Miracle in progress

I have been 'working' at the Orange County Family Search Library. I go on Tuesdays from 9 am to 1 pm. I enjoy going and having time to work on my family history. It has also been fun working with the patrons who come in looking for family.

As I have been trying to get familiar with the resources the library has I found a book. It is huge. It's spine is about 4 inches thick.

This book contains my people. My grandmother was the only member in her family. As I have felt the need to look into my family history, I have been drawn to her line. I don't believe there are very many people who are looking on this line. Of course there are a few, I run into work done on several lines generations back. But there are more people not found on that part of the line than others.

This book is old. I'll have to look at the print date to see how old. This book begins in Germany and Switzerland, Jakob Swope lived just over the German border. He was married and had three children when he made the voyage to America. 

The authors have done a great job including the history and the stories. I have been slowing working through the beginning. I have entered new people and have a list of names to take to the temple. I have also found fractured families. One child with parents not hooked to another child with the same parents, not hooked to another. I have been merging duplicates and consolidating records to unite families.

The name also presents difficulties. There are a variety of spellings. I search to see if the person is on the tree, then add the name and start to fill in the family only to see a duplicate with a different spelling. I am excited to clean up the multiple entries.

I was telling Craig about the book and realized how amazing it is to find a book that contains my family in this library. I have been praying to find Sarah More (Moore). I have documentation on her at the end of her life. She converted to the German Reform Church on her death bed. I have the death notice in the church records.  I have a picture of her head stone. She is buried with her husband and her daughter. But I have no record or information on her birth or her parents. She has been a brick wall. No way to continue the line beyond her. She has a very common name that complicates the issue. I have found several Sarah, but I have no idea is one of them is my Sarah.

I am hopeful that with the thouroughness that this book is displaying, she might be in it. I am hopeful to find her parents and be able to extend the line.

In the meantime, I am extending the branches of this family and am looking forward to taking family names to the temple and sharing names with my siblings.