Town Hall Meeting at #RootsTech – LDS Edition

This is the third in a series of articles about FamilySearch executives’ town hall meeting during RootsTech 2017. The first of the series was about Records and Partners The second was about Family Tree. Today I am publishing all the questions and articles of interest primarily to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints..

As I warned before, I didn’t always capture correctly everything that was said. 

Q: With the change in calling names of family history consultants, what happens to family history center directors and family history centers?

A: First, we don’t plan on doing away with family history centers. The FHC is still a place to come and get 1 on 1 help. The title of “stake family history center director” is now “stake temple and family history consultant,” but a stake temple and family history consultant can still receive an additional assignment as a family history center director or stake indexing leader. All the callings have the same calling name, but can have additional assignments.

Note that none of you family history center directors were released.

Q: I am worried that with the name change, there will be too much emphasis on finding names. Does it overshadow doing all the family history part of our calling over the temple part of our calling?

A: With the name change, it focuses us with the end in mind, which is the temple. We are the seed of Abraham and we gather our families on both sides of the veil. How do temple and family history consultants help you gather your family on this and the other side of the veil? They do that by, not just finding a name. They think about what family member on this side of the veil can be helped. And now we have wonderful resources, like the consultant planner.

Q: Why do you not market free access to partner sites to LDS members?

A: In the person detail page, in the right panel you can search some partners. There are other partners that would like to be in that space as well. We need to do a better job of making you aware of the app gallery. We are going to do a number of campaigns this year. The partner access page is still there. Geneanet has been added.

Q: When are we going to see the bandwidth increases we were promised last year?

A: I sympathize. It is the church’s IT group that provides the ward and stake networks. I will tell you, you are the problem. When you walk into the chapel at 9:00 your phone detects the open network. All of a sudden your apps start updating. Every app you’ve allowed. That’s the first problem. Then at 11:00 the next ward comes in and now you have 600 people on a tiny network, just as the family history class starts in Sunday school. If you want to mitigate it immediately, turn off your apps or use your own data. That being said, the Church’s IT organization has bought new routers to be installed throughout the world over the next six months with the capability to white list or black list apps depending on the stake president in your stake. He will determine what method they will use to inhibit you from using your cell phone’s apps. Then you will get your bandwidth back to do family history. That is what is going on. It costs a lot of money to stop Facebook and iTunes and just updating the operating system on your phone, especially if they do it over a weekend. That is really problematic for the Church.

The church increases the bandwidth in buildings, but even though that happens, because of the adoption of more devices you still have the problems. So I would suggest there are a couple of good workarounds. First, lets have priesthood leaders work with the members, to say, “we have a few needs for that bandwidth, so let’s use it for those needs, and not personal needs of everyone.” Secondly, if you look at what was announced with temple and family history consultants, its all bout 1 on 1 personal assistance. If I were a temple and family history consultant, I would look at a class with just 1 on 1 people—a ratio of one helper for one patron. I can get through that class, a hundred people in a year’s time, but do it in a small class of one or two or three people or families at a time. At the end of the day, you will have given better service to more families without running into bandwidth problems the way we have today.

We’re dealing with a first world problem [literally]. Over the last couple of years as I have traveled around in Latin America, Africa, and other parts of the world, they would be very grateful for the bandwidth available to us. And this will be a huge expense for the church going forward to make the bandwidth available in some cases where the technology hasn’t matured enough yet. I’m thrilled that progress is being made here in North America. But please consider and pray for your brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who would be so grateful to have even what you have.

Q: What will this do for the apps, Family Tree and the Memories app?

A: We’re not going to turn off all apps, just Facebook and other problem apps. FamilySearch apps will still work.

Q: Are those routers going to family history centers that are separate from chapels?

A: They will go worldwide in all the facilities, including family history centers.

FamilySearch Reviews 2016 Accomplishments – Part 1

[THE INDICATED BULLET WAS UPDATED 14 JANUARY 2017 TO ELIMINATE MY BAD MATH.]
FamilySearch recently published a review of their 2016 accomplishments, just as they did last year for 2015. As I did last year, I thought I’d present the information here, along with commentary, and a comparison with their 2015 accomplishments. I found a few surprises.

FamilySearch organized the accomplishments around the five discovery experiences presented in Steve Rockwood’s 2016 RootsTech presentation.

Family Tree

In 2016, FamilySearch made Family Tree more stable, made it possible to merge duplicates, added more record hints, made record hints more accurate, added user-to-user messaging, and broadened the ability to identify your relationships to persons in Family Tree.

Facts and figures:

• 1.1 billion persons in FamilySearch Family Tree.  FamilySearch has previously reported that 28 billion people have lived since 1500 AD. Few records exist that uniquely identify people who lived prior to that date. Had FamilySearch met their objective that there be no duplication in Family Tree, then the Tree would contain 4% of all the recorded people in the world’s history. However, there is a lot of duplication in the Tree. 1.1 billion is the same size reported last year, so the number of new persons must be less than 100 million.
• 561,759 new contributors in 2016. This is up from 120,000 in 2015. I think this includes those who contribute in any way, not just the addition of persons.
• [Updated 14 January 2017]3.45 million total contributors. That sounds high, even though participation is considered a mandate for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Current Church membership stands at 15,634,199. Total contributors was up from 2.47 million in 2015.

Searchable Records

“Millions more searchable records were added this year as employees and volunteers digitally converted FamilySearch’s vaults of microfilm for online viewing and added millions of new record images from archives across the globe,” wrote FamilySearch’s Diane Sagers. “Partnerships formed with other genealogy search companies, such as Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.com, broaden its searchable databases.”

Around the world, 320 camera teams digitally preserved over 60 million records in 45 countries. FamilySearch reworked the U.S. census collections in 2016.

FamilySearch, along with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, other organizations, and 25,000 volunteers, indexed and published records from the Freedmen’s Bureau. “These records are pivotal for African American research because they document freed slaves and others who struggled to redefine themselves after the Civil War.”

Facts and figures:

• 5.57 billion total searchable records online. This is 260 million more than the 5.31 billion reported last year.
• 275 million total records indexed [during 2016]. This is up from 110 million in 2015. According to the math, volunteers indexed 15 million more names than FamilySearch published. Makes you wonder if they have a growing backlog.
• 37 million non-English records indexed. FamilySearch must be having trouble recruiting non-English language indexers, since that is just 13% of the total. On the positive side, 37 is up quite a bit from 19 million in 2015.
• 125 new 2016 historic records collections. This is down from 158 the previous year.
• 2,174 total collections. It was 2,049 at the end of 2015.
• 60 million record images published. FamilySearch cut in half the number of images, 122 million, published in 2015. That is disappointing. One possible explanation is that FamilySearch now publishes some record images exclusively through their catalog—much the same way that NARA does with their catalog. If you are not using the catalog as your primary search mechanism, you are missing out on what looks to be millions of records.

See tomorrow's article for more information.

#RootsTech Contest Winner and Keynote Speaker Announcement

I’m pleased to be able to announce the winner of my RootsTech 2017 contest. Amy Floto related her experience with “the Haunted Treadmill and the Magic Box.” Look for her story after the first of the year. I received lots of great entries. I’ll share a few of the best ones with you after Amy’s.
In other news, RootsTech has announced more keynote presenters. The Property Brothers, Jonathan and Drew Scott, will present. These multi-talented identical twins have built an impressive entertainment empire by following their mutual passion for film, entertainment, and home renovation. Come to RootsTech and listen to the Scott Brothers talk about how it all began. From their first business at age seven, to purchasing and flipping their first fixer-upper for a profit of $50,000 at the age of 17, these two have a lot to share about entrepreneurial spirit, hard work, and the sweetness of success.

At the risk of having unknown family members come out of the woodwork, I wanted to share some news with you. I found out recently that FamilySearch employees can give family members a discount code for a $109 4-day RootsTech pass or $139 for a RootsTech+Innovator Summit pass. Contact your closest related RootsTech employee and get the discount code.

RootsTech 2017 will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, 8-11 February 2017.

Family Discovery Day

Registration for Family Discovery Day 2017 is now open. It will be held 11 February 2017 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. The event is for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I apologize for not getting this news out sooner, as the event “sells” out fast. I say “sells” because it is free. To register, click here and then click Register. To sweeten the pot, RootsTech has announced that the keynote speakers for Family Discovery Day will be President Russell M Nelson and his wife, Wendy. Wendy is an avid genealogist and did a great job speaking last year. President Nelson is the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles so it is quite an honor to have him at RootsTech.

According to FamilySearch:

Family Discover Day is the perfect place for individuals and families to discover helpful family history solutions, watch demonstrations, get one-on-one help, interact with innovative family history technologies, and mingle with hundreds of exhibitors from around the globe.

Select sessions are also available for those with Church callings and responsibilities related to family history and the temple. Individuals will be able to get their questions answered, discover new tools, and learn best practices.

Over 15,000 adults and children attended the free event in 2016. Tickets will be limited again in 2017 for this increasingly popular event. Interested individuals and families should register as quickly as possible online at RootsTech.org.

Passing of Boyd K. Packer, Long Time Friend of Family History

President Boyd K. Packer, his wife Donna and their son Elder Allan F. Packer
of the Seventy and his wife Terri participated in the cornerstone and dedication
of the Brigham City Utah Temple. © 2012 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights
reserved.

Last Friday, Boyd K. Packer, passed away at the age of 90.

“President Packer was a friend to family history research for many years,” said David Rencher, FamilySearch CGO. “It was my pleasure to assist the Packers when I served at the British Reference Desk in the Family History Library.” At the time of his passing, President Packer was president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Rencher said “President Packer and his wife Donna Smith Packer worked tirelessly on researching the Packer family in England. Their work culminated in the book On Footings from the Past: the Packers in England.¹

President Packer served on the Church’s Temple and Family History Executive Council for many years. In 1975, he announced the creation of the Church’s genealogy department, formally integrating the Genealogical Society of Utah.²

President Packer made many trips to England, said Rencher. He served on the board of directors of the Society of Genealogists, London. On one of these trips he was impressed by the Federation of Family History Societies and noticed how they incorporated more than just genealogical details. Upon returning to Salt Lake City, he suggested that the then Genealogical Department change its name to the more inclusive Family History Department. The change was immediately embraced and the department has been known by that name ever since. FamilySearch might have a different name if it hadn’t been for the change.

The Genealogical Library in Salt Lake City was renamed the Family History Library and branch libraries were renamed to family history centers.³

When statistics in 1975 indicated that only 7.5% of Church members had participated in the four-generation program, he pushed for simplifications.⁴ I know that at one point the Church’s submission format instructions occupied an entire book. It contained arcane requirements such as precise rules on how place names had to be abbreviated to fit in the small spaces on family group sheets and pedigree charts. In 1980 he wrote a book which included a simple way for anyone to get started doing family history.

If you don’t know where to start, start with yourself…

Get a cardboard box. … Put it … in the way … anywhere where it cannot go unnoticed. Then, over a period of a few weeks, collect and put into the box every record of your life, such as your birth certificate, … anything that is written, or registered, or recorded that testifies that you are alive and what you have done.⁵

President Packer was a driving force behind microfilming new records. In 1977 he started an effort to acquire records of Native Americans. He requested that the Genealogical Society expand into Africa. He visited Jerusalem in 1977 and began talks for the acquisition of records there.⁶

President Packer’s family also has a great love for genealogy. His son, Elder Allan F. Packer, is the chairman of the board of FamilySearch International. As mentioned, his wife Donna wrote the Packer family history book. Even at her advanced age, I see her nearly every year at the BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy. And Donna is accompanied each year by Allan’s wife, Terri.

The funeral will be this Friday, 10 July 2015, 11:00 a.m. MDT in the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. If past practice is followed, the funeral will be broadcast live. See the www.mormonnewsroom.org for more information. Expressions of sympathy can be posted on President Packer’s Facebook page or emailed to condolences@ldschurch.org.

President Packer, we will miss you. God bless and comfort your family until we are all reunited at the resurrection.

---

Sources

     1. See Donna Smith Packer, On Footings from the Past: the Packers in England (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1988); online archive, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/657631 : accessed 4 July 2015). The FamilySearch family history center in Brigham City, Utah contains a history that President Packer wrote about his parents. See “’The Best Team,’ the Life Story of Ira Wight Packer and Emma Jensen Packer,” part of a compilation, “Packer Family Histories,” (bound manuscript, n.d., Brigham City Utah FamilySearch Center); online archive, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/2388466 : accessed 4 July 2015).
     2. James B. Allen, Jessie L. Embry, and Kahlile Mehr, Hearts Turned to the Fathers, a special issue of BYU Studies 34 (1994-95), 266.; online archives, BYU Studies Quarterly (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=123 : accessed 4 July 2015), 266.
     3. “Ancestral Study Clarified,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 11 August 1987, p. B1, col. 5; archived online, Google News (https://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 5 July 2015).
     4. Allen, Hearts Turned to the Fathers, 272.
     5. Boyd K. Packer, “Your Family History: Getting Started,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/08/your-family-history-getting-started : accessed 4 July 2015); excerpted from The Holy Temple (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1980).
     6. Allen, Hearts Turned to the Fathers, 247, 250-51.

Insider Ketchup

I’m trying to take the rest of the month off for Christmas, but news keeps happening. I have no time. Time to quickly ketchup…

Laura Bush and Daughter Speaking at RootsTech

From the RootsTech press release:

RootsTech 2015 attendees will get to hear firsthand how one of the nation’s most famous families celebrates their family across generations.  RootsTech, the largest family history conference in the world, announced today that former First Lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush Hager will be the keynote speakers during the Friday morning general session on February 13, 2015.

For more information, see the article on the FamilySearch blog.

Ancestry.com Explains Missing DNA Ancestry

I hear people all the time complain that their Ancestry.com DNA report excludes countries of known ancestry. Ancestry.com’s Anne Gillespie Mitchell recently explained some of the reasons. Read “Ask Ancestry Anne: Where Is My Native American DNA?” on the Ancestry.com blog.

LDS Church History Department Collaborates With FamilySearch

The Deseret News LDS Church News recently shared news of a partnership between FamilySearch and the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Using the power of FamilySearch.org and the scholarship of The Joseph Smith Papers Project, descendants of early Church members can now connect to original source documents where their own progenitors are mentioned,” said Elder Steven E. Snow, Church Historian and Recorder, according to the article.

The article gives a link to a page on FamilySearch.org where members can go to see if there are any links for their ancestors: https://familysearch.org/josephsmithpapers#. You can also search on the Joseph Smith Papers website at http://josephsmithpapers.org/. Check the list of people at http://josephsmithpapers.org/reference/people#a.

For more information read the article on the Deseret News website or on the FamilySearch blog, see "Did Your Ancestors Interact with the Prophet Joseph Smith?"

Ron Tanner Announces Private Spaces at #BYUFHGC

Ron Tanner, FamilySearch product manager, presented the session “Family Tree Primer for Consultants” at the BYU Family History and Genealogy Conference. He addressed common issues faced by family history consultants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dealing with living individuals in a member’s pedigree has been an issue for consultants. Incorrect information could not be corrected except by having the member’s ward clerk fix the membership record and then waiting for the membership record to synchronize to New FamilySearch and then to Family Tree. Tanner announced that that day, 1 August 2014, FamilySearch was instituting new handling of living persons in FamilySearch Family Tree. He told us we were the first to know. Living individuals in New FamilySearch were being copied to Family Tree where they could be changed directly. The process of copying living persons will take the entire month to complete.

While Tanner was short on details of the ramifications, I was able to locate more information elsewhere. In the FamilySearch Help Center an article explains that “All living people and their relationships are stored in a private space.”

Each user of Family Tree has a private space. Private spaces help manage data privacy and confidentiality for each user. … Each owner of a copy [of a living Family Tree person] can modify it independently from others. Deceased persons should each be represented only one time in Family Tree and have a common PID. But a living person can be represented in multiple private spaces as a different Family Tree person, and that person will have a different Person Identifier number (PID) in each private space. Searching Family Tree using a living person's name will not find him or her. Searching by the PID will not find him or her in any other [private space] besides [your own]. Living people cannot be sourced.
Family Tree does not [automatically change living people to deceased], even after they are older than 110 years. Users will need to mark their copy of the individuals as deceased and then search for any possible duplicates.

Tanner provided even more information in a reply in FamilySearch’s feedback system:

With the advent of private spaces the rules change such that [the Church’s] membership [department] does not have control of the living member in the tree. You no longer have to go to the ward clerk in order to change your living. Of course, changing member living in Family Tree will not update membership records. One must still go to the clerk to update membership records.

When a ward clerk records that a person is deceased, then a "membership" copy of the person will be placed in the public portions of the tree.…When a person makes their local living copy dead, this record as well becomes public and should show possible duplicate with the membership version. The person who made their local living copy dead should merge these two records together.

Here are a few other topics Tanner covered:

You can find resources for training others about Family Tree at http://familysearch.org/treetraining.

Tanner said that about 60,000 to 80,000 people still use New FamilySearch each week.

Some users of Family Tree are new. They make mistakes, just like we did when we were new. We need to help them and encourage them.

Discussions among users is not happening soon enough. This may be because notification of changes only occurs once a week. By then, the best moment for discussion is gone. “I’m trying to change that,” he said. “I think you need to be informed sooner, maybe immediately.” Another impediment to discussions is the inability to email others making changes who haven’t made their email public. When consultants help people register, he said they should help the user set their email public. Click Settings > Contact > email > Public. Tanner said he recently got permission to implement a private message system that would allow the exchange of messages with other users even without an email address. [I picture it being similar to the capability that Ancestry.com has had for close to a decade.]

Helping users recover passwords and usernames is straightforward. Go to Sign In and after “Forgot your…” click on “user name” or “password.” For a member of the general public, recovery is via email. For those with an LDS account, recovery uses the lds.org account recovery system. Recovery can be via mobile phone, email, or membership record number (MRN). If recovering via email, some people may not be aware that most email systems can be accessed via the Internet. Just google the domain name (the part of the email after the @ at-sign). Once you have recovered your password, write it down and put it in your wallet.

Members of the Church who can’t see temple ordinance information need to enter their membership record number. Have them login and click on their username. Select Settings from the dropdown menu. Scroll down and select Yes for the “Are you a member…?” question. Enter the membership record number. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

To fix wrong relationships, it helps to understand how Family Tree works with relationships. All relationships in Family Tree are of two types: spousal and parent-child. A spousal relationship consists of two people and relationship events such as marriage date and place. A parent-child relationship consists of a child, at least one parent, and relationship types for each parent, such as biological, adopted, etc. Family Tree does not require a spousal relationship between the parents of a child. To correct a relationship, you must leave the person page and go to the relationship page. Go to the Family Members section of the person page and click on either Edit Couple or Edit Parents. The relationship page allows for sources and notes about the relationship.

Tanner explained how to fix your pedigree when half of it suddenly disappears. The reason this occurs is because a glitch occurred when membership records were copied to New FamilySearch and then to Family Tree. To fix the problem, follow these steps (which I’ve copied pretty closely from the syllabus). Go to the relationships on the detail view of the child missing the parent or parents. Review the relationship section to see if the child is showing no parents, a single-parent (mother or father) or two sets of parents (one with both parents and the other with just one of the parents).

If there are no parents listed then,

1. Add the correct father by clicking Add Father and select the correct father (search or
   PID).
2. Click on Edit Parents next to the living child under the newly added father.
3. In the parent-child relationship click to add a Mother and select the correct mother.

If there is only a single parent in the relationship then,

1. Click on Edit Parents next to the living child under this relationship
2. In the parent-child relationship click to add the missing parent and select the correct
   parent.

If there are two sets of parents, one with both parents and one with only one of the parents
then,

1. Verify the child is listed under each parent set. If not then call support.
2. Look at the single parent relationship and open the children tab to see the living child.
3. Click on Edit Parents next to the living child under the single parent to go to the
   parent-child relationship.
4. Delete the relationship.

Changing gender is not allowed at this time because New FamilySearch doesn’t allow it and Family Tree is being synchronized with New FamilySearch. Once that connection has been broken, then it will be possible.

The Helper feature is being misused. Its purpose is not to help someone. The purpose is to help those without a computer. Don’t use it to help someone who has forgotten their username or password. It is better to get their account working. To help another person, you need to know their helper number. It defaults to the last five digits of their membership record number. When information is added via the helper feature, Family Tree tracks the name of both the submitter (the helper) and the contributor (the one being helped). Only the contributor name is displayed in the change log.

Here my notes drizzle out. Do you get the feeling I have attention problems? Hopefully he didn’t save anything really important for the very end.

Monday Mailbox: List of FindMyPast Collections Not in LDS Subscription

Dear Readers,

Thank you for so many responses to my article on this subject a couple of weeks ago. (See “Correction: LDS Member Accounts Don’t Include all Collections.” Several of you provided lists or links to lists of the collections not included in a Find My Past LDS subscription. (By LDS Subscriptions, I mean the subscriptions provided to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) The list appears to be changing over time, mostly getting longer. Perhaps that is why FamilySearch doesn’t provide the list through their support organization.

I’ve taken what appears to be the most current list and spot-checked to see if it is correct. I few are now accessible. I’ve alphabetized it. I spot checked the title and the accessibility. The titles in the list often don’t match the titles on the FindMyPast.com website, adding confusion and decreasing the list’s utility. For the titles I spot-checked, I have corrected the title. Blanks in the notes column are record sets that I did not check. (“Record set” is FMP’s terminology for a record collection.)

Title	Note
Army Deserters 1828-1840	Verified, no access
Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945
British newspapers	Verified, no access
British PoW Officers Aug 1914 - Nov 1918
Cheshire Diocese Of Chester Parish Baptisms 1538-1911	Verified, no access
Cheshire Diocese Of Chester Parish Burials 1538-1911	Verified, no access
Cheshire Diocese Of Chester Parish Marriages 1538-1910	Verified, no access
De Ruvigny Scrolls
De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1918
Dorset Marriages	Verified, no access
East Kent Burial Index 1813-1841	Verified, no access
Electoral Rolls	Some work, some do not (see particular title)
Griffith's Valuation 1847-1864	Verified, no access
Historical newspapers (British, Irish, and US & World)	Verified, no access
India Office Records	Could not find
Ireland's Memorial Records of the Great War
Irish newspapers	Verified, no access
List and Careers of Officers of the Indian Army 1760 to 1837 Bengal, Madras and Bombay Presidencies
London Probate 1750-1858
Manchester Police Index 1812-1941	Verified, no access
Manchester Regiment City Battalions 1914-1916	Verified, no access
Manchester Roll of Honour 1914-1916
National Roll of The Great War 1914-1918	Verified, no access
National Roll Scrolls	Could not find
New South Wales Electoral Rolls	Needs to be checked
New Zealand Electoral Rolls	Verified, no access
New Zealand Electoral Rolls 1925	Accessible
Northern Territory Electoral Rolls	Needs to be checked
Parish Registers 1538-1911	Could not find
Prestwich Asylum Admissions 1851-1901	Verified, no access
Prisoners Of War 1939-1945 - British Army Held In German Territories
Prisoners Of War 1939-1945 - British Navy & Air Force Officers
Prisoners Of War 1939-1945 - Officers Of Empire Serving In British Army
Queensland Electoral Rolls	Accessible
Royal Marine Medal Roll 1914-1920	Verified, no access
Royal Naval Division Records 1914-1919	Verified, no access
Royal Naval Officers Medal Roll 1914-1920
Silver War Badge roll 1914-1920	Verified, no access
Soldiers Died in The Great War 1914-1919
South Australia Electoral Rolls	Needs to be checked
Surrey Marriage Register	Could not find
Tasmania Electoral Rolls	Needs to be checked
The Great War London Gazettes	Could not find
Tipperary Clans Archive	Verified, no access
US & World newspapers	Verified, no access
Victoria Cross Recipients 1857-2007
Victoria Electoral Rolls	Accessible
Waterloo Medal Roll 1815	Accessible
Waterloo Scrolls Waterloo Roll Call, 1815	Verified, no access
West Kent Probate 1750-1858	Verified, no access
Western Australia Electoral Rolls	Verified, no access
WW1 Naval Casualties	Verified, no access
WW1 Scrolls	Could not find
WW2 Scrolls	Could not find
WWI Distinguished Conduct Medal citations 1914-1920	Verified, no image access

I was surprised to see Griffith’s Valuation on the list. I’m pretty unfamiliar with Irish research, but isn’t that a fairly important collection?

I appreciate the many voices pointing out that no one should be whining that some collections are not included. I agree. That is not why I’m providing the list. The utility of the list is to those weighing the option of buying or renewing a full subscription. I appreciate that FindMyPast didn’t immediately transform my paid subscription into an LDS subscription. With the list I know what I still have access to and what I will lose if I don’t renew.

Let me know if you have verified additions or deletions. Please provide the correct title, not the title provided by FMP support. And please respond by posting a comment for all to see rather than replying to my email.

Thanks,
---The Ancestry Insider

Koelliker Says, Think of Family History More Broadly #BYUFHGC

We need to think about family history more broadly than just ancestral research, said Elder Paul E. Koelliker. Elder Koelliker gave the keynote address Tuesday morning to open the BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy. Elder Koelliker is an emeritus member of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has previously served as an assistant executive director in the Church’s Family History Department, which I think made him a board member of FamilySearch International.

Note: Elder Koelliker addressed members of the Church. His remarks, and this article, express the doctrines of the Church and may not be of interest to those who are not members.

Love is the deep driving force in our relationship with others, said Elder Koelliker. He quoted from the Bible: “As I have loved you,…love one another.” Church president, Thomas S. Monson, said: “May we begin now, this very day, to express love to all of God’s children, whether they be our family members, our friends, mere acquaintances, or total strangers. As we arise each morning, let us determine to respond with love and kindness to whatever might come our way.” Our love for others should include both the living and the dead.

Think of family history in a forward direction. Think about the rising generations. We have been asked to learn the stories that will foster a feeling of love. It is important to write them down and share them with your children. Think beyond the charts and gather the stories for turning the hearts.

Recognize that counsel given by Church leaders will increase your temple experience. Elder Koelliker said he had a concern today. At RootsTech Elder Allan Packer put it in a positive manner, but Elder Koelliker was shocked. Said Elder Packer:

I am happy to report we are making progress. In the last year the number of members submitting names for temple ordinances is up 17% over last year. It has gone from 2.4 to 2.7 percent of the members. While normally a 17% improvement is thought of as impressive it also says that there are over 97% of members who are not regularly submitting names for temple ordinances.

In the kindest of ways, Elder Packer is inviting us to repent, said Elder Koelliker. What will it take to move a majority of the members of the Church to bring our names to the temple? At the heart of our desire to change is our love for our family.

Families are an essential organization on Earth and in heaven. In 1995, the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” This proclamation defines the position of the Church regarding marriage and family. Elder Koelliker quoted former Church president, Gordon B. Hinckley:

God is the designer of the family. He intended that the greatest of happiness, the most satisfying aspects of life, the deepest joys should come in our associations together and our concerns one for another as fathers and mothers and children. (“What God Hath Joined Together,” Ensign, May 1991, 74.)

Elder Koelliker quoted from Chapter 1 of the Members Guide to Temple and Family History (which he recommended we study):

Temple and family history work unites families. Husbands and wives, parents and children can be sealed through sacred temple ordinances. The goal of this process is that “the whole chain of God’s family shall be welded together into one chain, and they shall all become the family of God and His Christ” (Joseph F. Smith, Millennial Star, Oct. 4, 1906, 629).

Elder Koelliker told a couple of stories about his extended family. One was a story of serendipity that I told here in my column back in February 2012. (See “Serendipitous Doppelgänger.”) He provided a little more detail than I related. The story began in 1973 in Salt Lake City. He received a phone call from a Paul Koelliker from Switzerland who said he would like to meet him. Elder Koelliker picked up his father and the three went to lunch. Paul of Switzerland gave him a list of names and some dates and then returned to Switzerland. The list went into a drawer, along with an intent to get back to it. In 1996 Elder Koelliker went to pick up his son from a mission. In Glarus, Switzerland they were disappointed that their hotel had lost their reservation. The hotel owner felt bad and helped them find another hotel. The owner of the second hotel said he knew another fellow in Glarus named Paul Koelliker. The next thing he knew, the owner was on the phone. The man on the other end asked if he was from Salt Lake City. It was the same Paul who had met Elder Koelliker years before. They agreed to meet the next morning. It just so happened that he was the director of archives for the canton of Glarus. He showed a book with the names of Elder Koelliker’s ancestors. However, Elder Koelliker was not allowed to photocopy them, so for the next seven hours he and members of his family wrote as fast as they could, capturing 350 names of his ancestors. He figured there were probably 1,800 more.

The sequel to this story of serendipity came in 2004. Elder Koelliker’s son (whose name I didn’t jot down) was on his way to Spain when he stopped in Glarus to visit the other Paul Koelliker. During the visit he learned that there were two copies of the Koelliker book. The younger Koelliker asked if he could have one of them, but Paul declined. The younger Koelliker’s wife went into negotiation mode. “You have two copies. My sons have no copies.” She was successful. That copy is now available in the Family History Library where many can benefit from its treasures.

Telling and retelling the stories of our families bears fruit in generation after generation. What written testimony and experiences have you written down for your posterity? Write down your stories under the inspiration of the Spirit and let the Holy Ghost teach generations to come.

---

Image Source: The book image is a mockup I created of what Elder Koelliker’s book might have looked like. I combined two images. The text is from J. P. Zwicky, Genealogie der Familien Kölliger (Thalwil-Zürich: Familiengeschichtlicher Verlag, 1933), 7; images, FamilySearch Family History Books (http://books.familysearch.org : accessed 29 July 2014). The page image is from Utah Semi-Centennial Commission, “The Book of the Pioneers,” 2 vols. (bound certificates, 1897, Utah State Archives and Records Service, Salt Lake City, Utah), 1: end paper verso; images, Utah Department of Administrative Services, Division of Archives & Records Service (http://archives.utah.gov/digital/14107.htm : accessed 29 July 2014).

FamilySearch and Utah Pioneers

Just in time for Utah’s Pioneer Day (24 July 2014), FamilySearch has created a special page for descendants of Utah Pioneers: https://familysearch.org/campaign/pioneers#/.

FamilySearch has connected the page to the “Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel” database of the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Click on “Your Pioneer Ancestors” to see a list of your ancestors that FamilySearch found in the database. (It found 22 of mine.)

Click on an Ancestor’s name to jump to him or her in FamilySearch Family Tree. Click on the name of a company to see information about that company, links to journal accounts, and a link to a list of everyone in that company. Click on “Trail Experiences (Stories)” to jump to a page on the Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel website that contains a list of sources and links to journal transcriptions and biographies telling the story of your ancestor and his pioneer company.

The database contains all identified Mormon immigrants who travelled to the Utah territory between 1847 and 1868 (the last year before the railroad made it all the way to Utah). Most travelled the Mormon Trail, which paralleled or coincided with the Oregon-California Trail until Fort Bridger. As I recall, the Oregon-California Trail ran along the South side of the North Platte River and the Mormon Trail ran along the North.

For lists of travellers on the Oregon-California Trail, see the website, Paper Trail: A Guide to Overland Pioneer Names and Documents. (A subscription is required.)

Short Easter Greeting

My goal is to make this blog inoffensive to readers of all religions and denominations. On this Easter morning, permit me a short aside. Mormons—members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—do genealogy “because of Him.” If you want more information, visit http://easter.mormon.org/.

#RootsTech – FamilySearch Family Tree: What’s Next

On Thursday, Ron Tanner, a FamilySearch product manager, presented the session, “FamilySearch Family Tree: What’s New and What’s Next.”

“Some reports estimate that we duplicate up to 80% of our research,” said Tanner. “I want us to quit doing that.” He said that using Family Tree, we can eliminate duplication by working together.

“I’ve got a few ideas I’d like to share with you as you consider working in Family Tree together,” he said.

• Be objective.
• Be courteous.
• Be patient.
• If you edit, share your email.
• Assume the other person is well intentioned.
• Write good reason statements.
• Don’t make changes just because you “know.” Use sources.
• Rarely delete a person. Usually, the person belongs to a different family. Don’t delete the person, just remove them from the family.
• Don’t guess when merging. Do your homework.
• If the possible duplicates list presents a person who is not a duplicate, use “not a match” to remove them from the list.

New FamilySearch is now read-only; that is, users can’t change it directly. However, FamilySearch still synchronizes new FamilySearch and Family Tree. That’s because behind the scenes there are still necessary parts of the system that work only for new FamilySearch. When those parts have been implemented for Family Tree, then the synchronization between the two can be broken. Until that happens, it will not be possible to merge IOUSes. (See “Medieval IOUSes in FamilySearch Family Tree.”)

“Family Tree continues to evolve. We release a new version approximately every two weeks,” said Tanner. “We only do that to make it better, not to keep you confused.”

FamilySearch is working on an Android and iOS app that will allow you to interact with Family Tree. (For a little more information, see my story, “Find A Grave App Coming Soon, FamilySearch to Follow.”)

FamilySearch is also working on adding support for living persons into Family Tree. Matching deceased persons exist in both New FamilySearch and Family Tree and are synchronized between the two. This is not the case for living persons. Behind the scenes, living persons are stored only in New FamilySearch. There are no living persons in Family Tree. The software just makes it look like there are. Consequently, you can’t attach a source to a living person or attach a life sketch, or see a change log. If you and the living person are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you can’t even change vital information about them. These limitations will all go away after FamilySearch adds living persons into Family Tree.

The living persons you add will remain private to you. You don’t have to worry that they will be shown to other people. In the future, probably not this year, you will be able to share your living persons with others so you can work together as a living family.

FamilySearch is also adding record hinting. (It sounds like Ancestry.com’s shakey leaves.) On the person page FamilySearch will list possible matching records, both from their own records and from as many of their partners as they can.

Clicking “Show All” will take you to a page that lists all the matching records.

Another thing FamilySearch is doing is a descendancy view.

FamilySearch Family Tree Numbers 310,000 people visit or use Family Tree each week. 500,000 conclusions (birth, death, burial, and other facts) are added each week. 320,000 new persons are added every week. In New FamilySearch 1 out of every 4 combines was undone. In Family Tree, 1 out of every 100 merges is undone. 12 million sources have been added to Family Tree. 320,000 new sources are added each week.

When Tanner made this presentation to members of the Church on Saturday, he mentioned another feature. Members have asked for the ability to show all an ancestor’s temple ordinances. That will be possible on the new Ordinances tab.

FamilySearch will be trying again (perhaps before you read this) to move the old New FamilySearch sources over to Family Tree. In their last attempt they experienced a glitch and missed several million.

Tanner is going to try to add a feature allowing users to send private messages to other users without knowing their email addresses.

“I know that when we all work together, we can do amazing things,” said Tanner. “I know that we can do that in Family Tree and document the genealogy of the world.”

You can watch Ron Tanner’s presentation in full on the RootsTech.org website.

#RootsTech Brimhall Town Meeting

Thursday at RootsTech I attended a question and answer session with Dennis Brimhall, CEO of FamilySearch. Here’s some of what was said. Sorry about my English. I could take notes only so fast, so I am sometimes quoting and sometimes paraphrasing. That raises the possibility of misquotes, so take everything with a little caution.

Q. Can you clarify the contract with ancestry.com [and FindMyPast and MyHeritage]?

A. We have limits on how much we can do and we realize there are other companies that are also good at what we do. We approached them and they said, “We’d like access to your records, on our site. We don’t want them to leave our site to go to yours.” The deal: “We’ll let you have access to our records on your site. In return, we’d like to have access for our members [of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] who paid for our records with their tithing. It will be on their site. [I didn’t give FamilySearch an opportunity to edit this before I published it, but I’m sure they would point out at this point, that FamilySearch will give the general public access to these sites at FamilySearch’s family history centers.]

The other part of the deal is to coordinate in more acquisition. They image and we index, or we image and they index. In some cases, they pay to have the records indexed. After some embargo, the records would be opened up to everyone.

Q. When does it start?

A. The complicated part is how do you log into one account and end up being logged onto another site. The engineers are working it out to allow you to log on to their site with your LDS account. It might be 2nd quarter of this year. In the future, you’ll be able to search their records on our site.

Q. [Some question about using family history with missionary work.]

A. Many people who don’t know much about the Church know that the Church is interested in family history. What we’ve found is that it is kind of wonderful to ask people about their ancestors. We’ve found the My Family booklet, we’ve tested what happens when instead of talking about the doctrines of the Church, you spark an interest in family and then their interest might grow from there.

Q. What is the purpose of photos and the stories regarding the living?

A. We don’t share this often, but here is an interesting fact. Every member of Church members pays for FamilySearch.org, but only a fraction use it. “Every organization is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” If we want to get more people to use it, something has to change. I’m going to offend some people but I have to say it. Who was the website designed for? The genealogists. So we begin to see what invites people in. You go to a cemetery and see two dates. What’s between the two dates? The dash. We’ve got to start concentrating on the dash. Do you know that until a year ago April, you could not add the story of an ancestor on FamilySearch.org?

Here’s an aside from the Ancestry Insider: You’re right. That does offend me. Now I’m going to offend some people, but I have to say it.

Let me quote from the BCG Genealogical Standards Manual, millennium edition, p. 18:  “Descriptive biographical information is provided for individuals in the lineage, pedigree, or genealogy. In addition to vital statistics, the compilation includes sufficient information about each person’s activities, residences, circumstances, contributions, and lifestyle to place them within the context of their historical era, society, and geographic place.”

That sounds a little clinical. Standards usually do. Nationally recognized genealogist, John Colletta, says it pretty well. “Creating a family tree is only half the goal. The other half is learning about your ancestors as men and women with personalities, character traits, motives and aspirations, joys and disappointments, just like you.”

Do you know that until a year ago April, you could not add the story of an ancestor on FamilySearch.org?

Back to your question, how do we address the living. We’re addressing the problem of not being able to see your spouse. You’re going to be able to see that before long.

We’re going to have an app available in the 2nd quarter where you can go to grandma and ask her a question and then post the recording online.

Outside North America many members of the Church haven’t entered both parents into Family Tree. Many more haven’t entered grandparents, and even more haven’t entered all their great-grandparents. The My Family booklet is trying to capture that living memory. That then becomes the basis for the family history research that is to come.

The good news is, its working. We’re seeing significant improvements in the number of people using the website.

Q. Oral histories. Is there a vision or a goal? Native Americans?

A. We are setting up in the family history centers recording booths to record oral histories. In St. George we have a green screen and you can show photos as you talk about your history.

We’ve been capturing histories in Africa for a number of years now, but it is very expensive to do it. We probably will not expand beyond Africa what we are doing there. It is not scalable. We don’t have enough missionaries to make it work.

We have some good collections for native Americans. I’ve met with five tribes in the last six months. They are good at cultural history, but how can we help them preserve their family histories? We’ll meet with them over the coming months to see how best to do this.

Q. [There was a long exposition. I kept waiting for the question, so I wasn’t writing anything. It was something about members finding information in the tree and assuming it must be true because it is an official Church website.]

A. We’re trying to answer this question. How are we going to address this issue of data integrity? People often write and complains to me that someone has changed their ancestor’s data. I don’t know what is the truth. So how do we solve the problem? The only way to deal with this is to create an expectation in the minds of people that you need to check. The first expectation is that you need to source it. The second expectation is that members check for duplication before you submit a name to the temple. The duplication rate has gone down from around 30% to under 10% in the last several years.

We’re beginning to see very gradually that the database is going to clean itself up. The number one complaint used to be, “I cant fix the information.” Now the number one complaint is that someone is changing my information.

We think we’ve bottomed out. We’ve seen a decrease in duplication and an increase in sourcing.

Q. How do you decide what records to obtain?

A. We have a whole team that looks at this. They look at where the greatest demand is for records and where the records are available. We have a deal to acquire 400 million records in Italy. We have 267 camera crews with a goal to increase that to 500. We do a million images a day around the world. A significant portion is imaging records from out of the vault. There are 80 GB of images of the whole [didn’t hear this part]. In seven years we’ll be done with imaging all the records in the vault. Then how do we make up for no longer getting records out of the vault? [The increase in cameras.]

Q. Just finished serving a mission in Taiwan. There is a need for genealogy resources.

A. We have a robust strategy for dealing with Chinese. It is part of our ten core languages. This is not an announcement. We’ve had some discussions on how we might collaborate with records. We’ve had lots of dialog. [Something I didn’t catch], but it is on our radar.

In India they take a census every ten years. It results in 35 linear miles of shelf space. Seven years later they destroy it all to make room for the next one. Our first break in india, one state is allowing us to come in and image records. We’re in this for a long time. We’re in for the very long haul.

Q. [Some question about sources?]

There’s something that will be on the website very, very quickly. When you attach a census record to the tree, we have a feature that will be coming out, maybe next quarter, that when you attach a child from the census, it will present all the other people in the household and allow you to attach them. [Big applause.]

Q. When I add sources to the tree and then you image and index those records, will those be merged?

A. If one is digital and one is image, they will not be matched up. There is no way electronically to match them up.

There is something we’re going to try, one of the things we’ve been toying with. You know we’re coming out with a new indexing system. One of the things we’re considering is called indexing on the fly. If you find information in a record, why wouldn’t we allow you to index that record?

Q. I wrote a story and scanned some photos and I can’t get the photos into the story?

A. [Answer from David Burggraaf] Put them together in a PDF and upload them together.

Q. [Question about trees]

A. We are not generally promoting alternatives to the public tree. We are trying to get a common family tree. FindMyPast has agreed to use our Family Tree. [Answer from David Burggraaf:] Going forward we intend to continue to capture separate trees, but it is our intent that [users] merge and link [them] into the main tree.

Q. When President Hinckley announced the New FamilySearch software he said it was to reduce duplication and increase collaboration. But many people are not sharing their email address, so it is impossible to collaborate.

A. We have been toying with—and we don’t want to be too heavy handed—but one thing we’ve been discussing is that you have to give a valid email address. But half the church doesn’t have them.

Q. [Didn’t write it down.]

A. There’s a fine line between informing and not informing people. We think it would be nice if when anyone added a photo, we notified you. It starts to become spam very quickly. We might take 3% of registered users and turn that feature on and test it.

Q. [Didn’t write it down.]

A. We probably make three or four changes to the site every day. It’s the only way we get better.

#RootsTech FamilySearch Blogger Dinner Report

RootsTech began for me last evening, with the FamilySearch blogger dinner. I should have taken a count. This was the largest group I’ve ever seen at this event. FamilySearch pulled out all the stops this time. Dennis Brimhall, FamilySearch president and CEO, spoke briefly to us. During the socializing before the dinner we got to chat with FamilySearch board members, Elder Allan F. Packer and Elder Bradley D. Foster. Both are presiding authorities with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns, operates, and funds FamilySearch.

FamilySearch repeated several of the messages that they have communicated in recent weeks.

Pirate Capt’n Jack Starling made an appearance as part of FamilySearch’s campaign to index 100 million obituaries this year. “Dead men tell no tales…, but their obituaries do!” is the theme of the campaign. Obituaries are like locked up pirate treasure until they are indexed and published online.

Capt’n Jack will be popping up here and there during the conference. Attendees are invited to get their pictures taken with him, post it online with hashtags #ahoy, #FamilySearch, and #obits, and then claim a bit of treasure at the FamilySearch indexing booth. We were forewarned that he might just be interrupting Dennis Brimhall’s keynote this morning.

Don Anderson spoke about partnerships, reiterating the information released in the announcement I wrote about yesterday. (See “FamilySearch Gives Further Details on Partnerships.”) Regarding FamilySearch spreading its records around to Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.com, Anderson said, “We want you to be able to go wherever you think gives you the best experience.” He reiterated that FamilySearch has negotiated to make these three websites free in FamilySearch family history centers. (MyHeritage is not currently available; it will be added later this year.)

And he clarified something for me. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will have full subscriptions to these websites. The announcement was vague as to whether it was access to all records, or just those obtained from FamilySearch. Anderson asked that we please inform Church members that access is not available today. Please don’t call! It will come later this year and announcements will be made at that time.

Anderson said that these partners are also working on a tree-integration technology that will make it possible to transfer information between a tree on their website and the FamilySearch Family Tree. That technology is expected to be available later this year.

“We’ve always been concerned about the quality of the data,” Dennis Brimhall said. They’re excited about the accelerating specification of sources. He said it took seven years for users to add the first 70,000 to the FamilySearch tree. Now users are adding 70,000 sources a week and the total has surpassed 12 million. Users are uploading 5,000 photos a day and 500 stories.

Brimhall characterized genealogy and family history this way: on a grave marker that separates birth and death dates with a dash, the dates are genealogy and the dash is family history. We need to pay attention to the dash in addition to the dates.

I have to pause here and blow a little steam. To become a certified genealogists or to just be a competent genealogist, one has always had to delve into the details of an ancestor’s life. Genealogists—real genealogists—have always been concerned about the whole story. It’s partly practical. Once you’ve crossed the chasm, full identification and differentiation of a person often requires identification of residences, businesses, church memberships, associates, migrations and naturalizations, court actions, military service, real and personal property ownership, appearance of handwriting and signatures, and any and all other details you can find. Do you know who is only concerned with name, birth date, and death date? “Name collectors.” Those are the people wreaking havoc blindly accepting tree-to-tree hints in Ancestry Member Trees and recklessly merging persons in FamilySearch’s Family Tree. They ignore the dash between the dates. I totally agree with the point Brimhall is making. I love the power of the illustration, the dash between the dates. But does he have to mischaracterize the word genealogy to make the point?

Shipley Munson shared some interesting statistics about the growth of RootsTech. RootsTech 2011 had 3,200 registrants. RootsTech 2012 had 4,000. 2013 had 6,700. This year, RootsTech has 8,000 registrants! In addition, this year they have 4,000 youth (teenagers) signed up and another 1,000 on a waiting list! Last year, the total of registrants, youth, and unique users viewing online was 20,800 people. This year they expect that number to hit 30,000.

Last year they tested the concept of having satellite sites utilize recordings of RootsTech sessions in local family history conferences. They tested 15 locations in three languages and had an average of 200 people attend at each location. They are expanding that program this year. They have 622 locations signed up across the world, covering ten languages. There’s even a genealogy cruise in the South Pacific that is broadcasting the sessions. (RootsTech in Tahiti? Sign me up!)

Adding on the remote locations, last year’s RootsTech had 24,300 attendees and this year’s is expected to surpass 150,000!

Well, its late and I have breakfast with Ancestry.com early in the morning. I spent too much time ranting and now have no time for proofreading. (I confess. I threw that last punctuation error in on purpose. Anything else really was because I’m not proofreading this article. Good night!)

RootsTech Proclaims Itself Largest US Conference

“The RootsTech 2014 conference, hosted by FamilySearch, has become the largest conference of its kind in the U.S., with attendees from 49 states and 21 countries,” reads an announcement from RootsTech. “Over 10,000 attendees are anticipated at the conference held February 6-8, 2014, in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the Salt Palace Convention Center.”

Local television station, KSL 5, interviewed Jen Allen of RootsTech. They published a $20 discount promo code on their website.

“Dan Martinez, RootsTech conference director, explained that most everyone, whether they realize it or not, is actually engaged in family history—sharing family stories, taking pictures, writing journal moments, capturing key events from the lives of individual family members, or doing research.”

FamilySearch and sponsor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are promoting the event heavily to the public and to its members. “Family Discover Day” and “Family Discovery Day for Youth” are free tracks focused on the LDS member audience. The cast of BYUtv’s popular Studio C will take part in the youth activities Saturday as will popular LDS youth speaker, John Bytheway. Elder Neil L. Andersen, an apostle of the Church, will keynote a devotional for youth.

Monday Mailbox: Persistent Partnership/Ownership Questions

Dear Readers,

Shirley R posted this comment on the Ancestry Insider website:

Will this transferring to Ancestry.com mean that they will have access to all and then CHARGE people to view the information? That is why I quit putting info into Family Search because it happened with another site that I had entered information. I never plan to PAY for what was freely given.

T responded with this comment,

I didn't know familysearch was incorporated with ancestry.com. When did that happen?

Dear T, What do you mean by “incorporated?”

A recurring misunderstanding in the genealogy community is the mistaken belief that Ancestry.com owns FamilySearch. That is not the case.

Perhaps you are worried about the partnership between the two. Let me address that in a moment. First, let me talk about ownership. Acquisitions have made it challenging to remember who owns whom at any given moment.

Ancestry.com has acquired RootsWeb.org, Genealogy.com, iArchives and its property Fold3.com (formerly footnote.com), We’re Related, Genline.com, Archives.com, 1000 Memories, and most recently, FindAGrave.com. Genealogy.com was a powerhouse in its day and through it Ancestry.com inherited Banner Blue’s Family Tree Maker, World Family Tree, GenForum.com, and Automated Archives’s Family Archive CD library. Ancestry.com also owns MyFamily.com and Newspapers.com websites.

Strategic partnerships further muddle the waters.

In August 2008 Ancestry.com established a strategic partnership with JewishGen. Ancestry.com now owns and operates the servers that host JewishGen.org. In exchange, Ancestry.com gets to publish many JewishGen databases. Those are available for free on Ancestry.com with its powerful search technology. If Ancestry.com has acquired enough of their content, why acquire them?

In September 2013 Ancestry.com established a strategic partnership with FamilySearch. (See “Ancestry.com Announces Extensive Partnership with FamilySearch” and “More Information on Ancestry.com/FamilySearch Agreement.”) Ancestry.com gets to publish many FamilySearch databases. In exchange, FamilySearch gets the privilege of collaborating with Ancestry.com on several projects. If Ancestry.com has acquired enough of their content, why acquire them?

Dear Shirley,

What do you mean by transferred? Information is being shared, not moved. FamilySearch has repeatedly reiterated that the content given to Ancestry.com will continue to be available and free on FamilySearch.org.

I don’t think either party has disclosed whether all FamilySearch information will be given to Ancestry.com. Given that some FamilySearch record collections are available only to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I think it is safe to say that not all FamilySearch collections will be transferred to Ancestry.com.

I don’t think they have disclosed whether or not user-contributed content will be shared, although the FamilySearch terms and conditions allow it.

They haven’t disclosed whether Ancestry.com will charge for the information, although in the past I’ve pointed out databases from FamilySearch that Ancestry.com does charge for.

I’m curious about the collaborative projects. Ancestry.com and FamilySearch collaborated on the U.S. censuses. Now for some censuses users must pay for access to images, even though FamilySearch created the images and FamilySearch volunteers helped create the indexes. I hope they won’t be doing any of those kinds of projects!

Let me talk about two other organizations.

MyHeritage owns MyHeritage.com, geni.com, FamilyLink.com, and WorldVitalRecords.com. FamilySearch and MyHeritage announced a strategic partnership back in October 2013. (See “MyHeritage Announces Partnership With FamilySearch.”)

FamilySearch and DC Thomson Family History (formerly brightSolid) announced a strategic partnership that same month. (See “FamilySearch/FindMyPast Announce Agreement.”) DC Thomson Family History owns findmypast.com, findmypast.co.uk, findmypast.co.au, findmypast.ie, 1911Census.co.uk, 1901censusonline.com, ancestorsonboard.com, ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk, British Newspaper Archive, censusrecords.com, Friends Reunited, and Genes Reunited. For information, see “FGS: Chris van der Kuyl, CEO, brightsolid.”

Signed,
--The Ancestry Insider