HAVE YOU TRIED NEW FAMILY SEARCH YET?
By now we have registered lots of people on New Family Search, but we are concerned about those of you who have not tried it. We are going to give some refresher rules:
1. Get your church membership number and confirmation date from your clerk (or look on temple recommend for number if you remember the date).
2. Go onto the Internet and type new.familysearch.org into the browser box and click enter. Click on “Register for the new Family Search.” Follow directions for a sign on name. You will also get a user name and password. You will also need to answer 3 security questions. Now you can move ahead to use the program
3. You need to remember the username and password as they go in the boxes on the introductory page.
4. Once on the homepage, click on “Se Me and My Ancestors.”
5. You and your spouse should be in the main gray box (if you have a spouse). If your relatives, like parents/siblings are living, they will not appear. You need to add them by using the functions below the lines to “add a husband or a child.” Just be sure to add them in the right place. You may even have to add grandparents. Once you do that, you should start to connect to older ancestors if anyone in your family has done the work.
6. Navigate by clicking on the arrows to the left and right of the names. That will move a couple/person one space on the pedigree. Also, the arrow in a ball by a name on the pedigree will move a couple into the main spot (the gray box). How do you go back? Click on “History” at the top left and your name, and it will take you back to you.
7. In the view “Family Pedigree with Details,” you can work in the window at the bottom. Whoever’s name is bold in the pedigree, that person’s name and info will appear in the details window at the bottom of the page.
8. OOpen different views by clicking on the buttons at the left of the details window.
Summary – will allow you to click the down arrow and make information changes.
Details – will allow you to dispute info, discover submitters’ names, declare legacy to your work, and edit your work.
LDS Ordinances – within a split second, it will show temple work (Be careful: if more than one record exists, you will need to combine possible duplicates before you see finished temple work).
Time-Line – gives a timeline of major events in a person’s life
Map – Shows locations with red pointers when clicked on open a window to reveal what event occurred at that location
Parents and Siblings – shows the person as a child in his parents’ family
Spouses and Children – shows the person as a father in a family with wife and children
Possible duplicates – you should check this for possible duplicates on every person in your line.
Remember that every file after the first one that was contributed by various relatives will cause a duplicate. Combine! Combine! Combine!
There are also some down arrows in front of the names in the family screens. The drop down menu will allow you to dispute relationships and to combine duplicate siblings as well as parents. There is a lot to learn. Best Advice: Come to the FHC to get help from a consultant.
At this point, do not attempt to do temple work. You should see a demonstration of that before you do it. Spend some time connecting your lines and getting rid of duplicates, adding people, and just cleaning up your files. Yes, you will often find that temple work has been done over and over. The oldest date is the one that counts.
You can print a hard copy under “Change View” in the upper left hand corner by clicking on family group sheet. You are advised not to add a large GEDCOM file as that would only cause more duplication. Work on one family at a time and learn to navigate in the program.
AN INVITATION TO JOIN A DISCUSSION LIST FOR THE LABS.FAMILYSEARCH SITE
This is an invitation for all active users of new.familysearch and its future replacement FamilyTree to join a discussion list on how you
experience and can give suggestions on how to improve the program.
This group is for users of the Family Tree program on the http://labs.familysearch.org/ website.
All subjects related to this new program are allowed, but the emphasis will be on the development and improvement of the program.
This is not a church approved mailing list, but members from the FamilyTree software engineering team are monitoring and welcoming your comments and suggestions.
Until it's full public release, both new.familysearch and FamilyTree are only accessible to a limited group of people.
To Subscribe:
To unsubscribe:
To post message:
Sincerely,
Peter van Schaik
List moderator
OPERATION OF FAMILY HISTORY CENTERS
Family History Center Operations Guide (2006) states on page 1:
This guide is for family history center directors
and staff, and for high councilors who oversee fam-
ily history centers. The guide includes sections that
discuss policies and procedures for all family history
centers.
On page 10 of this guide for the Family History Centers are the rules for the FHC:
Hours of Operation
The center director and high council adviser deter-
mine the days and hours of operation for the center.
•Centers should be open enough hours to meet the
needs of members.
•Centers are encouraged to open on Sundays for a
family history or other Sunday School class.
Members may use the center during other hours
on Sunday that do not conflict with regular Sun-
day meetings.
•Centers must not be open on Monday evenings
after 6:00 p.m.
•Centers may schedule members-only hours to
ensure members have access to center resources.
Members-only hours should not be advertised to
the general public.
FHC VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED
The Directors of the York FHC have been advertising for additional staff members from the two Lewisberry and two York wards. We open Mon. through Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon. We open Tues. – Thursday from 7-9 p.m. Saturday, we open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If we had enough Saturday volunteers (two staff members per shift), we could cut down the Saturday time, which is now a six-hour shift, to three hours per set of volunteers. A volunteer would be trained. Monday morning (one volunteer) and Thursday morning are staffed, and we are hoping to open Tuesday mornings the first week of April with Sandy Young and Jack Sonneborn. We should have another person Monday morning, and two people Wednesday morning. And then we could use additional help for Saturdays to cut down the shifts. If you have any interest in volunteering, please contact the directors Sam and Glenda Yaksich at 741-1266.
2
GOOGLE YOUR FAMILY TREE
Has anyone seen the book Google Your Family Tree? Is it worth the money? I have only seen it advertised but have not held it in my hand.
Patricia
Yes, I have a copy. Well written and very clearly illustrated with screen images so that you can see in the book what you are trying out on the screen. I think it is well worth the money. Lots of pages, over 300, so it delivers both “how to” written and image detail very well.
Richard
NEW COURSES FOR FAMILY HISTORY CONSULTANTS
We are pleased to announce a series of two new courses for Family History Consultants:
Part 1 - Helping Family History Happen
Part 2 - Help Members
Part 1 of this series is designed to assist family history consultants with their callings. It covers how to get started and provides information about consultant resources. It teaches consultants about:
• Family history publications produced by the Church.
• The Family history and temple responsibilities of members of the Church and family history consultants.
• It also provides information on Priesthood guidance, Family History Organization and ways to help Church members.
Part 2 teaches consultants:
• How to contact and meet with members.
• Guidelines for submitting names for temple ordinances.
• How to help members gather, analyze, and organize their information.
• Guidelines for recording and preserving information.
• How to help those with specific needs.
To access these courses, follow these instructions:
1. Go to http://new.familysearch.org and sign in
2. Click Help Center
3. Select the Training & Resources tab
4. Click the E-Learning Courses link
5. Select the "Part 1 - Helping Famiy History Happen" link on your Internet Learning home page
These courses use a new format and delivery method. After taking the courses, please take a moment to give us some feedback about your experience. Your responses help improve the quality of the Church’s online learning materials.
To start one of the surveys, click a link below:
Part 1 - Helping Family History Happen
http://ldschurch.inquisiteasp.com/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?idx=7P7W99
Part 2 - Help Members
http://ldschurch.inquisiteasp.com/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?idx=4AH5VT
For any questions, please contact FamilySearch Support at , or call 1-866-406-1830.
Thank you,
FamilySearch Support
1-866-406-1830
FAMILYTREE UPDATE
Look for an update to the Family Tree on labs.familysearch.org the week of March 17th. The update should include:
1. Submitting names to your temple list. In early testing, some patrons have confused this with submitting names directly to the temple. The operation simply puts the names on the list found under the temple tab.
2. Print Temple Ordinance Cards from the temple tab. This button generates an *FOR in PDF format. In our testing, patrons recognized the term "cards" more than "Family Ordinance Request." Once you click the button, you discover that we are really printing a FOR (in PDF format), not cards. Since it's a pdf, you can print it directly or save it electronically. The FOR still needs to be taken to the temple to get cards.
3. Assigning to the temple from your temple list.
4. A link to resolve possible duplicates before submitting.
5. The ability to enter patron ordinances on-line directly. The ability to reflect patron entered ordinances is currently only availablevia GEDCOM upload on new.familysearch.org. Note, if official ordinances are combined into an ancestor reflecting patron entered ordinances, the official ordinances rise to the top.
6. A new relationships column in the records tab for a folder. The columnidentifies which records have parents, spouses, and children relationships. Patrons have requested the ability to know which records have these relationships so they can move those records out. Hopefully, this feature helps.
I will update the blog when we post the update to the Family Tree.
Tim Cross *Family Ordinance Report 3
ESTIMATING DATES IN FAMILY HISTORY WORK
General guidelines. Record the date as completely as possible. For example:
• 23 Mar 1842
• May 1901
When you are recording the date on a paper form, be sure to write the date so that the day and month can be clearly distinguished. if you enter a date into FamilySearch that the program cannot interpret, FamilySearch will present some date options from which you can choose.
Other calendars. FamilySearch correctly interprets dates from the lunar calendars used in China, Japan, and Korea if you record the dates in Chinese-based characters. If you cannot record dates in Chinese-based characters, convert dates to the Gregorian calendar.
If you have a date that does not correspond to a calendar that FamilySearch supports, you can use one of these strategies:
• If possible, convert the date to the Gregorian calendar. Record at least the year.
Places
General guidelines. record as much as you can of the name of a place where an event occurred. if possible, record all the levels of the name, such as city, county, region, district, prefecture, province, state, and so on.
For example:
Chapter 4
• If you cannot convert the date to the Gregorian calendar, record its original form.
Approximated dates. if an exact year is not known, it can be approximated.
Use the words before, after, or about before the approximated year. For example, you may know only that an ancestor died during World War i.
The death date could be approximated as 1916 and recorded as “about 1916.”
Calculated dates. Some dates can be estimated from other known dates.
For example, if a person was two years old when a census was taken in 1860, the birth year can be calculated as 1858. Since the actual year could be different from what was calculated, use the word about Unknown dates. if you do not know a date, do not try to make up the information. in the new FamilySearch, you can leave the fields blank. if a relative died within the last 110 years but a death date cannot be found; record an approximated date that is based on the best information available.
This will allow temple ordinances to be done.
Also the NFS User's Guide, page 166, that is online gives the following about Dates which is similar to the above:
Do I Need Exact Dates to Do a Person’s Ordinances?
Careful research for accurate dates will help prevent duplications. The following may apply to recording event dates:
• It is best to enter only dates you know to be accurate and to leave the rest blank.
• To do ordinances, you must provide death information (a death date or death place) for all persons born within the last 110 years or married within the last 95 years.
• If you cannot find an exact date, you can approximate or calculate the date based on the best information you can find. Use Before, After, or About dates as follows:
• If you have access to the new FamilySearch, you can later add correct dates when you find them.
- Even if ordinances have been done, you can add or correct event dates in the individual’s genealogical record; the ordinances are still valid.
- Accurate event dates will help reduce duplication of ordinances and will provide information essential to discovering more ancestors.
Nancy Scott
Cincinnati, Ohio
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