NEW FAMILY SEARCH ROLLOUT DELAYED
As temple districts “rollout” with new Family Search, the Family History Department of the church has been updating it and working out some bugs. Although we were expecting to be onboard by April 30, we have learned that the end of June might be a more legitimate target date.
We have discovered that people are excited about being able to prepare names for temple work in their own homes. So far the High Priests and Relief Society have viewed the training films by Marlin Jensen in our ward, and they are excited.
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Jack and Sylvia Sonneborn will be leaving March 10 for Utah, where they will be taking a day of new Family Search training at the Family History Training Center in Provo, UT.
Following that, they will be attending the computerized family history conference at Brigham Young University, Utah, for two days. That conference is so helpful in presenting successfully used concepts as well as new ideas in family history research. When the Sonneborns return, they will begin to train the consultants in the York 2nd Ward, and then the consultants in turn will be ready to train members when the rollout occurs.
Our ward Family History Consultants are pleased with the flurry of activity in the family history center. Some of our mature members are learning how to use PAF (Personal Ancestral File), and they are finding that FH is fun to do!
LOCAL FAMILY HISTORY CONFERENCES
Last month we announced our local family history conference on April 26. Here is the registration link again. Just click on the invitation under the picture of the Susquehanna River.
You are invited to attend a Family History Conference on Saturday, April 26, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., sponsored by the Susquehanna Trail Genealogy Club and the York Family History Center, York Building, York, Pennsylvania. Check out classes, and Register on the STGC website at
There are two other family history conferences of interest in our temple district that we know of, although one is being held on the same day as ours, but you might want to check out these classes to see if either conference would be of interest:
WASHINGTON DC FAMILY HISTORY CENTER
The conference is April 12, 2008 - 9;00am - 4:00pm. The link is:
CENTREVILLE FAMILY HISTORY CENTER
The conference is April 26, 2008 - 9:00am - 4:00pm. The link is:
FAMILY SEARCH INDEXING
This is just a reminder that the church welcomes indexers of census records. If you want to volunteer, go to
HISPANIC NEWSPAPERS NOW ONLINE
Twenty US Hispanic newspapers are now online. This is the next big thing in genealogy - solid content for Hispanic genealogical research.
For additional details see this blog:
The first 20 titles from 4 States - (IN, MO, NM, TX) -1855 to 1956 are now live on the site. This is the single largest compilation of Hispanic newspapers in the
country - unique data not available online anywhere else.
The entire collection of Hispanic newspapers will span 1808-1980. Search on every word - find birth, marriage and obituary announcements – historical events and even the advertisements.
These newspapers can be searched for free, and you'll see a slice of
the page - but it is a subscription site (nominal cost) - so you do need to subscribe to see the complete record. By Tom Kemp
REDEEMING OUR ANCESTORS THROUGH TEMPLE WORK
One YORK 2ND WARD GOAL FOR 2008: Do Temple Work for One Ancestor
OPPORTUNITY: Ward Temple Trip on May 24
STEPS TO ACCOMPLISH GETTING ANCESTOR READY FOR ENDOWMENT WITH TEMPLE READY:
If you do not have your membership number and confirmation date, get this from the ward clerk. (Membership Data)
If you do not have PAF 5.2 or Personal Ancestral File on your computer, go to and download it free.
If you cannot learn to use a software program on your own, visit the Family History Center (FHC). If you do not own a computer, visit the FHC for assistance.
Identify one deceased ancestor (deceased at least one year) whom you think has not had temple work done. Be sure that you have the name, a birth-date and place of birth (city, county, state, country). You should also have a death date and location, and if the person was born less than 95 years ago, you must have a death date, and the person needs to be deceased at least one year before you can do temple work. On the Family Search site, sign-on using the membership data by clicking SIGN-ON in the upper right-hand corner and following directions. Next, click on the SEARCH tab and look at the menu on the left-hand side. Click on IGI (International Genealogical Index). Fill in your ancestor’s name, birth-date and country and state. Click on the SEARCH button. If his name does not appear on the next list that pops up, his work is more than likely not done. If his name is there, open it up and be certain it is your ancestor.
If that ancestor’s temple work is done, select another ancestor and repeat the process until you find one whose name is not on the list of completed temple work.
Open up the PAF software and type information about this ancestor into PAF. Call a FH consultant for assistance or visit the FHC for assistance if you cannot use this program on your own.
Next you will select that person for temple work. If you want to do that yourself, follow these steps:
1. Click on the 4th icon along the top left – “Export for Temple Ready”
Temple Submission Names Window – Click CONTINUE
2.Select Individuals for Temple Ready Window – Bottom left in “Relationship Filter,” down-arrow and click on INDIVIDUAL. Highlight the name of the person in the box listing names on your PAF. Go back to bottom and click SELECT. Click OK at bottom left. “Temple Names Submission Options” pops up. Check the boxes for “Submitted” put into your data and a printed report. Then click OK. Next the “Export GEDCOM file As” window will pop up. At the top, down-arrow until you find the name of the place where you will be saving the submission name, such as 3 ½ floppy A. Also, give your file a name, such as your last name or the name of the ancestor. Click on EXPORT. Next a “GEDCOM Export window” pops up. Click OK. Window “Temple Ready Instructions.” Click OK. Then the Submission report pops up, and you can use File – Print to print this. You have saved your name to a disk.
3.Take this disk to the FHC and have a FH consultant check it on Temple Ready. He will make a disk for you to take to the temple. Arrange for a youth to do the baptism.
4.At the temple, go to family file, and they will print out a slip for baptism. Take the card to the baptistery for baptism and confirmation. Next, go to the temple and do the iniatory. All of this will need to be completed prior to May 24.
STEPS WITH NEW FAMILY SEARCH
- FH Consultants will teach you how to do the same process at home in about 7 steps.
- You will still need your Membership Data (MD) and information on a deceased member.
- You will gain access through MD and type in the ancestor’s name, you will check it for temple work, and you will click on a Family Ordinance Request for the temple to do the work or for you to provide proxies.
We anticipate that new Family Search will be a pleasure to use once we have it and we learn how to use the program.
Canada GenWeb Cemetery Project
Locate cemeteries in Canada and learn more about them. You'll also find transcripts and indexes as well as links to other cemeteries available elsewhere on the web.
African American Research:
BRIGHAM YOUNG FORSEES OUR TIMES
Sister Susa Young Gates once asked her father, Brigham Young, how it would ever be possible to accomplish the great amount of temple work that must be done, if all are given a full opportunity for exaltation. He told her there would be many inventors of labor saving devices, so that our daily duties could be performed in a short time, leaving us more and more time for temple work. The inventions have come, and are still coming, but many simply divert the time gained to other channels, and not for the purpose intended by the Lord.
Performance IS improved with aReturn and Report
I know that the Lord knows what Temple Work is being done. He is acutely aware of all the work currently being submitted. Don't forget the 10 tribes will be entering the temples to do their work soon. Within wards, we no longer report the Temple Work that‘s being done because it is avery personal thing. The Brethren have set the pace by not asking who went to the temple; I believe that family history and emergency food storage are in the same category. We don't want to make members feel that the church is run like abusiness, and if you don't do your job, you‘re fired. On the other hand, if there is no accountabilty, individuals will tend to let this important work slide.
Appropriately, priesthood leaders‘ interviews through PPI is the key to privately know what is going on with families and to encourage families to attend to temple work. We all are to carry out assignments, work hard and give the Lord our very best in our performance. Therefore, we ALL need to be actively engaged with living all aspects of the Gospel. Returning and reporting to priesthood leaders will help to improve our accomplishments in redeeming the dead.
Co-editors and Compilers of Genealogy News are Jackson And Sylvia Sonneborn, Family History Consultants of York 2nd Ward, PA.
Contact us at or .
This is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Genealogist's Psalm
By Wildamae Brestal
Genealogy is my pastime, I shall not stray;
It maketh me to lie down and examine half-buried tombstones.
It leadeth me into still Court Houses;
It restoreth my ancestral knowledge.
It leadeth me in paths of census records and ships' passenger lists for my surname's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the shadows of research libraries and microfilm readers,
I shall fear no discouragement; for a strong urge is within me;
The curiosity and motivation, they comfort me.
It demandeth preparation of storage space for the acquisition of countless documents;
It anointest my head with burning midnight oil,
My family group sheets runneth over.
Surely birth, marriage, and death dates shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of a family-history seeker forever.
Ellis Island Passenger Lists
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., World Vital Records, Inc. and FamilySearch announced at the National Genealogical Society Conference a partnership whereby the historic collection of Ellis Island passenger arrival records will now also be freely available to visitors of the and websites.
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Here is a link for that content of What's New in the newFamilySearch upgrades:
Do You Have Time to Procrastinate Doing Your Family History?
For those of you who are leaving your family history to do when you are "older," have you ever thought of the following:
- None of us knows the length of time that he'll be here.
- It's a tough sell for folks to admit that they have arrived at "old."
- The older body tends to be less cooperative-- vision, arthritis, etc., can be a problem.
- Medical & financial issues can become such a burden that travel is curtailed.
- Opportunities to gain needed skills and knowledge have been neglected for years.
- The mind may not function as effectively as it once did. This leads to incorrectly linked families.
- Financial & mental ability to keep abreast of technology adequately for the research & input adds difficulty.
- It's tough to gain a testimony of an area that is not practiced, and even harder to share that with descendants.
- People who know pertinent information for our research will die or have mental challenges while we wait for "that season" in our lives.
- In some areas, more records are becoming available, but in others, they are being withdrawn from circulation and/or sealed.
Now is the time for Family History, not later!
A Time Capsule – Find out what happened back then ----
Genealogy TV
You can watch streaming television programs about genealogy at for free. This is amazing. Found in the Logan Utah Family History Center Newsletter.
"Genealogy: where you confuse the dead and irritate the living."
Mayflower Ancestry
This book is very helpful concerning Mayflower Ancestry: "A Brief History of the Mayflower Pilgrims," compiled by Michel L. Call for the Mormon Pioneer Genealogy Society, copyright 1983, Salt Lake City. Found in the Logan Utah Family History Center Newsletter.
The website for the Mayflower Society
is and another is Check them out.
Need to find a BLOG?
Here is a site you need to use. It is a blog finder for blogs about various aspects of genealogy.
"President Gordon B. Hinckley... compared our work for the dead in temples to the rescue of the Willie and Martin Handcart companies.... They were in desperate circumstances, unable to help themselves. If Brigham Young had not suspended General Conference and dispatched the rescue parties, all of those in the handcart companies would have perished. President Hinckley then stated that those who wait beyond the veil for the ordinances of the gospel are in desperate circumstances analogous to the handcart pioneers."
What Matters Most...
”As we hold up like a banner the proclamation to the world on the family and as we live and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will fulfill the measure of our creation here on earth. We will find peace and happiness here and in the world to come. We should not need a hurricane or other crisis to remind us of what matters most. The gospel and the Lord's plan of happiness and salvation should remind us. What matters most is what lasts longest, and our families are for eternity."
(M. Russell Ballard, "What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest," Ensign, Nov. 2005, pg. 44)
INTERESTING WEBSITES
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
In some records received from a family member, the phrase "DONTDOIT' is in several ordinance date fields. What does this mean?
According to the PAF Help file: "DONTDOIT" (DON'T DO IT) appears when you import a GEDCOM file that is actually a TempleReady submission from Personal Ancestral File 3.0 or 4.0. The TempleReady submission option in these releases places this term in the submission file to prevent ordinances from being done for records that are only in the submission file so ordinances for another record can be done.
Possible Solutions:
- You can delete "DONTDOIT" from the screen.
- You can use the Global Search and Replace feature to search for the term and delete it.
To prevent future problems, do not import TempleReady submission files.
Finding a Grave
Search over 15 million graves for that of your ancestor. Includes tombstone and cemetery photos, even some obituaries. Go to or
Check the National Tombstone Transcription Project for cemeteries:
Harry Senft of Lewisberry continues to photograph York County tombstones. He reports that Greenmount Cemetery is finshed (over 1,500 pictures) web link:
Pine Grove United Methodist Church CemeteryYork Township,York County, Pennsylvania Page last updated March 5, 2008 WEB LINK:
Genealogy is Funny
Here's a marriage notice that appeared in an exchange: "Married - At Flintstone, by Rev. Willstone, Mr. Nehemiah Whetstone and Mrs. Wilhelmina Sandstone, both of Limestone." Now look out for brimstone. ---April 9, 1897 issue of the Rich County, Utah, newspaper, The Round-Up.
Finding Early Immigrant Ancestors
Looking for immigrants before the 1820 advent of passenger lists? This web site suggests four more sources you should check. familytreemagazine.com/jul07/immigrate.asp --- Family Tree Newsletter, 6/21/07
INDEXING
Find those records that we are indexing at
New Jewish Family History Resources Online
FamilySearch has added a new Jewish Family History Resources online page. It includes a new Jewish genealogy database, the Knowles Collection, as well as a new research guide, Tracing Your Jewish Ancestors. The Knowles Collection contains information for thousands of Jews from the British Isles. Building on the work of the late Isobel Mordy, the collection links individuals into family groups with more names added continuously. Those with Jewish ancestry should bookmark the site, as links to new resources and tools will be added as they become available online. There is a link to the site on the familysearch.org home page.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
I have heard some members say, "But our family names are all done." It is all right to say such a thing as long as you realize you are only joking. Of this, Elder W. Grant Bangerter of the First Quorum of the Seventy, has said: "Your genealogy has not all been done. My own grandparents performed 'all' the temple work for their deceased relatives fifty-five years ago. Since that time our family has discovered sixteen thousand others."
(General Conference, April 1982.)
PA STATE ARCHIVES NEWSLETTER
Issue #3 of the PA State Archives Electronic Newsletter, Access Archives, is now available. To view it, go to web page, then on the left, click on the link to “PA State Archives.” Then under “Learn about State Archives Programs,” click on “Access Archives” and select Volume #3, issue 1.
Submitted by Jerry Ellis
What is a Wiki?