The importance with which the Latter-day Saints regard their temple work in behalf of the dead naturally produces among this people a vital interest in the genealogical records of their respective families. Ordinance work in the temples, in behalf of any departed person, can be done only as that person may be described on the record, as to name, relationship, time and place of birth and death, etc., by which data he may be fully and certainly isolated and identified.[47] It is a matter of common knowledge that interest in genealogical research has greatly increased in the United States and in Europe during the last seven or eight decades. Genealogical societies have been formed, and individual investigators have devoted great treasures of time and money to the compilation of records showing {86} numerous lines of family descent and the many ramifications of complicated relationship. In all this work the Latter-day Saints profess to see the operation of an over-ruling power, by which their service for the dead is facilitated. TEMPLES REQUIRED FOR VICARIOUS SERVICE While the ordinances of baptism, imposition of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, and others, such as ordination to the Priesthood, may be performed upon the living in any suitable and proper place, the corresponding ordinances for and in behalf of the dead are acceptable unto the Lord, and therefore valid, only when administered in places specially provided, set apart, and dedicated for these and kindred purposes; that is to say, such ordinances belong exclusively to the House of the Lord. For a very brief period only, and that the earliest in modern Church history, before the people had opportunity to erect temples, did the Lord graciously accept a temporary sanctuary, even as He accepted the Tabernacle of old as a temporary temple during the period of Israel's wanderings. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith, the prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, January 19th, 1841, the Lord called upon His people to build a house to His name "for the Most High to dwell therein," and added by way of explanation and instruction: "For there is not a place found on earth that he may come and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the Priesthood; {87} "For a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my saints, may be baptized for those who are dead; "For this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me. "But I command you, all ye my saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me, and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me.