The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company Financial Accounts (Worldwide) - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company was organized in October 1849. The "donations to the fund" helped outfit members "for the trek west" from 1850 to 1887. It also funded voyages to America starting in 1856. The fund was dis-incorporated in 1887 under the provisions of the Edmunds-Tucker Act. Approximately 30,000 people were assisted with all or part of their transportation expenses during the thirty-seven years of the Fund's operation. (Mormon Historical Studies, Fall 2000, p142) There is no complete list of members who used PEF. Many members used the fund, and paid their debt; enabling other members to emigrate. However, in 1877 a list called Names of Persons and Sureties Indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company from 1850 to 1877 was created. This was a list of everyone who used PEF but had not paid their debt. Then as part of the Jubilee year of the Church, the "Worthy Poor" were forgiven their debt. The original financial ledgers of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company are available at the Church History Library as CR 376 2. Every person who benefited from the PEF were not included in the ledgers. The information that was included in the ledgers includes: Name of the person who emigrated from Britain. The amount they were loaned. Interest charged. The amount repaid. We will ingest the third party index and link the records to the Church History Library images. Links to the images for each record will be found in the index. There are 23203 line items in the Index. Sometimes there is a single line item for an entire family, but for most emigrants, there is a line for each family member. The same person or family could show up in the different ledgers or on different pages on the same ledger if they have multiple PEF transactions.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:
 * Name
 * Age
 * Event date
 * Loan amount

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name of the person
 * The name of a parent or date of the event

How Do I Analyze the Results?
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I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the age or estimated birth date to find record of the person's birth
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby town or county
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Utah.
 * Tracing Latter-day Saint Ancestors
 * Utah Guided Research
 * Utah Record Finder
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research: 1850-1905

Related FamilySearch Historical Records Collections

 * Utah, Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database, 1847-1868
 * Mormon, Migration Database, 1840-1932
 * Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah

Related Digital Books

 * Names of persons and sureties indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company from 1850 to 1877 inclusive.
 * Grant Davis. Perpetual Emigration Fund.
 * Index to Utah Pioneer Biographies. vols. 1-44

Citing This Collection
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