As historians we are fascinated by the past. How people lived and thought, and how their actions affect us today. But have you thought about your personal past? In this Society we are religious cousins, but we may also be blood cousins. Our institutional history interweaves through the years, which means that our personal histories interweave as well. This year at the conference we had a great opportunity to see how we are related. The program familysearch has a great feature called Relatives Around Me. This feature allows users in the same space as other users to instantly see how they are related.
At last year’s conference in a mere 10 minutes of us using familysearch many of us discovered how we are related. This year during Discover Family Connections many of us found 4th, 5th or 6th cousins, and almost everyone was related to at least 9th or 10th cousins. Hopefully, next year we can really zero in on restoration cousins, and how we specifically connect through Kirkland, Independence and Nauvoo. So, if this sounds fun, get set up on familysearch.org and reach out to me anytime for help.
Here are two examples of connections:
Bev Thompson of Council Bluffs – Community of Christ
Bev’s second great-grandmother and her sister converted in England after hearing the missionaries. They traveled across the sea and planned to make their way to the Saints in Utah. One sister arrived in Council Bluffs first. Upon hearing rumors about polygamy, she and a group of others decided not to continue west, and planned to persuade (or warn) her sister and others when they arrived, to not continue. According to Bev’s family lore, Brigham Young heard about the dissenters and changed the route of the next groups so they would not meet in Council Bluffs. The sisters missed each other by a few miles and never saw each other again. The sister who arrived in Salt Lake City soon married Brigham Young’s son in a polygamous marriage.
I listened to Bev’s story and added her ancestors to the shared world tree on FamilySearch. As I linked her family to relatives already on the tree, I looked at the ‘memories’ feature. There we found copies of correspondence between these beloved sisters which are held in the Brigham Young University library. This brief letter is a window into the thoughts of the Utah sister on polygamy. The Utah sister also wrote of how hurt she felt when others spoke ill of Emma Smith or Emma and Joseph Smith’s sons.
Bev’s discovery is not an isolated case. If Bev and many Mountain Saints could gather and use the Relative Around me feature, we would likely find some close cousins and bring these dear sisters back together again though their descendants.
My own history is one of intertwining. My second great grandfather was Charles Abraham Hall. I had been told growing up that at one time held the title for the Temple Lot in Independence. When I was older and asked relatives who met him about him, it was a mixed review. Most of the family thought of him as a scoundrel but there were some who did not. I found first-hand accounts in the journals of George Q. Cannon of Charles arriving in Utah a few times to seek help in the litigation with the then Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was received well and did receive some help. He eventually decided that his future lay with the Mountain Saints. He returned to Independence, eventually renounced his leadership role with the Hedrickites/Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and in a wagon went off to Utah…supposedly. They stopped in Durango, Colorado (not on the direct route) and there my side of the family says he tried to convince his wife to go gold prospecting in Arizona. She declined for her own and her girls’ sake and earned enough money to travel with her daughters on to Salt Lake. The family was very upset when the Utah church said their mother had not been baptized. She had several times related that she was baptized (she was born in 1891) in the Missouri River in Independence! I’ll leave that as a historical riddle to see if you figure it out. It took years for me to actually look at the facts and figure out the problem.
I am hoping this next year to find connections to the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) members. Only Charles and his family came West. His parents were also members of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and stayed behind, as did the family of his wife Sara LaRue.
I love family history and how it connects all of us. And I love the restoration history and this society and how it connects us spiritually and historically. If this is interesting to you please sign up for a free account on familysearch and the next time we are together you can see how you are related to others.
Hints to get started-
- Gather a few basic family details: names of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents if you know them.
- Create your account on familysearch.org: You’ll be asked to set a username and password and verify your email.
- Build your tree: You’ll be added as the first person. Then you’ll be guided to enter your parents and grandparents. This simple step only happens once, and it’s the easiest way to get started.
If you have problems, they have a fantastic help feature with live volunteers to help or email me and I’ll be glad to see what I can do to help you.
