Tuesday, November 29, 2016

November 20, 2016 - Reserving Temple Ordinances

Today we worked on the temple ordinances.  For the previous class, I posted a detailed explanation of the temple ordinances.  In the interest of time, I will just refer you to the previous post.

May 1, 2016 - Reserving Temple Ordinances

November 13, 2016 - Records

 Since I was sick today, Maynard Hammond took the class.  I appreciate his willingness to just jump in and share what he is doing.  Here is the summary of what he did:
I showed them a family that I was working on.  It was put together by a researcher that hadn't given a single source.  We then went in and found multiple census records on FamilySearch and a marriage certificate on Findmypast.  They all agreed with the family except for the wife.   The marriage certificate showed the marriage about a year before the first child was born.  The census data showed he hadn't remarried well after children were born.  We talked about how they might go about changing and fixing the record.  Then I showed them the easiest way.

I also showed them Recordseek.com and we added the marriage record from Findmypast.  We also added the census records.

There was so much to do in the little class time we had, but I feel all who were there learned how records can be fixed and documented.

When I went home I added several more sources and continued to try and unravel the many Samuel Law's that were married to a Betty in the area.  I'm still working on getting the puzzles unraveled and have proven and documented several but still have a few more to unravel.  I'd like to get all the records available assigned correctly.  I'd also like to find the correct husband for the wife we replaced and verify she wasn't a marriage late in life.  Somehow, the researcher thought she was part of the family, but I haven't found records that support it.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

November 6, 2016 - Sources

Today we continued working on FamilySearch person page, focusing on the section for sources.

A source is any piece of information that helps to verify and/or explain an event in the life of an individual.  The value of a source depends on when, where, and by whom the document or information was recorded.  Each source needs to be evaluated as to its value and inevitability.  Even a primary source (recorded at the time of the event by someone who witnessed the event) can contain errors.  Therefore, a good genealogist looks for multiple sources to support each point of fact.

It is also important to find as many sources as possible to be able to tell a more complete story of the life of the ancestor.  An interesting story is far more than just birth, marriage, and death.

FamilySearch allows us to attach a link to a source that is found on FS and also to sources which are found on other sites, such as Ancestry.com, My Heritage, or Find My Past.  You can also create a link to any other site that contains a source.

Attached Sources:
1 - The source section is below the family section, which shows every source that has already been attached. 
2 - Using the same person from last week (Henry Lester 9NNP-HRR), we reviewed the existing sources.  We also reviewed the same person on Ancestry and in RootsMagic.  
3 - When we looked at his death certificate, we learned that his name was Harrision H. Lester.  FS had Henry and both Ancestry and RM said Harry.  We decided that the correct name must be Harrison Henry Lester.  We made that change in the name section.  
4 - We also discovered that I had several more sources attached to RM and to Ancestry than were attached to FS.  So, once we were sure that FS was as correct as we could get it, we moved over to Ancestry.

Linking FamilySearch to Ancestry:  (This option is only available on the LDS memberships.)
1 - We wanted to copy the sources from Ancestry to FS.  To do so, we needed to get them connected. 
2 - At the top right side of the Profile page in Ancestry is the Family Search Tree symbol.  Click it.
3 - Sign in to FS.
4 - Click the tree symbol again and choose to connect.  This will show you the same person on FS.  We clicked on the correct person.
5 - Click on the tree symbol once more and choose compare.  This will open a window with FS information on the left and Ancestry on the right.  
6 - You can now move information back and forth between the two trees.  We also chose to add all the sources that were on Ancestry to the FS tree.
7 - Click save at the bottom of the page and all the information will be saved.
8 - When we went back to FS and refreshed the page, all the sources from Ancestry were now attached to the FS tree.

To change the order that the sources appear, use click and drag with the mouse.  I personally like to put all the sources in a particular order as it helps me to see quickly what is there.  It also helps me to see if there are duplicates.

It is of value to add the same source (like a census record) from multiple sites.  Although the original source is the same, there can be differences in the indexing.  

FORMS:

We also discussed the importance of keeping records of what you are doing as you research.  I handed out four copies of common forms that are used:
     Research Log - keep a record of all research you do, where you searched, what you did or did not find, etc.
     To Do List - Keep a list of things that you notice that you need to do.  This is especially important when you are working on one thing and find related things that need to be done.  It is easy to find yourself jumping from thing to thing with nothing ever being completed.  
     Timeline - It helps to list all events from sources you have found in a chronological order.  This will allow you to see what is missing, what doesn't fit together, etc.
     Individual Source List - This allows you to keep track of what potential sources you have already found.

I said I would try to add links to this blog, but I haven't figured that out.  You can search for blank forms on the internet.
     Google: Free Genealogy Forms
     FamilySearch.org - Wiki - forms
     FamilyTreeMagazine.com/freeforms
     Cyndislist.com

These may or may not show up:

 https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Genealogy_Research_Forms

 http://www.familytreemagazine.com/freeforms

http://www.cyndislist.com/cyndislistsearch/?q=blank%20forms

See you next week.  We will working on the Temple section.


Thursday, November 3, 2016

October 30, 2016 - Working on the Person Page

This week we went into more detail on using the Person Page on FamilySearch.org.  In order to be able to experience using the page, we found a person on my tree that we could work on.  I chose Henry Lester 9NNP-HRR.

Here are some of the things we did:

1 - Watch - By clicking the watch button, I will receive notice if anyone else makes any changes.
2 - Duplicate - There was no duplicate, so we started to work on this page.
3 - Dates and Places - Needed to standardize both dates and places.  
     Clicked on the date/place for birth.  (Then repeated for death.)
     Edit.  
     Adjusted the date and place so the standardized list appeared. 
     Chose the correct entry from the list. 
     Reason - "Standardized date and place."  This lets the next person know that I did not add or change the information, just put it into standardized form.
4 - Went to the Family Section and looked over what was there.  We noticed that he has a sister that was born the same year as the oldest brother.  This is something we will need to check.
5 - Went to the Source Section to see what sources have already been added.
6 - 1880 census shows the parents with Henry and two brothers, but no sister.
7 - Birth record for Martha shows she was born in England.  Since this family was all born in the US, it appears that she should not be in the family.  Her parents' names are similar, but the birth place tells us that these are not correct.  
8 - Unlinked Martha by going back to the Family Section.
     Click the pencil next to her name.  
     Remove or Replace.  
     On the pop up page, we clicked that we had reviewed the relationship.
     Reason.  In this case, we made sure the statement was specific so that the next person would understand clearly what we had done and why.

We will continue working on Henry Lester next lesson.