A rescue from bondage: Family history center at Utah State Prison thrives
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59796/A-rescue-from-bondage-Family-history-center-at-Utah-State-Prison-thrives.html
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DRAPER, UTAH
As part of his platform in running for president of the United States, Joseph Smith called for prisons to be "turned into seminaries of learning." He said, "Rigor and seclusion will never do as much to reform the propensities of man as reason and friendship."
In that spirit, perhaps the Prophet would approve of the South Point Family History Center at the men's facility of the Utah State Prison, arguably one of the busiest and most productive among the thousands of family history centers operated by the Church. This month, it is observing 20 years of existence, commemorated by a recent fireside held at the prison.
Without benefit of Internet access, a privilege denied the prison inmates, the center's patrons last month extracted some 146,000 names as part of the FamilySearch indexing project whereby volunteers around the world digitize microfilmed records to make them accessible to enthusiasts researching their genealogical information via personal computers. That eclipses a previous high of about 30,000 set last September, said Elder Ed Lunt who, with his wife, Sister Penney Lunt, serves as a Church missionary coordinating 58 volunteers who come to the prison to supervise and help the inmates who use the family history center.
"But to me, the more important number is the close to 10,000 total hours a month spent here in the center by the inmates," Elder Lunt said. "That's time they weren't up on the cell blocks, time when they were in an environment that was constructive. And frankly, it's an environment where the Spirit is, and they can feel that. Some of them don't know what it is; they just say, 'We feel good down here.' "
Beyond that, many experience the joy of connecting with family, some for the first time in their lives.
"The vast majority of the guys here come from broken families," Elder Lunt explained. "With some, they might know their dad's name and that's it. From little bits of information, they can start digging and find out a little bit about Dad, who he was and where he came from, and then Grandma and Grandpa."
As with other family history centers, microfilmed records and other resources of the Church such as the Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource Files are available.
During a recent Church News visit to the center, located in rooms just off the prison chapel, a score or more inmates in white prison uniforms sat staring at computer screens, absorbed in researching their own family lines or engaged in the indexing project, taking time out to cordially and enthusiastically answer questions about experiences.
Tom Dickerson, who is serving a life sentence, began coming to the center seven years ago at the suggestion of another inmate, Mark Helms, who has since passed away.
"Mark turned out to be a real good friend of mine," he said. "My experience in the chapel and family history center, in particular, has totally reshaped my opinion about a lot of things, but has opened my mind to new experiences."
He began to research his African-American heritage, which has special challenges in genealogy because of slavery. Black Americans were not emancipated until 1865, and thus do not appear on census records until 1870. "I think I was more lucky than good, because I just happened to find a whole pocket of family," he said of his early research looking at land records and other sources. He began to teach research techniques he had learned on his own to other inmates.
"I love this, I really do," he said. "I love doing the research and finding people and helping people find people. For most of us, family is everything, because as a prisoner you spend a great deal of time by yourself. Plus, just about everyone who is down here on a consistent, regular basis are friends, and we get along and help each other. This is a very good place to be."
Much of the success of the center is due to the volunteers who come and interact with the inmates, Elder Lunt said. The center is open seven days a week in three shifts, the first one beginning at 8 a.m. and the last one ending at 8 in the evening. But the number of inmates who may use the center is limited by the number of volunteers who come.
The volunteers need not be family history experts, but one of them, Dwight Radford, is a professional genealogist with 25 years experience. Not a member of the Church, Mr. Radford was invited by a volunteer at the prison to come give a lecture on Irish research.
"It can be quite intimidating the first time you come, but I was addicted after that," he said. "When the need for African-American research popped up, I filled that need too."
He said the experience was not what he expected. "The guys have been good to deal with, very polite. Sometimes, the men will say, 'Give me something to do; I want to help out.' They go out of their way to make me feel comfortable. That means a lot to all the volunteers."
Teaching classes in African-American research has been good for him personally as a Tennessee native, he said, because it has put him in touch with his own roots. "Tracing an African-American family and tracing a poor, white family in the South are actually a lot alike."
One who has benefitted from Mr. Radford's instruction is inmate George Taylor who, while in maximum security in 2000, received a family tree from his uncle. It didn't mean much at the time, but later, on a whim, he came to the family history center. Mr. Radford showed him some sources and he found a genealogical connection. "That's when the excitement started to build and build and build," he said.
He found from his family history research how important education had been to his African-American progenitors. It has supported his motivation to obtain as much education as he can while in prison so as to be better prepared when the time comes to leave.
"I printed out my family tree and sent it to my son to show him what I've been doing in here," he said. "I don't know that he will ever be interested in it, but I showed it to him. He's got resources out there that are more than what we have in here, and we have pretty vast resources in here."
He said, "I went about five years without having any communication with him. The night before his graduation, he contacted me and told me he wanted to have a father-son relationship. I wrote him an introductory letter, and we went from there. I'm proud of him. He just put in his visiting request form to start coming out to see me, so I'm excited about that. We'll surely talk about some of this [family history research].
William Thomas has been doing family history research in prison since 1996. "At the time, no one was there to teach me, so I just jumped in," he said. He eventually got his father's line back to the 1600s.
In 2000, he was involved in the Freedman's Bank Project, a service provided by inmates at the prison to help compile what is now one of the richest databases for African-American research. A plaque on the wall at the family history center commemorates the work they performed.
"That's what started us as a family history center," said Austin Sumner, another inmate who helped with the project. He recalls the effect the work had on "hardshell" inmates, who, like him, would read of atrocities committed on Southern plantations and would be emotionally overcome.
"I would have to get up and go out to the chapel to recompose myself so that I could come back and do more records," he said. "There were several inmates who did that. But there were also several inmates that the project completely changed their lives. They left prison and went out into the community. They've taken their wives to the temple, done sealings and stuff. The family history center opened the door for them."
"That is exactly what this great work is all about, search and rescue," said Gordon T. Watts, a former member of the Seventy and a temple sealer who spoke at the commemoration fireside. "In this facility, we are involved in the search or indexing. Without your efforts, the rescue cannot be completed."
And in the process, some inmates are finding they, too, are among the rescued.
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(desde mi WebMail)
Benicio Samuel Sanchez
Email: samuelsanchez@genealogia.org.mx
Website: http://www.Genealogia.org.mx
Cell Phone (81) 1667-2480
"Haz tu Arbol Genealogico...El Arbol mas Hermoso de la Creacion"
Por medio de la historia familiar descubrimos el árbol más hermoso de la creación: nuestro árbol genealógico. Sus numerosas raíces se remontan a la historia y sus ramas se extienden a través de la eternidad. La historia familiar es la expresión extensiva del amor eterno; nace de la abnegación y provee la oportunidad de asegurarse para siempre una unidad familiar".
(Élder J. Richard Clarke, Liahona julio de 1989, pág.69)
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