles financial district. She became a wealthy philanthropist aiding people of all walks of life. Biddie Mason is known as the mother of civil rights in southern California. She was a founder of the AME Church in this area.

Moving forward to the Civil Rights era and current times, Reverend Chip Murray is a greatly respected leader of the AME Church in the tradition of Biddie Mason. In the documentary "The Untold Story of Black Mormons", you can hear his account of meeting Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley. Reverend Murray tells of President Hinckley's heartfelt apology for Mormon involvement in racism. The account provides a perspective for moving forward in a spirit of cooperation and remembrance of the past. See http://www.untoldstoryofblackmormons.com/.

What events during the Civil War relate to these themes? In November 18, 1861, President Lincoln checks out the Book of Mormon, other Mormon books and the works of Victor Hugo from Library of Congress for eight months. Did he want to better understand Mormons to deal with any ongoing problems with them? Did he receive any inspiration from these books? I do not know, but the timing is fascinating. A key Book of Mormon theme is that this should be a land of liberty for all or else it would be plagued by war. On this same day in November, Julia Ward Howe and her abolitionist husband tour forts around Washington DC. They hear men singing John Brown’s Body and Julia is encouraged to write new words for a greater cause. That evening, she studies the Book of Isaiah while staying at the Willard Hotel next to White House. She woke up early the next morning and is inspired to write the words for the Battle Hymn of the Republic. This song helps change the purpose of the war to ending slavery.

“The Battle of Antietam, Crossroads of Freedom” by James McPherson of Princeton University documents the pivotal events of 1862 to go with this changing purpose. He refers to Antietam as the battle that changed the course of the Civil War. The mercurial nature of the editorials in 1862 is cited. In March 1862, the New York Tribune says "It requires no very far-seeing prophet to predict the end of this struggle." A month later, Stonewall Jackson plans his Valley Campaign from my cousin's house (Captain Hiram Kite) and turns the tide of the war.

By September, following a string of Confederate victories, the European powers are ready to recognize the South as a separate nation. Lee is ready to capture a Northern city. President Lincoln is visited by ministers from Chicago calling for emancipation. Lincoln prays and promises God he will issue the Emancipation Proclamation if he can push out Lee's army from Maryland. Within a day or two of Lincoln's prayer, Lee's orders are lost and found by the Union army. The information turns the tide and the Union pushes out Lee's army on September 17th, the anniversary of the Constitution. On Sept 22nd, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation.

Military historians in the book “What if?” cite these lost orders and their effect on Antietam as one of the most pivotal events in world history. These orders first found by a corporal from Indiana prevented a permanent split in the nation. “How Few Remain” by Harry Turtledove provides a fascinating alternative history to what might have happened if Lee’s orders were not lost and then found by the Union.

I see this battle and the surrounding events as a providential rescue of the nation and the Constitution. They also give us perspective on the challenges facing today’s world.

Antietam deserves greater attention from the media. For example, the four-hour movie "Gods and Generals" focuses on the struggles Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson have in 1861 as to whether to stay with the Union or go with Virginia in its secession. The film later devotes much time to the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862 and finally concludes with events surrounding Stonewall Jackson’s ill fated death in May of 1863 just before the Battle of Gettysburg. The movie inexplicably skips the Maryland campaign and the Battle of Antietam. This offensive campaign into another state is a crucial contrast to Lee and Jackson’s initial decision to defend Virginia. Some Confederates refused to cross over into Maryland. The events around Antietam also are key examples of how people saw God’s hand affecting the lives of generals.

With the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural; we have words of Lincoln comparable to Biblical prophecy. After his assassination, rabbis claimed that Lincoln said he was a Hebrew. Bertram Korn did not think that Lincoln had Jewish roots and attributed these claims to the sorrow following Lincoln’s death. However, being a Hebrew can be a much broader category than being a Jew. Even if Lincoln has no known biological roots to the Hebrews, he certainly has spiritual roots as reflected in his speeches and wisdom.

Today we have similar concerns in the trouble spots around the world where people struggle for liberty. We struggle to decide when to take military action and how to find ways to bring economic and political balance for any peace or lasting victory. We should appreciate how God works with all people and focus on the principles of the Constitution. The purpose should be to help people out of bondage whether it is physical, financial, political, or spiritual; slavery, debt, tyranny, or sin.

Related articles:
http://www.ldsmag.com/churchhistory/100412prophetpart2.html

Nephi’s Rhapsody

2008-10-31T20:30:00.003-04:00

Nephi’s Rhapsody (beginning story of the Book of Mormon set to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - Oct 2008)

Leaving Jerusalem,
Dad’s made a prophecy,
Escaping destruction,
Babylon captivity,
Open your eyes,
Arabian skies you’ll see!

I was a rich boy, but need no sympathy,
Because I hear God’s word, I will go,
Tree of Life, Promised Land,
Visions of Messiah, that’s what really matters to me,
To me
...
Father, just killed a man,
Put a sword up to his head,
Got the plates, now Laban’s dead,

Father, our trip has just begun,
And now I’ve gone and broke my hunting bow!
Murmur, ooh, ooh, ooh!
With no food, we’re sure to die!
The Lord must show the way to cure our hunger.
Carry on, carry on, the struggle really matters …

Ishmael, his time has come,
His daughters start to cry,
My dad-in-law has died,
Come on everybody, we’ve got to go,
Gotta leave Nahum behind and move on east,
Murmur, ooh, ooh, ooh! (Feel the desert wind blow!)
We don’t want to die,
We sometimes wish we never left Jerusalem!
...
Then we find a little sliver of a luscious land,
Bountiful, Bountiful, how your milk and honey flow!
God says go to sea, brothers try to cliff-launch me!
Laman, Lemuel, They won’t help me!
Laman, Lemuel, angel strikes them,
Laman, Lemuel board the ship – what a trip!

Out on the ocean, my older brothers bind me,
They cause contention in our whole family,
Please spare us all from this storm upon the sea!

I know things you don’t know - will you let me go?
Nephi, Ha! No, we will not let you go - let him go!
Nephi, Ha! We will not let you go - let him go!
Nephi, Ha! We will not let you go - let me go!
Will not let you go - let me go!
Will not let you go - let me go!
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Liahona, Liahona, Liahona, where we go?
Land of Promise is finally here for us to see, to see, to see!
...
Though our family will break up and fight in this land,
A thousand years of prophets will write God’s commands,
Then Mormon will compile ... on golden plates,
Just gotta keep on-just gotta pass on what I see.
...
The promise really matters,
Anyone can see,
The promise matters, the promise really matters to me,
...
Visions of Messiah

Saving Cincinnati from September 11th

2005-12-21T09:44:00.001-05:00

Do you know how Cincinnati was saved from a September 11th catastrophe? Did you know Cincinnati was about to be attacked? How do we protect our communities in the future?

The year was 1862, not 2001. Confederates invaded Kentucky hoping to attack Cincinnati. This Queen City of the West controlled the Ohio River Valley. It was one of the five or six largest cities in the United States and a crucial transportation hub. On September 10th, the Confederates advanced within a few miles of Battery Hooper, the communication hub for an eight-mile line of defense south of Cincinnati. They saw the Union defenses in these hills and then marched away in the night.

See other photos in this link.

The Smithsonian magazine reported this story in its September article “The Best Offense” by Andrew Berg . “After the war, the site would be all but forgotten.” Construction in 1941 buried Battery Hooper in dirt. In the summer of 2004, its recovery began with an excavation project funded by the Scripps Howard Foundation, Northern Kentucky University, and the City of Fort Wright.

In 1862 Union general, Lew Wallace (future author of Ben Hur) organized the construction of hilltop defenses, building an eight-mile line in six days. William Hooper financed much of the project. Grocers gave food. Women cooked meals and served as nurses. The Black Brigade of Cincinnati helped build the batteries. People wondered if the work was worth “all this fuss”. “What if the Confederate Army doesn’t come?” people asked. Wallace replied, “They will have decided better of it because of all this fuss.”

Nothing Happened

Because of all their fuss, nothing happened. The Confederate army turned away. In time, people forgot about the valiant preparations and what catastrophe could have occurred and how history would have changed. “The defenses were built by ordinary citizens to protect their city in a crisis. ‘It’s an example of homeland security, of defending your community against terrorism,’ said Fort Wright city administrator Larry Klein.

What can we do today to increase the chance that nothing happens? How can we help to wisely rebuild communities after catastrophes happen?

Additional comments I used in an insurance article:

At the December NAIC meetings in Chicago, Scott Gilliam, Government Relations Officer for Cincinnati Insurance Companies, spoke on the importance of building catastrophic reserves. Government and business people are looking to improve our preparations. The natural disasters in 2005 give an exclamation point to these issues. Mr. Gilliam noted the need to provide tax deferral for building catastrophic reserves. The proposals by insurance companies are not a request to reduce taxes, but to change the timing of when they are paid and encourage the building of reserves. The funds are dedicated resources that can only be used for catastrophes. The tax changes should have a smoothing effect on income that would be attractive to investors. Mr. Gilliam discussed how laws in other countries encourage these reserves. Seeking tax law changes is risky business, but the issues need to be addressed.

In the life insurance business, reserves are also a hot topic with product innovations, an aging/higher life expectancy population, and the development of principles based reserves. I hope that the development is an intelligent design and not just a political and economic evolution. Ben Hur and Civil War studies were some of my boyhood interests. Let’s hope that we have Lew Wallaces who will lead these preparations to protect families and communities.

John Windle Kite by Tom Lineberger (2004)

2004-01-01T18:09:00.002-05:00

From a posting in 2004, REFN: 11631 on www.ancestry.com
(my added comments are in italics)

The Kite family known as the Virginia Kites trace their linage to John Windle Kite who probably came to Virginia from the German Community which settled at Hanover Township in Philadelphia (County), Pennsylvania in the early 1700's. News from early explorers about the lush soil and beauty of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia created a great deal of excitement among the Germans of Pennsylvania. They began moving in groups and settling in neighborhoods which extended all the way to the county Rockingham (first part of Augusta County and later became Page County).

They were very tenacious in the preservation of their language, religion, customs and habits. There were many trips back and forth between Pennsylvania and Virginia. The women and children often stayed in Pennsylvania until the male members of the family were able to have a survey made*, cleared a bit of land and built a small home. When they felt it was safe, they would bring their families into the wilderness.

(*Land was acquired by obtaining a patent, a document by which the Crown gave or sold the waste of unclaimed lands. A grant is the same instrument issued by the State. To obtain land, a person paid money into the treasury and was given a warrant - called a right or certificate under the Crown. The land desired was then surveyed, and all papers returned to the land office where the claim was examined and recorded. It was then sent to the Governor to be signed. Until the final document was signed, either the warrant or survey could be transferred only assigned to another party. After it was signed, the land involved could be transferred only through court action.)

On December 13,1746 John Windle Kite purchased a warrant for 316 acres in Augusta County, Virginia as surveyed by Thomas Lewis (Source: Thomas Lewis Survey Book), John Windle Kite is found in Augusta County, Virginia by 1747 when he had to appear in court June 19 for swearing in the presence of the court.

On the 10th of February, 1748 at Richmond, King George II deeded John Windle Kite 316 acres of the North side of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River for thirty five shillings. It appears from the inventory of John Windle Kite that he may have done as others and squatted on the land, improving it and building a house before he received his warrant to survey.

The following inventory would also lead one to believe that he was an older man. Everything in it is classified as "old" plus the fact that he had so much inventory at a time when there were no roads and only passage was by horseback. Some speculate that he was intending to open a store for the settlers. It is also possible that he was a tailor by trade as he had a pair of old tailors shears as well as a mirror. He also had cows and horse's for breeding. The inventory included:

"Three old plough shears, three cows, two calves, two heifers, two yearling heifers, one yearling steer, a bull, a parcel of iron, two old wedges and maul ring, three auger, three old axes, a pair of old tailors shears, an old looking glass, an old log chain, 19 harrow teeth, an old iron plate for a stove, three old plows, old frying pan, a branding iron, two old sickles, an old gun, two pewter plates and spoons, two plates and four spoons, small iron kettle, old chest and a parcel of old pewter."

According to Augusta County, Virginia records, John Windle was married to Eve Elizabeth Jones. On the 26th November 1751, Jacob Thomas' bond as administrator of the will of Windle Kite was registered. Sureties were Henry Long and Jacob Miller. The widow Eve Elizabeth Windle Kite married Jacob Thomas, who dies in January 1752. When he died, she qualified as administrator of her husband's estate and declared she knew of no heirs and if any should come forth she would relinquish her claim. (This seems to confirm the issue that she is not the mother of the sons of John Windle Kite).

On the 18th of may 1767, the sons of John Windle Kite ...

1871 Letter from Areanna Henkel Kite on VA to MO Move

2002-04-01T16:43:00.004-05:00

Near Wellington, Mo.

(Lafayette County)

March 29^th, 1871

My Dear Sister & Brother (Eleanora & Socrates Henkel),

You must excuse us for not writing sooner, as we received your letter a short time before we left Warren Co. As there were so many persons called on us before we left, I had not the chance to write. Eleanora, you can form no idea how glad we were to receive your welcome letter. We are always glad to receive letters from our relations and friends. I am glad to hear you all are well, but am sorry to hear sister Catherine’s health is so bad. Give my love to Catherine. When you see her, tell her I will write her the first chance I have. I am sorry to hear cousin Lol is no better.

I must say my own health has been very good since we have been out here. Hiram says he has his health, feels better and is better satisfied than he ever was. I am only tolerably well satisfied here. I liked it much better in Warren, although the land is better and the country much prettier. I think I will like it better after we get a house built and our place fixed up. I tell you, when we get to our home it was a desolate looking place. Talk about being in the woods, we are in the woods now sure enough. We are now living three hundred miles farther west than where we first stopped. We live forty miles east of Kansas City in Lafayette Co. Mo, 15 miles from Lexington, the county seat. The nearest town is Camden, which is across the river 1 ½ miles, and Wellington is about four miles.

I have met with many nice people in Wellington. I have met with some very nice people in this neighborhood, although I am not much acquainted yet. We have met with some Vas (Virginians) we was already acquainted with. Mr. & Mrs. Varner (or Panther) (Mrs. Rubin Neuman’s sister) spent the day with us yesterday. They lived about six miles from here. We happened to very good luck when we came here to get in a good house until we build. Mr. Ridings, the gentleman’s house we lived in, him and his lady expect to spend the summer visiting. He was formerly from North Carolina. He says he well acquainted with Mr. Stinewalt. They roomed together when they went to school and he has slept with him more than once. He charges us no rent except boarding one hand. He gave us all his cabbage, potatoes, turnips, pickles, ice and the take of his chickens and half of the chickens (we) have rais(ed). He furnishes the feed for them. We have plenty of everything to do us until we can rais(e).

Hieronimus lives in sight of us. Mr. Riding’s farm and ours join. Hieronimus and Emma seem to be very well satisfied. They are all preparing for a crop of corn. I think this is great corn country from the looks of the corn cobs. They have more corn in them now than when we are done gathering our corn in Va.

I liked to forget to tell you about the nice time we had coming up here on the steamboat. It certainly is a nice way to travel. They all enjoyed it better than I did. I dreaded the danger which I thought we was in. The Missouri River is a most dreadful looking river, but scenery along the river is beautiful. We passed some beautiful towns – and famous. We passed Jefferson City. We saw the capitol at Jefferson City. They were playing the band as we passed. We also passed Lexington and many other towns. Our fare on the boat was the very best. There were nine families moving on the boat we was on. You have no idea what is to be seen in traveling. I saw more than I ever expected to see.

You wanted to know if we got our things out safe. The boxes we first sent we got them two weeks after we got to Warren. We got the other boxes a month after Christmas. They were at Washington some time. We could not get them on account of the river being frozen over. They all arrived safely except the looking glass and a few dishes which were broken. I am sorry we did not bring more of our things, as it did not cost as much as we thought it would. It cost about 50 cents per hundred.

One thing I do not like of this neighborhood is that there are no Leutherian’s (Lutherans) out here. I wish you would come or send us a Leutherian minister. We have a very nice school house close in which we have preaching once a month by different societies. The neighbors are very kind to us here, but not as much so as in Warren. They were the best neighbors I ever met with, especially Hiram’s brother Martin and his wife. If they had been our father and mother they could not have been kinder to us. We stayed two weeks with them before we went to house keeping. There was scarcely a day passed that they did not bring or send us something. After they butchered, they gave us meat sausage, lard – enough to do us while we lived there. They hauled it to us. We left there the first of March (1871). I could write much more, but I am interrupted so often I must close, for I know you will get tired of reading this letter now before you get through.

Heleah says you must not think she follows up dancing the way she happened to be at that dance. The Germans had a Cristmas tree and she was anxious to see it, but it ended with a dance. Hieronimus and Emma send love to you all. Hiram and Mary Ellen send love to you all. They live one and a half miles from us. She says you must write to her. Tell Cousin Eliza I have been wanting to write to her, but never can get Heleah to write. She says I want too much wrote and you know what a poor hand I am. You must read this to Cousin Eliza. Her brother Mart lives in sight of us. We are all well. Hiram joins me in love to you. All write soon. Give my love to all relations and inquiring friends. Write soon and give us all the news. Write often if I do not.

from your sister, Areana E. Kite

I have not written half what I want to write.

Direct to Wellington, Lafayette Co., Mo.

(Transcribed by Chris W. Kite in April 2002 based on the original letter and a handwritten transcription by Virginia Hassenflu. Punctuation added. Original spelling and grammar kept as observed.)

Hiram Kite (1818 – 1883)

Areana Elizabeth Henkel Kite (1820 –1877)

Areana Heleah Kite (1856 –1941)