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Show L FAM 33-JE- -- EDITOR: TAWNY ARCHIBALD A9 S THE DAILY HERALD (www.HariTheHerald.com) 344-25- mi n 11?, : Paul Tripp 1 ' Father's journey ended, but kids carried legacy I see a group of tearful chil-drei- 1""--' -- I 1 t re"-" .v. ; ' gr 1 f r U 1 ft "IT ii huddled about the draped corpse of their father. These fatherless children, of John Beebe, at sea on their immigrant ship, gathered on deck. John, who had died hours earlier, in late May of 1650, had written a will a few days before, on May 18. Their ship's minister read from the Bible and offered a I'll I V S r fvf Volunteer ventures: Jeanne Dernngton is " prayer. The captain lifted a lever. John's body slid down a plank and splashed into the yast ocean. The children gathered together in a comfortless embrace. John's wife, Rebecca Ladd, either died earlier on the voyage, or before the voyage, as did a the president of iLifeSite.com, a Web site that -- can store KKVIN l.K.iyihe Daily Herald daughter, Hannah. Only a few days later the ship docked at Cape Ann, Conn., and seven Beebe orphans, aged from 9 to 22, stepped into the new Web site creates room for memories By ERIC D. SNIDER dants. The Daily Herald It's a genealogist's .worst nightmare.: After all that work compiling, . researching and collecting, the documents, journals and photos of your ancestors are suddenly gone. Fires, floods and thieves can destroy precious keepsakes, and even time itself will eventually ruin photos and papers by fading or yellowing them. Now a Web site has been created to help people store documents and other genealogical data someplace it can't be lost: on destroyed, you could print them again from iLifeSite.com, as good as the Internet. www.iLifeSite.com, up and running since March, gives users the space they need to scan in photos, journals, birth certificates or other memorabilia, making a permanent, new. Registered users, of whom there are about 1,000, many of which are from Utah County, are allowed as much space as they need to keep any- thing and everything they want. If it can be scanned, it can be stored electronic record of them. "It's good to know that it's going someplace secure," said Jeanne Derrington, president of the Sandy-base- there. compa- d Another feature is that users can record their own personal histories keep daily journals, write ' ny, which does not charge for its services. "If something were to happen to your home and you lost it, you'd have a way to recreate it. The printers are so wonderful now, you can reach photo quality." So if your actual photographs were lost or autobiographies, whatevall from er they want any computer throughout the world that has Internet access. "I was on a trip recent Eyes toward freedom ii O O' rA 0 J iv it c o o A M O I JWB- mt -! at paultrippairswitch.net. 31 port because I wanted to record something special that had happened to las," Derrington said; "A new mom will use it to, keep, a record of her baby's first smile or first words. A father might use it to keep track of time that he spends with his kids in the park." In this computer age, when many people are more comfortable typing than writing by hand, being able to keep a journal online is an appealing idea. And Derrington stress-ethat no one has access to anything that users put in their own personal s The Daily Herald ' i PROVO C O O C "4 iLifeSite. Derrington and her staff don't even know who the users are, as they are allowed to remain anonymous when they register. Once they've registered, they use a password to access their account, and no one not even the iLifeSite staff can get to it without that password. "We recognize that this is incredibly personal information," Derrington said. "It's completely 'secure."' v But is anything on the, Internet ever totally secure? What about server crashes and system failures? ' See W EB A 10 reaches deeper into 'Ancestors' series I I I & .1 - V ' " mi f - f B a. - X" t- k " ' : - ' f ,. d 2000 Paul L. Tripp. at a comat the airterminal puter ly and stopped PBS life-lon- g Paul L. Tripp writes life stories, does genealogy research. Contact Tripp at ancestryfinders.com or genealogical information at no charge. hand A world, alone. With the help of Mitch Hunt, a Beebe family historian, I construct this story, based upon John's will and reliable English parish records that identify John and Rebecca's children. The Connecticut Historical Society at Hartford has an extensive file of manuscripts on the Beebe Family, which allows significant identification of John's descenNot all the records agree, however, making it challenging to get every piece of the puzzle right. We don't know what caused John's death. He was only 45. But I can tell you, I think I could have walked on board the ship in England all healthy and happy and have died six weeks later on that ship. Yes, I could die in such a voyage. You see, I visited the Plymouth Plantation, now reconstructed, not long ago. Leiloni, my wife, and I walked aboard a reconstructed version of the Mayflower. To imagine living on the Mayflower for so many weeks is scary. John Beebe's ship, 30 years later, must have been jiist as bad. In general, the food was disgusting. Infested flour biscuits, grubby meat and brackish water made up the daily fare. Hygiene wasn't invented. Bacteria was everywhere, sometimes lethal. Slop pots were for. bodily wastes and showers or baths were infrequent or nonexistent. It's no wonder John died, but it's amazing the rest of the family lived. Sleeping on board a ship was fitful. Families, at least on the Mayflower, huddled together sitting up, the lucky ones leaning on the ship's inside hull. There wasn't room to lay down. Sea sickness became a way of life. That would get me bad. The moment I write about sea sickness, I get the symptoms. About four times in my life I have gone to sea for a fishing adventure. The only adventure for me was wondering when we would get back to shore. I remember once wishing I were dead before we docked. Trials make families closer. The oldest brother of the orphans, John Beebe, likely took his siblings in hand, found housing and work. They adhered to one another, creating a Connecticut-basekinship. They honorably reared families, served as constables and soldiers. John Beebe, of Great Addington, England, wanted to his children in the new ' plant world. He succeeded. By a whisker or two. MAY 13, 2000 SATURDAY. Television announced the release of a ' second "Ancestors" series, which will air on PBS stations beginning in June 2000. Thirteen episodes combine dramatic stories with expert instruction, bringing family history 'information to a national audience. "Ancestors" kxiks at how records, such as census, probate, vital, military and immigration, can provide important information about our ancestors' lives. It shows viewers how and where to find these records, and how to use them in their research. And it follows the personal stories of individuals whose search through genealogical records led them to both a discovery of their heritage and a greater understanding of themselves. To follow these dramatic VICTOR CALZADAThe Associated Press Brothers and World War II veterans, from left, Ramon, Jose and Alberto Rores stand at attention. They are among patriotic Hispanics who served their country during World War II. The family's experiences are being collected for a national project trying to preserve stories of Hispanics in the World War II era. KI5YU stories, the all-ne- "Ancestors" was shot on location around the world. Host Scott Wilkinson takes viewers from the green hills of Ireland to the crowded streets of Hong Kong, as the search for family history records spans centuries of family connections. Along the way, he takes viewers inside some of the famous most world's genealogical repositories, like the National Archives and the Library of Congress in Washington. D.C.. the British Public Records Office in Ixmdon and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The series also highlights some of the interesting but places family history information is found. Journals, diaries, a family Bible or even personal letters can provide a wealth of information, right at home. That was true for Susan Hadler, whose in story is profiled Military Records, and whose only link to her family's story was a letter written to her by her father, just after she was born and just before he was killed in combat during World War II. lesser-know- n Sec ANCESTOR, A 0 1 |