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And now for some real family history!

chanson, May 14, 2009

That’s right, you no longer have to settle for silly second and third-hand stories about the Aurora Branch. Now it’s time to hear about it from the horse’s mouth!

What do you remember about those days? Climbing the stairs to the second floor of the Odd Fellows Hall where the branch met for about 20 years? Attending meetings in the Seventh Day Adventist church on Plum Street? Holding missionary farewells at Lincoln Elementary School or Allen School?

If any of you know anyone who was part of the Aurora, Illinois branch (1932 to 1965), please have them visit this new blog about the Old Aurora Branch to share their own memories. You’ll be contributing to a fun portrait of an interesting part of Mormon history: The growth of early “mission field” offshoots from the SLC-based church.

Genealogy LDS History Mission Field

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Comments (4)

  1. aerin says:
    May 15, 2009 at 7:13 am

    Fascinating! Thanks for sharing chanson!

    Reply
  2. chanson says:
    May 15, 2009 at 7:25 am

    Don’t thank me, thank my mom. 😉

    Reply
  3. Sabayon says:
    May 15, 2009 at 10:52 am

    Wow that’s great! I love the term “mission field Mormon” it seems so rough and ready.
    Incidentally the branch where I went to college went above an ice cream shop before the Quakers’ meeting (the early meeting time was widely attributed to their missionary failures with the town’s large student population), so you can have experiences like this even now!

    Reply
  4. chanson says:
    May 16, 2009 at 12:24 am

    I love the term “mission field Mormon” it seems so rough and ready.

    Yep, we can take on those “Utah Mormons” any day of the week! 😉

    Reply

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  1. Holly on A dialog on women leaving the CoJCoL-dSAugust 10, 2026

    My pleasure!

  2. chanson on A dialog on women leaving the CoJCoL-dSAugust 10, 2026

    Oh, and BTW -- thanks for inspiring this discussion and double thanks for joining in!!

  3. Holly on A dialog on women leaving the CoJCoL-dSAugust 10, 2026

    Wow. Words fail.

  4. chanson on A dialog on women leaving the CoJCoL-dSAugust 10, 2026

    Regarding the contempt, I read an anecdote on some exLDS facebook group a while ago that really stuck with me:…

  5. Donna Banta on A dialog on women leaving the CoJCoL-dSAugust 9, 2026

    Great point at the end, Holly. So that was Pres. Nelson's take on "Man is that he might have joy."…

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