Step Six: Register on new.familysearch.org

This is for LDS church members. Our Redlands Temple district has rolled out the new family search program that will enable you to post and preserve all your family history data on their site and submit names to the temple from your home computer.



There has been some confusion about getting to the church's new site.

Here is the problem:

There is no www in the address !

If you do use a www in front of new.familysearch.org you will be directed to a site that has nothing to with the church's site.


I will give you the correct address.

Clear your address bar and

just type in new.familysearch.org


You could also type in

http://new.familysearch.org


or


https://new.familysearch.org



When you see the home page with President Monson's picture on it, you know you are at the right place.


AGAIN...DO NOT USE WWW


OK...once you get on the site, please register! You will have a username and password, then, to access it.

You will need to get your church membership number (from your temple recommend or the ward clerk) and you confirmation date.

OK, that's your assignment: Register at new.familysearch.org

Step Five: Make a Paper Packet of Your First Five Generations

Hello everyone! Just got back from a 16 day vacation to Maryland, Missouri, and Wisconsin. I also was on vacation from the computer so it is now time to resume this project!

My project is to help you become familiar with and competent in family history work.

So far I have introduced you to the 2 main charts:

the pedigree sheet

and the family group record.


I have encouraged you to print off copies of these charts
and fill them in with your own handrwiting. Do this if you are just starting
to do family history work for the first time and have not had anyone in your family ever submit anything to the church's Ancestral File.

Some of you already have pedigrees and family group
records on the Ancestral File on the church's original family history site which is at www.familysearch.org . If you know that this information is correct, you can print the pedigrees and family group charts and compile them in a neat paper stack and clip them together. Do this for the first 5 generations.

Why?

Because you will have a manageable stack of papers with information that is, for the most part, verifiable. You will use this stack when you are doing research to verify the information or to fill in the empty spaces on the charts.


Here is another reason to have your 1st 5 generations on paper....

So it will be easier to transpose the information to computer programs.
(Such as PAF or the new family search program)
I have seen too many people riffle through bags of loose papers while
trying to input this data into the computer. It is frustrating and time
comsuming. When you have at least your first 5 generations all on
paper, it seems (at least to me) very user friendly. I am a paper person.

I realize many of you prefer to use your black-berries or palm pilots, etc. As the song goes, "To Each His Own".

But when I am on the phone with Great Uncle Chester, I will be using
paper and pencil to record any names,dates and places he gives me.
I will have my family group sheets and pedigree chart right there
with me by the phone and write in them as he speaks. If he is not
sure, I will put a question mark by it. I will also make a footnote
that this information was given to me by Chester and the
date he gave it to me. Some of you will prefer to whip out
your Palm Pilot, etc. and type in the information as you
receive it direct from the voice on the telephone. That is fine.

But I love my stack of papers all neatly held together with a binder
clip. I love looking through the pages and reading the information
and becoming more familiar with my people each time I do it.
I have used my "packet" to enter the information onto the new family
since I never did (nor did anyone in my family) submit anything to the
church's Ancestral File.

(I will explain Ancestral File later but suffice it to say that the new family search program aims to absorb the contents of Ancestral File as members examine and clean up the information about their families
who have passed away.

OK...now.....Here is a project for you.

Make a packet of papers for yourself that include a 5 generation pedigree chart and enough family group charts to accomodate the couples listed on the pedigree chart.
You will need at least 16 (and more if a direct ancestor had more than one wife.)

Number the pages. I like to put the number in the right hand corner, with a circle around it, and then color it with a yellow highlighter.

Make a cover sheet that lists each page (see photo above...I made this packet for my husband )by page number...and the contents of the page. If you circle the number and highlight it in a color, it is more reader friendly.

Now when you start doing family history work in earnest, this stack (which can easily be carried around) will serve you well! It will make your experience on the new family search site much more enjoyable.


Have I explained what 5 generations means?

You are generation one, the starting point in your family history. You will go backward in time now...
Your parents are the second generation back.
Your grandparents are the third generation back.
Your great granparents are the fourth generation back.
Your great great grandparents are the fifth generation back.

Step Four: Know What A Family Group Record Is, Get Some and Fill Them Out

The Pedigree Chart is like the skeleton and we "flesh" it out with Family Group Sheets, also known as Family Group Records or family group Charts. These charts show the mom and the dad and the kids and all their vital information.
("Vital Information" means name, date and place of birth, date and place of marriage, name of spouse, death date and place.

If you see the term "Vital Records" it means records of the 3 main events of a person's life: Their BIRTH, their MARRIAGE, their DEATH.


The pictures at the beginning of this post are 2 examples of Family Group Record forms.

Each couple on your pedigree chart has to have a Family Group record.

If one of your direct ancestors had more than one spouse, please make out a separate group sheet for them.

Example: My great grandfather Anton had a first wife named Josephine who died in childbirth while having her first child. I am not descended from her, but she is a wife of my great grandpa and so I will have a Family Group Chart with Anton as the husband and Josephine as the wife. I put #1 by the word wife on my sheet. Anton married again to a lady named Rose and he had 15 children with her. She is wife #2. I am descended from her. This couple has a family group record. Then Rose died and Anton married a third time to a lady named Frances. I made one more family group sheet with Anton as husband and Frances as wife. He had 2 children with his 3rd wife. So Anton has 3 family group sheets.

When you enter information such as this onto a computer program, they have it set up so you can click on "Other Spouses" and fill in the information.


My assignment to you: Go to a site that has free printable family group records and print some off. Start filling them out. You can do one for your parents quite easily, usually. You can also probably do one for each set of grandparents you have.
And now is the time to start asking about your great grandparents...ask people who knew them well...and so forth.


One site to go to,of course, is www.familysearch.org
Got to Forms on that first page and click on it..and then find Family Group Record Form and click on PDF. Make it 100% size and print it off. If you have a large number of children for a couple (like I did with Anton and Rose's 15 children, you'll need extra sheets.

My absolute favorite paper form for the Family Group Sheet is the one by Stevenson's Geneolgy Center at Provo, Utah. Their online site is

www.sgenealogy.com

This sheet is very easy on the eyes!!! (sorry I do not have a picture of it on this post)

Step Three: How to Fill Out Your Pedigree Chart

Sorry about that last post. It was quite long.

I hope you did print off a Pedigree chart from www.familysearch.org (Go to the site and on that home page, on the right, the 4th line down from
Get Started on Your Family History, you'll see some words..find the word Forms. Click on it. Then look at the list and find
Pedigree Chart Forms. Click on the words PDF.)

Then print it.

Now take it in your hands. This is a pedigree chart. It also looks like a tree if you hold it with the increasing number of "branches" towards the top of the page.
Hence the term: Family Tree.

Put yourself as number one.

Here are the basic rules of a pedigree chart:

1. The dads are always on top.

2. The moms always are listed as their MAIDEN NAME. Always.

3. Date are to be written like 23 July 1879 not July 23, 1879. It is date - month - year.

4. For United States locations, you should always try to have a city, county, state.
Example Chicago, Cook, Illinois. (Chicago is in Cook county)


Can you fill out your ancestors names on this pedigree chart from memory?

Spend some time filling this sheet out. Call older relatives for more info. Use a pencil..this is a work sheet for you. It is easier to erase with pencil.

Look at the names, dates, places carefully.
Are there any discrepancies? Does the information jive?

If there is a different name to the spelling, include it in parentheses. For example...My Great Grandpa spelled his name Anton Cyra for most of his life, then in 1930's, he changed it to Anton Cera. So I write Anton Cyra (Cera).

Step Two: Get Acquainted with "Familysearch"

What is "Familysearch"? It is the LDS Church's family history website.
It is at www.familysearch.org.

If you have any website addresses memorized, it will be this one!

I can still remember when this website made its debut in May of 1999. It was an exciting day in church history and in the history of the world wide web. And it set off a chain reaction of the creation of other geneological websites by other folks and instituions and businesses.

The picture here is of the LDS church's Family History Library. This is where people come to peruse some of the millions of rolls of microfilmed records that the chruch owns and freely shares. We are grateful for the people who travelled to other countries to pave the way for our microfilmers to go in and copy these precious records. We are grateful for the microfilmers who did this "labor of love".

Www.familysearch.org is your link to some of your ancestors, many research helps AND...the holdings of this library!

Because we have www.familysearch.org, we can do many things. Here are just a few of those things.

1. We can download and print off forms such as pedigree charts, family group charts, census forms, research logs, even language helps.


2. We have a direct link to the Social Security Death Index so you can find exact death date and place(and more) of some of your ancestors. My aunt died 5 or 6 months ago but I was not sure exactly of the date and where she died so I looked her up on the Social Security Death Index (click on "Death" on the home page of www.familysearch.org) and there she was!

3. You have access to the Family History Library Catalog so you can see if there are any microfilms, microfiche, books or document collections that will help you in your research. I visited the Salt Lake City Family History Library last year and found my great grandfather's ship passenger card for when he entered the United States at the port of New Orleans. It told me the date and how old he was when he arrived. I found out he was 17 and traveling alone and he declared he was from Germany.

You do not have to go all the way to Salt Lake City to do this research!

You can order films like this on loan for 6 dollars each and view them on the microflim readers at our family History Library here in Victorville. It is fun to research at the library in Salt Lake City because you have experts to help you and the best, most comfortable chairs!

4. You can find the ancestry of milions and millions of people. Why? Because of the 4 Generation Program of the church back in the 70's and 80's when we were all asked to turn in a pedigree and family groups records of our ancestors. In the 90's we were asked to turn the information in on disks. This, along with temple work submission reports created a huge geneological database. Type in some names of your ancestors on the home page and see what comes up.

5. You can view the 1880 Census of the United States of America! (Click on U.S. where it says U.S., British, and Canadian Census Collections on the right hand part of the home page...at about the middle of the page)

I could go on and on, but I may have already overwhelmed you.

Try this: Just go to www.familysearch.org and explore the home page. Click on things and see where they take you. Print a pedigree chart. (click on Forms on that home page.) Have fun! ~Joan

Step One: Know the term "Pedigree Chart"

This is a pedigree chart. It shows your direct ancestors...meaning your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents. In terms of generations, you are generation 1. Your parents are one generation back from you...your grandparents are another generation back..and your great grandparents are yet another generation back. This is a four generation pedigree chart. My favorite is the 5 generation chart.

Next post I will tell you how you can print your own pedigree chart. Some of you may already have one. If you do, get it out and look at it. This is your family history road map. And we have an exciting journey ahead! ~Joan