“Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers…”
-Malachi 4:5-6 (from the King James version of the Old Testament)
I had a really edifying experience yesterday via the internet. The internet is full of terrible, nasty things, but a lot of good things happen via this medium, too, and one of them is family history research. I followed a link from a friend’s blog the other night and browsed through this other person’s blog. He calls himself a gay traveler—based in San Francisco, travels throughout Mexico, Central, and South America, used to teach English, is a very good writer. Well, lately this globetrotter has been delving into his family history and he has struck upon an old Mormon line of ancestors and is fascinated by their stories. He has been posting them to his site, which is now an odd mixture of gay travel stories and Mormon Pioneer stories! I noticed a picture he had posted of his ancestor, Jefferson Hunt. I left him a comment saying something like, “Your ancestor and my Great Great Grandfather, Christopher Layton, are depicted together in a statue in El Presidio near the courthouse in downtown Tucson AZ. It commemorates their Mormon Battalion march through Tucson in 1846. It was dedicated December 1996 and I sang at the dedication ceremony.” I mean, really…how cool is that? So this person wrote back promptly, and here is the email volley that followed (edited for privacy and relevance):
That's cool that our ancestors are depicted together! I'll have to look up your ancestor on the internet. The Mormons were responsible for the exploration and founding of many western towns and cities. And they do a great job of recording their history. I can thank my Mormon ancestors for leaving me the most amazing genealogical records and documents.I still find new pieces of information all the time....I just found out this week that through my Hunt GGGG Grandmother that I am distantly related to the late Congressman Morris Udall from your home state.
I am related to the Udalls via my paternal grandmother, I think, from NE AZ. I had a Udall friend in HS and we figured that out. So, hey, we're practically cousins!
All of my older relatives are into family history—my dad's mom even did a research mission for 18 months at the big library in SLC while I was doing my mission in North Carolina. Christopher Layton's descendants published a really great book about him--I just finished reading it this summer and it really amazed me. I got some good genes. So yeah, Mormons love the family history.
I think the internet is super cool--I mean, how else would you and I ever be having a conversation, huh? It’s just awesome.
Wow! That's interesting! I started doing my research about two years ago -- my paternal side's history is so well documented that I didn't have to do much work except find what was already researched. I spent some time at the genealogical library at the Oakland Temple across the bay and I've found tons of stuff on the internet. It's been the most amazing journey of discovery. My parents divorced when I was a child and my father and paternal grandparents had already left the church so other than some bits and pieces I had very little exposure to my LDS history until I started my research. What a rich history! I hope if you've read some of my recent posts about my Mormon history I haven't offended you in any way....I have become enormously proud of my LDS ancestors and history since I've been doing this research. My conflicted feelings come from my very complicated relationship with my father and his parents (mental illness, etc.), and they "represented" everything LDS to me until recently when I learned that our history is much, much bigger than just them. I met two of my LDS relations (my father's cousin) for the first time in Salt Lake City last year and it was a very interesting experience and they gave me letters, photos, etc. of my Great Grandfather who joined the Church in Denmark in the 1870's and emigrated to Utah (it's from my grandmother Hunt that my other Mormon history comes from). So my feelings and perspective of everything LDS is evolving and maturing as I learn more and more.
Thanks for writing and adding one more interesting "link" to the fascinating mosaic that LDS history and genealogy is for me.
Let me tell you, I served a mission for the LDS church in the south, so don't think I haven't heard every bad thing there is to say, true or not, about Mormons. Your posts did not offend me, in fact I found them pretty tame. …My parents divorced in 1977 and I was kind of ashamed of the Laytons for some reason…but then I got to know my dad (thank goodness he's still alive and remarried and very Mormon now) and studied a little family history and learned what an honor it is to be a Layton. I was raised in Tucson, visiting grandparents in the tiny surrounding towns settled by my ancestors, meeting cousins from the colonies--little Danish-looking kids who spoke Spanish and were Mexican citizens. I love the way I was raised and I studied the church very hard for myself in my late teens. I have never been offended by the prophet or the Book of Mormon-- I have found them to be true and this to be a wonderful way of life for me. It just works and it makes me happy, so I live it.
That said, living in Utah (during and after college) was very hard for me and put me into a bit of a crisis. I kept having to sift through all these things that bothered me and I realized that there was a Mormon CULTURE and a Mormon DOCTRINE and oftimes people confused the two. There are many things about Mormon culture that offend my sensibilities, but I believe the things that I have studied and lived in my life. The church and its history… are things that I really cherish.
Your comments about the church and homosexuality touched a chord with me. One of my best friends from childhood is gay and for many years he was a gay Mormon. He had discussed his feelings many times with his bishop and was told that homosexuality is treated just like heterosexuality in the church: stay chaste until you're married, which translated to years of celibacy. He stayed in the church but had to finally give up on the chastity thing. So I don't really know how to reckon those things. But I do know this: [soapbox alert--it's okay to disagree with me here, this is just my take on religion]---God loves all of his children as a perfect Father would--unconditionally, non-judgmentally, eternally-- and expects us to love each other the same way. Having children of my own has helped me understand that so much better. It breaks my heart when people do hateful things in God's or Jesus' name (like bombing abortion clinics or beating up homosexuals or disowning their children)--it's such a total lapse of reasoning, not mention a lapse of charity (by definition, the pure love of Christ). Once you have your own kids you should begin to understand a little bit about how God feels toward humanity. As a mother, I cherish my kids and always will, even if they do things I don't agree with or even contrary to my will. I would be furious if someone tried to "discipline" or condemn them in my name. I believe God feels the same way and will judge his children as HE sees fit, with a perfect knowledge and understanding of all that they have been taught and experienced in this life.
Okay, end of sermon. I just wanted to share that with you, and to let you know that any person of any religion that follows Jesus should be able to say the same thing. I am sorry if your experiences with Mormons have been lame--that happens, I'm afraid--but just know that most of that stuff is cultural more than religious.
It's late. Sometime I will tell you about the pioneer trek my youth group ("Young Women") went on through Wyoming this summer. It was such a cool experience for them to study about an ancestor or historical figure that crossed the plains, then walk 37 miles in their footsteps--it really did change them! I can see it in their faces and I think that's so cool (Mormon Brat Camp—heh, heh)--just another benefit of family history study. Reminds me of that Ziggy Marley song, “Tomorrow People”: Don't know your past/ won't know your future.
Thanks for writing back. What you have written here fascinates me on many levels.
English and Danish...that's my Mormon stock, too. And I have branches of my ancestors who went to Mexico in the 1890's when polygamy was outlawed in Utah, so I can imagine what your cousins looked like! And reading your thoughts about your religion and beliefs helps me understand that there is no "cookie-cutter" Mormon. I'll tell you something I've never said to anyone...since I… met my relations and also since I've discovered all my history I've been tempted to become LDS...there are many appealing things about it, and in so many ways I felt like I had come "home". BUT as a gay man I don't feel I have a place in the church. I recently met a gay man here in S.F. who went to BYU and who loves the church but is going through a very rough time right now because he can't reconcile his religion with his inner-self. Something keeps me coming back to the all things LDS....I read the history and I continue to do genealogical research (thanks for the links, by the way...I always enjoy that). My best friend in high school is jack mormon. Her family kind of took me in during those difficult high school years when I was sent to L.A. to live with my father. I reconnected with her about three years ago and I discovered during my research that our ancestors crossed the plains to Utah in the same company (William Snow Company). How strange and wonderful! It's almost as if some kind of destiny or force brought us together in the present when unbeknownst to us our ancestors had known each other in the 1850's.
So I'm going to keep on with this journey to the past and who knows where it will lead. The line from that song is so true....by getting to know and respect the past I'm coming to terms with both the present and the future. It's been both fascinating and comforting to discover that there were many generations before me...of course we all know that, but it's not real until we know the names, dates and most of all, the history and the context. And I've met some amazingly wonderful people out there who have sent me bits and pieces of my Mormon history. You are one of them. Thanks so much for sharing! The power of the internet is amazing, isn't it?
Okay, seriously, people—have you ever heard a better testimony of Family History? And this from a man who is so different than the typical Mormon genealogist. If you don’t think that scripture from Malachi is happening all over the world, in and out of the church, you are NUTS. To my new friend, M, thank YOU for sharing YOUR experiences. They are really amazing and I hope you will keep me posted on your journey. Your appreciation for your history helps me appreciate mine, too.
The Caption reads: "I joined the Mormon Battalion of Iowa Volunteers, Company C, Infantry, as a Private number 47 and took up march on the 20th of July 1846." -Christopher Layton. I thought it was an amazing twist of fate that I returned to Tucson for school and joined the Institute Choir the same year we were to perform at the dedication of the Mormon Battalion Monument, which commemorates my GG grandfather Layton posting the US flag near the Presidio of Tucson. Not only did I get to honor a great ancestor, I got to sing in a trio for President Hinckley. (Pres. Hinckley presided and spoke at the dedication along with the mayor and Congressman Jim Kolbe).
The Caption reads: "I joined the Mormon Battalion of Iowa Volunteers, Company C, Infantry, as a Private number 47 and took up march on the 20th of July 1846." -Christopher Layton. I thought it was an amazing twist of fate that I returned to Tucson for school and joined the Institute Choir the same year we were to perform at the dedication of the Mormon Battalion Monument, which commemorates my GG grandfather Layton posting the US flag near the Presidio of Tucson. Not only did I get to honor a great ancestor, I got to sing in a trio for President Hinckley. (Pres. Hinckley presided and spoke at the dedication along with the mayor and Congressman Jim Kolbe).
Caption: December 14, 1996-Tucson
Rich and I put in a 15-hour day (30 man hours!) on Saturday to get our yard tilled, raked, and start the landscaping. We are about 2/3 done--we plan on filling in the rock bed, then making rock islands around the trees, too, with prairie grasses and some bulbs for spring. (we are getting the rocks from the ranch at the river bank).
