As pie and beer day approaches (24 July) I was wondering just how strong the ties really are to modern Mormons and their Pioneer ancestors.

My self I am only two generations per se from my pioneer ancestors. My Grandfather was born in the late 1800s. He told me stories of his parents and grandparents who actually crossed the plains, knew Joseph and Brigham etc.

I've tried to pass these stories down to my children and grand children though they currently show little interest.

I also pass on stories going back to Jamestown and Plymouth and they show they same lack of enthusiasm.

Today it seems some people boast they are 6th or 10th or whatever generation mormon, but do they really have a connection or interest with the past?

Some do, some don't. A lot of the social turmoil of the sixties was due to a lack of interest on the part of us boomers for the struggles our parents went through with the Depression and World War II. From our parents' perspective, they had done great things and deserved untold respect from subsequent generations. But when we came along, we tried to get them to understand that those things were part of their story, not ours. We wanted help writing our own stories- and all too often our parents were unable or uninterested. Hence the Generation Gap.

I see no reason why kids these days should feel any obligation to "revere" their forebears as anything more that a bunch of people who did a bunch of stuff. Their forebears were not more special, or more enlightened, or more wise that people today just because they came first. Their forebears owned slaves. Their forebears killed Indians. Their Mormon forebears had harems of ever younger sex partners. Where is the obligation for respect in any of that?

IMO.

people need to be in touch with reality before any else begins to matter, MORmONS are not in touch with reality, so......

do they do the round the block parade any longer? I haven't heard of that for a LONG, LONG time. We learned about the pioneers. Do they now? Do they learn about their ancestors while participating in trek? Do they even sing "Come, come ye saints" any longer? Or any of the primary songs we sang as children about the pioneers?

I'm not big into genealogy like my mother was. I really don't care.

Thinking about it, my daughter, who went back to church at about 20, gets all excited when she and her friends find out things from ancestry.com. They get to share stories about being related to George Washington or something like that. I think my mother would be not so very interested in the way they do things now. Personally, I think when everyone is finding out they are related to some famous person like GW and half their friends are, too, it is kind of boring. For my mother, it was a lot more personal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2019 05:48PM by cl2.

They don't show interest because we live in the digital age, which is accompanied by instant gratification. For the same reasons, we oral storytelling is a dying tradition. It could also be their age too. I didn't start taking a genuine interest in my grandparents' lives until my mid 20s. Something you can do to try getting around this problem is putting your history into a digital format. You could make a PowerPoint presentation, which can better hold their attention because it's visual. It's extra work, but your history won't die. They may decide several years later the stories are interesting and they're glad you turned them into a digital format.

anon2828 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They don't show interest because we live in the
> digital age...

I had little interest back in the pre-digital age, except that it was part of the general cowboys & Indians thing kids were interested in back then.

Later, when I was a teen, I failed to buy into the idea I was somehow special because of something my ancestors did. And the whole picking our parents in the spirit world/chosen people/special generation stuff seemed ridiculous.

I appreciate my ancestors were tough SOBs, but they were superstitious suckers. However, I wouldn't exist to have any opinions about this if they hadn't made the life choices they did.

My mother liked solving the mystery. The thrill of finding that ONE NAME she had been searching for for months, if not years. Then finding out the history of that ONE PERSON. When you can send off your DNA to these companies and get all the answers at once, it isn't quite the same!! I don't even think my aunt has done the DNA thing with ancestry or she would have told me. Whenever I have talked to her or my daughter has about ancestors, she gets all caught up in the story of one ancestor at a time, telling us all they know about them. What's the point if you don't know their history.

From what I see tbms are trying to distance themselves from the pioneers. As mormondom grows in places outside of Utah and becomes (supposedly) a global church the emphasis on Salt Lake will diminish. Folks like Heber C Kimball and Porter Rockwell don't sell well in the mission field. I mean why would Norwegians care about American Cowboys?

In utah however it will always be a "thing" just like the south flies their confederate flags everywhere. And continues to nurse the wounds of the war of Northern Aggression. Everyone wants to be a snowflake, Utah Mormons aren't any different.

Heartless, I would write your stories down and give everyone a copy. Not everyone will be interested, but some will. I think the stories are worth preserving.

History matters.

Trying to erase it seems like a crime to me no matter whose history or what it is.

I feel connected to all sides of my ancestry. I have Mormons on my dad's side going all the way back to Joseph Smith.

This past year I finally had a dream come true I've wanted all my life since my fourth grade teacher gave a civics lesson on the Revolutionary War. To become a Daughter of the American Revolution. I had no idea I was a descendant before I began doing my own genealogy research starting in 2011.

You'd think with all of my Mormon relatives it would be common knowledge, but it wasn't until I found it out for myself. To date I have discovered I'm a descendant of at least six patriots who fought in the Revolutionary War, whose children converted to Mormonism in the early days of its founding. Now I'd like to know what sparked that with my ancestors and their connection to the history of this country's founding?

I grew into my interest for genealogy. I had zero interest as a young girl or young woman. My mother was an avid genealogist. Maybe that's why I found it boring, until I got hooked eight years ago. Learning about my ancestors on both sides of my family tree has been an education and a history lesson ongoing. I feel like Sherman and Mr. Peabody on the Wayback Machine traversing chapters in history one life story at a time. I helped an Israeli cousin locate lost cousins he didn't know about and added them to his website on our Jewish family tree before he died in 2017, from some of my research I was able to add to his.

The area I would like to research more now would be my Protestant side, and a missing branch of the Jewish side.

As for feeling connected, I feel a connection to my pioneer ancestors. But then I always have even before doing my genealogy. Since learning more about their history has brought their stories to life for me and I feel empathy for the suffering and hardships they endured.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2019 11:03PM by Amyjo.

I do/did.

My great grandfather had a collection of mormon themed books and he signed them. As I was clearing out after my mom died, if they were signed by the owner (never by the author), like GGGPA or GPA or my mom, I kept them, but if they were just a mormon book, they got tossed.

I have his 1888 Book of Mormon that has his signature in it as well as a couple D&C's. I can't imagine how many of his descendants of his there are. Everybody had 8 kids back then, the number has GOT to be 1,000 or more and who has these books? An exmo, that's who. :-)

As I was going through the boxes, I found original handwritten patriarchal blessings, GGGPA and GGGMA's ORIGINAL, state issued marriage license, mission calls and the like. All owned by me, a self proclaimed enemy of the mormon church.

Now for the fun news. These are Gordon B. Hinckley's ancestors as well. That's right. His grandfather's Book of Mormon is owned......BY ME. It's wrapped in acid free tissue, in an archival box in a cedar chest in storage because I don't wanna really see it.

I have no kids, probably never will, and when I die, I will leave them to a cousin, just to keep them in the family.

Oh, also, when my mother wanted to get a temple divorce from her husband who was re-marrying she sent the first presidency a letter requesting such and I have the answer that was sent back. They said "no deal" that jesus will have to figure it out.....and it was signed by none other than Ronald E. Poelman who had some scandal......there was a Poelman who worked for Kirton McConkie who got caught with a hooker, not certain same guy

lol



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2019 09:05PM by Levi.

On my Dads side, every great-great grandparent was in Utah before the railroad arrived. So, yeah, even though I’m an evil apostate, I have a connection...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2019 11:46PM by csuprovograd.

my great grandfather pushed a handcart, along with BY's other insanities, fostering a whole generation of TBMs.
I have suffered greatly from their idiocy

Yes. It’s their connection to reality that is in question.