He had to act: Quick intervention saves treasure trove of records
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
CHRISTIANSBORG, Ghana — When Clarence Baah Kofi received his patriarchal blessing in 1995, he was told his ancestors had left a legacy for him to do family history research. He has used this blessing as a guide in his life.
"I felt a great need to start researching my family history as well as studying the talent my family had in the arts," said Brother Kofi, who was baptized in 1985 at age 16 by his uncle Kofi Aggrey. "This particular scripture in the Old Testament particularly touched my heart: 'And the Lord shall guide thee continually. . . . Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations. . . . And thou shalt honor him. . . . Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.' " (Isaiah 58: 11-14.)
Brother Kofi, 33, is a high councilor in the Accra Ghana Christiansborg Stake. He served eight months in Ghana's National Service and carefully saved the money he earned during that time. He dedicated the money to research his family history and his family's talent for art, which he had studied at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, where he had specialized in sculpting. In the National Service, he learned how to use the computer and how to gather information for family history; at the time, he served as the executive secretary to a bishopric.
With his knowledge of how to do research, he traveled to many places to gather his family history. In his travels in 1996, he went to Odumase-Krobo where his family roots were. He learned that his great-grandfather, J. P. Kofi, was a reverend in the Presbyterian Church. While in Odumase-Krobo, Clarence found that the family home was scheduled for renovation and all the old clothing, papers and records of his great-grandfather were to be burned. He heard about the decision to burn those records and rushed over to see what they were. He discovered that they were journals that his great-grandfather had kept throughout his life. They were very old and fragile but still easy to read. The journals recorded names and dates of births and deaths for the family members as well as for the members of Reverend J. P. Kofi's congregation.
Brother Kofi decided that he had to act and to act immediately if he was going to be able to save the valuable information. He took a month off from work to research what he could find in Odumase-Krobo. He retrieved many items. He kept the letters, school reports, family pictures and most important, his great-grandfather's journals.
One of his aunts told him that she hadn't seen any value in the journals and had used some of their pages to kindle fires. He was disappointed but was so grateful for the prompting he received to go there for his research at that crucial time; otherwise, all would have been lost. He felt the Spirit guided him in his work.
Brother Kofi sent 239 names to the temple in South Africa and their work was completed in 1998. He has compiled all the documentation for 700 additional names that he is saving for the opening of the Accra Ghana Temple. He is so excited to receive his own endowments and then be able to do this work for his ancestors as soon as the temple is completed.
He has been working on his family history for the past eight years and has helped many people with their family research and has been instrumental in helping the area directors for family history research conduct workshops. He is helping his wife, Grace, with her family history. Even one of his aunts now praises the work he is doing with their family's history.
"I appreciate the records that my great-grandfather kept," he said. "I also now understand how I am an artist. My grandfather was a famous artist. Family history has given me a focus in my life."
