Serendipity Finds in Familysearch Record Search Browse

Yesterday was a day of interesting phone calls, especially those requesting me to speak for various groups. Most of the current requests are looking for someone to guide attendees in learning how to research familysearch.org with the recent changes. While the browse section on the record search page has been there for some time, very few people are comfortable using the digitized records that are so valuable in searching for our ancestors.

Last week my post was on using the family tree and printing of pedigree charts and family group records. These are valuable tools for when we turn to the record collections and want to find original records. The pages that are indexed and have the actual documents are the easiest to use. Birth, death, marriage, census, land and probate records open the doors to knowing we are connecting to the right people and will usually link us to further generations in our families.

Next come those that are indexed, but do not provide the digitized documents. These provide us direction for accessing records that were previously unknown to us. One recent such record lead me to call a county courthouse for information on how to order a will that was listed in the index. They were shocked and wanted to know how I found the information. A short time later they sent me a digitized copy of the will which mentioned only one of twelve children, the youngest who is my husband's third great grandfather. That was a wonderful serendipity moment.

Finally the last category is the records that are not indexed, but are digitized. This is the most challenging part of the group to use, but they can deliver great information. My first experience with these records was in searching for the family of my husband's second great grandparents from St. Jacques, Montcalm, Quebec, Canada. Previous to locating them online I ordered the index for them on microfilm. With this list in hand it was fairly easy to find the christening records for ten of their eleven children, marriage records and death records for this family.

The trick to using the records is in knowing that the records are usually listed by localities, which narrows down the amount of records to be searched. In many of the record sets there are indexes included in the listing or within the records themselves. Recently someone contacted me to assist another person preparing to travel to Italy. They wanted to know how to find more information about this family and then be able to contact living people in the native town. With the information they had, town name and dates of events, a quick discovery was made of the marriage record. This record listed the couple and their parents, including where each was born.

While knowing French, Italian or whatever the native language is would help, with the aid of word lists and reading a few of the entries one becomes familiar with the context and thus able to abstract the important details. Making or downloading a copy for future reference is important as well. If you need more assistance you can go to the Facebook page for that particular location for familysearch. Look for classes locally or online that discuss these wonderful features of familysearch.org. Your local family history center has staff who are eager to assist you in this research.

Go today and check out these features of familysearch.org. Every time a new record is discovered through this site I feel serendipity all around me. This is probably due to the fact that up until the last couple of years these records had limited access. People feel challenged in using unindexed records and working in foreign languages, but don't let this hold you back. Enjoy some serendipity when you make one of these fantastic finds.

Pedigree Charts and Family Group Records

Long the standard forms for recording genealogy information, pedigree charts and family group records took a mighty leap forward this week when they became printable on familysearch.org. Randy Seaver wrote a post about this today and early in the day after reading his post it was time to test the newest updates to the familysearch.org website.

The first test was for my husband's and my pedigree charts. The first four generations for each of us is pretty much filled in, but there were some missing pieces of information. Some of the dates and places for events were entered long ago when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1978 encouraged members to submit four generations of family data.

Taking a yellow highlighter to the missing/ or approximated dates and places it becomes apparent where there is need for updating these details. Much of this data is found in my personal database, so the updates will be fairly simple to do. Several of the places are lacking the county and one is an approximated place for birth based on their place of marriage.

For my husband's pedigree chart the missing data includes marriage information for his parents, paternal grandparents, paternal great grandparents, maternal great grandparents.  There are about twenty of these details that need to be added or corrected.

For my pedigree chart the missing data includes marriage information for my parents, two sets of maternal great grandparents, and one set of paternal great grandparents, My mother's information is missing and yet his mother's information is there, both are living. There are about twenty seven of these details that need to be added or corrected.

Our immediate family group record has fourteen details that need to be corrected. None of the LDS data shows, but it did show on other family group records where the people are deceased. For members of the LDS church the nicest feature on the pedigree chart and family group record is the notations for temple work.

To print the charts is very simple, but one should scan the pages before printing to determine which contain actual information. At the family history center today I worked with two people demonstrating how the process works. It is possible to also download the information and eliminate the need for paper copies. Waiting to print until the corrections are made would be more productive. These very professional looking charts will be nice additions to the family history collections of our ancestors.

One great bonus with the family group records is that some viewed today actually included notes and sources on the individuals. These were the exception, but hopefully in the future they will be more common. So, who is going to enter and share that information? That would be us, the current day researcher and maintainers of the family history. The updates are still coming to the website, but we need to work with what we have now. Do note that some of the information may appear to be missing, but in reality is hiding in the background waiting for us to look for possible duplicates for each individual.

What are you waiting for? Go to familysearch.org, sign in, go to the family tree and starting with you and your immediate family work across the pedigree chart to examine each family group. If you do not have the missing data, it is time to start researching in the wonderful records collections under the browse section of the website. Still feeling a little confused? Contact your local family history center or consultant for some help in navigating what is the most wonderful genealogy system in the world.

The Genealogical Forum of Oregon Special Interest Groups

Today the Genealogical Forum of Oregon was a beehive of activity. A wide variety of genealogical researchers were present the entire time, from 10 am to 3 pm. For the first two hours the Virginia Interest Group held the attention of the fifteen attendees. Two, Dawn and Linda, made the two hour drive from Eugene to attend. Judi Scott presented information on Revolutionary War ancestors and locating their military and land records. It was my first time attending this group and even though I do not have Virginia ancestors, many people that I work for do.

For the next three hours my work kept me out front, where many others were working on computers and utilizing the books in the GFO collection. From 1 pm to 3 pm the German Interest Group met, and Tom O'Brien presented the discussion about finding current day contacts in Germany. Having attended his presentation in another venue and with the need to complete the task before me, I was not able to attend. From the front we could hear the lively participation of the attendees.

The other special interest groups include: British, Computer, DNA, Family Tree Maker, Genealogy Book Group (new), Illinois, Irish, and Writer's Forum. Each group has a coordinator who provides updates for the meetings and is a contact for the participants. Many do not meet over the summer; meet every other month or quarterly. The GFO calendar found on the website at www.gfo.org provides the current schedules, as does the Insider newsletter.

The camaraderie within the groups is contagious. They assist each other in research problems and take turns presenting topics of discussion pertinent to the group. There was a scrapbooking group but it is currently taking a break. The amount of current groups is a good fit for the GFO. If someone has an interest in starting a new group this is encouraged. The new Genealogy Book Group provides an opportunity to read nonfiction books where authors explore their personal identity through the history of their family and connections to the past.

So, if you have some free time on a Saturday or Sunday take the opportunity to advance your knowledge by attending a special interest group. Most Genealogical Societies have some types of groups similar to these. Whether it is beginner groups or more advanced, there is surely something of interest for almost everyone. Encourage friends and family who are not members to attend and you just might spark an interest in genealogy within them. The GFO groups are open to the public and free to attend. Usually they have an email list or online presence, so get connected and stay informed about these great educational opportunities.

Memorial Day - Remembering Our Family Members Who Served

This is a day for quiet reflection of the people in our family who have given military service for our country. They are one of the important reasons for creating a family history and not just a genealogy for our families. Their stories are told through pictures, text and sometimes videos. One large notebook for an honored man, Ben Homer Davis, sits in my office waiting for me to finish scanning the pages documenting his military service in the Marines and later the Navy, including World War II. His story waits to be compiled and written.

There are men and women from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam War and many other military engagements who we honor as a family. Learning about their service and the time period that they lived in will help us to appreciate the blessings that we enjoy as a result of their service. To those who have lost family members in military service our love and appreciation is also directed to you. Many have had to move forward in life without the companionship of a spouse, partner or child. We live in a great country and seeing our flag fly in honor of these heroes is a great reminder today and every day of their sacrifices on our behalf.

 

Ben Homer Davis

1913-1997

 

PowerPoint Presentations and Webinars

In 2002, right after graduating from BYU, I presented my first genealogy class on how to do Cemetery Research at our local Family History Center. Since that time my list of classes has grown to twenty, with presentations to about twenty four groups. For some groups I presented numerous times in the past eleven years and to a few only once. Usually the number of classes is one to two at a time, but there were a couple of all day seminars of three or four classes.  Most of the groups are here in Oregon, but some classes were in Washington and at BYU in Utah.

Gathering Cemetery Information for My Mother-In-Law's Late Present

So, my husband talks with his mother on Sunday and she mentions that she is going to Missouri and may visit some family gravesites. Then I of course print out a list of people in his family buried there. Looking online for information I come across several of them in findagrave.com with lots of data and pictures. She will be getting a late Mother's Day present.

Why Researchers Need to Search all Available Websites

Last week at the end of one of my genealogy classes an attendee approached me about an ancestor by the name of Ami who fought and died in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Being the curious researcher that I am, I decided to look for someone by that name in online records about that battle. Known as Custer's Last Stand, there is a large monument erected to the memory of the soldiers that died in this battle.