free Family History Library Classes and Webinars

for a current listing, go here

Sample of what's available from the past:

General Research Webinars

Finding Original Records: The Real Game of Hide and Seek - Handout
Cousin Research - Handout
Descendancy Research - Handout
DNA: I've Tested, Now What? - Handout
Genetic Genealogy: An Introduction to DNA - Handout
Give Me An Estimate: When It's Okay to Guess in Genealogy - Handout
Organizing Your Genealogy - Handout
Research Logs: A Tool for Organizing Your Research - Handout
Solving Tough Research Problems - Handout
Using Social Media for Family History - Handout

FamilySearch Webinars

Overview of FamilySearch - Handout
Starting Family Tree: Attaching FamilySearch Sources in Family Tree - Handout
Starting Family Tree: Attaching Non-FamilySearch Sources in Family Tree - Handout
Starting Family Tree: Correcting Relationships - Handout
Starting Family Tree: Navigating, Adding, Editing, and Standardization of Dates and Places] - Handout
Starting Family Tree: Preserving Memories Using Photos and Documents - Handout
Starting FamilyTree: Research Help and Searching the Records - Handout
Starting Family Tree: Submitting Names for Temple Ordinances (LDS Church Members) - Handout
FamilySearch Research Wiki - Handout
Tips and Tricks for Using FamilySearch's Historical Records Collection – Handout
Using the Family History Library Catalog Effectively - Handout

Research Seminars & Conferences

United States & Canada Research Seminar [2017]

Canada Census Records
Descendancy Research
Freedman Bureau Records
Great Internet Sites for United States Research
Immigration and Canadian Border Crossings
Over There!: World War I Records Over Here
Quebec Research
Tips and Tricks for Using FamilySearch's Historical Records Collection
The Research Process
United States Case Study
United States Land Records
United States Naturalization Records
Using LDS Church Records

"I don't want to spend more time with the dead than the living"

Wise words spoken by a mother with children at home.
When we think of family history, do we think of just one more thing we should be doing and checking off our list?
Do we feel guilty for not going to the genealogy library and sifting through reels of microfilm?
May I take a moment to remind you that there are many ways of doing temple and family history work ... some of which you are doing right now.

You are living, learning, and growing.  Remember the Lord didn't give you these life experiences to keep to yourself.  Write them down and share what you've learned with others.

Paul is coming home from his mission on Tuesday.  In what is most likely the last letter David could send to him in the mission field, David wrote:

I can relate to the mixed feelings that you are probably feeling right now. I remember sitting in the airplane on the runway in Venezuela on my way home from my mission. My heart ached that I was leaving so many people whom I had come to love, knowing that I would probably not see them again. My heart was swollen with great anticipation and love for my family, too, that I knew would be waiting for me when I arrived home in El Paso, Texas. It was a moment I will never forget. The night before I left Venezuela, I remember kneeling in personal prayer and asking God if my mission was acceptable to Him. I remember feeling a surge of the Spirit come over my entire being that confirmed to me that God had accepted my missionary efforts. I hope you will have a similar experience.

These are comforting words of reassurance.  They are also a part of David's personal life history.  All it took was a copy and paste to preserve this memory in David's family tree.

It is interesting what will jog our memories - a photo we've taken or a similar experience.  Sometimes it just takes asking the right question.

I told you about the Pando game we played at our recent Cardon family reunion.  Everyone was trying to guess what instrument their grandma Jackie had played in school: piano, violin, cello, flute, recorder.  No.  She gave them a hint: it starts with the letter "T":  trumpet, timpani, triangle, trombone, tambourine ... no one could guess that their little old grandma had played the tuba! 

You can learn more about your family, both living and dead, by asking questions.  It doesn't need to be a formal setting.  It can be around the dinner table.

Family search has compiled a list of 52 questions for you to answer about your family,  (I've posted them on this blog site.) Just one question a week will lead to amazing discoveries.  For example:

1. Are there any occupations that have run in your family for generations? (accountant, dentist, teacher...)
2. Did your family celebrate any obscure holidays or cultural traditions?  (we put more time and effort into celebrating Harry Potter's birthday than that of our own children!)
3. What were the differences between your dad’s side of the family and your mom’s side that had to be reconciled within your nuclear family?  (David was raised in Texas and Linnea in Idaho. The first couple years of married life were a battle with the thermostat!)
4. What are some crises, natural disasters, or other tragedies that you had to pull together to get through? (that might include being unemployed for 3 years or a car accident.)

Get the living involved in searching for the dead.  Not all of us are a Dennis Preece!  Claire loves to do baptisms for the dead.  We supply her with names.  My mom works in initiatory - we pass the names on to her.

Expand your circle to include extended family members.  Do you have a cousin or a great-aunt who has collected lots of old photos.  Ask if you can make copies.  Get the stories that go with the pictures.  The faintest pencil is better than the longest memory!

What are some things you have done to involve your family in appreciating and preserving their heritage?  This is family history in the making.

In the words of a Primary song (p 94):
Family history - I am doing it, My family history.
And the love I feel when I'm doing it Is very sweet to me.
I learn stories of my progenitors; I write their history.
I keep records of my loved ones On my own family tree.

Family living now and the ones who've died Can all be sealed to me,
And someday I'll meet every one of them, I'm sure as I can be.
Oh what joy we'll have when they say to me, "We're all a family.
I am yours and you are mine now, Through all eternity."


There is no one right way to do family history.  There are many opportunities.  Go with whatever appeals to you now.  It will change with time.  But whatever you choose to do will enrich your life.  That is one of the promised blessings. 

Let me know how I can help.

52 stories for families

If you’ve used #52Stories to write your personal history, try #52Stories for families to help you record your family’s story, one question at a time. These weekly questions will get the conversation going so you and your family can discuss and preserve your most precious memories. At the end of the year, you’ll have a collection of the stories that have shaped your family and strengthened your relationships.

1. What are some of your family’s greatest accomplishments—things you worked together to achieve?
2. What family goals are or were you forever setting, whether or not you actually achieved them?
3. What are the biggest obstacles you’ve overcome together as a family?
4. What are some crises, natural disasters, or other tragedies that you had to pull together to get through?
5. What are the parameters that define “success” in your family, whether financial, occupational, educational, religious, familial, etc.?
6. What are some of the inside jokes that no one outside your family understands?
7. What fictional family—anywhere in books, movies, or television—most closely resembles your family and why?
8. What movies or books are frequently talked about or quoted in your family?
9. How does your family tend to show their love for one another—perhaps through acts of service, gifts, saying it out loud, humor, hugs and physical affection, etc.?
10. What are some of the physical traits that make it obvious your family members are all related to one another?
11. What are some of the personality traits that run in your family—quiet, loud, adventurous, reserved, hilarious, serious, courageous, cautious, faithful, skeptical, fun-loving, hard-working, etc.
12. Are there any occupations that have run in your family for generations?
13. Are there any hobbies or common interests that run in your family?
14. What are the most common pastimes that your family enjoys together—sports, outdoor activities, board games, music, plays, movies, cooking, swapping stories?
15. What songs would be on your family’s soundtrack—the songs that everyone knows the words to?
16. What meals would be in your family’s cookbook—the foods that make you feel nostalgic for your childhood or for home?
17. What are some of the meals and cooking traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation?
18. Which of your maternal grandmother’s physical and personality traits can you identify in her children and grandchildren?
19. Which of your maternal grandfather’s physical and personality traits can you identify in his children and grandchildren?
20. Which of your paternal grandmother’s physical and personality traits can you identify in her children and grandchildren?
21. Which of your paternal grandfather’s physical and personality traits can you identify in his children and grandchildren?
22. What old family stories are most often told at family gatherings?
23. What are some of the quotes, proverbs, sayings, or aphorisms your family members repeat often?
24. What are some unique colloquialisms, phrases, made-up words, and mispronunciations your family is known for?
25. What are some of your family’s core values?
26. As you’ve looked at your family compared to other families, what makes yours unique, different, or special?
27. Does your family have deep roots in a particular place? How has that place impacted your family story?
28. How many different cities or towns has your family called home?
29. What other families have been particularly influential to your family—cousins, friends, neighbors, in-laws?
30. What was your family’s most frequent vacation destination?
31. What are the most memorable vacations your family has ever taken together?
32. Who are some of the nonrelatives who have played a significant role in your family memories—neighbors, teachers, religious leaders, coaches, community leaders?
33. Who are some of the most interesting characters you know about from your family history?
34. How has military service or involvement in foreign wars affected your family dynamics, past and present?
35. What are some of the major life events that pushed your family in a new direction and brought you where you are today?
36. What are some of the historical events (wars, emigration, natural disasters, etc.) that have had a significant impact on your family history?
37. How has faith played a role in your family history? What religious traditions influenced your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and beyond?
38. What traditions did your family observe around Christmastime?
39. What traditions and rituals do you remember surrounding the start of a new school year?What were some of your family’s birthday and anniversary traditions?
40. Did your family celebrate any obscure holidays or cultural traditions?
41. What are the heirlooms, objects, and keepsakes that hold special meaning for your family?
42. Does your family have any specific traditions for funerals, Memorial Day, or otherwise commemorating loved ones who have passed on?
43. What are some of the names that have been passed down through multiple generations of your family?
44. Does your family follow any unique naming conventions, such as being called by a middle name, naming children after ancestors, inventing completely unique names, having all names start with the same letter, etc.?
45. What are some of the most unique names that can be found in your family tree? (Try Baby Ancestry to find out.)
46. Who are the most famous ancestors that can be found in your family tree? (Try Relative Finder to find out.)
47. What are some of the charitable, political, or environmental causes your family fought for, donated to, volunteered for, or continue to support?
48. What makes your family laugh? Share some of the funniest stories or events that bring a smile to everyone’s faces.
49. Thinking of your family of origin, what were the differences between your dad’s side of the family and your mom’s side that had to be reconciled within your nuclear family? (Affluent vs. middle class, reserved vs. outgoing, religious vs. secular, Republican vs. Democrat, etc.)
50. Fill in the blank with as many different words as you can: “We come from a long line of ______________________.”
51. What are the values that you hope to see passed down to future generations of your family?

Pioneers

taken from Three Things the Oregon Trail Game Didn't Teach You about the Pioneers

Players of The Oregon Trail will remember that encountering a river was risky. Paying for the ferry was expensive—but trying to ford it yourself could result in the loss of valuable supplies or party members. Still, most players agonized over the choice for less than a minute.

While fording rivers in The Oregon Trail game is a quick decision, that wasn’t the case for the pioneers. They faced the same challenge: pay the toll for a ferry or find another way across—and maybe lose your life, your livelihood, or your family in the process. Pioneers who attempted to cross rivers on their own spent a great deal of time planning and preparing.

To cross, some pioneers would caulk their wagons, dismantle them, and use the wagon box as a makeshift boat. Caulking and self-ferrying was not preferred, as it was slow and arduous. Others would lash felled trees together to make a raft, although this was one of the most dangerous options a family could take. These attempts at fording rivers cost the lives of many pioneers and their livestock.

Did one of your ancestors cross with the pioneers? Let's find out!

Utah Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database, 1847-1868

Learn about pioneer life on the trail, foods eaten, games played, etc here. 
With a little family history exploration, you can find pioneers with remarkable, inspiring stories among your very own relatives.

photo find

Mark Haines shared the following story with me as I was teaching him how to attach photos to memories:
Mark used to be a professional photographer.  His grandfather was too.  After his grandpa died, they were cleaning out his building.  There were lots of photography magazines and the like that Mark started throwing into the trash.  But there were so many, that he decided it would be easier to just dump everything onto a large tarp and then haul it out to the dumpster.
Mark starting throwing stuff onto the tarp when he came across a parcel wrapped in brown parchment paper tied up with a string.  "If no one has needed this in 30 years," he reckoned, "we don't need it now."  And so he tossed the package into the pile.  He continued to discard items when an impression came to him, "If someone went to all the time and effort to put that package together, don't you think you should at least look inside it?"  Mark searched for the package and pulled it out of the discard pile.  Then carefully opening it he discovered the contents: photos of his grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts and uncles - most of which were labeled and preserved in this package.
He shed a tear as he recounted the tale.  He knew the Spirit had been prompting him to retrieve a valuable keepsake in his family legacy.  He still has many of those photos to this very day.

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.)