Begat Chat

WorldVitalRecords.com Launches World Genealogy Collection

The following is an announcement from FamilyLink.com:

WorldVitalRecords.com Launches World Genealogy Collection
A billion names from 33 countries coming online

PROVO, UT, February 4, 2008 -- WorldVitalRecords.com (a service of FamilyLink.com) released today its flagship product, the World Collection, an online genealogy database containing more than 1.5 billion names from 35 countries.

WorldVitalRecords.com's World Collection launch includes significant collections from countries such as: England, Canada, Australia, France, Ireland, Scotland, Hungary, and Portugal.

"All over the world there are wonderful people who are digitizing and preserving historic records," said Paul Allen, CEO, FamilyLink.com, Inc. "During the past year we have traveled and met with these content providers from more than a dozen countries. We are pleased today to announce that many of them have chosen to let us distribute their genealogical databases on the Internet."

More than 20 companies have partnered with WorldVitalRecords.com to make this new collection possible. They include Find My Past, Genealogical Publishing Company, Archive CD Books Australia, British Origins, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Archive CD Books Canada, Eneclann, Quintin Publications, Gould Genealogy, Familias Argentinas, Godfrey Memorial Library, and Moravian Heritage Society.

"This is a very exciting announcement for our WorldVitalRecords.com members. As we enter our second year, we have accomplished much including having more than 24,000 paid subscribers, 2 million users on our We're Related application on Facebook, and have announced 2 billion names in our two major content collections, the US and World Collection. The number two seems to be common theme in this announcement as we enter our second stage," said David Lifferth, President, FamilyLink.com, Inc.

The World Collection includes birth, marriage and death records, census records, passenger lists, immigration lists, emigration records, foreign newspapers, cemetery records, reference materials, land records, family histories, historical records, city directories, business directories, township histories, civil service records, telephone directories, government records, war records, and maps, atlases, and gazetteers.

Census records from the UK comprise WorldVitalRecords.com's largest database in the World Collection. These records include the 1851, 1861, 1881, and 1891, 1901 censuses. These records are the official civil registration records for England and Wales from 1837 to the present. All of these censuses will be periodically posted county by county throughout the year. These censuses include images, and also a key-word searchable index.

"Alongside birth, marriage, and death records, census records are the most important building block for family historians," said Elaine Collins, Commercial Director, Find My Past. "We feel WorldVitalRecords.com is set for success, and we are excited to make our census records more accessible to an American audience who wouldn't normally think of Find My Past as the first place to look for census records."

The Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG) lists is another large database containing almost 9,000 passenger lists and millions of names. The ISTG records include information such as surname, captain's name, port of arrival/departure, and name of the ship. These records are the result of the work of more than 500 volunteers over a ten-year period.

"I am very excited about this partnership. I remember when ISTG was one-year old, and everyone was supporting us. In return, I'm happy to partner with WorldVitalRecords.com because they provide a service that is affordable and easily accessible on the Internet," said Patty MacFarlane McCormack, Founder, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild.

The World Collection also includes newspapers from Australia, the Bahamas, Canada (over 80 newspaper representing all provinces), Chile, Ecuador, England, Ireland, and Mexico (more than 150 newspapers from 15 states).

Genealogical Publishing Company also adds more than 600 large databases to the World Collection including colonial and Irish genealogy, royal ancestry, and family history.

"We have been publishing at Genealogical.com for 55 years, and we look forward to expanding our work into new territories, such as WorldVitalRecords.com," said Barry Chodak, President, Genealogical Publishing Company.

Individuals can access more than 5,000 genealogical databases, more than 2 billion names (these names are being added throughout the year), and the World Collection at WorldVitalRecords.com

About FamilyLink.com, Inc.

FamilyLink.com, Inc. is a family of services that includes WorldVitalRecords.com, FamilyLink.com, and We're Related on Facebook. The focus of the company is to provide innovative tools to connect families.

About World Vital Records, Inc.

Founded in 2006, by Paul Allen and several key members of the original Ancestry.com team, World Vital Records, Inc. provides affordable genealogy databases and family history tools used by more than 470,000 monthly visitors, 6.4 million monthly pages views, and more than 24,000 subscribers. With thousands of databases including birth, death, military, census, and parish records, WorldVitalRecords.com makes it easy to extend your family tree. World Vital Records also runs FamilyLink.com, a social network for genealogists, and We're Related, a popular Facebook application with more than 2 million users. Some of its partners include Everton Publishers, Quintin Publications, Archive CD Books Australia, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Archive CD Books Canada, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., SmallTownPapers®, Accessible Archives, Genealogical Publishing Company, Find My Past, Godfrey Memorial Library, Find A Grave, and FamilySearch™. Investors include vSpring Capital and several angel investors.

ArtsResources.net - Arts Directory

I recently received an invitation from ArtsResources.net to add my url to their site. Before I added it I decided to look through all the genealogy links they currently have and I was impressed with the long list. I am going to have fun looking through some of these websites.

Here is the list.

New Family Search is coming to Sacramento!

It appears that the New Family Search that we've all been beta-testing for a few years now is live in 7 different temples:

Orlando, FL
St. Louis, MO
Billings, MT
Reno, NV
Albuquerque, NM
Cardston, Alberta, Canada
Villahermosa, Mexico

And 19 other temples have recently been announced to operate with the new program within 90 days:

Boston, MA
Detroit, MI
Columbus, OH
Winter Quarters, NE
Bismark, ND
Snowflake, AZ
Mesa, AZ
Las Vegas, NV
Dallas, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
San Antonio, TX
Sacramento, CA
Fresno, CA
Redlands, CA
San Diego, CA
Oakland, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Laie, HI
Kona, HI

I'm very excited to see my temple, Sacramento, CA, announced for the next 90 days. I will run some temple names as soon as they start using the new Family Search and let you know how it goes!

Renee Zamora has a spreadsheet of all the temple districts here.

There are currently 124 operating LDS temples and 12 announced or under construction. To see a complete list, click here.

My Genealogy is All Done....

How many of you have heard that line before? I've heard at least 5 members of the LDS church say that their genealogy is all done. "So-and-So" has done it all. Real genealogists roll their eyes or just smile a fake smile.

There's an article in this month's Ensign titled, It's All Been Done. Loretta Evans lists some questions to think about if this is how you feel.

* Have you made records of your own life?
* Do you have accurate records of your immediate family?

* Do you have copies of your ancestors’ records?

* Have you checked your genealogy for completeness and accuracy?

* Have you found your ancestors in original documents?

* Do you have a family organization?

* Have you considered descendancy research?

* What do you know about your ancestors’ lives?

* Do you have family photographs or documents?

* Do you own family heirlooms?

* Do you have time to serve others in family history?

Family & Personal Histories

I found a great list of items to be included in our personal and family histories at the LDS website. They come from one of their lesson manuals, Lesson 19: Family and Personal Histories,” The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part B, 152.

The following items could be included in a Personal History:

1. Name in full
2. Birth: day, month, and year; house, hospital, or other location where born; town, county, and state or country; family circumstances at time of birth

3. Father: complete name; date and place of birth; his father’s name; his mother’s maiden name

4. Mother: maiden name; date and place of birth; her father’s name; her mother’s maiden name

5. Brothers and sisters: names; dates and places of birth; names of spouses and children; other information

6. Blessing: when named and blessed—day, month, and year; where blessed—ward or branch, stake or district, town, county, and state or country; by whom blessed

7. Baptism: where—ward or branch, stake or district, town, county, and state or country; when—day, month, and year; by whom

8. Confirmation: when—day, month, and year; where—ward or branch, stake or district, town, county, and state or country; by whom

9. Patriarchal blessing: date, place, and name of patriarch

10. Schooling: when and where first schooling took place, schools attended, teachers remembered best, certificates or diplomas received, outstanding experiences

11. Marriage: to whom; day, month, and year; place of ceremony—town, county, and state or country; circumstances of courtship and ceremony

12. Childhood memories: adventures, accidents, thoughts, amusing incidents, friends, and so on

13. Faith-promoting experiences: personal; in other family members’ lives that affected you; circumstances surrounding your conversion to the gospel

14. Health: record, including sickness and accidents

15. Home life: duties in the home, home activities, relationship with brothers and sisters, places lived, family trips and vacations, pets

16. Hobbies and talents: musical, artistic, and creative abilities; lessons and workshops taken; things you like to do

17. Goals and future plans: things to accomplish in vocation, home life, or Church service

18. Other incidents: include Church experiences

19. Include appropriate pictures, if available, to enhance your story

The Family History should include much of the same information as a personal history. Here are a few other ideas:

1. National origin.
2. Places and dates of residence.

3. Occupations.

4. The first family member to be converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and names of missionaries who taught him or her the gospel.

Information to be included in a Personal Journal:

1. Goals, hopes, and aspirations
2. Work experiences

3. Problems and how they were resolved

4. Joys and sorrows with family members

5. Relationships with others

6. Deepest thoughts

7. Faith-promoting experiences

8. Significant family events

9. Triumph over adversity

10. Special learning experiences

11. Personal testimony

12. Counsel for future generations who will read the journal

A Father's Day Tribute to my Ancestors

In going along with some of the other genealogy bloggers, I am going to post about my paternal line of Fathers.

First, and most important to me, is my own Father. Nick is a hard worker, very dedicated to his family. He is a big softy (though he tries to hide it :) He always tries to help his kids in any way he can and especially loves to spoil his 13 grandchildren. I'm the baby of 6 kids, which allowed me special treatment growing up as well as one-on-one time once all my older siblings were gone. In his 60s now, I hope he will live a long time and get to see all his children and grandchildren grow up. My 2 sons absolutely adore him. My 2 1/2 year old was able to live near him for his first 18 months and they became best friends. He is truly one of my best friends as well. Love you Dad!

(Katie and Nick Summer 2000)

Next is Nick's father, Max. He was a wonderful grandfather who loved to sing and play sports. He moved from New York to Chicago to be near us when I was in Junior High and he consistently came to all my sporting events. When I decided to try out for the golf team, having never played golf before, he took me to the driving range and taught me how to hold the clubs and play the game. One of the best lessons I learned was to take a "mulligan" every now and again :)

(Max in 1998)

Then there's Max's father, Leander, who I never knew. He died when Max was a young child. He was a very good commercial artist and would paint billboards around town.

(Lee - 1920s)

Lee's father was Emil, who was the first immigrant in our line. He was born in Norway in 1866 and came to the United States in 1870. He worked for the Postal Service and had 9 children. Seven of them lived to maturity and then when Lee died at age 33, Emil and his wife raised their 3 grandchildren.

(Emil in 1912)

Emil's father was Halvor, born in 1823. He and his wife found the LDS religion and joined the church in Norway. His wife joined first in 1857 and he 11 years later in 1868. They endured much ridicule until they could immigrate to America and live with the Saints in Utah.

(Halvor in 1884)

Found: Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness

Miriam Midkiff from Ancestories has been very kind in letting me know what happened to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness the past few days. Here is a forwarded email message from the owner of RAOGK, Bridgett Schneider.

From: Bridgett Schneider
Date: Jun 9, 2007 4:15 PM

Subject: [Raogk-announce] Site Downtime

By now the majority of you know that RAOGK had been off-line for a few days. We are at least 80% back in service, and should be 100% by Wednesday (June 13). We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone.

The outage was due to computer hardware problems with our uplink to the Internet, something we had no control over. However, due to that outage we have had to go with another Internet provider. Although we are using the same URL (http://www.raogk.org) the way the Internet recognizes our domain has changed. It takes time for the Internet to recognize this change and to find us again.

For those who may be interested in the particulars of why we were off-line and why we needed to find another provider after 7 years, I've provided a timeline and explanation below. For those who are just happy we are back online and that the site has not disappeared forever, thank you for your patience while waiting for us to reappear.

(I didn't include the lengthy description of what happened. If you want the whole story email me and I'll forward it along)

Lost: Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness

I just received an email from Phyllis in Sunbury, Ohio letting me know that my link to the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness website doesn't work. After much searching on Google I can not seem to find the website. I found 3 different URLs for it, but none of them are working right now.

www.raogk.com
www.raogk.org
http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnraogk/index.htm

Does anyone know where their website went?

Branching Out on Your Family Tree

There was an excellent article titled, Branching Out on Your Family Tree, in last month's Ensign. It was written by George D. Durrant and gives wonderful insight into family research. I've met many people who only seem to care about their direct ancestors. This article is from a grandparents' perspective on wanting every descendant included. Here is an excerpt:

I remember, as a grandfather, having a picture taken of our family. Like other grandparents, I did not want a single descendant left out. What a task it was to arrange everyone’s schedule so we could all be in the same place at the same time. But it was worth it.
I think that is how most families feel. Grandparents love their children and grandchildren. They want to spend eternity with them. So why wouldn’t our ancestors feel the same way about their posterity? I think they would.

As Latter-day Saints, we have the priesthood power to provide temple ordinances that can seal families together forever. So just as my grandparents didn’t want to leave even one of their children or grandchildren out of the family portrait, they wouldn’t want to leave even one of them out of their eternal family.

Yet as we reach back through time on our pedigree, we sometimes provide the saving ordinances for only one child of each couple on our pedigree chart—the child who is our direct ancestor. We seal that child to his or her parents, but we forget about the rest of the children in that family. We leave our ancestral families like an incomplete family portrait with many empty spaces.

Lowest Ancestry Offer Ever?

I just received this following notice by email. I've never seen an Ancestry membership so cheap. A few years ago I bought a US membership for around $200, and a few months ago I bought one for $99. This annual payment would be $83.40. A World Deluxe Membership would be $155.40 annually. I wonder if all the new developments with FamilySearch are getting them worried. Either way, the great deal ends this Friday, May 25th.

I only have an hour! What can I accomplish?

I went to a Family History lesson a few weeks ago at church. The teacher passed out this list titled, "I only have an hour! What can I accomplish?" I unfortunately don't know who put it together, it certainly wasn't the teacher since he said he knew nothing about Family History! I assume this is a list that floats around the LDS wards and stakes. If you know who put it together please let me know.

* Start a list of events or "learnings" or descriptions you would like to include in a personal family history

* Sort family or ancestral photos by person or couple or family and get them into acid free manila envelopes

* Sort photos that need to be identified into envelopes and mark the name of the person you think could help you identify them so that they will be ready to grab when you have an opportunity to visit with that person

* Write a letter to one extended family member asking for one or two specific items of information. Include a SASE for assurance of their reply.

* Go to familysearch.org and look up the ordinance dates of 5 ancestors and get them entered into your database

* Re-type a biographical sketch you have in your possession onto the computer and save it to a disk, CD or flash drive for preservation

* Pray for direction

* Use a digital camera or scanner and make copies of ancestral photos to save to a CD and preserve

* Write one chapter in your personal history on any subject of your choosing

* Make an appointment with your Family History Consultant to go to the library or Family History Center or to talk over "what's next" needs

* Create a time-line of a person or couple you know you want to do more research on

* Plan a trip to the Salt Lake or Provo family history libraries; go to the Family History Library Catalog Section of familysearch.org and make copies of records you will want to check when you get there

* Make a list of cemeteries you want to visit and take pictures of headstones; check on-line to see if there are records that allow you to look up headstone locations before you get there

* Type one obituary into the "notes" section of your software program

* Enter as much data as you have on any person in your ancestral line

* Go with your Family History Consultant and "update your records" or prepare names for submission using TempleReady

A few others I might add:

* Do Family Search Indexing

* Run your file through PAF Insight (mainly for LDS researchers)

* Call your oldest living relative and ask him/her some questions

* Try a free trial of one of the popular genealogy sites

* Get a library card at your local library to gain access to HeritageQuestOnline

Footnote.com and Family Search team together

I received the following press release from Footnote.com. I am excited to hear about their free 7 day trial and plan to test it out this week. Hopefully it will be a great asset to Family History Centers.

FOOTNOTE.COM TEAMS WITH FAMILY SEARCH TO RELEASE REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION FILES

-Revolutionary War Pension Files Will Be Available For Free at All Family History Centers Worldwide-

Lindon, Utah – May 15, 2007 –Today, Footnote.com announced an agreement with FamilySearch, historically known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FamilySearch is the world’s largest repository of genealogical information.

This new partnership brings together two organizations that will utilize their combined resources to digitize and make available many large historical collections. The first project will be the three million U.S. Revolutionary War Pension files which will be published for the first time online in their entirety.

“The Revolutionary War Pensions will provide an intimate look into the historical events and individuals that shaped our country’s history,” said Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “We are excited about this relationship which enables us to put many more historical collections online.”

The Revolutionary War Pension Files feature original records that include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns and other miscellaneous personnel pay and supply records of American Army Units from 1775-1783. They provide a wealth of new information for historians and genealogists which they can share with other colleagues and family members.

“We are excited to partner with Footnote.com to provide historians and genealogists alike a tremendous source of data that will assist greatly in putting puzzle pieces together to create a rich family history,” said Paul Nauta, manager of Public Affairs for FamilySearch. “This affiliation allows us to better meet one of our goals to provide as much data online as fast as possible for those working on their genealogy.”

Also, as a part of this agreement, Footnote.com will be accessible for free in all FamilySearch operated centers worldwide. FamilySearch has more than 4,500 Family History Centers in 70 countries.

Since partnering with the National Archives in January 2007, Footnote.com has digitized over eight million historical records. Each month an additional two million documents are digitized and added to the site. Footnote.com estimates that by the end of 2007 it will have made over 25 million digitized documents available on its web site.

To see free examples of the Revolutionary War Pension Files, go to www.footnote.com/revolutionary-war.php.

Footnote.com has now begun offering free seven-day trial memberships. To start a free trial, visit www.footnote.com/freetrial.php

About Footnote, Inc.

Founded in 1997 as iArchives, Inc., Footnote is a subscription-based website that features searchable original documents that provide users with an unaltered view of the events , places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com all are invited to come to share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.

About Family Search

FamilySearch (historically known Genealogical Society of Utah) is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FamilySearch maintains the world's largest repository of genealogical resources accessed through FamilySearch.org, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries.

Virtual Surname Wall

I found the following announcement on Dick Eastman's site today. Here is the breaking news from the Southern California Genealogical Society:

Write Your Family Names on Our Virtual Surname Wall
You are invited to add your family surnames to the Southern California Genealogical Society's Virtual Surname Wall. This feature will be unveiled at the 38th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, June 8-10 in Burbank, CA.

There is no charge for this service, and the offer is open to the public. We encourage you to forward this invitation to your cousins, genealogy-related email lists, society members, your genealogy acquaintances, or other family historians. Entries submitted by May 22 will be included in the 2007 Virtual Surname Wall at Jamboree; however, we will continue to accept information after that date. later submissions will be included in a free-access online database that will be launched this summer.

Although this project is being sponsored by the Southern California Genealogical Society, we welcome family information from any geographic area, not just California. You may submit up to 10 surnames. We plan to allow for more surnames to be added and will let you know when we are able to accept more names.

Participants will be asked for the following information. You may wish to have your family group sheets, pedigree charts, or genealogy database available for reference.

1. Your family surnames (including spelling variations).
2. The geographic area in which they lived, or the migration path.
3. The associated period of time.

Your participation in the Virtual Surname Wall project is completely voluntary. Surname Wall information will be maintained by SCGS and may be included in printed or a searchable free online database that would be accessible on the SCGS website at www.scgsgenealogy.com. Your participation in the project is your authorization to include your surname information in any printed or searchable online databases that may be developed.

Of course, we have instituted steps to protect your privacy. Your contact information will not be displayed, either in print or online. You will have the option of asking SCGS to serve as intermediary, or authorizing SCGS to release your contact information should we receive an inquiry regarding a possible family connection.

If you have questions at any time about the Virtual Surname Wall, please contact us at jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com. If you are attending Jamboree, be sure to stop by the Tech Zone to check out this new resource.

Click here for more information on Southern California's Genealogy Jamboree.

Click here to add your names to our Virtural Surname Wall.

Download the flyer here.

I love having my information online for relatives to find me so I just added 10 surnames to the Virtual Surname Wall. It was hard to pick just 10, but the winners were:

Abbott
Bickel/Bickle
Farrar
French
Hersam/Hersom
Horne/Horn
MacAusland/McAuslane
Mullins
Sherrill
Wilson

A Mother's Day Tribute

Mothers are very special people. For this Mother's Day, May 13, 2007, I would like to share some of the wonderful childhood memories I have of my mother. She taught me things, she spent time with me, she encouraged me to succeed, and every moment depicts her love for me.

When I was in first grade there was a reading competition in my class. I think we got a gold star for every 10 books we read and a gift certificate to Pizza Hut for each 100. Somehow, by either my mom's competitive nature or by my own, we both decided that I had to read the most in the class. Mom would take me to the library once or twice a week to get more and more books. Given, these were books with 2 or 3 words on each page, but they counted towards my quota all the same. I ended up reading 1,000 books and got my name and picture in the local newspaper. And 20 years later I still love to read and talk to my mom about books. Sometimes when I can't find a book at my library she offers to buy it for her personal collection and lets me borrow it. What a generous mom!

A few years later my mom decided to teach me how to cross-stitch, one of her favorite hobbies. I think she taught my older sister as well, but Melissa didn't enjoy it like I did. Over the years my mom has helped me go from making a tiny little turtle to cross-stitching a Family Tree. She helped me progress from small patterns to bigger ones until I knew how to do it on my own and now we can sit and share our finished products. She cross-stitches baby blankets for each of her grandchildren, which inspired me to cross-stitch birth records and Christmas stockings for my children. Thank you for sharing your hobby with me, Mom.

Another memory I will always have of my mom is a meal she would make whenever I got sick. I don't know when it started but I loved to have her make “Eggs & Toast.” She would soft boil the eggs and butter the toast and then cut them both into bite-size pieces and mix them together. It would always taste so good when I was home sick. And even when I was older in college, I got mononucleosis and she was there to take me to the doctor and nurse me back to health with Eggs & Toast. She has helped a lot each time I've had a baby as well, especially during the first few months of morning sickness. Someday I will take care of you Mom! (but not too soon, right?)

My parents shared the title of my “biggest fan” when I played basketball. It was an early love of mine and they put me into camps every summer and paid for lots of events through the years. My mom was the one who started buying me fake Superman tattoos to wear to my games in high school. It became my “trademark.” She also decided she wanted to keep my stats each game and would show up with her clipboard and printed charts. My teammates thought she was over the top, and she was! We lived in a small town with lots of sports coverage in the newspapers, so my mom clipped out every article that mentioned me and now I have 2 photo albums full of memories. My parents were so supportive through my years of basketball that I feel bad for any child who doesn't have parents come to their games. Thank you for always being there Mom and Dad.

One more memory and this one is the most current. After I got married my mom helped me to get interested in Family History and taught me almost everything I know about researching and finding ancestors. Her and my father have done a lot of work on their lines so I have concentrated mostly on my husband's line. My mom has patiently helped me learn how to use PAF, to find more ancestors, and then to submit ancestors' names for LDS temple work. This has been a wonderful experience for me as we work together and share our heritage. What a worthwhile interest she has awakened in me and I hope we will continue to share it together.

(Cathy and Katie outside the Nauvoo, Illinois Temple in August 2002)

Thank goodness for mothers and especially mine! I never truly knew how much she loved me until I became a mother myself. What a wonderful blessing it is to know my mother loves me unconditionally and always will. I love you Mom! May we share many more years and memories together. And I pray that I will emulate your example with my own children.

Family History Service

Here is a great quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley in the March 1995 Ensign. The article is titled A Century of Family History Service.

There is nothing else to compare with this treasury of family history on the face of the whole earth. I feel the Lord has designed that it should be so. This is his church which carries his name, and one of its purposes is to make available to the millions beyond the veil of death the full blessings that lead to eternal life.
There are millions across the world who are working on family history records. Why? Why are they doing it? I believe it is because they have been touched by the spirit of this work, a thing which we call the spirit of Elijah. It is a turning of the hearts of the children to their fathers. Most of them do not understand any real purpose in this, other than perhaps a strong and motivating curiosity.

There has to be a purpose in this tremendous expenditure of time and money. That purpose, of which we bear solemn witness, is to identify the generations of the dead so that ordinances may be performed in their behalf for their eternal and everlasting blessing and progress.

The real fruit of this identification finds expression only in the House of the Lord, the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And as the work of family history research goes on and grows, there is a concomitant flowering of temples. More temples have been constructed and dedicated in the last dozen years than were constructed and dedicated in all the prior history of the Church. This is the great season of temple building and temple activity. The beautiful temple in Orlando, Florida, was recently dedicated. A wonderful new building on the high bench overlooking Bountiful, Utah, will be dedicated in January. A dozen more are in some stage of development.

I am confident that the Lord will permit us and direct us to go on building these sacred structures as we become worthy of them. Our important test of that worthiness will lie in doing the research that becomes the foundation for the major work to be carried on in them.

The work of the Lord is a work of salvation. For whom? Through the grace of our Eternal Father and without any effort on the part of the beneficiaries, the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God has made it possible for all to rise from the dead. And beyond this, by virtue of that divine sacrifice and through his limitless grace and goodness, opportunities for eternal life may be opened to all through personal or vicarious service.

That which goes on in the House of the Lord, and which must be preceded by research, comes nearer to the spirit of the sacrifice of the Lord than any other activity of which I know. Why? Because it is done by those who give freely of time and substance, without any expectation of thanks or reward, to do for others that which they cannot do for themselves.