Family History Consultant

Today our ward had its first family history consultant meeting.  It focused more on the youth. My dad had me put together a packet for the meeting. I thought I would put some of the pages up.

Page one was about the training, I got it at the Start with the Heart class at Roots Tech.

Page two was an outline of family history:

Summary of Family History

·      Finding names

o    Ref. Tree to Temple

·      Indexing

o    Ref. Indexing

·      Memories

o    Family home evening

-Pictures to Coloring pages

http://ipiccy.com/

 -Acting out family stories

 -Finding pictures/tagging people

 -Finding stories

 -Auto-Biography

 -Poster of a family side

Page three is how to index, this is the page:

Indexing

Indexing instruction credit goes to Family Search

How to Index:

1.Go to familysearch.org/indexing and click Get Started.

2.Follow the download instructions.

3.Open the indexing program using the new indexing icon on your desktop.

4.Sign in with your FamilySearch or LDS Account.

5.Enter your profile information.

6.Read and agree to the license agreement.

7.Click Download Batch.

8.Select a project to index.

To download a set (or batch) of obituaries to index, do the following:

1.While in the indexing program, click the Download Batch button.

2.Select Show all projects.

3.Scroll down to US indexing projects, and select a project that includes the word “Obituaries.”

4.Click OK.

5.A message will pop up offering help. Use the help resources as needed, and then click Close to begin indexing the batch.

Page four is other stuff:

Other

·      Download the LDS tools app on your electronics there are lots of family history resources on there

·      Training is online at:

https://www.lds.org/callings/temple-and-family-history/family-history-consultants?lang=eng

·      No one has all the answers, don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know”

·      Always follow up

·      Helper numbers allow you to look at the persons family tree later

 ·      Register on www.lds.org to receive information and updates on your calling

 ·      On Billion Graves website if “index” gravestones then you can have the updates you would have paid for, for free

 ·      There are many Genealogy apps

Page Five was sources:

Sources for Researching:

·      www.myheritage.com

·      www.myrelatives.com

·      www.ancestry.com

·      www.archives.com

·      www.billiongraves.com

·      www.legacyshare.com

·      www.family.me

·      www.hjournal.com

·      www.ancestorcloud.com

·      www.findmypast.com

 That was basically the packet.

Sources are everywhere

There are many resources you can use for genealogy, we don’t take advantage of those or we don’t know about them. This post will be about all the resources you NEED to take advantage of.

Websites:

There are many websites where you can find sources here are a few.

• www.myheritage.com
• www.myrelatives.com
• www.ancestry.com
• www.archives.com
• www.billiongraves.com
• www.legacyshare.com
• www.family.me
• www.hjournal.com
• www.ancestorcloud.com
• www.findmypast.com

Mobile:

For those of you who have mobile devices, here are a few. They are all for apple but I bet you could find them on android to.

• Roots magic
• Ancestry
• Family Map
• Billion Graves
• My Heritage
• Family History and Genealogy (crests?)

Family Search is also going to come out with a app. It will be Beta, but soon they should have one for the public.

DNA for dummies

I am only in 7th grade science so I don't know  a lot, well anything really about DNA. But, it seems to be important in the genealogy world so I am going to learn about DNA.  From my understanding DNA makes you up.  You get it from your parents, I think DNA also decides what you  look like, that is all I know so I am going to  look stuff up right now.  But here are my questions I am going to answer.

What is DNA?

What does it look like?

How does it work?

How does it help with genealogy?

What are companies that can test your DNA?

On average how much does it cost?

What does DNA stand for?

What will it not do?

Answers:

What is DNA:
Our body is filled with cells, but they have to know what to do, DNA tells them what to do. DNA is like the instructions for life. And that is about all I understood from how to explain DNA to a six year old.


What does it look like:
I think it will be best if I just put a picture:

How does it work:

DNA tells your cells what to do,  hence letting your body work.

How does it help with genealogy:

Ex.
   If you go and test your DNA the scientist will check it out and see if you have any matches. The matches are the people who have similar DNA as you. The scientists tell you and you can discover the person you are related to. You get the idea.

What are companies that can test your DNA:

-Ancestry
-Family tree DNA
-23 and me
-Gendex
and many many more.

On average how much does it cost:

It can cost anywhere in the range for 70 to 100+

What will it not do:

DNA is great and can tell you a lot.  But DNA can not tell you your relatives  who have not tested. It can not tell you a birthday or a death date.

What does DNA stand for:

Deoxyribonucleic Acid

 Sources:

http://tfscientist.hubpages.com/hub/explaining-dna-to-a-six-year-old

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/dna.htm

How to index

I've been saying you need to index but have not told those of you how don't know how to. Here are the directions, all credit goes to Family Search:

1. Go to familysearch.org/indexing and click Get Started.
2. Follow the download instructions.
3. Open the indexing program using the new indexing icon on your desktop.
4. Sign in with your FamilySearch or LDS Account.
5. Enter your profile information.
6. Read and agree to the license agreement.
7. Click Download Batch.
8. Select a project to index.

To download a set (or batch) of obituaries to index, do the following:

1. While in the indexing program, click the Download Batch button.
2. Select Show all projects.
3. Scroll down to US indexing projects, and select a project that includes the word “Obituaries.”
4. Click OK.
5. A message will pop up offering help. Use the help resources as needed, and then click Close to begin indexing the batch.

(once again sorry about the highlighting, I think it happens when I copy and paste)  

Once again all credit to Family Search, they make it more clear than I could have.  

Obituaries

Obituaries provide lots of information. Look at this  one for example:

The funeral for William H. Fendley, 37, Jefferson County patrolman for four years before he became ill a year ago, will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Neurath's Chapel.  Burial will be at Shiloh, Kentucky.  he died at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday at his home in Prospect.  He was a member of Harrods Creek Masonic Lodge.

Survivors are his wife, Mrs. Grace O. Fendley; four daughters, Miss Margaret M. Fendley, Miss Norma L. Fendley, Miss Barbara A. Fendley, and Miss Helen Fendley; three sons, Alvin T. Fendley, George L. Fendley, and David L. Fendley; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Fendley; two sisters, Miss Margaret Fendley and Miss Katherine Fendley; a brother, Edward Fendley, and his grandmother, Mrs. Mary Fendley.

Here we see where William died, we don't know anything else about when.  We do see his wife, children some siblings and a grandmother. That would be a gold mine when you are trying to fill out the family tree. You know where he is buried, all you have to do is check billion grave or go check it out your self.

I wish all my ancestors had a record like this so I could fill out my family tree. They might, all I need to do is index some obituaries, as we learned at Roots Tech from Caption Jack Starling, "dead men tell no tales.....but their obituaries do." Family Search is calling 2014  the year of obituaries.

(Sorry about the weird highlighting, I can't figure out how to fix it)

All credit for obituary goes to: http://www.nndb.com/lists/873/000115528/

Indexing, the genealogy powerhouse

Indexing is quite arguably the most important part of family history. It provides all the information! You need information to fill in your family tree, but you don't have time to go get the records and decipher them. Indexing provides a better way! You have the records, that you need! Even if Murphy's law says that the record you needed was in the courthouse that burned down. You USALLY can find the record you need. If you can't with all the new partnerships that are going to go into action soon, you will get the one record that you have spent years trying to find. Just Ancestry and Family Search combined is a huge amount more! Some of the other partnerships include:

-My Heritage and Family Search

-DC Thomson and Family Search

-Billion Graves and My Heritage

The list goes on and on, but I know it will be an improvement to the genealogy society. Back to indexing. Indexing will provide millions with their family research that they needed.  Download the indexing program now! To make it fun have a "Friendly Indexing Challenge" with a prize. Indexing is a great way to start! Thats how I started and who knows when it will end? I almost hope never because genealogy can be a great thing in life and also the greatest time waster in life because of that "one record"! We need to get more people involved in this great work of filling out your family tree!

YOUth can do it

I got called as a family history consultant 2 or 3 weeks ago.  My mom was out of town and my dad was up on the stand when I was called. So I had all 5 kids ages 1 to 10 and I almost didn't hear when they asked me to stand. It was fast and testimony meeting, and a older lady went up to bear her testimony and in the process of bearing it she asked me to help her. I went to her house a week later and spent longer than expected there. We repeated everything about 5 times. 2 hours later we only had to do things twice! It was an amazing experience though.  She was thrilled and kept asking how I had learned, and saying how amazing the whole process was. She found 80 to 90 names in one day! She asked questions and got answers. I also learned that things can happen on accident. She had a great, great, great, etc. grandmother who's name was Agnes. She and I tried to view Agnes's tree and Agnes's name was suddenly Ann. Agnes had disappeared. (anyone know what happened?) Yet another proof that no one has all the answers. I hope I can figure it out because she really loves family history now and feels like she can do it. I walked away feeling like I needed to know more. I also walked away with helper numbers for her and her husband.  I loved the experience of helping her. If you do your family history, great! You will save 100's of people! If you teach a person they/you save 1000's . If the person you taught teaches other people they you have saved millions! In conclusion, help the people! If you help the people your testimony and theirs will be strengthened.

Family History Conferences

BYU
I finally finished unpacking my Roots Tech bag. It was a black hole! I discovered a flier advertising the "conference on family history and genealogy" It is July 29 through August 1.  For more information you can go to www.familyhistoryconference.byu.edu. On the paper it shows that there is one day of free youth classes and one free day of consultant training. I hope to go to both. I also hope to see many of you make it.

UGA
UGA is in town at Davis, Utah on April 25-26 it is going to be awesome! Sadley I can't make it to that one nor will my small budget allow it. Even so 20 bucks is not bad for a two day conference. 10 dollars a day and you will have a priceless learning experience on your hands.  For more information go to http://www.ugagenealogy.org/aem.php?eid=7

OGS
The Ohio genealogical society is coming up in April. I am a little bit confused about there website, but that might be because I'm not registered. I hope you can make heads or tails about because I am sure it will be great. All genealogy conferences are.  http://www.ogs.org/index.php

This link will take you to more conference links after April. I will do another post at the end of April on the rest.  https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Upcoming_Conferences

Roots Tech 2015

Roots Tech 2014 was awesome and Roots Tech 2015 is going to be even better! The two largest genealogy conferences are teaming up to create the "most talked about family history conference in 2015!" Roots Tech and FGS are going to create a conference beyond our wildest dreams! You can also have a 1.3 billionth of a chance of getting a free pass. ( I did the math) To try your chances go to family storytelling.com, find a favorite article, post the link on social media then add the hashtags #rootstech and #familystorytelling .  Ex. http://familystorytelling.com/genealogytop.html.
#rootstech #familystorytelling .   Hope you try to get one. Wouldn't it be awesome to get a free pass to the largest family history event?!

My tree stopped!

I am always frustrated when my family tree stops, I want to fill it in! But sometimes you don’t need to go on this big long hunt for things that have already be found.  You can check the Possible duplicates on familysearch and who knows?  You may just find what you were looking for.  Plus, you will be getting rid of a duplicate and helping someone else with their tree!  There is also the search records button that can be a valuable resource, all the indexed records that are related to the person you are looking for will show up.  Some people don’t have any yet. But in the end with all the records there are, everyone has a record. There are also going to be new records coming, for more information look at this link, https://familysearch.org/blog/en/questions-answers-familysearch-partners/ and this one, https://familysearch.org/blog/en/orders-microfilm-fiche-restricted-april-2014/

The partnerships are going to be a great resource, and with all the new records coming in family trees should fill in more quickly!

Stories

My great grandmother died a few years ago, I have been wishing I would have interviewed her and gotten her life story. Because I have been helping my siblings get into genealogy I decided that they would enjoy this little project, the siblings were between 3 and 6. They have been recording their life story this is an example of one of the pages:

If they were my grandparents I would be thrilled to see the work of when they were little put into a mini book! Keeping a journal, or just taking thirty mins to an hour and record your stories on CDs. Your childrens, children will be glad for that thirty minutes that they go to spend with you.  I know it is true because I have experienced the wish for a CD recording of my grandparents and great grandparents stories. So record your stories then share them!

All of the above

Roots Tech: I mentioned Roots Tech in an earlier post. Most of you probably already know this but if you don't know and wanted to attend Roots Tech then you will love this! You can stream videos and watch them. Not all the classes will be on the website, but the major ones will. Here is the link: 

https://rootstech.org/about/videos/

Family History Fairs: Family Search mentioned at Roots Tech that they will be sponsoring family history fairs. I have heard of a couple. I have found them to be all over the place! I also looked at the class schedules and they were great classes that I would have loved to have been at.

Resources are everywhere: I learned this maybe September last year.  I was trying to fill in more information about a person. I searched for them on LDS.org and that led me to the "Fullness of Time" manual. I found a small picture and a short paragraph about them. It wasn't a lot but it was a good start and made all the difference.

My siblings

My siblings have started to do genealogy to. (yes, there was a candy bribe) My little sister who is 5 made this amazing poster, she loved doing it and would now do it without candy. My other little sister who is 3 was making a auto-biography of her life and when she said she loved all the colors she literally put, all the colors in the crayon box on the paper! I also think she loves moldy food. :) My little brother who is almost 8, and my two little  sisters did a play on the story of one of their ancestors.  They will do it soon without the candy bribe.

Helping my grandma find temple names

My grandma took me to Roots Tech Friday morning, and of course she came home inspired just like anyone else who goes to Roots Tech. She had learned how to index and had done her first batch! She was so excited. After that experience in the expo hall, we went to "From Tree to Temple" where she learned how to find family names. We went home and she found her first names on the computer. She had her own names so we went on a date, my grandparents and I. We went to the temple cafeteria and then went to do baptisms.I got baptized for them and she confirmed hers. You could just see the joy on her face. She now has found so many since February she has started handing them out. I am glad she came to Roots Tech and that I could be there when she found and did the names.

Roots Tech

I recently went to Roots Tech with my dad, grandma, and mom and learned so much! One of my favorite classes was "Start with the heart".  It was amazing!  Roots Tech has so many things to offer!  The Expo Hall alone is impressive!  My grandma said "wow they weren't kidding when they said roots TECH!" The techie part for the people who have not been is, about 50 to 100 computers, the 2 or 3 recording groups, and if you take a hands on class there were most likely 1000 computers!  My grandma also enjoyed the recharge station, where you can plug in you electronics and charge up yourself with a free soda, sponsored by Dell. There were so many booths!  And every 15 minutes there were short demos done in the back blaze demo theater, it was very comfy, there were couches to sit on.  There was also Un- Conferencing in the expo hall where you could see longer presentations on different things.  Thursday, was the first day, my dad came with me. It was amazing! My first day at Roots tech. According to my Dad, people kept asking him if they could take my picture! On friday my grandma came with me, she and I discovered the free soda bar. She loved the free stuff in the expo hall. On Saturday, the last day, there were probably 8000 more people! They were youth, it was youth day, and family discovery day! You can get free expo hall passes, and free discovery day passes, and free youth day passes! I can't wait for next year. Roots Tech could be the best experience in your life! I will remember it forever, and the time I spent with my parents and grandparents.

My story

I discovered genealogy when I was about ten. Yes, I am 12. My story is not your average story.  I started by indexing.  My dad was Beta testing Family Searches new indexing app.  He never used it and he helped me discover it by letting me use his iPad too index.  I learned that it was fun! I soon became addicted and downloaded it on the computer.  I index till it was almost my twelfth birthday. I wanted names to take to the temple. I went onto family search, logged on and worked through my family tree. I have found over 400 names now.  I just got called as a family history consultant and have started to expand my tree. I love genealogy and hope to provide helpful tips. I love family history, it has blessed me in so many ways, and even if you aren't a member discovering the stories of your families is time well spent.