Sharing our Links to the Past
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Using FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service to Find
Ancestors By Wally Gray Many of you have no doubt been using FamilySearch Internet in your family history research. For those who haven’t or those who want to find out more I am outlining the steps to go through to search the various data bases available on this powerful program. As you know FamilySearch is produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In order to explain it I will show how to research Theodore Turley. You start by going to http://www.familysearch.org. You will see a home screen. Click on Search or Search for Ancestors. You will go to what I call the All Resources Screen. Type in Theodore Turley. In the event field choose Birth/Christening. Choose + or - 2 years as the year range and type in 1801. Click Search. You will now see a screen which I call the Sources Searched Screen that gives (currently) 7 matches: 1 for Ancestral File, 3 for the International Genealogical Index and 3 for Pedigree Resource File. You may pursue any or all of these searches. We will take them one at a time. I will start with the Ancestral File. Ancestral File Ancestral File generally merges all resources into one file. (For example 23 submitters have contributed to this one file.) By clicking on Theodore Turley under Ancestral File you are led to an Individual Record. You may click on the various names presented there for further information. You may obtain Family Group Records or Pedigree Charts by clicking on Family and Pedigree. Submitters. By clicking on Details under Submitters you will see the names and addresses of the 23 submitters. Some of these may go back several years, so some addresses may not be current. At the end of the pages, information is given about the details of Ancestral File. Note that it informs you that the information has not been verified and the file goes back to 1978. Each Family Group Record you call for gives opportunities for more Family and Pedigree information. You may also download a GEDCOM. The Pedigree Charts may go off the page. To see further, click the arrows. These may be printed out and you may download GEDCOMs. (More on GEDCOMs later.) NOTE: To return to the previous screens, click the back button as many times as necessary. International Genealogical Index This index consists of persons for whom temple work has been done and names that have been extracted. Three records for Theodore Turley are shown. You may choose up to 50 records to download through GEDCOM. Holding files are set up similar to the holding files in the FamilySearch computers in Family History centers. You will be given a file name for these downloads. Ordinance information is not given on-line. You may obtain such data from the Ordinance File in the Family History centers. Check all three listings and select. Pedigree Resource File Pedigree Resource File is a recent addition and is extremely helpful. Unlike the Ancestral File, these files are not merged but are published as submitted. The listings you receive are indexes to compact disks which you may order from a Distribution Center or use at some of the Family History centers. Up to this point in time (February 2001), twenty disks have been made available, each containing about 1 million names. More disks are constantly being added. There are three files indicated for Theodore Turley. Each file may be individually examined. A lot of material is on-line, but if you look at the disk you will find the ability to obtain pedigree view, family view, individual view, reports, downloadable GEDCOM files and, in some cases, notes and sources. These three files are submitted by James & Judy Polder (CD #6), Tami L. Thompson (CD #2) and myself (CD #18.) Each should be examined. In my case (and I’m sure in the others) my submission was a larger file from my wife’s line which included hundreds of families and thousands of names. My file and Tami's file refer you to our web sites and give notes. (However, Tami's URL as posted is incorrrect. Use http://www.hubwest.com/userpages/daddysgirl/index.html to see her information on the Turley family including photos. Scroll down to find the Turley names. Scroll to the end for the Turley family.) I found one of the valuable services of this file is that if you click on the number after Submission Search, it will place that number on the All Resources Screen. By then clicking on Search it will show you all of the namesof ancestors included in this particular submission. You may click on any of these names. That way you can find all the families or persons in that file, not just the Turley ones. You may contribute your file to this service. Your records will go into the Granite Vault in Salt Lake City for preservation, and within a few months after submission they will be placed on a compact disk and indexed in the ever-expanding Pedigree Resource File. Submissions are made on-line only and are made by going to your PAF program, selecting the individual and his/her families you want sent, clicking on Export on the File menu and selecting Pedigree Resource File. Instructions will be given. You may also go the the Help section under G and see how to submit files. You may also find an index of these files on the latest CD index. (For example the latest Master Index will index all entries for disks 1-20.) Web Sites FamilySearch will also provide you with a listing of web sites that cover your ancestor. No web sites are listed under Theodore Turley, but if you place just the surname Turley in the search box you will find many more files, and three web sites, one of which is mine. GEDCOMS If you are not familiar with creating and downloading GEDCOMs you may want to get some help from someone who is. You may also go to the Help section. I generally download my GEDCOM to a folder I call GEDCOM Storage. I then may edit it and import it to a new PAF file or merge it with an existing one. Conclusion A drawing of a lady appears on many of the pages giving you an opportunity to click for more research guidance on additional sources to search. The Help section is extremely helpful also. The following web sites will lead you to other methods of finding ancestors on-line: Finding Surnames by Using Simple Search Engine Techniques (a presentation I made to the Sedona Genealogy Club) http://www.oocities.org/wallygray25/findingsurnames.htm What About Internet Sites? (A presentation I made to our Family History Center in Cottonwood, Arizona.) This includes using the internet for name searching and place searching. It also discusses some census index locations.) http://fp.sedona.net/genealogy/internetsites.htm For my web site on Turley and Bushman families see http://www.oocities.org/wallygray25. These sites will link you to biographical information on individuals in these families. If you want to ask me questions please e-mail me at grayfox@sedona.net.
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