Bit by the genealogy bug

Bit by the

genealogy bug

BY SERENA DUGAR IOANE

Shenley Puterbaugh’s goal is to teach and excite the world about family history, which she says helped her develop a greater sense of identity

Shenley Puterbaugh, a 2010 BYU–Hawaii alumna and an avid family history researcher, shares her passion for family history work through her book, website and speeches at various conferences and webinars. Her husband and a friend said she lives what she preaches.

Learning about her roots

Puterbaugh said her passion for family history started when she was a teenager. She said her mother would share old memories and assisted her in creating a family tree. In doing so, Puterbaugh said her mom influenced her passion for genealogy work.

After Puterbaugh graduated from high school, she said she decided to spend time with her grandparents. Having never spent any time with them by herself, she decided to spend one week each with her paternal and maternal grandparents.

“We visited places where my grandparents and their ancestors lived, old cemeteries where my ancestors were buried and churches where they attended. We went through old boxes of photos, documents and memorabilia. I had the opportunity to interview them and get their stories recorded.”

Puterbaugh said she came back with over 1,000 names to add to her family tree, and said that two-week trip helped her understand her roots on a deeper level. “It was a very memorable trip. Learning the stories of my grandparents helped me understand my parents better and why I am the way I am. It helped me have a greater sense of identity.”

Puterbaugh’s husband, Brett Puterbaugh, said, “I knew from the beginning she was special because she was regularly sacrificing her time to learn about her ancestors and researching more about them. When we were dating, one third of our dates were spent at the family history center near the Laie temple.”

Making family history fun

Coming back from her trip, Puterbaugh said she was excited to share what she discovered with her family. Today, she said she has the same goal: To help people get excited about family history and to develop a passion and desire to do it continually.

To help achieve her goal, Puterbaugh said she wrote a book to inspire people to do family history work. The book is not published yet, but her husband suggested she start a website.

Puterbaugh officially launched her website, InspireFamilyHistory.com on Jan. 1, 2020. On her website she provides ideas, tools and resources to inspire children of all ages to love family history. Inspire Family History is also on Facebook and Instagram.

Puterbaugh’s friend, Heidi Campbell, said she was first introduced to Puterbaugh by her sister while they were both at BYUH. “Shenley had just launched her website and when my sister saw it announced on social media, she knew I would be interested in the website and its mission.

“Ever since we talked on the phone for the first time, I wanted to be a part of Shenley’s journey to teach and excite the world about family history in fun and simple ways,” Campbell explained.

It was a very memorable trip. Learning the stories of my grandparents helped me understand my parents better and why I am the way I am. It helped me have a greater sense of identity.

-Shenley Puterbaugh

Benefits of family history

Puterbaugh said she has been invited to speak at webinars for various organizations, including MyHeritage, an online genealogy platform, and the RootsTech Connect 2021 conference.

Campbell shared, “I’ve been increasingly involved in family history over the last decade and have seen a variety of approaches and attitudes toward the hobby and profession. As a community, we talk about getting bit by the ‘genealogy bug’ and becoming addicted.

“We lament that our family members don’t understand how intriguing it is to us and could be to them if they just gave it a shot,” Campbell explained. “There is definitely a subset of people who actively seek to teach and inspire others about the wonders of family history, but the vast majority just expect to be misunderstood and only wish others knew how awesome it was.”

Shenley is different, Campbell said. “She has gone past the wistful notion that everyone should do it because it’s interesting or a more furtive desire to enlist family members to work on a brick wall together.

“Shenley understands the psychological benefits of exploring our own family history, how it grounds and connects us to something bigger. She knows when children learn about where they come from, even just as far back as stories about their own parents, it helps to make them more reliant.”

Campbell said Puterbaugh is working to make these benefits more accessible to people from all backgrounds and experience levels through the resources she is creating.

A busy mother, wife and researcher

Puterbaugh is a mother of three children who she teaches at home. Her husband said, “She is amazing. She is always thinking of others and has a pure heart. She truly loves the Lord and loves the things the Lord loves, like family history.”

Puterbaugh said she met her husband at BYUH. “I was a writer for Ke Alaka’i, and I met Brett while I was interviewing his roommate for an article I was writing.” She was also on the BYUH tennis team. She said she made great friends from the team and loved her coach, Dave Porter.

Campbell shared, “I have learned so much from her on how to incorporate family history into everyday life. She really practices what she preaches. Shenley has so many wonderful things she juggles. She homeschools her children, and she is in the Primary Presidency. She is an entrepreneur, and supports her husband who is in school.

“Of course she would love to spend hours on end getting lost in research rabbit holes, or even doing things for her business, but she knows her time is finite and so she is practicing discipline in order to fit all of these good things in. I am always amazed at how much she joyfully accomplishes in the pockets of time she dedicates to her various responsibilities. Her example encourages me to be focused and consistent in my approach to family history and to life in general,” Campbell said.•

Restoring Hawaii’s natural splendor

Biology students assisting in the restoration of native Hawaiian wildlife say they are defending the environment so it can look after people in the future

BY ANNA STEPHENSON

One of the ecological restorations taking place on Oahu is happening on the BYU–Hawaii campus. If all goes well, then one corner of campus, will look just how the island looked before European contact, said Dr. Spencer Ingley, assistant professor of the Faculty of Sciences.

If the project is successful, then it may be used as a starting point for reintroducing Hawaiian plants all over campus and Laie, Ingley said. Until then, however, be prepared to see a muddy field with students hard at work, pulling weeds and picking up trash, eagerly looking forward to the day when Hawaii’s natural splendor is restored.

He said it will be a beautiful sight, especially for newly arriving students who have not yet been introduced to Hawaii’s rich plant life.

“I have long been passionate about protecting and restoring native habitats,” Inlgey said. “So much of what we see in landscaping around Hawaii, and even in most forests, is dominated by introduced plant species. Few people get to experience what Hawaii should look like.”

Dr. Ingley’s BIO 348 class and research students from BIO 496 are building a new native forest and wetland on campus, stocked with plants indigenous to Hawaii. The ecosystem will be behind the science building and will include several species of plants not currently found on campus, including some plants that are rare and at risk of extinction, Dr. Ingley explained. He said future plans for the forest and wetland include a walking path and outdoor classroom.

“Native ecosystems provide many valuable services to both people and the environment, and I wanted to put that on display right here on campus,” Ingley said. As members of the BYUH ohana, he said people should care about the health and well-being of the environment. “I think this project can serve as an outward manifestation of that care.” Ingley said he also wants to create an outdoor area that can be used for teaching, research and outreach. “I hope people will be able to come here for years to come, and it will inspire an appreciation for taking care of the land.”

The return of native plants and animals

The assortment of native plants that will be added to the wetland, many of which are only found in Hawaii, will provide research opportunities for BYUH’s biology tract students, especially as native insects and animals return to campus to make their homes in the new forest and wetland.

“It’s definitely a long-term project,” Ingley said, who predicted it will be several years before it’s fully completed. “We’ll do it in a couple courses and continue it until it’s done. But we want to get more of the University community involved.”

Before new plants can be added to the landscape, old plants must be removed, Ingley explained. Many of the plants on campus are not Hawaiian and invasive or detrimental to the native Hawaiian plants. The first phase of the project, using student labor to remove these unwanted plants as well as clearing out rubbish and litter, is mostly completed. Students have already started planting native plants, he said.

The restoration is not without its challenges, but Ingley said he is optimistic. “I’ve been really happy with the progress we’ve made so far this semester. We are only about a month into the project and we have a lot of the invasive plants removed and about 100 new native plants in the ground.

“The invasive weeds we are dealing with are tough, so it will certainly be a challenge to help our plants become established over the next year or so. Students in my Natural Resource Management Lab have been fantastic, and I look forward to involving

Left: Students on the restoration site. Right: Dr. Ingley leads the efforts to build a native forest and wetland on campus. Photo by Mark Daeson Tabbilos.

other classes and University groups or clubs in the near future.”

Stewards of the local environment

Emri Trainor, a senior biology major from Colorado, referred to Doctrine and Covenants 104:13–15 when she said, “I think this ecological restoration gives us an opportunity to be stewards for the local environment.”

Bobby Senar, a freshman biology major from Papua New Guinea, said, “We’re defending the environment so it can look after us in the future. I have been dreaming of doing this project for a couple years now and have actually had previous classes help design what we’re doing,” he said.

Ingley said, “The COVID-19 crisis presented us with a great opportunity to get it started because we had some extra funds to jump-start the project, and having an outdoor lab experience right here on campus works well within the bounds of the restrictions we have for in-person classes.

“I had great support from the other faculty in my program, from my dean and from the President’s Council. They each reviewed my plans and approved them without any pushback. I am very grateful for their support.”

Looking to the future

In future semesters, Ingley said he plans to open up the project to clubs and service projects.

The new plants to look out for, he said, include four new trees: hala, loulu, koa and alahe’e. These new trees will exist with the hau and banyan trees that will be allowed to stay on the site.

The grass currently there will be replaced with pili grass and O’ahu sedge. Two new species of shrubs, the ‘ulei and the ‘a’ali’i, will also be planted. For ground cover, ‘ilie’e and ‘akia will be used.

Finally, the wetland section will include flowering akiohala and ‘ae’ae, as well as makaloa and aka’akai. Ingley said he hopes to also plant rare pu’uka’a and ahu’awa. He said the plants are currently being sourced from the native plant specialists at Hui Ku Maoli Ola, a plant nursery based in Kaneohe. Additionally, clippings and seeds are being gathered from the mountains behind Laie.

“Eventually, we hope for this plot to also serve as a sort of seed bank for restoration efforts happening in the mountains behind campus,” Ingley explained. •