Anyone that has spent even a little time on FamilySearch has certainly felt the joy of discovering a picture or a story about an ancestor they have been close to. As consultants at the Granite Family History Center, my husband and I have the pleasure of watching others feel that same joy as they make their own family discoveries. We had a particularly sweet experience when the Relief Society Sisters from our own ward came to the center to learn more about doing family history work and using FamilySearch. We had a fun evening exploring all the countries their ancestors had come from and which of their forefathers had crossed the plains with the pioneers. We asked them to pick an ancestor they had never met but had been curious about, and to explore the memories available on that relative.
As we walked around offering help and learning about their discoveries, we stopped at the station where Sister Maxfield was working. With great enthusiasm, she told us that her quest for the evening was to find out more about an ancestor that had been on her mind for some time. A short time earlier she had come across a partial history of her Great, Great, Great Grandmother Mary Rock and immediately felt a spiritual connection to her. Mary was a strong and courageous woman of faith who lost her first husband to malaria shortly after they moved to Nauvoo. She was a tough, yet tender, and refined pioneer woman who valued faith in God and love of family above all else. Her life was not easy, but she remained true to her faith and to her family her entire life. The more Sister Maxfield learned about Mary, the more she could see the many similarities between their personalities, their tastes and especially their priorities.
It was an exciting time in the Family History Center that night as Sister Maxfield made new discoveries about this special ancestor because of memories that had been shared by distant relatives she didn’t even know. Her love for her Great, Great, Great Grandmother increased that night as she read more detailed accounts of her life and, for the first time, she saw a picture of her, but the best was yet to come. The last activity we did with the group was compare-a-face. As you probably have already guessed, out of all her ancestors, Sister Maxfield looked the most like her beloved Mary Rock. A fitting end to a wonderful evening of discovery.
We are blessed to be part of such a great work that has the power to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers or Great, Great, Great Grandmothers. I don’t know for sure, but I feel quite confident that the same night Sister Maxfield was feeling so close to Mary Rock that Mary Rock was smiling down with a grateful heart for such a faithful Great, Great, Great, Granddaughter. I love this work.
Jody Innes, Granite Family History Center Consultant