Tech Forum

I have a question. The daughter of a member of our ward, now deceased, has asked me to help her obtain her mothers membership record #. Her father has moved from our ward so no records are in our ward anymore. Is there a way for me to help this lady find her mother's membership record #?

kbhuffaker wrote:I have a question. The daughter of a member of our ward, now deceased, has asked me to help her obtain her mothers membership record #. Her father has moved from our ward so no records are in our ward anymore. Is there a way for me to help this lady find her mother's membership record #?

If the daughter is a member then I believe that her ward clerk should be able to obtain it from her record. Normally the membership number of parents is shown on the membership record of the child. But it is possible that it no longer shows once the member is dead. But I think that is the most likely possibility.

Of course, I don't know whether it is appropriate to provide the membership number. It isn't shown on the IOS that can be given to a member, only on the full record which is restricted to bishop and clerks. And I'm not sure why she would need it either.

She is asking for it so she can complete some genealogy her mother had started but didn't complete. I'll ask her if she has checked with her ward clerk. If that doesn't work can she get with anyone from head quarters. Just wondering.

kbhuffaker wrote:She is asking for it so she can complete some genealogy her mother had started but didn't complete.

The only thing I can think of is that she's trying to "break in" to her mother's LDS Account. But once the church records her as deceased, I'm pretty sure it's frozen. I think she'd have better luck linking to her deceased mother and seeing her tree. (Or at least the deceased part.)

kbhuffaker wrote:She is asking for it so she can complete some genealogy her mother had started but didn't complete.

To do genealogy work, the mother's membership record number is absolutely no help. What she needs to do is to take over her deceased mother's FamilySearch account. She can make this request by contacting FamilySearch Support at 866-406-1830.

I said that the MRN is absolutely no help; that may not be entirely correct. One way this sister could access most of what her mother did on FamilySearch is to use the Helper feature. To use that feature, you need the Helper Number of the person you're trying to help; for Church members, by default that Helper Number is the last 5 characters of the person's MRN. The mother might have changed her Helper Number, but if not, knowing the MRN would allow the daughter to use Helper Mode. However, even though the MRN could be helpful, I still doubt the propriety of a clerk giving this information out. He has no way of knowing the mother's wishes for who should have access to her FamilySearch account; that's best sorted out by FamilySearch Support.

Yes I believe this to be good advice. Thanks for your assistance in this matter. I will relay this information back to this sister.

I too was just asked this very same question today. So once Salt lake get the records of deceased members they are no longer available to get again by anyone? I'm asking this just for clarification for myself and that I can tell our member she will have to contact the Family Search Support # listed above.

BY1624 wrote:I too was just asked this very same question today. So once Salt lake get the records of deceased members they are no longer available to get again by anyone? I'm asking this just for clarification for myself and that I can tell our member she will have to contact the Family Search Support # listed above.

Yes. Once the death has been recorded the record can no longer be obtained in MLS. After that any changes or corrections to those records have to be made through Family Search Support.

aebrown wrote:One way this sister could access most of what her mother did on FamilySearch is to use the Helper feature.

Can you help a dead member?

russellhltn wrote:

aebrown wrote:One way this sister could access most of what her mother did on FamilySearch is to use the Helper feature.

Can you help a dead member?

That's a great question. I assumed it was possible until I researched the issue and found that it is specifically not allowed. See What a helper cannot do in FamilySearch.

So the original intent of this discussion was to use the deceased mother's MRN to access her FamilySearch account, but now we know that it's not possible to sign in as a deceased member, so her LDS Account can't be used, and the MRN might have been used as a Helper number, but that doesn't work on behalf a deceased member either. So the MRN is just not helpful; the only good option is to contact FamilySearch support.