There is nothing quite like the feeling of finding out who your ancestors are, gathering and stock piling as much information on them as possible, and then baptizing them. But what better a way to turn your hearts towards your forefathers, and their hearts towards you, than to have them sealed together for eternity? Why else would we live in this mortal realm, enter into a long term relationship with another person, and have children with them who you are forced to live with for so many years? I find it hard to believe that in the next life I would be disassociated with the people whom I spent so much of my sojourn on Earth with, I refuse to believe it.

The Beasant Family of England; William Hamlin Beasant was bornin 1863 in Marlboro, Wiltshire, England, to a single mother who died when he was ten. This tradgety left him to be raised by his Aunt Ann, and her husband William Munday. William, like his uncle and several other members of the family ended up taking on the time honored tradition of horse grooming, which would entail upkeep of the stables and their horses, along with training and riding them for exercise. If the situation would permit he would be given the occasion to hitch them to a stagecoach and escort his wealthy employers around town. It seems from the picture that he liked dogs.

Ellen Francess Searl was born in 1868 in Yately, Hampshire, England, and lived until she was close to 100 years old. interesting to me, she was a Bee Keeper and would stand in the yard banging on a pan until the Bee’s would come back to the nest. Or so the story goes. Also she was a midwife and taught my great grandma quite a bit in the duties thereof.

William and Ellen had three Children, Ruth Edith, and William- (Marriage of William and Dolcie below)

"What therefore God hath Joined together let not man put asunder." Mark 10:9

The Simms Family, (my Great grandparents) whose last name is much to be disputed over either "Cohen" or "Kam" was changed to avoid anit-semetic persecution during the uprising of the Bulshivik movement; Now it so happened that two boys grew up in the ,"shtetl", (little village), of ,"Botchka" or " Botchki", (translation ,little barrel), ( see the book , Botchki : When Doomsday was still Tommorrow, by David Zagier), At some stage these siblings were unfortunately orphaned and life was not at all pleasant both from the treatment meted out point of view and because of extreme poverty. Barnett and his brother Solomon were born in a somewhat confusing location whose boarders prefiguring the first world war seemed to cross between Prussia, Poland, Russia, and Lithuania. They, after finding themselves orphaned, decided at some point to go their separate ways, moste likely out of England Solomon went to South Africa, and Barnett crossed over to Canada with his English wife Edith. Barnett was naturalized as a british subject in the state of Canada in 15-Jan-1919 and later Naturalized as a United States citizen 16,Sep,1927.

Edith was taught by her mother in the duties of a midwife. She once kept her neighbor from having to have his leg amputated. the man had diabetes and a sore that wouldn’t heal on his leg, it got gangrene in it and the Dr. told him the only thing left was to amputate. Edith told him to catch the first dump from his cow in the morning and put the poultice on his leg. It drew out the gangrene and saved his leg.

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven." Matthew 16:19

Barnett and Edith had a daughter named Millicent (Maisie) Amalia Simms. She was born in Surrey, England in 1911. after the family moved to California, Maisie married a man by the name of Eddie Thompson. My Aunt Nancy told a good story about her;

"Maisie was married at the age of 16 to a man named Archie. I don’t know how long that marriage lasted because he was one of her husbands that never showed up again. She then married Eddie Thompson and then divorced him and married Cy. She divorced him then married Eddie again and then divorced Eddie and married Cy and then married Eddie again. All in all she was married to Cy 3 times and Eddie 3 times. Eddie was quite a character and he and Maisie had a volcanic marriage they were always fighting. She always ended up back at her parents house in Los Angles. Eddie stayed friends with the family. He was quite a drinker and hung out at Jumbo’s Bar in Napa . Rachael said that one time he drove her home sober and it was the scariest ride she ever had. He could manipulate the car much better when drunk. He was also in prison for a time.

One time Maisie and Eddie went shopping for groceries with Paul and Rachael and had no money for Christmas dinner. After they left the market Eddie pulled out a ham from his coat and scared them to death, they thought they would all be arrested. He was a cook and worked in Alaska for awhile cooking for them men on the crew. He came home once and brought your father a bike and me a doll and bank. He looked like Santa Claus because his hear was white by that time and he had a beard. Before he died he moved back in with Maisie and she took care of him until he passed away."

From Rachael's journal;

Oct 1940, The 24^th Ed came up, Maisie had gone so Ed came up looking for her. He worked for Mrs. Reed in the vineyard. We received no money and asked for none, he boarded and roomed for free. Christmas we had together, Paul Ed and I. Maisie came up the first part of Jan, 1941. Maisie and Ed moved up to White House Apartments before we left for vacation. Maisie left for LA. Sometime in May 41. Maisie came back from San Diego 23^rd of July 1941. Took a cabin at Patten’s, wouldn’t let them live with us. Maisie is Gone again. Making out she is in Vallejo, but she is really in San Diego.

Rachael, the youngest of the four children, was born in Canada in 1914, at the time her father Barnett worked as a compositor for a printing press in Winnipeg. Little did this Jewish family know that His employers were sympethetic towards the NAZI movement. In light of this, and Barnett being driven to hide in the basement of the facility for several hours, the family quickly packed their belongings and moved to California. There Rachael met her husband Paul who converted her to Christianity. This opened up the lines of communication between Rachael and her older half sister Muriel who was a devout Christian. Her father delt well with this unexpected change of religion, when the holidays would aproach, Barnett would enter the house with a tall green "Haunika bush," and help to adorn it with ornaments and a bright glowing star on the top.

Rachael and Paul were introduced by her sister Maisie. She knew Paul's brother Bill and I don’t know how that came about but it seems that Bill had quite a thing for Maisie. They eloped because Rachael was afraid to tell her family about their marriage.

From her journal Rachael revealed that she had a very pleasent disposition in life despite many hard times.

From Aunt Nancy;

"Muriel didn’t come to the United States until she was 16 years old. The story goes that when Edith left England her family talked her into leaving Muriel behind. She was not Barnetts daughter and that probably had a lot to do with it. Grandma and the children all except Rachael came over on a ship one year after the Titanic sunk and they threw wreaths out over the water where the Titanic went down. My Uncle Barney was born with the Birth Sack intact and grandma [Edith] carried that with her when she sailed. Legend has it that as long as that is with you the ship will not go down. She said that a ships captain tried to buy it from her. Grandma [Edith] was full of superstitions and to this day I can’t see a rocking chair left rocking with no one in it because that means a death in the family. Grandma [Edith] kept writing to her family in England telling them how rich they were and what a wonderful life they had in the United States. So finally Muriel decided to join her, when she got here the first thing my grandfather [Barnett] did was tell her she had to get a job, he was not going to support her. There were a lot of hard feelings and Muriel never forgave him or forgot the welcoming she got. She would let my grandmother visit her but wanted nothing to do with grandpa which is no great surprise."

Muriel Beasant was born the 20th of july, 1907 in Marylebone, London, England After moving to California she married a man named Jay Caullison who was a Methodist Minister and they lived out their days together in California where they had a son named John.