Dreams Inspired Woman to Find Time for Family History

Contributed By Dorothy N. Moore, Heritage Ward, Murray Utah West Stake

  • 9 October 2014

Dorothy N. Moore from the Heritage Ward, Murray Utah West Stake, was prompted to pursue family history work on her father’s side, despite her busy schedule.

“When I woke up I knew I had to find the time to work on the Nixon line.” —Dorothy N. Moore, Heritage Ward, Murray Utah West Stake

The Teachings of Joseph Smith records the Prophet saying, “It is necessary that the sealing power should be in our hands to seal our children and our dead for the fulness of the dispensation of times—a dispensation to meet the promises made by Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world for the salvation of man” (p. 475).

Still today, prophets and apostles have counseled members to seek out their ancestors. Church members of all ages are heeding that call as they work to perform temple ordinances for their own family members who came before them.

Dorothy N. Moore from the Heritage Ward, Murray Utah West Stake, shares her experience:

“After having some success doing genealogy searching original records written in French on my mother’s line, I had two dreams that indicated that I should be working on my father’s line.

“In the first dream I could see a photograph with the picture of a person on the left side and a white oval on the right side. I could hear the words, ‘The name is Nixon,’ which is my father’s line.

“At the time I was really busy. My father-in-law, who needed our care, was living with us. Every weekend we traveled about two hours away from the place where we were living so we could work on a home we were building. On weekdays I taught school.

“Six months later, I had the second dream.

“In this dream I saw two houses, the house of Cornia—which was my mother’s line—and the house of Nixon. I had the understanding that the house was owned by the Nixons and was up for sale. I decided to visit the Nixon house. In this house I saw beautiful antiques displayed in glass cases.

“When I woke up I knew I had to find the time to work on the Nixon line, so once a week in the evening I worked on this line. It became very difficult when the records were written in Old English, and none of the samples available in the Family History Library in Salt Lake matched the records with which I was working. However, I could read the dates and that helped some, and gradually, letter by letter, I was able to read the words.

“What a thrill it was to take these names to a temple and do the work for which my kindred dead had been waiting for many years.”

  Listen