Dear Jill, Here's the copy of the "letter in question," it was a link of an e-mail from FamilySearch and on the familysearch blog. For all of the comments in connection to this go to the website https://familysearch.org/blog/submission-policies/ * * * * * Name Submission Policies April 27, 2012 By dgreen The First Presidency recently issued a statement reinforcing policy on names submission to the temple. There were several questions that were asked by consultants; here are five of the most asked questions and the answer we provided: Question One: Hi and thank you for sending the e-mail about the names submissions. Did I receive this e-mail (and possibly more of these e-mails) because I did submit a name that was unauthorized? Answer One: The e-mails you received were sent to all members registered in new FamilySearch. They weren't directed at anyone in particular. Question Two: How far out on the "twigs" of the family tree is no longer considered family or relations? Answer Two: You can continue to work collateral or descendant lines. Just be sure that you are staying in your own family line. For example, once you cross over a spousal line, you are no longer related. That family is the family of a spouse. The key to almost every policy is that you be related. If you stay within that guideline, you will be fine. Question Three: Can we complete temple ordinance work for family members after they have been deceased 95 years? Answer Three: There has been a recent update on policy so that ancestors need to have been born at least 110 years ago before temple work can be submitted without requiring the permission of the closest living relative. Proxy work that has been started for persons born within the last 95 years under former submission rules can be completed. Question Four: Our family has several family lines that are not necessarily legally connected to us. For example, my mother was legally adopted by her grandparents, but as a teenager she was raised by her mother and a stepfather. Which line can we follow? Answer Four: You can find most of the policies related to this question in chapter 7, page 30, of the Member's Guide to Temple and Family History Work. You can access this guide online, or request one from your ward clerk or pick one up at any Church distribution center. In the manual it explains that you can submit work for your biological, adoptive, or step family lines. Question Five: My mother's family is Jewish and some of my family members perished in the Holocaust in Poland during WWII. I would like to do their temple work but need to know if I am allowed to do it. Also, should I do only direct family such as grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, and so forth? Answer Five: Submitting names for temple work for people that died in the Holocaust is very sensitive, and there are specific rules for doing so. Below is the official Church policy, which can be found in the Help Center in new FamilySearch. Members cannot do the ordinances for Jewish Holocaust victims except under the following conditions: They are an immediate family member of the deceased (defined as parents, spouse, siblings, or children), or They have permission of all living immediate family members, or They have permission of the closest living relative if no immediate family members are living. This policy applies only to Holocaust records. Other records need to follow standard Church policies referred to in the member's guide referenced in answer four." * * * * It appears that a lot of people have been commenting on the blog with differing ideas and thoughts. But I can't determine from the names if any of these folks are officially connected with FamilySearch or just other consultants sharing their own ideas. I would like to see clarification officially from FamilySearch as I have been working on collateral lines for some time. Including the spouses of those I find. My thinking: "I would want someone finding my name to seal me to my husband, and my husband to his parents and siblings. They are "his" family by blood, but these would be my in-laws as well." A previous policy on 14 Feb 2012 stated: * * * * Document ID: 2709m Policy regarding the performing of temple ordinance work for names gathered or extracted from a film or book (2709) Resolution "Members should identify their kindred dead, request temple ordinances if needed, and provide these ordinances by proxy if possible. As a beginning, members should try to identify three to five generations of their ancestors. "Members' preeminent obligation is for their own ancestors. They may do family history research on natural, adoptive, and sealing lines. They also may submit names of persons who have a probable family relationship that cannot be verified because the records are inadequate, such as those who have the same surnames and resided in the same areas as known ancestors. "Members should be considerate of the feelings of close family members when submitting names of recently deceased relatives. "Names of nonrelated persons should not be submitted, including names of celebrities or famous people, or those gathered from unapproved extraction projects such as Jewish Holocaust victims. For information about participating in extraction projects that are approved by the Church, see pages 267-68" (Church Handbook of Instruction, Book 2: Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders,Section 9: "Temple and Family History Work," 262). "Concentrate on getting the temple ordinances completed for your own ancestors and their families. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said: 'The Spirit of Elijah will inspire individual members of the Church to link their generation rather than submit lists of people or popular personalities to whom they are unrelated' ('The Spirit of Elijah,'Ensign, Nov 1994, 86). Doing work for those who are not our own progenitors may needlessly duplicate efforts and ordinances or distract us from the work we should be doing for our own ancestors" (Paul E. Koelliker, "I Have a Question," Ensign, July 1999, 65).. * * * That seems a lot more lenient "natural, adoptive, and sealing lines." and "probably family relationships" If anyone has any other official information I would love to have it. Thanks, Tamara Stevenson ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 23:19:34 -0600 From: "Jill N. Crandell" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [LDS-WC] new temple ordinance guidelines? To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I'm seeing many "theys" and references to newsletters, but I would like to know who "they" are and what newsletter this information is in. I have heard that representatives "from Salt Lake" are teaching that we can't perform work for in-law spouses, but I have not heard the Brethren say this. The letter from the First Presidency repeated the previous rule that we need to be "related" to those for whom we perform ordinances, and all other statements I'm hearing are (thus far) not from authoritative sources. Right now, this feels like the latest Mormon urban legend. When all of these rumors started, I sent an email to the [email protected] email address the First Presidency letter gave for sending questions. It has been two weeks, and I have not received a response. When I saw the postings tonight, I went to FamilySearch chat to see if I could get someone's attention. After I explained the issue, the missionary stated that he would escalate my question and get the message through to the appropriate people, and that the "branchout" emails need responses. I will continue to ask for an authoritative answer to how the Brethren are defining "related". My opinion is that we are getting someone's personal interpretation of the prophet's letter, and that it's going beyond what was intended. I'll let all of you know what I find out. If any of you actually have a name of the newsletter and/or who is writing and making these statements, I would like to know the source of the information. As with all quality genealogical research, we need to evaluate the source! :o) Thanks, Jill Crandell ------------------------------ To contact the LDS-WARD-CONSULTANT list administrator, send an email to [email protected] To post a message to the LDS-WARD-CONSULTANT mailing list, send an email to [email protected] __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. End of LDS-WARD-CONSULTANT Digest, Vol 7, Issue 114 ***************************************************

Anyone ancestry of that spouse is off limit unless related. Descendants are ok since they are related. David Samuelsen On 5/23/2012 7:36 AM, Scott and Tammy Stevenson wrote: > Answer Two: > > You can continue to work collateral or descendant lines. Just be sure that > you are staying in your own family line. For example, once you cross over a > spousal line, you are no longer related. That family is the family of a > spouse. The key to almost every policy is that you be related. If you stay > within that guideline, you will be fine.

This one I have to deal with - considering number of siblings I have. 11 step mothers and 4 stepfathers, all have children who are either half or step siblings (mind you, I have 19 in all.) David Samuelsen On 5/23/2012 7:36 AM, Scott and Tammy Stevenson wrote: > Answer Four: > > You can find most of the policies related to this question in chapter 7, > page 30, of the Member's Guide to Temple and Family History Work. You can > access this guide online, or request one from your ward clerk or pick one up > at any Church distribution center. In the manual it explains that you can > submit work for your biological, adoptive, or step family lines.