Peggy's PowerPoints

FamilySearch Family Tree Person Page We took a whirlwind tour around the Person Page yesterday. There are some fun new features to explore. Be sure you put a WATCH on your first 4 generations and anyone to whom you contribute a memory. The PowerPoint has been posted here:  Fall 2019 Classes Scroll down to:                                          Thursday 12 September 2019                                          2-The Amazing Updated FamilySearch Person Page Next week we learn about record hints and document analysis. You won't want to miss it!

Classes have started! Between the morning and evening classes, we had around 65 people attend. Wow! We have plenty of room for more if you can think of anyone else who might be interested: family, friends, neighbors, etc. I have posted the PowerPoint from this past Thursday's class "Family Tree Tips and Tricks for Getting Started".  Click on this hyperlink and then scroll down to the hyperlink on "Thursday 5 September 2019". It is under the tab "Classes 2019-2020". Practice merging duplicates and recover any of your missing lines. If you desire, put your tree in center focus as was shown in class. Then more of your tree will show. I look forward to seeing you this next Thursday when we will discuss the FamilySearch Person Page and give you some more tips and tricks.

For those people who live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, Peggy Ash and Jeanne Koniuszy will be staring classes beginning next week.  A link to the class schedules is here:  Fall 2019 Class Schedules   Contact information for both of us is included with the schedules.  For those who don't know us: We served as missionaries at the Mesa FamilySearch library until it closed.  Jeanne Koniuszy has a degree in Genealogy from BYU and a wealth of experience. You don't want to miss her RootsMagic classes!   Peggy Ash has a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University and has attended many conferences and institutes, including Tom Jones Advanced Methodologies course. Peggy is currently working on her accreditation and is hoping to find others who would like to do the same.  Peggy teaches her beginners series in the fall and her research series in the spring. Jeanne's fall classes repeat in the spring. I am also including...

Although this topic may be considered a bit more advanced, serious beginning genealogists would be so much further ahead if they knew this information starting out! When we run up against brick walls or just want to know more about a certain part of our ancestor's lives we need to revisit what we have already found. Often a thorough analysis of a document can give us more information or give us ideas about where to look for more information in other records. Document Analysis PowerPoint PDF Document Analysis Handout The GPS or Genealogical Proof Standard guides us to properly collect sources, cite them, analyze them, resolve conflicts we might find in them, and then make accurate conclusions based on them. When done properly any documentation found thereafter will not disagree with or change the conclusion. To begin, we need to focus our research into a single question. Then search for records that are relevant to that question. Next, we evaluate each document to determ...

What hidden treasure will YOU find once you explore the FamilySearch CATALOG? The FamilySearch CATALOG is where ALL of the records that FamilySearch has are located. Including books. After they have been added to the Catalog the records will eventually migrate to Historical Records and the FamilySearch Wiki. If you want access to EVERYTHING, then you need to search the CATALOG. This PowerPoint will show you how to search the CATALOG with various types of searches and then show you how to get creative in that search process. There are neat shortcuts and tips and tricks to help you find more things faster. Your research treasure chest will overflow with new and precious gems! It's time to start digging! The HIDDEN GOLDMINE: The FamilySearch CATALOG PDF The HIDDEN GOLDMINE: The FamilySearch CATALOG PDF-Handout Version

Now that we no longer have help from the Mesa FamilySearch Library we can find our own help on genealogical topics by turning to the AMAZING FamilySearch WIKI. The FamilySearch Wiki is where you can begin to become an EXPERT in genealogical topics and places. Wonder what records are available for a certain time period in a certain place? Look in the Wiki. Want to know more about a certain record collection? Look in the Wiki. Want to learn more about research in a foreign country? Look in the Wiki. Need some genealogy forms? Look in the Wiki. With the new GUIDED RESEARCH, it couldn't be easier! Now is the time to give it a try! That brick wall may find itself crumbling with the tools that you find available. I became a convert over ten years ago. After one of James Tanner's classes at the old Mesa FamilySearch Library, I approached him with a difficult genealogical conundrum. One that had perplexed many others. James didn't know the answer so he sat down at the Wiki ...

It is always exciting to be able to explore original records left behind by our ancestors. It validates their existence and also validates us and who we are as individuals as we connect to them. When we have a tree on FamilySearch or it's partner websites we are given hints for records that the database thinks apply to our ancestors. We can look at these records, evaluate them, and when we are convinced that they are relevant to the individual or individuals in our tree we can attach them to those individuals. However, these hints are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more! But to find more we will have to embark on a search. Searches can be done as a scattershot approach where we just take anything the search results give us or we can specifically focus our search to achieve a goal. The goal all family historians should undertake is to make sure their ancestors, within the first four generations, have as many vital records and censuses as it is possible to f...