Welcome!

My name is Mary Ann Whitehead Overson and this blog is dedicated to all the amazing men and women who came before me: my ancestors. I also want to acknowledge my father, Armand Toyn Whitehead, who is the person responsible for a lot of the content in this blog; my dad has spent countless hours collecting and preserving photos and histories, and preserving them on the computer so that they can be handed down for generations. Thank you, Dad!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Clifford Bale Patriarchal Blessings


NOTE!!!  I have decided not to post this blessing online) please see my post on "Patriarchal Blessings" for the reason why.)  If you would like a copy of this blessing there are two ways to go about getting it:
  1. You can ask me for a copy - just send me a message, or leave a comment, (if I don't know you, please let me know how you are related to our common ancestor!) and leave me contact information so that I can send it to you.
  2. If you are a member of the LDS church, and a "direct line descendant" (meaning that you are a child/grandchild/ great grandchild, etc.) then you can go to lds.org and order a patriarchal blessing directly from the church.  If you are not a direct line descendant, then you will need to contact me for a copy.

Clifford Bale was the son of Richard and Sarah Miller Bale, and would be my Great Grand Uncle.  

Today we know that when you get your patriarchal blessing, you get one and only one in your lifetime.  So, why does Clifford Bale have SIX patriarchal blessings?  When Clifford was alive, it was common practice to get mulitple blessings (from multiple patriarchs).  I'm not sure when, but at some point the church put an end to this, mostly because the patriarchs in the church were swamped all the time with requests for blessings, and because people were going to get other blessings simply because they didn't like what they heard in the previous blessing. It is interesting to me that all of these blessings for Clifford Bale say essentially the same thing repeatedly, even though they were all given by different people.  Of course they would - because the gospel is true and inspiration is given by the same source, our Heavenly Father!  NOTE:  All these blessings have originals that I used to transcribe.  If you would like a copy of any of the originals, please let me know and I'd be happy to email a jpeg file image to you!  Also, you can obtain free copies from the church (for any direct-line ancestor) by going to LDS.org.

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