Serendipity is the effect of one accidentally discovering something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely different. The word derives from an old Persian fairy tale and was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. The Tale is long so I will just tell this part that Horace described:
“I once read a silly fairy tale, called, The Three Princesses of Serendip, as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had traveled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right—now do you understand serendipity? (for you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for, comes under this description).” At the Family History Center, and I’m sure wherever family history research is being conducted, serendipity is a common occurrence whether the work is being done for religious reasons or for reasons unknown or not understood by the researcher.
Family History is the second most popular hobby in the world and agreeably, most hobbyist, are not sure why the interest. Latter Day Saints, on the other hand, believe that all, who are engaged in family history research, do so because they have been touched by the spirit of Elijah. Malachi described the event in the last book of the Old Testament this way:
¶ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5-6)
We believe Elijah has come as described in the 110 th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, he restored the Priesthood and the Sealing Power again to the earth for the last time. One doesn’t have to be aware of that event or even believe in spiritual events to be touched and even driven by that spirit. Their hearts, our hearts, have in fact, been turned to our fathers and many will testify that the father’s hearts (beyond the grave) have been turned to us, their children. Many feel that the serendipity we experience while engaged in family history research is, in fact, a nudge from the other side.
One of hundreds of such stories comes from one of our patrons: She had been trying to find a great grandfather whom she believed lived in a southern state. She had looked for years for his name and family to no effect. One day she was standing at the copier waiting for a copy, while she was there she happened to glance in the waste basket and there in the basket, face up, was a sheet of paper with her great grandfathers name on it and the information she had been seeking. He had actually been from a neighboring state to the one she had previously researched. SERENDIPITY, I think so!