Navigating Your Way Out of the Fire Swamp of the FamilySearch Family Tree -- Part One

In my last post, I pointed out that some parts of the FamilySearch.org Family Tree were analogous to a "fire swamp," that is full of unexpected and difficult challenges. My reference to a "fire swamp" comes from the book and film,

Goldman, William. 1998. The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure : The “Good Parts” Version Abridged. New York: Ballantine Pub. Group.

Reiner, Rob, William Goldman, Andrew Scheinman, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, et al. 2001. The princess bride.

OK, since I am starting out with such sterling academic credentials as to my qualifications for advising everyone how to navigate out of the fire swamp, you should pay particular attention to my suggestions. No, really, The Princess Bride is probably about the level of the issues apparent in the Family Tree.

I have also been known to refer to parts of the Family Tree as launching off into fantasy land, but I have pretty much settled on the fire swamp lately. As a result, I decided to set down some specific steps for cleaning up your family lines and pruning off the really bad limbs and branches of what is on the Family Tree.

Step One: Start with the most recent (in time) individuals with verifiable sources and consistently edited information. 

Let me illustrate what I mean by an individual with verifiable sources and consistently edited information. Here is a screenshot of my Grandfather Harold Morgan (b. 1892, d. 1963)

The dates and places are all standardized. There is a warning icon about a "duplicate child" but that issue is unresolvable because of the error message, "Cannot be Merged at This Time." Until the Family Tree is completely fixed, that message and many others will continue to appear. Here is a screenshot of a contrasting entry from further back on this same family line where it is apparent that no one has been correcting or editing the information.

In this example, the birth place is recorded as Barnstable, Massachusetts in 1718 which is entirely possible. But the Christening Date is recorded as 15 March 1719/20 in "Butterton Par.Ch, Hulme End, Staffs." Did his mother really have a baby in Massachusetts and then cross the Atlantic and have the baby christened in England and then return to the "United States" where he could die? If we drop down a little further in this entry, we can see additional problems.

We have definitely stepped off into the fire swamp. Of course there are no sources listed for any of this information. This conflicting, inaccurate and very confusing information comes from 150 years of submissions to FamilySearch and its predecessors without any process of correction or verification other than a search for duplicate entries. Submissions were allowed as long as the entries conformed to a standard format. No attempt was made to determine if the information was accurate. Even if the information was obviously incomplete, the entries were still accepted. This is not a reflection on the people involved in the process, but more a reflection on the lack of an adequate system to verify the records. Guess what? That system now exists. It is time to correct and repair the damage of the past century or so of submissions. Let's not stick our heads in the sand and pretend that this situation does not exist.

The lack of any correction to the places is a red flag that nothing has yet been done to verify this information. It is basically entirely unreliable. Unfortunately, there are a significant number of people who think the Family Tree has been verified and is "true" in all aspects. They then rely on this kind of entry to find names to take to the Temples. This is the functional equivalent of making up the names.

By the way, this line goes out one more generation. Here is the screenshot.

Apparently, this person's father was "of Harrison Co., Kentucky" and was supposedly born in 1690. This is about 102 years before Kentucky became a state on 1 June 1792 and about 103 years before Harrison County, Kentucky was formed from portions of Bourbon and Scott Counties. I do not have to search for more than a few seconds to find example after example of this type of error.

Here is the real problem. Using the Family Tree Descendancy View, I can see the following descendants of the most remote ancestor, William Hambleton. Notice the availability of names for Temple Ordinances.

I am certain that someone will find these green icons and run out an do the work without verifying that any of the people are actually related or real. Does anyone out there care that this situation exists and that until the corrections are made the situation will continue to exist?

Step Two: Follow the Family Line and find the last person with verifiable data.

This is the next step. I would begin with my Grandfather and work back on this line. Here it goes.

This line goes back through John Hamilton Morgan to his mother Eliza Ann Hamilton. The sources begin to disappear with Eliza Ann Hamilton. Here is the extension:

Here is the next extension showing the Thomas Hamilton (Hambleton) I used as an example above. Where does this line really end? It ends at the first unreliable entry.

Stay tuned for Part Two of this post series.

Stepping off into the Fire Swamp of the Data in the FamilySearch Family Tree

I give credit to The Princess Bride (Goldman, William. The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure : the "Good Parts" Version Abridged. New York: Ballantine Pub. Group, 1998.) for the allusion to the Fire Swamp. But that is exactly how I feel when I step off into the unreal world of the higher reaches of the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. Here is a glimpse of the tangled mess I find on just one of my lines.

The red warning icons refer to the fact that there are children who are born before the father was 12 years old. Possible, but not probable. It is also a fact that this family was amazingly unimaginative in naming their children. Here is a descendancy view of Jacob Morgan.

The purple icons show that there are no sources attached. It is interesting that except for the people here supposedly born in West Virginia, they are all born in Virginia and mostly in Shepherdstown and in Berkeley County. It might help to know that West Virginia did not become a state until 20 June 1863 and Berkeley County was not founded until 1772. Jacob Morgan has three wives, Jacqueline Smith, Mrs. Jane Morgan and Unknown. The marriage to Jacqueline Smith occurred when he was 2 years old and when his wife, Jacqueline was 13 years old. Her last baby was born when she was 113 years old. Yes, I have some amazing ancestors. Oh, I almost forgot, Shepherdstown was chartered in 1762, after all of these children were born with the exception of the one born at age 113.

Perhaps you can begin to see why I have a hard time taking much of what is in the Family Tree too seriously. The only thing we can do with this mess is to trace the line forward in time until we get to people who might possibly be verifiable and re-do this who genealogy.

A Guide to Starting Your Family History in 10 Very Basic Steps -- Step Six

This is an ongoing series on starting your family history research in 10 very basic steps. The steps so far are:

Step One: Start with yourself.
Step Two: Find out what has already been done.
Step Three: Choose a reasonable goal
Step Four: Start educating yourself
Step Five: Seek a Teacher or Mentor

Now I will move on to Step Six:

Step Six: Use The Family History Guide

The Family History Guide is a comprehensive, structured, sequenced guide to learning how to do your family history. It also provides an excellent introduction to the FamilySearch.org website. I could have simply repeated this particular step and used it as steps one through ten, but then I wouldn't have needed all ten steps. We use The Family History Guide to teach and orient our newly called missionaries at the Brigham Young University Family History Library and recommend it to many of our patrons.

I did a video about The Family History Guide about five months ago for YouTube.com. The Family History Guide Website has been substantially upgraded since then and the resources extended to activities for children. Take some time to view the videos and learn about family history in self-paced structured way.

Here is another short video where I explain why the Guide is so important.

Video Updates on Ancestry and MyHeritage now on YouTube

The BYU Family History Library has post two more of its webinar broadcast recordings to its BYU Family History Library YouTube.com Channel. The first is a long overdue update on the FamilySearch.org partner website, MyHeritage.com, the second is an update on Ancestry.com. The ongoing schedule of live, online webinars from the Brigham Young University Family History Library continues with a busy schedule of two or three webinars a week in March and April. You can see the schedule on the BYU Family History Library Webinar schedule page where there is also a listing of the past webinars with an additional link to the archive. You can subscribe to the BYU Family History Library YouTube Channel or you have us send you an email notice by filling in the form on the Webinar page. I now have to balance my time between producing presentations, teaching classes and writing, so you may see a few days where I skip a post.

A Guide to Starting Your Family History in 10 Very Basic Steps -- Step Five

This is an ongoing series on starting your family history research in 10 very basic steps. The steps so far are:

Step One: Start with yourself.
Step Two: Find out what has already been done.
Step Three: Choose a reasonable goal
Step Four: Start educating yourself

Now I will move on to Step Five:

Step Five: Seek a Teacher or Mentor

Pursuing your family history can be a very solitary activity. Frequently, members of your immediate family are either disinterested in your project or may even express opposition. Over the years, I have heard hundreds of stories of the antipathy of family members towards genealogical research or family history. Even if family members are neutral or even cooperative with your investigations, you still need some expert help. Fortunately, there are organizations of genealogists throughout the world that provide support and education about genealogy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church) through its FamilySearch organization maintains a network of over 4,600 Family History Centers across the world. These centers are staffed by volunteers who have your same interest in family history and can help you with your questions and point you to resources for further education.

There are also a huge number of local, state and national genealogical societies. Sometime members of the Church think that genealogy is a purely "Mormon" advocation and they are very surprised to learn that members of the Church are only a small minority of those who are interested in family history around the world. On making visits to local family history societies in the past, I have found that the members of the Church are not at all aware of the local genealogical activity in their own communities.

At any given time in the United States, there are probably a number of conferences and workshops being held somewhere in the country about family history and genealogy. You might want to search for news from your local or statewide genealogy societies about upcoming conferences.

In addition to conferences, there are various online series of formal classes available. One very complete series is offered through the Brigham Young University Independent Study Department.If you have the means, a visit to the famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah or the nearby Brigham Young University Family History Library can be a valuable experience. Thee are other major family history oriented libraries scattered across the country and around the world. You might also check with your local library for special interest groups or clubs.

The key here is to seek help from those who have already faced some of the same issues you are facing as you get started with your family history. I have found that genealogists, as a whole, are responsive and very helpful when help is needed.

A Guide to Starting Your Family History in 10 Very Basic Steps -- Step Four

This is an ongoing series on starting your family history research in 10 very basic steps. The steps so far are:

Step One: Start with yourself.
Step Two: Find out what has already been done.
Step Three: Choose a reasonable goal

Now I will move on to Step Four:

Step Four: Start educating yourself

Almost of all of us have been raised in an environment of "formal" education where we have been spoon fed only what has been accepted as appropriate and politically correct at the time to teach. Learning to read, write and do arithmetic has morphed into a complex system of teaching to a series of tests where most of the students have a negative attitude towards self-motivated learning. Learning is now "Work" with a capital "W." In this atmosphere learning is equated with "job preparation and security." Learning for life is aimed at the time when you are fired from your present job and need additional skills to acquire another job. People who wish to know about "unproductive" subjects like art and literature are seen as somehow wasting their productive capacity.

This is not necessarily a new phenomena, nor is it confined to any one country. Here is a quote from a blog entitled Edutopia.org, and an article entitled, "Beyond the Comfort Zone: 6 Ways to Build Independent Thinking."

The shift toward applying more executive function (EF) within learning and assessment will cause some discomfort in teachers and students. The transition will not eliminate the need for memorization, as automatic use of foundational knowledge is the toolkit for the executive functions. Memorization, however, will not be adequate as meaningful learning becomes more about applying, communicating and supporting what one knows.

 The six steps mentioned in the article include

• Supporting opinions
• Prioritizing
• Evaluation of Motive or Intent
• Organizing Time, Thought and Actions
• Cognitive Flexibility and Supporting Opinions
• Interpreting Source Bias or Accuracy

What happened to going to the library and reading a lot of books and then learning how to do something really well? I have written about this before, but it bears repeating. Not to long ago, I was talking with one of my grand-daughters about her classes in Jr. High School. I asked her about whether or not she was learning any history. She produced her "Social Studies" book and I went through the book. The first part of the book dealt with the injustices suffered by Native Americans at the hands of the cruel European invaders of their sovereign territory. The rest of the book dealt with the Civil Rights Movement. That was American History as taught to Jr. High School students in Utah. Is it no wonder that when I teach a class on military history, the attendees are surprised to learn about the American Civil War?

Family History or genealogy or whatever you want to call it is the history of your family. Researching your family history today requires several complex skills and a considerable amount of knowledge, that are involved in an ability to use computers, use research skills, use a detailed knowledge of history, use library and archive skills,  reading handwritten documents, and many other similar activities. Did you learn these things in school? Do you have a negative attitude about doing research or searching in libraries? Have you read a history book lately?

When I talk about educating yourself, I am not just talking about learning how to use FamilySearch.org. I am suggesting that you need to overcome your formal education and start learning the things that will help you do genealogical research. This is what I mean when I start talking about the basic steps needed to do genealogical research.

FamilySearch adds to its online YouTube Channel

I find that few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are aware of the fact that the Church as well as FamilySearch.org have extensive YouTube.com Channels. Here is one of the most recent additions to the FamilySearch.org Channel entitled, "Opening New Tabs in FamilySearch -- Robert Kehrer."

Here is a list of the Church related YouTube.com channels. You might want to subscribe to some of them and receive notices from Google about new uploads.

• Mormon Channel
• Mormon.org Channel
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir
• Mormon Newsroom
• LDS Youth
• Prepare to Serve!
• FamilySearch Channel
• BYU Family History Library

Here is another example from Ron Tanner entitled, "Ron Tanner - Merging Duplicate Records in FamilySearch."

If you really want to get a scope of what the Church has in the way of online videos, look at the following screenshot: