Family Search Review of 2016! (FS Blog)

FamilySearch 2016 Year in Review

January 4, 2017 By Diane Sagers

People of every age, locale, and background share a need to know where they come from. How would it be to find a website that could provide stories along with information and family clues? Then, what if the website could help guide searchers to discover more about their families’ past? It’s not a dream. FamilySearch.org is uniquely qualified to fill those needs. During 2016, it expanded its resources and improved its interface to make the process ever easier.

To meet its objective to help the world’s people connect with their families’ stories, FamilySearch.org has millions of stories, histories, and photographs along with new record collections and online records in their massive collection. Their research hints are becoming more accurate, and during 2016, they improved their system to support new, more powerful apps, built new research centers, hosted hundreds of free local events worldwide, and added improved patron assistance and more.

“Family history is about stories; it is more than dates and facts,” said Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch. People of every age, locale, and heritage share a universal need to know where they come from and to learn the fun, inspiring, real stories of their ancestors. Rockwood said FamilySearch is focusing its efforts on helping people find their ancestral connections—their stories—something FamilySearch is uniquely prepared to do.

FamilySearch.org, a top-rated, free website hosted by FamilySearch International, one of the foremost family history organizations in the world, has released a 2016 year-end summary of its global efforts to connect families across generations.

Since 1894, FamilySearch and its predecessors have gathered and preserved records from around the globe, creating the largest collection of genealogical and historical records in the world. In the past 26 years, they have incorporated technology and initiatives that engage a broadening swath of consumers to experience emotional, endearing experiences with their family and family history. Partnerships formed with other genealogy search companies, such as Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.com, broaden its searchable databases.

FamilySearch’s nonprofit status helps it to rally the growing sea of commercial companies—large and small—in the genealogy and family markets to join in these notable efforts and create compatible apps.

Millions more searchable records were added this year as employees and volunteers digitally converted FamilySearch’s vaults of microfilm for online viewing and added millions of new record images from archives across the globe. The FamilySearch website is designed to help researchers collaborate in finding their ancestors.

Highlights for 2016

FamilySearch.org completed extensive system upgrades in 2016, making its free website more robust and much faster. It added millions more records; improved search capabilities to reduce duplication, improve search results, and provide more insights at a glance across varied records sources on FamilySearch.org; and simplified collaboration.

In the past, the FamilySearch Family Tree had some limitations in merging duplicate records that had been combined many times, creating many pieces of data that had previously been merged. With the upgrade of the system, that limitation is now gone so these large duplicate records can be merged.

The dynamic records hints feature is faster and more accurate and includes online collections and additional record types.

Patrons can identify their relationships to people in the Family Tree using a new relationship feature.

Adding family photos, stories, documents, and audio files has become easier and is now compatible with mobile devices. 

FamilySearch, with other genealogy-related companies, hosted RootsTech 2016, the largest family history and technology conference in the world in Salt Lake City, Utah, last January. The event included technology education and fun experiences to expand family connections. It attracted a record 375,000 attendees in person, online, and through local events throughout the year.

Discovery

FamilySearch opened a fun new FamilySearch Center in Layton, Utah, and broke ground for a large FamilySearch library in St. George, Utah, that will include discovery experience stations when it opens in 2017. FamilySearch added 103 family history centers around the world this year, making 4,960 centers in 129 countries—3,108 located outside the United States—to provide free personal research assistance to patrons.

In addition to in-person visitors to the FamilySearch family history centers in 2016, FamilySearch.org received 133 million online visits during the year and now has 7.3 million registered users.

Family Tree

FamilySearch’s Family Tree is collaborative. Contributions from patrons continue to fuel the tree’s expansion. In 2016, more than 561,000 new contributors added to Family Tree, making a total of 3.45 million contributors.

The new user-to-user messaging feature in Family Tree simplifies collaboration with others seeking the same ancestors. Now 1.1 billion records of individuals are linked in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

Mobile Apps—FamilySearch Family Tree and Memories

FamilySearch’s mobile apps—Family Tree and Memories—enable users to attach photos and stories (audio and text) to individuals in their family trees, add other information, and receive notifications when others add content to specific individuals.

The new memories gallery view on the website and mobile apps allow users to add photos, stories, and scanned documents and to sort their memories collections more easily. The memories include contributor information so participants can send messages. Patrons can now record stories of relatives with a new mobile audio recording feature and save the stories directly to Memories from a mobile device.

The details section of the mobile FamilyTree displays information, images, documents, and sources by simply swiping the screen.

Getting and Giving Help

In 2016, FamilySearch added a Help Others feature to guide consultants and more experienced genealogists in assisting others. People seeking help provide their username and a helper number that allow helpers to look online at their records, find opportunities for research, and help guide that research.

Patrons needing online help can get immediate assistance by telephone (one-on-one to online volunteer assistants), by viewing the hundreds of free video courses online, and by accessing the FamilySearch Research Wiki, an online reference source with over 100,000 helpful articles that are updated weekly.

Records

In 2016, along with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and other organizations, FamilySearch finished indexing and publishing online images of the Freedmen’s Bureau records, which document the lives of freed slaves and slave owners struggling to redefine themselves after the American Civil War. The digitized records are searchable on DiscoverFreedmen.org and are also available on FamilySearch.org and other sites. FamilySearch presented a copy of the newly completed records to the Smithsonian Museum on December 6, 2016.

In 2016, third parties added and updated useful apps in the app gallery that link with FamilySearch.org.

A dedicated team of employees and a vast array of volunteers fuel personal discoveries by making online historical records easily and quickly accessible. This year, United States censuses were updated as needed to make them more easily searchable.

Most of the indexed records at FamilySearch.org are in English because most indexers come from North America, with English as their native language. This year FamilySearch expanded their online language training to include Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, effectively teaching English speakers with no prior foreign language experience to recognize key words and index accurately in another language without becoming fluent in that language. Language experts still handle very difficult records.

Telephone, chat, and email assistance for language training are available at FamilySearch.org/languageindexing.

Statistics

Around the world, 320 camera teams digitally preserved over 60 million records in 45 countries, and online volunteer indexers helped make them searchable.

More than 5.57 billion searchable names are available in four billion searchable historical documents that are published to date.

FamilySearch.org added 125 new historical collections in 2016, bringing the total to 2,174. They added 59.5 million online digitized record images, making 1.22 billion.

During the year, 4,807 volunteer FamilySearch missionaries helped support the worldwide operation. These generous volunteers donated a staggering 3.8 million hours of service. Online volunteers who are not missionaries are also critical to the indexing process. Nearly 315,000 volunteers logged nearly 11 million hours during the year. Together, missionaries and other volunteers indexed 274.8 million records in 2016, bringing the total number of indexed records to 2.4 billion. Of those newly-indexed records, 36 million were in languages other than English, bringing the total of non-English indexed records to 872 million.

During 2016, using both mobile and desktop applications, patrons uploaded 4.7 million family photos, 520,000 documents, 360,000 family stories, and 50,000 audio files. With these additions during the year, FamilySearch.org now has 14.5 million photos, 1.6 million documents, 1.1 million stories, and nearly 92,000 audio files.

New Year's Resolutions for Family History and Genealogy

I have been thinking about a lot of things over the last couple of months that we have been traveling and out of our normal routines.  I have been pondering what I want to do, how I plan to do it and why I want to keep my passion alive for the things that matter most.  Like Family History.  The New Year always brings about some kind of self evaluations about things I want to change.  As most of us, I want to eliminate some bad habits and instigation some great new ones.  I like new beginnings whether it be a new year or a fresh start in the morning of a new day. 

I have learned that I like to write down some changes I want to see in my life.  I have also learned that progression is far better for me then perfectionism.  Perfectionism often leads to failure. Sometimes I don't like the word Goals because it implies a destination or finish line that must be attained. Perhaps what it could be instead is create new habits that lead to an outcome I'm desiring.  

The key to permanent change is to change what we do daily.  Big or small it doesn't really matter.  It is an open-ended destination.  Even when it becomes a habit you need to keep at it all the time.  Even after an extended time it is so easy to slip back into that old familiar comfort zone. There really is no finish line on most things.

So with that I'd like to challenge each of us to make just a few habit changes in our genealogy habits that can be accomplished.  One should be very easy to attain and maintain.  Here are my five.

1.  Seek to learn something new each day about Genealogy/ Family History.  I am purposely making this broad-based and easy to accomplish.

2.  Seek to get my Family Tree entries into AQ by the end of the year.  More specific but with a flexible daily target.  I know this is not something I will do everyday.

3.   Do more teaching and helping others.  Seek inspiration as to what those classes will be after attending Rootstech.

4.    Learn more about the partner sights, Apps and Memories on Family Search.

5.    Do more of my own genealogy. Add more sourcing, more memories and stories about individuals in my tree. Especially the ones I have known personally that are gone now.

It doesn't matter so much what you pick it is more about moving forward with a pace that you can handle and that is doable.  Let 2017 be that year you improve and progress in the ways that are most important to you.

Define Your Dash

Family Search Blog post by Angie Lucas

Define Your Dash: Start Writing Your Personal History with the #52Stories Project

January 9, 2017 By Angie Lucas

On nearly every headstone, no matter how plain or ornate, is carved one universal symbol. It’s a simple horizontal line—a dash—separating two significant dates. The first marks the day one precious soul entered this mortal life. The second marks his or her inevitable journey onward.

A well-known poem by Linda Ellis, “The Dash,” speaks of this symbol:

“For that dash represents all the time
that they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
know what that little line is worth.”

We are each, right now, standing somewhere in the middle of our own individual dashes. As Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said, “We may feel we are at the beginning or end of our lives, but when we look at where we are against the backdrop of eternity . . . we can recognize that we are truly in the middle” (“Always in the Middle,” Ensign, July 2012, 4).

Because it’s human nature to think of our lives in terms of beginnings and endings, the new year gives us the perfect opportunity to make sure we are making the most of that dash, filling in the details of our lives so our loved ones and our posterity are not left wondering what happened in between.

All of us are “in the dash.” But, you may be thinking, “I’ve got plenty of time to record my life story for my posterity. Why start now? Why this year?”

Here’s why: because, in addition to the value of leaving a legacy, great personal and family benefits also arise from personal reflection and journaling.

Personally, you’ll benefit from the practice of reflecting over your life, collecting your thoughts, and making sense of your experiences. The very act of writing things down is therapeutic; it can provide a sense of purpose and control. It may also reveal patterns in your life, increase your gratitude, foster a stronger sense of self, and even make you happier and more successful in your daily life.

In his book The Happiness Advantage, Harvard professor Shawn Achor cites research that shows how “explanatory style—how we choose to explain the nature of past events—has a crucial impact on our happiness and future success. People with an optimistic explanatory style interpret adversity as being local and temporary . . . while those with a pessimistic explanatory style see these events as more global and permanent. Their beliefs then directly affect their actions” ([New York: Crown Publishing, 2010], 187–88).

The pen (or keyboard) is in your hands. You get to choose how you interpret and explain the events of your life—both for your own benefit and for the benefit of current and future generations. And not just at some future date. Right now.

A study published in the Journal of Family Life in 2010 (“Do You Know? The power of family history in adolescent identity and well-being”) found that teens who knew more stories about their extended family were more resilient in the face of adversity. They showed "higher levels of emotional well-being, and also higher levels of identity achievement, even when controlling for general level of family functioning” (“Children Benefit if They Know About Their Relatives, Study Finds,” Emory University press release, Mar. 3, 2010).

Citing this research, Bruce Feiler wrote in the New York Times that children with the most self-confidence have what’s called a strong “intergenerational self.” In other words:

“They know they belong to something bigger than themselves.”

Don’t expect to sit down and pour out the events of your entire life in one epic writing session. Just like a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, a personal history begins with a single story, followed by another story, and another one. And that’s where FamilySearch’s #52Stories Project comes in.

The idea is to write one brief story about your life, past or present, every week this year. You can do this in a handwritten journal, in a document on your computer, or via a series of voice or video recordings. You can even select certain stories to share on your FamilySearch Family Tree profile, where they’ll be preserved for your posterity.

At the end of the year, you’ll have 52 notches in your personal history dash. That’s 52 opportunities to capture the story of your life—52 chances to shape your family’s intergenerational narrative.

Sounds easy enough in theory, but what on earth are you going to write about each week? Should you just start at the beginning and record all the events of your life chronologically?

Actually, no. That’s the most challenging way to go about this project. Memory isn’t orderly, structured, or predictable. Recollections are more likely to surface randomly, sparked by various external triggers. Embrace the randomness, and just start writing. You can always organize your stories later if chronology matters to you.

You don’t have to look far for a great series of memory triggers. The #52Stories Project has divided the year into 12 themes, from “Goals & Achievements” to “Education & School” to “Holidays & Traditions,” providing 12 different questions for each theme. That’s a total of 144 questions, giving you plenty of options to choose from as you build your library of #52stories. The questions are available for download, and you’ll also see a different question highlighted each week on Instagram (@FamilySearch) and the FamilySearch Facebook Page.

Your Story Matters

Start filling in the details of your dash now, while you’re still in the middle. Discover the power of shaping your own personal history, strengthening family bonds, and yes, leaving a legacy.

“A life that is not documented is a life that within a generation or two will largely be lost to memory,” said Dennis B. Neuenschwander in a 1999 LDS general conference address. “What a tragedy this can be in the history of a family. Knowledge of our ancestors shapes us and instills within us values that give direction and meaning to our lives.”

Additional Resources:

#52stories Printables 

Follow and Share #52stories

2017 Weekly Questions

The Family History Guide And James Tanner

The Family History Guide aka, Bob Taylor and Bob Ives have invited James Tanner and his wife Ann to serve on the board for their website.  They have agreed, and as far as I am concerned, this is a marriage made in heaven.  The best website for learning how to do family history and one of the best teachers around combining forces can only mean things just got better.  Check out James Tanner's blog at http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com

Get Help Revised!

pinterest

You may recall that the Get Help button on the home page of FamilySearch.org was recently changed.  It caused a small uproar and now has been upgraded to something much better.  Take some time and just go and browse through it.

They do listen to feedback and I am so happy they did on this one!  The Homepage is the best place to go and look as well when you are just trying to catch up yourself as well as for helping our patrons.  Change on FS is like death and taxes~ a sure thing.  Also like interest on your loans...it never sleeps!

RootsTech 2017

February 8-11 2017

https://www.rootstech.org/rootstech-2017?cid=hp-rt-5464

Some of the sessions will be streamed live and most will be archived for you to watch at your leisure after the conference.

The latest and greatest information will be available.  It is always fun to see what FS announces each year and the Buzz is amazing.  It is fun to see how many other enthusiasts there are for this incredible, worthy way to spend one's discretionary time.

Jumping Back In The Saddle

How do you find the passion in your family history? Sometimes life gets in the way and we are distracted, tired and unmotivated.  I love this little red tree above.  It is in our neighbor's vineyard and we can see it anytime we back down our driveway.  I wrote Kent a little not yesterday and told him how much I enjoy this tree.  Every year I take a photo of it and it is growing but the progress is S.L.O.W. 

I told him that we too are trying to grow a maple tree.  I sent him the photo below. 

Kent wrote back and said, "I too struggled with my tree.  But I was persistent in caring for it.  I nurtured it with food and water and made sure the soil was good.  Now finally it is really taking off.  Don't give up...it will happen."

This is a bit analogous to how I am feeling now as I try to get back into my grove with this work that I love. Through October and November I had urgent things that were persistent in taking me away from our genealogy.  All of it was family history, but it was very different than the rigor I am used to in learning and teaching. 

Sometimes when you stop something, regaining that momentum is often harsh.  But like my neighbor, I have learned that jumping back in, is the answer.  I have to nurture my family tree, care of it, help it to grow and flourish.  I want it to be red (with passion), vibrant and colorful.  That is going to require some gardening efforts.  So here goes......Thank you for your patience with this big gap in blog posts.