Church History Library

I've been working on writing a personal history on my grandma, Donna Jean Vivian.  In the process of gathering information for this history I found out that my grandma wasn't the first member of the church in our family, like I thought she was.  It turns out that her grandmother, Donna Anna Hildebrand joined the church 18 Nov 1900 in North Carolina.  As I was trying to find sources to verify this information I wasn't sure if she really joined the church in North Carolina or if she joined the church when she moved to Denver.  I checked the Burke County, North Carolina 1900 census to see if I could find out where she was living at the time.  I searched for her in that census for what seemed like FOREVER, until I finally found her listed as Donnie Hilderbrand, living with her parents and siblings.  So, in June of 1900 she was still living in North Carolina.  There was a good possibility that she was baptized while she was living there.  So then I searched the church records that the Harold B Lee Library at BYU has for North Carolina, and couldn't find her listed anywhere.  Then I searched the Denver church records for the Denver District and found the records for her and her children.  They didn't say where she was baptized though, only when and by who.  She was baptized by Otto Lundberg and Jefferson George Hunt.  So I made a trip to the Church History Library located in the East wing of the church office building to see what information I could find there before they close to move to the new building in April.  I stopped in at the membership records office to see if her baptismal place was recorded on their records, but they informed me that it wasn't.  But the lady that helped me was able to tell me that her mother and brother were both baptized on the same day, and that her two youngest sisters joined the church in 1917!  That was exciting news to find out.  So I went to the Church History Library and searched the Missionary Indexes to see if Otto and Jefferson were missionaries.  It turns out that they were!  They served in the southern states mission. Jefferson Hunt was from Hobson, Hush, Utah, and was set apart for missionary work on 16 Aug 1899 and returned home on 29 Jan 1902.  Otto Lundberg was from Logan, Hack Fe, Utah and was set apart on 14 Jun 1899 and returned home on 20 Jun 1901.  Take advantage of the Church History Library now, before their records are unavailable for a few months this year!!   

My Awesome Brother!

So, this isn't as far back in my genealogy as my other posts have been, but I think it's pretty dang awesome. I'm not very familiar with military vocabulary, so I hope that I explain this correctly. My brother is currently attending Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, studying nursing. He's always had a love of guns and knives, and anything like that. So, as he is studying nursing, he's been involved in the ROTC. He graduates this May, and is going to be heading out to his first station in Texas. Mike is the kind of guy that tries to do the best he can, but has a way of standing out because he's so great! We just found out this last week that he was unanimously voted to receive an award from the NRA for his outstanding work. I don't know all of the specifics of the award, and I will find them out and update this entry, but I do know that he's receiving some presents from the NRA. He gets to go to a fancy dinner where he will be receiving this award. Here is a website that he told me to look at. I think they are giving him this award because they believe he is this type of soldier: http://www.army.mil/warriorethos/. I think he's amazing!

Four Generations!

This is a picture of my great great grandmother Donna Anna Hildebrand, her son Joseph Murl Vivian, his son, Donald Murl Vivian, and his son Richard Vivian.  Donna Hildebrand was the first member of the church in my family.  As far as I know, she joined the church in North Carolina in 1900, when she was about 19 years old.  Her mother, and three of her sisters also joined the church.  Whether it was at the same time or not, I'm not sure of.  One of her friends who moved to Denver, contacted her and told her to come to Denver because the church was here and there wasn't persecution here.  I'm not sure if she meant family persecution, or community persecution, but I'm still trying to figure out all of the details.  Until two weeks ago, I thought my grandma and grandpa were the first members in my family.  There is still so much to figure out.  But these are the beginning stages.  I've never had to look through church records, but I am excited to get into them and do some research!  

Family Sources

I flew home to Denver this weekend to collect as many family sources that I possibly could. When I began researching my grandmother's family, I didn't think that my family had many records at all. Boy was I wrong! I was able to collect death and birth certificates for many of the people that I am currently working on. It was a lot of fun. Also, I was able to interview my grandmother and preserve bits and pieces of her life. It was a definite eye opener to the value of asking your family members, immediate or extended, for any information that they might have on the lines you are working on. You will find that your family has a lot of things that you didn't even know existed. A lot of time will be saved from doing unnecessary research. Plus you can't underestimate the value of preserving a person's experiences, told by the person who lived them. One of the treasures that I found this week was the only wedding picture that we have of my parents, Randy Loyd and Dianne Epperson. Aren't they cute?!