[William] John Davis [I]

I've been tryin' to track this guy down for YEARS! I got on a hot trail right before I left for Russia. Then I had an 18 month pause. Now the trail is blazin' and I'll have to break for 3 months! How lame!

Either way, here's the run down: William John Davis, I, supposedly came over from Wales at the age of 12 as a stowaway. He ended up marryin' a southern belle, Melitha Plummer. When Melitha died, he remarried three years later to Minerva Harvey (?). According to an online rootsweb family pedigree, Minerva was from Jackson, Missouri. But according to John's record in the Salt Lake Temple (he was sealed to both of his deceased wives when he was living), Minerva was from Jackson, Mississippi...which makes more sense since Louisiana and Mississippi are neighbor states.

Well, I don't know how Minerva died. But somehow, John met the Church and ended up getting baptized and moving to Utah. He was born on 13 December 1839. Died in 1918. Baptized in 1899. Endowed in the Salt Lake Temple in 1911. Buried in Huntington, Emery County, Utah.
I desparately want to know how he joined the Church? How he met the Church? What's his story?

I found his death certificate and sealing card. Now I need to find his obituary! A consultant at the BYU Family History Center said that I can contact the Huntington Ward to find out who baptized John. Man! This stuff is SO interesting!

ประเทศไทย -- Thailand

At the end of December, Ralph Brown came back from Thailand to visit his family for the holidays. He told me about the Internship in Southeast Asia. I really wanted to go, but decided that I couldn't afford the $3,700.00 fees excluding the $1,036.60 airfare to get there and back.
Well, one day I woke up with the strong urge to go. So I completed my internship application on the Kennedy Center website and was accepted into the program. I was awarded half tuition scholarships (Total: $1,020) for spring and summer, a program fee reduction (Total: $300), and an FHSS internship grant (Total: $1,600). So I only had to pay for my airfare and another $780.00. The airfare was my entire savings before income tax returns. The almost eight hundred dollars drained my generous income tax return from the feds.

Despite the fact that I'm broke, I will be able to finish my last nine credits of my undergraduate degree over in Thailand. Ralph also hooked me up with a job planning and organizing next year's SSA (Student Sociology Association) calendar of events. So hopefully I can make some pocket change while I'm there. If I can find the time!

I just need to do some last minute shopping and packing before I depart on the night of the 06th of May. If you have any wealthy friends or family members who would like to contribute to my study abroad, please have them e-mail me at sondra.r.fitzgerald@gmail.com.

P.S. You can check out Dhamma Park at http://www.dhammapark.com/

Internship with NGO: Venetia's Dhamma Park

I will be interning in Lamphun, Thailand from 10 May until 10 August 2009g. I will be working under the direction of Venetia Walkey from Britain. She's lived in Thailand for over thirty years. She and her parnter, Khun Inson Wongsam (who is a famous Thai artist) have established this park to conserve spirituality through recreation and art. I will learn more about NGO's and try to help them manage and run their's! :)


This is the atmosphere that I will spend the next three months of my life. Personal photographs are pending my arrival in Thailand.

I will also teach English to children in rural schools. Good thing I got all that practice in Russia! :)