Statement of Blog Purpose

I’ve been dithering for a long time about how to properly get this "blog" thing underway. Several months actually. Finding things to write about is as easy as finding something to talk about for me (and if you know me at all, I have NO trouble yakking away for hours about anything and nothing). Yet it has been difficult organizing these thoughts for an audience that is made up of family, friends, and strangers (although no one is as strange as my family and friends—yuk yuk!). So I think in the interest of clarity for you dear readers, I will lay out a statement of sorts of purpose for this blog. It’s in the form of a list because I like lists, as you’ll doubtless find out in the future.

Purposes of this blog:

• To keep in touch with my family
• To record and share anecdotes from my life and my family’s history
• To share any other information that I deem worthwhile and uplifting
• Intended audience:
• Family
• Close Friends (I want to make it clear to the Bored Internet Adventurers who want to try reading this that there might not be a lot of explanation involved hereafter, since I’m laboring under the assumption that anyone reading this already knows me or my family in some capacity.)
• Intended Content:
• Stories
• Memories
• Excerpts from journals or writings about/from my family
• Essays addressing issues of personal or general interest
• Other random ramblings—opinions, recipes, etc.
• Guest posts from family (hopefully!)

Orson Welcome Huntsman as a young man

I’ve been recently reading the journal of one of my ancestors, Orson Welcome Huntsman. He was an early Mormon pioneer who led an ordinary life out on the Great American Frontier, filled with the hardships that were inextricable from that place and time. One day while cutting timber during a unrelentingly hot day, Grandpa Huntsman fell ill with heat stroke. When he finally regained his senses and his health to some extent, he pondered how close he had come to death. Grandpa Huntsman worried that no one would know about his life, his hardships, his testimony, or his family (though he didn’t have kids at this point).  He asked his wife (a school teacher) to teach him how to write so that he could record his every day existence. To quote Orson: “if the Lord through His mercy should spare my life and should bless me with a posterity, be it great or small, I would like them  to know that I did live on earth, and know their father was a poor unlearned man who had a desire to do good all of his days.” His journal so far has been at turns uplifting and humorous to the touching and thought provoking. I figure if he taught himself to write just so he could keep SOME kind of record of himself, what excuse do I have with my fancy laptop and internet?

So keep tuning in to see what pops up from my blog!  

Orson Welcome Huntsman, older (it looks like the  Lord spared him after all!)

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