THE FAMILY TREE CERTIFIED PROGRAMS:
TREESEEK, RECORDSEEK, PUZZILLA, AND FIND-A-RECORD
©2016 by Donald R. Snow - This page was last updated
2016-08-15.
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WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
- Instructors are Donald R. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu
) of Provo and St. George, Utah and Linda Snow Westover ( linda.westover@gmail.com
) of Orem, Utah.
- These notes are online at Don's Family History Notes
webpage http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
. Additional details and related notes are in his FREEWARE
CORNER articles there.
- Tips: (1) To have an icon on your desktop to open
your browser and go directly to these notes (or any website)
drag the icon from in front of the address in your browser onto
your desktop. (2) To open a link to any website into
a new tab, so you keep your place in the old website, hold
down the Control key while clicking the link.
- Problem for discussion: How to use the FamilySearch
Certified Programs TREESEEK, RECORDSEEK, PUZZILLA, and
FIND-A-RECORD to work with your Family Tree data. These
are not genealogy database management programs, but do other
family history tasks.
FAMILYSEARCH CERTIFICATION OF THIRD-PARTY PROGRAMS
- FamilySearch -- https://familysearch.org/
-- has standards to which other programs must adhere in order
to use, link to, or edit FamilyTree data; when approved they
become FamilySearch Certified or Compatible programs or
apps. To use the programs you must have either an LDS
Account or a FamilySearch Account.
- The four programs we discuss today are free, but
some also have commercial versions, and all the authors
accept donations -- these are four out of the 123
certified apps (as of Aug 2016) listed on the
FamilySearch App Gallery page -- https://familysearch.org/apps/category/all
TREESEEK
- TREESEEK -- http://www.treeseek.com/
-- free website that
- Creates charts from your FamilyTree data or a GEDCOM
- Finds missing sources for vital events and US censuses
- Helps you edit Family Tree with quick links
- Quote from the FamilySearch App Gallery page -- https://familysearch.org/apps/product/treeseek/web
-- "We have a wide variety of charts to view your genealogy.
Whether you are looking for a fun chart, or a chart to display
on your wall, or a working chart to do research, we have a
chart for you! All of our charts are very easy to create.
Simply login using your FamilySearch user name and password,
and select the type of chart you want. We gather your data
from FamilySearch and create the chart for you. All of our
charts are FREE!"
- Types of charts include regular pedigree, fan pedigree,
photo, name cloud, and Source Tracker
- 9 generation pedigree charts only take a few minutes to
gather the data
- Name cloud charts show name frequencies by font sizes so
the larger the font the more that name is used in your
ancestors
- Source Tracker charts show which US censuses and vital
records are shown as sources for each ancestor
- The Vital Events tab shows checks, if a source is
tagged, and a magnifying glass, if no source is tagged,
for Name, Gender, Birth, Christening, Death, and Burial
for the person in Family Tree
- US Census tab shows symbols according to person's
lifetime and gives links for additional censuses to add,
but assumes they are in the U.S. and doesn't do censuses
for any other country
- Charts can be saved as PDFs.
- To generate charts for someone else enter their PID or
upload a GEDCOM
- Clicking on the person’s photo icon is a quick link to
their record in Family Tree.
- Data downloaded from FamilySearch is saved in the
browser on your computer and can be viewed in an
Ahnentafel chart
- Ahnentafel chart means a list-formatted pedigree
chart, somewhat like a spreadsheet, with the numbering
as on a traditional pedigree chart where the father's
number is twice the child's and the mother's is twice
the child's plus 1.
- To see your Ahnentafel chart click on your name on
the TREESEEK website (upper right corner); the chart
can be saved as a pdf with a screen capture or
print-friendly program
- The 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
FamilySearch Family Tree to edit the data there
- Click on the TREESEEK icon to go back to the home
page from anywhere in the program.
- TREESEEK used to include Family History
Solitaire card games with 52 cards generated, each
suit named for one of your four grandparents and
with their ancestors' names and photos on the
cards for that suit; had 40-50 solitaire card
games that you could play by moving the cards with
your mouse; the 52-card deck could also be printed
on card stock and used for family home evening or
family reunion games; at present (Aug 2016)
Solitaire has been temporarily removed from
TreeSeek due to bugs
- Helps for TREESEEK are at https://treeseek.com/help
and
I have written more detailed information on my Don's
Freeware Corner Notes page at http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-freewarecornernotespage.html
.
RECORDSEEK
- Website -- http://recordseek.com
- Quote from the FamilySearch App Gallery page -- https://familysearch.org/apps/product/recordseek/web
-- "Turn every website on the internet into your own
personal genealogical source. With a single click, you can
source a website, properly construct a source, and attach it
to a profile on FamilySearch.org. Citing a record has never
been easier."
- Provides an easy way to save links in Family Tree and in
Ancestry Trees; can attach them to people or save in your
Source Box
- To install it on your computer go to their website and
drag the green RECORDSEEK bookmarklet button onto the
toolbar of your Internet browser.
- When you find a website to save
- Highlight any text on the website you want saved in the
Source Comments field
- Click the RECORDSEEK button on your browser and
enter your FamilySearch or Ancestry login information
- Edit things the way you want and click Save to form the
source with the information already filled in, including
the highlighted text in the Comments field
- Sources can be attached directly to a person and there
is a Tag Source to Events button, but I find it better to
click the Save Without Attaching so it's in my Source Box
where I can edit it before attaching, e.g. I put the
Surname, Given Names at the start of the title so I know
why I save it without having to open it
- To edit a source in your Source Box, copy it and
correct what you want, then delete the old one
- You can tag it to one of more events when you attach it
to a person
- RECORDSEEK even helps in saving sources from
FamilySearch Historical Records since you can highlight only
part of the indexed record to save, unlike in FamilySearch
where you can only copy and save the entire text page in the
Comments box
- Helps for RECORDSEEK are at http://vimeo.com/58752542
and
http://blog.genealogybank.com/great-family-tree-genealogy-app-tree-connect-by-recordseek.html
and https://getsatisfaction.com/familysearch/topics/link_using_record_seek
PUZZILLA DESCENDANTS VIEWER
- Website -- https://puzzilla.org/
-- Helpful tutorial videos on their webpage
- Puzzilla has free and premium versions that
- Show graphical plot with missing cousins
- Link to Family Tree
- Shows filtered targets of "sweet spots" for research
- Quote from FamilySearch App Gallery page -- https://familysearch.org/apps/product/puzzilla/web
-- "The Puzzilla Descendants Viewer is a combination of free
basic services plus subscription premium services that help
researchers see descendants in FamilyTree using compact
symbols that reveal patterns of incomplete research and
other work in collateral-lines. Names and details appear as
you move the pointer over the symbols. Premium Services,
available by subscription, provide hints, sources, possible
duplicates, incomplete ordinances, search and other
functions to help evaluate the quality of the research in
the tree and add evidence to make it stronger." -- we will
only discuss the free version here
- Sign in on the Puzzilla website with your FamilySearch
account and it starts generating a symbolic diagram of your
pedigree with further back generations in larger circles;
hovering cursor over a dot shows who it represents, birth
and death years, PID, and three options: View Descendants,
View Ancestors, or View in Family Tree. The first two
generate new diagrams starting from that person and the
third takes you to that person in Family Tree; further
generations up or down are drawn in larger and larger
circles surrounding the root person; the View in Family Tree
takes you to FamilySearch and shows you a fan chart with the
person in the middle
- Coding of dots is as follows
- Square blue = males
- Round pink = females
- Yellow boxes = person died young, so probably no
descendants
- Grey boxes = person was born less than 110 years ago, so
you would need permission to do temple work
- Other = your cousins born more than 110 years ago
- All descendants of your ancestors are your cousins (or
siblings) -- researching cousins is also called descendancy
research
- Patterns to look for in the diagrams
- People with no siblings -- the original 4-Generation
Pedigree Program of the LDS Church was only for ancestors,
not families, so there are many people in FT with no
siblings; check for siblings in FT, but not linked, or not
in FT at all; check census and other records; add and link
them and check for duplicates; for LDS temple work, if
they are your relatives, there is the
more-than-110-years-since-birth rule for no permission
needed
- End of descendant lines -- most people who lived past
youth married and had children; check for marriages and
children in FT, but not linked, or not in FT at all; check
FT, censuses, etc., and add and link them to complete the
work
- Choose an ancestor and click View in Tree, then
Descendants View; FT shows up to 4 generations of
descendants; right hand side shows icons for Problems Noted,
Search Records, and other things; will automatically search
censuses, vital records, and other sources so you can find
possible spouses, siblings, and descendants
- For records that seem to extend the family, be sure to
verify that they are correct before merging or adding; also
check for duplicates by the Possible Duplicates button and
by doing searches for their names and other data, since
Possible Duplicates doesn't find them all
- Premium version of Puzzilla has additional features,
one showing possible duplicates of your cousins
- Helps for Puzzilla are at https://puzzilla.org/training
, https://puzzilla.org/faq
, and http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2013/12/puzzillaorg-is-now-tree-access.html
FIND-A-RECORD
- Website -- https://www.findarecord.com/en/
--
- Free website that
- Creates interactive task list for Family Tree
- Allows you to view ancestors, descendants, or cousins and
problems
- Focus on a specific line
- Quote from FamilySearch App Gallery page -- https://familysearch.org/apps/product/find-a-record/web
-- "Discover research opportunities with Find-A-Record
Research Assistant. It generates different types of research
opportunities such as finding missing information, finding
missing people, finding sources, and fixing problems. It also
guides you through the research process and tells you how to
update your ancestor's information in the Family Tree."
- You select how many generations up and down to check; change
the PID to work on a different line
- Their home page says "3 Minute Genealogy" and most of the
problems it finds can be done in a few minutes
- It finds logical problems, data lacking, sources missing,
standardization of places and dates needed, and problems to
clean up; the task list it creates is called Research
Opportunities
- Clicking on a task will give more information about the
problem and give suggestions; when records are needed, it
gives links to websites
- You can turn on or off any of the various kinds of tasks to
concentrate on just one type at a time -- types of tasks are
Sources, Persons, Relationships, Problems, Cleanup, and
Ordinances, and each of these has subheadings; for example,
under Sources, you can choose to see only people with Record
Hints
- It does not do the tasks, but shows you what is needed and
by clicking on the PID it takes you to the person in Family
Tree to evaluate the problem and make the correction
- When you have fixed an issue, click on Fixed and that task
is removed from the list
- If no source is tagged for an event, it shows a task, even
if the source is there, but just not tagged to that event;
hence, start by checking and tagging sources already there
- Filters allow you to focus on various combinations of
ancestors, descendants, and cousins
- Very helpful for finding corrections needed and helping you
go there to do them
CONCLUSIONS
- These are four very helpful programs for working with and
editing the data on FamilySearch Family Tree.
- See the FamilySearch App Gallery --
https://familysearch.org/apps/category/all
-- for
more than 100 additional certified programs webpage and more
are being written all the time
Return to the
Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or
Don's
Class Listings Page .