Why We Do Indexing - A Short Story

I really liked this as it captured the spirit of genealogy as well as the need for it.

Genealogy: A Personal Responsibility

Of the commandments of the Lord to the children of men, redeeming the dead is one that can *only* be done by the members of this church.  Note, I did not say "it can only be done by the church" but that it can only be done by the members.  That's.....you.  You're a member.  You have ancestors.  They brought you to life over centuries and millenia.  Have you done their work?  Have you thanked them for bringing you to this state of your eternal progression?

Well, here you go, this is one of your personal responsibilities.

Salvation For the Dead: A Missionary Activity

This is a great talk from General Conference in 1975 on temple work.  The brother speaking was the then-driving force behind the church's family history program, Brother Theodore M. Burton, Assistant to the Twelve.

Back then, very little of what we have now was available, and the availability and access we have to our records is unbelievable.  Brother Burton would have thought he went to heaven to see what we have now, and yet...more needs to be done and we don't do nearly what we should!

Some things have changed between then and now in terms of focus and expectations, but the one part that stuck out to me was that the dead have no other way but through us doing this work to receive the salvation that is available to them.  Anyways, here's the video with a link to the conference talk afterwards.




And here's the link to read the talk:

Valid / Reliable Sources and Info

What constitutes valid and reliable info and research in genealogy?

This is where YOU have decisions to make.

For YOUR family tree, YOU have to prayerfully decide whether YOU consider a source of information reliable and valid based on what you have learned in your history in many instances and the Spirit can help you with this. 

So in terms of submitting ordinances for the temple, regardless of whether you submitted George Washington to be sealed to your mother and claimed George lived in our day, cool as that might be, even with the priesthood it wouldn't be a legitimate sealing.

However, given the importance of the temple ordinances and the given that not everything is documented and some things can be known from family histories and stories, the church doesn't require extensive documentation for an ordinance to make sure its valid. Yet.  

Regardless, your family tree wouldn't be very reliable nor would it be valid either.

So what does make info reliable and valid?

Usually with genealogy we are dealing with documents on paper (sometimes etched in stone, or worth a thousand words at a time in a photograph).  There usually is more than one piece of info we can obtain from an ancestor on a piece of paper and more than one should match other documents' info, or we should have verified more than one before we can look at a document and say "YUP! That's him!"

For example, lets say you're looking for Jim Jones in documentation and you know nothing else about Jim Jones other than his name.  Nothing.  If that's all you have, I would say you don't have enough info to do any research on the individual anyways - you've got a rumor if even that, not a person.

But you can't then pick up a census from any time period or location and find a Jim Jones and say "YUP! That's definitely him!"  Or find Jim Jones on forty censuses around the country and say "Man, Jim really got around!"

However, if you knew Jim Jones was

• born on July 7, 1957 
• in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon 
• as the adopted step-son 
• of  Tim and Fredricka Jones 
• and born at Emmanuel Hospital 
• and resides on Creekside Court in Milwaukie, Oregon 
• and graduated from Milwaukie High School in 1975 
• and did a stint in the US Navy as a Machinists Mate 
• on the USS Belleauwood from 1975-1979 
• and now works for Intel

and you found a photograph of a guy at a circus in black and white with the sole label on it of "Jim Jones" you still wouldn't say "YUP! That's him! Found a picture of my uncle!"

Or if you found a circus-ticket stub attached to a crayon colored drawing with "Jim Jones" scribbled at the top - similarly you wouldn't say "YUP! That's him! Found my uncle's art-work!"

Now if you found a photo with a caption, "Jim Jones with mother Fredricka and father Tim at Portland Circus, 1967, age 10" You might go, "ah....maybe we got something."

The example highlights a few things: the amount of info as well as the nature of the document itsself.  Not all documents are "equal"in this work.

And a few pieces of info should match up between what you know and what you're looking at/for.

If you know that Jim

•  was born in Oregon, 
•  and his mother was born in Germany in the 1930's 
• and his father in the Soviet Union in the 1930's, 

and you find a census for Oregon that lists him as

• a step-son 
• born in Oregon
• and his parents as Jones, T. and Jones F. 
• and his parents as being born in Germany and USSR, 
• and him being 2 years old on a 1960 census (even though those aren't released yet - humor me)

then I'd say you've possibly got the right person.  

If they were born in Indiana and Michigan and the census says Iowa and Michigan, I'd still say "close enough, I think this is it."

Now if you find an individual who matches all these details and you find something related to them being a paraplegic at the state mental hospital and you know they joined the Navy, despite those details adding up, the last three details are disqualifiers.

In short, you have to pay attention and slow down a bit and take your time.

• Also, are you looking at an original of the document or a transcription?  
• Are there sources to the transcription/document? 
• Sources to the story?

It takes some time to get used to working between ten documents and putting that kind of information together in your head, but you get used to it.

Speed will come in time as you come to know who you're working with and learn trends and nuances that are common to the work.  

In the end for your family tree - YOU have to prayerfully decide and consider and I testify, the spirit will help, can help and does help in this work as it is very important. This is by no means complete, but it gives you an idea and an overview of what to consider in this work.

Enjoy the journey and take in the scenery

Temple Submissions: REQUIREMENTS!

The amount of information required to submit an ordinance to the temple is very little actually.

They are:

• A name. Not even a full name.  A first initial with a last name is really all that's required. 
• Approximate date and location of one life event (preferably birth)
• Gender

That's it!

 Input that into Family Tree and you're good to go!

If you get to family photos like this...stop going.  You're in the 1500's.

It is not required but it is helpful if you have a source for your info and can document how you know the information - memory of someone, family bible, census, birth certificate, grave stone, history compendium etc.)

Now obviously the more info and life events you have the better because you can be sure you're working with the right person and not submitting invalid work.

It helps when you have a death date as well because then you know if you need to look for a marriage possibly, or if you even need to do a baptism.  If they died before age 8 this isn't necessary and Family Tree won't let you do it.  But if you don't have the info of a death, then you can submit it, but you could be submitting an unneeded ordinance.  However, given the nature of genealogical research, obtaining a death date isn't always possible so it isn't required.

Except for a few well documented lines of royalty – most genealogy sources, documentation and resources are  considered unreliable or in-valid before 1500. Generally you will run into issues with Family Tree trying to enter new data from before 1500 for this reason as it won't let you do it without requesting special permission.

Once you've submitted your work to Family Tree you have two options: 1) do the ordinances yourself or 2) release them for others to do.

The general authorities have asked us to have ordinances performed in "a reasonable amount of time" - in other words if you can't do them in "a reasonable amount of time" release them for others to do. 

It is not advised to hold onto a multitude of ordinances that you will not be able to perform yourself because this work needs to be done and the amount of work that needs to be done is immense.  The more work that is done allows other work to be done through the veil and into our lives and extends blessings around the world.   My personal recommendation is to hold onto those that are closest to you and allow others to be blessed by your work around the world as you submit it.  I may hold onto a few names for my trips to the temple but generally as soon as I submit them I release them to the temple to free more people up through the veil to help with the work.

Temple Submissions: THE RULES!

Temple ordinance submissions are very sacred and should be treated as such.  When you submit a name to the temple, you are affecting the priesthood, the House of the Lord, and even the lives and memories of the living in many instances as well as the wishes of the dead while they were living.

We believe in following the laws and respecting the wishes of others as Latter Day Saints and this is especially true with temple work. Not following the rules can result in some high-profile consequences, unwanted attention and even damage the work of the Lord.

This could be your name

So your name could end up in the news as single-handedly alienating an entire religion and you could win a personal call / letter from SALT LAKE CITY or the FIRST PRESIDENCY to YOU PERSONALLY!  (And not for a good reason either.)  The First Presidency recently stated with this event that these types of actions may result in disciplinary action or affect your ability to submit temple work.

Be aware the rules on genealogy submissions to the temple change from time to time from Salt Lake, so check on them periodically in New Family Search to make sure you're compliant. 

So what are the rules?

As of this writing they are, briefly:

• Must be deceased +1 year (366 days unless its a leap year then 367).

• If you are not closest living relative, must have been born +110 years – otherwise have permission from closest living relative - currently defined in New Family Search as in this order: living spouse, adult child, parent, adult sibling. (The age recently changed from 95 to 110). 

 It is noted on New Family Search that if you are not that individual doing the submissions and you don't have permission, then perhaps you should wait for hearts to soften or for a more appropriate time. 

• No Jewish Holocaust Victims you are not directly related to unless you have the written permission of every single living family member (or want to end up in the news and tarnish the reputation of the church and hinder the work from going forward, which I don't recommend.)

• No celebrities (unless you're related to them and can prove it).

You can submit names of family members who don't meet these requirements into New Family Search without doing the ordinances for them, or if you wish to keep them until the time is right for them to be done, reserve the ordinances to be done by you and hold off until the time is right to do them. Otherwise they can be done by other church members.

If the Lord can wait and has commanded us to wait or not do it, then we can wait and follow his instructions.  Doing genealogy and following the rules is as much an act of faith as it is an act of service.

On a spiritual note, the choices and friendships and relationships we have in this life carry consequences into the life that follows, and that includes whether temple work gets done or is desired not to be done by those still living.

Remember that this work ultimately will be completed, so be patient in this regards.  You will eventually find those whose families have put a hold on their work and refuse to let their work be done, I have found several.  I am a relative/descendant of the Fancher Wagon Train that was killed at Mountain Meadows, and understandably, those closer to the deceased than I am do not desire the Latter Day Saint church doing temple work for their deceased relatives who were killed there and have put a hold on their work and will not allow it.

Tempting as it may be in this instance...I wouldn't recommend it...

In the instance above, a church member decided to do a high-profile forbidden baptism contrary to the rules, and then an ex-member who is a journalist went searching for high-profile forbidden baptisms / rule-breaking and then broadcast it immediately to the world after snagging screen shots of it.  There are many forces  at play in this work and its best to stick to the ones that will bring about good rather than risking damaging the work.

Be patient.  There is much other work to be done in the meantime without breaking rules and harming the work.

In short, stick to *your* genealogy.  Elvis and Anne Frank will be just fine without your help at this stage and are in the Lord's hands.