, November 26, 2017
Focus Your Efforts on the FamilySearch Family Tree
If you look closely at the above screenshot from the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, you will see that there are 72 Memories and 63 Sources attached to this individual. Sometimes, as is the case with Francis Tanner, a lot of research is necessary and documenting that research is also necessary. In this case, as I have been writing in the recent past, the problem is a frustrating end-of-line situation. In other cases, it is merely a need to fully document a well-recorded individual. I can assure you that every other ancestor leading back to Francis Tanner is just as well documented. As a matter of fact, leading up to and including Francis in the eight generations of my male Tanner line, there are a total of 511 sources attached to this particular Tanner line. There are also 723 Memories. Much of the information now in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree was not previously available to the Tanner family.
For example, the birth record of John Tanner KWJ1-K2F had never been published or referenced previously to doing the research in the Hopkinton, Rhode Island Town Clerk Records. Substantiating each individual has taken years of intensive research.
The idea here is that family history is a cumulative effort that may take many years. The Family Tree is a wonderful tool to accumulate and collaborate all of this information. What is most important is that the Family Tree allows for an ongoing correction process. A lot of errors and misinformation has accumulated over the years and the Family Tree allows us to come much closer to a family-wide consensus concerning crucial identifications and information.
Another important factor is that the information that is found continues to be incorporated into the summaries under Vital Information. I am frequently finding dates and places recorded in the Vital Information section that do not match the records that have been added as sources. When you do find a pertinent record, take the time to accurately record the information in the summary.
One frustrating problem is that people are still making changes without adding a substantiating source. This is even more frustrating when the change contradicts the sources and Memories already available. Reproducing traditional information that is not now supported by sources does not help the overall effort to correct and substantiate the entries in the Family Tree.
I am finding quite a number of people who are focusing their attention on a pedigree or family tree in another program. There are a variety of reasons for doing this. Most commonly, they express a concern about "changes" being made to the Family Tree. However, as I have pointed out, these "changes" are, in many cases, resulting in the correction of the accumulation of false traditionally held information. By failing to focus on the Family Tree, these false traditions are merely being perpetuated. The Family Tree is essentially a "clearing house" for information about the world's families.
Surprisingly, this unsupported and false traditional information seems to come most commonly from Ancestry.com. This is surprising since Ancestry.com supplies a wealth of record hints that are apparently being ignored by its users. For example, I now have 24 Ancestry supplied sources for my Great-great-grandfather Sidney Tanner. However, in looking at some of the other family trees in Ancestry that share information about this particular ancestor, I find none with all of these sources and some family trees with as few as 4 sources. I can only assume that these people are not focusing on Sidney to any extent and are potential contributors of inaccurate information. The is especially true since Sidney has 66 sources in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree.
Of course, the raw number of sources is not the only persuasive factor in correcting information. It is not uncommon to find inappropriately attached sources that have not been properly evaluated. But that is another problem for another day.
Saturday, November 25, 2017
What do you need to know to come to #RootsTech 2018?
Even though I will not be physically present at RootsTech 2018, I am still very much interested in what is going on. I have been to all the previous years of the Conference. When I started coming, we were living in Mesa, Arizona and now we live in Provo, Utah. So I am acquainted with traveling to the Conference and staying hotels and also traveling back and forth to my home each day of the Conference. I do have a lot of suggestions about Utah, Salt Lake City, and the Conference because of my previous experience.
First of all the weather. Salt Lake City, Utah is just over 4000 feet above sea level and parts of the City are much higher. The City is also located between two high mountain ranges and is well known as a skiing destination. This means there is a really good chance of snow, but certainly very cold weather conditions. However, once you get to the Salt Palace Convention Center where the Conference is held, you will be inside all day. So think about having layers of clothing and some way to carry a coat or whatever.
Also, remember that you will be walking long distances. Even if you arrive with a car or by train or other transportation, you will have to walk. Salt Lake City's blocks. Each block in downtown Salt Lake is 1/8th of a mile. The Salt Palace is almost two blocks long. Think about it. Also, if someone says it is only two blocks to a restaurant, think again.
If you are driving in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area, you might be aware that there is a major traffic issue. Traffic on the freeways moves at over 80 miles per hour down to a dead stop. It is very important to check an online traffic indicator to see conditions before you get stuck on the freeway. Also, people in Utah generally disregard traffic lights. We have seen as many as five cars at a time run a clearly red light at one intersection. Do not pull out when the light turns green until you are sure that traffic has stopped.
There is a light rail system from the airport to downtown. If you decided to take the train, be aware that they can be delayed. We have been left standing in blowing snow for almost an hour until a TRAX light rail train appeared. It also fairly common for people or cars to get smashed by trains and TRAX. This ties up traffic and the trains for indefinite periods of time. The downtown TRAX light rail is free in the downtown area. We have used the TRAX and train system to travel to downtown Salt Lake from Provo many times. It is convenient and avoids having to find parking.
Parking in downtown Salt Lake is not particularly expensive. There are a number of lots around the Salt Palace. But some of them are limited to a specific time and parking tickets are expensive. Watch carefully.
Over the years, I have spent more of my time on the exhibit floor rather than attending or teaching classes. You may want to make sure you spend enough time with the exhibitors. That is where all the new programs and such are taking place.
There is a lot to see and do in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. If you have time, you might want to plan a day or more at the Family History Library. It is just a block away from the Salt Palace (long block). It is crowded during the Conference but it is worth the effort. The Salt Palace is across the street from a large shopping mall with dozens of restaurants within walking distance.
You will miss a wonderful experience if you don't visit Temple Square and the surrounding museums and libraries. If you are a genealogist and a skiier, then an extended vacation is almost mandatory. There is transportation to the ski resorts, but be prepared for the high prices.
Friday, November 24, 2017
A Family History Mission: Where do all the online records come from?
As my wife and I prepare to serve a full-time mission in the Washington, D.C. North Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Record Preservation Missionaries, my thoughts turn to the vast work of preserving the world's records. We have been told that we will be serving in the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis, Maryland. To document and share our mission experience, I will be posting updates about our mission on this blog for all to read. I have just decided to use the general title of "A Family History Mission" as the tagline for this series that will hopefully be written during our service in Maryland.
It is obvious that some cultures and countries place little or no emphasis or interest on preserving valuable family history records. Even where efforts are made to preserve important records, the ravages of time often destroy records despite those efforts. This tragic loss of records around the world is the concern of those who are interested, for a variety of reasons, in the preservation of all of the genealogically valuable records of the world.
Since the 1800s the Church has been involved in record preservation. This effort took a giant leap forward in 1938 with the advent of using microfilm to preserve images of the existing records. This extensive microfilming work produced approximately 2.4 million rolls of microfilm. To preserve this accumulated collection of microfilm and other records, the Church built a huge storage tunnel in the side of a mountain located near Salt Lake City, Utah known as the Granite Vault. More recently, with the technological change from microfilm to digital images, this collection of microfilmed records is still in the process of being digitized. In addition, the preservation efforts continue as missionary-volunteers are sent around the world to digitize millions more genealogically valuable records.
As much as is possible, these accumulated digitized records are being made available online, for free, on the FamilySearch.org website. Our interest in preserving additional records is the primary motivation for going on a year-long mission. Through our efforts, additional records will