Adventures with FHL

One day while surfing on Ancestry I found an index of a birth register for my  maternal grandmother Minnie Elizabeth.  I was excited to see it was available on a Family History Library file.  So I looked it up at the Mesa Regional Library and found out it was not available locally but I could order it online.  So I did.  Easy!  I received my email confirmation that it was ordered, and then that it was sent but I never received a call that it had arrived. 

Great Grandfather Frederick Spaahn

So on another day my cell phone rings, I don't receive a ton of calls on my cell phone.  This very nice person was on the other end telling me my film has come in.  That was the good news, the bad news was it went to a local stake center instead of the Regional Center.  The next piece of bad news was that their viewer has been down for two weeks that is why she is just calling me now, plus they don't have a machine to make a copy of it like the Regional Center.  And on top of that they are only open four hours a week. 

Occupation

I can not imagine how I made the mistake of having it go to the wrong place, but I obvious did.  Lesson learned double check to make sure it is coming to the right place!

Great Grandmother Anna Betz

I made arrangements to meet her down at the stake center.  About a day before she called I thought I really don't need that index I already have her birth certificate.  But it was obviously two late and who knows it might tell me something I don't know.

Line 54 is the right line

It did tell me some things I didn't know, her father's occupation was listed as Cigar Manufacturer.  She was delivered by a Mid Wife, I must admit it took me a couple minutes to figure out what MW stood for.  Her mother had 8 children and only five were living.  My grandmother was the youngest.  Grandma didn't have a name on the index and the last name is a variation of what I had.

At the end I was happy I did order the film.