Have you ever gone to Utah, or thought about it?

[loo]

I have reached one of those places in my research where I have the option of trying to convince an LDS bishop that I am indeed descended from so-and-so, so that I may have the privilege of going to Salt Lake City and viewing some records that are not accessible in any other way.  Perhaps some of you have had the same experience. 
I have no idea what would be in this kind of record, if I were to go there.  The website doesn't really tell me very much at all.
I would want to know that it was going to give me something I wanted to know before I even considered going.  The record in question is of a woman born in 1794 in the Netherlands, my ggggmother.
I'm also wondering what other sorts of things one might find there that couldn't be found in any large city.  I live in Canada, but, to be honest, I'd rather take a trip to England than to the US!  Unfortunately, you can't send anyone to do "look-ups" with this kind of a restricted-access record.
Please share your experiences!

thanks,
Loo

[Erato]

A long time ago.

Great scenery, hiking, camping, skiing, wildlife, fossils.

[AnneMc]

Hi Loo:
What kind of records are you wanting to look at?  I have been to Salt lake city once a year for the past 10 years to do research and found lots of information there. They have tons of films etc.  Plus it is a really nice city to visit as well.


Anne
Canada

[loo]

I find it difficult to say what I'm looking for because I don't know what they have.  I'm not advanced enough as a baby genealogist to know what I'm looking for, because I haven't exhausted the things that are more accessible, and I don't know what else I'm going to need. 

I'm just starting to think ahead, and am really wondering about this restricted-access tree that I can apparently only get in Salt Lake, and only after I convince a Mormon bishop that I'm in a direct line to the person in question.  It all seems a bit much, in terms of rigmarole, and I don't even know what it is that I'd be looking at in the end!
In general, I'd just like to know what kinds of resources they have there that you can't get here.

What is it that keeps you going back there, Anne?  Do you not have a good library where you live?  Or is it that they have other kinds of things there?  How does one even find out what they have?

[tess4207]

 :)I have a family line who went from Cornwall to Copenhagen,one family member married and then they emmigrated to Ogden Weber Utah and they are buried in the Huntsville cemetery.
Would I have to go to Utah to find information or is it available online.
I'm new to this but the little verbal family information I have fits as well.

[JenClark]

Hi Loo,

I am going to visit Utah next year all the way from Oz 

Luckily for me I have a friend/distant relative there who is well versed in how it all works and can show me the ropes 

I am planning on looking up stacks of stuff over a week or 10 days, that for me is better than ordering the films here and then having to keep doing that taking heaps of time! Also I want to look at some German stuff that is available there but not in Europe (it is restricted to non-LDS members in Europe but not in Utah) is this the type of restriction that you were meaning? Cause I don't know about having to prove descent to LDS bishops....

Good luck with it all 

Jenny

[loo]

Jenny, how did you even find out that what you wanted on your German ancestors was only available in Utah?  (I too have a German line that I'm very keen on learning more about, as well as a completely separate Dutch one.  At the moment I know little more than their names and approx birthdates.)

I don't think I'm referring to the same kind of record that you are.  It showed up when I pursued a pedigree chart at www.familysearch.org .  This is what I got when I clicked on the Film Number:

"Title
Sealings for the dead, couples and children (includes some living spouses and children) 1943-1970; heir indexes, 1943-1965

Authors
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake Temple (Main Author)

Notes
No circulation to family history centers. Access to these records requires patron show proof that they may include his/her own lineage. Must show temple recommend or bishop's letter to use material. Photocopying not allowed.
HEIR INDEXES list the oldest male person to be baptized into the L.D.S. Church as the index term for the sealings of his ancestors. This system was not very accurate because heirs often had common ancestors. Two families descending from differnt lines of the same person might designate different heirs for that person. . SEALING SHEETS are family group records with an appended column on the right margin listing the proxies who performed the ordinances. The sheets are arranged chronologically by sealing date. .
This file contains patron submitted sealings. Beginning in the 1960s, many names for sealings of children to parents were generated by the controlled extraction program. For these sealings through 1971, look under "Sealings for the dead, children to parents, controlled extraction, 1967-1971," in the author/title catalog. Extraction batches prior to 1970 were given a P number. Beginning in 1970 they were given a C number. For these batches look under "Endowments and sealings for the dead, controlled extraction," in the author/title catalog. Controlled extraction temple work can also be found in the topical catalog for either of these titles under "Temple records - Salt Lake Temple."
In the 1970s the record of patron submitted sealings was divided into different files reflecting different processing procedures: 1) Family file--sealings cleared by the Genealogical Department and reserved for family members to perform at the temple, 2) Patron temple file--same as family file except the names were not reserved for family members, 3) Rush processing--family file given priority in processing, 4) Manual processing--sealings that could not be processed by the computer system for various reasons, 5) Temple originated records--sealings processed from patron records presented at the temple, 6) Family entry--sealings submitted on family group sheets.
Look for these records in the author/title catalog under: 1) Sealings for the dead, family file, 1970- . 2) Endowments and sealings for the dead, patron temple file, 1970- . 3) Sealings for the dead, rush processing, 1976-1981. 4) Sealings for the dead, manual processing, 1970-1981. 5) Temple originated records, 1970- . 6) Sealings for the dead, family entry, 1979-1981.

Subjects
Utah, Salt Lake, Salt Lake City - Church records
Temple records - Salt Lake Temple

Format
Manuscript (On Film)

Language
English

Publication
Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1959, 1975, 1980

Physical
1945 microfilm reels ; 35 & 16 mm.

Film Notes
Note - Location [Film]
Heir index to v. 3F-4Z Jun 1942-Dec 1948 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 184717 ]
Heir index Jan 1949-Dec 1952 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 184718 ]
Heir index Jan 1953-Oct 1955 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 184719 ]
Heir index Oct 1955-Jan 1958 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 184720 ]
Heir index Jan 1958-Aug 1960 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 485799 ]
Heir index Aug 1960-Jun 1963 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 485800 ]
Heir index Jun 1963-Dec 1965 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 485801 ]
SEALINGS OF COUPLES AND CHILDREN
Vol. 3E/3F 23 Apr 1942 (sealings of children) -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 1063708 Item 2 ]
Vol. 3E/3F 30 Apr 1942 -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 1063709 ]
Vol. 3E/3F 28 May 1942 (sealings of couples as well as children begin 12 Jun) -  FHL SPECIAL Film [ 1063710 ]"
(And it continues on like this for many many pages.)

There's a lot of terminology that I don't understand here, which is undoubtedly clear to any Mormon!

I'm not familiar with different regulations that apply in Salt Lake as opposed to in Europe etc.

[AnneMc]

Hi Loo:
Just read your last message. Sorry I did not write much yesterday but I have just had four wisdom teeth taken out and needless to say I am not feeling that great !! On pain killers so head a little fuzzy!! 

The films you mention " special films" I think they are the once you just have to request from the desk and they bring them out to you. They are not kept on the main floors!!  Going to the library there is great they had films for census, parish records, school records etc. Every film you find on the library cataloge is there and you just have to go to the filing cabinet and get the film out you need. 

THe nearest family history center to me is 1 1/2 hours away and I only go in the summer not in the winter when the roads are bad ( I leave in Canada) and I don;t like winter driving. So when I go to SLC for a week and can get lots done and I usually work on a couple of families at time.

I think if you went you would be hooked and would want to go  again.  I have a relative that when from England and found more out about her family there then she could in England as the records where all there and she did not have to go to different record offices.

Hope this helps.

Anne
Canada

[JenClark]

Hi Loo,

I must admit I had a little help with my German ancestors 

I was already back to the 1820's and had a name and place, then what you can do is go into the familysearch website, click on library, then family history library catalogue, and do a place search:

for example my rellie Louisa Wilhelmina Marsteller b. 17 Oct 1839 Grüningen, Hessen, father Adam Christian Marsteller (from death record in Australia)

Typed in Grüningen in the place search, several choices come up and selected Hessen...

Then all the records for that place will be displayed - church records are fantastic the Kirchenbuch which came up covered 1646 to 1876, looked her father up and there he was and the whole family back to the 1600's (lucky for me they didn't move much) the book has a numerical order so you just look at the parents number, then look at that page etc to go back...you can go forward the same way too 

The books are in German, but pretty quickly you figure out what the words for born/died etc are and bob's your uncle..

Not all areas have Kirchenbuch's but many do, just search in the keywords area if you have trouble cause I have found some towns that way when they didn't come up in the place search. I can look at these records in Europe I just have to visit each individual place/church so it is a bit easier to do it in Utah, besides I have a friend there I want to vist...still plan on visiting the real towns though eventually 

as for the other I have never looked at heir indexes so I can't help there

Hopefully this helps in someway, good luck you can get pretty far with the German stuff if you get the right records

Jenny