What many call the spirit of Elijah, others deem an unhealthy obsession with family history. Whatever your opinion, first cousins and Ezra descendants Cathy Gilmore and Kimball Clark said they caught the bug years ago and have been unable or unwilling to shake it. They have accepted this is their lot in life and are quite happy with it. In fact, when the pair won the People's Choice at Rootstech in 2010, Kimball and Cathy were standing on Ezra's original lot he purchased upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley 168 years earlier. Coincidence? "Nothing is a coincidence when you begin to study your past, and see all the fortuitous quirks that brought you to this moment", says Cathy. I can see the the dots connecting my ancestors lives even before the restoration. I find happy accidents and serendipitous happenstances throughout my families' lines. One of the benefits of family research is identifying the circle of influence each family has played in my own. Few families in the church are not touched by others in what seem to be miraculous ways". The missionary that introduced the gospel to my family...that missionary's descendants have been my neighbors since childhood. We only recently discovered the connection. Then we found out that my mother's line baptized their missionary. Their Kindex software digitizes, organizes and transcribes family records, making them accessible and key word searchable Photos of booth at Rootstech and Competition presentation
