Early Morning but Worth the Effort!

Today I attend the 6 a.m. endowment session in the Salt Lake Temple.  I had the privilege of doing the endowment for Refufia Torres, the ancestor I was baptized and confirmed for last week.  Although it was a work day for me, I rearranged my work schedule so that I could attend this early morning session.  Aunt Jean Olsen and Bill Whittison, the professional genealogist who helped in our research attended the session as well.  My uncle, Paul Olsen, took the part of Peter in the session which made it an extra special experience for me.

I couldn't help but reflect back to my own endowment experience when my maternal grandfather, Ezra Tobler, played a role in my endowment session and was the first individual to greet me as I entered the celestial room!  This experience was just another of my many tender memories of the Salt Lake Temple.

Performing My First Family Temple Ordinances

I have been gathering information on the family of Ole Olsen and Amelia Torres on and off for the past few years.  Ole was a miner in Nevada in the 1880's and died in a mine explosion.  I kept finding bits and pieces of information about them but not enough to make much progress linking their family together.  Then a breakthough!  Earlier this month Jean Olsen, my aunt, called and told me that with the help of a genealogist in her ward they had located the mother of Amelia, Refufia Torres!  They also located the marriage certificate of Ole and Amelia! 

They sent me the FOR (family ordinace request) which I took to the Bountiful Temple and had the card printed.  Today I took the card to the Salt Lake Temple where I was baptized and confirmed for Refufia Torres by my uncle, Paul Olsen!  Uncle Paul's voice became choked with emotion as he began the baptismal prayer. Aunt Jean, his wife, did the initiatory work following the confirmation.  This is the first family name I have had the privilege of doing temple ordinances for.  What a special experience it was to be in the temple performing ordinance work for a family name with my own family members!

A Goal Accomplished!

When I arrived at Uncle George's home to continue our scanning project, I discovered that he had been hard at work for the past few days.  When I left on Tuesday we had completed the first of four books.  When I returned today, Friday, he was finishing book #3 and we spent the day scanning book #4.  I came home with a treasured CD of my grandparents, Ezra and Alice Tobler.  He even made colored labels complete with a wedding photo of my grandparents!  The CD also includes 4 pdf biographies of ancestors as well.

In addition to the priceless digital CD he gave me a second CD containing a copy of his personal family history file!  I am so excited to have access to his database to glean information of relatives and ancestors that might be missing from my database!

The Scanning Project Has Begun!

Today I spent 8 hours with Aunt Chris and Uncle George as we began our massive scanning project of the Tobler scrapbooks!  In addition to the numerous photos and vital documents were stories, histories, and other memorabelia.  I was amazed how quickly the time went as we delved into the lives of my grandparents.

Uncle George has purchased a gun safe with the sole purpose of safely securing these treasured volumes and protecting them from fire or theft!  We spent most of the day scanning volume #1 and have set up another date to continue our project.

New Year--New Goals!

One of my goals this year is to digitize the four scrapbooks of Ezra and Alice Tobler.  I contacted my uncle, George Tobler, today and we set up a date to begin our scanning of the Tobler scrapbooks!  I am excited to discover what treasures they hold.  I am hoping to get digital copies of vital records:  birth, church records, marriage, and death records on my grandparents which will enable me to properly document my family history database.

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!