Keynote Speakers at the AGS/AFHS Conference 2012

Congratulations to the Alberta Genealogical Society and Alberta Family History Society for the great conference they put on in Red Deer on April 13 and 14.  It was great to see the 2 organizations put on the conference together!  Over 250 people were in attendance.  You can get information on presentations including handouts by going to http://rdgensoc.ab.ca/conferenceindex.html  . To get any handouts (not all speakers had handouts) click on the link to Presenters and then click on the presenter’s name.

The 2 keynote speakers were Gena Ortega on the Friday evening and Dick Eastman on  Saturday morning.  They were both excellent. I know many of you couldn’t come so here are my notes from their presentations – certainly not comprehensive notes, but some of the things that caught my attention.  Apologies for any errors I am about to make!  Please don’t share my errors!

Gena Philibert-Ortega – Researching Like a History Detective

(Gena is an author and blogger from California.  Her blogs include  http://philibertfamily.blogspot.ca/   Gena serves as Vice-President for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is also a Regional Director for the California State Genealogical Alliance).  Gena has a handout on the conference website.

Context is everything.  Without context we make assumptions – draw false conclusions – may research someone else’s family.  We tend to stick to government documents and don’t stray too far from it  – need to consider other sources.

What is context?  Set of circumstances that surround a particular event

PBS Show History Detectives

Genealogists are History Detectives

People in family tell us whacky stories – & we try to work it out

What do Detectives do?

Listen to witnesses – what they say and what they don’t say

Observe

Question experts

Gather evidence

Aha moment

What makes genealogy interesting ?

Not the forms

About going to cemeteries

Bringing ancestors to life

There is much more than Ancestry and FamilySearch websites

Analyzed some old picture

Enlarge – look for details – religious collar with SA on it

Look for unseen clues

Gather evidence from lots of people

Research Salvation Army

Use eBay – searched for vintage Salvation Army photos

Think like an historian

Find all the books you can about the locality

Genealogy is history on the micro level

Look for articles

Call reference librarians – maybe through a chat feature

Get past vital record, census, and surname searches

Don’t make assumptions

1911 England – person not in census? – suffragettes refused to be included in the census! What documents existed at this time period? History at that time? Neighbors?

Do you use library websites?  University websites? Worldcat? Repositories ?

Try to recreate the community your ancestor lived in

Libcat – guide to libraries on the internet – not just USA

Repositories of Primary Sources – google search term

Library and Archives Canada – archivianet and online maps

David Rumsey map collection – can also be an add on to Google Earth

Alberta Women’s Institute website – look at the Tweedsmuir Histories

Experts are important in genealogy

How do you find experts?

Social networking – such as genealogywise – ask questions

APG – Association of Professional Genealogists

Message boards

Books

Universities

Ask local historians

Google books – can be very good – to research a topic

Put in ancestors name

5 steps to research:

1. Research the individual – look at Internet genealogy databases – know sources – google person – identify primary documents – newspapers – home sources (inherited by others ) – family members – websites
2. Research the family
3. Research the history
4. Research the locality
5. Research the neighbors and community – how do you find neighbors? – research area – reconstruct community – manuscript collections

Get to know all the sources.

Look for finding aids, research books, how to books

Cluster genealogy – identifying and reconstructing a persons social network – increase the pool of people – FAN principle (Family, Associates and Neighbours – from Elizabeth Shown Mills) – Where they lived, occupations

Use Google images

Stories behind people create interest

Look at different kinds of collections

Search the catalog – special collections, digital collections – many times surnames as search terms won’t help you

Worldcat  http://www.worldcat.org/ – catalog of libraries – give it your postal code -and it will find library near you that has book – can copy citations and sources.  Search terms may not be what you think.  Cookbooks equal cookery in catalog.  Good to look at subject headings.

University libraries online – often have chat features or ask a librarian

Women’s collections

Be flexible in what you use as key words

PERSI valuable resource – available at ancestry.com – look for articles

Reconstructing lives

Context is everything

Genealogy is a puzzle

(interesting fact: US women until c 1936 who married non US males lost their citizenship)

Dick Eastman – The Family History World in 10 years time

(Owner and writer of  Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and Blog – which I read every morning before breakfast!  You can find out how to subscribe to receive by email if you go to http://blog.eogn.com/ and click on subscribe to free standard edition.  Dick is from Florida – so he really appreciated our spring time snow!)

For handouts go to:  eogn.com/handouts/10years

Genealogy 0.5 – until c 1920 – original records – compiled sources – no microfilm – expensive – few societies – elitist

Genealogy 1.0 – 1920 – 1980 – microfilm – Alex Haley

Genealogy 2.0 – 1980- 2012 – digital records – social networks – TV shows – expanded audience

Genealogy 3.0 – 2012 and beyond – now – many records online – google books – see werelate.org – bloggers

The Future? – more records online – focus on putting images online – with transcripts and indexes – wifim (what’s in it for me) – dealing with inertia – genealogists interrupt bureaucrats real work? – archive email? Archive of Facebook – archives.org has a wayback machine

- online all the time everywhere – ease of access – information moving to the cloud – google glasses are coming

- new and better software – cloud based – comparing and matching records – collaborative – so more faster and easier – software that works on any platform – hardware OS is currently an impediment – data privacy issues?

- changing audience – getting younger! – busy family members can do genealogy in spare moments – driven by technology – TV programs – new audience has different interests such as stories of ancestors, not charts, may not join societies (not joiners) , not classified by age, gender or nationality – Boston University class 40% born a outside US, 90% had one or more grandparents born outside US – traditional data sources like census don’t work well – 50% non white – 50% did not share a surname with their own father – need global resources

Shane Robison VP HP at Rootstech 2011 said – desktop sales declining – tablet and smart phones soaring – within 5 years 60% of Internet access not from traditional computers

How is our society going to serve this audience?

Will traditional libraries cease to exist?  Will all books be digitized?  At what cost to access?

Share online!

Back it up!

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Area FH Newsletter February 2011

1. Ancestry.com. If you notice that your FHCentre Director has a larger smile than normal . . . perhaps it is at least partly due to the announcement that the library edition of Ancestry.com is available in all FHCs!!!  The announcement was sent out on Feb 8.  Ancestry.com is available in the FHC Portal under Premium Subscription services.
2. Leader’s Guide to Temple and Family History – Turn the Hearts The guide is available on lds.org.  Go to Menu then Serving in the Church then Melchizedek Priesthood then Leader Resources then scroll down.  The guide will be officially printed and distributed with a DVD in a few months.  Lots of wonderful information in the guide – and for those of you graphically inclined – there are lots of pictures and quotes! You will also notice as you go to the Leader’s Guide on the lds.org web site that there is an online interactive version of the new Handbook 2 Administering the Church.
3. nFS Training Site Please remember not to put test, trial or ficticious information to nFS.  When you want to use try out features or teach, then use the training.familysearch.org web site which has only ficticious information.  Treat it as your sandbox!
4. nFS Reference Manual Did you know there is a 71 page reference manual for nFS?  You can find it if you go to the Help Center, then Training and Resources then click on More in the area titled Training and Other Helpful Resources.   On the title page it says “This manual is intended to be used with the new FamilySearch User’s Guide and information available in the Help Center.”    The Reference Manual is considerably shorter than the User Guide. There is a link for Feedback. MIA
5. How do you find PAF on new version of familysearch.org? Click on Learn at top of screen and search for Software.  Look for item PAF and Other Genealogy Software (usually number 3 on the list of results).  At the end of the first paragraph in the article there is a link (Click Here) to get the download.
6. Indexing Please continue to encourage indexing.  Great progress was made last year, but there is much more to be done. The scanning of microfilms is ahead of the indexing.  Great to invite your friends and neighbours to do!  Did my first batch on a Mac this past week.  Worked just fine.
7. Webinars There are lots of really good webinars available to help us learn.  Recently I came across some on the Legacy Family Tree site to help with Indexing! If you are new to indexing, please watch Jim Ericson’s introductory webinar first at http://www.millenniacorp.com/_videos/webinars/20101006fsindexing/indexing.html.  if you go to  http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/Webinars.asp, to see the archived webinars you will find one which includes tips and tricks for experienced indexers.  There are more webinars at http://rootsmagic.com/Webinars/ on Rootsmagic topics . . . and the list goes on.  Do you have any favourite webinar sites for FH?  Please share.
8. How do you find online FH courses through FamilySearch.org? Go to Learn at top of screen and search for Online Courses. First item in results is How-To Genealogy Learning Online with links to FamilySearch courses, BYU courses, NGS course, National Institute for Genealogical Studies and more.

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Area FH Newsletter August 2010

1. Online film ordering This went live in Canada on August 19. What does this mean? You order and pay for microfilms and fiche online and then go to the FHC to view them – less paperwork and less money for the FHC to handle. The United States will be next to move to online film ordering (before the end of the year hopefully). Go to https://film.familysearch.org . Contact your local FHC for implementation details. This new web site does not use an lds account nor a familysearch account for the sign in. FHCs have the opportunity to upload inventory and other information from Inventory Manager to the new system. There is an Admin side to the web site for FHC directors. The new system will replace Inventory Manager. Please be extra kind and patient with everyone working in FHCs until they learn the new system.
2. nFS Update We hope that you noticed the update to nFS on 9 August (click on the News and Updates link on the sign in page for nFS to get to the What’s New document). These What’s New documents are good to save to your computer (they are pdf files) or print if you wish. A couple of problems have become apparent since the update and the engineers are working on resolving the issues asap – so don’t call to report either of these problems: 1. Some recently completed temple ordinances are not appearing in nFS in a timely fashion, 2. Russian & Italian FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) is blank.
3. Discussions in nFS. Please teach people to use the discussions tab in nFS but not to discuss or share ordinance information. The public will be able to see those items being discussed when it goes worldwide.
4. Community Volunteers As part of the preparations for making nFS public, community volunteers who have public/familysearch accounts no longer have access to temple ordinances. They can still help members with temple questions if they wish to by sitting beside a member who is signed in.
5. Beta FamilySearch.org Please check out http://fsbeta.familysearch.org/ , get familiar with the new version of familysearch.org and share it with people in your ward. Remember that not all the data has been migrated to the new site yet.
6. Griffiths Valuation online For those interested in Irish research an important resource has become available online. “The Primary Valuation was the first full-scale valuation of property in Ireland. It was overseen by Richard Griffith and published between 1847 and 1864. It is one of the most important surviving 19th century genealogical sources.” It is available at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml
7. Calgary Temple Construction workers are on the Calgary Temple site. An unofficial web site http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/calgary/ has construction photographs.
8. Family Insight will work with more programs. There is exciting news coming from Family Insight. This is a quote from the Summer 2010 issue 38 edition of Ohana Insights: “. . . almost 2 years ago, we changed the name of our product from PAF Insight to FamilyInsight. . . . Today, we are announcing our latest major update. You may now use PAF and Family Tree Maker 2010 files with FamilyInsight without the need of a GEDCOM file. We will be compatible with 2011 when that version of Family Tree Maker is released very soon. Ancestral Quest and RootsMagic users can join us in beta testing FamilyInsight for that program. Legacy users, please don’t loose heart, the ability to read a Legacy file is under development. We hope to develop the ability to work with other programs, too. If you are interested in helping us with our beta testing, please send an email to beta@ohanasoftware.com telling us which program you use and would like to help test with. To use these additional program files in FamilyInsight, you will simply open FamilyInsight from the desktop icon and select your Family Tree Maker (.ftm), Ancestral Quest (.aq), RootsMagic (.rmg) or Legacy (.fbd) file.” http://www.ohanasoftware.com/ We are blessed to have so many fine programs to choose from. I know the choices can seem like a burden at times but they really are a great blessing. PAF, PAF with Family Insight or Ancestral Quest, Rootsmagic, Ancestral Quest or Legacy or Family Tree Maker are all great choices. Be kind to those who make different choices from you. Neither of you is wrong!
9. Temple Policies. We previously recommended that you go to the Help Centre in nFS and search for Temple Policies to find a comprehensive knowledge document on Temple Policies. They have now renumbered that help document! The new number is 110136. Access this either by using the search term Temple policies or by searching for 110136. I added this to my favourites in the Help Centre. This is an important document for FH Consultants, Priesthood leaders and all members doing FH work. It is a good source of material to teach.
10. FH Blog Continue to encourage all family history consultants that you know to either read our FH blog (preferably weekly) or subscribe (on the blog page midway down on the right) to receive new articles by email. We publish at about 3 a.m. each Sunday morning. The address for the blog is http://peterfh.wordpress.com/
11. FH Consultants still need to register. All FH Consultants should go to consultant.familysearch.org to register with the FamilySearch. Interested Priesthood leaders should register at priesthood.familysearch.org. This puts you on the FamilySearch email list for occasional news items and gives you access to additional training materials through the help center at nFS.

Thank you for all that you do!

Upcoming blog articles:
1. The future of FamilySearch
2. Notes from devotional and key note presentations at the BYU FH Conference.
3. The Future of FH Centres – this will be a multi part article!
4. More Google for Genealogists
Plus any articles you would like to write or topics you would like to suggest.
Please contribute and read comments!

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Quarterly Newsletter May 2010

Sorry this newsletter is late! We have been away on a wonderful holiday!
1. Articles on FH continue to be posted to the blog at http://peterfh.wordpress.com/ every week. If you are a priesthood leader try to check the site once a month and encourage your FH consultants to read the blog. If you are a Family History Consultant or FH Centre Director we hope that you are checking the articles weekly. To make this easier for you there is an option to subscribe on the middle right of the page – then you need to click on the confirming email that is sent to you. So far 50 people have subscribed. We hope that number will increase! Subscription means that new articles automatically come to your mailbox. In addition to the 50 subscribers we have on average between 80 and 100 visitors a week. We are trying to keep the blog just for you in this northern part of the North America Central area – so we can see how many of you are reading the blog! We post a new article at about 3 a.m. on Sunday morning each week – don’t worry we don’t have to stay up to do this! – and the articles are posted whether we are home or not! Remember you are invited to contribute articles or topics for the blog.
2. There is a poll open on the use of the Blog – express your opinion!
3. On Saturday 15 May 2010 the ground-breaking took place for the Calgary Temple! What an exciting event!
4. Work is continuing on the rollout of new FamilySearch to the temples in Asia.
5. We continue to provide some basic statistics on Family History to stakes on a quarterly basis.
6. The largest source of news in Family History in quite a while occurred at during the week of April 26 to May 1 when 2 Family History/Genealogy conferences were held in Salt Lake City – the BYU Computerized Genealogy Conference and the National Genealogical Society Conference. I am told that the highlight of the week was the celebration that was held in the Conference Center on the Thursday evening with President Eyring and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Several special video clips were used as part of that evening. If like us you were unable to attend the conferences you are no doubt anxious to catch up on all the news. To find out how to access those videos and to learn about the news from the conferences please read the “What I learned at the Conference . . .” postings that be posted over the next 2 weeks. We are grateful to Don Snow for granting us permission to use his summary of the conference news.
Thank you for all that you do to encourage Temple and Family History work.

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