On Saturday, the church invited African Americans in the region to view those records, offering workshops and guidance on how to sort through dusty documents and online databases to uncover more about their ancestors.
As part of its fourth annual seminar, the church offered scores of probate, land transfer and bank records, along with slave transaction records, to African Americans, a group whose documented ties to ancestors were muddied by more than two centuries of slavery in America.
"All of us need to feel like we belong to a community," Lynette McDowell said.
The LDS church is considered a world leader in genealogy research and makes its ancestral records available to the public.
Genealogy is valued as part of the faith's emphasis on the eternal nature of marriage and family. Since the bonds of family last forever, even beyond death, according to Mormon belief, it's crucial for the living to be aware of their ancestry.
Saturday's church event, which drew more than 100 participants, was something of an awkward union, as African Americans were blocked from church ceremonies and the priesthood until the late 1970s, when the church repealed the restrictions.
To help bridge the divide, the local Mormon church sought sponsorships from African American business groups, and advertised directly to the African American community before Saturday's event.
Participants were delighted with the access to the church's family history room – a library holding more than 20,000 research books of historical records and maps within its exposed brick walls.
Hester McCoy Snider, 82, from Rocklin, came to the event with a friend. She just finished up her memoir and was hoping to find out more about her ancestors.
"You want to know as much as possible because you want to let your children know who they are," she said.
Brenda Austin of Vallejo also came with a friend. She said the importance of being familiar with your family tree hit home when her daughter, then in middle school, came home talking about a boy she liked. After the family did some research, they made an unnerving discovery.
"He turned out to be a cousin," Austin said. "It's a very small world."
Organizer Ron McDowell said interfacing with the African American community is helping the church reach out to other minority groups, as well.
"We've become sharper about how to help out other communities," he said. "The Ukrainians are coming in, the Hispanics are coming in. It's helping us reach out."
Mark Jansson, who does public affairs work for the church in the Sacramento area, even attributed some of his inspiration to do genealogical work to Alex Haley, the African American author who wrote "Roots," a novel adapted into an iconic miniseries that spurred interest among African Americans in tracing their ancestry.
Event organizers said they have no intention of using these workshops to convert but would embrace any who did.
offering workshops and guidance on how to sort through dusty documents and online databases to uncover more about their ancestors.
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who are all candidates for necro-dunking...
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith.
Didn’t ol’ Joe Smith have something to say negatively about people who did not possess “white and delightsome” skin?
Yes, he did.
The false prophet wrote much false scripture that was unbelievably racist.
I wonder how many of those people get a knock on the door from a couple of bicyclists in white shirts in the next couple of weeks.