My wife, Jo Ann, and I have tried to listen to the prophets with respect to family history research and the associated temple work. As part of our endeavor to act on their counsel, we undertook a mailing project more than nine years ago.
We mailed some 400 letters to Tennesee and Virginia to everyone listed in various telephone directories with the surname of Kidd and related surnames who had married into Kidd families. We got responses giving us genealogy and histories, but the biggest break was in March 1996.That month, we received a telephone call late at night from a Kidd in Virginia. He said he had kept our letter for four years. He wanted to know whether we would attend a Kidd reunion in Virginia if we received an invitation. I said, "If God is willing, we will be there."
I then wrote to a cousin in California telling of the contact. She in turn wrote to other cousins, relaying our message that we did not have the money to travel to the reunion, but if any of them wanted to attend in our behalf, they should bring back genealogy and histories for my wife and me.
Within 10 days, we had received cash and checks from relatives - and some from members of our own ward (Crescent 11th), to whom we had casually mentioned the reunion.
We went on that trip, stayed for a month in Tennessee and Virginia and met relatives who were devout in the Southern Baptist, Episcopal, Church of Christ and Methodist faiths.
We collected stories and genealogy and had wonderful experiences walking through cemeteries. We now have more than 14,250 names and more than 4,000 families stored on our computer hard drive.
Each history has been typed and stored for future generations, and now we are going to be able to publish the Kidd Histories-Genealogy, Years 1559 through 1997.
We have a very deep testimony of this work. God has blessed us, and we enjoy doing this for Him, our ancestors and relatives.
