Archibald F. Bennett

Archibald Fowler Bennett (1896 - August 28, 1965) was a longtime employee of the Genealogical Society of Utah who was such a figure in the promotion of family history research in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that he became known as "Mr. Genealogy".Fact|date=August 2007

Early life

Bennett was born in Dingle, Idaho in 1896. He married Ella Milner in 1921.

Genealogy work

Bennett became the secretary of the Genealogical Society of Utah, later the Genealogical Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in 1928. He continued in this position until 1961.

Bennett supervised the beginning of microfilming by the society. In 1946, he went on a trip throughout the United States with Ernst Koehler. While Koehler made microfilms, Bennett traveled from state to state finding more people who would allow the society to film their records. In 1947, Bennett made a similar trip through much of Europe.

Publications

His most famous work was "Saviors on Mount Zion", which was used as a manual by the LDS Church Sunday School in 1950. His other works include "A Guide for Genealogical Research"; "Valiant in the Faith: Gardner and Sarah Snow and their Family" (with Ella M. Bennett and Barbara Bennett Roach); "Our Legacy from William and Elizabeth New: New, Neat, Nate, Passey, Oakey, Ellsworth families" with Blanche Bennett Nordgren; "Searching with Success: a genealogical text"; "Family Exaltation"; "Finding your Forefathers in America" and "Proving your Pedigree".

He also published journal articles including "The Vaudois of the Alpine Valleys and their Contribution to Utah and Latter-day Saint History" in the Winter 1960 edition of "BYU Studies". An article he wrote on the descendants of Richard Bennett of Virginia was published in the "William & Mary Quarterly" in 1936.

Hymns

Bennett wrote the text to "Holy Temples on Mount Zion", which is hymn #289 in the 1985 English-language LDS Hymnal.

References

*Allen, James B., Jessie L. Embry, Kahlile B. Mehr. "Hearts Turned to the Fathers: A History of the Genealogical Society of Utah". Provo: BYU Studies, 1995.
*Mehr, Kahlile B. "The Microfilm Mission of Archibald F. Bennett" in "Ensign" Apr. 1982, p. 69.
*Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint Church History, p. 87-88