Family Collaboration and the Family Farm

On December 11, 2021 I recorded:

“I messaged a person on Family Search last night (middle of the night) who had contributed a nice picture of the Twitchell Farm in Massachusetts to FamilySearch on Benjamin Twitchell’s page, a Ron Lowrey, asking if it was OK to use it on the blog. I said in response, ‘I would love to post any write-ups or other materials. I’m viewing the site as a supplement to and a bit more accessible for some than FamilySearch; I plan to at times update FamilySearch with new things contributed to the blog. Happy to have collaborators.’  

“He said, ‘A few years ago, I created a slide show drawing on my visits to England, New England and Utah to trace the lives of my mother’s family (Twitchell).  It turns out quite nicely.  It traces my family from 1460 to 1960.  I would be happy to send you a DVD.   Send me your address.’

“Wow, that’s fast, and unexpected.”

Here is Ron’s picture of the family farm in Massachusetts:

And here is his video of his line of the Twitchell Family legacy starting in England, through Illinois, California and Utah.

Ron later provided the following description of his experience in making the video:

We planned a trip to England so I studied and prepared an itinerary to visit specific places where my ancestors had lived. We went to Chesham, England and saw the churches and cemeteries where ancestors lived and were buried from at least 1420. I found a Twitchell Road in Great Missenden. We ate at a stage station between Oxford and London and an old pub in Chesham. My ancestors had surely frequented those places. St. Mary’s Church dated back to the 1200s. Family members, were buried there.  There was such a spiritual connection to this place.

In 1629, Benjamin Twitchell and his brother, Thomas sailed to Boston, Massachusetts to find religious freedom.  This was only nine years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.  We stayed eight days in the greater Boston area.  Again from my research, I knew exactly where to find significant places.  We found the farm in Medfield that Benjamin established. Indians killed him and burned his property in the King Philip’s War in 1675. He purchased 100 acres, near Sherborn. His son, Thomas built a beautiful home there and Twitchell families lived there for 300 years.   

One of my most treasured experiences was visiting that home and farm. Fortunately, the current owner was kind enough to allow us to walk in the field and see the old stone walls built by my ancestors over many generations. We saw the hand-hewn beams and original floors of the home that was built in 1690. Later, we visited the cemetery where many of my ancestors were buried. Many had markers to indicate that they had fought in the Revolutionary War.This was very emotional and spiritually gratifying to me.

We visited every small town in the area where we knew the family had lived. One ancestor was from Braintree where John Adams’ home was.  We traveled on to Vermont to where Ephraim Twitchell was born in 1803. It was very near, a few miles, from where Joseph Smith was born in 1805. I traveled to Nauvoo where Ephraim joined the Church. I imagined how they must have felt when Joseph and Hyrum were murdered in Carthage. Truly a holy place is the Carthage Jail and the gravesites of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma. I felt a tremendous emotional and spiritual connection there.

I went to Beaver, Utah and researched land records to find the farms and ranches of my pioneer family. To see the log buildings that they had constructed with their hands was truly inspiring. And always standing at their grave sites is most poignant; it feels like a holy place.

Ron