FAMILYSEARCH FAMILY TREE AND SOURCES:
DOCUMENTATION FROM START TO FINISH
©2013 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes
- Welcome and Introduction
- FamilySearch Family Tree (FS FT)
- About Sources
- Finding Sources
- Entering Sources in Your Genealogy Management Program
- Entering Sources in FamilySearch Family Tree
- Conclusion
This page was last updated 2013-08-17.
Return to the Utah Valley Technology
and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's Class Listings Page .
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
- Instructor is Donald R. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu
) of Provo and St. George, Utah.
- These notes with the Internet links active are posted on http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
.
- Tips: (1) Easy to put an icon on your desktop for the URL for
these notes; just drag the icon in front of the address in your browser to
your desktop. (2) To open a link from here in another window, so
you keep your place here, hold down the Control key while clicking the link.
- Today's presentation will be an introduction to FamilySearch Family FT
(FS FT) and how to include sources for data.
FAMILYSEARCH FAMILY TREE (FS FT)
- FS FT program is still a "work in progress", but has
many features available now, including adding data, sources,
links, photos, and stories
- Original data came from the Summary view on "new
FamilySearch", but much has been added since -- "new
FamilySearch" is now closed and can be viewed, but not
edited
- FS FT is only for deceased people due to privacy laws and
goal is to have a single database that everyone works on to
get it correct, post sources, documentation, photos, and
stories
- It is a "wiki" so you can go back to an
earlier version, if it gets changed
incorrectly.
- Good place to store your proven (sourced)
genealogy for deceased ancestors with the sources and
documentation
- Will soon be able to post images of documents -- for
now you can post the documents elsewhere and put a
link to them in FS FT
- Recommended that you keep all your data and sources
about the dead and
the living in your own computer database in some
genealogy management program, e.g. Ancestral Quest,
Roots Magic, Legacy, etc.
- FamilySearch course on FS FT -- https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/family-tree-curriculum/818
- Video lessons on FS FT -- http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/Community/en/FamilyTreeCurriculum/levelone/levelone.html
ABOUT SOURCES
- Sources are documentation that the fact
is correct
- "Genealogy without sources is
mythology." -- Genealogy without sources
may be helpful, but don't assume anything
is correct without checking it.
- Types of sources
- Primary Sources -- recorded at or
near the time of the event by people
there; may be vital records (birth,
marriage, death), church records
(birth, christening, baptismal,
marriage, death), government records
(census, land, tax, voter records),
court records (wills, probate, legal
documents), military records (service,
discharge, pension, medical),
newspapers at the time, etc.
- Secondary sources -- articles,
books, compiled databases, indexes,
tables, charts -- Good secondary
sources will cite the primary sources
so others can check them. -- Personal
knowledge is usually a secondary
source, unless you wrote the event in
a journal when it occurred,
for example, and then the
journal is the primary
source
- When sources disagree
explain the problem in the notes so
others can see how you arrived at
your conclusion and will know that
you checked;
primary sources sometimes
disagree, but not usually; secondary
sources frequently disagree due to
typos, misreadings, using "personal
knowledge", not using primary sources,
etc.
- Good goal is to have one, and
preferably two or more, primary
sources for each genealogy fact in
your database; I also include
secondary sources so others can see
that I was aware of them and they
may lead to other information about
the family
- With
good sources
no one has to
go through
finding the
correct data
again and
people won't
change your
FS FT data
without very
good reasons
- Keep track of all the
sources in your own home
database program, so no matter
what gets changed on FS FT,
you will know what it should
be and can repair it later
- Some references on sources
and documentation from the
FamilySearch Wiki (Learn)
- https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/A_Checklist_of_Compiled_Sources_and_Where_to_Find_Them
- https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Identify_a_Category_of_Sources
- https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Gather_Low-Hanging-Fruit_Sources
- https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:Book_sources
- https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Using_Internet_sources,_indexes_and_compiled_records
- https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/How_to_Create_Source_Citations_for_the_FamilySearch_Family_Tree
FINDING SOURCES
- Start with a "research
survey" of compiled
(secondary) sources
- Don't believe anything your
relatives tell you without
checking it.
- Good websites for primary
and secondary sources --
FamilySearch Historical
Records, Ancestry,
WorldVitalRecords, many others
- Example: In 1977
I went to St. Johnsbury,
Caledonia, Vermont and got a
certified copy of Levi and
Lucina Streeter Snow's
family births, 1803-1826,
including Erastus Snow's
birth -- Now the LDS Church
has digitized, but not
indexed, the Towns Records
and posted them online
at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-28547-157-35?cc=1987653&wc=MM5T-H7S:n1746208365l
so I have included it as a
source in Erastus Snow's birth
in FS FT.
- Search engines -- Google,
Bing, Mocavo, many others
- A few Google tips
- Caps don't matter in
search terms
- Quote marks before and
after keep phrase the same
- Writing 1700..1800
searches only for records of
that time period
- Erastus AROUND(4) Snow
finds all
occurrences of Erastus
within 4 words of
Snow, e.g. Erastus
Snow, Snow Erastus,
Erastus Beman Snow,
Snow Erastus Beman
Jr., Erastus of the
Snow brothers, etc.
- site:uvtagg.org/classes/dons/
[search terms]
searches only that
webpage for the search
terms
- intext:ged [search
name] finds GEDCOM
files containing that
person
ENTERING SOURCES IN
YOUR GENEALOGY
MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
- Will use Ancestral
Quest as example, but
all good genealogy
programs have similar
things
- Go to the person's
information page --
click on Notes/Sources
> Individual Sources
> add source -- be
sure to include title,
location, what it says,
how to find it
- Can "memorize" the
source to the clipboard
so you can paste it in
another record after, if
you want
- Can see a list of all
your sources and can
edit them later
ENTERING SOURCES IN
FAMILYSEARCH FAMILY TREE
- Sources for
documentation in FS FT
are down near the bottom
of the "View Person"
screen from their card
- The hope is that with
good sources cited the
data will stabilize, it
won't be duplicated, and
people won't change it
without good reason.
- Can now include photos
in FS FT, but they
suggest you don't put
images of documents
there -- that will come
soon
- Sources can include
links to webpages on
FamilySearch
or other sites,
e.g. Fold 3
has free
Memorial Pages
for
individuals
where you can
post photos,
images, and
data and link
them in FS FT
--
http://www.fold3.com/
--
Examples:
photos and
other data of
my mother and
father are
posted on
Fold3 and
linked to them
in FS FT
(see PID's
KWZC-D6V and
KWZC-D6F) --
these photos
could now be
placed on FS
FT directly
- To add sources
directly for a
person go to the
person's View
Person card, on
Sources click "Add
Source" and fill
out the parts:
Source
Title, Web
Page (if there is
one),Where the
Record is Found, Describe
the Record (Notes)
where you write
the information
the source
contains so it
will always be
available, even if
the source or
webpage is not
available later --
It asks for a
reason you are
adding this
source; also click
on Tags and put
checks to show
what it
substantiates,
i.e. name, gender,
birth,
christening,
death, or
burial --
The Tags make the
sources show as
substantiating
evidence when
looking at that
piece of data --
can only do it
for these 6
items at
present
- Your
Source Box is
a location set
up in your
account to
store sources
and links you
find and might
want to use --
See
information
about Source
Boxes at
https://familysearch.org/blog/familysearch-featuremy-source-box/
-- no one sees
your Source
Box but you,
but everyone
can see the
sources you
link to a
person
- Can create
sources in
your Source
Box in three
ways
- Directly
by creating it
in your Source
Box by writing
the title,
description,
URL, and notes
- By copying
a source from
someone's
record --
click on View
source, then
on My Source
Box, then Add
to My Source
Box
- By using the
free Affiliate
program
RecordSeek --
http://recordseek.com/
-- that
puts a
bookmarklet
"Tree Connect"
on the taskbar
of your
browser which
will put any
webpage into your
Source Box to
attach to a
person later
-- very
helpful and
easy to use
- To attach
a source to a
person using
your Source
Box do the
following.
- Go to the
person's card
on FS FT, go
to Sources,
and click Go
to Source Box
- Find
source in your
Source Box and
click Attach--
this puts it
in a source
for that
person
- Go to that
source on the
person's card,
click
Tag,
and put checks
by what it
supports, i.e.
name, gender,
birth,
christening,
death, or
burial
- Sources in
your Source
Box usually
alphabetize by
title, so for
ease of
finding them I
sometimes edit
the title to
put the
surname first
-- can edit
sources in
your Source
box in one of
two ways
- By
clicking on
the Source
> View >
Edit the item,
or
- By
clicking on
the Source
> Copy >
[make changes]
> Save --
then delete
the original
version-- can
use this
approach to
copy a source
such as a
census record
to put it into
several
records, but
with each
person's name
in the title
of his source
- Can form
folders and
subfolders in
your Source
Box to
organize your
sources, e.g.
for surnames,
locations,
record types,
Sources
Completed,
Sources Still
To Edit and
Attach, etc.
- After
attaching a
source to
someone from
your Source
Box it shows
how many
people it is
attached to
- If you
want, you can
then delete
the source
from your
Source Box and
this does NOT
remove it from
people it is
attached to,
only from your
Source Box
- Or
you can move
the source to
a "Completed
Sources"
folder that
you have set
up
- Can open
your Source
Box in another
tab on the
browser so you
can see the
sources you
have, but go
back to the
tab with your
Family Tree to
add sources to
people
CONCLUSION
- Good
long-range
goal is to
have primary
verification
of every fact
in your
database --
impossible to
achieve
completely,
but it helps
focus your
attention to
make your data
"worthy of all
acceptation"
as is stated
in one of the
LDS scriptures
(D&C
128:24)
- Start
small and
don't try to
do everything
all at once.
- Looking
for primary
sources may
lead you to
further
information
about the
family, e.g.
other
children,
biographical
information,
stories about
the family,
etc.
- Helps turn
your heart to
your fathers
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