Trips Through Time ‘Family Means A Lot to Me’ -James Schad
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enealogy. Family tree. Lineage. Heritage. Roots. According to a survey conducted on behalf of Ancestry, only four percent of people can name all eight of their great-grandparents. Do you know where you come from, who you look like and what amazing people you are related to? A Purdy man, 26-year-old James Schad, knows precisely what his line of descent is. James has recently connected his family to the Carver family in Diamond, Mo., the Donner Party, and President Abraham Lincoln. “As a military child, I was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, on August 22, 1995,” James said. “My family moved to Fort Stewart in Hinesville, Georgia, around 2000, and in late 2005 my family came to Purdy, Missouri, where we are still living today.” James attended Purdy schools from third to twelfth grade, from which he graduated in 2015. “Through my adopted father and my biological mother, I have one sister,” he said. “Through my biological father and
Story by Jordan Troutman
James Schad took a photo of a home of Susan Blue Carver, a relative he was able to find through his research in genealogy. stepmother, I have six siblings, three brothers, and three sisters. I am the oldest out of all of them. “Family means a lot to me. On my mom’s side, I only had one cousin who lived in Oklahoma, but I discovered I have a lot of cousins thanks to genealogy. And in these past few months, we’ve grown super close and are there for each other.” James first got interested in his family history in 2015 when he went through his family history book. For research, James uses family history books and the family history apps to find his ancestors and study their lives. “I use both family search and Ancestry,” James said. “Which I like because there’s a lot of knowledge on both sites, and both are free through my church. “I discovered I was related to Abraham through my family history book.” Through James’ research, he found that Abraham Lincoln was his seventh cousin five times removed through his
maternal grandfather’s family side. James also found that Susan Blue Carver, the wife of Moses Carver, is his seventh cousin once removed. According to the Monett Missouri Stake Print Media Specialist, family history has been traced for Moses, but very little has been done on Mrs. Carver’s line. “James, through FamilySearch.org, was able to connect his family line to Susan’s line and even connect her family to the ill-fated Donner Party,” said a press release from Monett Missouri Stake Print Media. “James has even received permission to put flowers on Susan’s grave at the George Washington Carver National Park. “James takes the words of Elder Gerrit W. Gong seriously, an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ‘Connecting with our ancestors can change our lives in surprising ways. From their trials and accomplishments, we gain faith and strength. From their love and sacrifices, we learn
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