Before embarking on my vacation to Utah, I phoned ahead doing some family research. Was invited to visit the local temple where I was instructed to ask for someone by name, who would let me peruse the family history kept there of early pioneers.

To my surprise and dismay, that was misinformation. She did meet with me, and then sent in a temple elder who was over her to tell me that I would not be allowed to look at their family history records on file there (you know the old song and dance: that "It's sacred, not secret.")

He also said they'd look over the pioneer stories they had and let me know if my ancestors were mentioned. He would of course need to get the temple president's permission to do this.

I waited app 1/2 hour, when he returned and gave me a one page pioneer bio of some person who was maybe related to my family tree, but not a direct ancestor. I thanked him for his assistance, we chatted a bit, and I left.

So.. family history of the early pioneers on file at the local temple is private property of the church. If there are descendants of any of those pioneers, we would be none the wiser and unable to access these records - because we aren't LDS, or temple recommend holding LDS.

Isn't history of our ancestors something that should be inviolate, and belong to whoever is a part of that family tree? Or say a historian wanting to learn more of the local pioneer history? Why should it be limited only to TR and temple only property? The church accesses resources the world over to feed its family history library and archives.

Maybe why when I waited and waited for said results, a heaviness settled over me in that stuffy setting. And I heard C-U-L-T cry out from the walls, ceilings, and corridors in the emptiness of the space there. It's a sad day when a person can't even research their family history among the journals of early pioneers because it's "off limits."

This has been brought up many times. The journals turned into the church for "preservation" dissapeared.

In one set of journals that were not turned in I Found the date of my great great great grandmother's second annointing. Also her own record of being a wife of Joseph.

So ya they want thoses things covered up.

However you may find the Daughters of Pioneers have some pertinant records.

Thanks for the suggestion. I already visited them, and what they have are some local pioneer entries, but only a handful. Apparently, they nor the temple have much in way of actual archives. They do have a cool museum though. :)

That's wild about your ggggrandmother! That's a story for the history books. Is she listed among Joseph's known wives? If not, she'd be proof there are more in the wings than we know about.

There are several books as well as transcripts of her journals. You can google Patty Bartlett Sessions.

This makes me really mad, Amyjo.

From things you've written, I would guess that you have many wonderful and noteworthy people in your ancestry--while decedents of JS and BY should be embarrassed to claim either of those two.

Sorry you were treated like that.

It felt strange to be told one thing ahead of my visit, that I'd be able to sit down and peruse the local history in a waiting wing of the temple. Then to actually be there and be treated like I was a second class citizen, in a place where people tiptoe quietly about doing temple work for living and dead, did seem a bit off putting and mockery of all things holy.

My family history is *sacred* to me! Why should a church body have more rights or access to family stories than a family member does? It makes absolutely no sense at all, from a religious or historical perspective.

I realize how far the church must feel it has to go to protect itself from the truth being discovered, such as past historians have brought to light. Many of its now policies are in response to that apparent "danger" and challenge it faces under constant scrutiny.

The truth has found a way to be revealed even despite great efforts by church leaders to repress and withhold it from the light of day. Although I doubt there are bombshells lurking in the family history nuggets there where I went yesterday. Secrecy isn't sacred. Treasuring family ties and paying tribute to our forebears is. The LDS church has a warped view of itself as a keeper of family history. Like a gestapo, that is.

I once got to go to Westminster Abbey, and when I mentioned my GGrandfather had something to do with them, I was invited upstairs to a fantastic library where the docent helped me peruse happily.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

What a difference a place makes! Like night and day!

TSCC is like robbing(in the)hood, but not! They take from the public and privately withhold the public (hairs). CULT is right. The temples are sacred only because they are secret. Exclusive and elusive. Bastards (Southpark)!

To see the folks coming and going yesterday, it is a very busy and packed place. My special interest of personal family research was lost on them. It seemed of little worth to their actual purpose and function. Which is counter-intuitive to the whole idea that "families are forever."

Sounds like part and parcel of Mormons' bait-and-switch routine, that apparently has numerous applications.

It seemed more like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand doeth there.

The laypeople assume that the pioneer history is accessible to family &/or for historical reference by non-LDS.

They aren't taught by the higher ups that there are "gatekeepers," to ban or bar us from gaining access to those files upon entering the temple doors.

I did exactly as I was instructed to do by the layperson, aka temple worker volunteer.

It's highly unlikely that person will be corrected to give out alternate information to reflect more accurately the policies of the church. Why let the innocents in on the lengths the gatekeepers go to keeping historical records from people who truly care about history for history sake?

Just out of curiosity...which temple was it?

I don't know the answer to this, but...doesn't anyone else in your family have a copy of what the temple is supposedly holding? Can you get a TR holder to go in and *make* copies?

I am wondering if you went to the wrong place. Temples aren't places where family history is done. But there are often family history centers in a chapel that is across the street or next door to the temple. And non-members are welcome at all the family history centers.

Now if you went to the church history department (where there are family journals and the like) THEN you do have to ask for materials and wait for them to be brought.

If you have the original phone number you called, I would try to reach that person again to see where they are physically. Maybe get them to take a photo of their building so you can find the right one.

I was referred to there prior to my trip, based on an advance phone call.

The info they have are thumbnail sketches at best of a handful of some local early pioneers. It's only a fraction of those who helped settle there. They're arranged in pamphlets. Not books, according to the temple worker who spoke to me when I was there in person.

I, of course, had to take it on his word.

The outerlying area wasn't much more forthcoming based on phone calls I made, again in advance of my going there. Daughters of Utah Pioneers didn't have much when I visited their museum in way of recorded history, at least not there.

It seems more is archived at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City - that's the central storehouse for all things historical - it ends up there. I was able to access more records there when visiting last May than what I was able to find visiting the locale where the pioneers actually dwelt. Same deal with vital statistics. If there are any, they'd be on file now with SLC health records.

The person I spoke to originally was a simple temple worker. They obviously don't know diddly squat, or she wouldn't have sent me on a wild goose chase. She had good intentions, but was otherwise clueless.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2017 07:43PM by Amyjo.

It's such a pyramid. Like you said, neither hand knows what the other thinks, or is doing.

Mormonism is always two faced... If it says one thing, you can nearly guarantee, it's another.

They can't own information anyway. It's out there. The less lds knows, the better. It clearly doesn't know much.

Do you have a wrench? You have a-the key(s). Open doors (not in Mormonism)!

If you ever witness first hand how paranoid the church is about keeping plygs out of their holy places this might make some sense...anyone from plyg background must be vetted by a GA...not bishop...stake pres or seventy...but aGA...a request such as yours was likely viewed with suspicion upon being assessed by a true elder of israel...now with ta gays and some women getting rowdy...you just cant be too careful...plus they already have way too many women who cant find a worthy phood hubby...that wasnt the case before 1890 ...even married women were fair game...think pppratt and eleanor...way more common than youd think...especially in fundy ism...i can think of twenty without breaking a sweat...as always...who knows with the one true consistant church...im content to just let em sit on their little stack of musty papers...probly cuz im not so proud of how stupid many of my ancestors were...an aquaintance goes right back to the beginning...let joey conjugate with his sisters under his own roof...im sure it wasnt sexual...depends how you define...as husband and wife in every sense of the word

Mine equals temple poverty