Now is the best time to start your family history 12 aug 2010

Innovations in Family History (12:30 – 1:25, Varsity, Wilkinson Center)

Tuesday NOW Is the Best Time to Start Your Family History (Daniel C. Lawyer)

Wednesday

FamilySearch.org – Your Portal to Family History (Ron Tanner)

Thursday Armchair Research: Easy Access to the World’s Records Through FamilySearch.org (Craig Miller Daniel C. Lawyer)

Friday Wikis, Blogs and Social Media: Fast Answers for Family History (Devin R. Ashby)

NOW is the Best Time to Start Your Family History

Dan [email protected]: @eatslikeahuman

mailto:[email protected]

Dan LawyerUTGO, IG, SPM, PO, F5.5


UTGO: Uber-Techno-Genealogist-Ologist


IG: Intermediate Genealogist


SPM: Senior Product Manager


PO: Product Owner


F5.5: Father of 5.5 children

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaythaney/3720479188

http://www.flickr.com/photos/path2shutter/4838933577/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28568063@N03/2769225144/

Note to self: Find out technical skill by age. See slide 18.

Three perspectives:•Practical•Technical•Spiritual

A Practical Perspective

http://www.flickr.com/photos/athomeinscottsdale/3158195516

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10

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Interest Technical Skill

Under 30 31-50 51+

A Practical Paradox

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asmythie/3162155740/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yersinia/1392641883/

Among all the facts of mortality, none is so certain as its end. Death comes to all; it is our “universal heritage; it may claim its victim[s] in infancy or youth, [it may visit] in the period of life’s prime, or its summons may be deferred until the snows of age have gathered [on] the . . . head; it may befall as the result of accident or disease, . . . or . . . through natural causes; but come it must.”

(Thomas S. Monson, He is Risen!, Ensign, May 2010)

The memories of the departing generation are among the most

valuable perishable assets in this life.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/230060595/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/jorgeq82/4732700819/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/230060595/

…everlastingly too late…

I alone am the link to the generations that stand on either side of me. It is my responsibility to knit their hearts together through love and respect, even though they may never have known each other personally. My grandchildren will have no knowledge of their family’shistory if I do nothing to preserve it for them. That which I do not in some way record will be lost at my death, and that which I do not pass on to my posterity, they will never have. The work of gathering and sharing eternal family keepsakes is a personal responsibility. It cannot be passed off or given to another.

(Dennis B. Neuenschwander, “Bridges and Eternal Keepsakes,” Ensign, May 1999, 83)

A Technical Perspective

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crowolf/416494933/

Experiment: Find an ancestor in the census

without using a computer!

1 hr, 20 min

Part 2: How long does it take to find the same ancestor in the same census from home using my computer?

1 hr, 20 min = 7,620 seconds

7,620 seconds÷

22 seconds=

Bajillion times faster!

346 times faster!

•11:53am - 1st response via Twitter•12:04pm - 2nd response via Twitter•12:04pm - 3rd response via Twitter•12:14pm - 4th response via Facebook•12:31pm - 5th response via Facebook•12:51pm - 6th response via Facebook•4:14pm - 7th response via Twitter

“In recent years we have begun using information technology to hasten the sacred work of providing ordinances for the deceased. The role of technology in this work has been accelerated by the Lord himself, who has had a guiding hand in its developments and will continue

to do so. However, we stand only on the threshold of what we can do with these tools. I feel that our most enthusiastic projections can capture only a tiny glimpse of how these tools can help us and of the eternal consequences of these efforts.”

(Howard W. Hunter, We Have a Work to Do, Ensign, March 1995)

Whew… 98 slides down, only 39 more

to go.

You can do it!

http://labs.familysearch.org

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jstephenconn/4617942111/sizes/l/in/photostream/

http://beta.familysearch.org

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justindc/119143951/sizes/l/

•Record Search•Research Wiki•Forums•Standards Finder•…

Make it easier for family and friends to work together on their

family history.

Make it easier to access, share and preserve the artifacts of our

ancestors.

Make it so you don’t have to be a genealogist to do genealogy.

Make the site genealogically sound so that even advanced

genealogists will love the way FamilySearch helps people do

genealogy.

Make it easier to give and receive assistance doing family history.

Make it easier to learn how to do research.

New site

beta.familysearch.org

Old site

www.familysearch.org

A Spiritual Perspective

1 BEHOLD, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.

3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

Doctrine and Covenants 2:1-3

“The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.”(Teachings of Presidents of the Church:

Joseph Smith, 2007, 475.)

…remember that the names which will be so difficult to find are of real people to whom you owe your existence in this world and whom you will meet again in the spirit world. When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to

find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you will see in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment. Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them. (Henry B. Eyring, Hearts Bound Together, Ensign, May 2005)

Over the years one of the great stumbling blocks encountered by those newly involved in family history was the enemy of “fear” and its attendant feeling of inadequacy. The work of seeking out our dead and insuring that the ordinances of exaltation are performed in their behalf is a mandate from our Heavenly Father and his BelovedSon. They do not leave us to struggle alone but rather, in ways which are sometimes dramatic, prepare the way and answer our prayers.

(Thomas S. Monson, “Happy Birthday,” Ensign, Mar 1995, 58–60 )

We should understand that in the work of redeeming the dead there are many tasks to be performed, and that all members should participate by prayerfully selecting those ways that fit their personal circumstances at a particular time. This should be done

under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord and with the guidance of priesthood leaders who issue calls and direct the Church-administered portions of this work. Our effort is not to compel everyone to do everything, but to encourage everyone to do something.

(Dallin H. Oaks, “Family History: ‘In Wisdom and in Order’,” Ensign, Jun 1989, 6)

• Find your ancestors

• Go to the temple

• Do FamilySearch Indexing

• Capture, share and preserve the important things happening now

• Capture, share and preserve memories of the departing generation

• Teach your children to love the temple

• Teach your children about their ancestors

• Babysit so someone else can go to the temple

• Choose an ancestor and learn as much as you can about them

• Volunteer at a Family History Center

• Volunteer to take photos of headstones at your local cemetery

• Add your knowledge to learning articles on FamilySearch

• Visit places where your ancestors lived

Why is now the best time to start your family

history?

We need to do this work before it is

“everlastingly too late” for us and for them.

Technological advances are making it a bajillion

times easier.

“We have a work to do just as important in its sphere as the Savior’s

work was in its sphere. Our fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without

them. They have done their work and now sleep. We are now called upon to do ours; which is to be the greatest work man ever performed on the

earth”

(Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1941, p. 406).

132

Now is the time.

Thank you!