By LaRae Free Kerr

Graves of my relatives lie along the North-South Mountain ranges of the Sawtooth Mountains starting at Lemhi, Idaho then down the Wasatch Mountain Range into Salt Lake County.

Ancestors and relatives are buried further South in Beaver, Iron, and Washington Counties. From there, some of my relatives slipped over into the mineral-laden mountains of Lincoln County, Nevada. Many of their graves are pictured and/or mentioned on FindAGrave at http://www.findagrave.com/.

If you have relatives who lived in the same North-South corridor – Idaho through Utah and perhaps into Nevada – here are local and pioneer URLs and archives that may reveal information new to you.

The Early Latter-day Saints: A Mormon Trail Pioneer Database at http://www.earlylds.com/index.html is a great site to explore. Be sure to look at the “Links to Other Sites” at the bottom of the Help and FAQS page (http://www.earlylds.com/help.html). Enjoy the site, but do NOT accept any of the information as Gospel. The family errors abound, especially in the Pioneers section. For example, on this site, the family of William, Hannah(?), Elzida, Maten and Emma Free is ascribed to the family of William Oliver Free born Nov 1842. The source is the Nauvoo 4th ward records which would have been dated 1850 at the latest. So William born 1842 would be eight years old when he had a wife and three children.

The truth is much simpler. The William who is the father of these three children is William Hart Free born 1815, William Oliver Free’s uncle. The children are actually Altisarch born 1843, Madison born 1841, and Emma born about 1850. Other serious errors occur in the Free family data on this site. So enjoy the extras on this site, but do NOT believe the family data. Prove it yourself. See the blog at Itsallrelatives.us for more comments on this site.

Search the diaries of LDS missionaries at more.byu.edu/missionarydiaries. The creators of the site have made every name searchable. So I find that Elder Samuel Stephen Jones visited Sister Wadsworth who lived between Sheffield and Rotherham, a bit of relative data I’ve never had before.

Mormon Studies: BYU Library’s Guide to Digital Resources (http://mormonstudies.byu.edu/) provides Bibliographies, Guides and Indexes; Biographies; Diaries; Theses and Dissertations; information about universities with Mormon Studies programs either established or in the works at Claremont Graduate University, University of Durham, England, Utah State University, Utah Valley University, historical sites such as British Mormon Historical Society and the Official Church History Site; Library Catalogs for several universities; digital newspapers and on and on.

It may look like it will take much effort to search for your names on every site listed here, but remember, it was only a few nanoseconds ago we had to search these records by going to each repository and pulling out the drawers, winding the microfilm, waiting for the manuscript to be brought up from the basement, etc!

Perhaps your ancestors made it to Iron or Washington Counties or someplace near there. If so, be sure to search for mention of your ancestors at USGenWeb (http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=17702). Of course, you can search your county on USGenWeb wherever it might be. Thanks to those who put Washington County biographies on the web at http://lofthouse.com/USA/Utah/washington/history/. Find early Washington County marriages at http://www.lofthouse.com/USA/Utah/washington/marriage/index.html.

If, like mine, your ancestors spilled over into Lincoln County, Nevada, check out the Rootsweb site (http://www.rootsweb.com/~nvlincol/?cj=1&o_xid=0001155785&o_lid=0001155785) and the Podunk site (http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=17702).

If relatives did live anywhere along this North-South corridor that splits Utah, you may find just what you need at either of two places you’ll need to visit in person. The first is the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers at 300 North Main Street in Salt Lake City. (801-532-6479, www.dupinternational.org and info@dupinternationl.org). After directing researchers to all the above websites, it may seem superfluous to recommend a visit here. But DUP, because of it’s Camps throughout the world, has created and gathered biographies, documents and artifacts found no other place – not the Family History Library nor the Utah Historical Society, etc. Further, the DUP has gathered data on groups other than Mormons such as Jews and Indians.

To locate the old history you want, visit Sam Weller’s Bookstore at 254 South Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City (www.SamWellers.com). Then get out of the snow and attend the 4th Annual Family History Expo in St George 8-9 Feb, 2008. Find out more at
Itsallrelatives.us.

View a few of my relatives’ tombstones on the blog at Itsallrelatives.us.

LaRae Free Kerr, M ED, can be reached at Itsallrelatives@sfcn.org.