FamilySearch - Getting started and moving forward now
This is the text of my presentation at Edmonton Family History Fair on 19 October 2024
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.
posted by Bill Buchanan | 10:10 AM
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