We're Watching You!

Finally on Family Search /Family Tree we have another very effective deterrent to irrational changes without sources.   Now there is a box that pops up telling you how many other people are watching the person you plan to edit.  This is brilliant.

From James Tanner post on this new feature see it here.

Since the creation and launch of Family Tree three years ago, we have talked about monitoring your people by Clicking on the Star on the Person Details Page in Family Tree.

This monitoring allows you to be notified by email once a week when someone has made a change on one of your ancestors.  Some people do not play by the rules and make changes based on wishes instead of SOURCED facts.  Some people put in things that are completely irrational without carefully checking the feasibility of such entries.  You know the ones, children born after the mother's death, children born before the father, etc.   Some people have deleted relationships and ordinances and even people for reasons unknown because they do not even fill in why they are making the changes.   Most of the time they are made without sources being added.  This has understandably led to some people losing faith in this process.

This new feature will refocus someone in the moment they are about to make a change.  They will no doubt recheck their entry before completing the edit.  Thank you Family Tree developers.

Some are new at family history, some are young, some are very old.  Some people make honest mistakes, others are just careless.  Most are well-intended.  This new feature will help a lot.

Most want Family Tree perfect right now.  They do not understand that FS/FT is a process towards perfection.  This is a process that will take time and it's unrealistic to think it will be instantaneous when we are trying to clean up 150 years of records.  We have made great advances in three years but the work is not done.

By creating one world wide tree as we work together it will become better and better.  The synergy of working together on a common goal of a perfected tree is better than each one of us doing our own thing.  This is not a great idea since we share so many common ancestors with others.  Collaboration will move us all forward.  Some people do not want to participate at all thinking why should I? I did all this hard work, why should I share it? Why not share it?  Think about that.  Another thing is why should I share it ...I have no descendants.  Do your siblings or your cousins or other people who share these same ancestors seek after this information you are holding so close?  Probably.  Whatever happened to random acts of kindness and unselfishness or contributing to the common good of all? Just sayin'...

Some people  resist clicking on that star to Watch their people.  I am not sure why. If you value your time and effort getting things into the tree with good sources, wouldn't you want to see the changes made by others?  On a wiki-based database, it is a little nuts not to do this.  Beside you might get some new information yourself.  We cannot just assume that because we added something it is perfectly correct.  We do not hold all the documents or information on our ancestors.  Others have their share as well.

To get the perspective of responding appropriately to others and their changes please read James Tanner's blog post about it here:  It is very insightful.

http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/04/responding-appropriately-to-changes-in.html

Real Time Family History

The view from Jen and Lowell's front porch

Whenever we go to Utah or anywhere we are with our family we take a lot of photos.  Kids today have such a chronology of photos of themselves growing up that I am sure they will remember their childhoods far better than we do.  Photos capture the details of our lives.  Studies have actually been done on this with children.  Photos create what I call "heart prints" for people that endure.  Not just the formal ones but the ones where we look more real.  The ones that are not always flattering but that remind us of precious moments of real life.

We had a great time with our kids while we celebrated Easter and also our son's Chris' birthday and our granddaughter Piper turning 17.  Jim went to do Grampa Camp with the three younger girls while Jen and Piper went off to check out some colleges in Oregon.  That is a long standing tradition for these kids and they love Grampa Camp.  

Grampa Camp was created when Hazel was very tiny and in the hospital a lot.  It took four adults to keep those four kids going.  Jen and I would go to the hospital and trade off shifts while we stayed in the Ronald Mc Donald House in Salt Lake.  Lowell would keep working and fill in for us on weekends.  Jim minded the kids an hour away from the hospital where they lived.  He got them to school, cooked for them, did  their hair, etc.  This great tradition was born.  He is a phenomenal Grandfather!

Here are some of the captured moment of those couple of weeks with our family.  

Hazel looking so hip with 

with messy hair!

Chloe serving "Tea" at Piper's Birthday party!

Note her apron and the kitchen towel...just like Grampa!

We all colored and decorated Easter Eggs with friends.

Lots of eggs more than 8 dozen.

  Friends brought some to take home.

Out on the dream porch at the Stewart's

is always a treat!

Julia made some pretty ones too!

Hazie with her dog Leo.  

Not sure where Lucy was at this 
moment they're usually together.

Aynslee, Missy and I went to

 The General Conference Women's Session 

at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City

with 21,000 other ladies on Easter Eve.

Excellent experience to share with them.

https://youtu.be/ctFKhTTXtVk

We had an Easter Egg Hunt on Easter with the Grandkids

Connor and Owen checking out the loot!

We enjoyed Chris and Missy's ward at church that morning,

and a relaxing afternoon of togetherness.

Rare shot of Jim in a chair just hanging out.

Grampa and some of the kids!

Nose to nose

Zach, Piper, Aynslee, Grampa, Julia

A few more of us joined in!

Nose to nose

Zach, Connor, Piper, Gramma, Grampa, Aynslee, Julia

,

Missy prepared an amazing dinner~this is the kids' table.

Jen and Hazie getting ready for dinner!

The six youngest kids sat here and the two oldest, 

Piper and Connor sat with the adults.

The buffet with the Birthday boy, Chris @41 and Zachary

Jen and  Lowell

Prom Match!

Other days of our stay..music fills their home!

Connor practicing his music.   

He played in Sacrament meeting on 

Easter Morning.  What a treat for us.

Aynslee practicing her violin after school one day!

Zachary on the clarinet!

I love how the kids just come home and practice.

I saw no prompting and no whining!  

Jim and Chris built a great garden shed while we were there.

  It is not finished yet but the framing and roof are on. 

 Chris will finish the rest. 

 Six barn doors, interior and paint, etc.

Jim building memories with our boy!

They do it up right!

Spring is on the way...What's not to love?

Family Search Updates For March 2016

Here's the March update from Jesse Hyde.

March 29, 2016 By Jesse Hyde

"Each month, FamilySearch publishes a list of new changes and updates to the FamilySearch.org website. This list includes changes to Family Tree as well as other parts of FamilySearch.org. In some cases, these changes will also be published as individual articles where the need to do so exists.

Recently Released

Search: Oral Genealogies

A new collection of unique and high-quality data is being added to the Genealogies search. Oral genealogies consist of large lineage-linked trees constructed from the memories of tribal, clan, or family leaders in Africa, Tonga, and other locations. Most trees come with attached audio, PDF, and image artifacts documenting the interviewee and the recorded family history from which the tree was generated. These represent the only family history that will likely be obtained from these locations and are believed to be highly accurate.

To search for an ancestor in the oral genealogies, at the top of the screen, hover your cursor over Search. In the drop-down list, click Genealogies.

The Search Genealogies screen appears.

Search: Updated Person Card

The person card displayed on the search pages has been updated. It now matches the person cards that you see in Family Tree. The new card includes the Watch or UnWatch control and the number of Sources, Discussions, and Memories.

FamilySearch Research Wiki: Updated

The FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page) has been updated. We have moved to the most current, stable version of WikiMedia. This has made some changes to where you access options on the pages, but we can now correct problems we couldn’t fix in the earlier research wiki platform.

How is it different?

New URL. The wiki now has a new URL (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page)

Navigation on the left. The update moves the navigation to the left side, making it consistent with other wikis using the MediaWiki software.

Personal Tools. In the earlier wiki, the Personal Tools option was on the right side. Those options are still available, but now when you sign in, they appear after your name in the top right portion of the screen.

Same articles. All the articles that were in the previous wiki are in the update.

Bookmarks still work. If you’ve bookmarked articles, when you click the bookmark, the system will redirect you to the new page.

New editing tool. When you add information to the wiki, you’ll now be using VisualEditor to format the information when you click the Edit tab. Clicking on the Edit Source tab will still allow you to edit in wikitext.  

All browsers. You can now contribute to the wiki using any popular browser. (Chrome users rejoice!)

New look for the state and country pages. We are in the process of giving a new look to the state and country pages.

FamilySearch Research Wiki: Easy Access to Online Genealogy Records

Did you know the research wiki has a page with links to online genealogy records? The page is easy to get to and easy to use. The links include collections that are not available on FamilySearch.org.

1. On any research wiki page, look at the navigation on the left.
2. Click Online Genealogy Records. A page appears with the list of links.



3. Click the country, province, state, or county records you are interested in. The system displays a page with links to the online records for that place. There may be a brief description of contents. If there is a cost to use the records, you will see ($) after the collection name.



4. To go to the records, click the link to the specific record collection.

Coming Soon:

When You Change Information, How Many Users Will Be Notified?

Soon, when you edit a person’s information in Family Tree, like birth or occupation, the system will display the number of users who are watching that person. Watching means that users have asked the system to let them know when any changes or additions are made to the person’s information in Family Tree. So when you change the information, that’s how many people will be notified by the system.

Filed Under: What's New at FamilySearch?, What's New on Family Tree? 9 Comments Tagged With: FamilySearch Wiki, oral genealogies,Search Features

BYU Family History Library Visit

One day while we were in Utah the kids were all busy and Jim was working on the shed.  I thought maybe I should take a couple of hours and go to the BYU library.  I kept thinking maybe I won't, maybe I will.  It was supposed to snow.  Finally I just made a decision.  I'm going. 

When I got there I thought I'd see if James Tanner was in the library.  I figured my chances were good since he is there most of the week teaching classes, etc.  As I approached the desk to get a new password for using their computers, an Elder approached me asking if he could help.  I asked him if James Tanner was there.  He replied, "Well he is in today but at lunch.  At 1:00 he will be teaching."  I inquired about that and asked if anyone could come and he said yes!  It was 20 minutes away.  He showed me the door where the class would be held and the door was closed.  He said, "The door will open when the prayer meeting is over."   When  I got my password I went to a computer and started to do a few things.  I was approached by this really weird guy who had a lot of really weird questions for me so was glad I had an appointment with JT at 1:00. 

Here's a picture of The Family History Library at BYU. It is a beautiful facility and right in the middle of the campus. Did you know this is the second largest library for Family History in the world?  It is!

At 1:00 o'clock absolutely nothing happened!  The mystery door was still closed,  I sat at a library table facing the door for a few minutes just waiting.  The next thing I knew JT walked up beside me and said hello.  He doesn't know me but I have talked with him on enough occasions that I looked familiar to him.  We chatted and then seriously talked about his blogs, I confessed to being a fan. He seemed quite surprised by  that.  Funny!  I then confessed to staff training and mentioning him most weeks.  He was flabbergasted! 

Finally the door opened and he and I went in.  I was expecting a classroom.  Instead it was a small conference room with big overstuffed leather chairs, a round table, etc.  I snapped a couple of photos discreetly but I think he caught me on the one below.  Whoops.  But he did crack a big smile after that and didn't ask for my camera or anything.  Thank goodness.  He knew I was taking it for all of you!  After his presentation he thanks me for coming.

There were just a few people in the room, five I think, that are on staff and then James and me.  He proceeded to teach a class about the partners that he said would never be published or declared publicly. He stated his opinions on what is happening and what will likely happen in the future.

 He also spoke about some new Green Arrows appearing out of the blue on Family Tree for children under the age of accountability that had already been sealed but are resurfacing as though they had not.  There are thousands of them that have appeared because some of the sealings from a certain period of time had been completed but not recorded properly.  He had some advice on those which was just redo them if you have previously done them or go though the channels to get FS to fix them if you are not sure.

He had another section of his presentation that was to be done online.  Sadly the entire University lost the Internet during that remainder of the time.  So he just talked and answered a few questions.

It was such a privilege to talk with him and hear him teach the staff. I love it when Life happens like that.  As luck would have it, this week he is out of the library on vacation so I went at the right time. Family History is often a serendipity experience.

Family History On The Go

Near Promontory, Utah

We've been out of town for a few weeks doing various things with and for our family.  We have two of our three kids living in Utah and 8 of our 10 grandkids.  We enjoyed celebrating two birthdays and Easter with all of them.  Jim did Grampa Camp with our four granddaughters living in SLC and he helped build a garden shed with our son, Chris in Provo.  We had a very nice dinner with our cousins, Stephen and Jeanine, what a blessing they are in our lives.  

Our days were busy but we just hung out in the evenings with our kids and grandkids and we talked...a lot.  I was able to attend the General Conference of our church, (the Women's session) with our daughter-in-law, Melissa, and our granddaughter, Aynslee. That was really wonderful attending with 21,000 other women.  

We set aside time for an overnight visit to Brigham City, Utah to pursue some Family History as well. That was such a nice little get-away for us and very productive.  We always do this whenever we can and we love our Family History adventures.  The ancestor we were researching is one of the very earliest members of the Church to emigrate out of Wales and to come to America.  He and his wife and four children sailed into America through New Orleans Port and made their way to Nauvoo, Ill, Far West, and eventually Salt Lake City.  John Rees Davis was closely associated with Brigham Young and Lorenzo both Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their life times.

Much is written already about John Rees but we wanted to go where he lived and walk where he walked.  We did just that.  It was very rewarding.

One thing we wanted to do was to visit the cemetery where he is buried along with several family members.

The Brigham City Cemetery has 13,000 graves. Brigham City is in Box Elder County, Utah, 62 miles north of Salt Lake City.  We were at the cemetery office quite early in the morning but no one was there even though their sign said 8:00 am. We called and left a message regarding our ancestor. We then went out to the Golden Spike National historical site. While there the guy in the office called us back and told us John D. Rees was buried on A Street and was close to the road. We could return later that day and get a map to his grave. He told us that John Davis Rees is buried in the second row in from the tiny road. This was the lane it was quite long and narrow. 

There were a lot of graves close to the road and the second row in. We drove down but didn't see it. When we got near the end we decided to pull over and eat a quick lunch before proceeding to the office for the map.  We took out our food and Jim looked to the left through the driver's window and there was his grave just as pain as day.  It was quite odd considering the number of graves in the cemetery.

The sun was definitely in the wrong place for this photo but we were so glad to get it anyway.  I love the inscription on the bottom of this headstone.  It is my favorite one I've ever seen and says so much about his good man.

"How desolate our home bereft of thee."

At end of A Street a lot of people must have passed as a funeral was going on that day.  I looked at the road as Jim was taking the photo of the headstone and saw these flowers lying right in the middle of the lane that crossed A.  They had fallen off of some arrangements and came complete with wire.  Jim brought it back to the car fashioned into a little bouquet for the grave.  Perfect!  It seemed to just drop right from heaven at the right moment for John Rees. He is the son of my 3rd great grandparents and the older brother of my 2nd great grandmother, Jane Rees.  To me the flowers were for all of them.  Including his wives and children also buried in this spot.

The serendipity did not stop there. As Jim walked down to get the flowers he noticed a wooden plaque at the end of the road angled in such a way that one could not see it on the lane where we were parked.  He came back and told me the Lorenzo Snow family was also buried here...right here on the passenger side of the car.  What? I had no idea as most Presidents of the Church have been buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

Note our car directly behind me!

The inscription on the monument

containing names of many descendants

on each of the other sides.

Just a stone's throw away was his actual burial place and very humble headstone.

Note the simplicity and the Temple in the distance.

As we stood and marveled at all of the treasures we had found I glanced to the right and about 20 feet away I saw this.

Apparently President Packer was from Brigham City. 

 He died less than a year ago and is

 buried right by Lorenzo snow.

We also visited the Pioneer Museum in Brigham City.  That was very nice and exhibited many Pioneer photos from the early settlement in  this area.  Brigham Young commissioned several men to take their families to Box Elder to fortify a settlement that had homesteading family being attacked regularly by the Indians.

Unfortunately none of the photos had people identified in them but they give a nice flavor of what it was like.

We did find a book with the past mayors of Brigham City.  John Davis Rees was second the mayor of the town.  He served nearly two terms but was called to serve a mission in Malad, Idaho where he died at age 65 in an epidemic that swept through that area. No wonder how desolate him home must have felt to his family left behind.

We purchased a small locally printed book about the history of the town.  In it we learned that John Rees donated some property to the town with the express instructions that it was to be maintained forever as a recreational park for the families of Brigham City.  Well we found that too!

They had some great dioramas in the little museum.   Some were interactive.  We enjoyed visiting it very much.

A Pioneer Gathering Room

A Pioneer Kitchen

A Cobbler's Shop

It is always more fun to travel with 
a purpose that goes beyond sightseeing! 

All in all this little 36 hour trip put a lot of flesh on the bones of these deceased family members and was a lot of fun as well.  If you haven't ever done family history travels you would probably find it very enjoyable.  

Family Search Has Included The Family History Guide in The Learning Center!

The Family History Guide Official Banner

This is very exciting news to me!  From the moment I learned of this program last summer I have been very enthusiastic about it. The FHG provides a way for anyone wanting to get started with a desire to learn about Family History in a systematic, logical and progressive way. This program allows the self-starter to learn on their own, following the projects one step at a time.  It also give the teachers and trainers a very specific way to help people create a strong foundation for learning.  Keep this link in your toolbox for the patron that has an interest in learning how to actually do family history and not just needing help in finding a name. 

You can still get to the guide <http://thefhguide.com> and explore the site by clicking on Introduction. But now you can go directly into FS at http:// familysearch.org.  The fact that FS has so highly endorsed The Family History Guide by including it in the Learning Center is such an affirmation of the fantastic tool that it is.   Remember when FS did the same thing with Elder Moon's training? I received this letter while in Utah.  

"Friends of The Family History Guide,

It is now official. The Family History Guide is now on the FamilySearch.org website in the Learning Center AND in the Family History Center Services Portal.  That puts The Family History Guide in all of the English speaking Family History Centers throughout the world!  The rest of the world will get The FH Guide as soon as we complete additional translations which are already underway.  Go to this link:

https://fhc.familysearch.org/

The Family History Guide is in the left column.  If you click on the "Online Research Courses" in the center column you will see TFHG in the right column under "New Courses".

  
There is also a new 2 page Getting Started Guide for FHC's that can be accessed by clicking on the "Course Handout" pdf under the main The FH Guide picture.

This is a HUGE step for us that makes The FH Guide a recommended learning program from Family Search."

This is a quote directly from the creator and owner of the Family History Guide, Bob Taylor and his partner Bob Ives.

I am so happy for these two friends.  They have worked very hard and continue to do so.  That effort has brought something very innovative into our Family History pursuits. I recommend that we all go on the website and see what others are saying about the Family History Guide.