ELDER CLAYTON TEACHES FAMILY HISTORY CONSULTANTS

Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Seventy spoke at a Family History Consultant Fireside Nov 8. Learning how to do family history work can seem daunting. For a new family history consultant, the calling can seem overwhelming. What matters for all of us is that we proceed with faith from where we are. Help others proceed with faith in a fundamental and saving gospel endeavor with which others are mostly unfamiliar.

“The key to a successful family history program is family history consultants who meet with members and families individually to help them begin and continue their temple and family history work” (Church Handbook of Instructions: Book 2, 264). Now, your being that “key” does not mean that you should do all the work for members. Rather, you help them begin and continue….

Helping members begin and continue may require some hand holding. Because I am one of those who very much needed having my hand held, I want to share a few additional ideas with you about your service.

First, family history is a spiritual work that requires faith. The Lord admonished, “Remember that without faith you can do nothing" (D&C 8:10). Whether a member reaches out to you for help, accepts your offer to get involved, or needs your assistance, that person is acting by faith.

You will help members find their way through the vast family history resources the Church provides: Internet sites, Internet-based training, databases, libraries, reference materials, classes, and more. Because these tools aid the work significantly and require some training, you may often find yourself in the role of an instructor who helps members learn new skills. All those skills are important; each has its place. I encourage you, however, to see yourself as someone who helps kindle the faith by which members do this work, not just as a person who teaches skills. Family history is a work of faith. You are called to help members who are in varying states of readiness to receive, or to participate in, family history. Of course, you will

want to be careful not to open the fire hydrant when a member asks for a sip. But in a larger sense, you will want to ask the Lord to help you sense the readiness of each member to receive what you have to offer.

Again, remember that you will be the person holding the puzzle box lid. You may need to remind the member what the big picture is: when the requisite puzzle pieces are in place, the member will take a family name to the temple and perform ordinance work for that family member. The sealing of families is what we wish all members to experience.

I hope you won’t become discouraged or frustrated when members move slowly. Sometimes it requires patience when you’re ready to give and they aren’t ready to get. The Lord will be equally gratefully for the love and encouragement you give to those who aren’t quite ready as He is for your help to those who are.

Remember that success begets success. You are the key to ensuring members’ success with family history. When a member begins family history work, he or she hopes to find ancestors’ names and perform ordinances in their behalf in the House of the Lord. On the way to that spiritual success, members can be motivated by many small points of progress, but they may not immediately recognize those points.

Help members who are unfamiliar with family history see how their new skills and steady efforts lead directly to preparing names for temple ordinances. The principle that “out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33) is proven repeatedly in family history work. Help their small success experiences become great victories, victories that culminate in the temple.

I am grateful to participate with you in the tremendous latter-day effort to redeem the dead. I testify of the redemptive power of these efforts in our own lives. I testify of the living reality of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose work this is and whose servants we all are. He lives, and because He does, we will as well, and so will everyone else who has ever lived or will ever live. May the Lord bless us all as we help members to extend the blessings available in the holy temples to the ranks of the dead, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. ( Article Condensed)

LINKS TO ENGLISH RESEARCH

FREE SOFTWARE FOR BAD EYESIGHT

This weekend I made a sad conclusion. As I get older, my vision gets worse. Squinting my eyes in front of a computer screen ten hours a day probably has not helped any. Growing up, my vision was always 20/20, but now I can barely read my email. Oh, and I've already moved my two monitors to the edge of the desk. I have heard of free software that will magnify the screen wherever my cursor is, but I have always thought it was for people of the more "experienced" generation. Today I downloaded the Virtual Magnifying Glass software, and Ican "see" already that it and I will become good friends. After installation, a small magnifying icon appears in my system tray (right next to the clock in the lower right of the Windows desktop). Whenever I need to magnify something on the screen, I just click once on the icon, and I have a magnifier that moves with my cursor. The magnifier can be resized, and the magnification level can even be modified to 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 8x, or 16x.

Proud to Be a Pumpkin!
A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"
The coworker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for the entire world to see."

President Brigham Young said, “There will be VERYfew, if any, who will not accept the Gospel…the fathers of this people will embrace the Gospel.”

FIRST PRESIDENCY LETTER

The following letter, dated 16 June 1995 and signed by the First Presidency, is for all Church members: The restoration of the gospel in these latter days has provided the opportunity for sacred ordinances of the temple to be performed for the living and for the dead. Temples are being built at an unprecedented pace in order to make the privilege of this essential work more accessible throughout the world. We desire that all adult members of the Church be worthy to have a temple recommend, receive their own endowments and sealings, identify their ancestors, and perform temple ordinances for those who wait beyond the veil. These responsibilities apply to all members of the Church. Because of the sacred nature of this work, members should be diligent in assuring the accuracy of all information submitted. Important policies have been established to facilitate family history research and the submission of names to the temple for ordinance work. They include the following:

• Our preeminent obligation is for our own ancestors. Their names and relevant information should be submitted to a Family File.

• Other names and data documented from personal family research should be submitted to the Temple File.

• Members are encouraged to participate in the Family Record Extraction program and other approved projects that are vital to family history and temple work; such as the INDEXING Project.

• Members who do not have a Family File in the temple are encouraged to attend the temple to perform work for those whose names have been submitted to the Temple File.

• Church members should not submit for temple ordinances the names of celebrities and other non-approved groups, such as Jewish Holocaust victims. Ward and branch family history consultants may supply additional information if needed. We are grateful to members of the Church for the increasing number of names submitted and temple ordinances performed for those who, without such consecrated efforts, “cannot be made perfect” (D&C 128:15). May the blessings of the Lord attend you in all of your devoted service. Page 2

What should we be doing until the NFS comes to our Temple District?

  1. Submit as much FH information as you can prior to the introduction of the new Family Search (nFS). We should have about 90 days notice before we no longer will be able to submit names for ordinance work on a diskette or by email. It will take some time and training to learn the new temple submission system (nFS).
  2. Hand in temple cards NOW to the temple regardless of what work needs to be done (even if half done) if you want the temple to do the work.
  3. Get your membership number and confirmation date from the ward clerk.

INTERESTING NEWSPAPER SITE

Read a newspaper online. At Newspapers.com you’ll find a searchable directory of more than 10,000 newspapers worldwide. Check out your local favorite or read one in an area you’d like to learn more about. If you’re planning a trip to a foreign country, reading its newspapers can be a great way to learn about the country. Or, if You’re feeling nostalgic, catch up on things with your old college paper. Just go to You can also see what your missionary is facing where he/she is serving.

THE VALUE OF A JOURNAL

If you are looking for information about an ancestor – try looking at his/her journal. Oh, there isn’t one available. Oh, I wish grandma had kept a journal. Is that what they are going to say about you and me? We need to write in a journal frequently.

Benjamin Franklin left a great legacy behind in his autobiography. He said this about journals:

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten; Either write things worthy of reading, or do things worthy of writing." -- Benjamin Franklin, May 1738

NEW FAMILY SEARCH TO ARRIVE SOON

Look at what some are saying about it so far

“I have been looking forward to using nFS for years and now that day is here. It was announced a week ago Sunday and I began using it immediately. It is terrific - easy to follow and a lot of work!”

“It is wonderful to see the fulfillment of the D&C challenge: D&C 128:24: ... Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.”

“This new system is focused on making it easier to submit names for the Temple; avoiding duplication and consolidating the multiple name entries already submitted. And so it does.”

“It is easy - but it will be scary for some. This is a major change - it will dramatically change the pace and accuracy of our Temple submission process. I really see this new nFS as a dramatic step in moving the work forward.”

“We will look back at this as one of the major moments in Church history. I have been working on my genealogy for 42+ years - and I think that this change will be viewed as the most important development in genealogical research ever. It is why the computer & the Internet were created. It will unify the global family of man like nothing else has and this simple act will make the Church known throughout the world in a way that it hasn't been known before. I am in awe of what is happening and unfolding at this moment in our Dispensation.”

“It is a great day for genealogy and Temple work.”

Thomas Jay Kemp

A woman’s way of looking at it

A woman who is actively doing Family History said, “I have determined to add my entire husband's line into my own as I have done all the research and arranged for all the Temple Work. He isn't interested in any of this. As far as I am concerned, what's his is mine and mine is his and that includes family. This could be dangerous to the marriage!”

Moral to the story…. Which is better? Happily married or complete genealogy?

ANOTHER GOOD QUOTE

"Search for Your Ancestors; do not leave them in the Dust"

National Burial Index for England and Wales Online

The National Burial Index (NBI) for England and Wales is an index to help family historians find burial records. It is an ongoing project devised and orchestrated by the Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS). The burial records date back to 1538, the year that Henry VIII was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, up to 1837, the date when civil registration began.

These records come from different types of sources: parish registers, bishops‘ transcripts (the copies of the original registers made each year for the bishop of the diocese in which they are situated), earlier transcripts or printed registers. Please note that the NBI for England and Wales does not contain memorial inscription records (MIs).

Note that this is an index; the results you are presented with will not contain images at the present time.

The records that have been transcribed to date are now available (for a fee) at FindMyPast.com at

FOOTNOTE RELEASES NEW

IMAGES FROM THE TIMES

Millions of original documents are added to Footnote.com each month.

Recently released on Footnote:

  • The Times - London 1788-1820 � Historical newspaper documenting the major events and daily activities in 18th & 19th century England.
  • WWII JAG Case Files, Pacific � Army - Trial documents relating to Japanese prisoners of war and crimes
  • WWII JAG Case Files, Pacific � Navy - Trial documents relating to Japanese prisoners of war and crimes
  • Naval Press Clippings - Newspaper clippings from World War II through 1960
  • Japanese Air Target Analyses -World War II Japanese air target analyses, objectives, and aerial photographs)
  • WWI Military Cablegrams 1917-1919 - Cablegrams exchanged between General Headquarters and the War Department
  • American Colonization Society: 1792-1964 - Documents relating to the organization best known for its role in founding Liberia
  • Admiralty Records, Key West: 1829-1911 � Records covering ransom and salvage cases and maritime contracts
  • Utah Territorial Case Files - Judicial records prior to Utah statehood

Coming soon to Footnote.com:

  • Confederate Soldier Service Records � North Carolina & Georgia
  • Papers & Minutes of Principal WWII Allied Military Conferences
  • WWII Missing Air Crew Reports

Sign up for a free trial today to access all the records on Footnote.com.

Information taken from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter Page 4

MEMBER HAS SUCCESS IN FINDING NATURALIZATION RECORDS USING FOOTNOTE SITE AND ANCESTRY

Recently, I had occasion to work with Sis. Cecelia Tyson to find naturalization records for an ancestor. We looked on Footnote in Western Pennsylvania and were able to find naturalization for some of her relatives but not her grandfather. In order to get a copy of the other relatives’ records, she had to set up an account, and for a small fee (under $2.00), she could print out the image. Printing one of the records enabled her to find the name of the wife of another ancestor and his children.

Still, we had not found the man that she sought, but she knew that he had lived in another state. By going onto Ancestry, we found the WWI registration for the draft in which he declared that he had been naturalized, while another male relative living in the same state declared that he was an alien. By going back to Footnote, we found later naturalization papers for the “alien” with her grandfather as a witness to many of her family’s naturalizations in Pennsylvania. She had the answer she was seeking even though we had not found the primary source. The draft registration was a valid source.

At this time, Footnote is available free at the FHC, and a researcher who wants to use the site can make a copy of the record free, whereas, at home, he will have to pay for it unless he wants to try the trial membership.

PROQUEST ADDS PERSI

Ann Arbor, Michigan – 27 Nov 2007 – Pro-

Quest and Allen County Public Library of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, have announced the inclusion of PERSI (the Periodical Source Index). This makes 2 million citations from 6,600 periodicals in the US, Canada, and foreign countries available to researchers. This site is available free in the FHC.

N.G.S. CONFERENCE

The 30th Annual National Genealogical Society Conference will be held May 14-17, 2008, in the Hyatt Crown Regency Center Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri. There will be classes from beginners to experienced and over 150 exhibitors. Registration begins after December 1 at

Family History Church-Service Missionary Opportunity -
Come Help Support NFS

Family History Center Directors,

The Family and Church History Department is looking for individuals to share their knowledge of new FamilySearch in a Church-Service Missionary role. We are interested in individuals who have access to this program. This could be any family history center director or staff members in active temple districts. We are also interested in individuals with family history experience who could serve as a missionary. As a missionary, one assists the department in releasing the new FamilySearch program to the rest of the world, and will be in on the cutting edge of other new product tests and releases.