A Reminder of RootsTech 2025
The world's big annual family history event is just a few days away.
Online Worldwide – March 6–8, 2025
Advanced classes to help you with your research
https://www.familysearch.org/
Bill Buchanan is a long-time genealogy enthusiast, living in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada. This blog will describe my experiences as I research my family history and help others.
I am a retired online school teacher. I love family history. From 2007-2020, I spent much of my time providing part-time support for the world's largest free family history site https://familysearch.org This is very rewarding. I have helped others with the Family Tree and related FamilySearch products.
In 2010-2018 I served in the Edmonton_Alberta_Riverbend_Family_History_Centre..I have a FHC blog at Bill's Family History Center Blog Since 2020 I have been a family history consultant for Edmonton Alberta North Stake.
For information on the Latter-day Saints and family history click https://www.comeuntochrist.org/
The world's big annual family history event is just a few days away.
I was a child in the pre-electronic age. Well, actually there were radios, but that was about the extent of it. Then black and white television became available.
I think that I first came across the idea of computers in the form of "electronic brains" in science fiction. After my mission I found employment at Canadian Magnetic Reduction, a company that used an IBM 360 mainframe computer system. Wow! One of my tasks was coding the invoices so that the computer cards could be punched to create the invoices for our customers. Our monthly rent to IBM was very high, but in a good month we could charge our customers a million dollars. I started learning the Fortran IV programming language, but never followed it up.
In 1977 "personal computers" became available in stores: The Apple II, Commodore PET and the Radio Shack TRS 80 Model I. Judy's cousin Llewellyn in Calgary bought a TRS 80 system with all the extras. I was fascinated.
In about 1980 The Alberta Department of Education bought a large number of Apple IIs, and a couple of them were given to my school the Alberta Correspondence School. I started teaching myself Applesoft BASIC, the built-in programming language. Then, one of the other teachers organized programming classes taught after work in a school with a computer lab. It was a wonderful experience being with a group of other teachers learning to create software. I became a charter member of the Alberta Teachers Association Computer Council.
I bought a used TRS 80 model I from a Radio Shack store and connected it to a 12" black and white TV as a monitor and a cassette tape recorder for storage. I wrote a few simple programs and then expanded the memory to 16 KB. Better computers became available but I could not afford one. Every month or two I would buy the latest CLOAD cassette which would have programs for the TRS 80.
On an Apple II, I wrote a program for teaching the French object pronouns. I entered it in a programming contest for teachers and won a Commodore 64. Yea! It had 64 KB of memory, high resolution color graphics, and even a floppy disk drive. I bought a printer interface and a dot matrix printer. I joined the Commodore Users of Edmonton (CUE) and attended their monthly meetings whenever possible.
I wrote a program "The Haunted Schoolhouse Adventure" teaching the rules of euphony in French. I entered it in two programming contests and won an Apple II+ customized by Bell and Howell and an IBM PC jr. This greatly expanded the range of games and other software available to me and my family. I joined the Northern Alberta PC Users Group (NAPCUG). Free software was available from most of the computer clubs for about $2/diskette. And it was fun to meet with others in the excitement of those early days of computing.
Over the years, the PC jr was replaced by more capable computers. often used but sometimes new. DOS became supplemented by Windows 3 and 3.1, then Windows 95 which used a graphic user interface, just like the Apple Macintosh that I often used at work. Then came Windows 98, Millenium, and Windows NT and so forth.
Up to this point I had tried programming in other computer languages including Pascal, C and Comal. But Microsoft BASIC was here I was most comfortable and I bought compiler software to convert my BASIC code into the more efficient machine language code. I even created a company to distribute the software I had written "Forest West Computer Services", but it didn't go anywhere.
Computers became important for other family members too. My brother Lloyd became a computer expert in his own right. My brother Reg made a career of operating mainframe computers, and selling and servicing computers. My son Andrew became a computer engineer. And all of us have been affected by the increasing role that computers and other electronic devices play in our everyday lives.
When the Alberta Distance Learning Centre made emailing assignments an option and started a virtual school in 1997, I became very involved. I taught computer applications and programming courses in C, BASIC, and Javascript. Some of these I had developed myself.
This was my high point in computer programming. After I retired in 2001, I turned my focus to family history. The computer was a wonderful tool for this purpose. I could do research online and create compact discs of old family photos to mail to relatives. I could create my own websites, blogs and electronic books for family history. I served for 10 years as a FamilySearch Support missionary, made possible by the computer and the internet. I loved it!
The computer and I have come a long way over the years.
If you are interested in family history, you would probably enjoy some of the sessions in RootsTech that you can watch for free. There is a wide range of experts and topics. FamilySearch is the world's largest family history site that is entirely free. (You may know that I served for free in FamilySearch Support for 10 years, ending in 2020.)
RootsTech is the FamilySearch's HUGE annual family history event of the year. It is co-sponsored by companies that serve family history. (ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, findmypast.com, etc.)
I
have heard RootsTech
described in many ways, including "A rock concert for family history." and "A technological extravaganza centered
on family history." Basically, there is something
for everyone.
Whether you are looking for fun activities for
your family, the latest research tips,
or preserving your family heritage for future generations, you will
probably find something there that is useful and fun.
One of the best things about RootsTech is that many of the sessions can be viewed years later. If you are looking for training or information on any related topic, try searching RootsTech. I do!
You can register to view the online sessions of RootsTech 2025 for free and watch at your own convenience. Or you can pay to attend in person. Both options have their advantages.
One of my personal favorites is "Relatives at RootsTech", where I can see distant cousins from other parts of the world who are also attending.
***********************************************************************************
(For those who like statistics)
Official facts for nonprofit FamilySearch International, the world's largest genealogy organization:
Searchable Names in Historical Records 13.16 Billion
Digital Images Published 5.19 Billion
Digital Books Online 622,665
Number of FamilySearch Centers 6,492
Monthly Visits 20.87 Million
Sources in the Family Tree 3.45 Billion
People in the Family Tree 1.66 Billion
(He has been a constant source of help, especially with photographs and new computer hardware,)
Hi Lloyd,
Thank you for the new monitor, I am loving it.
Over the past couple of days I researched Dennis' ancestors, as you suggested. .
I built his family tree on www.familysearch.org which is the largest family history website that is entirely free. I have attached a pedigree fan chart that he can print and give to family members.. For more detail, I encourage him to sign up for a free account. This will allow him to see more family members, add family photos and stories, do further research, etc. As we get to know our ancestors, we usually appreciate them more and have a better understanding of our own place in history..
On Youtube there are many short videos showing how to use the site. (Search for familysearch.)
There is a free help number 1-866-406-1830 and I am always glad to help.
Lloyd, I encourage you to sign up for a free account at FamilySearch too. I have uploaded hundreds of old family photos. You will recognize many of them. I always suggest that people keep a copy of their username and password in their wallet. (Of course there is a recovery process, but it is simpler if you don't need to use it.)
Love.
Bill
Who is FamilySearch? This short video will explain.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/who-is-familysearch-apac
Traditionally, each person built their own personal family tree on paper, which was typically stored in a ring binder or a filing cabinet.
When computers became available FamilySearch created the Genealogical Data Communications system, usually called GEDCOM, as a way to export and import genealogy data between different software applications.
Most family history websites basically still operate at that level, with a maze of competing family trees.
But in 2007 FamilySearch developed a single shared tree where people could work together, The current version is called the FamilySearch Family Tree,
In FamilySearch, all records of living people are hidden from everyone except the person that created that record. So if you add living relatives, they will not be able to see the records of themselves that you have created. But all users can see and edit the Family Tree records of all deceased people.
A quick overview of the site
Sign in if you have a free account, and create an account if you don't have one. Follow the prompts. Keep your username and password in your wallet for quick reference. And if you forget your username or password, click on Forgot and follow the prompts,
Navigation
These are the areas of Family Tree I use most often: Family Tree, Search, and Person Details. I also find myself using the Recents, Sources and Memories pages often.
Note that clicking a name on the Tree view (and the popup) will open their Person page, and on the Person page clicking View Tree will show you their Tree view. So it is easy to switch between the main views.
Adding people and events to the Family Tree will be demonstrated in this short video.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/how-to-start-your-family-tree-in-a-few-easy-helpful-steps (2.5 minutes)
Parents and children are easily added on the Landscape view of the Tree View, but the Person Details page is more versatile. This is especially true if you want to correct errors or add another spouse or another type of parent-child relationship or another set of parents, Children can be shown with birth parents, and step parents, and adopted parents, and guardians acting as parents.
How can FamilySearch Help you in your family history journey?
Firstly, FamilySearch can keep your family history safe for future generations. I have seen many excellent internet resources appear and disappear. Some of these were my own websites. But FamilySearch is part of the Genealogical Society of Utah, established in 1894 to preserve family history. So it has a proven history of dependability.
FamilySearch is an easy place to build your part of the family tree.
Secondly, there is great power in working together, combining our strengths. Instead of each person being limited by their own knowledge and skills.
Last year we had a FamilySearch workshop in Westlock. Two of the people working in Family Tree connected to other people's research which traced their shared ancestral lines back for multiple generations, One line went back to the 1400s. This shows the potential of working in a shared family tree.
I too have benefited when my research connected to the previous research of others,
Thirdly, FamilySearch has billions of historical records that you can search for free, to document the lives of your family. A search in FamilySearch historical records for August Zahn will allow us to add his family. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GK14-K27
Specify Canada and add the census records
Fourth, the FamilySearch website itself will automatically search for historic records of your ancestral families. In my earlier days we could spend months or years looking for historic records for our family, and in Family Tree, these records come looking for us. e.g. McGillivray https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/KFD3-RCZ
If the Family Tree has no birth information on someone, I like to add an estimated year and place of birth based on their marriage info or the birth info of their oldest children. For example, adding that James Waller was born about 1840 of Rogate Sussex, England will help FamilySearch find his christening record in 1834. Typically a couple got married in their early 20s and were 30 years older than their middle child.
Fifth, private chat messages allow you to request information from other users of FamilySearch without compromising your own privacy. Recently I was able to attend the funeral of my aunt's younger sister because of a chat message sent to me by her grand daughter.
Communicating with other interested people is unbelievably powerful. And don't be afraid to ask if they know other people who might know answers you are looking for. Twice I have received large books of genealogy that way. The internet has made this a much quicker and easier process that it used to be.
In 2006 I did a Google search for my grandfather's uncle. I knew that he had emigrated from England to Australia many years before Grandpa was born, I found that someone in Australia was looking for information on him. I replied and received 150 years of family history from my newly discovered cousin Irene, and I gave her 150 years of family history from our branch of the family. Cooperation is powerful.
Sixth, there are a number of applications designed to work with your FamilySearch Family Tree data, for various operating systems. (See the Solutions Gallery at the bottom of most screens.)
And you can print stories and a variety of charts from FamilySearch,
Seventh, FamilySearch has a variety of fun activities that can interest young people in family history. This can help to continue your family history legacy into future generations. Photos and Stories can also help to foster an interest in family history.
When we die, our computers, and paper materials will probably be repurposed or discarded, We need to keep a copy of our family history safe online.
Working with others
Remember that it is a shared tree, so share nicely.
As I look at the signed-in home page I see photos uploaded by relatives, I can use Chat to easily send a message to someone else working on my part of the tree.
To discourage others from carelessly changing the data, document your work by using Sources, Memories. And especially Alert Notes.
Add ancestors to your Favorites list to receive a notice if anyone changes their data.
Use the Changes list to undo incorrect changes.
Getting help
Use the Help Center (?) icon in the upper right corner, the question mark in a circle.
Ask an experienced person such as a Family History Consultant
https://www.familysearch.org/en/fieldops/united-states-and-canada-contact-us
Call the Toll-Free help line 1-866-406-1830 (8 am to 8 pm, but not Sunday mornings)
Visit a FamilySearch Centre or Affiliate Library for one-on-one help. They may have institutional accounts with Ancestry, findmypast, and MyHeritage, etc.
Send an email toNorth America Support nasuppoilysearcrt@famh.org
RootsTech and Youtube have hundreds of FamilySearch videos to help you
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=familysearch+tree
Staying on task
Did you forget who you were working on last time? Find them quickly in Recents list.
Since it is a website, you can bookmark frequently used pages. e,g, Jane Coles
Forgot how to get back to the Home screen? Click the FamilySearch Logo.
Use the To Do List on the Home page.
Using historical records to prove and expand your pedigree
It is often said that "Genealogy without documentation is mythology." and "Sources prove your pedigree,"
Some Record Hints include people who are not yet in Family Tree, so add them. For example, the 1881 census will list children who were not yet born in the 1871 census.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/linker?pal=/ark:/61903/1:1:Q274-ZJC6&id=MN22-4Y9 (French family)
I plan to post my notes for this presentation on my main blog
https://billbuchanan.blogspot.com/ (Just google billbuchanan genealogy)
Using information found elsewhere
A free add-on called www.recordseek.com allows you to add Sources from other websites Look up recordseek on Youtube for instructions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocwLBUNvRBs&ab_channel=GenealogyGenie
My family history journey
Brad told the story of how I first became interested in family history.
Ten years later in 1962, I became more serious about finding my Buchanan ancestors.
I packed up a bunch of blank family group records and travelled to Neepawa, Manitoba, where my dad was born. At the local newspaper I asked if I could see obituaries for my great grandparents. As I was transcribing the information one of the newspaper employees suggested that I contact Mervin Buchanan, the manager of the Windsor Salt plant. Mervin was interested in Buchanan family history. I talked to him about my quest, and he asked me to stay with his family. And after supper he would take me to visit knowledgeable relatives in surrounding towns. During the daytime I would interview people living in town. After 3 days I returned home with a huge part of my Buchanan family history.
Another milestone was discovering that some relatives had created a Buchanan Family Tree Book for my family. I discovered this quite unexpectedly. The book was out of print, but one of my family history contacts sent me her own copy for my personal use. She said, "I am in my 90s and live with my daughter's family. I can always use her copy of the book". I made 10 photocopies and sent one of them to her. When personal computers became available in the 1980s I bought the Personal Ancestral File software and input the data from the book into a computer database, and sent copies of the GEDCOM file to interested people.
Over the years I have probably owned a dozen personal family history websites, but only one survives -at least in part. FamilySearch has made it much easier to keep my family history online. I currently have a family blog at https://billbuchanan.blogspot.com/ and a Familysearch blog at https://billsfamilyhistorycenter.blogspot.com/ I have no idea how long Blogger will be in operation so I have put copies of my blogger archives in FamilySearch.
And your journey ...
My journey began before the internet, when contacting individuals, and government services and archives was done by mail or occasionally by long distance phone calls.
We are now in a different age. But the basic idea is the same. If you are just starting to build a family tree, find out what living relatives know, and find out from them how to contact any family historians in your family. Expand your research net, and make your questions polite and easily understandable. Find out what official records are available and how to access them. The FamilySearch Research Wiki in the Search Menu can usually tell you this. https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page
(demo of Canada)
Web searches and social media have greatly expanded the possibilities.
Online obituaries have become excellent sources e.g. Rev Howard Steinburg Chatham Ontario
https://mckinlayfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/4593/Howard-Steinburg/obituary.html
You may find information you are looking for in Facebook, Blogger, digitized books, FindAGrave or elsewhere online. FamilySearch chat messages can be an easy way to contact people who already share an interest in the history of your family. I would feel shackled if I did not have access to Google's various services: Search, Maps, Translate, digitized books, gmail, YouTube and so forth.
It is easier with the internet, but it still requires effort. But your work can be a lasting legacy for future generations of your family.
And you will meet the most wonderful people on your journey, who can become life-long friends.
I have found myself travelling to unexpected places at the invitation of distant cousins that I met through our shared love of family history.
Your journey should be faster than mine, and i hope it brings you joy and satisfaction as mine has.
Suggestions
Use what you know to discover what you do not know, working backwards in time.
Working in a shared tree means that if you can trace your family back a few generations you may connect to multiple earlier generations that other users have already added.
There are also free mobile apps (for your phone or tablet) that gave access to FamilySearch.
The ability to add old photos, stories, etc, is wonderful. As you add them, connect them to the people. They help us get to know our ancestors' families.
Online Vital Records are another wonderful resource, when they are available. e,g,
https://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/d68ef71d-3776-41a5-bfe7-5404425c7469
Religious Records often go back much further than government records. FamilySearch has copies of many of these for various religious denominations.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KC2F-W4J
I also have family trees on Ancestry and MyHeritage as ways of helping lost cousins to find me.
Chat messages can bring big dividends. Two years ago I received a message from a total stranger in Scotland basically saying "I see that you have Wilfred Anderson and Jessie Evans in a family tree. After Jessie's death, Wilf married my widowed mother. I have inherited Jessie's old family photos. Would you like them?"
I knew Jessie and Wilf personally. My answer was an enthusiastic "Yes. Please" She brushed off my efforts to pay the shipping costs. And she also sent me a link to scanned copies so that if the postal services lost the box of prints, I would still have digital copies. Obviously, Sarah is my kind of person.
These photos have now been uploaded to FamilySearch Memories, and tagged to my relatives' records. I colorized some of the black and white photos by using the colorizing service which is part of my MyHeritage account.
It has probably been 10 years since I have done a presentation at a family history conference and I am looking forward to this one. - Bill
Invite your family, friends, and neighbors
Join
us for an exciting day of discovery! Saturday October 19th
Classes
for all levels: Whether
you're a beginner or an expert, there's something for everyone.
Free
Admission: Get
one-on-one help from experienced genealogists.
Expert
Assistance: Experts
from the AGS and Alberta Archives will also be available.
Exclusive
Resources: Learn
from 16 different talks throughout the day.
Engaging
Presentations:
Discover your roots and uncover your family history!
FamilySearch and the Alberta Genealogical Society Edmonton Branch have collaborated to present a one-day FREE genealogy Fair on Saturday, October 19th from 9 am to 3:30 pm, at the church located at 14325 – 53 Ave NW Edmonton. (Lunch will NOT be provided, so please bring your own.)
An exciting lineup of classes over a variety of topics presented by experienced researchers will provide valuable and helpful direction for your genealogy journey. (Also see the attached poster.)
Please
register and
view the program, NOW,
using this link
https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/edmonton-family-history-fair
The Family
History Centre will also be open and consultants will be there to help one
on one.
Class
Schedule:
Block
One 10:10-11:10
Using
Canadian census records to find your ancestors - Marion Rex
Howard
Getting started with FamilySearch – You can do it! -
Virginia Crawford
Elevate your cemetery sleuthing - A guide to
searching AGS cemetery books in Internet Archive. - Diane
Wozniak
Create and share your family history through videos. -
Lianne Kruger
Block
Two 11:20-12:20
Your
life story - A gift to generations. - Bob Layton
FamilySearch
research - Getting started and moving forward. - Bill
Buchanan
Genealogical Gold – An Introduction to Genealogical
Resources at the Provincial Archives of Alberta (PAA) - Jaclyn
Landry
Strategies for organizing your research material. - Neal
Finn
Block
Three 1:20-2:20
Beyond
the basics - Mastering DNA for genealogical research. - Ellen
Thompson-Jennings
Chinese Genealogy - Tracing One’s Roots is a
virtue. - Tony Poon
FNMI: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada -
Lianne Kruger
Find your family’s story in FamilySearch’s
digital library. - Nestor Martinez
Block
Four 2:30-3:30
Exploring
the FamilySearch Wiki - Roy Jaffray
A new life for old family
photos. - John Chalmers
Cracking Crimes with your DNA. - Bradley
Pierson
Protecting sensitive family information in genealogy. -
Kelcey Carlisle
My
brother invited me to come with him to
visit
the grave of our aunt Margaret (always called
Maggie).
Maggie died in
Stettler, Alberta in
1936 aged
26.
Her
husband and children are now deceased
as well, There is probably no one alive who knew her personally. She is almost forgotten.
She was the closest of Dad's siblings in age and his closest friend among his siblings. He was shaving on a Friday when he received the shocking news of her death. For years he would avoid shaving on a Friday because it brought back the painful memory. The song "When You and I were Young Maggie" would bring tears to his eyes.
Mom kept a special place in her heart for this sister-in-law that she had never met. And when Mom passed at age 98, she left some money in her estate to put a headstone on Maggie's unmarked grave. This has been done. (Thanks Mom.)
On August 21, Lloyd and I set off to visit Maggie's grave and view the new headstone. While we were there I offered a prayer at her grave. My brother and I reflected on the lives of Aunt Maggie and her family. It was a special time. (Maggie, we never met you, but your life is remembered.)