Presented by Janet Hovorka
janet@generationmaps.com www.thechartchick.com
● "Grandma did all the scripture reading for our family."
● "My great Uncle paid all our tithing."
● "My Mom is going to church for us right now, we just help her out financially."
● "It's not my time and season to obey the word of wisdom."
Have you ever heard any of these excuses? Probably not. Have you heard similar excuses about family
history? Probably so. Why is it that out of all the teachings of the gospel, it is so easy to justify and
make excuses about family history? Just as with other teachings of the gospel, the Lord has given us family history to bless us. We can choose to either partake of those blessings or ignore them and make excuses.
Much the same as family history, the Lord has also given us the scriptures. Why did He give us the scriptures? Was it to strengthen our reading skills, or was it to give us something more to do in the morning? No. He gave us the scriptures because He knows the amazing spiritual power that can come into our lives from reading everyday—not to mention the life lessons that are contained therein. Family history is very similar. He gave it to us for the spiritual power that it brings into our lives — and the lessons that we can pick up along the way.
For Latter-day Saints, when we talk about family history, we often raise the level of GUILT in the room. This is the GUILT that comes when you perceive that your ancestors are sitting and waiting in a dark and dirty spirit prison and if you would just sacrifice a little of your time, you could give them the key to get out. But I think this is mistaken and misleading. I don't think God needs our help in saving His children. Think about it. He is God. He can do anything He wants to. For us to think that He needs our help to save His children is presumptuous. He could have come up with another way to save His children without ordinances. He could have. He's God. And He certainly could find other people besides you to perform those ordinances. But that isn't the way He designed it. He made it so that you can help in His great work. He asks for your help because He knows the joy and blessings it will bring into your life.
What are the blessings?
What blessings are you missing if you aren't doing family history? First, in the ordinances that are performed in the temple, there are certain blessings given to the descendants of the recipient. When you go to the temple for your own ordinances, your descendants receive promises similar to the blessings that Abraham received for his descendants. Likewise, when you perform those ordinances for your own ancestors, they are blessed with those same blessings for their descendants. And who are those descendants who will be blessed? You and your children.
The blessings go even further.
In Malachi 4: 5-6 we read that Elijah will return before the second coming and "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” The curses are already here—and family history heals those curses:
● Sins of the Fathers—Understanding and Emotional Healing. If you haven't found someone in your family history who is a scoundrel, you haven't done enough family history. Understanding persistent traits and consequences, and how they play through the generations can help us heal and deal with family members in a more compassionate and understanding way.
● Fear and Overwhelming Responsibility—Realizing Potential. Likewise, if you haven't found anyone in your family who accomplished amazing things, you haven't done enough family history. When you know you have great examples in your family, you can look at your challenges and say "I can do this. It's in my DNA."
● Loneliness and Depression—Grounded and Enveloped in Love. It gives perspecitve to know about the sacrifices that have been made in your behalf by youir ancestors so that you could have the good life that you have now. Family history is often a solace for people whose earthly family ties aren't what they want them to be.
● Muddling Through—Spiritual Power. There is a wisdom, perspective. and spirit gained from being involved in family history. President Boyd K. Packer said "There is no work that I know of that is so immersed in the spirit as this sacred work of preparing names for the temple and in the subsequent ordinances that are performed there." Packer, Boyd K "Using the FamilySearch Web Site.' Satellite Training Broadcast 18 November 1999. Distributed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
So how?
#1 Get over the GUILT. Your ancestors don't need you nearly as much as you need them. Just get
over yourself.
#2 Cast out OVERWHELMINGNESS. Doctrine and Covenants section 128:24 says that we will present the Lord "a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.* 'Worthy of all acceptation" is achievable when we apply our best efforts and the Lord in his infinite atonement makes up for the rest.
But Really how? (Pick one. NOT all of them)
1. Keep a copy of your research offline with NFS Certified Software
● All the abilities and features of the website
● Keep Personal Information Personal
● Privacy, living people, research in progress
● Detailed notes, sources, pictures, video
● Interface with other programs
● Usability—Better Screens
● Automates syncing
● Gives you updates of what your cousins are doing but your information remains as you put it.
● Makes adding information easy
● Helps you manage large amounts of information
Features other than New FamilySearch functionality may be most important in choosing which software to use, such as charting, reports, sources, useability, etc. Interacting with cousins is easier if you try to use what the rest of the family is using. Ultimately, genealogy software is like a pair of shoes, different styles fit different people and different softwares can be good for different tasks.
2. Focus, Focus, Focus
Find an aspect that interests you. Pick one small goal and take one family at a time. You don't have to have a huge genealogy computer file, and you don't have to have everything connected to New FamilySearch. Make a list. Even if you only accomplish one task in recording your family's history, your descendants will be better off for it. DON'T GET OVERWHELMED.
3. Complete non-computerized work
Become the family funnel
● Start with close relatives
O Work with them to obtain copies first.
● Ask close relatives about distant relatives.
O Who is interested in genealogy? Who inherited journals and pictures? Will you help me contact them?
Take an hour each Sunday. You'll be surprised how fast things get done. Having to computerize inherited genealogy is actually a blessing. By the time it is in the computer, it will be yours, and you will understand it.
4. Verify and add sources to what has been done
Ultimately the reliability of any historical fact lies in the sources that have been used to establish that fact. Thus, ultimately the reliability of the New FamilySearch database lies in the sources that have been used to establish that database. This database is OUR RESPONSIBILITY. It is crucial to OUR success that you go back to the original sources. Citations should allow another researcher to re-trace your steps so that future conclusions and analysis can be made. Only then can we work together to compare sources and come to the truth. And only then will this database be useful to generations in the future.
Notes and sources are what tell you what the quality of research is that you are dealing with. ff there are good source citations you can spot check the research. If there are poor source citations just use the research as a pointer to where to do future research. The current standards for source citations are Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 2010. And Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian. Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1997.
5. Look for areas to expand
You can actually build on previous research. Try these ideas:
● Go to the family genealogist and ask for a line to work on.
● Generally you start with the people closest to you—but not necessarily when lots of research has already been done. There are new resources available, but the line might really be stuck. Just be sure you don't get stuck—move on to another line.
● Get it out where you can see it on paper. I did that and ended up with plenty of lines to work on and a company that can make it easy for you to print it out too. generationmaps.com.
● Try side lines
● Start with an ancestor and work down from them. Try: http://www.familvsearch.ord/enq/library/Educationfirameset education.asp >Research Series Classes Online>Research Principles and Tools>Descendancy Research or http://wiki.familysearch.ord Search "Descendancy Research"
6. Involve your family
No one will turn down a chance to look at their Great-Grandfather's picture or hear what trouble their Dad got into as a kid. Try pictures and stories, but to interest the next generation, go where they live. Blogging, Facebook, and Email newsletters can be used in a genealogical way. And family history for Christmas gifts gives you a deadline and disseminates the information.
Don't forget to record your own history and especially your experiences in family history research. You become a great link between generations when you leave a love for your ancestors to your descendants. Even a short history will be a great blessing to the generations to come.
Don't Get Overwhelmed.
I can't promise you it will be easy but I can promise you it will bless your life.
"One arises from the study of genealogy with a clearer and more charitable conception of the whole brotherhood of man." -Joseph Hatten Carpenter
Where to Start With New FamilySearch When Your Family History is "All Done"
janet@generationmaps.com Page 3
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