Coffinberry, congratulations on solving your genealogical mystery. I wouldn’t be surprised if your great-aunt had something to do with it, and that isn’t just a Sunday School response. You give us a hint of the commitment of thousands of Latter-day Saints doing genealogical research and temple ordinances under conditions that — given the aid of computers and the ease of temple attendance available to many of us now — demand our respect. Thanks for commenting.

Great post, again, Ardis. This was very interesting.

My brother inherited our great-aunt’s “blue suitcase”, in which she kept all her genealogy and temple records. Baptized in 1961, she was an ardent genealogist, but limited by money, health, and distance in her ability to do temple work personally. But I know that she diligently sent every scrap of information to the temple so that the work could be done for her ancestors. (I inherited a puzzle–the identity of her great-grandfather–she had worked on all those, and was at last able to solve it in 2001).

Your article also sheds light on what my own grandmother (a convert in Arizona the mid 1940′s) had to do in order to do her family work. I hadn’t realized that taking a name to the temple was an all-day thing. She did dozens, despite having small children and fighting tuberculosis.

Thanks for this.

Friends, with that, let’s all please refocus on the original topic: helping the Saints accomplish their obligations to deceased family members when those Saints had little hope of regular temple attendance. Our other discussion is one I would enjoy were we all gathered in the same room as friends, but not in public. I’ll post a similar note on the other thread where this discussion has spilled. Thanks for your cooperation.

Some of you must have served missions before temples were scattered abroad, and in places where the Saints would be lucky to travel to a temple for even their own ordinances. Any memories of how they thought of temple work for their deceased friends and relatives?

It doesn’t matter to me which one of you does the research and writes it. I’ll be grateful either way.

I had thought (and maybe it came from thin air), that at some time in the distant past all the initiatory ordinances and the endowment would be done by the same proxy on the same day, and that before then even baptisms would be done at the beginning of that day. (I know it can be done, even now, with family names.)

Anyway, I’m happily awaiting enlightenment.

I also remembered that I have an account about a temple worker in, I believe, 1914 that indicated his salary as $20 a month (workers used to be paid in thise days) – a bit more than the going rate for dong an endowment a day.

J., I’m looking to you to write it.

As to when the endowment was shortened, after the death of pres. Lund, George F. Richards became president of the SLC Temple and reformed practices between 1921-1923, with changes including eliminating temple healers, calling temple president wives as matrons, reforming the endowment, and shortening the garment. I’m traveling and can’t check now, but I think the endowment changes were in 1922.

Mark, I’m not sure that there is a significan’t history of doing all the proxy work in the same session as a rule. I’ll look at some resources when I am able, though.

Thanks as always Ardis, for the great post.