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By Trent Toone, Church News
The Mormon Battalion holds the distinction of being the only American military unit in history to be mustered into service based solely on religious affiliation.
Now anyone interested can find information for nearly 600 Latter-day Saint men, women and children who participated in the Mormon Battalion’s march from Iowa Territory to the Pacific coast in 1846 and 1847 in the Church History Biographical Database.
The addition of the Mormon Battalion data to the Church History Biographical Database was announced last week at RootsTech, said Jeff Haddon, manager of customer experience and communications for the Church History Department.
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The Church History Department has added Mormon Battalion data to the Church History Biographical Database. Screenshot from churchofjesuschrist.org All rights reserved.
“The Mormon Battalion is a very interesting topic in Church history that a lot of people are interested in,” Haddon said. “Through the database, people can potentially find their own ancestral connections to the Mormon Battalion.”
One feature of the Church History Biographical Database allows users to sign into their FamilySearch accounts and search exclusively for their own ancestors.
“Many are excited because now it connects to people personally in an easy, automated way,” Haddon said. “It is pretty simple and fun, and people are loving it.”
The update comes one year after the Church History Department merged the Missionary Database and Pioneer Database into the Church History Biographical Database to create one searchable location for all such data.
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The Church History Department has added Mormon Battalion data to the Church History Biographical Database. Screenshot from churchofjesuschrist.org All rights reserved.
The Pioneer Database, which has data on more than 61,000 pioneers, was launched in 1998 based on research gathered by historians on early Church members. The Missionary Database was launched in 2016 and includes information on more than 44,000 missionaries from 1830 to 1940.
More datasets will be added to the biographical database in years to come. The Church History Department is preparing information about Nauvoo residents and various men and women in early Church leadership positions, as well as other datasets. There is also an ongoing effort to add more sources and information to those already documented.
“The list will go on and on for a very long time,” Haddon said. “We are working to add more datasets to our database. The more that we can add to it over time, the more useful and valuable it will become.”
As people use the database, the Church History Department welcomes feedback by clicking a “Feedback” button on the lower right of the website.