Seeking Tobler Vital Records

In September of 2010, I contacted George Tobler, my uncle to see if he had a copy of any vital documents on my grandparents, Alice and Ezra Tobler.  He indicated that he and his wife had taken all the photos, documents, and other memorabelia from my grandparents and compiled them into four scrapbooks.  Kevin and I went to their home one evening and perused the treasures!  I was so excited by the items they contained and desperately wanted a copy for myself and my family history records.   I asked to borrow the books, but they were reluctant to allow them to be loaned due to the extensive time investment they had made to compile them.  They did, however, indicate that they hoped to scan and digitize them in the future and asked if I would like to help.  We agreed to begin after the holiday season.

Nauvoo Lands and Records

In June Kevin and I traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois to watch Brad perform with the BYU Young Ambassadors. While there we took the opportunity to drive out to the Old Nauvoo Cemetary. We discovered the names of several of our relatives who were buried there. Two of which were the John Pincock and his wife Mary Marsden. They actually have one of the few newer headstones in the cemetary. This find excited Kevin. We spent the next few days gathering information from the family history center in Nauvoo, attending a temple session in the Nauvoo temple, looking for relatives names at Seventies Hall and ultimately going to Land and Records.

What we thought would be a nice escape for a few minutes from the heat and humidity in the cool air conditioning of Land and Records turned out to be an afternoon of adventure. There we entered name after name of our relatives and gathered 2 CD's each of information about their lives in Nauvoo. All sorts of discoveries were made. These included: family group sheets, plat maps of land owned by our ancestors, records of temple work they performed, on what dates, for whom, and who officiated and many other records!

It was amazing to me to discover that my third-great-grandfather, Thomas Gates, performed proxy work for numerous relatives in the Nauvoo temple on 28 July 1844. This proxy work was officiated by David Candland, my second-great-grandfather! Who would have thought that two generations later members of these families would marry (my mother and father) and link these events together eternally!

I am just beginning to pour over the vast number of documents we obtained in Nauvoo so stay tuned to the blog for more discoveries in the coming weeks!

New Family Search Goes Live in Utah!

After much anticipation and months of waiting, New Family Search finally went live in the Bountiful Utah Temple district in October 2009. Before each stake was given access to this wonderful family history tool, each ward had to train Priesthood leadership and ward family consultants. As the newly called ward family history consultant I have had the privilege of being part of the initial training and release in my ward. What an amazing experience it has been!

After years of collecting and storing a wealth of family history information I now have the opportunity to sort, organize, and share with others my treasures. Not to mention having the perfect excuse to actually do family history--it is my church calling!