Family History

Today being Memorial Day, I decided to do some family history work and focused on genealogy. Using a circular ten generation pedigree chart I bought at Deseret Book in conjunction with my Personal Ancestry File software, I figured the following statistics of my own ancestry:

24% England
13% Switzerland
9% Denmark
6% Prussia (now Central Germany)
4% Wales
42% Unsure at this time

This is exciting to me because many people are not sure of this type of information. I am not sure of the practicality of such knowledge but it is extremely interesting to me.

My excitement about family history work was prophesied by Malachi when he said, "Behold, [the Lord] will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of...the children to their fathers, lest [the Lord] come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6) My excitement has been termed the "Spirit of Elijah." In other words, my heart has been turned to my fathers.

The prophet Joseph Smith was visited by Elijah on April 3, 1836 - the day of Jewish Passover. (See D&C 110:13-16) According to Malachi, the hearts of the children would then be turned to their fathers. Did this happen?

Prior to 1836, genealogy and family history work was almost exclusively the domain of royalty and the purpose was usually to lay claim to property of some sort. In 1846 the founders of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (one of the oldest genealogical societies in the world) said, "The minds of men are naturally moved to know something of their progenitors - those from whom they have derived their being; and there seems to be an increasing interest in this subject; many are trying to trace their genealogy back at least to the first settlers - the early pilgrims of this country." (See NEHGS Website) I remember hearing that every genealogical society on Earth was established after 1836. Now people research their ancestry usually not to lay claim to anything physical but rather just to know. People are simply interested and curious. This is the fulfillment of Elijah's prophesy and truly the hearts of the children are being turned to the fathers. I know my heart has been turned.