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Why you DO need Genealogy

Joy Wallace

Associate in Family History Research

Brigham Young University – Idaho

ENG 150 : Writing/Reasoning Foundations

Sharon Seminario

March 25, 2023

Why you DO need Genealogy

My first interaction with my own personal genealogy was when I was 15 years old. Mrs. Jackson

in my American History class gave us the assignment to do a report on one of our ancestors that

influenced America’s history. Thinking she would mostly get reports back on World War II soldiers and

Civil Rights activists, she was confident that we would be able to find something about an ancestor that

had lived a life that could be meaningful in history, and I was excited to get started. The person that I

decided to go with was Hugh Latimer. I wrote my report, made a poster, and walked into my history

class two weeks later excited to share what I learned. As I started my oral report, I announced that

“Bishop Hugh Latimer was born in England in 1485. Under Queen Mary, he, a protestant reformer, was

burned at-the-stake for his beliefs in the square at Oxford.” There was an audible gasp from the entire

class. That report sparked something in me. As I got to know a man that lived over 500 years ago, I

started to see him in my story. I started to remember him in times when I needed to stand up for myself

and in those moments when my faith was on the line. It has been a foundational experience for me and

as I have grown, I have come to understand that not everyone has had those types of experiences. In

fact, most people have not.

Now, over twenty years later as a Genealogist, as I speak to people about their own family

histories, I am still shocked at the variable differences between understandings of the need for

genealogy at all. I would argue that those stories of the people who have come before us are not only

the stories that make up who we are at our core, but that knowing them, and connecting with those

people that they are about is imperative to our success in this life.
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The first misconception that I have heard from people outside of The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints, is ‘I don’t need to know who my ancestors were because it has nothing to do with who

I am now.’ When people say this, it does not surprise me. We live in a world of the here and now, which

is shown in The Social Identity Theory. The theory states that “people derive part of their identity [...]

from the groups to which they belong.” (Scheepers & Naomi, 2019). We see this most visibly in high

schools today. Those that do similar things get bunched into the same group and that is their identity at

that moment. They do not need to concern themselves with things of the past because it does not affect

who they are right now.

Secondly, I have heard people talk about how terrible their family members were and that there

is no need to investigate them because there is nothing that they could learn that could benefit them.

There have been many times that I have come across “sticky” (Collin’s English Dictionary 2012) stories in

family history. They can be hard. It is hard to learn that people can do terrible things and treat people

poorly. It is our nature as humans to avoid uncomfortable situations, and our families' stories can be

that.

The third misconception that I have heard comes from within the church. It is ‘Just research

enough to submit their name to the temple and the Lord will figure out the rest.’ I understand this

perspective also because it was mine for a long time. If there have been approximately 117 billion

people who have lived on this planet (Keneda, 2022) how are we supposed to get everyone’s work done

if we take the time to understand every part of every person’s life? The work will never be done if we do

that. Right? These common misconceptions have been a huge part of genealogy’s success and failure

since Joseph Smith’s revelation in 1836 (D&C 137) inside and outside the church.

As the years have passed though, more and more people are getting interested in their

ancestors. In 2023 at the world's largest genealogical convention, RootsTech, the CEO of Family Search
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International Steve Rockwood said that “30,000 people attended RootsTech in 2020, 1,000,000 people

in 2021, and 3,000,000 in 2022.” That is a 1000% increase in three years. Why do you think that is?

Possibly, it is because they are debunking those errors in thinking by allowing the spirit of Elijah to touch

their hearts using modern television shows, podcasts, and social media. Over time, this same increase in

interest has gotten the scientific community interested in why people are so drawn to their family

stories, and they have some interesting findings.

In a study out of England, Drs Robyn Fivus, Marshal Duke, and Jennifer Bohanek found that

knowing the stories of your family not only helps you but has a direct effect on your everyday life in

many ways. They found that how well their study group knew their genealogy “positively correlated

with measures of general family functioning including positive and open communication, […] the extent

to which families engage in and celebrate holidays and celebrations, […] adolescent adjustment

measures, […] general self-worth, […] and externalizing problem behaviors.” (Fivus, Duke, Bohanek,

2010) That is huge. They showed that the more that you know the stories of the family members that

came before you, the more overall adjusted you are and that affects people's lives every day.

Unfortunately, as people research, there are sticky stories that are sad and hard. If they look

long enough, most people will find them. I came across this humorous example of a sticky story in a

textbook while learning about wills, and probates.

“To my wife, I leave her lover, and the knowledge that I wasn't the fool she thought I
was. To my son I leave the pleasure of earning a living. For twenty-five years, he
thought that pleasure was mine. He was mistaken. To my daughter, I leave one
hundred thousand dollars. She will need it. The only good piece of business her
husband ever did was to marry her. To my valet, I leave the clothes he has been
stealing from me. To my partner, I leave the suggestion that he take some other
clever man in with him at once if he expects to do any more business.” (Greenwood,
2007)

Obviously, this man’s life was mildly sticky. One could say that he and his story had nothing to

teach about who someone could be. But what if we change our perspective? P. Nicolson in her doctoral
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thesis in 2018 compared our genealogy to the selfie culture we are all so familiar with. Everyone wants

an Instagram-worthy life and therefore only shows the perfectly curated parts of it. In contrast, she

stated, “How far do we achieve a sense of who we really are when we examine the airbrushed images?”

Real-life is sticky. It is messy, loud, and sometimes painful but it is in those moments of hard that we are

given an opportunity to connect even deeper with those that have passed rather than just focusing just

on the selfie versions of our history.

Ever since I had a conversation with the Family History Specialist in my ward saying that “all we

need to do is get their name to the temple” (Anonymous Source, 2022) it has been on my mind. I have

made it my professional goal to convey the importance of understanding the people that we, as

members of the church, are researching. As a church, we make thousands of covenants by proxy each

month that our temples are in operation (Wikipedia, 2023) as a fulfillment of the prophecy that in the

last days Elijah would turn the hearts of the children to their fathers (Malachi 4:5-6). But in that

prophecy, it doesn’t say that in the last days Elijah will help us prepare names for the temple. Which he

definitely does. It says that he would turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. Their hearts. In a talk

entitled Generations Linked with Love Elder Russel M. Nelson said “When our hearts turn to our

ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves.” That feeling

doesn’t come from getting enough information to submit a name and letting heaven figure out the rest.

It comes from learning the stories of those people whose work we are doing. It comes from connecting

with them on a spiritual level and allowing yourself to feel a part of them.

The report that I did in high school changed me for my entire life. As I learned of the man that

was my grandfather, I connected to him, and he became part of my story. Then as I encountered

experiences that required me to be brave, Hugh would come into my mind. When I needed to defend

my faith to even my own siblings, Hugh would come into my mind. It has been by learning those stories
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of him and others, that my family members have come into my story and helped in the success in my

life.
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References

Keneda, T. (2022, November 15). How Many People Have Ever Lived. Population Reference
Bureau. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-
lived-on-earth/#:~:text=No%20demographic%20data%20exist%20for,ever%20been%20born%20on
%20Earth

Scheepers, D., & Naomi, N. (2019). Social Identity Theory. Social Psychology in Action.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13788-5_9

Smith, J., Jr. (orig. 1837, republished 1981). Doctrine and Covenants (Section 137). The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/
dc/137?lang=eng

Robyn Fivush, Ph.D, Marshall Duke, Ph.D., & Jennifer G. Bohanek, Ph.D.,. (2010). The
power of family history in adolescent identity and well-being. NCPH.org. https://ncph.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/12/The-power-of-family-history-in-adolescent-identity.pdf
Greenwood, V. D. (2007). What About Wills? In The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy
(3rd ed., pp. 331-352). Genealogical Publishing.
https://link-gale-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CX4110100026/GENVRL?u=byuidaho&sid=bookmark-
GENVRL&xid=ba7ddd67

Nicolson, P. (2018). Family Trees, selfies and our search for identity. Psychologist., (Nov
2018), 28-32. https://doi.org/0952-8229
(2012, January 1). Sticky. Collin's English Dictionary. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sticky#:~:text=Informal.,noun%2C%20plural%20stick%C2%B7ies.

Anonymous Source (2022). Personal Conversation

Jordan River Temple. (2023, January 19). In Wikipedia.

Nelson, R. M. (2010, April 2). Generations Linked in Love [General Conference]. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints King James Bible. (1985)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/mal/4?lang=eng