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Prayers,
Genealogy, and Personal Revelation
By
James W. Petty, AG, CGRS
The
cursor on my computer screen just sat there blinking at me.
A
few moments before, it had been leading the narrative of one of
my best professional genealogy research reports, and now it just
sat there on the field of a blank white screen, where a five page
manuscript was supposed to be.
I
had just returned from a successful research trip to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and was typing the final report to the client about
his ancestors, the John P. Tull family of Kensington. We had been
searching for this family off and on for over two years. Looking
for the Tull family in the Kensington community of Philadelphia
was like hunting for the proverbial needle in the haystack. I went
to Philadelphia personally in hopes of finding the clues that might
finally break the line open. I found those much needed clues, and
upon returning to Salt Lake City, discovered additional information
on microfilm, and on the Internet that identified ancestors of John
P. Tull back six more generations. My report bubbled over with
excitement about the new information, and the success that came
with hard work and careful searching. After all, we had identified
the names of dozens of relatives for which temple ordinances could
be performed. I felt certain my client would be thrilled with my
efforts.
I
typed with enthusiasm, reliving the moments of discovery in my research
as I summarized the information found. Suddenly, I accidentally
hit two or three keys at the same time and brought up a different
un-needed window on my computer monitor. I pointed the curser to
the exit button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, and
clicked off the offending window. I thought. A small message box
asked if I wanted to save the item, and I clicked “No,” thinking
it referred to the errant screen I was eliminating. Too late I
realized, the “X” button I had pushed belonged not to the problem
window, but rather to the report I was writing; and in a mere second,
three hours of unsaved prose disappeared before my eyes! I tried
everything I could think of to recover the information, but because
I had “voluntarily” deleted it, it was gone.
The Source of Our Blessings
The
excitement of writing this client report was dead. I knew I could
rewrite the information while it was fresh on my mind. But now
I was discouraged. My wife tried to encourage me with a “good things
will come” statement, but nothing seemed to help. Fortunately,
I had learned in my youth, something that could help when I become
discouraged. I went into a quiet back room, and bowed my head in
prayer, and asked my Heavenly Father for help and guidance.
The
answer was almost immediate, and I realized that my real problem
was that I had been thinking only about me. The response I received
was the memory of the beginning of my trip to Philadelphia. On
that first day of research, I visited the Pennsylvania Genealogical
Society on Broad Street in Philly. Except for the librarian, I was the only
person in the library, and I found myself hunched over one of the
two or three microfilm readers in the back of the room behind the
books. I was worried about the research on the Tull family. For
two years we had searched and searched looking for the parentage
of John P. Tull, and my client had indicated this would be the final
effort. I leaned into the microfilm reader, and closed my eyes,
and plead with the Lord for help and inspiration; asking that somehow
I might know what to do, and be lead to information that would reveal
the family or clues for which we were looking. Then I went to work.
With
the return of this memory came the understanding of why my report
was lost. I needed to remember the source of my blessings, and
of the important information in this research project. When I started
working that day in Philadelphia, I began by searching for cemetery
records. Soon I was absorbed in the research, and forgot all about
my prayer. The Tull family had previously been found in early 1800’s
records of the First Presbyterian Church in Kensington; but the
local cemetery in the area for that time period was the Methodist
Cemetery. To learn about the cemetery, I had to search the records
of the Kensington Methodist Episcopal Church (1809-1900), and was
surprised to find the mother and wife of John P. Tull listed in
the membership rolls the 1840’s. I was reminded of how diverse
Joseph Smith’s family had been at the time of the First Vision in
1820.
Research
at the Pennsylvania Historical Society, later in the day, was spent
studying old newspapers for marriage and death notices. Dozens
of entries were found giving me names of family members, with ages,
and dates of birth, marriage, and death, along with historical details,
and many other clues we could use. Upon returning to Salt Lake City, I used these clues to find family entries in census
records, passenger lists, and vital records. Most exciting, the
new clues led to the discovery of two family lineages on Internet
data files that confirmed information found in Philadelphia: John P. Tull was the son of John Tull Sr. and Sarah
Pastorius. These files revealed the Pastorius ancestry back six
generations, and traced the descendants of John and Sarah through
their daughter Sarah Tull Hay, the older sister to John P. Tull.
As
I thought about the prayers that had been made, I realized the information
“I had found” was given me by a loving Heavenly Father, who guided
me in my research. I was amazed to see that the two lineages found
on the Internet were posted the day I began my research in Philadelphia
and on the day after returning from my trip. When I sat down to
rewrite my report on the Tull Family Research, it was with the realization
that this information came from Heavenly Father, and I was only
acting as his servant in bringing to light the family of my client.
I
have borne testimony to many groups in the past, that if they wished
to experience the power of personal revelation from our Heavenly
Father, they needed to do genealogy research. But every now and
then I need to be reminded of that fact myself. This is His work,
not mine. I am but a cosmic speck in the universe, if that much;
but the genealogy research that I am doing is so important to Him,
that the Creator of Eternity is willing to tell me that He knows
who I am, and what I am doing, and that He loves me. This personal
revelation is available to anyone who is willing to pray, and serve,
and listen. I invite everyone to join me in this wonderful, eternal
work of redeeming the dead.
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