Patriarchal Blessings

Patriarchal Blessings can teach us information about our ancestors and sometimes contain similar wording as our own personal blessings with similar promises blessings.
You may request copies of patriarchal blessings for:

* Yourself
* Your spouse
* A direct line descendant
* A deceased direct line ancestor

The instructions for obtaining copies of patriarchal blessings can be found on the Church History Web site at http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/archives/pbinfo

1. Go to www.lds.org
2. Select About the Church.
3. Select Church History.
4. Click Church History and Library Archives.
5. Click Services and Rules.
6. Click Copies of Patriarchal Blessings may be requested for mailing.
7. Follow the instructions on the screen.

We are currently in the process of digitizing our collection of 3.5 million patriarchal blessings. Once this project is completed in 2008, it will be much easier for members around the world to receive copies of blessings.
If you have any questions, please call the Church History Library customer service desk at 801-240-2745.

Some pointers...

Here are some places to start at home.

Home Sources: Ask living relatives for information.
Journals
Certificates
Photos
Family Bible
Passport
Tickets
Old Papers

It is recommended that you keep a research log including what you searched for and where you went even if you don't find anything, so that you don't waste time on that same search that you have already done. Also, when you find things you want to be able to get back to them so if you keep a research log you will know where you found the information.

Research Log
Date
Place
What source or Who
What are you looking for?
What did you find?
Document number

Other information...

There are tons of resources out there but you need to know where to look. A good place to start looking is in the information about where your ancestors are from. There is a great book called "The Handybook for Geneologists" (Published by Everton Publishers, 2006, ISBN: 1-890895-05-9) where you can look up information about any county in any state and when it was formed and things like that. It is a great place to start if you have access to a copy of it.

You can also look up the research outline for a county or state which will tell you where you can get vital records(like a birth certificates or a marraige liscence) at wiki.familysearch.org.

Also below is a research outline to get you started. It was made by Mark Tucker.

William George Rehkopf

I wrote this biography for my class. He is my great great grandfather.

William George Rehkopf - Biography

William George Rehkopf was born in Bentonsport, Iowa on February 22, 1895. He was raised in Bentonsport and there married Lola May Cupp in 1897. They moved out to Imperial Valley, California in about 1902. William helped to settle the desert area to help pay off the land that he had purchased. William and his brother Gus helped build canals that were to bring water to the desert from the Colorado River. During the day it would get so hot as they were digging that they would look back at the recently overturned dirt and see the tracks of sidewinders who used the moist dirt to cool themselves. There were many scorpions and snakes in the area at this time. It was so hot that William contracted typhoid fever and had to be sent to the hospital by train to Pasadena. He was in the hospital for a time and then he and his wife returned to Iowa for 8 years because his wife was very homesick for her family and friends. After they went back to California his wife was so homesick that she didn’t unpack the barrels for a long time.

After 8 years they returned to California because William had purchased land there. When they returned they built a transitory 2-story structure of a loosely-boarded up home. This is where my great grandmother (Lola Marion Rehkopf) was born. They used to tease her that she had been born in a barn because this house was very simple. William began farming things such as alfalpha, black eyed beans, and winter hay. Later he farmed melons and 2 types of walnuts. He also purchased some sheep and chickens. He eventually had up to 1,000 hens at one time.

William used mules to pull the plow in his fields. There were a lot of farmers and fields in the Chino area at the time and there was a loud whistle that would blow that could be heard throughout the valley to begin the lunch hour at 12 noon. William’s mules would stop dead in their tracks as soon as they heard the lunch whistle and they would not start again until the second whistle blew to signify the start of work again.

Their certificate of marriage

Bailing hay on what is now the bustling Mountain Avenue. The ever so smart mules. And below is William George Rehkopf and his wife Lola May Cupp in their older years.

Wolfe Family in Illinois

This is a fun image (just found it today on ancesrty.com) because I did not know that there were siblings in this family. Look for the Wolfe family, a little over half way down the page.

Here is the family history chart:

Claude Edward Wolfe(my grandfather) --- Claude Edward Wolfe Sr. --- John David Wolfe(who is listed as a child here) --- David Peter Wolfe (father in this census)

Obituaries

Here is a really fun example of things you can find about your family. Every state has a state geneology website (start at usgenweb.org and then you can get to the state websites with TONS of resources from there). When you know the state where your ancestor died you can look up their obituary which will tell a little abotu their lives and even ussually give the names of children and spouses and sometimes even parents. Here are some fun examples.

Augustus C. Rehkopf 1837-1905

Augustus C. Rehkopf and was born July 17th, 1837, in Edesheim, Kingdom of Hanover, Germany and died of heart trouble at his home near Pierceville, Iowa, January 20, 1905, aged 67 years, 6 months and 3 days.

At 17 years of age he, with the parents came to America, stopping at Memphis, Tenn., July 4, 1854, and from there to Bentonsport in September 1857, where he worked at the cabinet trade for 17 years, afterward removing to the farm where he remained until death came.

He married Miss Louisa Siemon October 11, 1860 at Keosauqua, Iowa, and to them were born 11 children, two daughters preceding him in death. He leaves the dutiful wife to mourn with the children.

He was a kind husband, an indulgent father, one of the best of neighbors, respected by all who knew him and will be greatly missed.

Funeral services were held Sunday morning, Jan. 22, at the home, in charge of the Rev. Geo. H. Wehn and interment was made in the Bentonsport graveyard. There were a great many present, showing of the esteem, in which Mr. Rehkopf was held.

This obituary can be accessed at http://iagenweb.org/boards/vanburen/obituaries/index.cgi?review=2126

Mrs. Louise Rehkopf(Simeon) ~ 1839-1920

Louise, daughter of Henry J. and Marie Christina Siemon, was born November 1st, 1839, in the province of Wernigerode, Prussia, Germany, and died of heart failure and acute indigestion at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Anna H. Meredith, in Bonaparte, Iowa, April, 12, 1920, aged eighty years, five months and eleven days.

When fourteen years of age she came with her parents to the United States, locating in Wisconsin; from there they moved to Van Buren County where the rest of her life has been spent. She was united in marriage to Augustus C. Rehkopf Oct. 11, 1860, at Keosauqua, Iowa, living in and near Bentonsport until his death Jan. 20, 1905.

Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rehkopf: two daughters, Mary Louise Harris and Amelia M. preceded her in death. Nine children are left to mourn the loss of a loving mother: Anna H. Meredith of Bonaparte, Iowa; Augusus (sic) H. of San Diego, Calif.; Fred of Monrovia, Calif.; Caroline E. Trumbo, of Bentonsport, Iowa; William G. of Chino, Calif.; Louise Mitchell of Okmulgee, Oklahoma; Albert L. of Bentonsport, Iowa; Charles E. of Milton, Iowa; and Elsie E. Burnett of Des Moines, Iowa. Besides raising her own children, she also cared for her granddaughter, Elizabeth Harris Davis, who was left an orphan at the age of eight years, being a mother to her for years.

She has twenty-five grandchildren and one great grandchild. Also three sisters and four brothers: Eliza Anson of Monrovia, Calif.; Henrietta Brittain of Wasco, Calif.; Emma Craig of Keosauqua, Iowa; Henry C. Siemon, of Mankato, Kansas; William of Ontario, Calif., Herman of Kilbourne, Iowa and Albert of Wenatchee, Washington.

Mrs. Rehkopf was a member of the German Lutheran Church all her life until she moved to Bonaparte several years ago, when she transferred her membership to the M.E. Church of this place. Her health would not permit her to attend church as she wished, but she spent much of her time reading and studying her Bible.

Although obliged to remain at home, she kept happily employed, especially during war times, when she made a splendid record knitting for the soldier boys.

Funeral services were held at the home on Saturday afternoon, Rev. McCracken officiating, assisted by Rev. Coppoc. Interment in the Bentonsport Cemetery. Source; Iowa Rankin and Jenny Matheson newspaper clippings

This obituary can be found at http://iagenweb.org/boards/vanburen/obituaries/index.cgi?review=5796

My testimony

I am so grateful for family history work. It really is addicting and fun to learn about those who came before us. The stories and pictures are so priceless because when we know where we come from we know more about where we can go. I am grateful for the things that have opened up to me so that I can find out more about my ancestors. I know that the purpose of this life is to make those links and connections with our families so that we can one day return back to our Father in Heaven as a family sealed together for all eternity. This is what I look forward to with much anticipation.


"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" (Henry B. Eyring, “Hearts Bound Together,” Liahona, May 2005, 77–80).

I challenge all who read this blog to work on the finding and redemption of their ancestors for this will be a great joy unto them when they are thanked by these very same ancestors after this life for the work that was done. There is joy in this work!

So I finally started my family history blog. I would suggest that the first thing that you do is get a GEDCOM file from someone in your family. Usually there have been files that at least have been started and have some information which is better then nothing. Then you can import this file after you have downloaded PAF 5 from familysearch.org. Then you can really get started by using familyserach.org and ancestry.com to look for parents and children and start making the c0nnections.