Early Church Missionaries (FamilySearch)

[hagoth7]

Anyone using family search come across the new "early church missionary" feature yet?

https://www.lds.org/church/news/new-missionary-database-finds-early-church-missionaries-in-your-family-tree?lang=eng&_r=1

Great new feature. Introduced itself when I logged into FamilySearch today. Aligns very closely with a publishing project I kickstarted last week,  and mentioned again in an interview yesterday. (An expansion of a college research paper written long ago).

If anyone has early missionary relatives (pre-1870) who served in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, or Prussia, please contact me.  All those who provide helpful input within the next 7 days will get a gratis early-bird review of the published content.

If any of this violates board guidelines (IIRC, it doesn't) I'll gladly remove the last few sentences.

Edited June 27, 2017 by hagoth7

[Calm]

They just emailed me about my grandfather...not sure he counts as "early missionary" though.  Iirc he went out in the 1920s to Germany.  I have a lot of his stuff.  Trying to figure out who else got his stuff online.

[hagoth7]

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

They just emailed me about my grandfather...not sure he counts as "early missionary" though. 

Dunno.

The 1920's are several decades later than the period I'm currently focusing on.

However, did any of his/your ancestors there serve in the military anytime during 1845-1865 ? If so, do you know anything of their record of service...where/when/how they served?

Edited June 27, 2017 by hagoth7

[Duncan]

We are super duper distantly related to people who served missions, it's kind of neat but like uber distantly

[hagoth7]

I should disclose the topic of my old college paper (the kernel of the pending publishing project). My professor back then suggested several research topics to choose from in that senior research/essay class.  The one I opted to run with was basically "Why did so many Danes become Mormons?" (It was a Scandinavian Studies program.)

It was (and still is) a fascinating area of research...one that continued to snowball and unfold for years....and that even bore fruit in an unanticipated way in the later Nephites research. The core answer suggested by the research is that God reached out and stirred the pot in Scandinavian culture in *many* ways, through many people, uniquely priming that generation to receive the message of the Restoration during the first decades of missionary work there...before the culture suddenly shifted yet again. 

This pending publication ties the detailed answer(s) to that question...and the gist of the later Nephites in Europe research...into a nice little bow.  I Ibelieve that lessons learned from that early Scandinavian harvest can renew missionary successes there...and elsewhere.

/soapbox

Edited June 27, 2017 by hagoth7

[hagoth7]

23 minutes ago, Duncan said:

We are super duper distantly related to people who served missions, it's kind of neat but like uber distantly

K. 

Any specifics that fit the uber-narrow window of time/place requested? 

You might initially deem this a small insignificant thing. Please don't.

Edited June 27, 2017 by hagoth7

[Duncan]

8 minutes ago, hagoth7 said:

K. 

Any specifics that fit the uber-narrow window of time/place requested? 

looks like the earliest one is Bernard Snow, British Mission 1856-1858

[hagoth7]

31 minutes ago, Duncan said:

looks like the earliest one is Bernard Snow, British Mission 1856-1858

Hmm. Thank you. 

For my current project, I'm lookng more specifically for those serving early missions in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany, Austria, and Prussia

Edited June 27, 2017 by hagoth7

[Calm]

2 hours ago, hagoth7 said:

Dunno.

The 1920's are several decades later than the period I'm currently focusing on.

However, did any of his/your ancestors there serve in the military anytime during 1845-1865 ? If so, do you know anything of their record of service...where/when/how they served?

In Germany or Utah?

All I know of my German/Prussian ancestors were that they were Jews.  I have Scandinavian ancestors, but don't know if they served in the military  or missions.

Edited June 27, 2017 by Calm

[hagoth7]

3 hours ago, Calm said:

In Germany or Utah?

In Europe.

3 hours ago, Calm said:

All I know of my German/Prussian ancestors were that they were Jews. 

Hmm. Uber cool. Then this relates to you in two different ways.

3 hours ago, Calm said:

I have Scandinavian ancestors...

And in a third way.

Quote

...but don't know if they served in the military  or missions.

That detail is less important *if* they lived in Scandinavia. For example, I already know the general answer about military service if they lived in Denmark (whether one's family preserved mention of military/mission service). Ditto with the impact of such events on neighboring Norway and Sweden.

But if we're talking Germany, Prussia, or Austria, having *some* detail of the service record within that family becomes more relevant to the crossroad between this project and your family's conversiion narrative/heritage.

Edited June 27, 2017 by hagoth7

[Duncan]

Have you checked out this resource?

https://lib.byu.edu/collections/mormon-missionary-diaries/

[hagoth7]

32 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Have you checked out this resource?

https://lib.byu.edu/collections/mormon-missionary-diaries/

Awesome!

Thank you very much!