This is What I Have Been Waiting For!

I have been given a wonderful gift!

This past Saturday, I was a presenter at a Family History Day at Cleveland Public Library.

My genealogy colleague and friend, Sunny Jane Morton also happened to be speaking, and pulled me aside to show me something.

I was gobsmacked!

Sunny had been updating me on a book that she was co-authoring with Harold A. Henderson, and told me it would be released this summer.

And, it is a book that is definitely needed in the genealogy community!

That's right!

It's a book on finding your family's history using Church Records.

Now, why would this be so needed, especially when current polls point to a downward turn in religion?

Because, our families relied on churches to anchor them and their families, and to turn to for comfort when times became bad for them.

I have taught a Church Records course with the Rev. David McDonald at GRIP, and I wish there had been something like this to help me as I put together my presentations. There have been so many divisions and break-offs from core religions that it can be difficult to trace what you may need back to its original beginnings.

This book can help you do that.

It covers the major American religions, and what you may expect to find as you search their records. To quote from Chapter 1, "What's In Church Records?", just look at what you may find when you delve into denominational records?

• Births
• Relative's names
• National origin or ethnicity
• Baptisms
• Confirmations
• Marriages
• Memberships and migrations
• Deaths, funerals, and burials

And, these are just snippets of what you will find throughout the book.

This is a one-stop place for researching all of these religious denominations that would have you going from place to place on the internet.

I commend Sunny and Harold for writing this book. And, I am really grateful for the advance copy Sunny presented to me as a surprise. I had classes ahead of me to teach that day, and the only thing I wanted to do was go into a corner and peruse this book.

This book belongs in any serious researcher's toolkit, and will be kept within arm's reach at my own desk.

If you would like to order this book, which was released yesterday, here is the link: https://library.genealogical.com/printpurchase/3Rg6l
AND
It's on Amazon, too!
https://www.amazon.com/Find-Family-History-Church-Records/dp/0806320958/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2RS66RPI64S4Q&keywords=how+to+find+your+family+history+in+u.s.+church+records&qid=1562113467&s=gateway&sprefix=how+to+find+your+family+history+in+u%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1

All Wet! - The Value of Church Records

Today marks 50 years ago that I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When are children are 8 years old, and beginning to know right from wrong, baptism becomes the first step on their journey.  The above photo is little Peggy standing in ice-cold rusty water.  My father, Chester Lee Clemens, and a Melchizedek Priesthood holder, had the authority to baptize me.

Now, did I know what I was doing.  I think I knew as much as an 8-year old can understand.  I knew that whatever little sins I had committed were now being washed away, and I was expected to try to be a good little girl.

That has followed me through my life.  I've done my best to try to live up to what God expects of me.

My dad was baptized the very same way I was, but he was 39 years old at the time.  He was baptized in the swimming pool at the YMCA, where our little branch was meeting.  Shortly afterward, they asked us not to come back, for they felt the lint from our clothing was clogging the pipes.  Not long after that, a gas leak blew the building apart.

Just about three years before that, my mom and three older sisters were baptized in the Guyan River in West Virginia.  I don't have a picture of their baptism, but this is the river.

Now, why do I bring this up?  Because I am a genealogist, and church records can be one of the most important records in locating our families.  They can hold a treasure trove full of vital information that may not have been around before states began keeping records.

And, as much as I enjoy searching for those records, I must also remember to record the milestones in my own family's lives.  Certificates of baptism, christening, ordinations, etc. may have been stuffed into a drawer or put into a notebook.  But, thanks to modern technology, those are all scannable items that can benefit those that will come after us.

So, as delightful as it is to trace our lineage backward in time, it is vital that we don't forget to come forward with our own information.  Be a good little girl or boy!