Entries by Jeff Westover

The Place Manti Has in Our Family History

The Deseret News this week featured an article about the Manti Temple, telling this famous story of Brigham Young and Warren S. Snow from 1877: Standing on the southeast corner of the Manti Utah Temple site, Brigham Young told Warren S. Snow, “Here is the spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece […]

Grandpa Was a Viking Raider and a Norse King

Whenever King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson makes the news I take notice. Old Bluetooth was a Norse King who lived more than 1,000 years ago. He is my 34th great-grandfather. ~ How We Are Related ~ Our connection to King Harald comes via the Rowe line. I’ve outlined my direct descendancy in this post from more […]

The Value in Re-Plowing Old Ground

It has been an interesting time for working on family history. The part I like least about this work is prospecting for data – finding the names, dates and places necessary to fill out the tree. That’s ground-floor stuff and I’m much more of a storyteller. I want to know what’s beyond the data with […]

My Cousins, My Neighbors

Years ago, when we moved into our present home, we met the nextdoor neighbor over the fence. As we introduced ourselves to each other this new neighbor, Lynn Bates, he excitedly responded to my last name, Westover. “Do ya know any Westovers in Rexburg?” Lynn asked me. Over the years we grew fond of Lynn. […]

Memories of Aunt Evie

Evelyn Riggs Westover, Aunt Evie to the entire world it seems, passed over to the other side today, Monday, May 23, 2022. In the coming days there will be no shortage of tributes, memories and histories shared of this wonderful lady. As cousin Lynn Quilter expressed this morning, “Well, that ends an era in the […]