They Help Us Find the Missing Pieces of the Puzzle

        Because the power of the Priesthood is binding on earth as in heaven (D & C 128:8) both sides of the veil are anxiously engaged in the work of genealogy or family history. The sooner our forefathers have the Priesthood, the sooner they will go forth in the spirit world seeking after their descendants and then prompting them, from their side to accept the gospel. Having received the gospel and baptism they will go to the temple for themselves, to begin performing ordinances for additional family members. Those on the other side of the veil will help these new converts with miracles, if they simply just begin to order our own pedigree in NewFamilySearch.

            Orson Pratt, in The Seer pages 141-142 said we must seek out the genealogical family records that contain the information about our kindred, both the living and the dead. When we have found these it is our duty to perform for our family members in the “holy temple, all of the ordinances and sealing powers which were instituted in the councils of the Sons of God before the world was, for the salvation, redemption, exaltation, glory and honor of the dead who died without a knowledge of these things; for you, without your fathers, cannot be made perfect, neither can the ancient fathers who held the Priesthood be made perfect without the children.”

            “The time is near at hand when the fathers who hold the Priesthood in Heaven, will be united with the children who hold the Priesthood upon the earth; but there are many generations intervening, who held not the Priesthood, but died in their ignorance; the grand chain of Patriarchal government, according to the order of generations, will be broken and the union will not be complete, unless the hearts of the fathers are turned to seek after the redemption of the generations of their children who have laid down in their graves in the days of darkness; and also unless the hearts of the children are turned towards their fathers. Thus through the united exertions of the Priesthood in heaven, with the Priesthood on earth, the intermediate links, of the great chain of generation will be restored, and the union of the fathers with the children will be made perfect; and each successive generation will stand in their own order, exercising their patriarchal authority and swaying the scepter of righteousness, according to the holy order of the Priesthood forever and ever.”

SCRIPTURE: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”—Revelation 20:12

In D & C 128: 6-7 the meaning of this was clarified by Joseph Smith. The dead were judged out of those things written in the books which contained the record of their works, and refer to the records which are kept on earth. (such as birth, marriage, death records, census and war records; journals and family histories and books written by them might also be included) In section 127:9 the Lord says, “For I am about to restore many things to the earth, pertaining to the priesthood, saith the Lord of Hosts. And again let all the records be had in order that they may be put in the archives of my holy temple, to be held in remembrance, saith the Lord of Hosts.”

 What is our Responsibility?

MY SUGGESTION: There are about 6,881,113,487 alive in November 2010 and only 310,691,528 live in the United States. 106 billion people have been born on the earth, making the population currently alive roughly 6.5% of all people who have ever lived on planet Earth. The United States only has 4% of the world’s population alive today. The membership of the church is 14 million. Over a million LDS missionaries have served in the world, and more members live outside of the United States than in.  They speak 22 different languages. These amazing numbers mean that every member must find at least 491 living people to whom the gospel can be preached if we are to fulfill the Lord’s command to take the gospel to every nation, kindred and tongue and find 7,571 who have died who need to receive the saving ordinances.

Did you see that estimate? 106 billion people have lived on the earth. Every one of these spirit children of our Heavenly father are beloved by Him and His son Jesus Christ. WE PROMISED THAT WE WOULD FIND THEIR RECORDS AND PERFORM THE ORDINANCES IN THE TEMPLES ON EARTH FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!

With our current technology, we can actually see the possibility of doing this great and marvelous work that will bless ALL the NATIONS of the EARTH and everyone who ever lived in them. But we are not alone. God will help us and those Priesthood holders on the other side of the veil will also help. Guess we’d better get to work.

SET A GOAL:  Find one whole family and see that their temple work is done during the next 6 months. 

We can set a goal and publish our search for a specific person, record or event on the internet via FaceBook, Twitter, a blog or a website where the browsers can find it. Here are two of mine:

Finding Richard Hicks Wife's Name

Find the wife of Richard Hicks born in what is now Sullivan County Tennessee about 1760. His son Thomas Hicks was born 1 Aug 1784. Richard bought land from John Hall of Burk County, North Carolina on 15 Dec 1794 140 acres of his 640 acres located in the Fork Settlement of Sullivan County. Both Richard's father, William, and John Hall were from Baltimore, Maryland. Correspondence from Hall to Micajah Merryman are located in the Merryman Family-Micajah Merryman collection owned by the John Hopkins University.

Two of John Hall's daughter's married a Hicks while they were in this part of Tennessee. Hall moved on but the records show that Richard Hicks stayed on this 140 acres of land through 1830. The two daughters names were Diana born born about 1769 and Elizabeth (date unknown) In naming patterns Elizabeth shows up in Thomas Hicks family as a first born daughter indicating that perhaps it was Elizabeth who might have been his wife. In Hall's will 5 shillings were given to the heirs of Diana Hall. Elizabeth Hall may have been born about 1762. The wording of that will is difficult to understand: "To my daughter Elizabeth White, (?) Hicks, to her and her heirs I bequeath five shillings.  Did this early Elizabeth first marry a White and then a Hicks?

Finding the Marriage Record of Rev. Francis Melvin Hickman in Franklin County, TN. 

He had two marriages it is thought, one in TN and one in AL. The one in question, although both are needed, is the one that occurred about 1860. He had three children by this wife who died before 1870; their names were John W., Alexander and Joshua. I did find a marriage for F.M. Hickman in Franklin County, TN which is located on the AL border. It was only the index however and stated page 311 as the place to look. Perhaps someone from TN near the archives in Nashville, TN could look this up for me. "Frank's" brother William Pierce Hickman was also a Methodist minister and worked out of Athens, AL as well as TN. Does anyone know if the Tennessee Conference of Methodist  Church has online records? 

Working Together we can Solve Puzzles