When did the interest of genealogy begin? There were family organizations in the 1700s, and the American Antiquarian Society was founded in 1812. By 1845, eleven states already had historical societies. And of course, prominent American families were interested in their attachment to European Royalty and had records to prove it.
But, did you know that it was the Relief Society who lead out in organizing, teaching, and pursuing genealogical research within the Church? In particular, Susa Young Gates is attributed to making huge
efforts in getting names researched for the purposes of temple ordinances.
In 1894, the Church formed the Genealogical Society of Utah with Franklin D. Richards as the first president. Few people were trained in the necessary research skills. This is where the women began to lead out. It seemed more women had more time and interest than the men.
Susa Young Gates was a daughter of Brigham Young. I need to detail her life in a separate post because she was an amazing woman, but I will tell you about an experience she had. She raised thirteen children and lost over half of them in tragic childhood accidents. I would imagine this is what brought on a mental breakdown. Everyone thought she was going to die, so an apostle came to give her a blessing of comfort toward her journey to the other world when suddenly he stopped speaking for about two minutes. Then he proceeded to say, “There has been a council held in heaven, and it has been decided you shall live to perform temple work, and you shall do a greater work than you have ever done before.”
How would you like to hear that heaven held a council to discuss your situation? After that blessing, she spent the rest of her life in temple and genealogical work.
Because of her, lessons were written, and training was begun, to teach the skills to do genealogical research. As the organizer, and first president, of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP), Susa approached the Deseret Evening News. A genealogy department was created at the newspaper office, so Susa could write weekly genealogy articles. The priesthood decided to organize a committee of sisters, which Susa was asked to chair. During this time, the Genealogical Society was a separate organization, that worked with the priesthood, the DUP, and the Women’s Committee. Susa Gates directed two of these groups and was respectfully obedient to the other two.
Susa had the interest of many women, who looked forward to her weekly news articles. However, interest in the newspaper column waned by 1918. Susa sent out a thousand circulars to all of the Relief Societies asking the women to protest. Because of the outpouring response, the department wasn’t discontinued but was condensed.
In 1912, the Relief Society was put in charge of training members of the Church in genealogical research. It was accepted that women were the ones most likely to get the job done. Two years later, Susa’s dream came true when the Relief Society Magazine came out with the monthly outline of Sunday meetings. The second week of every month would be devoted to genealogy. During this time, the Relief Society accomplished more among the Latter-day Saints than the priesthood, the DUP, or the Genealogical Society had ever done.
Emmeline B. Wells, president of the Relief Society, said, “the work of the Relief Society is so closely connected with that of the Genealogical Society that membership in the one practically implies interest in the other” (Deseret Evening News, 7 April 1914).
It was a confusing, organized hierarchy. Susa would come up with the idea, run it by the DUP, the idea was then taken to the Genealogical Society, then transferred over to the Relief Society, to add their input, then finally it was taken to the priesthood, who gave final approval.
Next, the Relief Society, again urged on by Susa, wanted to conduct semiannual genealogical conventions. These were held in Salt Lake City, in conjunction with General Conference.
The International Congress of Genealogy was going to appear at the World’s Fair in San Francisco, in 1915. The Relief Society spent an entire year preparing, advertising, and saving money so they could all attend. A special train was chartered to transport the women of Salt Lake to California. There were 66 organizations represented, from around the world in attendance; 26 of those were Relief Societies. Anthon H. Lund, president of the Genealogical Society of Utah, and Emmeline B. Wells, president of the Relief Society, received special bronze medals for their efforts toward world-wide genealogy work.
Over the next several decades, women would take the lead in genealogy and temple work. It was Relief Societies who began organizing temple excursions for those who lived far from a temple. Women started an indexing program, so names could be recorded to minimize duplications.
The Genealogical Society eventually became a department directly under the priesthood. It was agreed that the Relief Society would turn over their direct responsibility, and give it to the priesthood.
As Susa got older, and committees moved forward, interest for genealogy work within Relief Society phased out.
Information taken from “’Provoking the Brethren to Good Works’: Susa Young Gates, the Relief Society and Genealogy”, James B. Allen and Jessie L. Embry, BYU Studies, 1991