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From: <>
Subject: [HANDCART-L] Using Jenson's Encyclopedia for early member research
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 15:18:57 EST

writes:

> 1. Has anyone tried to find records/histories of early British LDS
branches?
> I'm wondering what may be available on microfilm. Is there anything in
Jensen's
> LDS Encyclopedia (1930)? I've seen brief sketches of US wards/branches in
> that source (on CD), but haven't thought to look for foreign
wards/branches.

Anyone who finds Jenson's Encyclopedia useful and who also has access to the
Church Historical Department in Salt Lake should also look at Jenson's
*manuscript* too. His notes contain far more information (hundreds of times
more for some locales, without exaggeration) than ever made it into the
published book. The manuscript often includes memories from the oldest
members at the time Jenson visited a ward. He records the names of all the
early officers for all the auxiliaries, as well as the bishops and branch
presidents that are named in the printed book. Early marriages and funerals
are often included. Ward historical reports as recent as the '50s and '60s,
depending on ward, have been added to what Jenson compiled. Anyway, it's a
treasure trove of genealogical and biographical detail if your family were
either very early members in some place, or lived for a long time in one ward.

The call numbers for these materials are: LR XXXX, series 2 -- with XXXX
being a four-digit code representing the specific locality. There is a
convenient list of these codes near the computer catalog in the Archives.

For that matter, you ought to also use everything, not just series 2, filed
with the locality records. The other series (1, 3, 4, ...) represent minutes
kept by various auxiliaries. Some are confidential, but others, like the
early Relief Society minutes, are available and FABULOUS ways of finding
personal detail on your early church family members. Example: I found
records of the donations made to help victims of the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake, and word-for-word transcriptions of testimonies borne in Relief
Society by the grandmother and great-grandmother of a lady I was working for.
Beat that, if you can!

Ardis Parshall

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