My great grandparents left Sweden and crossed the plains and, shortly after arriving, went on to settle in the Bear Lake Valley.  

My husband’s great grandparents came from the Eastern United States, crossed the plains and also settled in the Bear Lake Valley. So it was there that my grandmother and my husband’s grandmother were born and raised on the banks of Bear Lake about 9 miles apart and, close in age, we assume they probably knew each other because there just weren’t that many people there in the late 1800s. Little did they know that one day their grandchildren would marry and would return often with their family to the lake. We look forward to meeting these grandmothers, as neither of us were privileged to know them.

Four of our great grandparents, six of our great great grandparents, one great great great grandmother and several other relatives are all buried in the St. Charles, Idaho Cemetery.

I cannot imagine how excited these ancestors were to hear about the recently announced temple soon to be built in Montpelier, Idaho, only 21 miles from where they settled in the 1860s and 1870s.

I remember taking my mother to the cemetery and to visit her cousin and his family in St. Charles.

Once, when attending a mission farewell in St. Charles, I remember wondering if I was worshipping on the exact spot of ground that my grandmother had worshipped on as a young girl.

Years ago, while in Garden City, we ran into a distant cousin of my husband’s. She quickly went to her home and returned with an “old school” picture pedigree chart that she wanted him to have because they were related. It’s priceless.

One year my teenage daughters met some boys from St. Charles. They told me the name of one the boys and I said, “If that is his last name and that’s where he is from, there is 100% chance that you are related. He is your cousin.”

There have been several family reunions at the lake for both of our families.

It is at the cabin that I think of and remember my mother-in-law and father-in-law most often.

Our cabin has now been remodeled into 2 parts. The other day my 5 year old grandson said the nextdoor neighbors were at the door. Then he corrected himself and said our CONNECTED neighbors were at the door. He was right – we were connected and they were his second cousins. We tried to explain it, but I’m not sure he really understood.

My husband is very close to one of his first cousins and so through the years our children also have been lucky to know some of their second cousins and now all those second cousins have children. We have great memories with them at the lake. A few weeks ago, when attending church with our daughter and her family at the lake, my husband’s first cousin’s family were sitting just in front of us with their daughter and her children. I realized that their little ones to our little ones were third cousins. I thought of those deceased in the previous generation and the love and interest they had in all of us sitting on these two rows at church and realized that those 4 generations were so loved and connected. I created and filled in the Relationship Chart in my head as I sat there and saw all of the generations linked together. How great to know all the people on that Relationship Chart.

This has given me an entirely different perspective as I look at that computer generated Relationship Chart that I’m always pulling up. I see the love and interest that those at the top of the chart have for each other and all the way down their posterity as well as those looking across on the chart. So often we are doing the work for 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins (sometimes once or twice removed) and we know little about them and think they are not really close to us, but I have learned that they are really closer than I thought and just because we don’t know them now, some day we will. Our love for them will grow as we do their ordinance work.

We have been counseled to do temple work for our direct-line ancestors and for many this work has been completed. We have also been counseled and encouraged to search out and do temple work for our cousins. Cousins are the brothers and sisters of our direct-line ancestors as well as their descendants. In six generations there are approximately 63 direct-line ancestors and 38,000 cousins. Thirty-eight thousand! That is a lot of cousins and I doubt that any of us have found them all or done all their temple work. We should do temple work for the spouses of direct-line ancestors but we should leave the temple work for the ancestors of those spouses to their direct-line descendants (see Ensign, January 2018, page 61).

Hopefully we can all commit or recommit to finding our long lost cousins. Descendancy view in FamilySearch is a great tool to help us find those connected cousins and see which ones need help completing their ordinances.

Until then, visit the lake, spend time with your family, extended family and cousins and create lasting memories.  

Remember we are all connected in this divine work as we gather Israel on both sides of the veil.

-Karen Andrews, Consultant, Granite Family History Center