Changing History - She Once Was Lost But Now She's Found!

It's a powerful sensation better than even the timey-whimey, wibbly-wobbly fiction of going back to change the past. And it's not so much changing as correcting or filling-in the past. It is an Amazing Grace!

Having finished the life history of my 4th Great Grandmother, Eleanor Jenkins Vaughan, with all the evidence we have found so far and having a nearly complete outline of her biography, it was time to propose corrections to the wonderful Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel database for her entry. That database has already helped provide some amazing information as we fleshed out Grandma Elinor's story.

The process was quick and simple. I wish I had saved a screen shot of what I submitted, but the page on the LDS Church History website leads one through the process. It asks for documentation so I gave citations to the ordinances performed for her in 1856 and 1857 from Special Collections in the Family History Library. I also referenced the 1860 Census for Jacks Valley, Carson, Utah (soon to be Nevada) and I attached the page from John Needham's journal obtained from the CHL to evidence her baptism. What the keepers of the Overland Travel want are basic life and death data points. And I am quite pleased with the way it came out.

Here is the summary message of what I sent in from their e-mail acknowledgement:

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL Receipt confirmation of: --------- Church History Library Thank you for contacting the Church History Library about our Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel database! Your request has been received and will be addressed by the next available staff member. We receive a lot of patron feedback about our Trails site and respond to them in the order they are received. You may click on the hyperlink below to attach documentation supporting your requested changes. Changes will not be made without documentation. Thanks very much for your patience. This is your request number: ----------- We expect to respond by: 10/23/2015 09:00 AM Your suggestion or request: Born Elinor Jenkins, 25 December 1789, Whitney, Herefordshire, England. Baptized into LDS Church 17 December 1841, Llanfoist, Monmouthshire, Wales. Died, Jacks Valley, Carson County, Utah (now Douglas County, Nevada) about 1861. First Name: Eleanor Surname: Vaughan Gender: Female Death Date: 1861 Company Name: Edmund Ellsworth Company (1856)

PLEASE DO NOT USE THE REPLY FUNCTION TO RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL

And here is the e-mail response that they had made the correction - right over Conference Weekend!

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL

Question: ------- is now closed.

Church History Library

Response to question number: ------------

Our response is: Thank you for the information you submitted regarding Eleanor Vaughan.  Our Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel database has been updated. Sincerely, Sister J____ W_____ Church History Library

USE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING LINKS FOR FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE WITH US. Your email program's reply function will not deliver your message to us. We'd love your feedback. Click here to comment on the service you received in relation to this request. Need more information? Click here to ask a follow up question or here to ask a different question. Having trouble viewing the links in this email? Click to view this answer in a web page.

This response is in relation to request number ---------- The text of your request was: Born Elinor Jenkins, 25 December 1789, Whitney, Herefordshire, England. Baptized into LDS Church 17 December 1841, Llanfoist, Monmouthshire, Wales. Died, Jacks Valley, Carson County, Utah (now Douglas County, Nevada) about 1861. ' Your request was in reference to the following pioneer: First Name: Eleanor Surname: Vaughan Gender: Female Death Date: 1861 Company Name: Edmund Ellsworth Company (1856)

That is quick service!!

And here is how Eleanor's page now reads. Well, it's better if I just link you there. It's beautiful!

The narrative at top is a wonderful summary of the information that I provided linking up the essential evidence. The only new citation added is to the 1860 federal census. The information in Special Collections is the clincher which I wonder if they checked. But you can find those cites in Elinor's history.

As a postscript, I wanted to connect with Grandma Elinor somehow today. At lunch, I walked over to breeze through the newly remodeled Church History Museum to see if the model of the good ship the Enoch Train on which Elinor voyaged to America is still on display. Sadly, no. A docent told me that it remains warehoused hopefully to rise again for proper public display. At least I have my pics.

So, I went and sat under the lilacs on the northwest corner of Temple Square where the Endowment House once stood and where Elinor received her own temple ordinances on 15 November 1856. I felt her there and the Amazing Grace.