Create An Oral History Using the Family Tree App

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Using FamilySearch Apps to Record Oral Histories

July 31, 2017 By Leslie Albrecht Huber

The most complete family histories draw on a wide variety of resources. Documents and records provide important basic facts, while photos paint a fuller, more in-depth picture of ancestors. Oral histories add another invaluable layer with stories, personalities, and details that bring your ancestors to life. And with FamilySearch’s Family Tree and Memories apps, making audio recordings part of your family history has never been easier.

If you don’t have the apps yet, just go to the FamilySearch Family Tree and the FamilySearch Memories app pages to learn more and to download these free apps. Then read on to learn how to use the apps effectively to make oral histories part of your family tree.

Using the Apps

Both apps are simple to use and provide ready tools to record and upload audio clips to your FamilySearch family tree. To get started, follow the steps below for each app.

FamilySearch Memories

The Memories app was created to make it easy for you to preserve family memories no matter where you are and to connect these preserved memories to your tree. With this app, recording family stories and histories is straight-forward and convenient.  To continue reading this go to this link:

https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-apps-oral-histories/

My friend just can't say enough about this App. She uses it all the time to record precious moments with her grandkids.

Rootstech Keynote Speaker 2017-Levar Burton

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Finally after nearly a year the most amazing keynote speech most of the attendees have ever heard was released to the public.  This one is will amaze you, touch your heart and probably make you tear up. Don't miss it.

Le Var Burton, was the young man who played Kunte Kinte in the adaptation Alex Haley's book, "Roots" published in 1976. The grass did not grow under the feet of  television producers as the mini-series was released in 1977. The book and then the series have been credited by some to have been the catalysts that awaken the desire in many people to pursue their own roots. 

During Rootstech last year this talk was put up on youtube immediately but removed within hours.  It must have had something to do with limitations due to his contractural agreements with current or former employers.  People have wanted to see it again and share it but were unable to until now.

I hope you enjoy it!  It is a 24 minute experience you will remember!  Rootstech is known for their outstanding keynote speakers from all walks of life, but this one was the best ever!

https://www.rootstech.org/video/levar-burton

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Amy Johnson Crow Has A Great New Idea About Researching Our Ancestors

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I had the chance to check out a few bloggers this week.  I really like Amy Johnson Crow as I mentioned last week.  She is a very practical teacher and a good writer.

' A Surprising Skill for Genealogy "If we had to list the skills or traits necessary to be a good genealogist (defining "good" however you want), we would probably include things like attention to detail, curiosity, and persistence. There is one I would like to add: The willingness to be surprised. I don't mean that just in the sense of DNA, though it is certainly true. If you're not willing to be surprised with what you find, don't take a DNA test. We need to be willing to be surprised in the records we find and what we discover in them. We need to be willing to be surprised that our preconceived notions of "what life was like back then" might not match the reality. We need to be open to the possibility that a couple's first child might have been, shall we say, "premature." We need to be willing to be surprised when it turns out that great-great-grandpa's second wife was the "boarder" who lived with them before the first wife's death. We need to be willing to be surprised when we've built a narrative in our minds that our ancestors were poor, illiterate farmers... and then discover a will that specifies that the daughters be taught to read and write. We need to be willing to be surprised when we read a Civil War pension file that says, "The soldier was married 7 times up to this point, as far as known." (Yes, that's been a fun file to work through!) When we are surprised, we must then be willing to investigate further and not just discount what we have found. We need to be open to the reality that our ancestors were real people who did real things, some of which are going to surprise us.  What surprising things have you found?" ***************************************************************** If you have found this to be a fun and interesting post you may wish to follow Amy Johnson Crow and sign up for her newsletter.  She'll be teaching at Rootstech as well.

Introducing My New Blog-Using The Family History Guide

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This is not the corporate blog for The Family History Guide. That one is being developed right now and can be found on the website http://www.thefhguide.com under the More link on the Home page. The Family Has Guide's official blog was launched yesterday and has only a few posts at this time. 

This new blog I have created is for training purposes and contains all the Facebook posts I have done since July on various aspects of the FHG along the way.  At some point you may want to just switch over to the official one, but for now I hope you enjoy this one.  I'll probably continue on posting in both places as time goes on.  

https://usingthefamilyhistoryguide.blogspot.com/

Choosing Family Search Family Tree by James Tanner

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James Tanner has written a fantastic blog post today.  Check it out right here:

http://tinyurl.com/ybzw8nvk

'There is only one major objection to using the FamilySearch.org Family Tree: the ability of people to change the information. All of my writing and talking about the subject does not seem to make the slightest dent in the accumulated ire generated by having "your" information changed by someone who had no idea what they were doing, did not provide a source or violated one of your cherished traditional stories. I recently spent about an hour explaining my position on this issue in a video on the BYU Family History Library YouTube Channel. 

Handling the changes made to the FamilySearch Family Tree? - James Tanner

I have recently received several comments from people who state that they will not use the Family Tree because of the "changes." In an attempt to provide yet another answer to these complaints, I have been thinking about the core reasons why the Family Tree exists and should be a choice for storing all of your genealogical data. I believe the most important of the reasons I came up with is the need to avoid duplication of effort. 

If you were to spend hours, days, weeks, months and even years doing research about your ancestors, how would you like to find out that someone had already done all that same research that included a source citation for every single person, event, and place recorded? That is not a hypothetical situation. It has been the reality for genealogical research for more than a hundred years. By refusing to use the Family Tree, you are, in effect, putting your research in danger of being nothing more than a duplication of work that may have been done previously. Changes to your data on the Family Tree is a really small price to pay for avoiding duplication of effort."

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Although there is of course always a choice to be made and pros and cons either way, but i think James makes a compelling case for why one might want to consider FS/FT. 

The Family History Guide Adds Exciting New Content

Here is a letter to all from Bob Taylor. thefhguide.com

The Family History Guide Association is pleased to announce a new series of Partner pages, in Beta stage, focusing on Projects, Goals, and Choices for Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast.

These new Learning Paths will complement the existing Project pages for FamilySearch, which have helped many people around the world accelerate their family history learning.

With the addition of the new Partner pages, The Family
History Guide takes a huge step forward in providing top-quality, free training for some of the world's foremost genealogy platforms. You can find initial Project pages here:

* Ancestry - http://www.thefhguide.com/project-1-welcome-an.html
* MyHeritage - http://www.thefhguide.com/project-1-welcome-mh.html
* Findmypast - http://www.thefhguide.com/project-1-welcome-fmp.html

The Beta period for the Partner pages started on August 11 and will continue through Nov. 15. Feedback is welcome as we continue to enhance the content.

Sincerely,

Bob Taylor
CEO, The Family History Guide Association

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It is important to recognize that this website and the Family History Guide Associate is a non-profit organization.  Everyone that works on this project is a volunteer.   This is  a genealogical kindness being paid forward by people who mission state is this:

Mission Statement: "Our mission is to greatly increase the number of people actively involved in family history worldwide, and to make everyone's family history journey easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable."

Bob Taylor, CEO & his wife Susie

Bob Ives, COO and his wife Dawn

Saving Memories on Family Search

Ross W. Colberg & Josephine Roberta Reese

28 September 1941 St. Paul, Minnesota

Are you using and teaching about the Memories Section of Family Search? Today I am sharing my parents' wedding photo from my family history. If my father, Ross W. Colberg, was alive today he would be 100 years old.

A few weeks ago my siblings and cousins came to our home and we celebrated Dad's birthday with a mini reunion and even a birthday cake. It felt like such a fitting tribute to him and brought all the living closer as we shared stories and memories of him.

Remembering our ancestors' contributions to our lives is such an important part of what we do. It is often the gateway for members of the Church to get involved in Family History. And The Family History Guide shows us exactly how to preserve stories and photos and stories for all people to enjoy for generations to come.

It is fun and easy to learn. Go to The Family History Guide home page and Choose Memories. Goal #4: Browse FS Memories To See Photos And Documents Of Your ancestors. Choice A: Step:2 FS Quick Start For Memories is great. A very comprehensive document containing all you need to know to start saving these memories now.

This a wonderful way to honor our ancestor and please our descendants.  Click here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reZ5nNhztYI

Here is a link to the Quick Start For Memories:

http://tinyurl.com/lwdv2pu