FamilySearch.org Update January 2012 and Rootstech 2012

FamilySearch.org continues to get better and better!  On or about January 26 there was an update to the website – how do they do that while we are all still using the site?  Please note an update to the website is different from the frequent almost weekly additions of data and images.

What changed?

1. Main Search Screen.  There were changes in the wording of the search screens on the main page at FamilySearch.org, which allows you to search in the collection of Historical records.
2. Browse by Collection (lower part of main screen). Canada now has its own link!  This should save time when you are trying to get to Canadian Historical Record collections.  Similarly there is a new direct link to the United Kingdom.  The All Record Collections link has been moved to the top of the list.
3. Books.  Clicking on the Books tab on the main page takes you to the new FamilySearch Books search rather than the old link which took you to the BYU Books Collection.  There was problems with capacity on the BYU servers so the collection has been moved and additional books have already been added – there are now over 40,000 digitized FH books.  There are also improvements to the search tools. Please try searching for your main family names.
4. Trees.  Take the link to Trees from the main page and you see that the search screen for Trees has undergone major changes.  Most important is the ability to select if you want to search in the Ancestral File, or the Pedigree Resource File (PRF) or both!
5. Uploads to Trees. There is a new link to upload GEDCOMs on the Trees page.  This will shortly replace the old upload to PRF link on the previous FamilySearch.org site (i.e. the old version of FamilySearch.org).   FamilySearch.org has more names in the PRF collection than the old FamilySearch website, and provides more information on the names in PRF including sources – it is no longer just an index.  FamilySearch is discontinuing the distribution of PRF on disk.

What is the Ancestral File (AF)?

A collection of 40 million names submitted to FamilySearch between 1979 and 2003.  See the article in the FamilySearch Research wiki 
https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ancestral_File
for more information

What is the Pedigree Resource File (PRF)?

Collection of genealogies submitted to FamilySearch since 1999 in GEDCOM format.  PRF includes some sources which makes it different from AF.  The collection on FamilySearch.org contains over 200 million records (compared to 120 million on the old version of FamilySearch). Initially the information was shared on CD and then later submissions were shared on DVD.  There are about 150 disks. FamilySearch is discontinuing the distribution on disk.  For more information go to the FamilySearch Research Wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Pedigree_Resource_File

What is a GEDCOM?

An  ”acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunications. GEDCOM is a data structure created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for storing and exchanging genealogical information so that many different computer programs can use it. It is identified by the file type “.ged”.” See the wiki article for the rest of the information on GEDCOMs.  
https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/GEDCOM

Rootstech Sessions available live online!

We hope that you got the notice that 14 sessions of the Rootstech conference being held in Salt Lake City on Feb 2 to 4 will be broadcast live!!!  Go to
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b0de542dc933cfcb848d187ea&id=e0eae27d25&e=1944fc8d1d
for details.

If you didn’t get the notice please go to familyseach.org/serve and make sure that you are registered as a consultant, FH Centre Director or priesthood leader so that you are on the email list to receive updates from FamilySearch.

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Don’t Fall For These Family History Myths

by Brother and Sister Miller, Area FH Advisers, Northern part of New England

Probably you are well aware of the family history myths that circulate endlessly.  Not only are they false, but they prevent people from getting the blessings they need and deserve.

Family history is hard.  Family history is a collection of many small steps.  The steps are easy, but together, they make up a magnificent tapestry of your heritage.  Even one or two pieces can make a big difference in how you see yourself and your ancestors.  Family history is people – your own family.  What’s hard about that?

Family history takes a lot of time.  Learning about your family is a life-long pursuit, but it is done in small bits of time.  By spending just two or three hours per month, you can accomplish a lot, whether it’s getting in touch with family members, interviewing relatives to learn stories, or preparing a name to take to the temple.

You need to be smart to do family history.  Obviously false, since we can do it!  Having success in discovering family history  requires curiosity and questions.  You don’t have to know a lot – you just need to want to find out about things.  Anyone can ask questions – and write down the answers.  The best part is when you are working on family history, you get help – from friends, from family members, and often, from beyond the veil.  Once you start asking questions, it will surprise you how the answers come.

Family history is expensive.  Like most things, you can spend as much money as you want on it.  There are subscription services, like ancestry.com that are helpful, but you can use them for free at your local family history center.  Some of the most important information you will get is from family members, and that doesn’t cost much at all!

There will be a better time for family history later.  Maybe when you retire, you will have more time – but how many of your older relatives will still be alive then?  And your children and grandchildren, who could benefit from learning about the family they are part of, will be grown and perhaps far away.  Now is absolutely the best time to begin your family history, or to continue it.  Don’t put it off for later.

All my family history is done.  When you start gathering information from family members, you will soon see that it is not all done.  In addition to building a pedigree on all your family lines, there are stories to record, life lessons to put into words, pictures to gather, and temple work to do.

The church has all my information.  One of the advantages of New FamilySearch is that it shows what information already is on file and what information is missing – including temple ordinances.  As FamilySearch Indexing continues, more and more information is available in New FamilySearch.  But because this information is not directly sent to the temple for ordinances, many of the people identified in the records still wait until a living relative finds them and requests temple ordinances for them.  How frustrating it must be to have your information there, in the church’s database, and not have any of your relatives request temple ordinances for you!  The church having the information (somewhere, along with information about millions of others) does not mean temple ordinances are done.  That step depends on you.

I’m just not interested.   Obtaining a testimony of family history and temple work requires involvement.  You must “plant the seed” before you taste the fruit.  To be honest, we weren’t at all interested in family history until we tried it.  We began (like everyone else) because we were “supposed to.”  But as soon as we started, we felt something.  You can feel it too, perhaps as you discover an ancestor, perhaps in the temple.

I need to focus on my living family before I can think about the dead.  Our own families require (and deserve) our best attention.  Thankfully, we have many labor-saving resources unknown to our ancestors, so providing home, shelter and other necessities doesn’t require the hours of back-breaking effort it did in the past (making our own soap, growing and preserving all our food – without refrigerators or freezers, making our own clothes, etc.)  However, even after the best we can do, our living family members may require more, whether for their health, testimony, or whatever.  Family history and temple work provide a great opportunity to secure divine help – not just for ourselves, but for those we love and yearn over.  We are convinced that if we will spend time helping unite our families in the spirit world, they somehow intervene to help with our families here on earth.

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1. Angel Moroni, 2. Consultant’s Guide, 3. YouTube

1.  This week I was pleased to be able to attend the placing of the spire and Angel Moroni on the top of the Calgary Temple.  Most of the granite seemed to be in place around the outside of the building.  We look forward to hearing the opening date hopefully in the 3rd quarter of this year (?).

2. Thanks to a thoughtful comment and question by one of our readers recently, I was reminded that the Consultant’s Guide needs to be updated!  The guide is still available as a download – go to familysearch.org/consultant – and hopefully will be updated soon.  In the meantime be cautious in using the Guide. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between new.familysearch.org and familysearch.org – which has a new version.  Now who hasn’t had that problem!

3. FamilySearch has a YouTube channel where you can access videos. Go to youtube.com and search for FamilySearch.  Look for the link that says Channel.  You can subscribe to the Channel to make it easier to get there.  Why not just watch the videos on FamilySearch.org?  I prefer to have the videos downloaded before the training session.  Once you find a video on YouTube you can use a website such as keepvid.com to download a copy.

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1. Advice on Helping the Youth with Family History and 2. New FH materials available to order

 Helping the Youth with Family History

I recently read this quote from Jim Greene, a manager at FamilySearch.  Please note his caveats in the second paragraph.  I added the underlining.  Please consider his advice.

“Even though it was developed for youth, it is ok for adults to go look at and use the new youth website that Elder Bednar introduced last conference. It is at
http://lds.org/fhy
the fhy stands for family history youth. It teaches the youth the importance of temple and family history work, shows them 5 steps for searching for and clearing names, and has many opportunities for them to comment and see other’s experiences. There is also a whole section with videos on ideas how to serve others through family history. I would recommend this as a wonderful resource.

That said, let me offer a couple of caveats. First, the youth won’t need technology or computer lessons, in fact, they could be called as consultants to teach new.familysearch.org after just a few minutes using it. They get it. Second, you will lose them if you try to teach them to become genealogists. Get them to the temple with their own names, set them up to help and serve others, and you will be successful. Teach them how to correctly document jurisdictional place names, or to correctly enter sources and citations and you will lose them. They are a wonderful resource and can help and be blessed in so many ways.

We are going to continually update the site with new videos, ideas and stories. We are even considering games and contests.  I hope you find it enjoyable and that it gives you some ideas.”

To Turn the Hearts Guide and DVD Available to Order

The guides and DVDs were made available to order by phone effective 21 Dec 2011, and online in mid January:

The Global Service Center is where you have to call to place orders, 1-800-537-5971. The part numbers are:

08886000-To Turn the Hearts Leaders Guide (English)

08885000-DVD (English)

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Software for Mac and iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch

Happy New  Year

We don’t usually share software sales, but . . .  we often get asked about Mac software that works with nFS! – and we couldn’t wait until Jan 8 to share this information for Mac users -and also some news for ipad/iphone/ipod touch users!  Maybe it will help someone you know?

MacFamilyTree and MobileFamilyTree Pro are both half price right now –
http://www.syniumsoftware.com/macfamilytree/
– it says the special ends Dec 29 but they have extended it to Jan 9

MacFamilyTree is FamilySearch certified, has some nFS interaction but also works with nFS through Family Insight – MacFamilyTree requires a Mac OS X with 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 Snow Leopard or 10.7 Lion. Additionally, 1 GB of RAM and a 1 Ghz or higher CPU is required.

MobileFamilyTree Pro is the only full FH program for the ipad/iphone/ipod touch we know that syncs data over wifi between devices either mobile device or mac! – great for charts – see their virtual tree, and fan! If you don’t have a Mac the app will accept a Gedcom file.

There is also FamilyTreeMaker for Mac that also works with Family Insight but haven’t seen any special prices for that!

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