Tuesday, April 01, 2014

FindaGrave and TreeConnect

When these two websites are used together, one can more easily create a useful Source for their ancestors in the FamilySearch Family Tree database.  The execution steps will become fairly simple:
Go to FindaGrave.com and sign up for a free account, then sign in.
Go to RecordSeek.com and drag the "TreeConnect" bookmarklet (a brown rectangle) up to your browser's bookmark bar (which must be showing), which will put "TreeConnect" on that bar.
Go to FamilySearch.org and sign up for a free account, then sign in and establish your pedigree
Go to one of your ancestors in your pedigree and go to his/her Person Page view
Go back to FindaGrave.com and do a search for that ancestor.
Drag your cursor over the text in the memorial that you want to copy and click on TreeConnect.
Click on Save and sign in with your FamilySearch user name and password.
Go back to the Person Page and scroll down to the Sources section and click on "Attach from Source Box"
In your Source Box, that new source should be at the top of the list. Click on "Attach" on the right
Explain why you are attaching this FindaGrave memorial to this ancestor and click on OK.
Go back to the Person Page and click on the Source entry and "Tag" it for the pertinent items

These steps will be demonstrated in the first class in the Beginner Track in our Family History Fair on April 26th in New Brighton.  Twin Cities Family History Day 2014 With this new Source, you will have provided some documentation for your published Conclusions about your ancestor.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Roots Mapper

In order to get in the mood for exploring your family history and coming to our free Family History Fair on April 26th, go to RootsMapper.com and sign in with your FamilySearch account to see the migration pattern of your ancestors. Start off with three generations, then add another generation, and another, etc. Your kids might be interested in seeing this migration pattern too.
Please help us get the word out and invite a few of your friends to come to the Family History Fair with you.


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Warm Up Exercises

In order to warm up for attending our Family History Fair on April 26th, you might do one or more of the following steps;
* go to FamilySearch.com and create a free account,
then
* sign in to FSFT and go to the Life Sketch section on your grandfather's Person Page and write a story about your grandfather,
or
* sign in to FSFT and scroll down to the Notes section on your grandfather's Person Page and write a short To Do list for yourself,
or
* sign in to FSFT and scroll down to the Discussion section on your grandfather's Person Page and write a brief Research Log for yourself and others in your family.

We look forward to seeing you there.


Sunday, March 23, 2014

Stake Family History Fair on April 26th

There will be a general meeting at 9:00 am and a free lunch

Brief Description of the fifteen presentations

Beginner Track
Tips on using FamilySearch Family Tree Live Presenter: Don Quass @ 9:30 am
This presentation will cover tips for editing existing information or relationships, adding new information or relationships and sourcing your changes.

More Tips on using FamilySearch Family Tree Live Presenter: Don Quass @ 10:45 am
This presentation will cover tips for managing your reserve list and adding photos and documents.

Basic Online Resources for the Beginning Genealogist Presenter: Liza Alzo @ 12:30 pm
This presentation walks beginners through the exciting journey of genealogy. Learn what information is online, how to effectively search databases, and share information with others.

New Discoveries Presenters: Diane Loosle & Carol Moss @ 1:45 pm
These two 30' presentations will cover resolving descendency research challenges and some easy tricks for discovering what's missing and where potential ancestors can be found.

From Tree to Temple Presenter: Jim Greene @ 3:00 pm
This class for LDS Church members will help you get started with your family history using FamilySearch.org.

Intermediate Track
Top 10 Things I Learned About My Family from My Couch Presenter: Tammy Hepps @ 9:30 am
New to genealogy and short on time? Learn to make amazing discoveries using online resources! See research examples that demonstrate the breadth of material and suggest next steps for going deeper.

FamilySearch Family Tree – What's New, What's Next Presenter: Ron Tanner @ 10:45 am
Discussion of the updates to Family Tree since the last Roots Tech and a roadmap of the new features.

Finding Ancestors Outside the USA w/ New Technologies Presenter: Daniel Horowitz @ 12:30 pm
Learn how MyHeritage tools can help you break down brick walls in your research of ancestors outside the USA by harnessing the power of an international family history network.

Getting the Most Out of Ancestry Presenter: Christa Cowen @ 1:45 pm
This presentation will cover the five major areas of the Ancestry.com website and show you favorite tools for advancing your family history research.

Facilitating Helpful, Respectful Collaboration Presenter: Luther Tychonievich @ 3:00 pm
This presentation will share how careful research processes can be coupled with established cooperative practices to work past disagreements and maintain healthy collaboration.

Technology Track
Using Tools for Creating a Valuable Family History Blog Presenter: James Tanner @ 9:30 am
This presentation will share suggestions for creating and sharing your valuable family history blog.

Tweets, Links, Pins and Posts – Using Social Media Presenter: Lisa Alzo @ 10:45 am
Learn to use social networking as a resource to break down genealogy brick walls.

Genealogy in the Cloud Presenter: Randy Hoffman @ 12:30 pm
Learn to use this incredible technology to backup, collaborate on and share your family history.

Facebook is Family History – Engaging People in Stories Presenter: Devin Ashby @ 1:45 pm
Why do Facebook and other sites continue to be so popular? Come learn why people get so excited.

Become an iPad Power User Presenter: Lisa Louise Cooke @ 3:00 pm
This presentation shares hacks for customizing your tablet's features and using Evernote tricks.


Saturday, March 22, 2014

Two Different Databases

In order to appreciate the distinction between the FamilySearch data-gathering database and the FamilySearch Family Tree conclusion-publishing database and the strength of the respective search engines, go to FamilySearch.org (you will not need to sign in) and do a “Search” for a female with given name = Ivyl and with dad's given name = Herb and evaluate the results. Then sign in to FamilySearch.org/tree and repeat the exercise by doing a “Find” with given name = Ivyl and with dad's given name = Herb and notice that the latter points to a unique individual.

The database at FamilySearch.org contains more than 3 billion records of a wide variety, from census records, to BMD records, to military records, to migration records, etc., and some of the people in those recent records will be living. Some of those records will document relationships, such as husband-wife in a marriage record.  The database at FamilySearch Family Tree is for publishing the family relationship conclusions that users have drawn from the records in FamilySearch, and those conclusions will not pertain to living individuals (except for the user).


Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Free Family History Conference

We are hosting a free family history conference on April 26th, 2014, which will include ten classes that are being presented (and recorded) at the Roots Tech family history conference in Salt Lake City on February 6th thru the 8th.  The conference will be at the St. Paul Stake Center (100 Silver Lake Road NW in New Brighton, MN) and we will start at 9:00 am.  We will have four classes in each of the three tracks; beginner, intermediate and technology.  There will be a live presenter for the class on using FamilySearch Family Tree, which will be repeated.  There will be Family History Center staff people in each of the recorded presentations to answer questions after the presentation.


Please pre-register by going to lds.org/familyhistoryday and putting in your zipcode and selecting "St. Paul Stake Family History Fair."
For additional information, please send an email to dquass@comcast.net.