From whom do I need to get permission to give a deceased person's name to the temple? Is there a hierarchy of relatives I need to ask before I submit records for my own ancestors?

Yes, there is.  In order to submit names to the temple, you need permission for the closest living relatives.  This is really important, so don't skip this step:

The order is as follows:
1) spouse
2) children
3) parents
4) siblings

Do not bypass this order.  If the spouse says no, the answer is no.  Do not go and ask the children.  If all of these are no longer living, you are free to do the temple work, so long as they have been dead for at least one year.

You have a responsibility to submit the following relatives:

1) Immediate family members.
2) Direct line ancestors


You MAY submit the following:



1) Biological, adoptive, and foster family lines connected to your family.
2) Collateral family lines (uncles, aunts, cousins, and their families).
3) Your own descendants.
4) Possible ancestors, meaning individuals who have a probable family relationship that cannot be verified because the records are inadequate, such as those who have the same last name and resided in the same area as your known ancestors.

You MAY NOT submit the names of persons who are not related to you, including names of famous people or names gathered from unapproved extraction projects, such as victims of the Jewish Holocaust.  This is absolutely unacceptable and can jeopardize the Church's relationship with other religions and our ability to use those names at all, even if we are related to them.  Do not put those soul's ability to receive the saving ordinances in jeopardy. There is order to everything the Lord does, and He will not forget them, and will take care of them in due time.  

You may submit the names of individuals with whom you shared a friendship. This is an exception to the general rule that members should not submit the names of individuals to whom they are not related. Before performing ordinances for a deceased individual who was a friend, you should obtain permission from the individual’s closest living relative.

5 Minute Genealogy

https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/5-minute-genealogy-episode-1-quick-start/234

If you want to do family history, but don't have a lot of time and don't know how, check out FamilySearch's 5 Minute Genealogy Series.  They are five minute lessons on how to do family history and are really helpful.

Saviors on Mount Zion

I have a movie for you!  I love this movie, and it makes me cry each and every time.  I testify to you that Family History is not just a good thing to do, it is an obligation.  These ordinances are not available in the spirit world.  If you do not offer these things, we are denying the blessing of the gospel to our ancestors.  We would never deny baptism to a living person who had accepted Christ and was pure.  But we do this each and every day to our ancestors.  I do not believe that this is acceptable.  It makes my heart break when someone says that they do not care about family history.  God has not forgotten his children, so show them that God has not forgotten them. 

When Family History is Done (Part 2)

So, I gave this post last semester, but it has been asked again.  And it's a good question, so here we go:


This is probably the most common concern that I hear (I being Hannah).  But, the great thing is, it's not actually a real concern!  Because it's not true for two reasons.

1) If your family history was "done," mine would be too.  Eventually, we're all related, so if you haven't found me yet and haven't finished my work yet, you're not done.  If you have finished my work, please give me that information.  It would save me a lot of time and effort.   If your family history is so far back that it is too challenging for a beginner, start going laterally.  The parents of your great-grandfather's sister's husband are your family too.  Don't feel limited to the direct line.  There could be some much more recent, much easier family history if you go sideways and down.

2) Your grandparents having found a name doesn't make that family history done for you.  Remember that a huge part of family history is building a link and familial relations with our ancestors.  Ask for that info from your grandparents so that you can have it, so that you can find journals and anecdotes and such for those people, and so that you can build a relationship with them.  This is almost more important than the date-finding.  (Disclaimer: date-finding is important too, because if you didn't have the dates, the names couldn't go to the temple).

So, no.  You're not done.  And you won't be done until the end of the millennium.  So, have fun!

Top 5 Family History Search Places after FamilySearch

So, where to look does change depending on what era and what place, but here are some of the best resources, after FamilySearch:

1) Ancestry.com.  Generally, if FamilySearch doesn't own it, Ancestry does.  Ancestry is expensive, but if you are using BYU wireless, you can use it for free, because BYU made a deal with them.

2) Castlegarden.org and Ellisisland.org  Immigration records are pretty much the hallmark crowning jewel of opening a "dead" line.  Some people this doesn't work for.  There are people, like me, whose families immigrated back when there was no such thing as "legal immigration," and there aren't records.  But for the rest of us, Ellis Island and Castle Garden it was.  Ellis Island opened in 1892 and closed in 1954.  If you had people that immigrated between 1892 and 1934, regardless of what European country they came from, regardless of where they went after, they probably came through Ellis Island.  Castle Garden operated as the main immigration station from 1855 to 1890.  Both websites allow you to access immigration records on their websites.  Don't get fooled by the "you have to pay thing."  You don't, you just have to pay if you want a framed doohickey from them.

3) USgenweb.org.   This is a "grass roots" compilation of databases specific to geographic areas.  It is a resource.  Use it.

4) findagrave.com and billiongraves.com  You would be surprised how much you can find from a gravestone.  But they tend to have birth, death and even the places on those sometimes. On top of that, families are buried together a lot, and you can sometimes find siblings, infant stillborn children and other unknown family members that way.  Plus, I have had experiences where I thought a sister of an ancestor was not married, but then found that her gravestone said, "Loving wife."  So, I went and found her husband.

5) America's First Families: This one is good for me, and since a lot of "Classic" Mormon families are in the same boat, I will throw it on here.  http://personal.linkline.com/xymox/  This website works with classic American families (as in 1600s).  A good resource.

Personal History Writing

A lot of people are struggling with family history.  I get that.  But here's something that is family history that you can't struggle with.  Personal history writing.  Write your personal history!  Write about your life, your family, your friends, things that matter to you.  Write about your passions, your interests.  Just write.  This is family history too.  Today, I hope everyone will start their personal history.

DNA Genealogy

Someone requested that I write about Molecular Family History.  Be warned, I am a medical lab science major and a Family History nut.  You have released the kraken. 

So, with molecular biology becoming more and more advanced, this kind of application is becoming cheap enough, reliable enough and fast enough to be viable.  It used to be that sequencing someone's genome, even just the Y chromosome and the mtDNA (which are the most widely applied for family history purposes), was much too expensive and people would rather do Family History the old fashioned way.  But today, all 23 chromosome pairs can be used easily, plus the mtDNA. 

mtDNA is Mitochondrial DNA.  The bizarre thing about mtDNA is that every single piece of it comes solely from ones mother.  You do not have any paternal DNA in the mtDNA.  So, this makes it the perfect thing to trace matrilineage. They have been able to trace most people to a couple of mtDNA lines, which can quite accurately tell you where your mother's mtDNA originated and where it migrated.

Similar to mtDNA, but for the paternal line is Y chromosome genetics.  The down side is that only boys can do this (but if you have a brother, use his).  The Y chromosome is the chromosome that conveys "maleness."  Because of this, every boy got his Y chromosome from his father.  There are only a few Y chromosomes out there.  Different things have mutated onto them, but there are a few basic lineages and these can tell you where your father's ancestors went and wandered.

The last thing that is nice about genetics in family history is that you can find relatives to collaborate with.  They may be your 3rd cousin, but they have a lot of family history in common with you to collaborate. 

Genetic Family History companies can tell you your genetic ethnicity to focus your research and open up possibilities for family history.