Genealogy, Discovering our ancestors!

We go back to 1793 and 9 generations. I only know when my g-g-grandparents were born because of the tombstone that is in St. Joseph's cemetary in Shrule. I still don't know what Mary Egan's maiden name was. No records in Shrule that we know of that mention her.

And all your ancestors are from Ireland then? Don't you hate it when you hit a road block? Have you been to Ireland to see this tombstone? Met any of your relatives back there?

mmh.. most you get are dates when you get really far back, but my mom always invented stories for us then *laughs*

No, but I'm quite proud of the fact that I met living History and witnessed it myself, which is what I want to pass on.

So I was looking up an ancestor on Rootsweb today and I came across something quite interesting. Someone had the genealogy of my g-g-grandfather worked out part of the way and at the bottom of his individual record this is what I found:

Sex: M
Birth: 23 Nov 1874 in Huntingburg, Dubois, IN
Death: 3 Feb 1938
LDS Baptism: 20 Jul 1962
Endowment: 28 Jul 1962
Sealing Child: 10 Jul 1963 Temple: LANGE 1

Now the guy had been dead for nearly thirty years, so what is all this baptism stuff? Could someone that knows anything about LDS practices enlighten me?

Jennie

Cailiosa, LDS refers to Latter Day Saints, which have the largest archives of any genealogy pool. But I have no idea what the dates and the other references are about. Never ran into that before.
Try e-mailing the person that posted and see what answer you get back.

Cailiosa, living in a state where we have a large LDS (Mormon) population, ceremonial baptisms are held for the dead one by the Mormon church so they can reach one of the three heavens, eventually making it to the ultimate heaven. Hope that makes sense.

I ran into the same thing, Cailiosa! I know that genealogy is a big thing with members of the Latter Day Saints. I have heard that you have to do a family search before you can be a member. I don't know if this is true or not. I'm gonna do some research into this and maybe find out some answers. I have family that is into the Mormon church, LDS. They live in another state though and I don't talk or see them very often. Ever so often, the church sends members out and go door to door to talk about The Book of Mormon. Maybe someone here on the board can enlighten us on the matter.

maggiemahone1

The sealling of ancestors is a LDS practice which has both benefits and cautions for genealogists. The benefit is that anyone who has a cousin, however distant, who is a Mormon will likely find a good deal of research already done for them.
See, for example:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/answers/insidtem.htm
Unfortunately, in their eagerness to seal themselves to as many ancestors as possible, they sometimes get a little sloppy in their research, so at least some genealogists refuse to rely on LDS data. My own view is trust, but verify. That is, use the Mormon data as a starting point, but don't rely on it until you have verified the data somewhere else.
One reason that I have been able to find so much information on my Wolsey line is that four of my Wolsey cousins married John Doyle Lee, Brigham Young's somewhat infamous right hand man, who was responsible for the massacre of a wagon train of pioneers. See, for example,
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/i_r/lee.htm.

A lot of interesting and valuable information there, Mailagnus. Glad you were better to explain it than me. You also had a very interesting relative. Too bad about his ending of his life though. How sad.

I have found some information on the LDS site to not be very accurate, but it got me some information to work with that I didn't have before.

Thank you all so much for the helpful information! Certainly clears up a lot of questions I had and explains why the Mormons have so much genealogical data put together, though I certainly will check it out before I take it as truth. Thanks again!

Yeah, Cailiosa the thing I didn't know that in order to become a Mormon they had to do their genealogy. Explains a lot why they have such records!

Have far back have you gotten?

I have been trying to do my dad's side of the family but I can't seen to get past my great grandfather, why you may ask?
Well my grandfather did not know much, I know that my great grandfathers name and that he was married to my great grandmother but she was married before she married my great grandfather, and my grandfather didn't know what her madien name was. (I know hard to follow isn't it)

My great grandfathers name is
William Charles Lunsford

My grandfathers name is
Paul Glenwood Lunsford



Ahil

Go on a few of the genealogy pages and go to the message boards. Post all the information that you know, names, birthdays, town they were born and lived etc. and put it in a descending order to make it easier for others to follow. If you make it to confusing, people won't bother reading it.
Also, while on those pages, search all the names that you are associated with. There could be other people out there who are looking for you. Some of the pages have a notification button for the names that you wish to keep track of. If someone posts new info under a name you have on your list, you will be notified so you can check it out.

Shrule! You've seemed to have gotten a lot of information also from your ancestry. Which genealogy sites do you use, if I may ask.

I am stuck too right now. I did hear from one distant family member, but I need more information.

So I can do whatever in this life and have a relative from the Mormon church pray that I go to heaven after I die. Is that what it amounts to? Someone tell me if I'm wrong.

maggiemahone1