We Are All Stuck on Some Names Aren't We?

STUCK?

I guess unless you have taken your entire family tree back to Adam and Eve you have a name you are stuck on. For sure I haven't gone back that far. How about you?

Here are some examples of where I am stuck:
  In my Porter line:
            William Shaw married Martha Pool - Who were Martha's  Parents?
             Neil O'Neal Married Agnes or Alice - Last name would help & What
             about her parents?
  In my Bingham line:
             Sarah Rebecca Adams, born 1800 - I don't have info on her parents either.
  In my Cragun line:
             I'm Stuck on Sarah Catherine Plank.She lived in the late 1700's early 1800's.
             Andrew Mauer married Barbara and that's all I know.
             Alexander Osborne married Martha, and that's all I know.
             Charles Abbey married Fannie - who were both of their parents?
         
             and of Course Patrick Cragun could have left us better info all around. I
             would appreciate as much as possible as this original Tea Partier. (as in
             Boston Tea Party)
   

There will be Another RootsTech and I Suggest you Attend

A lot of our friends and colleagues chose not to attend RootsTech. They now know that was a mistake. It was full of interesting and important information for people of all levels of  expertise. It was fun, even including an evening of comedy. There were interesting keynote speakers.

RootsTech is a leading edge conference designed to bring technologists together with genealogists, so they can learn from each other and find solutions to the challenges they face in family history research today. At RootsTech, genealogists and family historians will discover emerging technologies to improve their family history research experience. Technology developers will learn the skills to deliver innovative applications and systems. They will also have the opportunity to receive instant feedback from peers and users on their ideas and creations. Attendees will learn from hands-on workshops and interactive presentations at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level

Who Should Attend?

This cutting edge conference has something for everyone, whether you are a software developer, a genealogist, a society member, technologist or a genealogy hobbyist. No matter your technology background, this uniquely designed conference offers customized experiences to help you become a valuable part of finding solutions that will bring technology and genealogy together. RootsTech also gives you a firsthand look into what new technological tools are available to power up your research experiences.

How Much Does It Cost?

• $189 Full Registration Price
• $35 Student Price (must show valid school ID)
• $79 Single Day Pass

I picked up a great new product for writing stories for publication as an e-book. It motivated me to finish the story I am writing about my grandmother Nancy Athena Porter. If the software is as easy to use as it looks I will be writing a bunch of ebooks.  That alone made the conference worth it.

There was information on the cloud, wiki's, newspaper archives, social media, mobile applications, DNA, YouTube, Google+, to pay or not to pay, building websites with genialogy focus, tools, searching on line, 1940 census, England and Wales, genealogy webinars, and so much more.

Here is the link to the RootsTech website: RootsTech

A Sincere Desire To Help

Joseph Smith Memorial Building Lobby

Our mission has over 1000 missionaries that serve the family history effort. Kathleen and I are assigned to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Our zone is the world wide patron support zone. It consists of professional staff, full time missionaries like Kathleen and I, part time church service missionaries that serve a couple of days a week, and hundreds that serve at home 15 or more hours per week. We answer questions difficult or easy. They may be on research, PAF software, or other facets of family history and genealogy.

It doesn't matter if the question comes from a church member or not. We strive to answer every question completely and accurately.

Each morning our zone starts the day with a brief devotional which consists of announcements, a hymn, a spiritual thought, and a prayer. I was touched this morning by the spiritual thought. The Elder that was speaking was being transferred from our zone to the family history library zone. He humbly shared that he loved being here. It is important that we answer even the very simplest of questions. He pointed out that many of those who call or contact us are frustrated and full of desire to search out their answers.

Even what may seem simple to us is of great importance to the patron.

It is a marvelous thing to witness how the spirit of family history and genealogy grabs the hearts of people from all walks of life. At the recent RootsTech conference we had the opportunity to converse with people attending. Many were serious genealogists. I am thinking of one lady from Arkansas. I asked her if she had signed up to index the 1940 Census. She not only had done that, but had enlisted her entire genealogy society to help and was now going to other societies recruiting their help. A comment she made that stood out was, "You know it's funny, when it comes to genealogy, when someone asks for help I just go and do it."

Surely, the church is a leader in providing resources and support - but we are not alone in this effort and attitude. There is an amazing spirit to it. We know it as the Spirit of Elijah. Have you caught it yet?

Call For Help: Info on Nancy Athena, Electa Elizabeth, or Joseph Rich Porter

Dear Visitors,

I am writing my grandmother Nancy Athena Porters, life history. It will be in the form of a printable e-book. Her parents were Joseph Rich Porter and Electa Elizabeth Porter.

Grandmother was born in 1886 in Porterville and died in 1930 in Burley Idaho

I would appreciate if you have any relevant information that I could include.

Porter Family Name Origination

 

The Porter family name was originally adopted from the original bearers’ occupation.  Porter was an occupational name for a gatekeeper or watchman deriving its origin from the Old French word “portier”, meaning “doorman”.

In the royal castles, and in some monasteries, the office of Porter was usually hereditary, and lands and privileges were usually connected to the position.

Spelling variations include:  Porter, Pawter, Poreter, Portar and others.

First found in Kyle where Radulfus the porter witnessed the gift of the church of Cragyn (Craigie) to the monastery of Paisley in 1177.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were:

Roger Porter, who settled in New England in 1638; with his wife and four children; Robert Porter settled in the Barbados in 1676 with his two children.

 (Swyrich Corporation 2006)

Serve A Part Time Mission From Home? Really?

Yes, and are you ever needed. 

The church has a mission zone that supports questions from patrons world wide. This is an actual missionary calling, interviews, calling letter, and badge. After two months of training the at home missionary serves 15 hours per week at home. The at home missionary is called for at least one year. At home missionaries serve answering important questions on doing family history. These come by email, phone calls, or text messages.

There are currently over 500 at home missionaries and family history needs at least 1000 more. When you inquire our department matches your skills and interests with the needs of family history. We place and train people in their department.

Our biggest need is new family search. That will become family tree. We also assign people to the wiki, family history centers, indexing support, online film ordering, and family history research.

I've felt a  lot of emotion at times, realizing the blessing an at home mission call can be to a member or family. I almost cried at the excitement of a mother when she realized we were placing her son as an actual missionary. A similar emotion was felt when a sister wheel chair bound realized she was going to be able to provide meaningful service.

If you want to explore this opportunity call 1-800-453-3860 ext 2-0850 or email: mission@familysearch.org

Sister Whitney Horning



I highly recommend this video of Sister Horning. It tells more in a few minutes than I could in an hour. Sister Horning Tells Her Story

For our friends and patrons who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, you can give back in many ways too. Serving in a local family history center is one example. The biggest need is in idexing the 1940 Census.  That project starts the 1st week of April. The data will be easy to read and index. The results will be posted free of charge on FamilySearch.org. You can sign up now by going to 1940 Census website

There is also a new iPad ap in the Ap Store.

Content Rich Family Search - Growing In Value - Family Search Wiki Growing in Size

New and Improved Search

Get Tips from Experts, and Share What You Know

One Sign In for All Family Search Resources:

Click here for the what's new page: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/whats_new

Did you know that the Family Search wiki is now the #1 Research tool. The wiki recently passed the 66,000 article count and is growing daily.  The wiki doesn't answer your research questions, rather it shows you how and where to research. Go take a look here:

Click here: Family Search Wiki

Family Tree Is Coming

When you visit familysearch.org do you have a family tree link at the top? Probably not, but trust me, you will want one. The plan is to introduce family tree this year. About 5,000 of us are beta testing it now.

Those who are using new family search find many problems in the accuracy of the data, which can be frustrating. If that is you, don't worry, new family search will become family tree.  I am telling people who call into Church Headquarters requesting corrections, to be patient, they can do it themselves when Family Tree is launced. 

Family Tree is a new approach to genealogy. It is unlike any tool you’ve used before. You will connect with others who share a common interest in your genealogical lines. Together, you compare findings, weigh evidence, and decide what information is most correct. The history of your work and the rationale for change are preserved for others to see. You’ll find great satisfaction in your family research because you are part of a team working towards the same goal—the most accurate, complete, and enduring family tree ever produced.

I think the most important part is how the system allows you to correct errors yourself instead of waiting for the person who input the wrong data or waiting for the church to agree with your correction.

There is an edit process. It allows you to make the correction. It asks you to support that change. It provides a public view of who made the change, your support for the change, and allows someone else to provide their opinion.  This process creates a collaboration. You, for your tree can use what you believe is the best correct answer, while the other opinions remain as part of the file.

See below where my father Royal Cragun had incorrect information posted.
His middle name is not Willy. I intend on providing a link to a copy of his birth certificate as evidence.

There was no information about his burial, so I added that. I was provided a box to show documentation and it remains visible to all who visit the entry.

The Church expects the numbers of users to be in the millions, many of those non members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

If you will leave your name as a comment, I will notify you when Family Tree goes live.

FInd A Grave - A Cool Research Site

I have really appreciated how much information is found on http://www.findagrave.com/ I will use an ancestor Erastus Freeman Bingham as an example. Rhonda Holton has contributed photos and information that appears on over 7,000 grave sites. I don't even know if she is a relative, but she is the administator of Erastus's find a grave memorial. Be it Rhonda or some other, the information on find a grave for Erastus and many others is a quite a find.

There are photos of Erastus and of his gravestone:

There is a brief life story on Erastus: I share just a couple of paragraphs here:

When the exodus begun in 1846, leaders of the church called upon Erastus to make the roads, build the bridges, and plant the crops the Saints would need in their trek across Iowa. His wife, Olive and his two small children joined him in Council Bluffs, with the main body of the church, just in time to hear the call for the "Mormon Battalion".

Erastus was president of the 38th Quorum of Seventies. In 1858, having served in the Mormon Battalion and then in state militia, Erastus was called to serve again, with the rank of Major, in the Echo Canyon campaign against Johnston's Army.

There are links to 14 other related memorials. They are all content rich.

For the full find a grave memorial on Erastus click this link:Erastus Freeman Bingham on Find A Grave Website

Serving A Family History Mission

Church Headquarters Campus

Family History Library

Church History Library

Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Church Office Building

Administration Building

Temple Square

Publishing this website is for me motivated by serving as a missionary at family history - church headquarters and my recent attendance at the  RootsTech Family History Conference.

For many years I have enjoyed working on my family tree. I seem motivated now to include working on life histories as part of my love of genealogy. Even though this will be a part time hobby I will try and regularly post relevant articles regarding my research. I will also post stories, sites, tools, and technology information I discover.

Kathleen and I are serving full time here in Salt Lake City. Kathleen is supporting questions from family history centers and training family history center directors. My assignment is involved in recruiting and processing people to serve part time and at home in family history service. We work in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building which is part of the Church Headquarter Campus. Please leave a comment if there is something we can do to help you.

The family names in the pages to the right are those including my Great Grandparents lines. The next generation includes: Osborne, Amick, Freeman, White, De La Garza, Oneal, Rich, and Kilbourne.

There are ways both members and those not members of the LDS church can serve. The family history libraries, indexing in general, and the 1940 census indexing project are area's anyone can serve.

We have about 500 church members serving 15 or more hours per week from home. These at home missions are becoming more important. We expect a need of 1000 more at home missionaries in the near future. Some of this is driven by the growing interest in genealogy, some will be driven when we open up the new Family Tree to everyone, and the need is great even now. At home missionaries go through two months of training. It consists of about 1.5 hours a day plus practice for those two months.  These are support callings. Questions are coming into church headquarter in such great quantities that the full time staff and missionaries just can't answer fast enough.  At home missionaries login and take the questions for help.