"When Richard and Jeanene lost two of their children, a daughter during a premature birth and a two-year-old son in a heart surgery, in a six-week period in the fall of 1957, they had a very strong impression that as many of Kenneth's ancestors' records as possible needed to be gathered for temple ordinances. Kenneth was not a member at the time and thus nothing had been done about them. He wrote to family members and obtained as much information as he could from them. Research was begun from these very sketchy records.
One day Kenneth asked Mary a question that was to change their spiritual future completely. In a moment of deep contemplation he asked, "How is it that Richard and Jeanene can take the loss of their two small children without becoming bitter about it?" In an answer that Mary has called sheer inspiration, she said, "Kenneth, they were married in the temple and these children were born in the covenant and will be theirs throughout eternity, but we have not been to the temple and our five sons will not be ours after we leave this life." That was all she said, but it had a profound effect on Kenneth. Within a few weeks he started meeting with the stake missionaries and was baptized on October 4, 1958. On August 1, 1960, Kenneth and Mary were sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple to four of their sons and later to the fifth.
The Scott family research began in 1958 as Jeanene began combing the records at the Library of Congress and Daughters of the American Revolution Library in Washington, D.C. Mary and Kenneth supplied her with all they had and the work expanded from there. Kenneth was an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture under Secretary Ezra Taft Benson at the time and was extremely busy, but he and Mary began visiting state historical societies and genealogical libraries wherever their travels took them on business or vacations.
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| Undated notes in Mary's handwriting about her Shields ancestors |
In 1981, Kenneth and Mary turned over this collection, made in numerous notebooks, to Jeanene who separated them into family headings as they pertained to mostly statistics on individuals of Scott family names in certain localities.
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| Undated notes in Kenneth's handwriting about his uncle, Oscar (Nick) Scott and his family |
This largely unconnected collection of names contained in surname files in Jeanene’s possession, needs to someday be checked against the International Genealogical Index and submitted for temple ordinance work. Many will be found there with work completed because so many United States marriage and birth and death records have been filmed and extracted by the Church Genealogical Society.
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| Mary's notes on Shannon Scott Jensen's birth and baby blessing |
On a vacation trip to Quebec, Canada, Mary and Kenneth found a professional researcher whom Mary was able to pay to research several of her French-Canadian lines back to France. She sent this information to her Whittle family organization and they arranged for the temple work to be done. She also accompanied Jeanene on her genealogical trips to the Library of Congress, the DAR Library, Richmond, Baltimore and Annapolis libraries, and sometimes went on her own to the Library of Congress. Whenever she and Kenneth went on trips to states where his ancestors' records might be found, they would stop at courthouses and libraries and gather records. They found dozens of family surnames that will connect to his family at a future time.
For many years Mary had kept old obituary clippings and family announcements and these have all helped to fill in histories on their ancestors. Mary loved to copy and recopy the family histories. She and Kenneth accepted a call to serve in their stake family history center which he directed and served there faithfully helping others in their research. At this time she also obtained from the Church Historical Department the patriarchal blessings of her ancestors.
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| Mary's notes on callings held by Mitch and Sue |
Mary and Jeanene continued to research in Washington, D.C. with occasional trips to neighboring Annapolis, Maryland Hall of Records and the Richmond Genealogical Library. Every book containing family surnames was carefully scrutinized and connecting family material was recorded and vital names and data were submitted to the temples.
In 1965, Jeanene moved to Cordoba, Argentina with their three children for a four-year period where her husband, Richard, was called as a mission president. Mary made her last bus trip to the Library of Congress because it became too dangerous for her to go alone and she didn’t drive.
Jeanene returned in 1969 and for the next eight years was extremely busy with the care of five children and a husband who was often traveling on professional nuclear work and as a Regional Representative to South America in his Church calling. In April of 1977, he was called to the First Quorum of Seventy and they moved to Salt Lake and a year later were sent to Mexico City for three years to supervise the Church in Mexico and Central America.
In 1981, Jeanene resumed researching at the Salt Lake Genealogical Library and opened up New England and British lines. Rich was called to head the church genealogical work and was instrumental, through the Lord’s inspiration, to computerize the department and the floodgates of information literally opened and other records began pouring in as microfilming expanded worldwide. People began writing Jeanene, whose name was listed as a contributor on approximately 50 lines, and more information poured in as researchers began compiling public histories.
From these early beginnings much research has been done on Kenneth's family and many names have been sent to the temple. Kathy Frost, daughter of Wayne and Ann, is data entering thousands of names from the Talbott book that was found in Baltimore. Linda Mickle, daughter of Richard and Jeanene, is also data entering thousands of names from a recently published book on the Sallee family. Family information has been contributed on a Bandy family book recently republished that will also be data entered. Thus, from small beginnings, many thousands of Mary's and Kenneth's ancestors have received the temple ordinances with the promise of many, many more. Computer disks have been provided to all of the Scott sons so that each family now has a complete record of all that has been done."
[Since this was written in 1995, family members have continued to do family history research and submit names for temple ordinances. A highlight of our reunion last summer in Nauvoo was the opportunity to do baptisms and sealings in the Nauvoo temple, including the sealing of Grandpa Kenneth’s brother, Roland, to their parents, Elzumer and Carrie Scott.]
On Jan. 28, 1962, while director of the stake family history center, Kenneth gave a talk about the importance of family history and temple work. In his notes he wrote:
“It is a privilege to say a few words about Genealogy...Research for records of ancestors takes lots of time and patience. Do you know anything really worthwhile that doesn’t?
...A member of [the] ward [said], “Whenever I see you I feel I should start doing my Genealogy research.]
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| Kenneth's notes for his 1962 talk on family history and temple work |
...The research work is only the preliminary to the main work–getting actual facts to identify our ancestors so the all important temple ordinances can be performed for them.
...Like all work in the Church [it’s] not necessary to wait until we go to our eternal reward to enjoy the rewards for living in accordance with Scriptures and Commandments.
[I have a] strong testimony of the validity of this restored gospel and re-established church....Pray we may live more completely in accordance with [the] Gospel.”
We are fortunate to have the examples of Kenneth, Mary, Jeanene, and others who worked for decades--before computers and the Internet--to find ancestors and relatives and see that their temple ordinances were completed. Let us follow their examples, carving out time in our busy lives to remember and seek out those who have gone before who do not yet enjoy the blessings of the gospel and eternal covenants. This is one of the best ways we can express our gratitude to Kenneth and Mary--and to Heavenly Father and the Savior, who through His infinite Atonement made these blessings available to all.
