Poor Typing Skills - Little Computer Knowledge Need Not Hold You Back

Back when Word Perfect was "The Program" my mother wanted me to teach her the computer. The reason was obvious, she was heavy into writing stories and booklets about her ancestors. My mother drove me crazy and put my patience into orbit; insisting I would teach the old woman how to use Word Perfect. I hardly knew it myself, and teach my mom - not possible!

Well, her determination was stronger than her lack of knowledge, natural talent for technology, and my impatience. The bottom line, opposition didn't hold her back. It was overcome by her desire.

For some it is easier to grasp than another, but I would guess that for most of the older generation you will have an easier time than my mom. You can do it if you choose it.

Easier, what makes me say this? Two reasons: First my mother was pretty, how can I say this kindly - dense?

Second, brainy people have come out with tools, like schools, to make it easier to learn. Below are two of them; one for typing and the other for learning about computers.

The better you are at typing the better you will be at research. The more confident you are with computers, the better you will be at genealogy.

Here is the way for you to have it easier than my mother had. If you want it, you can have it.


For online any level typing instructions: http://www.typingweb.com/ IT'S FUN AND IT'S FREE

For online basic or intermediate computer classes: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computers IT'S FREE

So You Want To Get Involved In Genealogy, What Should You Do First?

For you old pros, family history consultants, or genealogy enthusiasts, how would you answer this question? "What should a new person to genealogy do first?"

#1 to do: This is new to my suggested starting point: GET INTO FAMILY TREE - IT'S FREE!

I still serve in Church Headquarters, this time part time as a Church Service Missionary, answering peoples calls and emails for help on FamilySearch Family Tree. I am also a local Ward Family History Consultant.

I see three types of beginners: 1- some with no computer skills, even some who care but just struggle with the computer. They have convinced me they just won't get it so to speak. To you I say, your story, the stories you know will have so much meaning to your descendants. My advice to you is find someone who cares enough to help you get those stories, and hopefully photos too, on Family Tree.

Below you see that there are 27 memories in 

Family Tree about my 2nd Great Grandfather Henry Mower.

Some of these memories are photos and there are stories

Anything you can do to provide this gift about you or those you know is just that, a gift, to posterity. In our Ward we are beginning to offer this type of help to the many seniors who are a library of history. After all, when an old man dies, a library burns. 

2- There are those that can learn. A neighbor occasionally calls upon me for help. She is a shining example of desire. When I go to her home she has a list, all with questions she is stuck on. Most of the time I am gone in less than an hour. I love helping her. She spends several hours a day adding facts and memories to Family Tree. By the way, she is 94. She proves that to some age is not limiting. So if you can learn, call upon someone to teach you. 

The first thing I would suggest you learn is Family Tree. Family Tree is not just for Mormons. The last statistic I saw was that 1/3 of the activity in family tree was from the public accounts.

3- The third group I see are those that can teach others. To you I ask you assist the first two groups. The opportunity is everywhere. 

When I first caught the bug to get into this work I committed two hours a week. At first I was sloppy. Now I care about accuracy and sources. I don't make changes or additions to family tree without being sure I am correct. The finding records process gets easier every day as millions of new records go online from the thousands of websites around the world. 

My first tip, is to decide which of these three you are in.

My second tip, is to get a login to family tree and see if you have a pedigree that shows up. If not, get help connecting you to deceased ancestors. That is my next article. For those ready to rock go to http://familysearch.org and create a login or login if you have done this.

See if your tree is connected to anyone but you. It will not show any live persons, including you to the public. Therefore, if you parents are live you have to add them. Again, no one but you will see them or their information. You have to follow this process of living people until you connect to a deceased ancestor.

My first suggestion is that you fill out your tree, it's actually the tree for all of us once you connect to deceased people. See if you have ancestors already connected. Start exploring. At the top of this blog is a link to the training videos. They are excellent. Go as far as you can. More tomorrow. 

For video training on family tree go here: https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/family-tree-curriculum/818 and click view this lesson.

10 Tips For Genealogy Newbies

There is so much fun in digging into your family history. I enjoy helping people as a part time missionary in the church support unit. Several hundred requests come in daily from novices to experienced with a specific question to get resolved.

Here are a few tips for the genealogy newbie.

1- Start be seeing what is in FamilySearch Family Tree. Learn to use it, it's the genealogy of the world.
2- Use a separate email for genealogy related correspondence.
3- Using these four websites to search for an ancestor cover a lot of ground; there are many more: http://familysearch.org/ http://ancestry.com/ http://google.com/ http://findagrave.com/
4- Read on a regular basis the blogs listed on the right side of this blog. Add to that the FamilySearch blog: https://familysearch.org/blog/en/
5- Talk to your elderly relatives. Dig out their stories and facts. Remember when an old man (woman) dies a library burns.
6- When you find a fact record the source of that fact. Family History without sources is fairy tale.
7- When you want to find a website to tell you where to find an answer go to these two sites first: The Family Search Wiki: https://familysearch.org/ask/researchWiki and Cyndi's list: http://www.cyndislist.com
8- If you are like me and like to learn by video go to this site that is a dirctory of upcoming webinars:  http://www.geneawebinars.com
9- When searching in Google add the word genealogy to the search for better results.
10- There are about 4000 family history centers around the country. Likely there is one near you. Some are only open a few hours a week. They are usually manned by a pretty good expert volunteer. To find the nearest to you go to: https://familysearch.org/locations/centerlocator