It was in the 1950’s when my mother and I became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her family had always been religious and interested in their ancestry, keeping letters, pictures and stories close. The Spirit of Elijah had parked on their doorstep, including mine. He is a permanent fixture and refuses to leave. Here are just a couple events that have taken place in my life that cements that Spirit. I have learned that if you pray and ask for direction, the heavens will open and those who seek their names to be written will let you know.

In 1997 my Mother, daughter and I made a trip to Arkansas (my mother’s ancestral land) to visit family members, gather genealogy and make final arrangements for her burial next to her mother and father. The last day we were there I decided to make an early morning trip to a cemetery we had not yet visited. My great Aunt Ellie (Eliza Wilkerson Smith) and her family were buried there. We knew we had some holes in that family line, so I was hoping to find their graves. As I was walking around, a car drove up with a couple.  I was in a wonderful, old country cemetery, and they had come on the same mission.  In talking to them I found out they were also descendants of my Great Aunt Ellie, the Coopers. They knew “Cousin Jane” (my mother) and we had a very nice visit. They had names, but very few dates, and I wrote as fast as I could.

A few weeks later my husband and I attended a wedding in the Salt Lake Temple. Between the ceremony and the luncheon we decided to go to the Genealogy Library. I went to the card catalogue and looked up call numbers for several books on various family members unrelated to the Coopers. We walked down an aisle and as I reached up, suddenly a book seemed to leap down to the floor and opened to a page with a picture. When I looked at the names of the people, they matched up with the names given me by the Coopers in Arkansas. I let out a loud whoop…with my husband telling me to not be so loud. But there they were. Names, dates, places, etc. They wanted desperately to be found. Pray and ye shall receive.

As the Spirit of Elijah was strong in the family I have been left with hundreds of pictures, letters, etc., most from this Wilkerson family. They were avid Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and other denominations, but they knew the importance of family and kept this memorabilia. I call it my “burden,” but I know it is necessary we get to know these people.

Thus, I have been scanning, enhancing (so many are from the early 1900’s and quite faded) and placing them in the “Memories” section of Family Search. As I complete a family I reach out to a descendant of that family, and then I send all the originals to them. Ancestry DNA has been extremely helpful in finding these descendants. I have only found one other member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but all are so thankful to learn about their ancestors. Another example of the Spirit of Elijah.

Of course, the Temple is where I have felt these people the most. As I have searched my family, learned of them, looked at their pictures, and read their words, I have come to love them and appreciate the struggles they experienced while in this life. They want to be known. I look forward to meeting them when my turn on earth is done.

I do, however, give out this warning…genealogy is one of the most satisfying and mind boggling things you will ever do. Even in this day of digital, internet, and DNA, the Spirit still is needed to prompt you where to go. I look back at the days of looking for books in the downtown Genealogy Library to now sitting with my laptop at the dining room table and am amazed at how our Heavenly Father wants his children’s names to be added to His Book of Life.

 — Pam McKee Pickett – Temple and Family History Consultant, Sandy Granite Stake