Mecca

In this picture we are approaching the mecca of all saga seekers:

THE SALT LAKE CITY FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY!!!

The stomach quivers and the palms sweat with excitement that builds with every step that brings one closer to the repository of all genealogical repositories.


Saga Seekers have been known to plan entire summer vacations around this facility. Saga Seekers have been known to enter this building and not emerge for hours, days and even weeks, famished and sleep-deprived, but clutching to their breast--primary source documents!

 We hope for the same as we enter these doors.

And make our way down, down, down, into the deep recesses of the library and onto the British Isles floor. We make our way past the friendly faces at the information desk and over to the “stacks”. We know and understand this official terminology because we are saga seekers. Our courage does not fail us as we wonder at the immensity of the microfilm collection,

understanding that each drawer could contain information about our people. We train our focus on the task at hand, finding 0502210.

And here it is, in this drawer!

Now the anticipation builds. We stake out our favorite microfilm machine affectionately named Clarabelle,

ignoring the gaping mouth of the terrifying contraption on the other side of the isle,

and thread the reels. Yep, this is the right one.

Spin and spin and spin the handle until we come upon the 1823 marriage section of the bishop’s transcript. And there it is, larger than life: Alfred and Ann’s marriage record!

The realization that Alfred and Ann were real, living, breathing people who walked on the earth and left behind records of their life thrills the saga seeker clear down to the core.

Now, what does this record tell us about them?