Those Old Timey Family Group Records

Want something to do over your Christmas vacation? How about looking at some old timey family group sheets.

You know the ones I'm talking about. If you are close to my age you recall the days before the internet and stable genealogy family history software. back when family group sheets were king. The really long ones that fit in those special two post binders?  No, I don't have mine anymore. I have a few sheets I inherited when family members passed away that I haven't brought myself to throw away yet. They were painstakingly filled out by hand, or perhaps typed. You had to use a special typewriter wide enough to fit them or you could cheat and fold the sheet in half to fit it in your regular typewriter. No matter how you did it it was work to get them filled out. And mistakes were hard work to fix. Nothing like the backspace button today.

Were were asked to fill them out for our selves and for our ancestors and send them to Salt Lake. They went to a huge archive and you could go to Salt Lake and look at them, copy them, or whatever. Nowadays we hop onto Family Search and that's it. We compare to original records and make quick edits when we need to. Don't get me wrong. I am fully in the digital age. I wouldn't go back for a minute. But there is something we lose when we go strictly digital. I can't see my grandmother's handwriting in the sheets she filled out. I can touch the paper she touched. If a baptism was done twice I could easily fit both dates in that box; one above the other. Paper gives you a flexibility that does exist in a database that someone else built.

So today I went looking for those old family group sheets. I know they are chock full of errors. Typos, strike-throughs, misconceptions, and outright lies. But those are in Family Search too, so how is this any worse? Plus there is an immediacy to the first paper collections of family history. Maybe the person filling out the form knew something, or someone, first hand. Maybe someone's name was spelled phonetically giving you a clue to how your great grandmother pronounced it. Maybe you will find the source of a transcription mistake made by your great uncle LeRoy. Maybe you will discover just how hard it was to research your ancestors 75 years ago and you'll gain a newfound respect for how few errors there were. Maybe something else altogether.

So with that in mind I give you.....

Family Group Records Collection, Archives Section, 1942-1969

Thousands of family group sheets waiting for your perusal. No, it is not indexed! No, there is no OCR searchable text! Yes it is alphabetized, though not perfectly. And identical names are organized chronologically. They are in roughly 1000 page chunks. So find that name. Hint: don't page through one at a time. Guess at what page number you want an type it in at the top left. You can narrow in on the name you want through repeated guessing. For example I might go to page 100, and then 200. If that is too far I'll go back to 150, then 175, until I get pretty close. Try it, you'll get the idea.

For extra credit, there are other collection of Family Group Sheets that are not online but are available on Microfilm. You can read about them in the Family Group Records Collection.

Southern States Mission Manuscript History

One of the best sources for research into the Southern States mission is the Southern States Mission manuscript history and historical reports, 1832-1964. I use it as a finding aid, since it really isn't a an original document. It is a scrapbook of sorts, collecting stories written in other sources about missionary work in the Southern States. Until recently, the only way to take a look a this record was to go to the Church History Library. Now, however, the microfilm has been digitized, at least most of it. Do you love pouring through microfilms? Well, it isn't the same. Few of us have an internet connection fast enough to get the same experience, but at least it is cheaper than an airline ticket. Have fun!

Update Feb 4, 2014: The CHL has changed the server this is on and the capacity for viewing the whole thing has tremendously improved. The flip side is that I have not been able to download entire volumes at once, only one page at a time. If anyone finds a way around this let me know.

Update Dec 27, 2015: The CHL has updated more and the individual links are no longer valid. Until I update the whole thing use this link to the CHL page that shows each volume.

Volume 1 Index 1832-1956

Volume 2 Part 1 1832-1876

Volume 2 Part 2 1877-1880

Volume 3 Part 1 1881-1882

Volume 3 Part 2 1883-1884

Volume 4 Part 1 1885-1886

Volume 4 Part 2 1887-1888

Volume 5 Part 1 1889-1890

Volume 5 Part 2 1891-1892

Volume 6 Part 1 1894-1895

Volume 6 Part 2 1895

Volume 7 Part 1 1896

Volume 7 Part 2 1896

Volume 8 1897

Volume 9 Part 1 1898

Volume 9 Part 2 1898-1899

Volume 10 1900

Volume 11 1901-1902

Volume 12 Part 1 1903-1904

Volume 12 Part 2 1905

Volume 13 1906-1907

Volume 14 1908-1909

Volume 15 1910-1912

Volume 16 1913-1915

Volume 17 Part 1 1916-1917

Volume 17 Part 2 1918-1919

Volume 18 1920-1923

Volume 19 Part 1 1924-1925

Volume 19 Part 2 1926-1927

Volume 20 1928-1930

You can also use the browse page the CHL has put together.

New CHL Online Catalogue

Several weeks ago, the Church History Library released its new online catalogue. Having already worked with the library remotely, I thought I would try out the new program.

The website, (http://churchhistorycatalog.lds.org/), was easy to use. I searched through the documents I have been considering looking up the next time I was in Salt Lake City, and picked one I thought was reasonably small: a page or two. Near the top of the page was a link for requesting that the document be scanned. The exact wording was "Request this item to be digitized"

I clicked on the link and was taken away from the church site, (with a prompt asking if I was sure I wanted to do that) which I thought was odd at first. The page that eventually opened gave me three choices, depending upon my request. The first was a general request, which seemed the most appropriate for me. I don't recall the other two. (This has actually been altered since then. Now it takes me directly to the correct request form. It even fills out the form, partially. And there is a note about a Digitization Fee, which I didnot get whan I made my first request).

Even though I am signed into my LDS account, I still had to fill out my name, email, phone number and zip code. Really it was very easy, so no complaints. I filled out the general request form and sent it off. Almost right away (less than 10 minutes), I got an reply, probably automated, saying I should have an answer by a certain date which in my case was 7 days out. I have no idea whether that is programmed into the reply or if that was an estimate based on the simplicity of my request. Maybe it is not automated.

Just six days later came the reply. A pdf file showing a scanned image of the file I wanted. It was one page and the scan was definately good enough to read.  I was pleased with the whole process. I needed no guidance or instruction, and I got exactly what I asked for. My only issue was I was given the impression that the image would be made available for vewing online. Instead I received an email attachment. I'm left to wonder if I misunderstood the intended process (which would not be unusual), or whether a different process was followed for some unknown reason. But my confusion on that point doesn't reduce the usefulness of this new service, and my excitment over new material to work with. Easily 9 out of 10. Maybe even 9.5!!! Thanks to the CHL!

OK! For those wondering about what I requested, it is a letter. I think the writer and the recipient might still be alive. So I was going to track them down. More on that on my next post.

Mormon History Database

I was recently introduced to a database on Mormon History. It is hosted by BYU and is called Studies in Mormon History. I was perhaps hoping for more, but for what it is, it isn't too bad. Primarily it is an online bibliography for articles, books and the like on Mormon history. There are a few links to where you can read the full text, but not for any of the sources I wanted so far. Plus when I went looking for a few specific subjects I found some key sources were missing. After a little digging, however, I found them. Turns out the subject index is completely manual, so if the person creating the entry didn't think to include the subject, it isn't included.

Even with some minor drawbacks, and they are just minor, it is pretty cool to have all that in one place. There is no way I could keep up on all the newest books out there, let alone read them.

P. S. check out the survey on the usefulness of the database too, but only after you have tried it.

LDS Historical Geography

While trying to find information about which Ward my grandmother attended I came accross the following page at FamilySearch.org

https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/LDS_Historical_Geography

Most of the sources are only available in the library, though some have an online version. If you are really hard up for the information, you can pay to have the microfilm sent to your local Family History Center. But a few, like the card files, aren't even available that way.

But if you are writing a history of your ward and you need to know when it was organized or if you want to find out which ward your ancestor lived in, then one of the sources on this list might be really helpful.

Happy Halloween.

Find a Grave

You might not think of a website centered around grave locations to be a treasure trove of historical information, but this one certainly is. In addition to recording the location of graves, family members can post photos of the grave and write notes. But many have taken the chance to post other photos and write short biographies. So while it was probably not intended to collect so much information and become a nexus of all kinds of family history, it is quickly moving in that direction. For my kind of historical research, this is worth checking out.

Find a Grave

Welsh Mormon History

This site is a collection of great information on Welsh immigrants and converts to the LDS Church. Journals, photos, biographies, and much more, hide in this well organized web site. Take a look around and see if you find someone to whom you are related. With over Six thousand individuals named at the site, you never know.

Welsh Mormon History

The LDS Mission Network

In one of my more recent projects I have run across the question of when did this mission begin and when was it replaced. The answer, most of the time could be found at The LDS Mission Network.

This site contains a fair amount of detail about when missions were organized and from which missions they were created. If the mission has a website, it includes the link. I was looking for the Southern States Mission. From the home page I followed a link to the Mission Index (on the left side bar), and scrolled down to Southen States Mission. Notice the link is gray? Even though it is gray, it still works. Links in blue are current missions. The globes next to the link are websites. Gray links are historic missions.

Following the Southern States Mission link I learn that the mission was organized on Nov 1st 1876, and that it was replaced on Jun 1st 1971 by the Georgia-South Carolina Mission. This is where I start having to dig deeper for the information I want. For example, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina were moved into the East Central States Misison in 1928. Texas and Louisiana were moved into their own mission in 1931. Florida and Alabama were carved out in 1960. By 1971 the Southern States Mission was not as large as it once was.

Regardless of the limitations of the format, the site is a wealth of information. It was fun just to explore for a bit even without a specific research question.

British Mormon History

I recently came across a site on British LDS History called MormonHistory.org. It really reminds me of the quality of the "Millenial Star" that the Saints in Britain put together on their own. Unlike some other early LDS publication, the British saints kept it together until it was replaced by the Liahona. The site is well organized and covers a broad array of topics and interests. But it does so with the understanding that Mormon History is not just what happened in America in general and Utah specifically. And British Mormon History is not just what the missionaries did in Great Britain.

To be honest I'm a little jealous they came up with it first. I have been mulling over something like this for a couple of months for the Southern States. Perhaps a reborn "Latter Day Saint Southern Star." Perhaps this British site is a good example of how it can be done.

Latter Day Saints Southern Star

Google books is a great place to find books that are out of copyright. One such book is the Latter Day Saint Souther Star. The original Southern Star was the newspaper for the Southern States Mission. It was primarily published under the direction of Ben E. Rich. Beginning December 3rd, 1898 it was published for just two years. At the end of the year, President Rich bound the 52 issues into a single volume. At the end of the second year he created a second volume. It is these two volumes that have been digitized and are available on Google books.

Volume 1
Volume 2

The volumes are a trove of information about the various conferences of the Southern States Mission.

Centerplace for Zion

OK, here is one I hadn't seen before. The Centerplace for Zion is a site maintained by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Restorationist movement. They separated from the RLDS Church in the 1980's over a number of doctrinal issues, including the ordination of women to the priesthood. 

As an online historical resource, they have provided some very useful early resources. The site includes...

Times and Seasons

Messenger and Advocate

Evening and Morning Star

LDS History Blogs

Here is an interesting site that you might have missed. LDS History Blog. The premise is to gather in one spot local LDS histories. Hal Pierce has written "The History of the Rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" in a handful (eight as of the time I write this) of U. S. States. So far they have all been written by Hal himself but he openly offers to put up"Ward, Stake, Area, and/or State histories" that are sent to him.

Anyone with historical information about the rise of the Church is invited to share that information by sending it to this website and it will be added.

Mormon Publications of the 20th Century

I have usually avoided the 20th Century of Mormon History. There was something a little too current about the names and places. To avoid possibly reporting on someone still alive, and copyright violations, I have stayed in the 19th century. But many of the people I am researching have a habit of living past 1900. So I will need to probe more current resources from time to time.

BYU hosts a useful site with electronic copies of a handfull of 20th Century publications called, curiously enough Mormon Publications of the 20th Century. Like other similar sites, the interface can be slow and cumbersome. Searches often return nearly every item in the archive making it difficult to focus your time. Unlike other sites, entires file cannot be downloaded. for offline reading. The only option is to save individual articles as a .pdf file. Unlike some .pdf files online the text of these can be hilighted and copied, which is a lot easier than transcribing.

New York Times

Another useful tool for research is the New York Times Archive. At one time the NYT was the closest thing to a national newspaper the United States had.
Like some news sources today we may not always agree with the content, but it has considerable value regardless.

The Archive is free for articles from 1851-1980. It provides a .pdf file you can save to your hard drive. The search interface is fairly simple and easy to use. Give it a try. I have used it to find articles on Mormon activity in Tennessee.

L. Tom Perry Special Collections at BYU

On a recent trip to Utah I stopped at the Harold B Lee Library. In the special collections library, named for L. Tom Perry, is a collection of papers that at one time belonged to Elder John H. Gibbs.

The collection consists of two boxes with several folders in each. The originals are kept in the vault and normally copies are used when some one like me wants to read through the material. And that is just what I did. I walked up to the desk and asked if I could take a look for a paper I was writing. We had some trouble finding the collection. After some unproductive searches I recalled that I had the manuscript number in my notes: MSS741. Even that didn't help. Until the person helping me thought to add a V in front of the number for "vault" and there it was. Note, it is filed under "John Henry Gibbs."

I filled out some forms, and had an interview with an archivist. The folders may be looked at one at a time. So I looked through a book called a finding aid to help me decide which folders I would get first. I was taken to the manuscript reading room where I waited for the first folder to be brought out. After being given specific instruction on keeping the contents of the folder in order I at down and began to read.

Just a little hint of what I found. A record of baptisms in the North West Tennessee Conference. A hand drawn map of the Cane Creek area and the location of members homes. A handwritten note from a mobber telling him to leave the area. Letters written to his wife. A hymnbook in his possession when he died.

But as wonderful and useful as this will be for my paper, there were a few glitches. One of the folders that should have contained copies of the originals was empty. So the archivist had to go in the back and pull the original. According to the finding aid the document I wanted was in folder 13 in box 2. But when the original folder was opened before me the contents didn't match. The finding aid matched what was in the copy folders, but not the originals folders. We ended up pulling the entire manuscript box and looking folder by folder. Not a single folder in the original folders matched the finding aid.

Amidst all this the power went out.... twice! There was talk of evacuating the library when it went out the second time, but it eventually came back on.

I did request that some copies would be made. I was given several red plastic sleeves to place around the copies I wanted. The staff would then make the copies which I could have sent to me, or I could come back the next day. Sometimes, if someone is in a rush they will try to get them ready the same day, but with the power going out, they were just too far behind. I arranged to have the copies mailed to my home.

When they arrive, I will excitedly pour over them, and I'll post an update here.

Early Latter-day Saints

Another online source I have used is Early Latter-day Saints. Although this website advertises itself as a Pioneer database. I have had success using it to track down other early members back to 1829.

A joint effort between The Nauvoo Land and Records Office and the Pioneer Research Group, the database contains over 60,000 names. But more importantly for amateur historians, it references the sources. Nauvoo Temple records, and other Nauvoo records, as well as research of modern historians were used to create this. It is an ongoing project.

So if you have someone in mind, this database will show you what other records may contain more information you might be interested in. For example, I didn't know that a handful of autobiographies were collected for the early saints and are on file in the LDS archives.

Journals of Early Mormons

Another great source for journals, letters and other writings of early Mormons is at BOAP's web site. BOAP stands for the Book of Abraham Project. But there is so much more there. I'll let you explore to find the details on your own. I found...

Some members with a connection to Tennessee;

Henry G Boyle: an early Southern States Mission President.

David W. Patten: an early missionary in Tennessee (he was also in the Quorum of the Twelve, and one of the first martyrs)

Wilford Woodruff: a companion of Patten and was in charge of the mission for a while, so was the equivalent of a mission president in Tennessee before there were mission presidents (he also held some other positions in Church leadership).

In addition to Mormons with connections to Tennessee, there were a few relatives of mine;

Vinson Knight: One of the first four Bishops in Nauvoo. He wrote a letter describing events in Far West, Missouri.

Gilbert Belnap: Joined he church as a young man. He once spied on an anti Mormon mob assembling at Carthage.

Charles Lambert: He worked on the Nauvoo temple, even staying long after the rest of the saints left so it could be finished.

Utah Digital Papers

For someone who specializes in Mormon History but doesn’t live anywhere near Utah, the Utah Digital Newspapers is a useful source. Collections once only available along the Wasatch Front now can be perused at your leisure. Of course even if you do live near a Utah Public Library. This is still a very useful tool.

It was started in 2001 by the University of Utah with a demonstration grant. The idea was to prove it could be done. The program was so successful they received more grants. Other organizations, including BYU, have joined the effort.

Like most newspapers, you need to be careful about what was printed. The accuracy of the information is not guaranteed, only that it was printed. And just being in print is not proof that what was printed was true. Many things were printed for obvious polemical reasons. Makes you wonder about what my great grandchildren will read in papers published today that will seem outlandishly partisan to them.

The database is large, and contains a huge number of papers. Although it is far from comprehensive, new collections are being added all the time. Check the homepage for the newest ones. Check out how your ancestors we portrayed in the papers. You might be surprised how closely watched the comings and goings of ordinary people were.

Mormon Missionary Diaries

One of my favorite online tools is Mormon Missionary Diaries. Released in around 2004, it was a truly ambitious project. Not only did the project team transcribe hundreds of missionary journals, but they also scanned every page, including the covers, in color. They also made the scans search able. So if I think a person or place name was mistyped, it is a simple matter to locate the original writing and making my own judgement. Plus the transcriptions maintain the original pagination of the diary. It was a lot of effort.

The diaries are organized by mission region, and by missionary. The interface isn’t the fastest. So I usually skip to the printing version of the diary I want (found at the bottom of each diaries’ index) and save it to my hard drive. Then I can read, search and explore without the delay that comes mostly from working over the Internet.

Included in a section apart from the diaries themselves, is a biography on each diarist. Don’t hesitate to read through the biographies. Even after almost a year of researching the Cane Creek Massacre, I found new sources of information just by reading the biography of John H. Gibbs.
One note on searching; the diaries retain the original spelling of the diarists. So if you are looking for references to something specific, like “Tennessee”, recognize that not every young man from Utah knew how to spell it correctly.

Emigration to Zion after 1868

Mormons are great record keepers. The Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868 is one example. It lists the Mormon pioneers across the plains and covers up to the advent of rail travel to Utah. It is pretty good but it isn't complete, so they are always looking for help improving it. Check to see if your pioneer ancestor is on it. If not, let them know. But emigration to Zion didn't end until the 20th century. There are thirty years of people coming to Utah, and the surrounding areas to join the saints in Zion. The record for that is less documented.

In late October or early November of 1884, shortly after the Cane Creek Massacre, many of the saints from Cane Creek who had not left already, followed John Morgan to Manassa, Colorado. According to B. H. Roberts, the church heavily subsidized this particular emigrant company. But neither the Family History Library nor the Church Archives have an official record available showing who was in the group. An online account said that 177 saints were in that group, but it did not quote the source. Arrgggh.

While in Salt Lake Last week I stopped in at the Family History Library. I thought perhaps I would have better luck in person. After a fruitless search I made my way over to the Archive. (I was able to to put some faces with the names I have come to know.) One of the archivists suggested looking at the Stake History that include the Manassa, Colorado Ward. Perhaps they will have a record of who arrived and where they were from. So I took five minutes and found it. Quickly I wrote down the number of the microfilm and took it up to the reference desk. Unfortunately I was there on New Year's Eve. They were closing early (at 4:00) and not taking any more requests from the stacks after 3:30 (it was 3:35). I had spent too much time at the Family History Library.

I'll be back. My next trip may be in August, and the Archives will be in their new home by then. Another excuse for a visit.