Online Training on FamilySearch.org

Two days ago, one of the people attending a class I taught at the Mesa FamilySearch Library commented that I should do a video of exactly how to put photos onto FamilySearch.org giving all the steps. I had just shown him how to do this very carefully going through each step, so I was a little surprised by the comment. He had recently been called as a Family History Consultant and was looking for some help with training.

That same day, I received a copy of a blog post from FamilySearch entitled "FamilySearch Online Training is a Click Away." Evidently, I get email notification of these blog posts before they actually go onto the FamilySearch.org website because when I try to view the post online, I get an error message but later, sometimes as long as a week or so, they show up online. Steve Anderson of FamilySearch gives us a list of links to FamilySearch online training:

Some of our most useful and popular training has been put online for you to use quickly and easily. Links to this training are found below. If you click on any of the training items and they don’t appear, check to make sure that your popup blocker isn’t the reason. If it is, go into popup options and allow FamilySearch popups to appear.

• The Training Material link will take you to a rich menu of training options. Simply click on the link of the item you want to use.

• The FamilySearch Family Tree Curriculum link will take you to a whole selection of training content. It provides training on how to use a computer mouse, basic beginner training, intermediate training, advanced training and the option to view training in Spanish.

• The Family Tree Quick Start Guide is a 7 page PDF File explaining how to quickly and easily get into and use some of the most basic and popular features of Family Tree.

• The Family Tree Reference Manual is a 204 page PDF file that provides extensive in-depth coverage on all features of the Family Tree. Please note that about 5% of this manual is already out of date. Within the next several months this manual will be redesigned and posted in smaller sections that will allow for faster and easier updates.

• The FamilySearch Learning Center is a library of several hundred classes and video presentations that teach you how to use various FamilySearch features as well as how to do research on a wide variety of genealogical topics.

• The FamilySearch Research Wiki is a collection of over 76,000 research article covering some area of genealogy and family history research. These articles are written and updated by experts from around the world.

It is nice that the patron at the Mesa FamilySearch Library came for some help and is attending classes, but it is interesting that he is apparently unaware of the existing online training. A while ago, I got a comment on a post on this blog correcting me about how "Family History Consultants" function in the Ward. The commentator cited the Handbook 2 and the Leader's Guide to Temple and Family History Work. The pertinent part stated:

High priests group leaders have the primary responsibility to coordinate the ward council’s efforts to encourage and enable temple and family history work in the ward.

The Guide, at page 19, goes on to state:

The high priests group leader directs the work of family history consultants as he:

• Recommends members to be called and set apart as family history consultants, as requested by the bishopric.
• Works with the bishopric to ensure that enough consultants are called to meet the needs of the ward.
• Provides assignments to consultants, including assignments to work with certain ward members.
• Ensures that consultants are properly prepared to perform their callings and makes them aware of the training resources at FamilySearch.org/serve

When this Family History Consultant was called, was he made aware of the training resources at FamilySearch.org/serve?

I also wonder where are the other hundreds of Family History Consultants in the Stakes here in Mesa? How many of them are aware of the Online Training available?

Solving the Unknown Photograph Problem through FamilySearch Photos

One way to identify the unknown people in old photographs is to share them online and allow anyone who sees the photo to identify the unknowns. There are a huge number of websites that you can use to expose the photographs to the public but how do you target the genealogists? For my own photographs, I have traditionally used my blog posts and a Pinterest.com board. The main problem with trying to use these websites is that they are essentially passive. It is as if the photos are being posted on a bulletin board somewhere and identification is being left entirely to chance.

During the time it has been online, FamilySearch.org's Photos program has constantly evolved. Features have been added to the program that makes it possible to upload photos of unknown people and allow all who search through the program to help identify their own ancestors that may be in the photos. The addition is a the ability to tag the photos with a date and place. If you do not know the names of the people but know where or when the photo was taken, you add a date and/or place tag and then when someone searches for photos using that place, they will see all of the photos with that reference including your unknown ones. Then anyone can identify the people and add the tag links to Family Tree.

Here is an example. I uploaded all of these photos from the Overson Photographic Collection to the Photos program:

Now, I can do two things. I can add the following description to each photo as a description.

This is a picture from the historic Charles Jarvis and Margaret Jarvis Overson Photography Collection, now found in the Archives of the University of Arizona. For more information: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/mesa/article_8aaea4f0-5382-11e1-a30f-001871e3ce6c.html Identifications from Images of America: St. Johns (Cameron Udall, 2008)” http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/collections

I can also add a place tag to each photo from the Event category. See the arrow on the following screen shot.

Now, if anyone searches for a either Overson or St. Johns they will see all of the photos with both either of these terms. Here is a screenshot showing the results of a search for "St. Johns" in quotes:

All of the items have the place "St. Johns" in either the title or a place tag.

A couple of additions to the program would be very useful. They could add the ability to search for multiple terms and they could add the ability to add the Place and Date tags to multiple photos at the same time.

Feedback on Green Arrows -- Is Extraction the Answer?

In response to my recent post on Green Arrows in FamilySearch.org's Family Tree, I got the following comment:

In our stake they show you how to use the 1900 census and to collect every name that has the same surname as yours. They then show you how to enter the families and check for duplicates. By using the 1900 census it eliminates the 110 year rule. 

They can generate 1000's of names quickly.

I don't agree but this is how it is taught and encouraged by the temple in our district. 

I am more than reasonably sure that all of the people in the United States with the surname "Tanner" are NOT related to me. In the Midwest, Illinois in particular, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of people with the Tanner surname that are definitely not related to me because the entire group came from Switzerland. The original Tanner in my ancestral line came from England in about 1680.

As far as I know, the following is still Church policy:

Date: March 13, 2012 

To: Registered Users of FamilySearch.org 

From: Family History Department 

Subject: Policies for Submitting Names for Temple Ordinances 

Recently, the First Presidency of the Church reiterated the policies, first stated in 1995, concerning the submitting of names for proxy temple ordinances. As a user of the system (familysearch.org) where temple ordinances are cleared and submitted, you should follow these important policies. You will find the policy letter attached to this e-mail. 

In a related Church News article, Brother Dennis C. Brimhall, managing director of the Family History Department, reported that “the searching out of our family and preparing the names for the work to be done in the temple is . . . a responsibility, but it is also a privilege. That privilege is extended to the members by those who hold the keys to [do] the work. The[se] keys . . . are held by the First Presidency of the Church” (Sarah Jane Weaver, “Family History—Church Asks Members to Understand Policies,” Church News, Mar. 1, 2012). (Click here to see the article.) The First Presidency set these policies. Accordingly, the Conditions of Use for users of familysearch.org require compliance to the policies before you can submit names to the temple. Noncompliance by a user could mean the loss of his or her privileges to use the system. 

Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask your local family history consultant or anyone serving at a family history center. You may also e-mail questions directly to branchout@familysearch.org. 

Update: Our preeminent obligation is to seek out and identify our own ancestors. We should submit names for proxy temple ordinances for people we are related to, or we should have permission from a close living relative. A member may do proxy work for a friend or neighbor who requests that the work be performed on behalf of a relative. In this way members are assisting others in redeeming their kindred dead.

That is my answer to the comment. 

Why are the arrows green? Comments on FamilySearch Family Tree

I am still reading a few articles from various Church publications that relate the genealogical experiences of youth groups in finding "hundreds" names of ancestors for Temple excursions in a relatively short period of time. The most common scenario is that the youth are "challenged" by a leader to prepare for a youth conference or Temple activity and relatively quickly, they are able to find the names online in FamilySearch.org. Unfortunately, it is never completely explained how this was accomplished in such a short time by totally untrained researchers. I can only assume that in almost all cases, the names were obtained by mining the ubiquitous "Green Arrows" of both New.FamilySearch.org and now carried over to FamilySearch.org's Family Tree program.

Here is an example from Family Tree when I sign into the program:

This happens to be my Grandfather, Harold Morgan's family. Traditionally, the green arrow would immediately suggest that there was Temple work that needed to be done for the family. But wait, let's think about this for a minute or two or three. My Grandfather was born in the covenant ( BIC or his parents were sealed in the Temple before he was born) In turn, he and my Grandmother were married in the Temple and all their children were born in the covenant. All of the children were baptized at age 8 and most all were married in the Temple, at least for their first marriage. One daughter died early but the rest lived well into old age. So why would we expect that any one of the members of this family needed Temple ordinances completed?

Clicking on the green arrow shows that ordinances may be available for one of my uncles. Well, I happen to know that he was baptized and took out his own endowments and was married in the Temple to his first wife. The entry for this uncle states, "Possible duplicates exist for ***. You may reserve ordinances however, they may have already been completed." Yes, in fact, there is at least one duplicate entry. But when I try to merge the entry, I get an error message stating that the duplicates cannot be merged.

Now these "fail safe" provisions have been written into Family Tree, but did not exist in New.FamilySearch.org (NFS). In fact, it was relatively easy to find a "green arrow" and print off a Family Ordinance Request and effectively redo the ordinances. It is not quite so easy now, but still entirely possible. But as I have said many times in the past, why should I explain to the world how to manufacture duplicate names in Family Tree?

Presently, in Family Tree as opposed to NFS, the green arrows are mostly an indication that more information is needed before any ordinances can be performed.

The complicating factor in considering this topic is that in any given Ward, it is very likely that there are quite a few members who could easily add deceased parents, grandparents and other family members who were never members of the Church and who need Tempe ordinances. I would guess that if I could get some of the members of my own Ward to spend only an hour or two with me on Family Tree, we could have a dozens (perhaps hundreds) of ordinances available for youth groups or family members to take to the Temple. If the names referred to in the various news articles are coming from this type of source, then the program is working. Unfortunately, from my perspective and in working with many patrons at the Mesa FamilySearch Library, there is still a significant backlog of duplication going on.

If the leaders of a Ward or Stake wish to challenge their youth to do family history work, they should qualify their challenges to focus on families who have yet to enter their four or five generations into FamilySearch.org. If we focus on the members and their families rather than mining Family Tree, we will find people who really do need their work done.

The Prophets Speak on Searching Out Our Dead -- Lorenzo Snow

Quoting from LDS.org Gospel Topics:

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are blessed to be led by living prophets—inspired men called to speak for the Lord, as did Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Nephi, Mormon, and other prophets of the scriptures. We sustain the President of the Church as prophet, seer, and revelator—the only person on the earth who receives revelation to guide the entire Church. We also sustain the counselors in the First Presidency and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostlesas prophets, seers, and revelators.

 Lorenzo Snow was the fifth President of the Church and served from 1898 to 1901. The LDS.org website contains a short history of his life and service:

Lorenzo Snow was born April 3, 1814, in Mantua, Ohio. As a youth, he preferred academic study to an apprenticeship. Study of Hebrew and theology led to his conversion to the Church in 1836. He spent the rest of his life in service as a missionary, Apostle, and Church President, a position he filled on September 13, 1898. He helped the Church recover from the challenges of the previous decades. He stabilized Church finances as members increased their tithes and offerings, and he expanded Church missionary efforts. As Church President at the dawning of the twentieth century, he opened a new era in Latter-day Saint history. He died in Salt Lake City on October 10, 1901, at the age of 87.

President Snow is best known among the members of the Church for his short statement about the relationship of man to God. He said, "As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may be." His life was entwined with the Temples and he lived to see the capstone laid on the top of the Salt Lake Temple that had been under construction for 39 years. Here are some of the many quotes from President Snow about temples and the work done therein:

We have received much wisdom and knowledge of things which astonish the world when we speak of them. We have learned that, in temples, we are able to form ties which are not dissolved at death, but which reach into eternity; sacred ties which bind families together for time and eternity. In “Funeral Services of Apostle Erastus Snow,” Millennial Star, July 2, 1888, 418.

Every son and daughter of God will have the opportunity necessary for exaltation and glory. … There is but one way by which exaltation and glory can be secured. We have to be baptized for the remission of sins and have hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost. These and other ordinances are absolutely necessary for exaltation and glory; and where individuals have lived when the Gospel has not been accessible, these things can be attended to by their friends. We have come into the world now in order to do these things—at least, it is one of the chief objects of our coming. We cannot lay too great stress upon the importance of this work. Millennial Star, June 27, 1895, 405.

 As one of the early converts to the Church, President Snow had a perspective of the importance of the doctrines to those who had not yet had the opportunity to hear them. Here is a quote where he explains the importance of the proxy work for the dead.

Now, in our Temples we allow persons to come in, after they have traced their ancestry, no matter how far back, and to be baptized for their dead father, grandfather, and great grandfather and so on, just as far as they can trace their line. Then we allow them to have the wives sealed to their husbands, all along the ancestry line, as far as they can trace it. Take the case of a virtuous young man who lived before the Gospel was introduced to the children of men. … He married a wife, and raised a family; but he never had the privilege of receiving the Gospel, as you and I have. However, he taught his family the principles of morality, and he was affectionate and kind to his wife and children. What more could he do? He should not be condemned because he did not receive the Gospel; for there was no Gospel to receive. He should not lose his wife because when he married her he could not go into a Temple and have her sealed to him for time and eternity. He acted according to the best knowledge that he had, and she was married to him for time, according to the custom of the country. We respect that marriage, solemnized according to the laws of his country. … We seal children to their parents and wives to their husbands, all along the line. Millennial Star, June 27, 1895, 403–4; see also Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff (2004), 177.

Puzzilla.org -- Think ELIJAH

I have been fascinated with the Puzzilla.org program since it appeared online as an Alpha product. It has now progressed into a fully certified FamilySearch.org product and appears on the startup page. Here is a screenshot of FamilySearch.org showing the importance placed on the program:

In the most recent edition of the Church News, the official weekly publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of the Deseret News, there is a report about a presentation made by Elder Bradley D. Foster of the Seventy on 8 February 2014 at the Family Discovery Day, an LDS oriented component of the #RootsTech 2014 conference. He talked about a variety of subjects dealing with the ability of technology to connect past, present and future generations. At the end of the report in the Church News, he is quoted as follows:

“Now, many of you will say that your tree is full,” Elder Foster observed. “But actually there is so much to do, and it brings us to the third way technology is helping to hasten the work. Let me introduce you to Finding Your Cousins.”
He then invited a couple to the stage and displayed their family tree on the screen. An actress then appeared portraying the man’s third-great-grandmother. She thanked them for all the work they had done on her line but said her heart aches for her other children and grandchildren. “Will you help me find them?” she asked.
That would have been impossible until now, Elder Foster said. But he showed a new program calledPuzilla.org, a computer program that allows a user to see hundreds of an individual’s family line from an aerial view with compact patterns revealing patterns of incomplete research.
Elder Foster gave the acronym ELIJAH.
“The ‘E’ stands for ‘Enter Puzilla.org and look from your ancestor’s perspective,’” he explained.
“The next step, ‘L,’ stands for ‘Look for end lines.’ … This brings us to the next step, ‘I,’ which stands for ‘Investigate.’ We investigate that end of the line. Here’s how. We can click on the dot and go to his Person Page in FamilySearch. … Now we just need to click ‘Search Records.’ Look. All these records come up. …
“Using the records … is step ‘J’ in our process: ‘Justify,’ adding new family members to the tree by finding them in the records.
“Now it is time for step ‘A,’ ‘Add’ them to your tree. …
“Finally, you can complete the last and most important step: ‘H,’ which stands for ‘House of the Lord,’ where you can take the names to receive needed temple ordinances. The work is not done until they are linked and sealed to their families.”

Very innovative and catchy. More importantly, I think it puts the Puzzilla.org program into a very good perspective. I realized immediately the value of the program in responding to the common claim by members of the Church that their genealogy is all done. Nothing could be further from the truth. My own personal experience with Puzzilla.org has me working on a line that apparently has been neglected by over 150 years of Tanner genealogists. If you find yourself complacently thinking that all your genealogy has been done, it is time to watch the Puzzilla.org videos and see what you and your family are missing.

FamilySearch answers some of the questions about the partnerships with the other large online genealogical database programs

FamilySearch continues to clarify its previous announcements of a series of agreements with Ancestry.com, findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com. The stated reason for these agreements made by FamilySearch CEO, Dennis Brimhall, is "to accelerate the delivery of freely searchable genealogical records to family history researchers." He goes on to declare that, "These agreements are in line with the FamilySearch mission to publish online as many freely available, searchable genealogical records as possible."

Dennis goes on to explain as follows in the blog post entitled, "FamilySearch Partnerships: Some Questions and Answers:

The agreements are best understood in light of the overall pace at which searchable records are currently being delivered on FamilySearch.org. Notwithstanding the astounding success of the FamilySearch indexing program and the tireless dedication of hundreds of thousands of volunteers, it will still take many generations to index and publish just the records contained in FamilySearch’s Granite Mountain Records Vault. This estimate does not account for the more than 35 million new images of records that are digitized each month—and that rate is increasing.

FamilySearch indexing, is, at best, only a partial solution to the challenge of making searchable records available in a timely fashion. Clearly, there is a need for additional, creative approaches to providing indexed records, which is why it makes sense to partner with leading commercial genealogy providers such as Ancestry.com, Archives.com, findmypast, Fold3, and MyHeritage. Working together, FamilySearch and its partners will bring billions of currently unsearchable and unavailable records to patrons decades before these records would otherwise become available.

 In the list of questions and answers that follow these statements, he explains the continued support of FamilySearch for the Indexing program and the Indexers. He spotlights the new Indexing website which will move the indexing process from desktop computers to an entirely web-based program. There is apparently an agreement to delay the availability of some of the indexes, when those indexes are created by the partners. The statement is as follows:

When the partner creates the index, FamilySearch allows for a period when the index is only available on the partner site to allow them to recover the investment they made in creating the index. If FamilySearch has the image rights from the original record archive, the images will continue to be available for all on the FamilySearch site. After this restricted period has passed, FamilySearch will publish the index on FamilySearch as well.

Dennis also clarifies the availability of the records to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but leaves so questions unanswered. He states,

Part of the agreement with our partners stipulates that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will gain the ability to access the full collections of records published on their sites. We would like to be clear that members will be able to view these images free in nearly all circumstances. These same sites are available free to all researchers in the Family History Library and our more than 4,700 family history centers worldwide. The other way to gain access at this point is to subscribe to the partner services.

What are the "nearly all circumstances?" He also has an answer for the question I have been asked a few time already, about the status of volunteer Indexers who are not members of the Church:

These agreements do not change the status of volunteers who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All records publicly indexed through FamilySearch indexing are still free and will remain available on FamilySearch.org without a fee. 

Further, donations from Church members fund FamilySearch. These contributions and the efforts of thousands of missionaries who work without pay are the means by which FamilySearch has been able to gather records for more than 100 years and make these records available to the public at no cost through FamilySearch.org, at the free Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and at the more than 4,700 family history centers around the world. This is an enormously expensive undertaking that is unparalleled in history. Clearly, these people deserve our thanks for enabling this work to go forward and for making it possible for tens of millions of people to discover their ancestors.

The concern expressed to me on several occasions is that the "voluntary" work done by the Indexers will somehow find its way into the other large database entities and they will benefit commercially from the indexing. The answer is apparently yes, that will happen. In fact the post ends the statement, "Our hope is that we can continue to find ways to help the commercial companies to be successful so they will continue doing the innovative kinds of things that have made family history the exciting pursuit it is today."

I totally agree. The idea that there is something "wrong" with charging for making millions of records available online is off base. If the members of the Church collectively had not paid to support the microfilming and now digitization of the records in the Church's (FamilySearch's) collection, we would not be having this discussion today. In addition, if the now very large genealogy companies were not doing exactly the same thing, paying for the acquisition of their records through "contributions" or if you want to call them "subscriptions" we would not have access to their brilliant technologies and fabulously valuable collections today. Let's stop worrying about who gets credit for doing genealogy and get on with our work.