I'm Back!

This is just a quick little post to let you know that I'm back! Hopefully I'll have more posts ups soon! Remember that I always like to help with family history when I can. Feel free to contact me at any time. Best of luck with your family history endeavors!

Taking a Break

There won't be any new updates to this blog for awhile. I'm preparing to go on a mission through my church. I won't be able to update this blog for a year and a half. The next update you see won't be until the latter end of 2015. Still feel free to comment or send me messages. Just know that you won't get a response for awhile. I wish you luck in all your family history research! Until next time!

Lloyd Arvel Adams

Lloyd Arvel Adams is the son of John Arvel Adams and Jeanette Fowler. He was born 20 Apr 1934 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Lloyd was really smart. He got straight A's which earned him a financial scholarship to a prestigious school in southern California. He was a shy person and almost didn't attend the college as he was afraid that people would make fun of him. However, his father finally convinced him to go, and he excelled in his courses. He was drafted into the army, and after boot camp, he was sent to Mexico to do some work with rockets. When he was done with his service, he was approached by a man from Cal Tech who knew of his work and wanted to hire him as a rocket scientist. Lloyd worked on designing cameras for unmanned space flights. His most notable accomplishment was helping to fix the Hubble telescope. He designed a camera to work with the faulty lens of the telescope.

Some of Lloyd's hobbies included photography and building model trains. He owned his own photography equipment and dark room. He was an artistic sort of person. He liked to sketch in his free time as well.

He was never married.

He died on 10 Jan 2009 in Murrieta, Riverside, California from liver cancer. He is buried in the Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.

The above is taken from notes I jotted down while speaking to his brother.

His obituary is as follows:

Lloyd Adams, 74, of Murrieta, California, passed away peacefully at his home on Saturday January 10, 2009.

He was preceded in death by his parents; John Adams and Jeanette (Fowler) Adams. Lloyd was a Mechanical Engineer at JPL Cal Tech Pasadena for over 40 years. He worked on almost all of the unmanned space missions. His specialty was Optics. Lloyd was very proud to have been the one who came up with the plan to fix the Hubble Telescope.

He is survived by his brother John Adams and his sister Gail De Den. Lloyd was loved and respected by all who knew him. There will be a service at the Latter Day Saint Church on Washington St. in Murrieta, CA on Saturday, January 17th at 11:00am. The burial will be at Rose Hills Memorial Park later that day.


Published in the Press-Enterprise on 1/14/2009

Thelma Mae Kennison

Thelma Mae Kennison is the daughter of Rodney Stanley Kennison and Julia Lucille Beck. She was born 31 Jul 1914 in Mussel Shell, Mussel Shell, Montana. She was married to Clifford Gordon Murray on 18 Nov 1930 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Together they had three children:

Clifford Gordon Murray
Born 21 Apr 1932
Died 26 Feb 2008

Charles Edward Murray
Born 7 Feb 1934
Died 2 Jan 2007

The third child is still living.

Thelma died 8 Sept 1986 in Grants Pass, Josephine, Oregon.

Clifford Gordon Murray

Clifford Gordon Murray is the son of Cambridge Washington Murray and Osie Mae Hogg. He was born 6 Mar 1908 in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. He married Thelma Mae Kennison on 18 Nov. 1930 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Together they had three children:

Clifford Gordon Murray
Born 21 Apr 1932
Died 26 Feb 2008

Charles Edward Murray
Born 7 Feb 1934
Died 2 Jan 2007

The third child is still living.

Clifford died 24 Apr 1993 in Grants Pass, Josephine, Oregon.

Archibald McFarland

Archibald McFarland is the son of William McFarland and Margaret McCormick. He was born 17 Dec 1832 in Dyart Fifeshire, Scotland. He was married to Isabella Mitchell on 3 Aug 1854. Not long after they were married, the young couple prepared to travel with Archibald's family to the Americas and eventually settle down in Utah. They were going to depart on the ship "Helios" from Liverpool, but some damage was dealt to the ship due to a storm. All the passengers had to wait for the ship to be repaired. It was scheduled to set sale a month after the incident. However, things didn't work out as planned. The McFarlands got on the ship "Charles Buck" instead with the rest of their company (they were travelling with a group of Mormons who were making the trek to Utah). The ship left in January of 1855.

The McFarlands traveled in the Richard Ballantyne Pioneer Company. The company consisted of 402 individuals and 45 wagons. They departed from Mormon Grove, Kansas at the beginning of July 1855. They arrived in Salt Lake on 25 Sept 1855.

Archibald and Isabella had twelve children.

William McFarland
Born 25 Jan 1856
Died 26 Jan 1856

Robert McFarland
Born 2 Jan 1858
Died 13 Dec 1862

James Rankin McFarland
Born 20 Dec 1859
Died 15 Feb 1932

Charles Blair McFarland
Born 8 Apr 1862
Died 16 Oct 1909

Isabella McFarland
Born 25 Sept 1864
Died 31 Oct 1955
Married Name: Hogge

Archibald McFarland Jr.
Born 15 Jan 1867
Died 25 Dec 1936

John McFarland
Born 31 Dec 1868
Died 3 Jun 1956

Albert Rae McFarland
Born 1 May 1871
Died 6 Oct 1934

Margaret Elizabeth McFarland
Born 13 Oct 1873
Died 30 Jun 1921
Married Name: Nilsson or Nelson

Mary Ann McFarland
Born 6 Mar 1877
Died 28 Mar 1877

Janet McFarland
Born 29 Jun 1879
Died 18 Nov 1905
Married Name: Faddis

Daniel Archibald McFarland
Born 17 May 1882
Died 21 Jul 1914

Archibald died 14 Dec 1915. He is buried in the West Weber Cemetery in Utah.

To view an account written by his own hand concerning the immigration of his family, click here.

To read more about the Richard Ballentyne Company, click here.

Pioneer Ancestry

You may notice there's a new tab up on the top of the page. It has recently come to my attention that I have some pioneer ancestry, and I've just begun researching it further. The "Pioneer Ancestry Tab" will take you to a list of all the family names that crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley in the 1800's. I'll slowly be updating it and linking the names to their corresponding posts. There's also links there to find a little more information on the companies they traveled with. Please take a look! I'm very excited about this discovery.