Saturday, November 30, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
This Is Fascinating: Rootsmapper
This is a picture that I snipped from my screen. It is the migration patterns of my first 8 generations as seen from https://rootsmapper.com/.
Rootsmapper is on of the new FamilySearch partners. I am guessing they are part of the new Discovery Centers experience I wrote about here in the article about the Discovery Centers:
You just login at their home page (your photo from family tree, if you have uploaded one your migration pattern appears.
Yes, I immigrated from Pocatello to Seattle To Salt Lake City. Or is that emigrated?
Their website is simple, not a lot of options. The action takes place when you select another generation. Like this one where I chose two. The results are embedded into a Google Map, therefore you can change sizes and move it around. It shows that my family went from Utah to Idaho to Washington, and now I am back.
Click on one of the numbered pins and it identifies that ancestor, with a little graphic of the pedigree relationships. Pretty cool. To make the graphic get simpler to view the trash can on the left removes a specific pin and line.
Whoa, look at the 4th generation. Am I a Brit or what?
Actually here is something I had not known before, or ever noticed. It kind of disappoints me. It's the Cornwall, England Connection with John Franklin Rich. He was born in Perranuthnoe, Cornwall, England. He went straight to Utah. I was a missionary in Cornwall. I was one of the first group of missionaries to return since the early missionaries in the 1830's. I was there for months. I loved Cornwall but didn't know that one my ancestors came from there. I could have been looking for other ancestors. Yikes that is disappointing. What a lost opportunity.
Here is a 7th generation clip: Yep, more Rich's in Cornwall. Three of them right there in Truro, my assigned area. Oh, man this ticks me off. I'm Cornish. No wonder I loved Cornish Pasties.
Now it's your turn to go play. It is a cool site.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
A Welcome New Update In Family Tree
Within the Family Members display, we now display relationship types between a child and his or her parents. Non-biological types are listed including the date, if the relationship contains one, and the relationship type. See the example below.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
How Exciting For The Cragun Family History
If you are a Cragun you are likely to know about the Eva Cragun Heiner Cragun Family History book. It covers Cragun and Ellis family history until about 1969. Some of
the information is questionable, but generally it's fairly accurate.
Well now comes a new book by Eva's granddaughter, Gaylynne Heiner Hone. I call her a family history research monster. Gaylynne is a graduate of BYU and getting her certifications in order. She has done so much research on the Cragun line, and counts on sources and documentation. She once told me, "if only grandma had sources."
The good news is two fold. 1- Five of us her loving cousins are dividing up the 15 CD's full of research, photos, stories, life sketches, and documents and are attaching them to Family Tree. Wow, what fun it is. I can hardly put her work down. It's a good thing I am retired. The tree is getting cleaner, more accurate in our lines (in family tree)now, thanks to this research. I am finding new people which is always a joy.
2- Is the book I show the cover of below. Gaylynne has just published a book on the Osbornes and Patrick Cragun available on Lulu.com. It's a Cragun library must. It's full of facts and sources. It's interesting, explaining more than facts, what it was like to live back then.
She has a temporary discount on it at the time. I truly hope every Cragun bookshelf has one. It will give you facts and sources, get you moving, give you empathy, and make you proud.
Here is the link for the book: It is 350 pages and well written.
Well now comes a new book by Eva's granddaughter, Gaylynne Heiner Hone. I call her a family history research monster. Gaylynne is a graduate of BYU and getting her certifications in order. She has done so much research on the Cragun line, and counts on sources and documentation. She once told me, "if only grandma had sources."
The good news is two fold. 1- Five of us her loving cousins are dividing up the 15 CD's full of research, photos, stories, life sketches, and documents and are attaching them to Family Tree. Wow, what fun it is. I can hardly put her work down. It's a good thing I am retired. The tree is getting cleaner, more accurate in our lines (in family tree)now, thanks to this research. I am finding new people which is always a joy.
2- Is the book I show the cover of below. Gaylynne has just published a book on the Osbornes and Patrick Cragun available on Lulu.com. It's a Cragun library must. It's full of facts and sources. It's interesting, explaining more than facts, what it was like to live back then.
She has a temporary discount on it at the time. I truly hope every Cragun bookshelf has one. It will give you facts and sources, get you moving, give you empathy, and make you proud.
Here is the link for the book: It is 350 pages and well written.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
This Might Be The Coolest Thing Ever: Descendancy The Focus
This is a picture of Elisha Craguns descendants, created from FamilySearch Family Tree.
puzilla.org is the FamilySearch partner website.
One feature, one of the few features in new.familysearch.org that people hated to give up was the ease of doing descendancy research. This new site, is easier and more powerful.
There are videos to explain the site. Each dot is a person. Click the dot and it will take you to the person in family tree. Each dot or person has a roll over feature that displays a summary card of that person.
Hit shift click and you get the descendacy chart for the new person selected.
It says it's still in beta but go have fun. I am telling you it's cool.Click here for their site
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
T Bowering Woodbury & Henry D Moyle
I served in England from October 1960 to 1962. My mission President during the 1st year was T. Bowering Woodbury. The General Authority we saw most often, and heard from was Henry D Moyle.
I have such great respect for these two men. At the time I arrived there were no Wards or Stakes in England. The Church was mostly thought of as that church that had an underground tunnel from Liverpool to Salt Lake City. The British had some odd ideas. Another was that in 1962 their Navy power far surpassed that of the USA. Things changed under the leadership of these two inspired leaders.
I had only been in London a few days when they brought us all in to learn what was about to happen in Britain. A prime piece of property was just put under a 100 year lease. This in a most prominent part of London; the museum district - Princes Gate. It is a short distance from Royal Albert Hall. What a marvelous and historic part of London.
The Church was about yo see some tremendous growth. In the two years I was there only the Northwest US grew faster.
Henry D Moyle was a visionary leader. T Bowering Woodbury the most inspiring, yet demanding man I have worked around. I can think of only a few people who have motivated me to grow as a person as did TBW. He met with our Hyde Park district often. Each time he made each of us teach a lesson to him and Sister Woodbury. That was tough duty, intimidating in that and other ways described his demeanor. He inspired and motivated.
Some don't appreciate his methods. He was goal oriented. In that vein there was a monthly goal. One was mothers month; our mothers were brought into knowing our challenge. We would write about our commitments. She knew how many hours we put in, how many people we taught, etc.
TBW had been a successful owner of a lawn mower and airplane factory in Kansas City. Without him manning the company, our Mr. Kansas City mission President lost his wealth, they went bankrupt. It's a 3 year full time commitment a Mission President makes.
The fact that we had one year to fill the chapel with church members was daunting to us. President Moyle gave us that message. In his mind it was a matter of fact, nothing less. It would happen was his assuming statement. I say daunting because at that time there was a small branch of the church there in The Hyde Park area. More American missionaries attended church than local members. It was a tiny branch in a big city.
These two leaders were the right ones to guide a new era in The British Isles. The announcement of this Chapel brought out what often happens with building a Temple, opposition. Some tabloids took us on with crazy stories. But President Woodbury was connected to present our facts. Lord Beaverbrook, owner of some of London's top newspapers became our advocate, Woodbury's friend. He countered all of the tabloid garbage. My companions and I were privileged to tell our Church message in interesting places; such as to the queens personal Barrister (Attorney) in his office. The office was like a museum and the size of. Gymnasium. We met with the head of Macmillan publishing Company of England. We were able to create a second story to the tabloids in such a way that people were curious.
There was one period of time that my companions and I spent 3 months in one apartment high rise teaching our doctrine. No one turned us away, and many became members.
We found a way to introduce people to us. American baseball, basketball, and bowling were becoming popular. We mostly used baseball to connect with the youth. Our instructions were to teach families, meet them through the youth. Some only went the first half of that directive and brought in the youth. But many of us brought families to Mormonism. There were so many that one year later we had a Stake. I personally saw people we taught, many quality men and women, in that full chapel the day it was dedicated. We all did.
Things were different with in England after that. Sure, not all that joined stayed active. Recently I received an email from the daughter of Paddy Rourke. She had found me online. She's said her mother was still alive and wanted me to know how much their entire family had been blessed by my being one who had found them and introduced them to this wonderful gospel. Paddy and his little family were there that Sunday dedication.
I believe there were 17 chapels under construction when I left in 1962. What a difference inspiration and the right people to carry out a mission that time had arrived to accomplish. I have been blessed to be a part of it.
I have such great respect for these two men. At the time I arrived there were no Wards or Stakes in England. The Church was mostly thought of as that church that had an underground tunnel from Liverpool to Salt Lake City. The British had some odd ideas. Another was that in 1962 their Navy power far surpassed that of the USA. Things changed under the leadership of these two inspired leaders.
I had only been in London a few days when they brought us all in to learn what was about to happen in Britain. A prime piece of property was just put under a 100 year lease. This in a most prominent part of London; the museum district - Princes Gate. It is a short distance from Royal Albert Hall. What a marvelous and historic part of London.
The Church was about yo see some tremendous growth. In the two years I was there only the Northwest US grew faster.
Henry D Moyle was a visionary leader. T Bowering Woodbury the most inspiring, yet demanding man I have worked around. I can think of only a few people who have motivated me to grow as a person as did TBW. He met with our Hyde Park district often. Each time he made each of us teach a lesson to him and Sister Woodbury. That was tough duty, intimidating in that and other ways described his demeanor. He inspired and motivated.
Some don't appreciate his methods. He was goal oriented. In that vein there was a monthly goal. One was mothers month; our mothers were brought into knowing our challenge. We would write about our commitments. She knew how many hours we put in, how many people we taught, etc.
TBW had been a successful owner of a lawn mower and airplane factory in Kansas City. Without him manning the company, our Mr. Kansas City mission President lost his wealth, they went bankrupt. It's a 3 year full time commitment a Mission President makes.
The fact that we had one year to fill the chapel with church members was daunting to us. President Moyle gave us that message. In his mind it was a matter of fact, nothing less. It would happen was his assuming statement. I say daunting because at that time there was a small branch of the church there in The Hyde Park area. More American missionaries attended church than local members. It was a tiny branch in a big city.
These two leaders were the right ones to guide a new era in The British Isles. The announcement of this Chapel brought out what often happens with building a Temple, opposition. Some tabloids took us on with crazy stories. But President Woodbury was connected to present our facts. Lord Beaverbrook, owner of some of London's top newspapers became our advocate, Woodbury's friend. He countered all of the tabloid garbage. My companions and I were privileged to tell our Church message in interesting places; such as to the queens personal Barrister (Attorney) in his office. The office was like a museum and the size of. Gymnasium. We met with the head of Macmillan publishing Company of England. We were able to create a second story to the tabloids in such a way that people were curious.
There was one period of time that my companions and I spent 3 months in one apartment high rise teaching our doctrine. No one turned us away, and many became members.
We found a way to introduce people to us. American baseball, basketball, and bowling were becoming popular. We mostly used baseball to connect with the youth. Our instructions were to teach families, meet them through the youth. Some only went the first half of that directive and brought in the youth. But many of us brought families to Mormonism. There were so many that one year later we had a Stake. I personally saw people we taught, many quality men and women, in that full chapel the day it was dedicated. We all did.
Things were different with in England after that. Sure, not all that joined stayed active. Recently I received an email from the daughter of Paddy Rourke. She had found me online. She's said her mother was still alive and wanted me to know how much their entire family had been blessed by my being one who had found them and introduced them to this wonderful gospel. Paddy and his little family were there that Sunday dedication.
I believe there were 17 chapels under construction when I left in 1962. What a difference inspiration and the right people to carry out a mission that time had arrived to accomplish. I have been blessed to be a part of it.
Monday, November 4, 2013
THe Future Of Indexing
November 1, 2013 By
An interesting update from the FamilySearch blog: Click here for the full article We are so grateful to the hundreds of thousands of dedicated volunteers who willingly give their time to help provide indexed records on FamilySearch.org. Your efforts are very much appreciated. We understand that you contribute while patiently working through limitations in the current FamilySearch indexing system. While the current system has done a wonderful job of supporting a growing workforce and allowing us to index hundreds of millions of records each year, it is due for some major renovations.
We are happy to report that we are moving ahead on a new indexing system—and what’s even more exciting is that you will soon begin to see some of the results. A new indexing website will be launched later this year, followed by changes in the new indexing system in 2014. This new system will incorporate a long list of improvements, such as (1) enhanced project selection, (2) the ability to join multiple groups, (3) achievements and recognition, (4) Facebook integration, and (5) an improved beginner experience. Today we’re going to give you a sneak peek at three key areas that will improve the indexing experience for you.
The blog has the full article.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
A Big Deal In Family Tree: Why Have They Been So Silent About It?
I have been wanting this feature from the beginning: being able to
post my own documents and stories to family tree. We can do that now,
and it almost escaped my noticing it. Here I am, a support missionary to
family tree and no one told me.
Had I not read this simple statement below of new features on the FamilySearch blog I still wouldn't know.
Living
people aren't live on family tree for privacy reasons. The statement
above says "As long as you have the rights." I have to clarify this but
it seems in my studying this today (Saturday) it applies to myself, my
spouse, and my children. So far it is working for my seeing their photos
and stories.
Why do I want and like this feature so? It is because while I am living I can get my own documents, histories, photos, and stories on the tree so I know all of my children and posterity will have access to them once I have deceased, like 100 more years from now.
We live by, and go to church with a lot of people old enough they think family tree is too hard for them to learn. Some don't do email. But someone can now sit down with them and put their stories on the tree, automatically to go live once they have passed on.
Too many stories go untold. Too many histories are thrown in the trash once we have died. It's cumbersome to organize our records. Family Tree is the way and it will be available to all, once we have died and moved on to the next place.
Had I not read this simple statement below of new features on the FamilySearch blog I still wouldn't know.
Why do I want and like this feature so? It is because while I am living I can get my own documents, histories, photos, and stories on the tree so I know all of my children and posterity will have access to them once I have deceased, like 100 more years from now.
We live by, and go to church with a lot of people old enough they think family tree is too hard for them to learn. Some don't do email. But someone can now sit down with them and put their stories on the tree, automatically to go live once they have passed on.
Too many stories go untold. Too many histories are thrown in the trash once we have died. It's cumbersome to organize our records. Family Tree is the way and it will be available to all, once we have died and moved on to the next place.
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