An End of the Year Look at the FamilySearch Family Tree

The end of any year is a time for reflection and introspection. During the past years, there have been seemingly only cosmetic changes to the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. But some of those changes have affected the workflow and caused users to modify the way they have been working with the Family Tree. However, all in all, the fundamental issues facing the users of the Family Tree have remained the same. Here is a recent example.

Most of these changes have a neutral impact, but there are certain individuals that show up with every email from FamilySearch showing the weekly changes. Here is an example.

Francis Cooke was a passenger on the Mayflower. He is the subject of an entire book published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (Mayflower Society). Here is a citation to that book.

Wakefield, Robert S., and Ralph V. Wood. 2000. Francis Cooke of the Mayflower and his descendants for four generations. Plymouth, MA (4 Winslow St., Plymouth 02360): General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Every date, place, and name in that book has been exhaustively documented with extensive source citations. What is known and what is not known about Francis Cooke is not presently in dispute. The information in the book has been updated to five generations. See the following:

Mayflower Families Fifth Generation Descendants, 1700-1880. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017). From Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620. Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975-2015.

With all that information, you would think that this one entry would be long ago settled and no longer a source of constant change. You would be wrong. Is the problem with the Family Tree? The answer is yes and no. Obviously, any changes have to be made by users of the program and allowing changes is a basic function of the Family Tree program. When will the weekly storm over Francis Cooke and others like him end?

This is the continuing challenge of the Family Tree that remained its most pressing and disturbing issue during the year 2018. Heretofore, I have refrained from getting involved in some of these issues. During the past year, we did take a stand on my remote ancestor, William Tanner, but that is a minor issue overall. My other New England lines are the real issue. The question is whether the current state of affairs on the Family Tree is supportive enough for me to begin tackling these outstanding New England issues? On the Mayflower line, the main change during the past year was the publication online of all of the current information from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. Although I will have to pay for access, I am now in a position to take on the effort of cleaning up many of those New England lines.

From the perspective of another year of working with the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, I can say that the program is maturing in many ways. A sufficient number of sources have been added to individual entries to solidify them and overall changes to all but a few families have decreased and many of the residual changes involve standardization and adding additional sources. As I have quoted before attributed to President Harry S. Truman, "If you can't stand the heat, got out of the kitchen." Most of the changes are being made to people who lived back in the 18th and 17th Centuries. There is plenty of work that needs to be done on the Family Tree that does not involve these remote ancestral lines. I suggest that if you are disturbed by the changes, rather than challenged as I am, I suggest you focus on your immediate family back no more than six generations and ALL of their descendants. You should find that in this venue, there will be minimal changes except for one or two exceptional issues.

As I have been saying over and over, the FamilySearch.org Family Tree is the solution, not the problem.

An End of the Year Look at the Future of Family History Centers

During the past year, I have had the opportunity to visit several Family History Centers across the United States. As 2018 draws to a close, I have several observations. The most dramatic change, for me and many others, was the final shutdown of the Mesa FamilySearch Library in Mesa, Arizona. This event alone marks the end of an era in the development and use of Family History Centers around the world. 2018 also saw a shakeup in the staffing and organization of main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. I still have to take the time to visit the Family History Library and will reserve any comments until after I actually have time to do some research in the facility. In 2018, we saw the opening of another FamilySearch Center in Lehi, Utah and the announcement that another FamilySearch Center will be built in Mesa, Arizona to replace the now-defunct library. All of this seems to indicate a shift in the way Family History Centers are staffed, supported, and maintained.

Most of the Family History Centers I have visited from Canada to Florida and from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast, are consistently located in Stake or Ward Buildings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most have one or two large rooms with computers and printers and perhaps a scanner or some other equipment. Some few have additional storage and or classroom areas. The ubiquitous banks of microfilm readers as shown in the photo above are fast disappearing from all of the centers. In some cases, there are still one or two microfilm readers left. The definition of a Family History Center, as opposed to a room with computers, is that the Family History Centers have access to the online FamilySearch Portal that gives patrons free access to several major genealogy programs that are otherwise subscription based.

Local Family History Centers are established, staffed and governed by one or more local Stake units in conjunction with some equipment and technical support from FamilySearch. To a great extent, the viability and involvement of the local members in any Family History Center directly depends on the involvement and commitment of the local leaders. In some cases, the Family History Center is the center of family history activity for an entire community. Many of the centers are used by a broad spectrum of those both members of the Church and those who are not members and are crowded with visitors every time they are open. However, a significant number of Family History Centers have almost no activity and some are literally deserted.  These underused centers usually indicate a lack of involvement by local Church authorities but in some cases, such in parts of Utah, they are merely a reflection of the "competition" of too many Family History Centers in the same general location.

Isolated Family History Centers can also be virtually deserted if the local leaders fail to conduct an adequate outreach program to promote the use of the centers in the greater community. The fundamental issues facing Family History Centers reach far beyond the involvement of local leaders and the policies and practices of FamilySearch. It is important to note that FamilySearch Centers (Discovery Centers) are fundamentally different from Family History Centers in their purpose. Quoting from the FamilySearch.org Wiki:

FamilySearch Centers (FSC) are branches of FamilySearch and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (United States). FamilySearch Centers:

 They emphasize the following:

• Provide Discovery Experiences
• Provide digitizing equipment to digitize patrons' family history books, VHS tapes, slides, negatives, photos, audio cassettes
• Provide access to genealogical records using the Family History Center Portal
• Give personal one-on-one assistance to patrons
• Offer free how-to classes (varies by location)

The complete Family Discovery Center experience is available at the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Many genealogists have questioned how the Family Discovery Centers support the main activities of family history, i.e. research into records to find families. I have been told by a very reliable source that statistics from FamilySearch do show an increase in family history activity following a visit to a Family Discovery Center. 

There are presently several major operating FamilySearch Centers and Family Discovery Centers located primarily in Utah. 

By the way, the Brigham Young University Family History Library is not a Family History Center. It is operated and staffed by the University. The missionary staff is composed of FamilySearch Church Service Missionaries and a few long-term volunteers. The University staff and FamilySearch do work closely together, but the BYU Family History Library is ultimately part of the University.

Worldwide, Family History Centers are more than merely locations for some family history activities. In some cases, they provide computer and internet access to people who would not otherwise have a connection. These additional functions are extremely valuable. 

But what about the future? As more and more documents are digitized and available online, there is a concomitant decrease in the need to travel to a Family History Center to do some types of research. The FamilySearch Portal, in itself, is not a sufficient draw to justify maintaining a local Family History Center. Unless the local leaders begin to use their facilities to increase the outreach and involve the patrons with classes, workshops, and other activities, the local centers will surely fail. Some of them are presently being maintained merely by inertia. The worldwide change in the meeting schedule will have a significant impact on many of the Family History Centers since their main activity was during the time allocated in the three-hour block to the Sunday School. Whether or not members of the Church will stay after the meetings or visit the Centers on other days remains to be seen. 

No matter how much digital genealogical information there is online, there will always be a need for classes and one-on-one instruction and help for those doing their own family history. However, the repository activity of Family History Centers such as the huge reference materials accumulated by the Mesa FamilySearch Library over the years will likely be lost, just as it has been in Mesa, Arizona. The model for the future seems to be to exclusively rely on online sources. 

I suggest that many of the Family History Centers in the areas where there is a high Church membership, such as Utah Valley, need to be closed and or consolidated with other centers. I think major Family Discovery Centers are a valuable model for this consolidation. 

The main challenge is implementing the existing programs outlined for local Ward and Stake Temple and Family History Consultants but that is the topic for another post. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

“This Christmas mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love, and then speak it again.”

― Howard W. Hunter

Light the World

Merry Christmas

One of our Christmas traditions since we moved to Provo, Utah has been to visit the light display at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. We also took the opportunity to hear a practice performance of the wonderful and famous Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. The weather cooperated and the temperatures were cold but not too cold. We saw an almost full moon rise over Temple Square while we walked around with crowds of people also enjoying the wonderful spirit and atmosphere of this sacred place. We also saw crowds of people waiting to donate to the Light the World Vending Machines located in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building adjacent to Temple Square. You can see how this works in the following short video from last year.

#LightTheWorld Day 1: Light the World—Mormon.org Christmas 2017

Are you barking up the wrong family tree?

As you begin to work on investigating your ancestry, you will eventually find it necessary to organize the information in the form of a "family tree." There are a number of variations on the concept of a pedigree chart but all the available online or desktop programs produce a chart that shows your parents, your grandparents, and etc. The idea is that the lines between the individuals represent a family relationship. Here is an example of a family tree representation from the FamilySearch.org Family Tree website.

Once the information that you enter into any one of these programs is codified into a pedigree chart, it becomes almost "set in concrete." Here is the same information in another form of pedigree chart commonly called a fan chart.

This kind of representation of a family is very persuasive. Because of our innate desire to see new horizons, we are almost compelled to run out to the end of our individual family lines and start looking for more information, i.e. adding new and more family lines. The fan chart above is an example of an important principle of genealogical research: each generation back in time of your ancestors geometrically increases the number of your family lines. This increase is not uniform however because of a principle called "pedigree collapse" that occurs when people marry their relatives. Since pedigree collapse is well documented, why does the fan chart seem to expand forever?

The concept of pedigree collapse is difficult to represent in either a standard pedigree chart or a fan chart format. Computer programs have only recently been able to work through family tree information and show familial relationships between any two individuals. For example, Relative Finder is a program that uses the FamilySearch.org Family Tree to find connections between any two people in the Family Tree. If I use the program to search for a connection between me and my wife, I find that I am related to my wife's mother as a 7th cousin, 1 time removed.

Pedigree charts do not show that kind of relationship. But there is an even more serious issue with pedigree charts (including especially fan charts). The main issue is that the information entered into the pedigree may not support the connections. Here is how Relative Finder shows I am related to my wife's mother. The entire chart is too large to fit on one screen so I am showing only the portion indicating the common ancestor.

Here is the problem. This supposed connection goes back through my Morgan line. The connection between Garrard Morgan (b. 1755, d. 1786) and the person listed as his father, John Morgan (b. 1734, d. 1765) is entirely undocumented. There are no listed sources documenting this relationship. In addition, the information about Jacob Morgan (b. 1700, died no date), his father, is entirely fabricated. The place listed for Jacob Morgan's birth did not exist in 1700 when he was supposedly born.

So here we have two issues: pedigree collapse and unsupported ancestral lines that contribute to forms of pedigree charts that cannot correctly show relationships.

If I were to "jump back" and start doing research on Richard Morgan, I would soon find that there is nothing supporting the claim of his relationship to my family line. There are two generations of Morgans that lack documentation. In fact, Morgan is an extremely common surname originating primarily in Wales.

Every pedigree line, including all those on the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, either end with a blank or continue with rank speculation with no supporting documentation. Now, if you look at each of your family lines, how many of them actually end before the names run out? Research on these lines needs to focus on the parents of the last verified entry in each line. Meanwhile, don't take calculated relationships seriously unless each person in the family line has been adequately verified.

New Study Guide Section for The Family History Guide

https://thefhguide.com/study-fs.html

Do you need a quick overview entry into the vast resources of The Family History Guide? A new section of The Family History Guide has just been uploaded. The Study Center is an easy way to work through some of the basic topics that are covered more completely in the rest of The Family History Guide. As shown in the screenshot, there is a selection of topics from the entire website presented in an abbreviated manner to encourage all of the users to work through the major topics.

The Family History Guide continues to grow and develop far beyond its original scope. To keep this valuable tool available, please act now to contribute through The Family History Guide Association.

https://thefhguide.com/association.html

My Wish List for Family History

If you have been working on researching your family for a while, you probably have some things that you would like to see. I have several items on my wish list some of which might happen and some may never happen. I thought now that another year is ending, I would list some of the things I had on my virtual wish list.

1. The biggest challenge to the advancement of genealogical research is the ability to easily share information between both online family trees and those in desktop programs. The old GEDCOM standard has become rickety with age and is no longer adequate (if it ever was). I would like to see some kind of standards that would allow the transfer of data from one program to another. Some progress has been made between specific websites, but we really need to be able to synchronize our data from all the places it might reside.

2. As a subset on my wish list, I would like to see several changes to the FamilySearch.org website and particularly the Family Tree.

• First and foremost, I would like to see some kind of rating system for the accuracy of the entries and for the validity of the sources. For example, if there are few or no supporting sources the overall individual entry could have a "one-star" rating.  If the information available is supported by sources and has a logical conclusion, the entry could get a "four-star" or even a "five-star" rating. Individual sources could also be starred in the same manner. This would give users of the Family Tree an idea of what the community thought of the validity of the entries. 
• Second, I would like to see an expansion of the red Data Problems icons. It would also be nice if there were a link to show us what items are presently considered problems. Right now, if an entry is not standardized, it is marked as a Data Problem. I would suggest that this category be given its own color. 
• Third, I would like to see a formal arbitration system to resolve conflicts about entries with some restrictions made on people who fail to cooperate. For example, if a person is making unsupported and obviously inaccurate changes and refuses to acknowledge any email or message requests to explain why the changes are being made, there should be some arbitration available to resolve the issue. If the person fails to respond to arbitration, I would suggest their ability to make changes to the Family Tree be curtailed. 
• Following up on the previous wish, I would like to see some lines where there are extensive changes be subject to some sort of application to make a change situation. For example, the Mayflower passengers are like revolving doors. Why not have a procedure where any changes had to be proposed with supporting sources and then the change could only be made if a certain number of other users voted for the change.
• Next, I would think it would be helpful if warning messages could be implemented for entering common date errors such as parents' vs children's' ages etc.  

3. Overall, I would like to see some additional emphasis on the Temple and Family History Consultant calling. Now that many of us will not be able to use any part of the Sunday School hour in the "Old Block" schedule for family history, there should be some guidelines as to when this activity might continue. Left up to the individual Wards, this will likely just never be scheduled. 

4. I would also like to see some more specific activities in the Family Discovery Center that lead people to investigate the entries in their portion of the Family Tree. Perhaps activities that show what is presently in the Family Tree and suggesting ways, like adding Record Hints, that could help correct and add to the existing information. 

5. I think the maintenance and operation of the family history centers located in areas where there are a large number of members (such as Utah Valley) could be consolidated into fewer and larger facilities. A good example is the Sandy Family History Center in Sandy, Utah. If there is going to be a limited availability the local Stake Family History Centers on Sunday, then why not consolidate multiple Stake Family History Centers into one larger center with Family Discovery options?

Well, my wish list could go on and on. Perhaps you have your own wish list. You could leave a comment with some of the things you would like to see. I am well aware of GetSatisfaction for FamilySearch and I am aware that many suggestions there are considered by FamilySearch. Please don't complain that I am not a "regular"  on GetSatisfaction, I really do about as much as I can. By the way, there are currently 5,463 Family Tree topics on that website. There used to be a link to the website from FamilySearch.org, but that has disappeared as have the forums and other discussion venues.