Become a Family History Detective

for ages 8 to 12 -- Look for clues in a cemetery, on a computer, in a keepsake suitcase, and keep an evidence folder. Play games your ancestors may have played. Allow about two hours. Earn your Family History Detective badge and certificate if you return with your evidence folder complete.

Outline:
powerpoint
suitcase
computer
graveyard
games
(note: although the sequence can vary, it is easier to do outside activities last than try to calm them down again!)

Pioneer games:
hopscotch
marbles
hula hoop
horseshoes

graveyard:
You don't have to visit an actual cemetery.  You can make your own headstones out of cardboard painted grey.  Include the clues you want them to find. (what information is available on a headstone...)

Task: Interview a grandparent then return and report.  Share what you learned.  What do you have in common?  what was your favorite part?

Wonderful job. Keep on being a family history detective, we need more on the force.  You have just earned your starter kit:
a notebook and pencil to write down hints
a lanyard
a magnifying glass
a badge
and chocolate (to keep you energized)
also give them a certificate with their name on it.

cartoon: vacationing with a genealogist

What will your kids remember about you?

It's not easy being a mom...

But it is worth it in the end as this Mother's Day post suggests:

My happiness. Motherhood has grown and stretched me in ways I could have never known. The highlight of my day was my cards received informing me that I make the best macaroni and cheese, that I am so good at wrestling, and that Eli's favorite memory of me is when I taught him how to cross his eyes. Happy Mother's Day to all the women in my life who have inspired me in each of your own ways to continue to strive to be better every day. - Heidi Zuniga

What will your children remember when they think of you?  Ask them and write it down!  Then attach it to the family tree.

fires and photos

As wildfires sweep through neighborhoods in Paradise, California


burning homes and destroying lives


one mother and son in Malibu finds what they came back for: old family photos

merge by ID

The computer has a more difficult time detecting duplicate children.  When you find you have two entries for the same person, there is a quick way to merge:
Hover over one of the ID numbers.  Click on it.  Copy ID appears in blue over the number.  Click on the copy ID.  Now pull up the other duplicate name.  Go to Merge by ID on the right column. (control V) to copy the number into the box. Merge as usual.

Ogden family history center closing November 17, 2018

Current Location and Hours

539 24th Street Ogden, Utah
801-626-1132

Monday & Friday: 9 am – 5 pm
Tue-Thurs: 9 am – 9 pm
Saturday: 9 am – 1 pm

It will reopen next year (2019) across from the Ogden temple.

This week is your last chance if you want to ...

• Become a Family History Detective--for ages 8 to 12--Look for clues in a cemetery, on a computer, in a keepsake suitcase, and keep an evidence folder. Play games your ancestors may have played. Allow about two hours. Earn your Family History Detective badge and certificate if you return with your evidence folder complete.

The new building will have three large screens which will allow you to:

replace my face

green screens (take your photo with a castle)

What does my name mean?

Where do I come from? (immigration patterns)

Discover who you are related to? (anyone famous)

There will also be recording rooms (individual and group)

Changes in Family Tree Shed New Light on Your Ancestors’ Lives

the entire blog post can be found here.

FamilySearch’s newly released update to the person pages in Family Tree will make learning about your ancestors easier than ever before. Streamlined menus mean using the person page is now faster and more intuitive. New ways to view your ancestors’ lives and information, including maps and time lines, will expand your understanding and enable you to identify and fill in missing information more quickly.

Here are some of the most exciting changes you’ll find on the Family Tree person pages:

Streamlining the Family Tree Person Pages

FamilySearch has updated this page to make it cleaner and easier to navigate. With the new updates, your relative’s information is also easier to edit!

There’s also an exciting new tool you can explore with this update! The Time Line tab introduces you to a completely new tool.

Time Lines and Maps: A New View of Your Ancestor’s Life

The time line displays all the major events in your ancestor’s life, allowing you to get an overview in just one glance. Click on the Show button to filter which events and relationships you would like to view. Icons, such as a baby for birth or rings for a wedding, identify what type of event it is.

You can also toggle the Map function inside the time line tab to view a map beside the information. Here, markers show you where these events in your ancestors’ lives took place.  Icons, such as a baby for birth or rings for a wedding, identify what type of event it is. If an event is a relationship that involves another relative in your family tree, that relative’s picture and information will show up as well!

Be sure to also take a moment and look over the options on the sidebar on the right side of the page. Some of these have been rearranged and reorganized so you can accomplish many of the most common Family Tree tasks much easier. For example, you can now merge ancestors by ID as well as edit labels from this right sidebar. There’s even a newly added Data Problems alert that will appear if there are possible problems with your ancestor’s information, such as possible duplicates.

With these new tools and improved organization, it won’t be long before you’re identifying a missing piece of information, following a record hint, or making new discoveries about your relatives and adding them to your tree.

New Ways to View Your Family Tree: the fan chart

Once you’re on the fan chart screen, you’ll see several new options. For one thing, your chart can now display 5, 6, or 7 generations. You can also choose from several display themes: Birth Country, Sources, Stories, or Photos. In each case, the fan chart still shows the ancestors’ names as well as birth and death years. However, now the chart blocks are color-coded. A key on the side tells you what each color represents. This makes the information easy to digest quickly.

For example, choosing Birth Country will bring up the fan chart colored according to where each ancestor was born.  When you choose a different display option, the fan chart is color coded according to how many of that particular item (sources, stories, or photos) each ancestor has. 

How the Fan Chart Can Help You

When using these new fan charts to look at your family information, you’re bound to make some new discoveries. Instead of scrolling through your tree or clicking on individual screens to gather information one piece at a time, you can now get an overview on one screen. Ever wonder how much German heritage you have? Or what your strongest ancestral heritage is? Now you can see this on your FamilySearch fan chart.

The color-coded fan chart also helps you recognize patterns you might not have seen before. Maybe one branch of your family tree is filled with sources and photos while another branch hardly has any. With this understanding, you can more effectively focus your attention on a particular family or branch. Maybe you will want to spend some time reading stories you hadn’t realized existed. Noticing some branches of your tree that don’t have sources or photos may inspire you to add some yourself!

The next time you’re looking at your family on FamilySearch, take a moment to try the new Fan Chart view. You just might see your family in a whole new way.

Give it a try!

PS to read the entire blog post on this subject, click here.

20+ Questions to Capture Grandma’s Story—#MeetMyGrandma

What do you know about your grandmothers? They may live far away or with your family, but each has had experiences that should be recorded and preserved. Those stories will help you understand your grandmothers and yourself better.

Now is a great time to start, especially if your grandmothers are living. The best way to learn about them is to ask them questions. If they have passed away, ask your family to share their memories with you. Then preserve what you learn for future generations at FamilySearch.org.

20 Questions to Ask Your Grandma

Brainstorm what you would like to know about your grandma. Use the questions below to get started! Feel free to skip or modify the questions to make them fit your situation.

• What is your full name, and what are the names of your parents and siblings? 
• How did your parents choose your name, and does it have a special meaning? 
• Did you have any nicknames? 
• When and where were you born?
• When and where were your family members born? 
• What kinds of things did your family do together when you were young? 
• Who were some of your friends, and what are your fondest memories of spending time with them? 
• What schools did you attend?
• What were your favorite subjects in school?
• Who were your favorite teachers and why were they your favorite?
• How did you meet Grandfather?
• How did Grandfather propose? 
• When and where were you married? 
• What are your children’s names, and when and where were they born? 
• What are some special memories you have about your children? 
• Where have you lived? 
• Who have you worked for, and what jobs did you do? 
• Has faith or religion played a role in your life?
• What did you do to get through the difficult times in your life? 
• What are your favorite holiday memories and traditions?
• What are some of your favorite things (such as favorite colors, flowers, books, songs, foods, or pets)?
• What trips or vacations do you remember, and which one was your favorite? 
• What experiences in your life have molded you into the person you are today?
• What are your favorite things to do now?
• What do you hope for your children and grandchildren?

Preserving Grandma’s Stories with FamilySearch Memories

Now that you’ve recorded the stories, why not share and preserve them for future generations? Adding the stories to your family tree will protect them from natural disasters, from changes in technology, and from being accidentally discarded.

Stories shared are stories remembered

New Records on FamilySearch (25 million in past 2 months)

from October 2018
FamilySearch expanded its free online archives in October 2018 with over 12 million new indexed family history records and nearly 400,000 digital images from around the world. New historical records were added from Belgium, Chile, Colombia, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States, which includes California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia. New digital images were added from BillionGraves and Belgium.
Millions of new genealogy records are added each month to make your search easier.  Take a look at what was just added here.

from September 2018
FamilySearch expanded its free online archives in September 2018 with almost 13 million new indexed family history records and over 500,000 digital images from around the world. New historical records were added from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, England, France, Italy, Lesotho, Liberia, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Wales,and the United States, which includes Arkansas, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, andVirginia. New digital images were added from BillionGraves and Georgia.

A visit from Father

President Nelson recounts a personal family history story that bears testimony of the importance of temple and family history work for all families.

GOT TIME?
I was just coming home from work when David asked if I'd like to go to the temple with him.  Of course, what ordinances will we be doing?  If it was just Paul going with us, we'd do endowments, but since Julia decided to come along, we chose baptisms.  As I was going through the list of names that I had reserved, two names popped up that needed sealed to parents.  I felt strongly that I needed to do this work for these sisters, but David really wanted us to go as a family to do baptisms.  I handed David the baptism names and promised I would join them just as soon as possible.  I quickly changed my clothes and took my two names to up to the sealing office.  There I was greeted by President and Sister Allen.  I explained that I needed to seal these two daughters and then join my family in the baptistery.  Sister Allen took me straight to a sealing room where a couple was already kneeling at the alter.  They had me slip in as a daughter; I did my two names and then changed my clothes.  I passed the temple greeter on my way to the baptistery.  She said that was the shortest session on record.  I was in and out in 10 minutes.  In fact, I arrived to the font area while my family was still changing their clothes.  I slipped into a white jumpsuit and walked out into the waiting area with Julia.  We still got all the baptisms done together as a family, but I know of two very grateful sisters that had their work completed because I took the time to make their ordinances a priority.

Ordinances Ready: FamilySearch New Feature

check out a 5 minute You-tube training video here for the new family tree app

or read all about it on the family search blog here

an awesome step-by-step video instruction on how to use the new app is found here.

How does it work?
It checks first for names you have reserved, then for names you've missed, and finally for names that have been shared with the temple (but are still related to you - you can see how when you pull up the names.)
It only gives you as many names as you can do right now.  (When those are completed it will generate a new list.  If you've misplaced your names, you can reprint them.)  The program will produce:
5 baptism/confirmation names
5 initiatory names
1 endowment
10 sealings of each type (spouse and parent/child)

If you are female, the names found will be female.  Going as a family?  Have each member log into their account (12-13 year olds need parent permission) and print their own names.

You have 90 days to complete the ordinances you requested.

These new-found names may provide additional opportunities for research.

Moral of the story: share all of your names with the temple.  You can always claim them back, but that way your ancestors aren't waiting on you if another descendant is going to the temple first.