Why "Back to Adam" does not work

Let's suppose your ancestors lived in Utah as many of the people I talk to each day do. What are the earliest records in Utah you can find for your family? The answer is 1847, the date the first pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. This fact underlies a basic limitation on records throughout the world. As we go back in time, there are fewer and fewer records to research concerning families. If your family came from Europe, what are the earliest records of your family in America? Again, that date is certain, it is 1492. Granted, there may be archaeological evidence of earlier European contact, but there are no family history records associated with that early evidence.

As we go back in time doing research about our families, we need to recognize this temporal limitations due both to record loss and the fact that fewer records were actually created. This limitation applies to each county in the United States. For example, I live in Utah County, Utah. If I consult the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki for Utah County, I find the following chart:

For each category of records there is a time limit. Although there may be alternative records to consult and go back further, I will ultimately hit the earliest date when settlers arrived in what is now Utah County. The earliest records for the County date from the date of its formation in 1852, however, the first settlers arrived in 1849.

The Newberry Atlas of Historical County Boundaries lists the earliest dates for each county in the United States.

You can use the same techniques of looking for the earliest records from any location on earth. Now, people rely on the Bible for the genealogy back to Adam. Even if we assume that the genealogies set forth in the Bible are accurate, there must be some records that connect your family back to the Bible genealogies before relying on such a source. Despite the seemingly availability of these records, those that have been used are highly unreliable. Original research back to Adam, whatever your beliefs on the subject, is just not possible.

In every case where someone claims that their pedigree goes "back to Adam," they are relying on Royal Lines. I recently wrote a post updating the connections to royal lines. See "Documenting Royal Ancestry -- An Important Explanation."

What is more important, copying these royal lines distracts us from the really important and interesting research we can do with our documented families.

What is and what is not in the FamilySearch Catalog

A comment to one of my recent blog posts raised an important issue: what is and what is not included in the FamilySearch.org Catalog? Are there records that have been added to the Historical Record Collections that do not also have a corresponding entry in the FamilySearch Catalog? If so, how do know what is and what is not available without searching individual entries? What about the digital records that are acquired directly in digital format, do these records show up in the FamilySearch catalog? All of these questions and more, started me looking at both the FamilySearch Catalog and the Historical Record Collections in more depth than usual. Here is what I have found.

For convenience, here is a link directly to the FamilySearch Catalog. 

First, we need to know about the FamilySearch Catalog. Originally, this online catalog was taken from the massive paper card catalog maintained by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Information about the Catalog can be accessed on the FamilySearch Research Wiki page, "Introduction to the FamilySearch Catalog." It should be noted that the FamilySearch Catalog now includes genealogical resources held by FamilySearch.org, the Family History Library, selected FamilySearch Centers, and selected partner libraries. It is also extremely important to understand that the FamilySearch Catalog is also integrated into the OCLC WorldCat.org Catalog. See this statement from the Research Wiki:

Also, the FamilySearch Catalog has been made available via OCLC WorldCat[1] since 2014. OCLC WorldCat is an online union catalog of over 2 billion titles at 72,000 libraries[2] in 172 countries and territories. Although it is the world’s largest bibliographic database for materials held around the world, OCLC WorldCat does not list sources housed in repositories outside their consortium.

I am including footnotes and other references where applicable. I might also note that this Research Wiki page was last updated on 2 October 2015.

Now, what is included in the Historical Record Collections?  Again, going to the Research Wiki, I find the following page: "FamilySearch Historical Record Collections." This page was last updated on 18 September 2015. Unfortunately, there is nothing on the page about the catalog entries made from the Historical Record Collections to the FamilySearch Catalog. Is there a way to tell if a collection added to the Historical Record Collections came from digital copies of microfilm in the FamilySearch Library or from the Records Acquisition Teams directly from digital cameras in the field? The answer to this question is yes, there is a way to tell the difference.

I selected one of the newer collections of images uploaded to the Historical Record Collections. In this case the collection was North Carolina Estate Files, 1663-1979 for Columbus County. I selected an image at random. Here is the image.

This particular collection contains 4,946,676 images. The citation to the collection is as follows:

"North Carolina Estate Files, 1663-1979." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015. Citing Division of Archives and History. State Archives, Raleigh.

From the format of the image, it is apparent that this image was acquired via a digital camera. The reason this is evident is because the image is cropped on the sides. The images that are made from microfilm show the entire microfilm frame. Here is an example of an image copied from a microfilm record. The first frame in the series will be the microfilm number.

The dead giveaway is the second image on the roll of microfilm.

This particular film was also selected at random. For reference, it is United Kingdom, World War I Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920 with 264,610 images. The citations is as follows:

"United Kingdom, World War I Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015. National Archives, Surrey.

Both of these collections were added to the Historical Record Collections in November, 2015. The North Carolina Collection on the 4th and the UK Collection on the 6th. I make a point of this because there are two issues here. One is whether or not all of the collections are added to the FamilySearch Catalog and the second is how long it might take for the collections to be added given the fact that this is done by two different FamilySearch departments. What I am saying here is that the people adding the records to the Historical Record Collections are not the same people adding entries to the FamilySearch Catalog. 

Now, it should be pointed out that both of these new collections have their individual page in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Here are the screenshots of the Research Wiki pages for both collections:

Now the question; do either or both of these new collections have catalog entries in the FamilySearch Catalog?

The first collection, the United Kingdom, World War I Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920, is absolutely in the Catalog. It came from a microfilm. Here is a screenshot of the catalog entry showing the red link to the brand-new Historical Record Collection:

Now moving on to the newly acquired camera record. Is it also in the catalog? Hmm, yes it is in the catalog, but there is an issue here. It appears that the images were digitized in 2011. Were they actually done in the field with cameras or were they done as microfilm? Here is the screenshot of the Catalog entry.

Let's go back to the first image on this file and see if there is any microfilm information on the record. Hmm, there isn't any reference to a microfilm number. My conclusion is that given the date of the acquisition and the format of the record, it is likely that these images were digitized directly and are not microfilm copies. But that would only be conclusive if the images were acquired after they stopped using microfilm entirely. 

The only real way to know if each and every collection in the Historical Record Collections is in the Catalog is to go through one-by-one and search. But rather than do that, I went to the next newest record on the Historical Record Collections list. These records are the New Zealand, Auckland, Port Albert, Membership Lists and Minutes from the Church of Christ, 1875-1926 added on 4 November 2015 and consisting of 108 images. Now, this particular title does not appear in the Catalog. But is there a catalog entry?

In fact, there is an entry for New Zealand, Auckland, Port Albert Church of Christ, Church Registers for 1875 to 1926. Here is the screenshot.

 

Note the arrow pointing at the new icons in the Catalog. This indicates that images are available for this record. In fact, there are 1121 images, many more than are included on the Historical Record Collection. Here is a screenshot of the thumbnail images.

From looking at these images, it is evident that this record was microfilmed back in 2004. See this frame from the record:

So what is the new Historical Record Collection? Are these some of the same records? Here is the record description of the records in the Historical Record Collections:

This collection will include membership lists and “reminiscences” (church minutes) from the Church of Christ in Port Albert, Auckland. The records span from 1875-1926. The original records are located in Albertland and Districts Museum in Wellsford, New Zealand. 

You can browse through images in this collection by visiting the browse page for New Zealand, Auckland, Port Albert, Membership Lists and Minutes from the Church of Christ, 1875-1925.

Does the microfilm contain the same records as the collection in the Historical Record Collections?

Well, there seems to be an issue, but there may or may not be. For the time being, unless someone wants to clarify this from FamilySearch, I suggest you keep looking at all of the records in the FamilySearch Catalog whether they have or have not been digitized and also that you review the records in the Historical Record Collections on the chance that the records have not been included, as titled, in the FamilySearch Catalog.

Thanks for the comment, it opened up a whole area for consideration.

Big News!!! Digitized Microfilm Records Newly Available on FamilySearch.org

This is not just another list of new collections in the Historical Record Collections, this is new news. Here is the explanation from the following FamilySearch Blog:

McBride, Lisa. “News Flash! Digitized Microfilm: From the Drawer to Your Computer.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 6, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/news-flash-digitized-microfilm-drawer-computer/.

Here is the explanation of what has been added to the FamilySearch.org Catalog:

Exciting news is here explaining how users will access microfilmed records found in the FamilySearch catalog. In the early weeks of November, a new feature called the Thumbnail Gallery will be available to the public. Everywhere that historical record images are visible, users can view a single full-screen image or view a gallery of thumbnail (small) images for all images on a microfilm. Parts of this new viewer can be accessed through the Record Hints on Family Tree.

Thumbnail Gallery

Some new features include:

• Viewing both the indexed data and the image together. This feature is available only with indexed records.
• Navigating to other images within the collection by clicking Next or jumping to a specific image.
• Viewing citation information. It is found in an information tab below each image.

Catalog Icons

In addition to these features, watch for new icons in the FamilySearch catalog. Look for the icons in the Film Notes area of the catalog record title page. The icon links will let you take three specific actions from the catalog page:

• Jump to the indexed records found on a film—click the search icon.
• Jump to the gallery view of images from a film—click the camera icon.
• Jump to film ordering—click the film roll icon.

If indexing is not completed for a film, the indexed (search) icon will not show in the catalog. If a film is not digitized, the camera icon will not show up. Once a film is available digitally, the film ordering icon will disappear.

FamilySearch explains why this is so important:

Why Is This Important? 

This is a huge boon to family history centers. It enables you to take a major leap forward with transitioning from microfilm to digital access. This feature will greatly simplify the record-finding experience for center staff and visitors. Films can be accessed with just a click, rather than dealing with the hassles of ordering films, cost issues, and wait periods. FamilySearch has given priority to scanning the most-requested microfilms.

Essentially, this means that at some time in the future (years) all of the film will be online and not available for order through delivery to Family History Centers. However, due to agreements with the originators of the originally filmed documents, there will be some restrictions. Some films will be available to LDS members only, some films will only be made available through computers in the Family History Centers, some may only be available to those who are logged into FamilySearch.org and the remaining ones will be available to anyone accessing the website.

Please note that the films will become available online depending on the demand for the microfilm. The idea here is retire the most used films first. Here is a screenshot of the new icons:

This is a breakthrough in the availability of the digitized microfilms. Here is what the thumbnail images look like:

I can then zoom in on an image and show the full-size record and also navigate to previous and subsequent images.

New Features Added to the FamilySearch Family Tree

FamilySearch.org has initiated several refinements to the search processes used on this vast website. Some of the changes are long overdue, others are are equally as helpful and demonstrate the evolving nature of the search process. These new changes were announced in a blog post cited as follows:

Wright, Matt. “New Features Make It Easier to Find and View Family Records.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 6, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/viewerupdate/.

For some time now, I have been hearing about changes that will occur to the FamilySearch Catalog. Just this week, new icons began appearing next to the entries. Here is a screenshot of the new icons:

The explanation of their implementation is as follows:

The FamilySearch Catalog (formerly Family History Library Catalog) describes the genealogical resources held by FamilySearch.org, the Family History Library, selected FamilySearch Centers, and selected partner libraries. The Catalog is an incredible guide to original sources of information that can help you discover details of your family story. A new enhancement to the catalog adds hyperlinked logos that take you directly to where you can access or request the item listed. Users of the FamilySearch Catalog who are viewing the film notes for a title will be presented with whatever resources are available for that title. If you don’t see an icon, it means that option is not available for that entry.

It is my understanding that the links will reveal more digitized microfilm records than are currently available in the Historical Record Collections. The means that the links in the Catalog will appear as the microfilm is digitized but before it is processed and included in the Historical Record Collections.

This change highlights the importance of searching in FamilySearch Catalog rather than relying solely on the digitized records in the list in the Historical Record Collections. It also make clear the distinction between an indexed record, one where you can search for names, etc., and the records which are digitized but not yet indexed that must be searched just as you would search any microfilmed record. It also highlights the fact that many of the records are yet to be digitized. The figures I have heard lately indicate that only about 30% of the microfilms have been digitized and of those, only 10% are indexed. I am sure that these are very general statistics, but they illustrate the scope of the project to digitize and index all of the records.

Additional changes have been made to the searches of the indexed records in the Historical Record Collections. If you click on the "Exact Search" option you will now see the following results, according to the blog post:

Another oft-requested Search feature has been to make search results more precise through the exclusion of certain words, letters, and punctuation in the name search fields when a user selects “Match all terms exactly.” With this change, exact searching will return exactly what the user types into the name fields, in the order they typed it, with the following exceptions:

• Exact search will ignore spaces: van der graff = vandergraff
• Exact search will ignore punctuation: O’Brien = OBrien
• Exact search will ignore diacritics: Pena = Peña
• Exact search will ignore the spanish “y”: Gonzalez y Gomez = Gonzalez Gomez
• Exact search will ignore capitalization: MacDonald = Macdonald

These changes should make searching include more results where the variations are only due to the way the names were entered into the record rather than actual differences in identification of the person being searched.

There have also been some enhancements added to the views of the records that are produced. Here is a screenshot of the area where a new enhancement has been added:

The enhancement is explained as follows:

Getting around within the historical record image viewer has been made easier with two new enhancements. First is a unified and consistent navigational view, in either full-screen or pop-up view. You’ll notice breadcrumbs (1), or the path you followed to arrive at the record you are viewing. You can also now move between images within the collection by clicking the forward or back arrows, or by entering the image number you wish to view (2). 

Second, you can now switch between the single image view and a new thumbnail gallery view as you browse images in a collection (3). This second new feature is a response to user requests to create an easier way to quickly navigate to specific spots in the image set. It also makes it easier to look at the records surrounding the record, which is helpful for finding relatives or neighbors or seeing all of a record that has been split over two pages. These new navigation features can be used anywhere that a user can view a single image by clicking the thumbnail icon in the left side toolbar. Any thumbnail can be clicked to switch back to single image view.

These are very welcome additions.

Success in finding ancestors or cousins that need Temple ordinances

The days of the "Green Arrow" (now a Green Temple Icon) are coming to an end. Those people who were told that all they had to do was look for the green icons to find "a name to take to the Temple" are going to be frustrated.

Before going any further, it is extremely important to point out that there are a huge number of opportunities to find people needing Temple ordinances using the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, but they are no longer "there for the picking." The technique for finding new additions to the Family Tree and thus names for Temple ordinances has changed. However, the Family Tree and all the online digitized records still provide abundant opportunities to find names, it is just that the process is different and slightly more complicated than it has been in the recent past. The key to finding new names involves two relatively new features of the Family Tree: descendancy research and Record Hints.

For some time, I have been teaching people, one-on-one and in classes, how to do descendancy research. During the past year, if I can spend an hour or so, I have had a nearly 100% success rate in finding new people to add to the Family Tree, that are not duplicates and that need their ordinance work done. Here are some of my thoughts on the process.

First, it is important to note that when individuals come to the Family Tree there are three possibilities:

1. They find the Family Tree fully populated with a huge number of ancestors and relatives.
2. The find only a few lines fully populated but some are missing or only have a few entries.
3. The Family Tree is essentially empty.

If either number 2 or 3 is the condition of the Family Tree, then the person has an opportunity to start doing research. In many cases, FamilySearch.org will provide Record Hints that will assist in finding new family members. In some cases, involving recently immigrated families (after 1900), there may be some difficulty in finding ancestors, but even with recent immigrants, progress can be made although the immediate success rate may be lower. 

I am not necessarily sympathetic to pleas that a name is needed immediately to satisfy some arbitrary goal. It is like ordering a plant to grow. Sometimes you just have to spend the time to reap the harvest.

Now what about number 1 on the list, the person with a pedigree going back many generations? Is the family history all done? I would say not by a long shot. Here is the process.

If you want to see results more quickly, start looking in the family tree for a family that has a line going back into the 1800s in the United States. In the traditional or pedigree view, carefully examine each ancestor in the line, starting with parents or grandparents and ask the following questions:

• Is the information complete, i.e. birth, death and burial dates and places?
• Do the dates and places make sense?
• Have any sources been added?
• Do the sources make sense"
• Do the dates and places of the children make sense? For example, are the dates consistent with reality and are the places also consistent with reality?

Be sure and do additional research if the answer to any one of the questions is a no. Only move back a generation if the information is complete, sourced and believable. Keep moving back on the selected U.S. line until you reach the person who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then go back at least one generation. The reason to start back in the early 1800s or the late 1700s is the "110 Year Rule." You might want to read the current version of the Rule by clicking here. If your pedigree ends in the late 1800s then you already have many opportunities to do research. Again, depending on the immigrant status of your ancestors, you may be focussing on finding their origin in Europe or elsewhere. Some ethnic groups such as Native Americans and former black slaves, pose their own particular issues. I suggest checking with the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki on these cases.

The next step involves switching to the descendancy view for the ancestor you have found who lived in the United States. For more detailed instructions on doing this see the FamilySearch video on the Easy Steps to Descendancy Research. Just remember to verify that you are searching a believable family line with supporting sources.

The descendancy view link looks like two joined lollipops. This should begin to show your ancestor's descendants and look like this:

The list of icons down the right side is the key to unlocking research possibilities. For example, I clicked on the Harrie R. Garoutte and Tlllman Howard Chance Family. Here are the results:

Notice the red warning icon. If I click on this red icon, I get the following message;

Obviously, the information in the Family Tree about this family is wrong. The other blue and purple icons  indicate that there are no sources for this family and add Record Hints for sources. By clicking on the icons and links, I found some information about this person that indicates that he was married at the time of his death. However I have to resolve the red warning icon. Either the person is wrong or the dates are wrong. Either way I can start doing some research that will very likely produce new people.

At each step of the process, you need to ask whether or not there is any supporting documentation for taking the next step. But if done carefully, this methodology will very likely lead you to new people to add to the Family Tree.

The FamilySearch Partner Programs -- A Success Story

Back in September, 2013, FamilySearch began the process of announcing their joint agreements with several large online genealogy programs. As of the date of this post, agreements have been announced with Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, Findmypast.com and AmericanAncestors.org. For the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the most evident results of these partnerships has been the availability of free access to all four of these websites.

I recently had the opportunity to teach some classes at the Mesa FamilySearch Library Conference in Tempe, Arizona. I had large numbers of participants for the two classes I taught on Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com. For the first time, when I asked how many of the attendees had registered for MyHeritage.com, I had an almost unanimous positive response. A few years ago, when I first started teaching about MyHeritage.com, there would only be one or two people in a large class who raised their hands in response to that same question. The benefit to members of the Church is that they now are becoming familiar with different online sources for information about their families. As a result, the number of source citations being added to the FamilySearch.org Family Tree is increasing dramatically.

All five of the programs, including FamilySearch.org, have opened a new and wider view of family history. The number of records, in the billions, available has and will begin to put the "traditional" family trees compiled by the members on a firmer foundation of actual source documentation. The inevitable results of this ongoing growth in documentation will be a far more accurate and reliable corpus of family information. There will always be entries that are irresponsible and inaccurate, but the overall reliability of the Family Tree is rapidly increasing.

Detractors focus of the issue of editing and unresolved duplicates. There are also a fair measure of uninformed and irresponsible changes being made to the existing data, but as sources are added to the Family Tree, the information will become more stable. It is entirely possible that those putting information into the Family Tree will begin to cooperate with one another rather than criticizing poorly chosen entries and condemning the Family Tree as "unreliable."

I am still spending a significant amount of time helping people get registered properly for each of the programs. I am also finding that once the members have registered they do not know what to do with the programs, but this is slowly changing and there is now a significant corps of people who realize the value of the Partner Programs.

If you have yet to get involved with either the Family Tree or the Partner Programs, I suggest that you review the lessons and helps on The Family History Guide. The content and links from this website will give you a firm basis for utilizing the record content of all of the Partner Programs.

October Update to FamilySearch Blog Posts

This was a memorable month for FamilySearch in celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the present building housing the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. FamilySearch continued publishing a long list of blog posts about this subject and others. I have noticed that there are far fewer technologically oriented posts than in the past. Most of these posts are personal narratives and experiences. There is also very little information about the present programs and options on the FamilySearch.org website. There seem to be a number of articles that are aimed at the general genealogical community. Take a look at what there was this past month.

Bergmann, Clif. “New Features in the Family Members Section Make Correcting Relationships Easier.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/features-family-members-section-correcting-relationships-easier-2/.

Blogger, Guest. “Helping Ward Members Receive the Blessings of Family History.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/blessingsoffamilyhistory/.

———. “Researching Your German Ancestors—Help Is Here.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/researching-german-ancestorsthere/.

———. “What It Means to Be German-American.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/means-germanamerican/.

Decker, Steven. “Cedar City Library Spearheads Obituary Collective in Utah.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/cedar-city-library-spearheads-obituary-collective-utah/.

———. “FamilySearch Offers Rich Genealogy Research for Ohioans.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-offers-rich-genealogy-research-ohioans/.

———. “One Person’s Work That Will Touch Generations.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/persons-work-touch-generations/.

Greener, Glen N. “It’s All In the Details.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/details/.

Gurtler, Deborah S. “RootsTech Classes in Spanish for FREE!” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/rootstech-classes-spanish-free/.

Hyde, Jesse. “4 Reasons Why Every RM Will Want to Do Family History.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/4-reasons-rm-family-history/.

———. “How to Feel the Same Way You Did on Your Mission.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/rm-joy-in-service/.

———. “What It Means to ‘Fuel the Find.’” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/means-fuel-find-2/.

———. “Working Offline in the Indexing Program.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/working-offline-indexing-program/.

Judson, Michael. “Why Is Joan Smiling? Why Is Ingrid Frowning?” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/joan-smiling-ingrid-frowning-2/.

K, Chad, and Schumacher. “NEW! LDS Track at RootsTech.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/lds-track-rootstech/.

Kemp, Thomas Jay. “Start Saving Those Family Photos & Stories–Now–One at a Time!” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/start-saving-family-photos-storiesnowone-time/.

———. “Using Newspapers to Find Your Mayflower Cousins.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/newspapers-find-mayflower-cousins/.

Kuehn, Duncan. “Researching Your Ancestors from Large Cities.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/researching-ancestors-large-cities/.

McBride, Lisa. “#FamilyHistoryFind!!!” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familyhistoryfind/.

———. “Got Youth? Announcing the New Director’s Workshop.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/newdirectorsworkshop/.

———. “Online Research Classes in English and Spanish.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/researchclasses/.

———. “RootsTech Is Coming!” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/rootstechiscoming/.

Murphy, Nathan. “Documenting Royal Ancestry.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/documenting-royal-ancestry/.

Nauta, Paul G. “Historical North Dakota State Censuses Online Create a Window to the Past.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/historical-north-dakota-state-censuses-online-create-window/.

———. “RootsTech 2016 Announces Opening Day Keynotes, Bruce Feiler and Paula Williams Madison.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/rootstech-2016-announces-opening-day-keynotes-bruce-feiler-paula-williams-madison/.

———. “The Transformation of FamilySearch.org.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/transformationoffamilysearch/.

“New Features in the Family Members Section Make Correcting Relationships Easier.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/features-family-members-section-correcting-relationships-easier/.

“New Features in the Family Members Section Make Correcting Relationships Easier.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/features-family-members-section-correcting-relationships-easier/.

Rockwood, Steve. “The Power of Small and Simple Things.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/power-small-simple/.

Sagers, Diane. “Mormon Family History Library Still Connecting Generations of Families after 30 Years.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/mormon-family-history-library-connecting-generations-families-30-years-2/.

Slaugh, Eric. “FamilySearch Library Events along the Wasatch Front—November, 2015.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-library-events-wasatch-frontnovember-2015/.

Sorenson, Yvonne. “Russian Research Classes Offered at the Family History Library!” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/russian-research-classes-offered-family-history-library/.

———. “The Family History Library Announces Free Classes for November 2015.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/family-history-library-announces-free-classes-november-2015/.

Sparks, Jay. “Discovering the Lost Diary of Aunt Doris.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/discovering-lost-diary-aunt-doris/.

Steele, Logan. “New FamilySearch Collections Update: October 12, 2015.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-collections-update-october-12-2015/.

———. “New FamilySearch Collections Update: October 19, 2015.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-collections-update-october-19-2015/.

———. “New FamilySearch Collections Update: October 26, 2015.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-collections-update-october-26-2015/.

Steve Anderson. “Family History Humor.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/family-history-humor/.

———. “FamilySearch Blog Revisits Some of Its Most Popular Articles.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-blog-revisits-popular-articles/.

“Tres Formas Sencillas de Mantener El Espíritu Del Templo En Tu Vida.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/espiritudeltemplo_p/.

Wright, Matt. “3 Simple Ways to Keep the Temple in the Spotlight.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/3simpleways/.

———. “Blessing Lives from Home Sweet Home.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/homesweethome/.

———. “Deleting Person Entries in Family Tree.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 2, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/deletingpersonentries/.