Words of Wisdom

All of our ancestors live within each one of us whether we are aware of it or not. 
- Laurence Overmire

As you pursue family history work, you are going to find yourself running into roadblocks, and you are going to say to yourself, 'There is nothing else I can do.' When you come to that point, get down on your knees and ask the Lord to open the way, and he will open the way for you. I testify that this is true. 
- President Thomas S. Monson

Don’t underestimate the influence of the deceased in assisting your efforts and the joy of ultimately meeting those you serve. The eternally significant blessing of uniting our own families is almost beyond comprehension. 
- Elder Quentin L. Cook

Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors. 
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to. 
- Orson Scott Card

Every succeeding generation has the opportunity to heal the wounds of the past. 
- Laurence Overmire

Everyone has a story. Every story matters. 
- Nicole Wedemeyer Miller

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future. 
- Gail Lumet Buckley

Family history work will bring miracles to your life and to the lives of those you love. 
- Wendy Watson Nelson

Friends come and go, but relatives tend to accumulate. 
- Unknown

Genealogy: Tracing yourself back to people better than you are. 
- John Garland Pollard

Heavenly Father loves his children in the spirit world just as much as he loves you and me. 
- President Thomas S. Monson

I don't have to look up my family tree because I know that I'm the sap. 
- Fred Allen

If you are lucky enough to be a genealogist, you are lucky enough. 
- Ruth Padilla

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. 
- George Bernard Shaw

If you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree. 
- Michael Crichton

In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness. 
- Alex Haley, Roots

It’s important to teach our children their heritage. Who are your ancestors? What were their traditions? Each of us has a story to tell. If these stories are unwritten, then how are your children going to know of their parentage? 
- Linda Weaver Clarke

Knowing more about family history is the single biggest predictor of a child's emotional well-being. Grandparents can play a special role in this process, too. 
- Bruce Feiler

My charge, then, in putting down my pen, and giving over this work to posterity, is this: Take the time. Take the time to preserve the stories, the photographs, the small mementos that mean so much. This is your legacy to future generations. Give it the attention it deserves. Your children and your grandchildren will thank you for it. 
- Laurence Overmire

Our message to the world is simple and sincere: we invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life. 
- President Russell M.Nelson

People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors. 
- Edmund Burke

Remember me in the family tree
My name, my days, my strife;
Then I’ll ride upon the wings of time
And live an endless life.
Linda Goetsch

Set aside those things in your life that don’t really matter. Decide to do something that will have eternal consequences. Perhaps you have been prompted to look for ancestors but feel you are not a genealogist. Can you see that you don’t have to be anymore? It all begins with love and a sincere desire to help those beyond the veil who can’t help themselves. Check around. There will be someone in your area who can help you have success.  
- Elder Richard G. Scott

Some family trees have beautiful leaves, and some have just a bunch of nuts. Remember, it is the nuts that make the tree worth shaking.  
- Unknown

The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead. 
- President Joseph Smith

The kitchen is the heart of every home, for the most part. It evokes memories of your family history. 
- Debi Mazar

The most successful families embrace and elevate their family history, particularly their failures, setbacks and other missteps. 
- Bruce Feiler

The same way one tells a recipe, one tells a family history. Each one of us has our past locked inside. 
- Laura Esquivel

The story of his great-grandfather . . . was his own story, too. 
- Kelly Cherry

The thing that interests me most about family history is the gap between the things we think we know about our families and the realities. 
- Jeremy Hardy

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his. 
- Helen Keller

This work is a spiritual work, a monumental effort of cooperation on both sides of the veil, where help is given in both directions. Anywhere you are in the world, with prayer, faith, determination, diligence, and some sacrifice, you can make a powerful contribution. Begin now. I promise you that the Lord will help you find a way. 
- Elder Richard G. Scott

To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root. – Chinese Porverb
Ultimately, the great truths of family history don't live in any book. They live in the hearts and minds of the living descendants. They live in the way we conduct our lives, in the passing of traditions and values to those who will follow. 
- Laurence Overmire

We inherit from our ancestors gifts so often taken for granted. Each of us contains within this inheritance of soul. We are links between the ages, containing past and present expectations, sacred memories and future promise. 
- Edward Sellner

We need a mass of ancestors at our backs like a ballast. Sometimes, we feel it's impossible to push into the future without such a weight behind us, without such heaviness to keep us steady, even if it is imaginary. And the more frightening the future is, the more complicated it seems to be, the more we steady ourselves with the past. 
- Lauren Groff

We've uncovered some embarrassing ancestors in the not-too-distant past. Some horse thieves, and some people killed on Saturday nights. One of my relatives, unfortunately, was even in the newspaper business. 
- Jimmy Carter

When a society or a civilization perishes, one condition can always be found. They forgot where they came from. 
- Carle Sandburg

Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.  
- Mark Twain

Further Reading

Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing - By Elder Dale G. Renlund - April 2018
When we gather our family histories and go to the temple on behalf of our ancestors, God fulfills promised blessings simultaneously on both sides of the veil.

The Book - By Elder Allan F. Packer - October 2014

Family history and temple work should be a regular part of our personal worship.

Hastening the Work - By President Thomas S. Monson - June 2014
Therefore, we must plunge into this work, and we must prepare for some uphill climbing. This is not an easy task, but the Lord has placed it upon you, and He has placed it upon me.

Roots and Branches - By Elder Quentin L. Cook - April 2014
Hastening family history and temple work in our day is essential for the salvation and exaltation of families.

The Joy of Redeeming the Dead - By Elder Richard G. Scott - October 2012
“He shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.”

The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn - By David A. Bednar - October 2011
I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah.

Generations Linked in Love - By Russell M. Nelson - April 2010
Our inborn yearnings for family connections are fulfilled when we are linked to our ancestors through sacred ordinances of the temple.

Concern for the One - By Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin - April 2008
Jesus Christ is our greatest example. He was surrounded by multitudes and spoke to thousands, yet He always had concern for the one.

Hearts Bound Together - By Henry B. Eyring - April 2005
When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. … They rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them.

Bridges and Eternal Keepsakes - By Dennis B. Neuenschwander - April 1999
Genealogies, family stories, historical accounts, and traditions … form a bridge between past and future and bind generations together in ways that no other keepsake can.

Linking the Family of Man - By David B. Haight - April 1991
Because we love them. Because they are entitled to the same blessings that we enjoy. Because this is a major part of the heavenly plan for this, the dispensation of the fullness of times, for the blessing of all people.

Redemption: The Harvest of Love - By Richard G. Scott - October 1990
FamilySearch provides members easy access to the Church’s central genealogy computer files. It greatly simplifies research and enables members to more efficiently find information in the Church’s vast storehouse of microfilmed records.

Family History: "In Wisdom and in Order" - By Elder Dallin H. Oaks - June 1989
There is much each member can do toward redeeming the dead—and each can contribute according to individual circumstances and abilities.

Jesus: The Perfect Leader - By President Spencer W. Kimball - 15 January 1979

There are far more things to be said about the Lord Jesus Christ’s remarkable leadership than any single article or book could possibly cover, but I want to point out a few of the attributes and skills he demonstrated so perfectly. These same skills and qualities are important for us all if we wish to succeed as leaders in any lasting way.