Becoming Acquainted with FamilySearch Websites -- The Historical Record Collections

Quoting from the FamilySearch Research Wiki:

The FamilySearch Historical Record Collections provide online access to indexes and digital images of records held by the Family History Library. The collections can be accessed from the FamilySearch homepage or directly at Historical Record Collections. New collections are being uploaded as quickly as the records are digitized and indexed. Originally, the term 'Pilot' was used to indicate that the site is still under development but with the introduction of the updated FamilySearch site in December of 2010, the name "Pilot" was dropped from the designation.

 Essentially, these records consist of digitized versions of the original approximately 2.4 million microfilm records accumulated by FamilySearch since 1938. In additions, the records include acquisitions of records done digitally for the past few years. The Historical Record Collections consist of two basic types of records: original images of the actual records and indexes taken from the records. In many cases, the records have both the images and an index.

Links to the Search page of FamilySearch.org appear on the startup page for the website. Here is a screenshot showing the links to the Search page:

On the Search page, the Historical Record Collections is the default search category. Here is a screenshot showing the location of the search boxes and the links to the list of records:

The top arrow points to the "Records" link. The big box in the middle contains the search fields for searching in the Historical Record Collections. At the bottom of the page, the box and arrow indicate the links to various geographic areas covered by the Historical Record Collections, with a general link to all the "Published Collections." Clicking on the main link to all the Published Collections brings up the following page listing all of the collections:

Of course, you cannot see the entire list without scrolling. The arrow and the box show the link tot he Last Updated list. Clicking on this list will sort the list chronologically and show which collections have been most recently updated or added.

Take some time to explore the content of the collections and see the amazing number of images of records available for free on this website.

Why don't Church Members do more Genealogy?

Commentator Nathan Murphy made the following statement;

I'm not from Mormondom, but am a Mormon (I was raised in Kentucky). I'd like a better understanding of why so many people in Mormondom dislike family history. In Kentucky, it was usually adult men who were not interested in genealogy. Adult women were more interested. Boring? All done? For geeks? Irrelevant? Would rather look to the future, than the past? Too hard? Too many pushy people telling them to do it? I'd love to hear your fount of wisdom on the matter.

Recent presentations by some of the leaders of the Church's genealogical efforts have noted the overall lack of involvement by members. In a presentation made on 31 July 2013, Dennis Brimhall, the managing director of the LDS Family History Department, made the following statement:

With more than 2.9 billion names available to search in the FamilySearch database and millions more added each week, there is still a lot of work to be done. But even with all of the resources made available, only 25 percent of Church members have at least registered, and studies show that in a year-long span, only 8 percent of Church members have logged on and used FamilySearch.

Dennis goes on to say, “And so the question we ask ourselves is ‘What changes must we make to get more people engaged and involved in this work?’

I think I would not go so far as to say that members of the Church "dislike" genealogy, I would guess that it is a situation where too many other activities and obligations of the Church are given priority over genealogy. For example, if you are a member of the Church and have one or more callings in the Ward or Stake, you already spend a considerable amount of time in Church related activities. Adding in a labor intensive activity such as genealogy seems to be more than most members can handle. This fact alone could be the root cause of the lack of action on the part of the members.

For another viewpoint, the Church has provided proxy names for Temple attendance for many years. I am of the opinion that most of those who avail themselves of the pool of names provided do not really connect the idea of researching ancestors with attending the Temple. Despite statement from Church leaders about the importance of taking one's own family names to the Temple, the members feel no sense of personal urgency on this subject.

I doubt if any of the people who have not done genealogy would think of it as boring, but researching your ancestors does take a pretty sophisticated level of reading and writing ability. Frankly, I think there are a significant percentage of American adults, including those in the Church, who do not feel comfortable reading and writing and using a computer simply from lack of sufficient education to do so. There also seems to be an assumption that having access to a computer and familiarity with using a keyboard and mouse equate to an interest in genealogy. Computer competency is entirely distinct from any interest in genealogy as far as my experience is concerned.

My impression is that many members have no idea about how to do genealogy. They are convinced of the necessity, but lack the basic concepts and/or computer skills to progress. Even among members who have a significant desire to do family history work, the lack of computer skills forms and almost insurmountable barrier to being more than casually involved.

I also definitely see that there many members who equate genealogy with old age. They lack any role models of young people doing genealogy. Even if they do see some younger person doing genealogy, they are further intimidated by the young person's ability with the computer and are afraid to show how little the know.

As to the issue of members who are not interested, I think their lack of interest comes in part from an inability to see how to do genealogical research and fit it into the their own schedule and interests. How many younger people with leisure time if given the choice between a trip to the lake or a ski trip and doing genealogy, would choose genealogy?

I think the Church's approach with stories and photos is highly productive in making people aware of the programs and the subject matter. The photos and stories have the effect bringing the whole subject out of the libraries and into the homes. The real question is whether this transient interest in photos and stories will convert into an active interesting doing research? In many cases, I think it will.




All references in this post to the Church are intended to refer to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely those of the writer and do not represent the official position of the Church or any of its official representatives.

Becoming Acquainted with FamilySearch Websites -- Introduction and Sign In

FamilySearch.org is a world-class free genealogy website that consistently ranks as the number two or three most visited genealogy website in the world. At the time of this post, FamilySearch.org was ranked just over 5,000 with a global rank on Alexa.com of 5,060 and a U.S. rank of 1,577 (lower numbers are better). Considering the number of websites in the world, the numbers are nothing less than phenomenal.

OK, so I have written about FamilySearch.org for years on my Genealogy's Star blog and have even published a book on the website (technically out of date), so why put this information here? The main reason is that during the past few weeks, I have been demonstrating FamilySearch.org's Family Tree to dozens of my fellow Ward members and they have almost uniformly lacked any familiarity with the website. Many had not visited the site in a very long time and others only had a vague idea that the site existed. Why is this the case? I think the reasons are complex and involve the integration and socialization of websites into the community, but that is probably a topic for another post.

My idea in starting a series on FamilySearch websites is to highlight the different sites and major resources on the different websites to help those teaching about the websites to have a basic understanding of what is available both on the main FamilySearch.org website and on other related websites sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints directed at family history. I saw a note in the Church News this week that stated that the Church had 150 websites. It looks like it is time for me to go out and do some more prospecting. I am sure I haven't seen 150 websites, although I know that they are counting the websites in different languages.

Before you start poking around in different FamilySearch websites, you may (and should) register. The main reason is that some of the available resources are not visible to those who do not register. Here is a screenshot showing you where you need to go to sign in and register:

The process of registering is fairly simple. Members of the Church need to supply a membership number, which is available from your Ward Clerk or appears on your Temple Recommend, if you have one. Those who are not members, supply some basic contact information. The difference between the two registrations is that items pertaining to Temple ordinances are not shown on pages viewed by those who are not members.

If you are signed in, you can visit all of the resources of FamilySearch.org. But in addition, there are quite a few related websites that I will talk about in future posts. Some of these are not specifically FamilySearch websites. Here is a list to begin of genealogy related sites that are not connected directly to FamilySearch.org:

• FamilySearch Labs
• Community Trees
• Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel
• Western States Marriage Index

Wherein I become firmly converted to Photos and Stories

 During the past few weeks, we have spent many hours demonstrating FamilySearch.org Family Tree to members of our Ward. The experience has been nothing less than phenomenal. I must admit that I was lukewarm towards the idea of emphasizing photos and stories in conjunction with Family Tree. Not that I am opposed to either, but it seemed to me that there was no obvious way for people to transition from contributing photos and stories to becoming interested in genealogy as such. However, as time passed, I began to see the real value of the photos and stories and now as documents have also been added, I can see that this is an extremely valuable contribution to the overall genealogical effort.

But as I viewed the reaction of probably around 150 people, most of whom had never seen the photos section of Family Tree previously, I am now more than convinced of the utility of photos and stories, I am now a full-fledged convert and an enthusiastic supporter of the entire idea. As we showed family after family the Family Tree Photos, Stories and Documents, the reaction of those who had never seen the programs previously was uniformly a very positive experience. Most of the new viewers were absolutely amazed at the number of photos and their first reaction was to ask who put all of these photos online? But, the key here was that we were showing the users their own photos directly on the computer and not simply explaining them in a classroom setting. I am absolutely sure that had we made exactly the same presentation in a classroom setting or during a large meeting that the positive reaction of the individuals would never have occurred.

The reaction to the photos, stories and documents occurred primarily because the viewers were seeing their own family photos, stories and documents. In a few cases when the viewers found no photos had been submitted to Family Tree, viewing my photos on another computer was not nearly so effective. I am now firmly convinced that the key to extending the use of FamilySearch Family Tree lies in showing each individual his or her own file online. In addition, I believe it is a motivating factor for people who do not have photos in the program to see that other people have photos.

I believe that there are a variety of ways by which all of the members in a particular Ward or Branch could be contacted. We found it to be helpful to contact them while they were visiting the Ward for another activity. We conducted this activity in full cooperation with out Bishop and High Priest's Group Leader. Although we have other Family History Consultants in the Ward, the other Consultants were happy to let me and my wife do all the demonstrations.

What remains to be seen, is whether or not this initial exposure to the programs will result in any added interest in either Indexing or adding family information to Family Tree. I do expect that the exposure will motivate some of the members of the Ward to add their own photos and stories to the programs. If they do take the time to investigate their family tree they may very well become more involved. Only time will tell.

4 Generations is the key to genealogy

Some years ago,  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints initiated a four generation program. Subsequent programs involve submitting an additional fifth-generation and auditing and correcting the originally submitted four generation family group sheets. These submissions, constituted the basis for the presently available Ancestral File on FamilySearch.org. Now once again, there is an effort by the Church to implement what is essentially another for generation submission program. The recently introduced booklet entitled "My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together" is a simple outline for entering the first four generations of a family history. In contrast to the original submission, the new booklet encourages submitting photos and stories.

I believe that emphasis on submitting or otherwise requiring a four generation family group record is essential to establishing a reasonable basis for genealogy in the Church and otherwise. For example, I would suggest that every new Church Service Missionary called be encouraged to work on a four generation family group record as part of their Service Missionary calling. In many cases this would simply mean becoming aware of work that had already been done by previous generations, but in other instances it would involve considerable research. I would suggest that the idea is not to complete research on for generations but to be actively involved in genealogical research.

The Church has extremely adequate support materials and online resources to allow at least English-speaking members and missionaries to complete a four generation family group record. To be clear about what I consider for generations, the compiled family group records and resulting pedigree chart would include the individual, the individual's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The compilation would include all of the children from all of the marriages for each of the direct line ancestors. Two areas that are often neglected in this process are the inclusion of all marriages and all children from all of the marriages.

Since my own interest in genealogy originated with participation in one of the earlier four generation programs, I can see the value of doing a four generation research project even if it ends up being simply a matter of copying existing information. With our present genealogical tools, in many instances establishing a four generation pedigree would be readily available on FamilySearch.org's Family Tree program. But my recent experiences in reviewing dozens of Family Tree entries for various members of my own Ward,  indicate that a renewed emphasis on compiling for generations would be immensely helpful in increasing genealogical activity.

I am concerned that the new booklet that has been introduced, at least in established Wards,  will be just another book that is put on the shelf and ignored. It appears to be a very effective tool for new members or those who have done no genealogical research but I question whether or not it will be a motivation for established members absent some programs emphasizing updating the information and verifying the information in Family Tree.

RootsTech 2014: Family Discovery Day and Youth Event

If you would like to get a feel for genealogy and family history without paying an admission fee, the FamilySearch RootsTech 2014 Family Discovery Day and Youth Event is the perfect way to get started in attending a major genealogy conference.  The day is designed as a free event created for LDS Church members and will include inspirational speakers with messages to strengthen families. Just-for-youth activities and classes.

You can find out more about the event by going to the RootsTech 2014 website. Here is a screenshot of the Family Discovery Day page:

The event will be held In conjunction with the third day of RootsTech, on Saturday, February 8, 2014, Family Discover Day is a day of devotionals, classes, and interactive experiences designed especially for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

As the page explains the agenda includes the opportunity to:

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

• Help inspire you to record, preserve, and share your family stories.

• Teach you to find and prepare your family names for temple work.

• Teach you the powerful features of the Family Tree on FamilySearch.

• Help those with family history callings with insightful training.

• Help you get started on your family history.

In the meantime, if you go to the RootsTech 2014 website, you just may figure out that you would like to attend the main conference.

RootsTech 2013 is being held beginning on February 5th, 2014 with a Developers Day at the

Salt Palace Convention Center
100 South West Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

My Family History Calling Newsletter

FamilySearch is now sending out an email newsletter called "My Family History Calling Newsletter." This appears to be a monthly message and likely is being sent to registered Family History Consultants throughout the Church. Here is a screenshot of the top part of the latest issue:

If you are involved in Family History at any level, you need to at least be reviewing what is contained in this newsletter. There is a link at the top of the newsletter to "View as Webpage." Clicking on this link brings the newsletter up in a webpage (surprise!) but there is no clear way to subscribe to the newsletter or unsubscribe if you have now been called to the Primary or whatever and therefore no longer have any interest in or duty to do any Family History.

In searching the document, I found two tiny links at the very bottom of the webpage. One is a link to "Preferences" and the the other is a link to "Unsubscribe." So the first question is resolved, you can now stop being bothered by those pesky family history people and you can go on ignoring your ancestors. But what is the other link?

Here is a screenshot showing the location of the two tiny links at the bottom of the page:

That link takes you to a page called the "Profile Center." Where is this page? I have no idea how to get to this page any other way. You can then review your information and unsubscribe or change the way you receive the email. There are two more links on that page. Here is a screenshot with my personal information hidden:

The link to the Subscription Center is interesting. There are a number of different publications you can subscribe to, most of which I have never heard of previously. Very interesting and useful. But I suggest that if you don't like email, you seriously consider what you ask for.

There is one last link and that is to a Help Center. Here is what the Help Center has to say. That seems to be the end of the links. It still leaves me wondering where I have been and how to get there.

Help Center

The Profile Center is designed to help you self-manage your demographic information as well as communication preferences. To update your personal information, such as name or email address, please click on the Profile Center link. Make your changes in the right hand pane and simply click the Update button in the My Personal Information section. To change your communication preferences, mark the appropriate boxes in the My Preferences section and hit the Update button at the bottom of the page. The Subscription Center is designed so that you can subscribe and unsubscribe from specific communications. The Available Publications section lists all the communications to which you can subscribe; those marked with a check are publications you are currently subscribed to. To unsubscribe from one or more communications, uncheck the appropriate checkbox and hit the Update button; you will remain subscribed to all those communications whose boxes are checked. To unsubscribe from all communications, scroll to the bottom of the Subscription Center, check the box labeled I no longer wish to receive any future communications, and hit the Update button.