Lessons

FamilySearch Centers provide the basic tools for individuals and families to fulfill their divinely appointed responsibility to discover their families and submit their names for temple ordinances.

Centers…

• Provide computers and training on the computers to add images, documents, and memories to link generations together and to preserve a family’s stories.
• Help people use electronic record collections that are only available free in a FamilySearch Center or in the main FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City due to copyright restrictions made with the main library.
• Help Church members prepare names to take to the temple, or share them with others so others can take them to the temple.
• Train consultants to teach their immediate family and their ward members how to quickly find and provide evidence to take their own family names to the temple.
• Keep others up-to-date on FamilySearch changes.  Changes are inevitable as the tools expand to handle all the necessary records to identify Heavenly Father’s children.

How can the Center help you?

• Centers are a resource for priesthood leaders to minister in the work of salvation, including missionary work, retention, activation, temple and family history work, and teaching the gospel.
• Centers inspire and help Church members engage in family history activities, including sharing and preserving family stories and photos, and indexing.
• Centers provide one-on-one assistance, training, research expertise, and convenient access to family history resources.

This is the most important page in FamilySearch Family tree.  There should eventually be just one Person Page for every person who has lived.  It is our goal to pull together information from multiple Person Pages who may have information on our ancestor into one accurate page by locating sources that resolve conflicts between dates, places, events, and relationships.

As you open a Person Page you will see the individuals complete name (as far as it was known by the person who uploaded this page).  Below the name is the date of birth with a dash mark and then the date or indication of death, and the all important FSFT ID# in this case KJ45-R51.

Using this number is the fastest way to find this person again…even if the person was deleted or merged away by someone else later.  So always record this number.  As you work on an ancestor, the quickest way to record the person, and their parents and children is to print the Family Group Record (see how below.)

To the right of the person’s name there are links to view the person in their family tree, to click on “Watch” so you will be notified in others work on this person, and to view your relationship to the person, so you can see exactly how you are related.

Across the top line you have other views of this family.  We are currently looking at the Details which includes the name, gender, birth, christening, death and burial dates and places.  The marriage information is found when a couple is together with their children.  One way to see who entered this information is to click the blue “Edit” link and read what is found there under each topic.

To the far right is found Research Help.  This may include notifications called Hints, or a warning that a Duplicate person has been found, or a Research Suggestion.  There is also a category called Research Records where you are taken to FamilySearch Affiliates.  The wonderful news is, that if you standardize your names, dates, and places (as indicate in Lesson 03), all you need to do is click on these links and the data fields in those programs will automatically fill and you will find your family members very quickly.  If you are LDS, your tithing is paying for the use of these sites, so you can sign up for each of these without cost.  See the Lesson on Using Your Personal Website at FSFT (it is available by clicking the FSFT Logo in the upper left corner of each page of the site), to sign in to these apps.

Finally, you can always see the Latest Changes on your family by clicking the words in blue: Show All.  As you scroll down the Person Page, you will come to the Other Information area, and start to see the Family Members.  Other Information includes variant name spellings such as Belle for Isabelle, or different residences she lived in as found on original sources.

When you get to the Family Members area, the couple on the left include the spouse to the person on the Person Page, and their children; while the couple on the right are the parents of the person on the Person Page and her siblings.

In the meantime in the far right frame there are tools to work with possible duplicates, merge by ID number when the computer cannot determine duplicates but you know them from your research, and to Print.  I suggest you must print a Family (family group sheet) as the sources are not complete enough when you start to be of much help in analyzing the sources.

At the top of the Person Page below where the person’s name is recorded, there are links to a Time Line, Sources, Collaboration, Memories, and Ordinances.  The time line can take details from Hints, documents you link, and field of information you enter when the person is first entered to build a time line of their life events. This is not just for show. This helps remind you of other places where records could be found.

While the timeline image is difficult to see in this view, it indicated the birth of the person, through all of her residences in various counties of Ohio, and then Indiana, until her death.  It provides a broad overview of this person’s life.

A very important aspect of research includes Sources.  Most sources are just randomly entered as found which makes them very difficult to analyze, but this person has their sources in chronological order by placing a Uniform Header at the beginning of each source and them sliding the into order.  When you click on each source, it gives you a link to an original document which can contain much more evidence of a family.

There is also an area where you can collaborate by living behind your contact information and your evidence to see if you can gain an understanding of someone working on your line.

There is also an area for uploading pictures, found files, and documents under the Memories tab.

Finally there is an Ordinance tab to see if you can help someone in the family complete their ordinances.

How to download 1 to 4 generations from FamilySearch to Legacy: A handout How to download your family from FamilySearch to Legacy

Lesson 10 Organizing documents and photographs; handout.

Lesson 10 Organize your records accompanies video 5-Minute Genealogist: 5MG Episode 13 Organizing Records Handout

Lucky indeed are those individuals who have local FamilySearch Centers near them. In earlier decades, these facilities swarmed with individuals who came to use microfilm, fiche, and reference books not available to them easily. But today, with over a million new records being put online daily, most families have what is needed to satisfy their research aims back to at least the early 1800s available directly to their homes through FamilySearch.org or its affiliates.

The home page of this website gives the most current dates and time people are scheduled to help you in the Provo East Tri-Stake FamilySearch Center. The phone number is listed as well. You can even click the tab from the home page to schedule an appointment to meet with a consultant on a particular research problem of interest to your family. Today’s visitors come to understand how to use the new tools in FamilySearch.org, and to gain access to records that are only available at centers.

What is Available for free at a Family Search Center?

19th Century British Library Newspapers

This fully searchable database of the British Library’s newspaper holdings provides a complete run of 48 national and regional Victorian British newspapers for the 19th century from 1800 to 1900. These support the study of colonial history, genealogical research, politics, urban studies, and media courses.

Newspaper Archives

“NewspaperArchive.com is the world’s largest online newspaper archive. Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, Newspaper ARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old-including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more to fill in the life stories you are interested in. And share those stories with others through our community at Our Newspaper ARCHIVE. All of the historical newspapers are full pages and fully searchable. Try exploring the above, and discover your history today!”

Alexander Street Press – American Civil War

• Research Data: Contains indexed, searchable information on over 4 million soldiers and thousands of battles, together with 15,000 photographs. http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/cwdb
• Letters and Diaries: Contains approximately 100,000 indexed pages of diaries, letters, and memoirs, including 4,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts, such as the letters of Amos Wood and his wife and the diary of Maryland planter William Claytor. http://solomon.cwld.alexanderstreet.com
• Images, Photographs, Posters, and Ephemer : Provides a vivid history of the American Civil War with over 1,400 images. http://cpho.alexanderstreet.com
• Women and Social Movements in the United States: Organized around the history of women in social movements in the United States between 1600 and 2000 A.D.

Ancestry

Access this database at: http://www.ancestry.com

Ancestry gives you access to thousands of collections of records from around the world, including immigration, census, voter, vital, and military records; newspapers and periodicals; family trees; photos and images; directories, maps, court, land, wills, and financial records, stories, memories, and histories; and detailed records about births, marriages, deaths, land ownership, and much more. It is the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world.

ArkivDigital

Access this database at: http://www.arkivdigital.net

ArkivDigital is the largest private provider of Swedish Church Records and other historical records online! All images are newly photographed color images of the original documents.

Click the link from the Premium FamilySearch Websites page to install the current client version of ArkivDigital Online.

Find My Past

Access this database at: http://www.findmypast.co.uk

findmypast makes it easy to research your UK ancestry and create your family tree. Search census records and trace births, marriages, and deaths to bring your family history to life. Please note that not all of the content from Findmypast is available in family history centers.

1911 British Census (accessed through the Findmypast website)-The 1911 UK Census records everyone who lived in England and Wales in 1911. It provides a unique snapshot of the lives of those who lived at that time.

Fold3

Find your ancestor’s Civil War, Revolutionary War, or War of 1812 service and pension papers. Search or browse millions of historical documents and photos. Fold3 has refocused its efforts on gathering the best online collection of military records and stories. The Fold3 name reflects military history and honor, since traditionally, the third fold in a flag-folding ceremony honors and remembers veterans for their sacrifice in defending their country and promoting peace in the world.

Historic Map Works – Library Edition

Access this database at: http://www.proquest.historicmapworks.com

Historic Map Works-Library Edition is one of the most extensive digital map collections available, with over 470,000 high-resolution, full-color historic and antique maps. The core of the collection consists of cadastral (property and land ownership) maps illustrating the geographic and development history of the United States and also includes illustrations, city directories, and more. This unique content allows genealogists, historians, and academic researchers to track the “residential genealogy” of families and locations.

ProQuest Obituary Listings

Access this database at: http://obituaries.proquest.com/obitsweb/obits/do/home

The ProQuest obituaries collection is a premier resource for genealogical and historical research. You can use the collection to search obituaries and death notices from prominent newspapers, such as the New York Times (dating back to 1851). The collection includes both famous and lesser-known individuals and can be searched by name or by keywords appearing in the body of the article.

Puzzilla – Premium Services [edit source]

Access this database at: https://puzzilla.org

Find new research opportunities on descendant lines in Family Tree.

World Vital Records [edit source]

Access this database at: https://www.worldvitalrecords.com

Access to birth, marriage, and death records; Social Security Death Index; family trees; census records; immigration records; court, land, and probate records; military records directory lists; newspapers, family histories, reference materials, biographies, wills, gravestone photos, ship manifests, map collections, and yearbook collections.

Proper log-in through the portal is confirmed by a “Welcome FamilySearch Center Patron!” banner on the web page. Also, the World Vital Records error message: This Data Is NOT Available To Your Library (53204) is for an explanation of some data that may not be available.

The FamilySearch Library Catalog, now called CATALOG, at FamilySearch.org also acts as a locating guide. Regular gazetteers, maps, and atlases may also be used and they may be found online with the help of a Temple and Family Search Consultant.

A FamilySearch Center requires no fee to attend. Temple and Family Search Consultants are trained in the use of equipment, holdings, and basic techniques of research but they are not expected to do research for patrons. They are guides to lead patrons to the various source materials, rather than to be research assistants. However, if you find someone interested in your area of the world, you often will find very qualified research specialists ready to help. You may have a difficult time keeping them from helping you if they know you need help.

My Ancestor Has Duplicate Records – Now What? Merging Duplicate Records