My successful (not scary) LDS adventure

I wrote two days ago about my decision to rip off the Band-Aid and visit a Church of Latter Day Saints Family History Center. I will admit that I was afraid to venture into a LDS church. Not because I thought they would eat me, but because I am inherently shy and sometimes find it hard to try things out of my comfort zone. So yesterday I begged my husband to go with me to visit one of the Family History Centers in our area. We loaded up the car with both children and all drove out to the church.

It was a Saturday, so I knew the FHC would be open. I wasn't sure if it was part of the actual church or a separate building so we just entered the church, which was not locked, and started walking around. We didn't see a soul in the building until we walked past several class rooms where it looked like they were having some type of religious class, like a Sunday school. Other than that we saw no one and after walking around the whole church we had still not found the FHC. The church was essentially a rectangle with a long hallway all around the rectangle and the chapel and a gym in the center. After walking around the entire rectangle without finding the FHC, I poked my head in the gym where I found two church members prepping for a party. I told them we were lost and they showed us where the FHC was...we had walked right past it. It had a small sign but was no different looking then any of the other rooms.

On this particular day, the FHC was manned by two volunteers, neither of which knew too much about ordering films from the main LDS library in Salt Lake City. While they might not have known very much about the process, they were very nice and welcoming and even took the time to chat with my husband and offer a coloring book and crayons to my preschooler.

The bottom line is that the trip I was fearing was far from scary. The church members were very nice and helpful and made me feel welcome. I do wish that the church had directional signs to show visitors where different places are, but then again the church is not made for visitors like me. I have several suggestions when visiting an LDS Family History Center:

1. Call to make sure that they will be open on the day and time you want to visit. The FHC I visited changes their hours quite often based on when volunteers can come. Just because the FamilySearch website lists particular hours does not mean that the church is always able to be open at that time.

2. If you are going to the FHC having already located the film you would like to loan from the main LDS archives, be sure to print off a copy of the Title Details page from the FamilySearch site. I have shown a copy below. Having this document makes it much easier for the volunteers to fill out the paperwork and they can attach it to your order form should there be any questions.

3. Bring cash to order your films. There is a fee of $5.50 for each film. If possible, bring exact change.

The volunteers told me I would get a call when my films arrive. I will have one month to view them before they have to be sent back, so my adventures will continue. But I am no longer nervous and while I do not know yet if the films I order will actually further my genealogy research I am so happy I tried! 

Alright, I'm finally going to do it

Alright, alright, alright...I give up already. I have come to several dead ends in my genealogy research that I can't get out of my mind and I think I have finally come to the point where I have to pop the cork and...visit the LDS church! DUN, DUN, DUN (she sings aloud)!!!!!

No, it isn't that big of a deal. Honestly, I can't really say why I have yet to utilize the LDS records as a resource. Actually, that's a lie. I know exactly why I haven't gone to a Family History Center (FHC): I'm afraid. I am not a religious person and even though I know that volunteers at FHCs do not proselytize I am still nervous to cross their threshold. I am also inherently a shy person and the idea of walking in to a strange place to do something I've never done before makes my skin crawl.

Yet I am drawn to the myriad of resources that may be able to break down my brick walls. I have one major obstacle that first comes to mind:



Marcellus White's headstone in Lavelock Cemetery, Hardin, Missouri.

 Marcellus White. Marcellus is my third great-grandfather on my mother's side. He lived most of his life in Ray County, Missouri, and family stories state that he came from the Roanoke area of Virginia. There are no records for Marcellus in Missouri. There are no probate documents, no death record, no obituary. Not even a miscellaneous newspaper article. I have three census records and a photo of his headstone. Based on information in the book 1881 History of Ray County, Missouri, compiled by the Missouri Historical Company, I know that Marcellus served in the civil war on the confederate side. The book only mentions his participation: no unit information or state affiliation. A search on the National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System yields two entries for Marcellus F. White, both from units in southwest Virginia. One entry is for the 9th Virginia Infantry and the other is for Salem's Flying Artillery, both units being created in the Roanoke area of Virginia.

With that information in hand I went to Footnote.com to see what records they might have. A search for Marcellus F. White finds an entire Confederate Civil War Service record. It traces Marcellus from his enlistment in Salem, Virginia in 1861 to his parole at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. It is a fascinating set of documents. There is only one problem: I have no idea if this individual is "my" Marcellus.

I have found several online family trees that connect Marcellus F. White of Missouri to the White family of Roanoke, Virginia. None of them include sources. I am a stickler about sources. If I can't find a source for a detail, or at least several different sources that could lead to the same conjecture, than I try to not put the information in my tree. I have one source that may link Marcellus to Virginia. An 1850 census from Roanoke, Virginia lists a Marcellous [sic] White, age 18, living with his parents: Edmond P. and Sally White. This is the only tentative link I have between the two states. I know that Marcellus is a fairly unique name, but I have found several other Marcellus Whites while searching through Virginian documents.

So now we come full circle to the LDS archives. I have found many, many microfilm reels in their library catalog that may help me in all my family lines. For Marcellus I have found the resource Marriage licenses, 1838-1853; marriage register, 1853-1918 (1919), from the Roanoke, Virginia County Clerk. If Marcellus is on the document, it may contain his parents' names, or at least something a little more concrete. Plus it would verify his wife's information as well.

I suppose I'll do anything for a resource, even stretch out of my personal comfort zone. Wish me luck!