I Made it Home!

I finally made it home from the St. George Expo! I went over to the family history center shortly after that! How is that for all genealogy, all the time! More posts from classes to follow this week! I just need to catch my breath!

A Minor Interruption!

More to post from the conference, but dealing with a minor interruption at the moment! Winter weather forced me (and a zillion others) to stop and spend the night in Cedar City! So, as soon as I make it home I will post the rest of my fun conference info! All I want to say right now is KUDOS to Holly Hansen and her help for making the conference the success that it was!

Article in Mormon Times

Mormon Times (published by Deseret News) has an article about FamilySearch that gives you so idea of recent changes. It's a good read!

LIfe After the IGI

Robert Raymond, Used with permission

 

 

 

Is there life after the IGI? Yes there is! This class gave quite a bit of history of the IGI and what it's purpose was. Each entry identifies one person or one marriage. The IGI existed primarily to assist members of the LDS Church to verify completion of temple ordinances. The IGI WAS NOT designed as a genealogical tool! Now, with the genealogical community shifting and more people doing genealogy (LDS or not), the design had to change.There were many shortcomings with the IGI and as technology has advanced, these shortcomings have become quite glaring! The new design of FamilySearch IS designed as a genealogical tool! That is the goal going forward. If you want to know more about the IGI and where that information has gone, go to the FamilySearch Wiki!

Little Gray Keys Everywhere!

This is what I have been looking at all day today. It has been wonderful, but I think I have reached my limit! More posts to follow!

Changes to New FamilySearch Website

Some significant changes have been made to the New FamilySearch Website as of February 2011. You will want to look at this. A major change is that the database is starting to roll out to the public. Please see the changes so that you can know what they are and how you can help yourself, patrons, and ward members.

Dear MYRTLE

Dear MYRTLE's class talked about using Ancestry's Family Tree feature to help your research. I have played with it a little, but I never realized how much I was missing! Now I'm ready to dive right in! Dear MYRTLE suggests that we follow four steps in getting started with Ancestry's Family Tree: 1) Create GEDCOM (export) file and privatize living individuals, 2) Upload GEDCOM (follow instructions!), 3) Check for the shaking leaf (quick search). 4) Check on the magnifying glass (deeper search). Play with it a little. Try it out with your family information.

A parting note from Dear MYRTLE...if you find information from Ancestry, don't forget that you have the responsibility to give...share your information!

Opening Session-Glen Rawson-Where Ol' Dogs Learn New Tricks: The Power and Drama of Original Records!

The opening session of the St. George began with Glen Rawson. He is the producer of the program "History of the Saints" that airs on KSL. He said that when he first started on this project he made the mistake of saying "that he couldn't make a show interesting from dusty old documents!" WRONG! One of the things that changed his mind was that he was visiting with Ron Esplin from the Church Archives (?). Brother Esplin handed him a book to look at. It was old and dusty! Brother Esplin asked Brother Rawson if he knew what the book was. Brother Rawson replied that he didn't. This dusty old book was Joseph Smith's first journal. What a treasure!

Brother Rawson said that "old records give you a sense of purpose, belonging, culture, and heritage." When he started the program about the Joseph Smith papers, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS/Mormons) gave him the charge to instill faith! These dusty old books belonged to real people who felt joy, pain, and suffering just like we do! We need to take the time to tell those stories. Brother Rawson says to "not miss the history by ignoring the original documents."

Brother Rawson went on to tell some individual stories of Mormon pioneers' lives that can be broadly applied to our day. He mentioned that researching individual records ties you to the people, you get the whole, complete story that is unfiltered, and you meet people on their terms.

Another quote from Brother Rawson..."The past is a foreign country...they do things differently there." He couldn't remember who this quote was from, but the meaning is clear. Our ancestors did things differently, just as just as we do things differently. Laws were different in their day. Laws are different in our day. Don't be so quick to judge and wonder why they did what they did. Our descendants will also do things differently from the way we do! Appreciate and learn life's lessons from your ancestors!

As a closing, Brother Rawson encourages us to tell the stories of the past, so that we may inspire and change our lives in the present.

I Lied! :)

I forgot that I needed to report that our Grove Creek Family History Center has the Family History Library edition of Ancestry.com. I had reported that it was the Library Edition, but I checked it today and the title page says "Family History Library Edition." For those of you who want to know the difference, please go to the Ancestry Insider Blog (22 February 2011)  for an explanation! Woo Hoo! Is that a word? Anyway, lets get crackin'! We have all heard many moans and groans from patrons that have missed Ancestry.com in the family history center. Now is the time to bring them all back! Please announce or put this in your ward bulletin so that ward members are aware of this change. For those of you who aren't family consultants, we'd love to see you in the Grove Creek FHC.

I Made It!

Tomorrow morning starts the St. George Family History Expo. The opening session is "Where Ol' Dogs Learn New Tricks: The Power and Drama of Original Records." Well, this ol' dog is ready to learn some new tricks! Staying with the whole dog theme, my first class will be "Lassie! Go for Free Genealogy Help!" Wait up! Lassie is on her way! See you tomorrow! :)

On My Way to St. George Family History Expo!

 

The Family History Expo is finally here! I will be blogging during the expo (Friday and Saturday) so check back here often to see what is happening.

Class Opportunities at BYU Family History Library

Classes coming up on February 27, 2011 at the BYU Family History Library!

Do You Want to Know What Was Really Talked About at the RootsTech Conference?

No Internet service this weekend made for no posting but on Granite Geneaolgy, Sue Maxwell posted and linked to three great articles about RootsTech from the LDS Church News publication. This publication is part of the Deseret News newspaper on Saturday mornings. The articles (February 19, 2011) are very informative and give you some idea of the direction family history is heading! That is your reading assignment for today!  :)

Keep it Going!

In my attempts to keep the spirit of RootsTech 2011 firmly planted in my brain, I went searching for videos from the conference. One of my favorite keynote speakers was Curt Witcher, Manager of the Historical Genealogy Dept. of the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I enjoyed him so much because it is obvious that he is passionate about what he does. This is a podcast that he did at the conference. It is a little long, but I thought that maybe you could catch the spirit of RootsTech too!

Can You Believe It?

Who would have thought that there would be a prime-time television program on the subject of genealogy? Hard to believe! If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, now is the time to do it! Ignore those naysayers who complain that the spotlight is on celebrities! This has generated interest in family history. Stories touch hearts! Run with it! If you have missed the first couple of episodes of Who Do You Think You Are click on the link to watch them! Next up, Rosie O'Donnell, this Friday night (2/18/11)! Check your local listings for the time.

Jay Verkler from the RootsTech Conference!

 Jay Verkler from FamilySearch was the opening keynote speaker at the RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City last weekend. The Ancestry Insider was one of the "official" bloggers at RootsTech and he has done a great job of summarizing the opening comments. Read them here! Hopefully, you will catch the vision of where genealogy and technology are going in the future (at warp speed, I might add!). It's exciting!

Richard G. Scott on Technology and Genealogy

Listen to what an apostle of the Lord has to say about technology and genealogy.

There's a New Blog in Town!

Does technology have you befuddled? There is a new resource that has just been launched by FamilySearch. It's called FamilyTech and it bills itself as a resource for technology tips for genealogists and family historians. Want to know how to use Twitter for genealogy purposes? How about camera basics for the genealogists? Can you use Android devices for genealogy? These are just a sampling of the topics covered on FamilyTech. The great thing is that if you are knowledgeable in a certain area, you are encouraged to contribute to the site! Jump on the technology bandwagon! You can run, but you can't hide!

Did You Hear?

We now have access to Ancestry.com in our center. It is the library version, not the total version, but better than the institutional version! Did you get that? Right now this access is a test agreement between FamilySearch and Ancestry.com. The testing will go on for a few months before it is evaluated again. At that time, there may be some changes made. This information was given at the RootsTech conference this past weekend. Jay Verkler of FamilySearch and Tim Sullivan of Ancestry.com were both in attendance. We appreciate having this resource in our FHC. Check out the other paid subscription resources that we have in our center. They are accessed through the Family History Library portal. We are in the process of making that portal easier to find!

19th Century British Library Newspaper Digital Archive
Alexander Street Press – The American Civil War
Find My Past
Footnote.com
The Genealogist
Genline Family Finder
Godfrey Memorial Library
Heritage Quest Online
Historical Map Works Library Edition
Paper Trail (from the Oregon-California Trails Association)
World Vital Records

What is Family History?

As I learn to post on this blog, I find that there are so many great examples out there! As I am attending the RootsTech Conference, I am finding that there is an amazing group of bloggers out there that write so well what I am trying to say. An example of capturing the excitement of family history is Elisa Scharton who writes on mormonmommyblogs.com. Check out her "Boy Was I Wrong Article!" Maybe this article will inspire others to view family history differently. Maybe we will get past my son's observation that "Mom, whenever people ask you what you do for fun, you say family history. Do you ever notice that their eyes glaze over?" Thanks CAM for the vote of confidence!

Legacy 7.5 is Here!

 

The long awaited 7.5 is here! I spent a couple of days last week playing with the new features that work with new FamilySearch and I have to say that I am impressed! I play with many of the database programs but Legacy has always been my first choice. Maybe that is because I think the way that it is set up! I particularly like the way that Legacy writes sources for me. Here are some of the new features of Legacy. 

• Match your Legacy individuals with FamilySearch individuals
• Combine potential duplicates that exist at FamilySearch
• View the real-time ordinance status of individuals (LDS)
• Reserve and print Family Ordinance Requests (LDS)
• Assign your ordinance cards to others and track their progress (LDS)
• Share information back and forth (optional) between Legacy and FamilySearch

Legacy's free standard download works with new FamilySearch. If you want to go with more bells and whistles, go for the deluxe version! There are lots of good programs out there and there isn't one set "perfect" program. In the next few weeks, I will be highlighting the other programs that are certified to work with new FamilySearch! As a side note, Legacy 1.0 is now available for Android devices! Go mobile!

No Takers!

Unfortunately, I didn't have any takers on my tickets for the St. George Family History Expo. I realize that the prize only fit a select group of people, so I will chalk up this attempt to experience! I also found out about this a little late and only had two days to conduct a contest! Never fear, I will try again in the future!

Chasing Women?

Do you "chase women?" Are you looking for those elusive female ancestors? LegacyFamilyTree.com is the place to go for scheduled webinars about a variety of topics that will help you in your research. Just click on the training tab and then scroll down to webinars. "Chasing Women" is just one of the webinars coming up. The nice thing about these webinars is that they are archived for 30 days and you can listen and learn at your leisure.

Come on Guys! I've Got Tickets to Give Away!

I know I am a novice at this, but I NEED SOME ENTRIES FOR THIS CONTEST! Please pass the message around!

WANT FREE TICKETS?

 

Dear Blogging Friends,

I am so excited to attend the St. George Family History Expo 2011, which will be held in St. George, Utah on February 25-26, 2011.  As a Blogger of Honor, I have been given two tickets for free registration to that conference. If you are interested in attending the conference, I have a contest whereby you can qualify for the tickets. The contest is pretty simple and has to do with the topic that I am personally very intrigued with. The topic is “Using Social Networks for Genealogy.” 

Here’s how the contest works:

·      Contest begins NOW and ends at midnight on February 8, 2011. (I realize this is short notice, but I have faith in you, my blogging friends!)

·      To qualify for this drawing you must submit (to: rayannemelick@gmail.com )

o   a question about how to use social networking in genealogy that you would like answered at the conference, or

o   an idea that you have used to enhance your genealogy research through the use of social networks

o   your entry must also include name, address, phone number and email address

·      All entries received by midnight February 8, 2011 will be entered into a random drawing.

·      Two winners will be selected and each winner will receive one ticket for free registration to the conference.

My commitment to you is to share with you what I learn about this topic at the conference in a future blog posting. Best of luck! I look forward to meeting my winners in St. George!

Rayanne

Why Come to the Grove Creek Family History Center?

Family History Center located in the Grove Creek Stake Building, south side

Did you know that the Grove Creek FHC has lots of great information about Pleasant Grove in earlier times? For instance, did you know that we have (on microfilm) the American Fork Citizen Newspapers from January 1914-March 1945? These microfilms also include the Pleasant Grove Review and the Lehi Banner! On microfilm, we have the separate Pleasant Grove Review Newspaper for the years 1984-1995. We also have Pleasant Grove cemetery records, some ward records, and other assorted miscellaneous records. If you have Pleasant Grove ancestry, please come check out these resources! To see what else we have in this FHC, go to the link on the right side of the page under Grove Creek FHC permanent films. Hope to see you soon!

Link Has Been Fixed!

The link to the catalog of permanent microfilms in the Grove Creek FHC has been fixed! Thanks for the heads-up on the broken link!

I'm So Excited!!!

Follow Vanessa Williams as she travels from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to the historical battlefields of South Carolina to discover the amazing stories of her ancestors who were trailblazers in the classroom, the courtroom and beyond. Learn more on NBC.com   Watch a preview

More BYU Classes on February 13, 2011