Where To Start What To Do?

It's time to revise my 10 day plan a bit.

I've trained a few new missionaries (2 weeks one on one) and want to simplify the plan.

I am posting this as someone who trains new missionaries assigned to this mission. Most come here with little or no knowledge of the things I share with you. Being in the older set, they often struggle, at least struggle with their confidence level. Our goal, my goal here, is to teach enough in a way that one really does become a pretty good genealogist. No one is too green. Anyone can do this. My pattern here is based on months of training these greenies.

I really believe when you get a few important parts down you will catch fire and add to you knowledge base with enthusiasm.

There truly is a spirit about genealogy research that invigorates ones soul.

I will break it down into 10 parts, consider each part a day:

1- Be Inspired - Gather Facts - Start A Pedigree Chart.

2- Understand FamilySearch.org

3- Dig into FamilySearch Family Tree: Family Tree Part 1.

4- Family Tree Part 2: Creating A Source. Become familiar with the next 4 most important search sites.

5- Fill out as much as you can on your pedigree chart, and document to the tree.

6- Understand important research principles. Move from covering a lot of ancestors to focusing on one. Stories, that is what makes genealogy - family history burn in your heart.

7- Ways to learn about that ancestor.

8- Family Tree Part 3.

9- Family Tree Part 4.

10- Sharpen the saw. You will be amazed at just how sharp you become.

This too is a work in process. Dig in and come back often. Larry

Understanding Family Search.org

To receive the full benefit of family search you need to sign up and/or sign in. Some of the data only shows to registered users. (Part of our contracts with some of our data sources)

Unimaginable resources are being put into http://familySearch.org/ I have published several articles about FamilySearch that you can read by clicking here:

In the green box you find the search part. Millions of new records are published in this site weekly. It is the first place to start searching for your ancestors. Remember to try different spellings. Don't put too much information in your first search effort. Add information in additional searches. (Example middle names)

In the purple box you do searches by location, a way of filtering down the number of results you get.

In the blue box you find the learning center: The Wiki and the Learning videos are most important here.

The yellow box shows the blog: pretty good stuff here.

The red box takes you to the family tree - the awesome and huge undertaking the church has implemented.

We will go into more depth in future days, but for today become familiar with the parts. View some training videos, visit the Wiki and search for something - read some of the articles that result from that search.

Click family tree and see if you have a pedigree showing up yet. If not, don't worry, we will show you how to get that going.

The more you explore the better.

A Simple Exercise With Valuable Benefits

1- Search for an ancestor in FamilySearch.org

2- Pick out a result that is your ancestor. I picked 1940 census

 

3- Click through to see the result details.

 

4- In the upper right hand corner is "My Source Box" - click it open and select the save to my source box option. Doing this you place the source in a location that you can connect it to your ancestor in the Family Tree. We will expand on that tomorrow.

 

Just do this on as many ancestors and matching results as possible. Take the rest of your day doing this throughout your pedigree chart, hopefully you can build a 5 generation chart to be fairly complete.

A Merry Christmas Slide Show From Larry and Flickr

You can click the corner icon to make it larger.

Fantastic Fungi: The Forbidden Fruit

Learn How To Research In England

FamilySearch is more than a search engine. It is much more than a search engine and access point to the new and important Family Tree. It is also one of the best places to learn about genealogy research.

All the components in FamilySearch are free.

These past two weeks I have been training a new missionary serving here in Salt Lake City. He and his wife will be assigned to the Family History Library on West Temple Street.

Many of his ancestors come from England. He comes as a novice to genealogy research. My training for him is just a start. He'll get more. However, when it comes to his British ancestors, his best resource is in learn. Currently there are 27 videos on the topic of England. There were 25 on Thursday of last week. It grows regularly and in total are now over 450 courses on various topics. They are found in the research courses section of learn.

The classes are provided by experts in the field and go from 10 minutes to an hour in time. There are classes geared to the novice and the expert.

Here are a few of the topics:

England Beginning Research Series Lesson 1: Getting Started

England Beginning Research Series Lesson 2: Understanding Census Records

Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions and Probate Records

Clues and Tips for England Research: Part IV: Children and Relationships

Take a brief look at terms that relate to children, such as Illegitimacy, Half-Baptized, Chrisom Child. Also learn about terms regarding relationships and what they mean. This is the final lesson in this series.

There are many more - a great way to learn genealogy research.

Family Records That Help In Family History

This record was in my Aunts Collections. It tells us a couple of things I didn't know about my great grandfather regarding the circumstances of his birth.
 

Simeon from Larry Cragun

Patrick Cragon In America

Patrick cragon and forebears from Larry Cragun

> This report on Patrick has been researched and provided by Gaylynne Heiner Hone.

The Most Complete Report On The History Of Elisha Cragun And Family I Have Found

This was researched, written, and forwarded to me by Gaylynn Heiner Hone. Thanks again Gaylynn for providing me with this awesome work.

Click the 4 arrow icon in the bottom far right to make the document larger. >

History of cragun family most current.docx from Larry Cragun

Updated Trunk Monkey Commercials, some old and some new. This amazingly has been consistently in our top ten most watched posts.

       http://www.trunkmonkeyad.com/