Customer Reviews

True Miracles with Genealogy~Help from Beyond the Veil

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This book was a truly inspired idea to compile those 'goose bump' moments in genealogy research when you realize you are not alone and there is a bigger force at work helping your efforts. This book inpires me to keep the faith, try harder to find those elusive lines, and never give up! Can't wait for Volume II, hopefully, I'll be able to add a similiar experience of mine. So worth the read!!

I was thrilled to be offered a review copy of Anne Bradshaw's newest book True Miracles with Genealogy. Family History is something that is dear to my heart. I have a file with over 48,000 family names my mom compiled prior to her death. I haven't done much with these names lately and was hoping this book would reinspired me to start again on my genealogy.

I'm inspired!

This book if filled with dozens of personal accounts of individuals who have received divine help while researching their family history.

This quote from the books summed things up perfectly:

These incidents could be attributed to sheer coincidence. Personally, I find it impossible to dismiss such consistencies as anything less than inspired. They are too many, too often, too consistent, and too remarkable to be mere serendipity.

Anyone interested in Family History is sure to enjoy this wonderful book.

I have been acquainted with several experiences both in my own family and with others about getting special help with genealogical research, so I was excited to see the stories that Anne had compiled. It seems to be almost a given fact that if you want to have some special spiritual experiences you just have to spend some time (maybe years) involved with doing work for our ancestors, but then recognizing the help when it comes.

I have always enjoyed reading stories like this and some of these stories were very touching and required me to keep some tissues near. It was also interesting to see how sometimes there are road blocks in the way because the time is not right, but that later the way is opened.

But this isn't only a book about genealogical research. I very much enjoyed the story about Daris Howard writing the musical "Lilacs in the Valley". He had strong impressions and communication about just how the story was to be written and performed. He mentions, "the most important thing I learned was that they are real people, not just names in a book or lists on a genealogy sheet." (p. 26)

Since this is a compiled record, there is a lot of variation in the style of writing. I found this somewhat disconcerting as I would go from one story to the next without any apparent connection or organization. John Counsel had three stories in the book, but I couldn't figure out why two of them were 51 pages separated from the first story. I skipped and read them together. It was also strange to see John Counsel say, "Two more of our stories appear in this book on pages sixty-five and seventy". Those words could only have come from the compiler of the book, not John Counsel.

I think this would have been a much better book if the stories had been edited and organized. Sometimes family details and extra information detracted from the main message of the book--that we can expect help with this work. I believe a better approach would have been to organize around themes (the type of help expected, how to prepare, etc.) and to use excerpts from the stories as examples of those themes.

I found it interesting and instructive to see how people even expected to receive help. Elizabeth tell us, "I have the habit of talking aloud to my ancestors at times. Of course one-sided conversations are the norm. 'William,' I said one day, as I realized I'd run out of ideas and patience, 'I can't connect you to your parents if I don't know where you are born! You must tell me where to find your record. Who were your parents?'" She then tells us that she was shocked to get an answer, "You find all my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and then I will tell you." (p. 41) And sure enough, when she had done her part she found William's parents.

Another person tells how one night, "I prayed a very different kind of prayer--to see her face and learn more about her life. I prayed to know her. I realized this sounds crazy, but I just felt so close to her" The next day an unknown cousin calls to tell her that she had "pictures, a quilt made by Vira Ann, and tons of stories. Best of all she lived only one hundred miles away."(p. 79)

Sarah Street tells us, "I'd learned through previous experience that when the spirit came, I needed to be quiet and meditate because a message was always delivered. I took out my journal, which I'd been impressed to bring for note taking during conference, then sat and waited." (p. 89) She then tells about how her dead father spoke to her spirit and the beautiful results of that experience.

These stories are great and I am glad that Anne took the time to compile them together. They give all of us new hope that we can also have these types of experiences. The common thread seemed to be doing everything that we can do and then asking for help.

If you are the kind of person who loves doing family research but gets bogged down on running into brick walls for information then this new book would be an asset to your geneology collection. Anne Bradshaw has compiled a wonderful book of stories which are inspiring to those whose family members have passed on.

This unique idea of getting information from beyond the veil is not new to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which most stories are from. I have heard countless incidences of family searches which were helped by those who have passed on. It is a fascinating subject and Bradshaw has collected them for us to enjoy and be inspired so we can continue on searching even through the rough times.

So for all of you who love to read stories of those from the life beyond, whether you do family research or not, this is a fantastic read. Very inspiring.

I remember the first time I watched "Roots" on television, and how Alex Haley's triumph in rebuilding his family tree resounded in my newly wed heart. My family tree was broken in so many places--through divorce, deaths and estrangements caused by the se events' resulting bitterness. After decades of hitting roadblock after roadblock, I began to think some of these breaks could never be bridged. If you've felt that way, then Anne Bradshaw's new release, "True Miracles with Genealogy," will inspire you to return to work on those lines with increased enthusiasm and faith.

Anne Bradshaw's book is not a genealogical how-to manual. "True Miracles with Genealogy" is a worldwide collection of astounding personal stories that illustrate the remarkable assistance available to us when we combine diligent research with help from beyond the veil.

Still, each short, unique story is crammed full of invaluable research tips from the successes of Bradshaw's contributors, nearly all of whom attest they found priceless information by listening to promptings and acting on the messages received. Some of these spiritual whispers inspired them to think out of the box, sending them to astounding, unlikely places like eBay and Amazon, or off on excursions where marvelous, miraculous doors opened for them.

Personally, I loved the story about the elusive ancestor who wanted his wife and children found, informing his genealogist-ancestor in a dream that once his family had been located, he would reveal his own information. His sensitive family-researcher followed that prompting and pursued a more obscure family line. In the end, it revealed the elusive ancestors' entire family, and soon thereafter material emerged that revealed his life as well. There are dozens of similar, remarkable experiences.

Bradshaw has previous experience assembling diverse contributors on pro-family themes, (her previous anthology, "Famous Family Nights," was released in 2009), however, Bradshaw drew from a far more diverse pool as she collected the stories included in True Miracles with Genealogy. Many of the contributors are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose doctrine on the eternal nature of families places theological importance on linking their generations through genealogy and temple work. But her non-LDS contributors' stories are laced with spiritual threads as well, proving that the work of connecting to our kindred dead is a spiritual endeavor.

Whether your reasons for researching your ancestors are purely clerical--to create a historical record--or more spiritual, the inspiring true-accounts in this book will leave you with an increased understanding that the dead are not gone and lost, but near and aware of us. And more than that, you will hunger to not only account for your ancestors but to come to know them personally.

"True Miracles with Genealogy" should be on every family's bookshelf, and particularly on the shelves of every genealogist--the impassioned and the dabblers. It would make a marvelous gift for the historian in your family. Its stories remind us all how near heaven we are.

"True Miracles with Genealogy" is available on Amazon.com, and at your LDS bookstore. There is a website for the book at [...]

If you have ever felt intrigue to know your ancestors, who they were, where they lived, and how they thought, then you have probably contemplated, if not actively begun, doing your own genealogical research. And everyone who has done so, knows that sooner or later, you'll reach a dead end. A place where the names simply end.

This last week I had the opportunity to read True Miracles with Genealogy, compiled by Anne Bradshaw. It is filled with stories of faith about people who were miraculously guided past those dead ends. These stories give hope and the courage to keep trying.

I am not a member of the LDS Church but I have many family members who are. This book not only makes me understand my obsession but why my family loves the hunt for ancestors as well. Even though we may have different reasons for our obsession it is nice to see we all have similar "goose bump" moments. Really liked the book and am looking forward to reading the second one.