How to see LDS birth records for Mormon ancestors born in the USA
I have found a little boy associated with an ancestral family of mine in the 1880 US census. I have a theory that he might be a cousin of the children in this family, but both families were Mormon and I can't seem to figure out how to access birth records. We are talking births in the 1870s. Where can I post the details of my situation? I am assuming since I am not a member of LDS I am not permitted to access Church records.
Answers
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Christian Mickelson (GSR3-FJ7) and wife Marie Pedersdatter (KCBD-HC7) are gx2 grandparents of mine. They converted to the Mormon faith while living in Denmark and then came to the USA in 1865. My gx1 grandmother, Anna Mickelson (GSR3-D83) was born to them a year later in Nebraska. An older brother, Marious, was born in Denmark and came with his parents.
The 1880 census for Nebraska shows there is a boy John, aged 4, living with them. (Link to census: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8YJ-ZCJ?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=GSR3-FJ7). I am researching with a 3rd cousin of mine (she is descended from Marious, I from Anna), and we are fairly certain that no more children were born to Marie after Anna. Marie would have been almost 50 at the time. So, in researching other possible identities for John, I found that a brother of Christian's, Niels Mickelsen (KWNR-5XN) had a son named John at approximately the right time, but not exactly. Census John's implied birth is 1876; Niels' John (MW16-7PN) appears to be born 1872, but that record does not look right. Someone has indicated that Niels' John was born in Denmark, which is impossible. Niels Mickelson converted to Mormonism and came to the USA before Christian did. (Both on the Kimball, it appears.) Niels was married in Salt Lake City in 1869.
Additional fact: Niels has another John born in 1887. If 2 Johns did exist, that means the first died before 1887 and the name was re-used. This family did that in other instances, so it is not an outlandish idea.
I have a photo of my gx1 grandmother Anna at about 12-13 years of age, with what looks like a 4ish year old boy. Her age dates this photo around 1878, so he seems to be the one mentioned in the census. Link to photo: https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/135760473?cid=mem_copy . I have 2 John's tagged in this photo: a "dummy" John I created in the family of Christian and Marie based on the census, and the 1872 John of Niels, MW16-7PN.
Right now I have no way I can think of to see if these 2 Johns are the same person. Did Niels really have a son John born in 1872? That is really a critical question.
In case you are wondering why a small boy would be sent to live with his uncle, there is a very plausible story as to why Niels would send a son of his to live with his brother Christian, but I won't go into it here. What is known is that boy vanishes from the world and everyone's memory. The 1887 John grows up, but the 1872 John (if he ever existed) disappears. My grandmother (Anna's daughter) told me she never knew who that boy was.
Any help confirming whether or not a boy John was born to Niels in or around 1872 would be most helpful. Much thanks in advance!
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As a support staff, we feel you would benefit from a research consultation sponsored by the Salt Lake City Family History Library. This is a free, 20-minute consultation via Zoom. It is designed to provide you with research guidance, methodology, and next steps.
Here is a link for this service. https://go.oncehub.com/ResearchStrategySession
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If you think it would be beneficial, but the main question I have is not addressed. I am not a Mormon. Do I have access to LDS Church birth and death records from the 1870s and 80s? If not what we will be talking about? I have asked if someone with access to Church records could determine whether a specific person was born, in a specific year, to a specific Mormon husband and wife. If the findings are more complex than a yes or no, then I am all for a consultation!
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As far as I know there is no compilation of Birth records for the church during that time period. There are individual Ward records that may have information in them but that would depend on finding the specific ward the family attended. One of the "strange" situations is that although the church stresses knowing and understanding Family History - there are no birth records in the Utah prior to about 1900. Just something that I find very unusual.
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Thank you very much. That is quite helpful, and now I know there isn't a secret menu system only for Church members which has this information. I will continue using other sources; I have been looking through old books and magazines that are online. I don't think I will find a whole lot, which means I may never know who this young boy was. What a shame. He is in the 1880 census and I have a photo of him, yet his identity may be lost forever. How sad.
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Here is another research direction you go in. If he was born a Mickelson he could belong to one of the other Mickelson families in Nebraska. FS has a bunch of historical records indexed but not yet attached to families. You might also build trees around all persons named John Mickelson, about the right age, born in Nebraska to parents born in Denmark. This type of project is called a surname study.
You don't have to work alone. One of the great things about FS Family Tree is you can easily contact every other contributor who has worked on Mickelson in Nebraska and ask them to be on the lookout.
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Yes, that is how my 3rd cousin and I connected, and then I found out she has been corresponding with my father 30 years ago. 🤣 My cousin and I strongly believe he was a Mickelson. There is a very striking resemblance comparing this boy's photo to my cousin's father when he was a child, and those 2 would have been related as great uncle - great nephew if he was a Mickelson. The first generation of Mickelsons to arrive in the 1860s settled rather far apart: Nebraska, Idaho, and Iowa, yet they appeared to stay in touch through visits, letters and family reunions. I will reach out to other contributors of the Mickelson lines. Thank you for your encouragement.
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@gasmodels . It is really not unusual that there are no early birth records for Utah which only became a state in 1896. There are many states, part of the USA much earlier, which did not begin keeping vital records until the 20th century.
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@gasmodels . Well, most church indexes go way back, but apparently the early Mormon church did not keep vital records as a matter of church policy until around 1900, according to one of the posts above. Not too long after that, 1905 for Utah and similar dates for other states, actual birth certificates were required.
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So, what I am trying to do is determine the identity of a little boy who is listed in the 1880 census as a son [incorrectly], and who is in a photo I have of the family around the same time. The reason I know he is not a son is from research with a 3rd cousin of mine. The mother would have been in her early 50s at the time of the birth, and the photo has come down to me from my grandmother who had no knowledge of who the boy was. There was possibly a boy born to the brother of the father, but that record appears suspect in the tree and I need to confirm whether it is a mistake or not. All the complete detail is in my long post 3rd from the top, by the way. Since both families were Mormon, I was interested to see if the church kept a birth index of some sort. Since I cannot confirm or deny (at this point) that the little boy belonged to the uncle (brother of the father), I will probably need to start contacting people who have been researching this family. That little boy did not stay long in the family we think. We are assuming he is related some how because his 1878 (ish) photo with my great grandmother is the spitting image of my 3rd cousin's father when he was a child.
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You are welcome! So I am assuming that the mother is the one who spoke with the census enumerator, and I see that there is also incorrect information about a "grandson" living with her in the 1900 census. She was a widow by that time. In fact she became a widow within a couple of months after the 1880 census. I think she felt having any male person living with her who is not a boarder needs to pass for family. LOL.
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Except for the 1940, we really don't know who spoke with the enumerator. It could have been a neighbor or any member of the household.
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