Is it true that the Mormons keep track on people's genealogy?

Answer 1

The Mormon genealogical library is the largest such library in the world. We are in the process of scanning all the thousands of microfilms into digital format to make all the information available over the internet.

Until then, one can access all the genealogical records the church has through the many Family History Centers we have throughout the world.

Answer 2

The Mormon's do have the largest repository of genealogy in the World. They do genealogy mostly for religious reasons. They believe that everyone born on earth will have the opportunity, whether in this life or in the next, to accept or reject the gospel of Jesus Christ and keep His commandments. The gospel is taught to the dead (in the Spirit World) to those who did not learn of it while living on earth. With that said, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are able to be baptized vicariously (meaning in the place of, by proxy) for their ancestors who have passed away. This way the dead can choose to accept (or reject) the baptism that was done in their behalf.

The mormon church has photographed many records both near and far including vital records, church records, censuses, obituaries, town and city histories, etc. You can "check out" these rolls from Salt Lake for your research through a local branch of your LDS church. You don't have to be a member of the church to use the library and you can use for free what rolls of information they happen to have. If you want a roll that isn't there, you can order it for a nominal fee and it will get there within a week. If it is a roll that you think you will be using time and time again, you can order it for that branches permanent collection. No one witnesses to you while you research either, so you don't have to worry about that either.

People often believe that the Mormons have everyones genealogy available. This is simply not true. It is true that they have thousands and thousands user contributed trees. Please remember that these trees are just like any trees you find on the internet and should only be used as a possible direction for your own research. You should NEVER assume any family tree whether the Mormons have it or not is correct. Investigating every entry is necessary before adding it to your own tree. Most of the fun in genealogy is the hunt anyway. I hope this helps!!

Answer 3

http://lds.about.com/od/mormongenealogy/Mormon_Genealogy.htm

If you go to the above site, you can find out more about the Mormon faith and genealogy. I believe genealogy is an outgrowth of LDS religious tenets. The main genealogical library is located in Salt Lake City across the street from the Mormon Temple.

Due to this the church has been active in microfilming and collecting vital, church, census, immigration, etc. records from around the world.

People of any faith can go to a local LDS family history center and volunteers will guide you in searching for records. You can order microfilm for a small fee, as well. Proselytizing is not done at these centers and volunteers are quite helpful.

There is some controversy with regard to Jewish records and the Mormon Baptism process with regard to them.

Answer 4

Not sure what you mean by "keep track". The LDS ("Mormon") church does a tremendous amount of record keeping, collecting large amounts of public information from census records, birth and death information, etc. All of the information is available to anyone that wants to view it and use it for their own research. For more information, go to www.lds.org.

Answer 5

We keep geneaological records, but you make it sound like some sort of sinister plot. My apologies if I'm wrong.

Answer 6

I guess.