[RnMomof7]

God knows them, if it requires revelation to get the information, the revelation will come sometime in the millenium. God expects us to do what we can do ourselves first, and we are not close to being done that yet.

Historically at what point did the church move from the proxie baptism of family to a general application of the ordinances? Was that a special revelation or a natural change?

[Grig]

"Historically at what point did the church move from the proxie baptism of family to a general application of the ordinances?"

I don't know what moving you are talking about. It has always been something for all mankind, and the emphasis has always been on having it done for ancestors before spending time and effort doing it for others.

Church membership, the number of temples, technology etc. have effected how quickly they can be done, and how many are available to do in a given time. There are more nth generation members who don't have a list of ancestors still waiting to be done than in the past (so they do work for others), but the focus is still to put the priority on doing your ancestors. When I go I wind up doing the work for the ancestor of a newer member usually.