I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve as the president of the Israel Barlow Family Association. I have a vision of this family organization, with the help of technology, expanding beyond the boundaries of the inter-mountain West to every corner of the globe wherever the posterity of Israel Barlow resides. I hope to be inclusive. We all stand on the shoulders of an amazing man and woman, Israel Barlow and Elisabeth Haven. It’s because of their courage and faithfulness that Israel’s posterity is as vast as it is. My own great-grandmother, Lucy Heap, left England with the promise that she could have a family of her own; something that was impossible if she had stayed in her homeland. Lucy was welcomed by Elisabeth and became one of Israel’s wives. She bore him eight children.

I feel a calling to help gather this immense posterity, facilitate connections and celebrate our strengths and diversity. To that end we are holding a monthly virtual board meeting. The next meeting will be held this coming Sunday, October 18th, at 6pm, MDT. Ideally we would like to have a board member from the family of each of Israel’s children, so to accomplish that, for the time being, our board meeting will be open to anyone who is interested in attending. To receive a link to the meeting please send your email address to: kkwarner@msn.com

I’m grateful for the visionaries of the past who saw the need for the Israel Barlow Family Association and made sacrifices to organize family records and plan activities so that we could honor our faithful forebearers and deepen our connections to one another. They did an amazing job with the resources they had available to them. Now, through technology, we have the opportunity to build on their hard work and extend our reach in order to embrace and support one another.

I pledge my time and talents to this cause.

Sincerely

Karen Warner Zielke