Familysearch.org announcement

The following is a press release issued today:

Here is some important information about a newly certified software application that will work directly with the new.familysearch.org Web site to prepare ancestral ordinances for the temple.


RootsMagic 4 is the first software affiliate product that is certified to reserve and submit ancestral names to temples to print LDS temple name cards using new FamilySearch Web services.

As an application that is certified to reserve ordinances, RootsMagic 4 has the ability to link people in your desktop genealogy file with matching people on the new.familysearch.org Web site. Once linked, a simple click on the temple icon next to a person’s name will display that person's official temple ordinances, complete with dates, temple name, and status. Incomplete temple ordinances may then be reserved to be performed at a later time. Your own file may also be updated with ordinances that are already completed. RootsMagic 4 can select reserved ordinances and print a Family Ordinance Request (FOR) form to take to the temple. Once at the temple, a worker will scan the bar code on the form and print all the desired temple name ordinance cards. Once the ordinances have been completed, RootsMagic will be updated with your ancestors’ new ordinance status.

For more product information go to: http://www.rootsmagic.com/fs/.

Ask A Genealogist

I will be participating in the Kelowna Public Library's "Ask A Genealogist" Day on Saturday 1st November 2008 in conjunction with the Kelowna and District Genealogy Society.  The library is located on Ellis Street in downtown Kelowna and everyone is welcome.  "Ask A Genealogist" hours are 9.30am to 4pm.  I will be there at least from 9.30am-12pm.

If you'd like to ask a genealogist something, then head on out to the library :)

New FamilySearch

It seems just about forever since I posted last but it's time for an update.  During the Summer I had my baby and things have been a little hectic every since.

However, I did manage to speak on LDS Resources at the Kelowna and District Genealogy Society's annual seminar.  I covered all aspects of FamilySearch including the two databases not available online (Scottish Church Records and Military Index), the FamilySearch.org web site, the Indexing project, Pilot Familysearch, Wiki Familysearch and finally New Familysearch.  To be honest, I wish the powers that be in Salt Lake City could actually come up with unique names for the different parts of the FamilySeach system, because it sure was confusing!  There were 29 registered for the session but I ended up with standing room only with 42 attendees :)

As a result of the preparation for that session I have been using New FamilySearch extensively and have made some exciting discoveries which I'll save for a separate post shortly.  Currently New Familysearch is only available to those with church membership numbers but you are able to access all the other sites mentioned abovve.

British Civil Registration Online Project Withdrawn

A while ago I reported that the Family Records Center in Islington were removing the birth, marriage and death record books as they were to be put online.  Unfortunately the project between the Family Records Center and the contractor has now been cancelled by "mutual consent".  There have been no comments as to whether a new project will be launched or a new contractor found.

It should be noted that most of these records (1837 to 1983) are already online at FreeBMD or Ancestry.  However, these are both private projects and (in theory) could be removed, and in the case of Ancestry become fee based, at any time leaving people without free access to these resources.

Rootsmagic 4

You may recall that I currently use Rootsmagic 3 for my genealogy research software. I settled on this package a while ago as it was one of two (the other being The Master Genealogist) that would export real footnootes/endnotes when compiling a book.

I am pleased to announce that Rootsmagic 4 is being released. Bruce Buzbee is blogging a series of articles about the new features in Rootsmagic 4 here.

How to create a family history book using Ancestry Press

If you haven't tried the new publishing feature at http://ancestrypress.ancestry.com/ you should try it. This tool is designed for you to produce a family history book.

You can create a tree on http://www.ancestry.com/ (set up a free account not a paid account) either by typing in the information or by using a genealogy software program such as free http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/ to export a GEDCOM file which you can then import into Ancestry. Then when you go into the publishing module you tell it to use your tree (and which one if you have more than one). You can then auto-generate a book using the information in the tree.

Books generally consist of a pedigree chart, family group records and individual timelines. However, you can add additional pages of various types as well as importing photos that you can then drag and drop onto the pages. You can also drag and drop various scrapbooking elements such as quotes, labels, journaling tags, flowers, buttons as well as choosing from a number of different background colors, textures and pictures.

When you’re done, you can either order a book or print the individual pages to your local printer for insertion into a scrapbook/ring binder. The tool is free, you only pay if you order a book (and then just the cost of book production).

New FamilySearch

For those of you that volunteer at your FHC and have signed up as Family History Consultants at http://consultant.familysearch.org/ you will now have seen an announcement that TempleReady is being replaced by something called “new FamilySearch”.

A site has been made accessible to all Church Member consultants at http://new.familysearch.org/ and you can sign up for access at that site by clicking on the Register link. You will need your membership number (11 digits) and your confirmation date. If you do not have this information please contact your Ward Membership Clerk to get it so that you can sign up.

Once you have signed up, you will fill out a profile and will then have access to the site. What you will find on the site are training materials including a video that will launch automatically (which I suggest you watch), as well as links to PDF format guide books and lessons that you can follow.

All Church members will be using the new system to prepare to take names to the temple as of the switch over. They will be able to upload gedcom files or individual names for work (note: a gedcom file can be extracted from your genealogy software – it doesn’t need to be the whole file, maybe a family or group of individuals). The system will then compare the names to those in the up-to-date temple ordinance records (like IGI but current) and only let you prepare those that are incomplete. You will then be able to reserve which names you wish to complete ordinances for (I suggest only reserving those that you think you can complete in a reasonable amount of time – otherwise you are preventing someone else from doing the work if they wish) and print something called a Temple Ordinance Request to take to the temple (no disk is required). In addition, anyone who is signed up on the system can also log in as a “helper”. This is to help other members prepare their names and I guess how we will assist others in the library (unless we encourage them to sign up with their own account).

The good news is that the system looks to be way simpler than the current system and has plenty of help options. However, we are still going to run into the existing issue of preparing a gedcom from PAF or whatever software is being used.