An abundance of churches and cemeteries
August 20, 2017
We attended the Greene Branch again today. The members there received us very warmly, once again, and we felt we were among friends. There seemed to be more members of the branch attending in sacrament meeting today, but for some reason priesthood and Relief Society had less attending this week than last. There were only 13 sisters in Relief Society today, and three of those were visitors, including me. The drive to and from the Greene Branch is one of my favorites in this area. It is extremely picturesque the entire way, and it often feels that we are driving right through a picture off of a postcard.
We have been amazed how many churches there are all throughout this region of New York. Every town, no matter how small, has at least one church, and sometimes several churches. There are also an abundance of really old cemeteries throughout this region and each town, even if it is just a small village, has more than one cemetery. After our church meetings today we went to one of the cemeteries in the Village of Afton (we have found four different cemeteries there) and we located the grave of Reed Peck. He was the nephew of Polly Peck Knight and Joseph Knight Sr. He was the son of Polly's brother Hezekiah Peck. When the Colesville Branch was asked to join with the other Saints in Kirtland, the entire branch, which included the extended Knight and Peck families, left this area and moved to Ohio. They moved as an intact group from Kirtland to Missouri and eventually to Nauvoo. Reed Peck left the Church when the Saints were forced from Missouri, and he returned to this area where he lived the rest of his life. He was the only one of the Knight/Peck extended family to do so.
Eric was asked to go again today to help take the sacrament to Rita, a member of the branch that lives in an assisted living facility in the Village of Afton. Brother Jones, the same brother from last week, came and got Eric and the two of them went to visit Rita. After giving Rita the sacrament, Eric and Brother Jones shared the messages and lessons we heard in church today with her. Rita was doing much better today health-wise than she was when they visited her a week ago, and she attributed this to the blessing she was given last Sunday by Eric and Brother Jones.
Late this afternoon we had a senior missionary couple that has been serving in the Fayette/Palmyra area the last 18 months show up here at the Knight home for a tour. Their mission ended on Friday, and now they are going to enjoy seeing some places of interest as they drive back to their home in South Jordan, Utah. We enjoyed giving them a tour of the Knight and Stowell homes, and they were very appreciative that we took the time to do so. The husband of this couple served his mission as a young man in the Philadelphia area, so they were headed into Pennsylvania after they left here this evening. They are going to see some of the areas where he served as a young man tomorrow and slowly make their way back to Utah.
As we were sitting out on the deck this evening enjoying yet another beautiful sunset, we saw a deer, a buck, walk right past the pond in our back field. He was headed down to the river. We've enjoyed watching the frequent wildlife in our back field while we've been here. We've been leaving scraps of food out on the deck for our little squirrel friend in hopes that we can get a picture of him. The squirrels here have reddish-colored fur and are bigger than the squirrels in Utah.
We attended the Greene Branch again today. The members there received us very warmly, once again, and we felt we were among friends. There seemed to be more members of the branch attending in sacrament meeting today, but for some reason priesthood and Relief Society had less attending this week than last. There were only 13 sisters in Relief Society today, and three of those were visitors, including me. The drive to and from the Greene Branch is one of my favorites in this area. It is extremely picturesque the entire way, and it often feels that we are driving right through a picture off of a postcard.
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| A railroad bridge over a small river on the way to the Greene Branch. |
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| A farm we passed on the way to the Greene Branch. |
We have been amazed how many churches there are all throughout this region of New York. Every town, no matter how small, has at least one church, and sometimes several churches. There are also an abundance of really old cemeteries throughout this region and each town, even if it is just a small village, has more than one cemetery. After our church meetings today we went to one of the cemeteries in the Village of Afton (we have found four different cemeteries there) and we located the grave of Reed Peck. He was the nephew of Polly Peck Knight and Joseph Knight Sr. He was the son of Polly's brother Hezekiah Peck. When the Colesville Branch was asked to join with the other Saints in Kirtland, the entire branch, which included the extended Knight and Peck families, left this area and moved to Ohio. They moved as an intact group from Kirtland to Missouri and eventually to Nauvoo. Reed Peck left the Church when the Saints were forced from Missouri, and he returned to this area where he lived the rest of his life. He was the only one of the Knight/Peck extended family to do so.
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| A church just outside the Village of Greene. |
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| A church in the Village of Afton. |
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| A church we passed on the way home from our church meetings. |
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| Nineveh Presbyterian Church |
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| Marquee at a church in Nineveh |
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| A church on the main road in Nineveh |
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| One of four cemeteries in the Village of Afton |
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| Reed Peck's grave |
Eric was asked to go again today to help take the sacrament to Rita, a member of the branch that lives in an assisted living facility in the Village of Afton. Brother Jones, the same brother from last week, came and got Eric and the two of them went to visit Rita. After giving Rita the sacrament, Eric and Brother Jones shared the messages and lessons we heard in church today with her. Rita was doing much better today health-wise than she was when they visited her a week ago, and she attributed this to the blessing she was given last Sunday by Eric and Brother Jones.
Late this afternoon we had a senior missionary couple that has been serving in the Fayette/Palmyra area the last 18 months show up here at the Knight home for a tour. Their mission ended on Friday, and now they are going to enjoy seeing some places of interest as they drive back to their home in South Jordan, Utah. We enjoyed giving them a tour of the Knight and Stowell homes, and they were very appreciative that we took the time to do so. The husband of this couple served his mission as a young man in the Philadelphia area, so they were headed into Pennsylvania after they left here this evening. They are going to see some of the areas where he served as a young man tomorrow and slowly make their way back to Utah.
As we were sitting out on the deck this evening enjoying yet another beautiful sunset, we saw a deer, a buck, walk right past the pond in our back field. He was headed down to the river. We've enjoyed watching the frequent wildlife in our back field while we've been here. We've been leaving scraps of food out on the deck for our little squirrel friend in hopes that we can get a picture of him. The squirrels here have reddish-colored fur and are bigger than the squirrels in Utah.
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| Sunset at the Knight Farm |
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| A buck in our back field. |
I have sure enjoyed your posts and your pictures. I just read the past week in backward order.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I like reading things backwards, too. I'm glad you have enjoyed the blog.
ReplyDelete