On a monthly visit, our home teacher Max approached Brent and me about attending the family history class the next Sunday. I had immigrated from Denmark at age seven with my parents and two sisters. I knew next to nothing about my family history. However, my patriarchal blessing at age sixteen told me how important this should be in my life.
So, I began the Sunday class feeling very skeptical that anyone could help me. And then I met Marianne Bates! She took me to classes where I learned about Danish church books and census records, and I was hooked! I had only a piece of scratch paper with my dad’s parents and siblings on one side and my mother’s on the other, no birth dates or places. Mari introduced me to Family Search and spent hours and hours at my side. “The rest is history” as they say, family history that is.
Having some knowledge of spoken and written Danish, I could navigate the Danish church books. I have come to love them so much. With Mari on one side in class and Brit on the other, who can read more Danish than me, I was making real progress. Ask me sometime how I found my mother’s father with only a name and the fact that he had a twin sister! I am now almost five generations out on both sides. I have completed the endowments for five grandmothers and have five grandfathers and one uncle ready for endowments. I am so proud of my Danish heritage and know that the help I needed was made available to me so that I could accomplish this great work.
Tove Wayman