Genealogy Questions

Actual requests received by the Family History Department of the LDS Church. These are extracts from REAL letters:

I would like to find out if I have any living relatives or dead relatives or ancestors in my family.

He and his daughter are listed as not being born.

My Grandfather died at the age of 3.

We are sending you 5 children in a separate envelope.

The wife of #22 could not be found. Somebody suggested that she might have been stillborn – what do you think?

I am mailing you my aunt and uncle and 3 of their children.

Enclosed please find my Grandmother. I have worked on her for 30 years without success.

Now see what you can do. This family had 7 nephews that I am unable to find. If you know who they are, please add them to the list.

We lost our Grandmother, will you please send us a copy?

A 14-year-old boy wrote: “I do not want you to do my research for me. Will you please send me all of the material on the Welch line, in the US, England and Scotland countries? I will do the research.”

Will you please send me the name of my first wife? I have forgotten her name.


This was published in the Improvement Era magazine (ancestor of the Ensign) back in the 60s or 70s.

3 Responses to Genealogy Questions

  1. This is a pretty funny list. I used the content in a blog that I contribute to at funnymormons.com. I attributed it to your site. Thanks for the good stories you have posted here.

  2. Jeff Chilton says:

    I teach Gospel Essentials and I start most of my sunday school lessons with humor from your site. The few times i havent done it the students were vocally dissapointed. Humor breaks the ice and also the intimidating barriers that some new members feel when faced with an overwheming abundance of new concepts and terminologies. When we laugh together we bond together. My class is getting bigger and bigger each week and i see members of the Gospel Prinicples class coming in for a ‘refresher’. Thanks for all you do, keep up the fight to preserve good. clean humor. It’s worth it to so many of us.

  3. Anne Giles says:

    I just found your site. I publish the ward newsletter and am using the jokes. I wish I had known about your site 5 years ago! Thanks.

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