Latter-day Saint Biographies

Tracing LDS Ancestors   Biography

A biography is a history of a person’s life. In a biography you may find the individual’s birth, marriage, and death information, and the names of his parents, children, or other family members. Biographies often include photographs, family traditions, stories, clues about an ancestor’s place of origin, places where he has lived, church positions held, professional accomplishments, military service, and activities within the community. The information must be used carefully, however, because there may be inaccuracies.

For additional biographical sources that mention Latter-day Saints see Utah Biography.

Finding Aids
Important indexes of Latter-day Saint biographies are:


 * Over 1 million cards index the names of Latter-day Saints and their neighbors in more than 1,200 sources. It covers from 1830 to about 1914. These sources include membership records, ward histories, family histories, local histories, journals, collective biographies, priesthood records, missionary records, periodicals, cemetery records, immigration records, and civil marriage records from selected counties in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and California. This card index available online and on microfilm gives a person’s name, the date of the event, and a reference to the source. The original source often provides additional biographical information. For further instructions see:
 * Select one of the two following databases you would like to search for Latter-day Saint (LDS) families. Each database is word searchable. When you find a name, you see the actual entry in the context of the book. The two databases are:
 * The Pioneer Heritage Library includes over 10,000 photographs. It also has many biographical sketches, stories, diaries and autobiographies, histories, early LDS newspapers and periodicals, doctrinal works, emigration sources, and the Utah Historical Quarterly. It includes major sources such as Wiggins’ Mormons and Their Neighbors, Black’s Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1830–1848, and Bitton’s Guide Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies. It also includes sources like the published series of pioneer histories by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Jenson’s Encyclopedic History of the Church, and Joseph Smith’s History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some of the sources in this library are not available elsewhere.
 * The Studies in Mormon History Database includes citations to articles, books, theses, and Ph.D. dissertations dealing with the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, written from the time of its inception in 1830 to the present. It is intended to be comprehensive and provides citations to over 2,000 LDS biographies and 800 published LDS diaries. The diary entries have abstracts describing dates of coverage and a summary of the contents. There are some links to full-text items.
 * The Studies in Mormon History Database includes citations to articles, books, theses, and Ph.D. dissertations dealing with the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, written from the time of its inception in 1830 to the present. It is intended to be comprehensive and provides citations to over 2,000 LDS biographies and 800 published LDS diaries. The diary entries have abstracts describing dates of coverage and a summary of the contents. There are some links to full-text items.

The LDS Vital Records Library includes 12 reference works about the pioneers that must be searched separately. The majority of the books in this section were compiled by Harvey and Susan Easton Black. It also includes an index to Utah deaths from 1898 to 1905 excluding Salt Lake County. These 12 sources are now available on the Internet at WorldVitalRecords.com.

These sources in these databases are also available for a subscription fee at the Ancestry.com Internet site discussed in LDS Archives and Libraries.


 * Mormons and Their Neighbors: An Index of Over 75,000 Biographical Sketches from 1820 to the Present] This is a name index to biographies in 194 published sources. It includes Church members from the western United States, southwestern Canada, and Northern Mexico. This is indexed in the Early Church Information File, is included in the LDS Family History Suite 2, and is available on the Internet at biographical sketches.
 * Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies This book provides a brief synopsis of each diary or autobiography and lists the names of libraries where the originals or copies may be found. It lists 2,894 works alphabetically by author. It is indexed in the Early Church Information File and included in the LDS Family History Suite 2.

Compiled Biographies
Thousands of brief biographies of Church members have been gathered and published:


 * Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1830–1848 This was compiled from more than 200 sources. It may list a person’s name, gender, birth date and place, parents, marriage date and place, spouse, children, death date and place, temple ordinances, comments, and sources for each piece of information. Verify information before trusting it. See the Membership of the Church 1830–1848 Resource Guide (39432) for more information. This source is indexed in the Early Church Information File, in LDS Family History Suite 2, and on the Internet in WorldVitalRecords.com.
 * Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints This lists thousands of members of the Reorganization born before 1849. It shows birth, marriage, and death information, relatives, and sometimes a biographical sketch as well as sources for each piece of information. It is included in the LDS Family History Suite 2, and on the Internet in WorldVitalRecords.com.


 * Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude Usually lists birth, marriage, and death dates and places, parents, Salt Lake arrival date and company, spouse and his death date, children and their birth dates, and a half-page biography, including a photo. Alphabetical by married name (usually of the last husband).
 * Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and Their Mothers [Indexed in the Early Church Information File.] This excellent volume includes the pictures and biographies many early Latter-day Saint women who came to Utah. Also in LDS Family History Suite 2.
 * Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia These volumes contain biographies of many early or prominent Church members up to 1936. These are indexed in the Early Church Information File and included in the LDS Family History Suite 2, and on the Internet at BYU Harold B. Lee Library Miscellaneous Books.
 * Library of Congress Collection of Mormon Diaries The names of the diarists and the people they mention in their diaries are partially indexed in the Early Church Information File. Using the ECIF index saves the inconvenience of using the following index:
 * Name Index to the Library of Congress Collection of Mormon Diaries' 


 * Step 1. Find the name you are searching for in pages 12 to 391.
 * Step 2. Once the name is found, record the name of the journal, the name of the volume, and the page designation, for example, SMITH, Cordeliap.1 PetersonM.
 * Step 3. Turn to page 1 through 11 and find the journal listing, the reel, and the item number, for example, M. Peterson = Matilda Peterson, Sketch (7 p.) Reel 10:5 (Reel 10:5 = Reel 10 item 5).
 * Step 4. Use the following list to identify the Family History Library microfilm number: Reel 1= 485332, Reel 2= 485333, Reel 3= 485334, Reel 4= 485335, Reel 5= 485336, Reel 6= 485337, Reel 7= 485338 and 485339, Reel 8= 485339, Reel 9= 485340, Reel 10= 485341, Reel 11= 485342, Reel 12= 485343, Reel 13= 4853444.
 * Step 5. On the listed reel look for the item, volume, and page to find the desired work.


 * Church History Stories Collection This site has over 500 biographies of early members and a search engine for any word or phrase in the stories.
 * Utah pioneer biographies is a compilation of biographies &amp; autobiographies used by a Historical Record survey deposited with the Genealogical Society in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 44 volume set is indexed in the Early Church Information card file. Click here for a list of the surnames found in the specific volumes.

Oral Histories
For information about oral histories of Latter-day Saints who lived in Utah see Utah Biography.

Other Sources of Latter-day Saint Biographies
Online Sources:


 * Journals, Diaries, Biographies and Autobiographies of Some Early Mormons and Others Who Knew Joseph Smith, Jr. and/or His Contemporaries

FamilySearch Catalog: The "Genealogical Surveys" portion of LDS Genealogy describes records that include biographical information. You can also find biographies, journals or diaries, and oral histories in the FamilySearch Catalog in several ways:


 * 1) In the Surnames Search look for the individual’s name.
 * 2) In the Subject Search look under: MORMONS— BIOGRAPHY
 * 3) In the Locality Search look for biographies from a specific place under the state, county, or town, for example:


 * [STATE]— BIOGRAPHY
 * [STATE], [COUNTY]— BIOGRAPHY
 * [STATE], [COUNTY], [TOWN]— BIOGRAPHY