Pioneer Temple Records and the Untapped Information and Relationships They Contain

Temple records have been kept from the early days of the church starting in Nauvoo. Many of the records from 1855 forward contain birth dates, birth places and many times parent’s names. Heir indexes were compiled by each temple from about 1855-1940s to show who was the proxy for temple work and what was their relation to the person for whom the ordinances were performed. Many of these early pioneer baptisms for the dead never received their endowment. Therefore, there are clues to immediate and extended family members. These underutilized records available at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake can provide a wealth of information about our early pioneer ancestors and have clues leading to their origins.