Midvale Union Fort Multi-Stake Family History Center
Staff Meeting
March 17 2011, 7 p.m.
Welcome: Alice Neff
There was a conflict with Sidney’s class tonight.
Rita Benson has been very ill for about 10 weeks. Remember her in your prayers
Welcome new Staff:
Susan Wise will work the Thursday evening shift from 7 to 9 p.m.
Richard Giberson will work Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Opening Song: “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel”
Accompanist: Jeanne Nielson
Conducting: Gayle Soulier
Prayer: Barry Trip
Thought: Kathy Jo Jones
Some statements from Prophets and Apostles have taught us the importance of family history.
President Henry B Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, said, “Think of the Savior when you meet Him…He has trusted you by letting you hear the gospel in your lifetime, giving you the chance to accept the obligation to offer it to those of your ancestors who did not have our priceless opportunity. Think of the gratitude He has for those who pay the price in work and faith to find the names of their ancestors and who love them and him enough to offer them eternal life in families, the greatest of all the gifts of God. He offered them and infinite sacrifice. He will love and appreciate those who paid whatever price they could to allow their ancestors to choose His offer of eternal life.”
Elder Russell M Nelson, one of the Apostles, said, “Consider the spiritual connections that are formed when a young woman helps her grandmother enter family information into a computer or when a young man sees the name of his great-grandfather on a census record. When our hearts turn to our ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves. Our inborn yearnings for family connections are fulfilled when we are linked to our ancestors through sacred ordinances of the temple.”
He also said, “While temple and family history work has the power to bless those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a refining influence on those who are engaged in it. They are literally helping to exalt their families.
Recently at a Roots Tech conference Elder Richard G Scott, said, “”Success, comes from a word that’s hard for us to sometimes accept, and that’s patience. And there’s always a place for ingenuity.”
At the end of the question and answer session Elder Scott addressed the Family History Consultants in the audience. He said, “As one of the Twelve Apostles, I would like to invoke a blessing on you that as you pray you will know how the Lord feels about what you are doing…. I would like to also invoke a blessing that as you prayerfully ask for guidance in this sublime and important work, that you will have feelings from the Holy Ghost that will guide you.”
(These quotes were found in an article titled “Family History Work Vital, Prophets and Apostles Say.”)
Presentation: Breaking Brick Walls Using Timelines by Elaine Justesen.
Elaine had a family who was a brick wall. She showed how a timeline helped her to break through this brick wall and begin to get a picture of this family and who and where they were.
A small trouble is like a pebble.
Hold it too close to your eye, and it fills the whole world and puts everything out of focus.
But if you hold it at a proper distance it can be examined more fully.
Throw it at your feet and it can be seen at its true setting just one more tiny bump on the pathway to life.
The same can apply in the brick walls in your research.
With all of your information brought together in the context of time and circumstance new clues will show up.
Putting in chronological order all the events of your ancestor’s life, and all of the documents on which his name appears is a good way to organize the information you have.
The first step is to gather all of information possible on a specific ancestor and his family.
Elaine likes to use the whole family approach. Families always interact with each other.
Many times you will find information on a child’s record that will lead to parents or siblings.
Begin your timeline 2 or 3 years before the parent’s birth and end it 3 or 4 years after their death.
The reason for this is when someone dies, it sometimes it takes several years to finish out all of their affairs or probate the estate.
A time line can be created for an ancestor or a family group by listing all of the events and facts drawn from various sources in the order that they occurred.
It is helpful to put the ancestors age by each year. Then you can see if he or she is the correct age to be involved in a certain event.
Think about the conclusions, do they make sense.
Think about the documents you have located, what caused them to be created.
Think about where you ancestor lived and why was he there.
Think outside the box. Most of brick wall ancestors thought outside the box, that is what made them brick walls in the first place.
Have you verified all of the assumptions you hold.
Have you verified what the typed transcription of a record actually says.
Verifying by viewing the original may reveal errors in transcription or additional information that was not transcribed.
Are you zipping through your research, trying to complete it as quickly as possible as if it were a time test in school. Slow down, take your time. Make certain you are not being too hasty in your research and in your conclusions.
Elaine then went over the timeline she had created for her ancestor Joseph Newcomb, and his family.
Staff Meeting
March 17 2011, 7 p.m.
Welcome: Alice Neff
There was a conflict with Sidney’s class tonight.
Rita Benson has been very ill for about 10 weeks. Remember her in your prayers
Welcome new Staff:
Susan Wise will work the Thursday evening shift from 7 to 9 p.m.
Richard Giberson will work Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Opening Song: “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel”
Accompanist: Jeanne Nielson
Conducting: Gayle Soulier
Prayer: Barry Trip
Thought: Kathy Jo Jones
Some statements from Prophets and Apostles have taught us the importance of family history.
President Henry B Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, said, “Think of the Savior when you meet Him…He has trusted you by letting you hear the gospel in your lifetime, giving you the chance to accept the obligation to offer it to those of your ancestors who did not have our priceless opportunity. Think of the gratitude He has for those who pay the price in work and faith to find the names of their ancestors and who love them and him enough to offer them eternal life in families, the greatest of all the gifts of God. He offered them and infinite sacrifice. He will love and appreciate those who paid whatever price they could to allow their ancestors to choose His offer of eternal life.”
Elder Russell M Nelson, one of the Apostles, said, “Consider the spiritual connections that are formed when a young woman helps her grandmother enter family information into a computer or when a young man sees the name of his great-grandfather on a census record. When our hearts turn to our ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves. Our inborn yearnings for family connections are fulfilled when we are linked to our ancestors through sacred ordinances of the temple.”
He also said, “While temple and family history work has the power to bless those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a refining influence on those who are engaged in it. They are literally helping to exalt their families.
Recently at a Roots Tech conference Elder Richard G Scott, said, “”Success, comes from a word that’s hard for us to sometimes accept, and that’s patience. And there’s always a place for ingenuity.”
At the end of the question and answer session Elder Scott addressed the Family History Consultants in the audience. He said, “As one of the Twelve Apostles, I would like to invoke a blessing on you that as you pray you will know how the Lord feels about what you are doing…. I would like to also invoke a blessing that as you prayerfully ask for guidance in this sublime and important work, that you will have feelings from the Holy Ghost that will guide you.”
(These quotes were found in an article titled “Family History Work Vital, Prophets and Apostles Say.”)
Presentation: Breaking Brick Walls Using Timelines by Elaine Justesen.
Elaine had a family who was a brick wall. She showed how a timeline helped her to break through this brick wall and begin to get a picture of this family and who and where they were.
A small trouble is like a pebble.
Hold it too close to your eye, and it fills the whole world and puts everything out of focus.
But if you hold it at a proper distance it can be examined more fully.
Throw it at your feet and it can be seen at its true setting just one more tiny bump on the pathway to life.
The same can apply in the brick walls in your research.
With all of your information brought together in the context of time and circumstance new clues will show up.
Putting in chronological order all the events of your ancestor’s life, and all of the documents on which his name appears is a good way to organize the information you have.
The first step is to gather all of information possible on a specific ancestor and his family.
Elaine likes to use the whole family approach. Families always interact with each other.
Many times you will find information on a child’s record that will lead to parents or siblings.
Begin your timeline 2 or 3 years before the parent’s birth and end it 3 or 4 years after their death.
The reason for this is when someone dies, it sometimes it takes several years to finish out all of their affairs or probate the estate.
A time line can be created for an ancestor or a family group by listing all of the events and facts drawn from various sources in the order that they occurred.
It is helpful to put the ancestors age by each year. Then you can see if he or she is the correct age to be involved in a certain event.
Think about the conclusions, do they make sense.
Think about the documents you have located, what caused them to be created.
Think about where you ancestor lived and why was he there.
Think outside the box. Most of brick wall ancestors thought outside the box, that is what made them brick walls in the first place.
Have you verified all of the assumptions you hold.
Have you verified what the typed transcription of a record actually says.
Verifying by viewing the original may reveal errors in transcription or additional information that was not transcribed.
Are you zipping through your research, trying to complete it as quickly as possible as if it were a time test in school. Slow down, take your time. Make certain you are not being too hasty in your research and in your conclusions.
Elaine then went over the timeline she had created for her ancestor Joseph Newcomb, and his family.
If you would like a copy of the timeline, there are some copies in the Family History Center.
This timeline helped Elaine break a “Brick Wall” and enabled her to write a history of this family.
If you are having problems with a family try this, it will probably help. You may find enough information so you can write a story on your family.
Announcements and Discussion:
There is a scam going around right now. Jean Sixfin received an e-mail telling her that Elaine was in London and needed help and asked her to send money. Please do not send anyone any money without checking with them first. This was an old e-mail address of Elaine’s. If someone hacks your e-mail address you will probably have to shut down that e-mail and get another address.
Never assume anything on the internet is safe. There are all kinds of scams right now with all of the disasters where people are asking for money. Make sure you are sending money to legitimate agencies.
There is a prayer sign-up sheet. If you are willing to say a prayer or give a thought please sign up.
Check out our public Blog at fhcstaff.blogspot.com to see our past staff meeting information and when the next meeting is and what it will cover.
Also, sign up to see and contribute to our private Blog. You must respond to an e-mail within a few days. We will resend the invitation again. If you have responded you can see the Blog by logging into Google and going to staffmemberinfo.blogspot.com. to contribute to the blog you must log into Google and go to blogger.com.
Mormon Pioneer Information Links:
Mormon Immigration Index http://www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration
Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1865 http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearch/1,15773,3966-1,00.html
Mormon Battalion Pension Applications, 1846-1923 is found on FamilySearch.org under Historical Record Collections.
You can always look on wiki.familysearch.org
Earlier in the week there was a power bump that took the network server off line. No one noticed for about a week because we get most things from the internet. There are still some things we use it for, but not very many.
Dave suggested we get a battery back-up for the server. UPS
When Barry went to shut down computers on Monday, the monitor and keyboard on one of the computers, was talking to the server.
He requested instructions so that the next time this happens they will know what to do.
Next month for staff meeting “Sharing Time” has been invited to come and present their program. It is a new collaboration software when you are in New Family Search, you can open Sharing Time and click on a person in New Family Search and go to look at them in another site like Ancestry.com or World Vital Records. You can do the research while you are in New Family Search. Another family member can do the same thing so you can work together.
We will have a FHC subscription you can get to it through the Online Portal. Also Legacy, Ancestral Quest and Roots Magic should soon be available through the Portal.
In May we will have Janet Hovorka come and teach us more about Google.
Closing Prayer: Susanne Lefler
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