There was always a story in David A. Young's family that they were relatives of an LDS Church president.
"I've had an uncle who said we were related to Brigham Young," said Young, 75, a retired dentist who calls California home.
That was pretty much the extent of his involvement in researching his family tree. Most of his extended family were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it wasn't something they talked too much about.
His wife, however, was different. Barbara L. Young, 76, joined the church when she was 19. Through the church's emphasis on family history and callings that put her in family history centers, she has a pedigree chart with lines going back to the 1400s, with roadblocks on a few others.
The couple, who have six children, 27 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, previously served missions in New Jersey and England, where part of their assignment had them in a family history center. When their most recent call came to serve in the Nebraska Omaha Mission — specifically at the Mormon Trail Center in Omaha, Neb., and Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs, Iowa — Young got thinking about the past.
"I wondered if I had any ancestors who came through Winter Quarters," Elder Young said.
In doing his own research at the Mormon Trail Center, he found more than 250 ancestors who migrated west with the pioneers.
He found that 12 great-great-grandparents, 19 great-great-great-grandparents, 19 great-great-great-great-grandparents and four fifth-great-grandparents all joined the church and had plans to cross the plains.
Young now traces his family tree to 11 who joined the Mormon Battalion, including Levi Ward Hancock, who was a member of the Quorums of the Seventy.
When he put many of the names into the church's family history programs to check on their temple work, he was surprised to see that hardly any of it had been done.
"How many Youngs could not have been taken care of by now?" Young said.
They've turned in more than 300 names to the temple and kept a few out to do personally.
Taking the names through the temple has been "an amazing experience," he said. "The most fun I've had is going through some of these programs."
Sister Young said she thinks "it's wonderful" that they have been able to find all those names on Elder Young's line.
Young also discovered that his family tree does cross with President Young's. Their common ancestor is David Young's eighth-great-grandfather and Brigham's third-great-grandfather.
"I wouldn't have looked it up if I hadn't come here (to Nebraska)," Elder Young said. "I've still got many, many more yet to find."
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