835. Saviors on Mt. Zion, Missionary Work, Redeeming the Dead, and Perfecting the Saints! (Indexing helps!)
My early interest in Family History ! I first posted this on March 13, 2014.
These days I am busy packing and discarding, to get ready to move to Bountiful, Utah and live with my son Wayne and his wife Julie. I will move on April 15, 2017, and leave my hometown!
I have come across many memories in going through our "stuff". The main things I am taking are histories of my parents and ancestors! Those are timeless! At some time each of you will be the "oldest person alive" for your posterity. It is up to you to keep the legacy of your ancestors alive!
114. Saviors on Mt. Zion, Missionary Work, Redeeming the Dead, and Perfecting the Saints! (Indexing helps!)
I became interested in Family History when it was called "Genealogy". I first became very fascinated with it when I was about 16 years old, (1950). I had Aunt Sarah on my father's line, and my Aunt Vina on my mothers' line who had both done quite a lot of genealogy.
I copied the large long family group sheets, and pedigree charts, and then went to our small library in St. George, and looked up names of my ancestors in New England in the few books they had. I was thrilled to find names of direct ancestors in the early records in various states, especially Connecticut and Massachusetts. I had a few in New York, Vermont, and some other states also. but their Temple work was already done.
I have many who came in the early 1630's and 1640's. One ancestor was the first white girl born in America, the daughter of French immigrants, I believe. Another was the first person in New England to live to be 100 years old. I have a 1640 map of New Haven, Connecticut, with the location of where 6 of my direct ancestors lived there, interesting enough the immigrant of my father's line, Richard Miles, and the immigrant of my mother's line, Roger Alling, later changed to Allen.
I have quite a few fascinating stories of those early days, and will add them as the days and this blog goes on! Because I was so interested in Genealogy while in high school and Dixie College, I was asked to teach a class in Genealogy in the LDS Institute in my two first years in college. It was totally "out of the book", as I didn't have practical experience. For two summers -- the first after I received an Associates Degree from Dixie, and the second after the next year at BYU, I worked in the old "Genealogy" building in Salt Lake City, (then near the old Church Office building,) typing the long family group sheets and the old "Index cards". I loved it, and at the time kept a paper with a list of many names found which were fascinating. I have since lost the paper, but some I remember are: Hopolonia Spofford, Mehitable Pighills, Theobald Head, Rhoda Goose, and others. I've seen so many changes and improvements!
I have volunteered many years at the Family History Center in St. George. When they first got 3 computers, we started learning how to use them in the just emerging "internet". Now, Wayne and I do a lot of indexing, and also I keep trying to find new names on our lines, for the Temple. The main way I can find any new name, as almost every ancestor whom can be found has had their Temple work, and their posterity already done, is to go into records of the area they lived in, and get names with the same surname, in the hopes they are related. That is true with many who have New England ancestors. But indexing will continue to make more records available!
I kept this article below,from February 12th, 2014, about indexing, and hope any of you who haven't tried it yet, will give it a try. It grows on you! Yesterday in the funeral of my elderly aunt, I met a distant cousin, a musically talented young man of 13, who already does indexing! This computer generation truly has an amazing mission, to continue making records available for use in the Millenium! It takes every one of us -- to be SAVIORS ON MT. ZION !
When my dear husband Wayne passed away, he had finished 685,070 indexed names, and 73,000 names arbitrated. He was indexing as much as he felt like it until 3 days before he passed away.
Where Does Indexing Fit?
February 12, 2014 By
Some people ask me, “Where does indexing fit in comparison to other family history priorities?” The answer is simple. All I have to do is ask them when they last searched and found an ancestor on FamilySearch.org.
“Did you enjoy that experience?” I ask. Inevitably they tell me they were thrilled. I then say, “You were able to find that record because somebody indexed it, so you tell me where indexing fits in priority!”
Indexing can’t be separated from the rest of family history any more than you can pick up one end of a stick and not the other. They are inseparably connected to one another in a continuous cycle of family history opportunities, which turns our hearts to our ancestors and leads to the ordinances of the temple.
To truly understand this principle, it is instructive to listen to the words of Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles spoken during the worldwide leadership broadcast in 2011:
“There’s one work,” he explained. “Missionary work is proclaiming the gospel to people who are not yet under covenant. Redeeming the dead is providing ordinances and covenants. Perfecting the saints is the work of inviting people to honor ordinances and covenants. The same work in different spheres, but it’s all one work.”
Indexing is also part of this grand work for the salvation of Heavenly Father’s children. By itself it is insufficient, but joining it with the other aspects of the work helps give millions of souls the possibility of receiving the ordinances of salvation.
Now FamilySearch offers many ways to find, learn about, and remember our beloved ancestors—each of which helps further the work in some way. By participating in any aspect of the work, everyone has the possibility of simultaneously blessing many other lives as well.
It’s a beautiful thing, and it’s only going to get better. If you find yourself overbalanced on one side of the family history equation or another, I encourage you to try out some of these new opportunities. If indexing is “your thing,” try to make some time to contribute some photos or stories about your ancestors. Others will thrill to see the photos and read the stories of their own ancestors that they didn’t know existed.
Or try your hand at adding sources for some of your ancestors in the Family Tree. It’s so easy now and it will help others find clues that will open up their own research. When you have had your fill, search for new information to fill the gaps in your own research. Millions of records are published weekly, raising the odds of finding someone every time you go online. Of course, when you reach those inevitable dead ends, you can do some more indexing and start the cycle all over again.
In the end, every effort we make to contribute to this great work will come back to us in blessings for ourselves, for our ancestors, and for everyone else who has the faith to take the first step. May you be blessed for your efforts to do your part.
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