Family

On Saturday we went to James's Aunt Joyce's house to visit with the Binggeli/Bingley clan. It was hot, but a lot of fun! I got to meet an aunt and uncle of James's I had not met before - Lourene and Bob. They were very nice and I'm glad I got to meet them! Lourene lives with her family in New Hampshire and Bob with his and Heddy's in Washington state.

(Bob Bingley is in the red shirt and Lourene Bingley Stearns is in the floral shirt.)

LaRon (James's dad) is number 6 of 8 children born to Mabel Vera James Binggeli Kunz Scofield (LaRon and Mary, please correct me if I misstate anything here). She outlived two husbands, divorced one, and outlived 2 children. The oldest four children (the 2 who have died plus Lourene and Bob) carry the last name Bingley while LaRon and the three others carry the last name Binggeli.

Today at work I had half an hour to kill while Doug needed to use his computer (I just borrow it during the summer). While I waited, I decided to look up the Bingley/Binggeli in the Logan City Directories.

I just got really confused. I wrote out everything I found and James and I have been studying it. I'll have to post some of my findings. James's poor Grandma Scofield switched names nearly every few years or so in the directories. The kids, including LaRon, were listed as both Binggeli and Bingley. When I finally got home tonight, James and I went to familysearch.org, but there also, both names are used for his grandpa and other relatives. James tried his best to straighten me out on a few things. I think I understand the story correctly now.

Mabel married Richard Bingley. He was a Bingley and not a Binggeli because of a dispute with his father. Mabel and Richard had 4 kids, but Richard died. Mabel married Darrell Kunz. They had 4 additional kids, but she then divorced him. Afterwards, she had the second set of kids sealed to Richard Bingley and changed all their names to Binggeli (which was the original spelling of the name from Switzerland). Years after that she married a third time to Burton Scofield. They had no children together, he had 4 of his own. He died before Mabel. She died in 2006 (I met her once before she died, but she was suffering from Dementia " possibly Alzheimer's " and James said she was nothing like the grandma he remembered as a kid.)

James says he thinks his mom has a book of Binggeli/Bingley family history. I am intrigued and think I should read it. Nevertheless, we had a great time Saturday night and got to hang out with a great family, whatever their names may be!! :)

Here are more pictures from Saturday if you'd like to look:

binggeli family party 2008