New apps

Today we tried the apps compare a face (see how much you resemble an ancestor) and map your ancestor (to see where they are from and where they lived .)

Occupations

Since today is father's day, let's focus on our dads.  We are going to learn more about what he did for a living.

Some sample questions to learn more about your father's occupation might be:
What occupations did your father (or mother) have?
When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Why did you choose your current occupation?
What other jobs have you had? Did you enjoy them? What did you like about them?
What is a memorable experience from work?
(These are all great questions that you can answer in the stories section of memories on Family Tree.)

For example, I always knew my dad was a mathematician.  He taught at Ricks College while I was growing up.  But what I learned was:
The first paid job Jay had was a newspaper route in Houston, Texas. He was around 11 years old and would deliver the papers in the afternoon on his bike. 
(Our family used to deliver newspapers!  My kids will be able to relate to that!)
Jay had several odd jobs while he was living in Baltimore and going to high school at the Baltimore City College. One spring/summer he helped the milkman make home deliveries out in the country on Saturdays. The milkman would pick him up early in the morning – around 5 am. While the milkman drove the route, Jay would reach back into the truck and get the next order prepped and ready. Then Jay would run it up to the door and the milkman would drive to the next stop. Jay was the arms and legs of that operation (because he couldn’t drive). His official title was probably something like “Grunt.” The benefits included a free quart of milk to drink with the sandwich he brought for lunch.
(I feel a tie-in with the 2 free loaves of bread I get each week from working at Great Harvest making sandwiches.)
Jay was hired as a babysitter to watch some elementary age kids all day long as the mother had to work. This lasted for only 2 or 3 days. It was the most boring job he ever had. There was absolutely nothing to do but fix lunch and clean up afterwards. The mother and her children were also living in Claremont (government subsidized housing) but had no books and no radio let alone a TV. 
(So many of my kids can relate to babysitting!)
His junior year of college, Jay got a job working for the florist next to campus. He would put soil in the beds, water the flowers, and move things around. Because they made floral arrangements – bouquets and corsages – Jay was able to learn how to make a corsage for Sue for one of the dances they went to.  He made it out of lilacs and pine.  (see photo below)

While Jay was teaching at Ricks College a new Math Department Chair was needed.  Each faculty member was brought in and asked whom they thought it should be.  They all had different ideas which sounded similar (not me!) So Jay made a weighted die with everyone’s name on it to help the president decide whom to call. Jay’s name was always on bottom and the guy he thought should be head always ended on top.  And that is how Boyd Cardon became the new Math Department Chair!
My sister Leiana recalls, "I often ran into people who took Math from my dad...he was a fabulous teacher. He could explain any math concept in 2 or 3 different ways, finding a method for any student to understand. Those students who had him, loved him and talked fondly about their time in his class, and this is math we are talking about!"
I remember my father writing his own math materials. As a family, we would collate the pages by hand and slip them into manila envelopes to make math packets. These would cost the students considerably less than buying a text book. Jay knew that most students were struggling with limited funds, so he wanted to save them money.
What I didn't know until I started researching online was that:
"When Jay left Ricks he left his earnings from the Math Modules he had authored to be the used as the nest egg for a student scholarship.  That fund and the earnings continue to assist math students each semester.”

Several years ago (2004) we were asked to make a video for a family reunion that would help others get to know us better ... what we did, where we lived, etc.  David’s occupation played a predominate role in the making of this video.

How can knowing a person’s occupation help with family history?

1. It can help distinguish between people with the same name
2. It can identify the person as he moves from place to place
3. It builds ties with descendants who have similar interests
4. It tells you something about their lifestyle

Get to know your family better by asking questions about their lives. What did your grandpa study at the university?

What's in a name? Does your surname indicate an ancestor’s occupation? Does it suggest a country or culture of origin?

Activity: You can call, write, email, text, Skype or talk face to face with your father if he is still living.  If he has passed on, contact another family member who may know the answer to your questions.  (Take time for class members to contact or reach out to their fathers.  Allow time for them to share their experiences.)

research in family history (ch 11)

Begin by remembering, accumulating, and organizing information to identify members of your family. Each person can be identified by personal information, such as the following:

• Name (first name, middle names, surnames, maiden name, and nicknames)
• Relationship to other members of the family
• Dates and places of important events, such as birth, marriage, and death
• Ancestral home

• Occupation

Strive to be accurate and thorough. You may not need to fill in every blank on a family group sheet, but each piece of information helps confirm that you have identified the right person and helps you learn more about that person and others in that family line.

Look for sources in your home that might provide important family information (including information missing from your pedigree chart or family group records). Useful sources include birth, marriage, and death certificates; family Bibles; funeral programs; obituaries; wedding announcements; family registers; and ancestral tablets.

Add the information you find to your family’s pedigree charts and family group records. Record the sources of the information in the notes or sources section on the forms or in your family history program. This helps you and others know where the information came from.

Ask relatives for information. Make a list of relatives and the family information they may have. Then contact the relatives—visit, call, write a letter, or e-mail them. Be sure to ask specifically for the information you need. (For example, “Do you know when Aunt Jane was born?”) Ask if there is a document you can copy that lists the information.

Oral histories of family members are important and may be the only source of information for certain individuals. If possible, make a recording of the person telling the story. Write the story down; then list a source, such as “oral history, told by my grandmother Anne (Hamblin) Zabriski on November 30, 2011.”

As you expand your research, it is helpful to know the difference between original records and compiled records:

• Original records are records of life events kept by affected parties at or near the time the events took place. Original records can provide information about birth, death, place of residence, property, occupation, immigration, civil action, religious ceremonies, and personal achievements. Some original records, such as censuses, parish records, birth certificates, wills, deeds, and ship passenger lists, are kept by governments, churches, societies, or other institutions. Other original records, such as diaries and family Bibles, are kept by individuals or families.
  Original records are most likely to contain the most accurate information for your family history research because they were made by people living closest to your ancestor at the time of the event. Many original records have been microfilmed by the Church and are now becoming digitally available and searchable on FamilySearch.org. Volunteers can help make more records available through the FamilySearch indexing program.
• Compiled records are collections of information gathered from other sources, often many years after the event. Examples include family histories, biographies, place histories, society publications, periodicals, genealogies, and computerized indexes. Compiled records may be drawn from original records, other compiled records, or both. For example, a published family history may be compiled from civil registration records, census records, family papers, and local histories. Compiled records may not be as accurate as original records, but they are still important in family history research because they contain information that may not be available otherwise.

Civil records. Civil records are records kept by federal, regional, and local governments. These are located in government offices, archives, and libraries. Catalogs and indexes are often available on the Internet or at the locations where the records are held. The following are common examples of civil records:

• Birth certificates usually give the person’s name, date and place of birth, parents’ names (sometimes including the mother’s maiden name), and residence.
• Marriage certificates usually show the date and place of the marriage, names and ages of the bride and groom, places of residence, witnesses’ names, and sometimes parents’ names.
• Death certificates give the person’s name and may show a date and place of death, age, residence, cause of death, parents’ names, occupation, date and place of burial, and sometimes the date and place of birth.

Census records. Many governments have compiled census records for the past two hundred years or more. Early census records frequently name only the head of the household and give names, gender, birthplaces, and approximate ages of those in the household. Later census records include more complete information.

Be careful when using census records because they provide only a glimpse of the family. Following are some cautions to keep in mind when consulting census records:

• Family members may not be included in a census if they were not home when the census was taken.
• Censuses do not include deceased family members.
• The wife listed in the census may not be the mother of the children.
• Relatives and boarders are sometimes listed as children.
• Information may have been supplied by neighbors or approximated by census takers.
• Names might appear under a variety of spellings.
• Ages are frequently rounded, and birthplaces often approximated.

Computer programs provide the best methods for easy storage and retrieval of family history information. 

A computer file that keeps track of what you have searched for, where you have looked, and what you have found can also be a valuable resource, particularly when you have invested a lot of time and effort into family history research.

For additional information, see Chapter 11: Research in Family History,” Introduction to Family History Student Manual (2012), 92–99 or click this link.

persist despite the challenges

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency spoke of our unique opportunities and the resources available for furthering the work of the Lord in temples: “Your opportunities and the obligations they create are remarkable in the whole history of the world. There are more temples across the earth than there have ever been. More people in all the world have felt the Spirit of Elijah move them to record the identities of their ancestors and facts of their ancestors’ lives. There are more resources to search out your ancestors than there have ever been in the history of the world. The Lord has poured out knowledge about how to make that information available worldwide through technology that a few years ago would have seemed a miracle” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2005, 82; or Ensign, May 2005, 79).

President Henry B. Eyring counseled us to persevere when family history work becomes difficult, promising that we will have help beyond our own strength:

“After you find the first few generations, the road will become more difficult. The price will become greater. As you go back in time, the records become less complete. As others of your family search out ancestors, you will discover that the ancestor you find has already been offered the full blessings of the temple. Then you will have a difficult and important choice to make. You will be tempted to stop and leave the hard work of finding to others who are more expert or to another time in your life. But you will also feel a tug on your heart to go on in the work, hard as it will be.

“As you decide, remember that the names which will be so difficult to find are of real people to whom you owe your existence in this world and whom you will meet again in the spirit world. When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you will see in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment. Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2005, 82; or Ensign, May 2005, 79–80).

1940 census

The 1940 U.S. Federal Census is the largest, most comprehensive, and most recent record set available that records the names of those who were living in the United States at the time the census was taken.  [It contains 132 million records!]

Many of these individuals are part of what has been called “the greatest generation”—people who lived through the Great Depression, fought in World War II, and lived in the 48 states that existed at the time.

Tens of millions of people living in the United States in 1940 are still living today, making the 1940 census a record set that connects people with recent family records. It was the first to record such interesting facts as where people lived five years before, individuals’ highest educational level achieved, and detailed income and occupation information.

“The 1940 census is attractive to both new and experienced researchers because most people in the United States can remember a relative who was living in 1940,” said David Rencher, chief genealogy officer for FamilySearch. “It will do more to connect living memory with historical records and families than any other collection previously made available.”

get to know your family stories

Research has shown that one secret to having a successful family is knowing your family stories.

Think of a family story you would like preserved—something that makes you appreciate the family more or that strengthens you when times are difficult or that just makes you happy.

The “Do You Know Scale” tests what children know about their families. Testing well on this quiz also indicates higher levels of self-esteem, fewer behavioral problems, and lower levels of anxiety, as well as other positive results.

Take the Do You Know Scale quiz found here.

An outline of the talk to your grandmother activity can be found here.