For most Latter-day Saints, the word "pioneer" evokes images of ox-drawn wagon trains snaking along dusty mountain trails on their way to the Great Salt Lake Valley. But for many Mormon pioneers the journey started much earlier in foreign ports of call. The newly-released Mormon Immigration Index on compact disk documents the journeys of over 94,000 LDS Church converts who crossed the Atlantic or Pacific oceans to gather in Nauvoo, Illinois, or other frontier outposts, and later in the Great Salt Lake Valley between 1840 and 1890.

The information was compiled as a Pioneer Sesquicentennial project by two Ricks College professors. With support from the College, Professors Fred Woods and Blaine Bake and their students spent five years and thousands of hours of work creating the Index using British Mission Immigration Passenger lists and other sources.

The automated Index, published by the Family and Church History Department of the Church, includes the name, age, and country of origin of each passenger. The voyage information includes ports of departure and arrival as well as the approximate number of passengers on each ship, the assigned company leaders, and often a brief history of the voyage.

The Mormon Immigration Index also includes transcriptions of autobiographies, journals, diaries and letters of approximately 1,000 immigrant converts. These accounts provide a compelling view of those who crossed the oceans and then by land, rivers, and rails gathered in Salt Lake City.

A passenger aboard the Thornton, Mary Ann James Dangerfield, wrote, "Death claimed our little Jane and we were obliged to place the precious bundle in a watery grave. Mother's heart strings were torn, but the brave little mother that she was felt not to murmur against the will of Him who gave."

But there were merrier times on the ship as noted by Peter Madsen, "The good weather caused the company to be happy and they rejoiced in song. Four brethren made music to which there was dancing on the deck."

Family and Church History Department product manager Ray Madsen said, "Journals and diaries are the things that can bring family history to life. The accounts are cross-referenced so individuals using the Index can also read what others have written about their ancestors."

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Seventy experienced this first hand. He had Danish ancestors who boarded the Franklin in 1862. Through personal accounts in the Index from others who also sailed aboard the Franklin, he learned his great-great-grandfather was a wealthy merchant who personally paid for the voyage for as many as 70 other immigrants. Elder Rasband commented, "The things I learned about him are just fantastic. It just ties me more to my roots and gives me more character knowing where I came from."

The Mormon Immigration Index CD can be purchased for $5.00 US at Church distribution centers worldwide or ordered on the Internet at www.familysearch.org starting Friday, 21 July. The CD can also be ordered by calling toll free 1-800-537-5971 and asking for item number 50174.

System Requirements for FamilySearch Mormon Immigration Index:

• Windows 95/98/NT 4.0+
• Pentium7 processor (or higher)
• 8 MB RAM minimum (16 MB recommended)
• 4x CD-ROM drive
• VGA monitor with 256 color-capable video card
• 4 MB hard-disk space
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 (or higher)
• Desktop Area of 800 by 600 pixels recommended