Alaskagain Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 I love doing genealogical research. I am a ward consultant, and help staff our local Family History Center. If anyone here at LDSTalk is needing a little help getting started or continuing their work, I'm glad to help with tips and hints, and research. (After all, I feel like you are part of my ward! :) ) The new indexing program is a great volunteer effort underway - eventually all of the records on microfilm at Granite Mountain will be indexed and linked to digital images that will be accessible on the internet. Imagine - no more renting microfilm and waiting for weeks for them to arrive! Many local and family history books that are in the public domain are being digitized and are now accessible through the Harold B Lee library on the internet, and number of available volumes is constantly expanding. These are free access programs. If you are looking for specific information on persons living after 1920, it would probably be a good idea to PM or email me privately. For pre-1920, or if you are looking for regional information, migration routes, historical influences on settlements, etc, post away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 7, 2007 Report Share Posted September 7, 2007 Alaskagain: Have all the baptism/membership records been preserved since the LDS Church was organized? Is there any way to find out if a deceased person was a member of the Church? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskagain Posted September 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2007 hi Annabelli! :) Yes. You can go to the FamilySearch.org website and search for the person. To find if a baptism record exists, you will need to Register (requires your membership number and confirmation date), and then Sign On. (There are links to do this at the right on top of the blue bar.) Once you have signed on, click the Search tab in the center top of the page. Then in the grey left sidebar, click International Genealogical Index. Enter the Name and Region, Country, State and click Search. You can enter more information, such as Event - Birth, if you like. But for the first search, I would just leave the Event selection to All. If you get pages of names for results, then back arrow to search page and put in more information to narrow it down. Duplicates have not yet been merged, so your person may show up a dozen times. Or not at all. If you have difficulty with this, please PM me with the name and date of birth or death, where they lived, and I am happy to search for you. Nonmembers may also use the site freely, but church membership information will not be displayed with their results. And, the records of living persons are not available at all. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 I have been using the FamilySearch.org site for a long time and have been registered for a couple of years. I have never accessed membership information and I did not see any display features for it. Another question: I had noted last year an entry for my ancestors (ggrandmother & ggrandfather) and had listed them in another county. I was quite offended since I had attended their funerals and know where they are buried. Today, I ran it and the entry is no longer there. Once you have entered information is it possible to remove it? I would like to share genealogy that I have without a doubt confirmed. Can I enter those records although my genalogy is not complete? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskagain Posted September 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 Anabelli, It sounds to me that the information you looked at before was not on the IGI. Try doing the search again but this time, in that grey left sidebar, do not click the International Genealogical Index. Instead, click the top button for All Resources. This search results in information from several different sources, not just church records. If the information is listed on a Pedigree Resource File or Ancestral File, it is a family tree that has been submitted by someone for sharing. If it is from an independent Family History Web Site, yes, that information can be changed or the entire file deleted by the person who submitted it. There are several options in sharing your genealogy. 1. You can contribute a data file (GEDCOM) to Familysearch by clicking on the Share tab at the top of the blue bar and follow the prompts under Share My Genealogy then How do I submit my genealogy? This information will then go into the Pedigree Resource File. (You cannot add corrections to it once you have submitted it, at this time.) 2. You can click on the Collaboration E-Mail Lists, look for the family surname under Search E-Mail Lists. If a list or two exists for that name, browse through them (Click Join/Properties) to see if there is one that applies to your specific line. If no list exists for your family name, you can Create a New E-Mail List. Doing this will put you in touch with other people who are researching the same family or name. 3. You can wait until the new Church system is instituted; with the new program, you will be able to go to Familysearch.org and type in your information, and be able to correct it or add sources to it later. Hopefully, this will be up and running within the next year. 4. You can go to a public site like Rootsweb.com and upload your file into their WordConnect tree. (The link is in the right hand column under Family Trees section.) Click on the WorldConnect Project Main Page and read through the Getting Started and Help pages. You will be able to update this file with corrections and other edits. I hope I have given clear answers. If you would like to PM the name of who you are looking for, or those gg grandparents with the wrong county location, I'd be glad to see what I can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 I have went online to Rootsweb.com. It will give me listings but that is all. Do I have to buy something to get the information? I know that most of our LDS Stake Centers have Ancestry.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskagain Posted September 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 I'm not sure I understand. Rootsweb gave you listings of what? You shouldn't have to buy anything at Rootsweb. It is free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I put in first name and last name and clicked search. I received 5 responses for this and 9 responses for that. When you click on the responses, it gives you a list of persons with that name and some minor information like birth/death date and when you click on one, it ask if you want to order the file. Some of the responses will take you directly to Ancestry.com. I have not received any free information like FamilySearch.org. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iggy Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I'm not sure I understand. Rootsweb gave you listings of what? You shouldn't have to buy anything at Rootsweb. It is free. Rootsweb is free, you just have to sign in before you can use it. But for nearly all of the links at Rootsweb you must be a paying memeber of Ancestry.com. I have never felt that Ancestry.com was worth the money. I will stick to Family Search. Also you might check to see if there are any Surname Lists at Rootsweb. I belong to two. I have gleaned more vital information from my cousins at the Lists than I have anywhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I have my genealogy mostly completed in the USA with a few links still to connect and some confirmations still outstanding. I am really intimidated about following genealogy into foreign countries and also excited about it. I'm not really sure where to begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josie Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 One avenue in rootsweb is the ""genweb archives" It is near the bottom of the second column of links to click on. This if for US work. It gives you the states to choose from and then you can search the state or a county specifically within the state. Some of nothing or little, and some have a great deal of information. It takes you to a site for the county and then there are links there to click on for different areas, such as births, deaths, deeds, etc. And you can check to see how much work and on who the work is posted. Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not. But it is worth a shot. Next, you can use Ancestory.com free at your local ward family history center. Sometimes they will have other websites too that are pay only. Next, visit the archives of the capital of the state you are looking for information in if you live close to it and are able to go. Check with older family that might have Family Bibles, diaries, old letters, or deeds or wills, or other information that might fill in holes for you. Sometimes you can use the genealogy search feature on google and come up with surprising information. Check the family history section of your local or state library and sometimes you can find books in libraries all across the nation with your family history in that the library can order in for you so you can read it and then return it to the library to be returned where it came from. On rootsweb, check the Message boards under the surname you are looking for. I have gotten great information there or been lead to people that are working on my line that have great information to share. Don't forget to document everything you find. Date, where you found it, title, page, everything. You need to know where your information came from if there is ever a question as to the acuracy. Hope that atleast helps. Josie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I believe what I am going to do at this point is to build some data bases on Microsoft Office and make everything more accessible. I have boxes of genealogy records. Although I will still have the boxes, I will not have to sort and search so much. It would probably be a good idea to start some data bases for all the genealogist and sources. Some people who work in genealogy pass their work on to relatives. It is hard to keep up with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskagain Posted September 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 I believe what I am going to do at this point is to build some data bases on Microsoft Office . . . You are not using Personal Ancestry File? You can download it free from Familysearch.org. It is much easier than trying to build your own database on Office.edited to add:The reason I directed you to Rootsweb.com was to look at their Family Tree project, WorldConnect, so that you could share your genealogy, as you had expressed a desire to do. If you are not using a Genealogy software package such as PAF or FamilyTreeMaker, etc., to organize your database,you will not be able to create a GEDCOM file that will be useable in a Family Tree project such as WorldConnect. Rootsweb and Ancestry are owned by the same company, hence the links to Ancestry subscriber-only information. However, Rootsweb itself strives to maintain independent and free data sources. I hope this information is helpful to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 I have a Personal Ancestry File but I only put information on there that is complete. I just need a place for all my other stuff that I am working on. I have boxes of genealogy. I have been working on genealogy all my life. As a child, I collected all the verbal accounts of our families. In 1972, I begin collecting records. The difficulty in genealogy is when members of a family are passed over or not recorded for a number of reasons during their time periord. Some of our family was settled in Pennsylvania and Virginia and Florida before the Revolutionary War. Except for the men, the Virginia families (women, children & elderly) moved inland toward Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi...etc. The families in Pennsylvania moved into the northwestern areas of Wyoming, Montana, etc. and the Florida families moved into Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. (none of which were states during that time.) I have been working on a collection of pictures of LDS Baptisms that were performed in lakes, rivers, etc. And when I have complied it, I will give it to the Church. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskagain Posted September 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 That's great, Annabelli! Whew, had me worried there for a bit, that you were trying to re-invent the wheel. Yes, I have used other database and spreadsheet programs to organize the extraneous data or sort out timelines, etc. Glad to hear that you have so much history, your boxes sound like treasure to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 Several Native American Nations have asked me to help them organize their genealogy. Thus far it is still being verbally passed from generation to generation. Now they have concerns about it being lost. That will be a challenge since it is somewhat different from ours. I hope/plan to begin the journey in the coming year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskagain Posted September 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 What a thrilling prospect! Good luck to you on that! I love oral history. I would expect the history passed down through the Native American generations to be much more accurate than that of general euro-colonial descent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 Saddam Hussein had much of the genealogy destroyed in Iraq and Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has destroyed theirs as well. The middle east is a genealogy nightmare. Hong Kong is a curious genealogy aspect having been under British Rule etc. China with all it's population problems, adoptions, hidden children, etc. will be an unsolvable mess. With all that said, I guess looking into genealogy in Europe couldn't be all that hard. I guess that I have overcome a bit of intimidation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onyx Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 Several Native American Nations have asked me to help them organize their genealogy. Thus far it is still being verbally passed from generation to generation. Now they have concerns about it being lost. That will be a challenge since it is somewhat different from ours. I hope/plan to begin the journey in the coming year.Oh Wow Annabelli!!!What a marvellous opportunity for you.I wish you the very best on that journey.Onyx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 I was there a few months ago and we talked nonstop about genealogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabelli Posted September 11, 2007 Report Share Posted September 11, 2007 I took that icy step into foreign genealogy today. Wow! It's fascinating! I am going to have to build/learn some basic foreign language skills. I have notebooks for each country as I go into it. Today it is Germany. And then on to Switzerland. etc. Now I have a burning desire to see the entire genealogy world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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