dons-familytreecertifiedprograms.html

RT1576 -- ROOTSTECH 2015
THE FAMILY TREE CERTIFIED PROGRAMS TREESEEK, RECORDSEEK, PUZZILLA, AND ROOTSMAPPER
©2015 by Donald R. Snow
The numbering on this 2-Page Summary Handout is the same as on the notes in the RootsTech 2015 Syllabus and this Summary, along with an updated version of the full notes, is on my webpage http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html -- Last updated 2015-02-09.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
1. Instructors are Donald R. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu ) of Provo and St. George, Utah and his daughter, Linda Snow Westover ( linda.westover@gmail.com ) of Orem, Utah.

4. Problem for today: How to use the FamilySearch Certified Programs TreeSeek, RecordSeek, Puzzilla, and RootsMapper with your FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT) data.

6. These programs are free, but some have premium versions, and all the authors will accept donations.

TREESEEK
8. Matt Misbach wrote this to make various types of pedigree and other charts using your FSFT data -- website is http://www.treeseek.com/ .

11. Go to http://www.treeseek.com and log in with your LDS or FamilySearch account -- Types of charts include regular pedigree, fan pedigree, photo, name cloud, Source Tracker, and charts from a GEDCOM -- name cloud charts show name frequencies by font sizes; Source Tracker shows which United States censuses and vital records are appropriate and which are already sources for your ancestors; gives you links to find additional censuses and vital records -- Charts can be saved as pdf's or TreeSeek will print them for a small fee -- TreeSeek recently added Family History Solitaire card games which generate 52 cards, each suit named for one of your four grandparents and with their ancestors' names and photos on the cards for that suit; there are 40-50 Solitaire card games you can play electronically and the 52-card deck could be printed on card stock and used for Family Home Evening games -- Note: Solitaire is not working on TreeSeek at present (Feb 2015) due to bugs, but will be back soon -- To generate charts anyone other than yourself enter their PID's; names and PID's of some of your immediate family and spouses are on the pick arrow (small downward pointing triangle) by your name (upper left side), but for living parents you can't generate their charts without additional work due to privacy laws

12. The FSFT data downloaded on your line is saved in an Ahnentafel chart in the browser on your computer which is very helpful -- click on your name (upper right corner) -- format of this chart makes it easy to recognize some things that need correcting in your ancestors' data on Family Tree -- click on the portrait icon in front of your ancestor's name on the Ahnentafel Chart to go FSFT and edit the data

14. See full notes for links to helps for TreeSeek-- also I wrote about this in my Don's Freeware Corner Notes on http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html

RECORDSEEK
15. Website -- http://recordseek.com

17. Provides an easy way to save website links for FSFT -- can save them in your Source Box or attach them directly in FT

18. To install it on your computer go to their website and drag the Tree Connect bookmarklet button (green) onto the toolbar of your browser.

19. Then when browsing and you find a website to save as a source (or for any reason), click the Tree Connect bookmarklet button on your browser and enter your LDS or FamilySearch account info and it will be saved

Tip: Before clicking on bookmarklet button highlight any text you want saved and it then goes into the source comments field; this works for any website, even for FamilySearch Historical Records sources, and makes saving them easier to read since they then have the text saved too

22. See full notes for links to helps for RecordSeek

PUZZILLA DESCENDANT VIEWER
23. Website -- https://puzzilla.org/

25. Note: The descendants of your ancestors are your cousins. The Puzzilla website has good videos to get you started.

26. Puzzilla has a premium (commercial) version with many more features, but we will only discuss the free version here.

27. Go to Puzzilla website and sign in with your LDS or FamilySearch account; it generates a symbolic diagram of your pedigree with square blue dots = males, round pink dots = females; hover cursor over a dot to see person's info and options to View Descendants, View Ancestors. or View in Family Tree

29. Coding of descendant dots is: yellow = died young, so probably no descendants; grey = born less than 110 years ago, so you would need permission to do temple work; other dots represent your cousins born more than 110 years ago -- all descendants of your ancestors are your cousins

30. Patterns to look for -- (1) No siblings -- probably had brothers or sisters who may be in FSFT but not linked or may not be in FSFT at all; (2) End of descendant lines -- most people not dying young married and had children; may be in FSFT, but not linked or may not be in FSFT at all

31. Clicking on the View in Family Tree button opens that person in FT which now has a Descendants View which is very helpful; clicking on Search Records in the Research Help box on the right, automatically searches censuses, vital records, and other sources so you can find possible siblings and descendants of the person and maybe fill in the family; this frequently leads to temple work needed

32. When doing any of this consider all the data carefully to verify that they are the right people before you merge or enter them in FT; also attach the source as proof

33. Before clearing any names for temple work always check for possible duplicates and merge those that need it since temple work be already done, but in a duplicate record

34. See full notes for links to helps for Puzzilla

ROOTSMAPPER
35. Website is -- https://rootsmapper.com

37. Go to their website and log in with your LDS or FamilySearch account to generate a 3-generation interactive Google map of the birth locations of you (circle marked 0), your parents (circles marked 1), grandparents (circles marked 2), and great grandparents (circles marked 3) -- it uses birth information from FSFT, not migration, so a line crossing the ocean shows immigration since the parent was born abroad and the child here

38. Can change the root Person by changing PID or clicking on links at ends of lines, etc. -- Note: in most cases you can't generate maps starting from living people, other than yourself, since Family Tree won't show the birth information for them and RootsMapper needs that

39. Lines on the maps are color-coded -- blue = root person's father's lines, pink = root person's mother's lines

40. The map can be moved by dragging with the mouse; hovering or clicking on a circle shows info and clicking on person's name takes you to FSFT to view or edit data

42. Roll mouse wheel to change size of map; change Map or Satellite views (upper right corner) and click Terrain to toggle geographical names on map

43. Number of generations can be set for up to 10

44. Options box (upper left corner) -- set generations up to 10, toggle lines, pins, and color of countries on and off; Traceback makes the whole path black from anyone you click down to root person; Isolate ,after setting Traceback, toggles all other lines on and off; Pedigree Chart shows root person and parents; Statistics shows how many people born in each country

45. RootsMapper can be used for articles, demonstrations, and slideshows for programs, family reunions, family home evenings, etc., and can be done live or by making screenshots of the maps to show migration patterns

47. See full notes for helps for RootsMapper -- also I wrote about this in my Don's Freeware Corner Notes at http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-freewarecornernotespage.html .

CONCLUSIONS
49. See the Certified Programs webpage -- https://familysearch.org/products/ -- for these and more such helpful programs

Return to the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's Class Listings Page .