Lesson 3: Get to Know Your Family Tree

remarks at Provo City Center temple dedication

We were also informed that 1.9 million names are added to family search each day!  We were challenged to actively assemble and record our family histories and to use the stories in family home evening.  Unseen spirits gratefully acknowledge the work we do in their behalf.

Report: Ask the class members to report on their assignments of filling out the booklet and adding new information, photos, and stories to FamilySearch.org. Allow them to share what they learned.

Introduction After starting with stories, it is important to become familiar with your family tree.

1. Show the traditional pedigree. Show how to expand and navigate the tree.

2.  Point out that if people add a living individual to Family Tree, they are the only ones to see that information

3. Show how to view children, other spouses, and other parents.

4. Select a person, and show the summary card. (click once on their name)

5. Show a person’s details page. (from the summary card, click on their name again.) Point out the information displayed on the page.

6. Show how to view details and how to add and edit information.

7. Look for possible duplicates

Question: Why is it important to merge possible duplicates? Duplicate records may contain temple ordinance information. To avoid redoing ordinances, merge duplicate records together.

8. On the merge screen, discuss how information on the left is kept, and information on the right is deleted during a merge.

9. Return to the tree and show the fan chart view. Discuss how easy it is to see holes using this view.

10. Switch to the portrait view, and point out how generations are displayed with their portraits.

11. Switch to the descendancy view, and show how to expand both descendants and ancestors.

NEW:  You can now view your family tree in a timeline!  This is a free service offered by Twile.  This is an example of what my family timeline looks like.

Discussion Question: When would you use each of the various tree views?

The traditional pedigree allows you to view all the information available for a particular branch of the tree, including children, other spouses, other parents, and so forth. You can easily focus on one part of your tree to add or change information.

The fan chart makes it easy to view several generations at once and identify which lines may need more research.

The portrait view allows you to see pictures of your ancestors.

The descendancy view is a fast way to find available ordinances and research suggestions and to view the descendants of a particular person.
With a timeline, I realized that I was missing information on my living relatives - particularly my cousins and their children.  I was able to contact them and update my records.

Question: How can you view a spouse’s pedigree? To view a spouse’s pedigree, start by adding the spouse’s living parents and grandparents. You can add just their names. Then search for and add deceased individuals. The rest of the pedigree will be displayed.