Some details about FamilySearch Family Tree they don't tell you about in the manual

There are a number of things about the FamilySearch.org Family Tree that are not obvious and are not in the manual. Here are a few of the issues I have noticed that might help you understand what is going on in the program.

1. Many of the individual Details pages have a huge number of variations on the individual's name that show up under the category of "Alternative Name." These are useless for the most part as left-overs from all the prior submissions with slight variations in the way the name was submitted previously. Here are two screenshots showing an extreme example:

As you can see, the list of Alternative Names is longer than I can show with two screen shots. All of these alternatives are listed as "Birth Name." They are not the birth name. The birth name is at the top of the Detail Page. They are duplicates or wrong and are not necessary. They should just be deleted as duplicates. However, in making that remark, I have had people respond that they thought all of them should be preserved because they are there. On the contrary, there is absolutely no reason to preserve all of the past mistakes for posterity. Just click on each entry and delete them. If you don't want to bother to spend the time, then at least don't go around justifying keeping them in the file. 

Now, there are alternate birth names. In the rare case that someone's birth name is unknown or has variations, those variations should certainly be preserved with substantial source references. If the person changed his or her name later in life, such as when the person immigrated, then of course, that type of change should be included under Alternate Names and documented. 

2. Green Arrows almost never mean that ordinances are available unless they are people who were only very recently added to the Family Tree. If you encounter green arrows on your pedigree just remember that this information was brought over directly from New.FamilySearch.org and people have been working on that program looking for green arrows for the past five or six years. If there really were any ordinances ready to be done they would have long since been taken care of. In fact, the green arrows in Family Tree usually mean that more information is necessary or that there are duplicates. Unfortunately, there is still a substantial problems with the merge function of the program and so it is advisable to be highly cautious with green arrows especially those in families that you know have been members of the Church for a considerable period of time.

3. The fan chart view of the pedigree would entice you to believe that you needed to research the missing people. In reality, when the fan chart shows an end-of-line it usually means that research needs to be done in the preceding generations (more recent). The simplest way to check whether this is the case is to look at the Details Page for the individual who is listed right below the open space in the fan chart and see if there are any sources listed for that individual. If there are no sources, there is no confidence level that the information is correct. This indicates that you should start your research with that person or the first person in the line who has sources and has been substantiated.

4. As with the duplicates listed for birth names, many of the "Notes" imported from New.FamilySearch.org are meaningless and should simply be deleted. Read the note. If it makes sense and contributes to the information about the individual, keep it. Otherwise, delete it. 

5. Always check to see which stories, photos, and documents have already been uploaded for the program before adding your own. I am seeing as many as four and five duplicate photos for a single individual.

6. The manual does encourage you to supply your email address. I would point out that this is a cooperative program and failure to provide contact information indicates that you do not wish to cooperate. From my perspective, if you add something without substantiation and do not provide contact information I will simply delete your entry. If you have privacy concerns get over it.

7. Remember that there are still unresolved duplicates in the program for those individuals who have excessive combined duplicates carried over from New.FamilySearch.org. This will be the case as long as the two programs are still linked. This is true even though New.FamilySearch.org is read-only. If you think about this, you'll realize that adding a lot of of sources and editing the entries for these individuals may end up with the loss of all the changes made when mergers are finally possible. Think about it.

 That's probably enough for the moment. It's very likely I'll have more in the future. As usual, comments are welcome and taken seriously.

Read the Manual. Take the Training.

I am always fairly surprised at the number of times the answers to questions are "in the manual." This morning I had the experience of talking to a newly minted High Councilor who said he was "over Family History" in the Stake. I asked him if he had been given instruction about the duties of the High Councilors and he answered that he had not. It was my guess that who ever called him to the position also did not know about either the manual or the training materials.

Here is a screen shot from LDS.org that has links to the training materials for "Family History Calling Resources." This page is found by clicking on the "Resources" link at the top of the LDS.org startup page and then selecting Family History resources. Here is the screenshot showing the bottom of the page:

Clicking on this link takes you to another page listing each of the levels of callings in the Family History. Here is another screenshot:

You can always click on an image to see it enlarged. Here are links to each of the separate callings: Family History Consultant, Stake Indexing Director, Family History Center Director, Area Family History Advisor, FamilySearch Support Missionary and Stake and Ward Leaders.

You can also register to receive the My Family History newsletter. So, if you are in a Family History calling in your Ward or Stake. Please take the time to tell anyone associated with the callings that the training is on LDS.org.

New Cultural Heritage Website in Novi Sad, Serbia

This is a new Serbian cultural site sponsored by the Digitization of Cultural Heritage Novi Sad Cultural Centre. Eastern Europe is on of the areas most needing greater access for genealogists doing research on the Internet. Sites such as this are a huge step forward in acquiring genealogically significant material on the Web. 

Novi Sad (Serbian Cyrillic: Нови Сад, is the second largest city in Serbia. From Wikipedia: Novi Sad:

The name Novi Sad means "New Plantation" (noun) in Serbian. Its Latin name, stemming from establishment of city rights, is "Neoplanta". The official names of Novi Sad used by the local administration are:

• Serbian: Нови Сад, Novi Sad
• Hungarian: Újvidék
• Slovak: Nový Sad
• Rusyn: Нови Сад (transliterated: Novi Sad)

In both Croatian and Romanian, which are official in the provincial administration, the city is called "Novi Sad". Historically, it was also called Újvidék in Hungarian and "Neusatz" in German.

This new website is a a gorgeous new digital heritage platform using the Digital Public Library of America’s open source technology. The platform, Digital Heritage of Novi Sad (bbns.rs), provides access to digitized cultural and historical materials from approximately 200 institutions in or around Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia, all searchable by place, time, and subject. According to project leaders, they are in the final phase of equipping a modern digital laboratory with scanners and graphics processing workstations for digitizing new material into the platform.

This is just one of many examples of the impact of the Digital Public Library of America on access to the world's records. By the way, the word for genealogy in Serbian is генеалогија. I would have to be able to read Serbian a little better than I can to see if there are any documents on the site, as yet, that will help directly with genealogical research. But every effort to open up cultural and historical websites should be encouraged.

Statistical Review of FamilySearch in 2013

I found some interesting statistics in a Church News article about FamilySearch and other genealogical happenings in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The article is entitled, "Family history banner year."

First a comment on statistics in general. Quoting numbers is an overused way of making a point. But many times it is also the only way that you can measure and demonstrate progress. What is more important than the actual numbers involved is the direction those numbers are moving. Now on to the article, here are some of the highlights:

• The number of members submitting family names for temple ordinances increased 11 percent in 2013.
• RootsTech 2014 will be held Feb. 6-8 in Salt Lake City and is anticipated to reach more than 100,000 attendees.
• Since April 2013, 12 million names have been linked to the family tree, and 1.8 million family photos and hundreds of thousands of family stories have already been posted online by patrons.
• The FamilySearch Family Tree online now boasts more than 1 billion searchable names linked to family trees.
• In 2013, it added 170 million digital images of historic records and 476 million indexed records to FamilySearch.org.
• It also entered into major agreements with the top three commercial family history websites, which will provide unprecedented access to billions of additional historic records and user-contributed records starting some time in 2014.
• An unprecedented number of youth responded by building online family trees from information provided by their families, printing generational fan charts, and using the vast growing databases of online records to seek out their kindred dead.
• Record numbers of youth are also being called and serving as family history consultants.

Here are some of my own observations on the numbers:

• Statistics from 2014 will really be a more accurate measure of the progress of Family Tree because it was only in December that New.FamilySearch.org was made read-only. 
• The number of attendees at RootsTech 2014 likely includes an estimate of all those participating through online rebroadcasts of the presentations at local Family History Fairs. If 100,000 people show up at the Salt Palace, I think we will all be surprised.
• The number of new additions to the Family Tree and the Photos, Stories and Documents programs is truly impressive. This demonstrates, in part, the improvement this program is over the old one. But as I mentioned above, the real numbers will come from 2014 when New.FamilySearch.org is no longer contributing duplicates.
• The increasing number of digital images to the FamilySearch.org Historical Record Collections needs more prominence. This fact is the meat and potatoes of the value of the website to any one trying to find their ancestors. This is a fabulous resource.
• The announced agreement with other online databases is a huge development. I am sure we will hear a lot more about this in the months to come.
• I am thrilled that there are more youth becoming involved in genealogy. It will also be interesting to see how switching entirely to Family Tree from New.FamilySearch.org will affect this involvement. 
• I think this is one of the best ideas yet, to call youth as Family History Consultants, but I just wish it would start to happen locally in my own Stake and Ward. 

All in all the news is extremely encouraging. I hope I am around long enough to see even more dramatic changes in the future. 

Family Discovery Day and Youth Event at RootsTech 2014

RootsTech.org now has the complete schedule for the special Family Discovery Day and Youth Event on Saturday, February 8, 2014. The Family Discovery Day event is free to attend and includes access to the huge RootsTech Expo Hall, where more than 100 vendors will help you with things, such as:

• Recording your story.
• Scanning photos and books.
• Creating a visual family tree and more.

In addition, there will be inspirational messages from Elder Neil L. Andersen, Elder Allan F. Packer, Elder Bradley D. Foster, and popular speakers who will:

• Help inspire you to record, preserve, and share your family stories.
• Teach you to find and prepare your family names for temple work.
• Teach you the powerful features of the Family Tree on FamilySearch.
• Help those with family history callings with insightful training.
• Help you get started on your family history.

The event is designed as a day of devotionals, classes, and interactive experiences designed especially for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Whether you’re just getting started with photos and stories or are already into your family tree, there is something for everyone.

For LDS youth (ages 12 to 18) will also have the opportunity of discovering the fun of family history! Popular LDS speaker John Bytheway kicks off the day, followed by hours of fun classes, time to explore the Expo Hall, youth-specific activities (such as the Genealogy Merit Badge and Personal Progress), and a special event from the cast of Studio C from BYUtv!

Both events require a pre-registration by visiting the RootsTech.org website. 

I can imagine that many of the youth (and a lot of adults) would come to the event just to get a chance to see the Studio C cast in person. You can see what you will be missing by visiting the BYUtv YouTube.com channel. Just do a search for Studio C on YouTube.com for a long list of the comedy sketches from this BYU phenomena. 

The Hidden Treasure -- FamilySearch.org

This past two months, I spent a total of over 25 hours demonstrating FamilySearch.org's Family Tree program to members  of my Ward. I was one of the best genealogical experiences I have had lately, but the activity raised some serious issues. One surprising factor was that many of the members of my Ward had an LDS Account to access the online resources of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On the other hand, only a very small percentage of the members remembered their login and password. This certainly means that few of the members actually use any of the online programs on a regular basis. This experience occurred during the time of Tithing Settlement and so included almost all of the active members of the Ward. Even among those who were familiar with LDS.org, very, very few were even aware of any of the features of FamilySearch.org.

Overall, the experience of demonstrating FamilySearch.org was extremely positive and a huge success. The established family history related online programs are a fabulous resource. But, considering the huge number of valuable resources on both LDS.org and FamilySearch.org, why would apparently very active members of the Church be entirely unaware of either program? The answer is pretty simple. There is no real reason for the members to look at either of the programs on a regular basis unless they happen to be in a Church position that would require their access to either or both of the websites. Take for example the issue of a Ward Calendar. Most of the Wards I attend as I travel around the country, still rely primarily on a weekly printed program and announcements over the pulpit. I seldom hear a mention of the online Stake and Ward Calendars on LDS.org. Again, the fact that so few of the members of my Ward knew their login and passwords indicates that they are not using this resource. What is even more important, even from the standpoint of an active participant in the online LDS.org website, the Calendar program automatically posts events to my own Google connected calendar so there is no reason to go to LDS.org to look at the calendar.

In the case of FamilySearch.org, unless a member is actively engaged in family history, either by a calling or by personal interest, there is really no reason to go look at the program. Updates and news about FamilySearch.org come through genealogy channels and electronic notices sent to Stake Leaders do not, for the most part, get passed on to the Wards and ultimately, the Ward members. So the general membership is not aware of any of the new resources on the website. One example recently in my own Stake involved some people called to help with establishing an Indexing program for the youth. I had the opportunity to talk to them and found out they had almost no knowledge of any of the online resources either for Indexing or any other website including FamilySearch.org. This likely reflects the fact that the Stake leaders do not know about the online resources either or did not communicate the resources as part of the calling of the people.

Another question raised by my experience is whether or not the introduction we gave to FamilySearch.org and the Photos program will translate into increased interest after the end of the year and all the holidays are over. I did receive considerable initial feedback concerning additional individual experiences with FamilySearch.org's Photo program, but so far, I have not seen any additional interest in being involved in family history as such.

It is very difficult to see how many more people can be motivated to get involved in the basic activities related to searching out their ancestors. I see the Photos and Stories programs on FamilySearch.org to be a huge positive step. I also see the involvement of the youth in family history either by their participation in the Indexing program or by calling youth family history consultants as great steps forward. In my own calling, both as a Church Service Missionary and as a Ward Family History Consultant, I think there is still a huge challenge remaining to raise the awareness level of the members so that there is a path to their participation in the online programs.

During this coming year of 2014, I am planning on making a concerted effort to contact members of my Ward directly and encourage them to become more involved in family history.

A Book Worthy of all Acceptation

The 128th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an interesting and somewhat peculiar reference at verse 24:

24 Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand; and who can abide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.

As a genealogist, the reference to "a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation" has bothered me for some time. This is especially true when I view the huge disparity in accuracy and completeness in both my own genealogy work and that of others. This becomes a problem when I am confronted with members who submit faulty, incomplete and even fraudulent genealogy to online family tree programs especially FamilySearch.org's Family Tree. Does the quote from the Doctrine and Covenants have any meaning in the day to day context of doing family history and genealogy work? Are there or should there be any standards that will assure that the work that is done is "worthy of all acceptation?"

In this regard I would quote a statement made by President Ezra Taft Benson in the October 1978 General Conference:

“… We are introducing a Churchwide program of extracting names from genealogical records. Church members may now render second-mile service through participating in this regard in extracting these names in this program supervised by the priesthood leaders at the local level.” (“The True Way of Life and Salvation,” Ensign, May 1978, p. 4.)
This announcement will make sweeping changes in the mechanics of genealogical research and name submission for temple ordinance work. To determine the effect on us individually and collectively as family organizations, let us consider what has and what has not changed.

First, I mention some things which have not changed: 

1.The Lord’s mandate given in section 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants has not changed: “Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? …
“Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple … a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” (D&C 128:22, 24.) 

2.Our responsibility to keep a journal and to write our own personal histories and those of our ancestors, particularly those who belong to the first four generations of our pedigree, has not changed. 

3.Our responsibility to make certain that all living family members have the opportunity to receive the ordinances of the temple has not changed. 

4.Our responsibility to compile our books of remembrance, including the submission of the names of our ancestors for at least the first four generations, and to have the temple ordinances performed in their behalf has not changed. 

5.Our responsibility to organize our families at the immediate family level begins when a couple is married. The grandparent family organization develops as children from the immediate family marry and have children. Through such family organizations, every family in the Church should become actively involved in missionary work, family preparedness, genealogy and temple work, teaching the gospel, and cultural and social activities. These vital responsibilities certainly have not changed.

I note especially the first point made by President Benson. Over the intervening years since President Benson made his statement, the programs of the Church have certainly changed but the injunction concerning the need to prepare a record worthy of all acceptation has not changed. I will quote from the current Member's Guide to Temple and Family History Work at page 16:

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught the importance of record keeping. He declared: “Let us present in his holy temple . . . a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation” (D&C 128:24). The records you preserve of your ancestors’ lives and of your own life—including journals, personal histories, and other family history records—can bless your ancestors, descendants, extended family members, and others.

I believe that the members of the Church are under an obligation to expend the effort to make sure that any genealogical research work that they do comes up to this standard. One question that arises frequently in my discussions with members about the Family Tree program is whether or not we have any obligation to add sources or correct the entries? I suggest that the answer is clear and always has been from the time of Joseph Smith to the present. We have an obligation to make the work as perfect as we can with our limited abilities. The work needs to be up to the standard of the Temples.

We have now been given the tools that will enable us to create a record worthy of all acceptation but we are presently only barely beginning the task.