Free virtual family history conference Mar. 3-5

Coming up March 3-5, 2022, the largest family history conference in the world will stream live on the internet. It is free to all and run by RootsTech which is a FamilySearch company. You can find details on keynote speakers, over 1,500 sessions, and connect with relatives around the world on the conference webpage: FamilySearch.org/RootsTech.

Family history touches my life in surprising ways, and everything ties together. My family and I were recently discussing the story of Abraham. I remain fascinated by the story of Abraham and Sarah; I find funny that both Abraham and Sarah laughed (KJV Genesis 21:6) when they were told that she would have a son and that he would be the father over many. At his elderly age (one hundred years old), I am sure it was far from his mind to start a family. I can only imagine the pain that Abraham felt when he received the instructions to sacrifice his only son Isaac just to be spared at the last minute by an angel.

Abraham remains the key figure in the three main religions of the world, they can all trace their origins through Abraham. The scripture in KJV Genesis 22:17 has certainly come true, “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.” Millions and millions of people exist because of the faithfulness of one person.

A few years ago, my daughter, Savanna, had a school assignment to develop a four-generation family chart of herself, my wife and I, our parents and grandparents. We needed very specific information. Like most teenagers, she had waited until the last night to complete the assignment..

We found the free website, familysearch.org and quickly got on. We were astounded at the amount of genealogical information that we found. We found pictures of my grandparents that I had never seen. We found images of ancestors long ago, journal entries as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean, letters to loved ones, and even an uploaded video of my dear grandmother Martha Christine, the matriarch of our family.

Then, we all got more excited and engaged as we discovered a particular family line on my wife’s side that tied into European Royalty. We kept tracing it back and back, and my daughter kept at it long after we had gone to bed. The scripture in KJV Malichi 4:6 came to mind, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” My daughter had certainly had her heart and mind bent toward to those who came before us.

The next evening, when I asked Savanna how the search had gone, she told me she had reached the end. I found her use of the word end unusual and pressed for more details. She said, “Yeah, I got to the end: Adam.” I admit that we did not believe her and she got out the computer and showed us how she had traced from her, via my wife’s side of the family, through European royalty until it tied into the Old and New Testament, through Abraham, all the way to Adam and Eve. She said it in such a way that she was surprised that not everyone knew that or could do that. It turned into a pretty cool moment for our family as we saw the work that Savanna had done.

I would encourage anyone who has even a slight interest in family history to log into the conference or check out familysearch.org, a collaborative world-wide family tree. Plug in your name and you might be fascinated at how much work people have already done on your family tree, your family history. You might find that you are related to a Queen of England or perhaps even trace yourself back to the very beginning itself. Along the way you will find stories of ancestors not very old and some much older who will turn your heart to your fathers.

John Boston is a local physician, husband, father, grandfather and believer in Christ and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.