Eagle Scout Project for Colin makes front page of Kearney Hub today!

Just wanted to let you know that the local newspaper did a nice story on Colin's Eagle Scout Project today in the newspaper. It's great to live in a town of 30,000 and to have as many contacts as we do. People tell me all the time--"Ann, I've lived here all my life and you know tens of thousands more people than I do!" Now, that is no surprise to some of my nephews and nieces who have had that theory going for a long time! I, personally love it!

So, take a look at the story and picture...It's great. I love that Daren is in his shorts. So are two of his boys. That is how it is most of the year! Snow or ice or ....! I think Daren is expecting the church to announce a new dress policy any day now. That is one man and his boys that LOVE, LOVE their shorts.

http://www.kearneyhub.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18875466&BRD=268&PAG=461&dept_id=577571&rfi=6

A Family Bond: Eagle Scout project gives Snider better understanding of his ancestor’s journey and struggles with handcart
By BETSY FRIEDRICH, Hub Staff Writer
10/02/2007

Colin Snider (in doorway), 15, of Kearney donates a re-creation of the handcart, which his great-great-great-grandmother would have used, to the Great Platte River Road Archway. Snider built the handcart to earn his Eagle Scout rank. Snider gets help from archway re-enactors as he donates the handcart he built for his Eagle Scout project."

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Hub photo by Betsy Friedrich Colin Snider (in doorway), 15, of Kearney donates a re-creation of the handcart, which his great-great-great-grandmother would have used, to the Great Platte River Road Archway. Snider built the handcart to earn his Eagle Scout rank. Snider gets help from archway re-enactors as he donates the handcart he built for his Eagle Scout project.

KEARNEY — Colin Snider, 15 of Kearney, has deep roots in Nebraska history.
Colin is the great-great-great-grandson of Hannah Middleton Hawkey, who crossed the country on foot with the Martin Handcart Company in 1856. Colin, a Boy Scout since he was 8, earned his Eagle Scout rank in September by re-creating the cart his ancestors would have used to cross Nebraska. He then donated the project to the Great Platte River Road Archway, where it will be displayed. He is a member of Kearney Troop 132, which is led by Maurice Chessmore. Colin is the son of Daren and Ann Snider of Kearney. He said he became interested in his genealogy last year during the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Handcart Pioneers. He heard the archway was looking for a handcart and decided he would be the one to provide it.

He used the same plans and design that his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kearney, had used to construct 12 carts during last year’s anniversary celebration. “It was hard to make sure all the pieces went together correctly and to make it sturdy,” he said. “I found out how hard it really was for her.” Hannah was 24 and living in England when she became a Mormon. She married a widower and adopted his son, James. Although her husband died in a work accident before they left England, she decided to make the trip to Utah with James, then 14, and her two daughters, Margaret, 4, and Hannah 3. She was 33. James died along the trail and was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on the prairie, Snider said. Hannah pulled the handcart with her two daughters in it most of the way to Salt Lake City. She arrived in November with her toes frozen, burst open and bleeding. She was cared for by other settlers until the following spring, when she was able to walk again.Colin said he has known the story of the handcart pioneers for much of his life. “It’s a family story my parents tell us all the time,” he said. “This made it seem more real, though.” “Hannah’s son James was about Colin’s age when he died,” Ann said. “It brings home how hard it must have been.” Colin said the cart will be packed with period-correct supplies and displayed in the archway lobby. He said it might also be used to pull people and in re-creations.He will be awarded his Eagle Scout after a ceremony in October.