Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the opportunity to research the lives and ordinances of their ancestors by accessing FamilySearch’s Record of Members collection. (See Link) This collection contains a variety of documents from ward, branch and mission records which were created between 1836 and 1970. FamilySearch is currently indexing the 2 million images in these records, and documents are being added to the collection on FamilySearch as they are completed.
What can you find in the Record of Members collection?
- Records of members including membership ledgers, handwritten lists, ward minutes, and historical notes. Membership records may contain parents’ names, blessing, baptism, confirmation, ordination, and death information, as well as dates when members moved into or out of a ward
- Annual lists of officers and callings in a ward and historical and statistical reports
- Genealogical reports of births, blessings, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths, missionaries and priesthood ordinations for wards and stakes
How can this information be helpful to you?
Because of the detailed information in these documents, you may discover interesting facts about your ancestors which you never knew. From researching the collection, I have found the following information about my own ancestors.
- A record of my 3rd great grandfather Philip Garner in a Mormon Battalion list
- The baptismal record of my grandmother Mary Anne Hamilton in the Irish Conference of the British mission
- A membership list showing the family of my 3rd great grandmother Martha Hirst Coop listing her and her children and providing parents’ names, birth date and location, baptism and confirmation dates and those who performed the ordinance and emigration dates
- Baptism and ordination records showing my grandfather Frederick Benjamin Critchlow being ordained an elder and, a month later, baptizing 45 people in his Ogden ward prior to leaving on his mission
- A mission record showing my great aunt Agnes James Hamilton and her husband Samuel Hislop in a branch in England—I was unaware that he had joined the church!
How do you access these records?
- You can find the indexed records by going to FamilySearch and clicking on Search > Records. From the Records webpage, scroll down to where you can Search by Collection. Type in “Record of Members.” From the list select, “Utah, Record of Members 1840-1970.” The collection is slowly being indexed, so if you cannot find your ancestor today, try again in a few months and his/her records may be available.
- Some of the images for this collection are not available on FamilySearch but can be accessed by going to the Church History Library collection. This collection has records that are arranged by ward and stake. You may have to submit some identifying information to the library to receive approval to access them. I found my own baptismal record, other family ordinance records, and statistical reports signed by my father when he was the bishop of our ward using the Church History Library collection.
A great resource to learn more about the Record of Members collection and how to use it can be found in the RootsTech video from 2024 entitled “Finding Ancestors in Latter-day Saint Ward and Branch Records.” It explains in detail how to search for these records on FamilySearch and in the Church History Library. (See Link)
President Monson counseled, “”I admonish all families: search out your heritage. It is important to know, as far as possible, those who came before us. We discover something about ourselves when we learn about our ancestors.” (See lInk)
See what you can learn about your ancestors using this valuable resource! If you need help, I would be glad to help you.
-Marianne Bates, Consultant, Granite FamilySearch Center