The Invitations and Blessings of Family History

There are whole sections of the LDS.org website dedicated to family history. I am certain from the reaction I get from members of the Church when I talk about the resources on the website that very few people, even those involved directly in family history, are aware of those resources. The above page is just one example of the wonderful resources available.

There are two ways to access this information in this resources. The first is to click on the Serve and Teach link in the Menu Bar on the home page and select All Callings.

The link takes you to a page with resources for all of the callings in the church. Look for the icon for Family History.

This will take you to resources for each of the family history callings in the Church.

An additional section of resources is accessed by clicking on the Scriptures and Study link on the home page menu bar and then clicking on the Gospel Topics link.

When you arrive at the Gospel Topics section, click on the letter" F" and you will go to the list of topics.

The Family History link will take you to another extensive section of resources for Family History, including the one I refer to in the title of this post.

The General Conference Training Section has a link to the Helping Members Participate in Temple and Family History Service Handout I featured in a previous post. 

I wonder how many leaders in the Church have taken advantage of these resources? Or even know that they are on LDS.org?

Young Adults May Yet Save the Day in Family History

We have been having some really interesting and positive family history experiences with the young adults of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Provo area. I realize that there has been a movement for the past year of so to try and interest the youth in genealogy. Presently, we have about twelve of our grandchildren who are teenagers or close to being teenagers. All of them live lives full of school, homework, friends, piano and dance lessons, and other activities that manage to make their lives very busy. With few exceptions, I see most teens in this area in same category. They are already programmed to the limit. They have, for the most part, only very limited computer skills other than using mobile devices. They also have very limited research skills.

Now, I would contrast that state of affairs with the single members who are older and more mature. Men and women who have not married or who are divorced or widowed make up a significant portion of Church membership. See Handbook 2: Administering the Church. The Church divides these members into three distinct categories: those 18 to 31, those 31 to 45 and those who are older that 45. In the Provo area, there are many Young Single Adult Wards, made up entirely of students and others in the 18 to 31 year old range. There are also several older Single Adult Wards with the mid-range of ages. Our own Ward seems to fall, by default, into the older range.

Now, these younger and older single adult wards have been coming in large groups to the Brigham Young University Family History Library for training constantly during the time my wife and I have been serving there. We have had some extraordinary experiences with these wards. The members of the wards are focused, more mature, are willing to sacrifice some of their busy lives for family history and have the research skills and the ability to focus on the details of family history that make our experiences with them priceless and inspiring. Subsequently, some of these wards have among the highest percentages of participation in family history in our entire area.

One obvious advantage of these older groups here in Provo is that many of them are students at the two large universities in Utah Valley: Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University.

Last night, we had an exceptionally inspiring class with more than thirty YSAs (Young Single Adults). This is not the same kind of experience we have when we teach classes of teenagers. Usually, in a teenage class we are spending the entire time trying to get them all logged in. There are one or two exceptions, but many of the teens spend the entire time trying to avoid focusing on the project of finding their ancestors. This seems to change when they have some older life experiences that allows them to have the perspective of the importance of the work. It also helps that many of the YSA and older groups have Temple recommends and go to the Temple regularly. They see the need for the research that needs to be done.

We are very happy to help all ages in discovering their family history, but we certainly have been having a lot more success lately with slightly older groups. Isn't there a message here somewhere?

Helping Members Participate in Temple and Family History Service

Buried down in the LDS.org website is an insightful and very useful two-sided handout for family history. Here is a screen shot of the front side.

Here is the link to this document:

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/topics/family-history/leader-resources/general-conference-training/The%20Great%20Latter-day%20Work%20of%20Temples%20-%20KW.pdf?lang=eng

Rather than reproducing what this handout says, I would suggest that you click on the link and read it yourself. My personal experience is that when this outline is followed there is a significant increase in the Ward and Stake Temple activity and more people submit more names to the Temples.

Webinars and Webinars and Webinars

Since I am spending a considerable amount of my time preparing for and presenting webinars, I will be forced by time constraints to highlight the ones I have done recently in lieu of writing additional blog posts. The webinars primarily fall into two categories with an occasional one or two outside of these two. I am doing regular webinars for the Brigham Young University Family History Library and additional regular webinars for FamilyHistoryExpos.com.

Here are the latest two from the Library.

Using Online Maps to Locate Cemeteries by James Tanner

Understanding Maps for Genealogists - James Tanner

The FamilySearch Catalog, WorldCat and ArchiveGrid -- Part Four

WordCat.org and ArchiveGrid

For the past few years, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah has been integrating its Catalog with the vast online catalog maintained by OCLC.org. Here is a description of this global service from their website.

About OCLC

OCLC is a nonprofit global library cooperative providing shared technology services, original research and community programs so that libraries can better fuel learning, research and innovation. Through OCLC, member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. Libraries gain efficiencies through OCLC's WorldShare, a complete set of library management applications and services built on an open, cloud-based platform. It is through collaboration and sharing of the world’s collected knowledge that libraries can help people find answers they need to solve problems. Together as OCLC, member libraries, staff and partners make breakthroughs possible.

Genealogists should focus on the WorldCat.org catalog with over 2 billion catalog entries and on its associated website ArchiveGrid.org.

There are direct connections between the free FamilySearch.org Catalog and these extensive free online resources.

The connection with these two resources expands a researcher's ability to find copies of valuable records and documents. Any entry in the FamilySearch.org catalog can also be link-searched to its entry in the WorldCat.org catalog and thereby giving the researcher a better idea of the items availability. For example, if I find the following item in the FamilySearch.org Catalog, I can link it to WorldCat.org.

Here is the entry in the WorldCat.org catalog.

Showing five locations, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, where the item can be found. I can see that it is in the Brigham Young University Library and using WorldCat.org, I have a link to the BYU Library. Where I can find the same book.

In fact, because I am in the BYU Library, if I needed this item, I could walk over to the Reference Shelves, right where I commonly work and pick the item off the shelf.

Now, even if you do not have the opportunity to be living near to one of the libraries that has the book, you can likely order the book through Interlibrary loan for a small fee.

ArchiveGrid.org is another almost completely ignored source for genealogists. Here is a description of this website.

ArchiveGrid includes over four million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.

Here are the results of a search on the topic of the Black Hawk War.

These items are collections. Each of the entries gives the number of items in the collection and the size in linear feet. If you click on any of the items, you get a description of the location of the collection.

You can then plan a visit to the Archive and search through the collection.

A big part of being a successful researcher is knowing and understanding the use of these resources.

Here are the previous posts on this subject.

http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-familysearch-catalog-worldcat-and_2.html
http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-familysearch-catalog-worldcat-and_6.html
http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-familysearch-catalog-worldcat-and.html

The FamilySearch Catalog, WorldCat and ArchiveGrid -- Part Three

Expanding your use of the FamilySearch.org Catalog


So far I have suggested that the FamilySearch.org Catalog can be used for locating items while in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah and for discovering other locations where those same items can be found if the user is not able to visit the Family History Library.  I have also suggested that the Catalog is a "finding aid" to locating the same items in other libraries or in finding digital copies of the items we need on the Internet. Don't forget that microfilm can be ordered from FamilySearch.org and sent to a local Family History Center. In addition, you might try ordering unavailable items found in the catalog through Interlibrary Loan at your local library.

When I suggest that the Catalog can be a finding aid, I am thinking on several levels of usage. If you search the catalog beginning with a place, you will likely get a long list of categories of records. These are "cataloged" items. This means that a human cataloger has looked at the items listed and characterized their content in semi-arbitrary categories. Here is an example from the entry for Utah.

As you look at this list, you may begin to make judgments as to the applicability of the categories to your ancestor or ancestors. Exactly the opposite should occur. Unless and until you have looked at each category and determined whether or not your ancestor lived within the time period covered and geographic area covered by the items in the list, you should assume that every category is a potential source of records about your ancestor. For example, if I expand the category for Bible records, we see the following:



If your ancestor was born in the 1800s or could possibly have been or lived in Utah, you probably need to at least look at and study each of these three records. You cannot dismiss a record based on your evaluation that the record may not apply to your ancestor. The presumption has to be that the record may always apply.

Now, we focus on each of the categories. You can see that there are a huge variety of types of records that you can search for in the Catalog. In this case, you need to do some additional searching in each category on the Internet in general and specifically in the WorldCat.org and ArchiveGrid websites. Here is an example of searching in the ArchiveGrid website for "Utah Genealogy."

There are over 7,000 items and it is very likely that there are items that you have not examined and/or do not know about.

Going back to the Catalog, you should extend you examination of categories of records and the individual records listed down through each included jurisdiction, from the United States, to the places within the United States, to each state where your family lived, to the counties and cities where available.

As I have mentioned previously, if you find an item of interest, be sure and run a Google search on the name or title of the item to see if there are additional items of interest out there in some other archive or library or digitized on the Web.

Since I am working in the Brigham Young University Family History Library now, I have learned to make sure the BYU Library does not already have a microfilm before ordering a copy from Salt Lake. You might want to check the pull-down list on any microfilm or do a search in you local library or Family History Center to see if they also have a copy of any given film.

Here are the previous posts on this subject.

http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-familysearch-catalog-worldcat-and_6.html
http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-familysearch-catalog-worldcat-and.html

The Issue of Accuracy in the FamilySearch Family Tree

Accuracy and consistency seem to be basic virtues, but both have become major issues with regard to online family trees and particularly in discussions of the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. The collaborative and unified nature of the Family Tree immerses the users in situation where differences are magnified and some level of disagreement is inevitable.

Apparently, many users of the Family Tree become upset when the entries by others do not measure up to their particular level of understanding how things ought to be done. They apparently take offense where none is intended and where there is no real issue other than the time it takes to correct or update an entry. I suggest that they spend their time correcting the entries and less time fussing about the apparent failings of the Family Tree.

Some of the observed inconsistencies and "errors" come from the fact that the Family Tree is an accumulation of over a hundred years of contributions, most of which have not been verified. None of these entries should be accepted on their face without verification. Traditionally assumed relationships are suspect and any unverified entry i.e. without a source, is tentative until sources are provided. Replacing and unverified or unsourced entry with another unverified or unsourced record is just plain silly and serves no purpose in advancing the accuracy of the Family Tree. It is also important to realize that the process of adding all of the information into the Family Tree is not complete. As of the date of this post, the connection still exists with the new.FamilySearch.org program and that limitation is still limiting the accuracy and completeness of the program.

The reality of the Family Tree is the any user can add, correct, update, and in some limited cases, delete information from the Family Tree. When you see information in the Family Tree that you feel is incorrect, inappropriate or incomplete, you are the one who should be making the corrections with proper citations to sources that support your corrections.

There are different layers of issues that can arise with any of the entries in the Family Tree. Here are some examples of the type of problems that exist. In every case, I suggest that it is appropriate to "correct" the information only if you have sources or general rules of the format of the Family Tree to support your changes.

Example #1

One very obvious indication of the multiple submissions that are evident in the Family Tree is the common occurrence of one or more (even a long list) of "Birth Name" entries. The birth name should be shown in the Vital Information section as the primary name of the individual. This should be the form of the name found in the earliest record about that individual. If there are different forms of the name in different records, then they can be shown, with proper citation to a source, as "Alternate Names." The existence of these "Birth Name" entries indicates that there have been multiple submissions of this individual and that there may well be duplicates and even unresolvable duplicates. When I see a long list of "Birth Name" entries, I know that whoever has been working on this line, does not yet understand the significance of these entries and has not taken the time to delete those that are not alternative names.

There has been some small controversy over deleting these names with some claiming that deleting these entries affects Temple ordinance information available for the individual. These are two different issues although they are related. As I indicated, the existence of multiple "Birth Names" is a positive indicator that duplicates of the individual exist whether or not the program can presently find those duplicates. The ordinance issue relates to the possibility of duplicates and that issue will not be totally resolved until the transition from new.FamilySearch.org is completed.

Example #2

This particular person has no sources attached. The entry here shows the birth places as "Carlisle,Nchls,Ky." This is an indication that nothing has been done with this entry. The format of the place name indicates that the information came directly from an old Family Group Record when the place fields were limited and abbreviations were encouraged. No one has either corrected the place name or provided any substantiation for the information as it appears in the Family Tree. The entry is inherently unreliable. The format was acceptable when it was submitted years ago, but the lack of editing or contributing on the Family Tree indicates that this particular person and perhaps the whole family, have been neglected so far. The entry may very well be inaccurate and incorrect. There is research needed.

Example #3

This is another example of the inherited issues from years of submissions. There are no sources listed in these entries and the confusion about the wife and use of the "Mrs." designation indicate inherited entries that have yet to be examined.

Example #4

This is a very common error. The marriage and birth dates do not agree. It is very likely that this is either the wrong person or that the dates have recorded incorrectly. In this case, there are some sources attached but the marriage record shows a marriage in Stafford County, England but neither record gives a birth date for the mother, Ann Hambleton. Another issue with needing more research.

I could go on and on with examples, but the point is that these entries are unreliable and incorrect. Adding more unreliable and incorrect data to these lines is not helpful. But rather than stress or worry about incorrect data, we should be spending our time correcting all that we can and doing extensive research.