Saturday, July 4, 2020

LDS Christian Church Records -- Thun 1905-1906 (Fred's Presence in Them)

I managed to review the LDS church records for Thun, looking for evidence of work Fred did out there. I also knew that it would provide full names of the people Fred worked with, when he often mentioned them by just their last names. The children's blessings in particular would give the parents' names. Now, this is not any exact science as they could have siblings, or reference a grandparent v. their children, but it gives a sense of whom it might be.

For instance, in October 4, 1905, a Brother and Sister Faber are mentioned. This could be Marianna Wyss Faber and Gustav Faber. Margretha Roth Andregg and Peter Andregg could be the Andregg's mentioned in the journal.

More helpful are the names of who gave the blessings or priesthood ordinances, as these tend to correlate with the missionaries, and where the last name matches one Fred mentioned, it is most assuredly the full name of the person mentioned in the record. For instance, we get the first names of these elders:

David Hirschi
Fredrick O. Haueter

We can see on November 16, 1905, Fred gave a children's blessing to one of the Reuser children -- Idah Emma. This event is not recounted in his November journal, reminding one again (like the letters) how much is not captured in the few lines of a journal for a day.



Besides giving a children's blessing, we see that on January 21, 1906, Fred ordained Johann Lugenbuhl to the office of a priest. It notes that this member eventually emigrated to the US (Zion).


Finally, as noted in his journal, Fred did confirm Rudolf Kaufman after his baptism at the hands of John M. Kunz. Conrad Weber, in return, confirmed Rosa Kaufman following her baptism.



I'll provide other church records where they fit and I am able to access them.

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