First Class

I taught my first Family History Sunday School class yesterday. For those that were in the class, here's a summarized review of what I was trying to share. For those that were not in the class, here's a summary of what I was trying to share.

Basic Steps
Family History for Temple Work Purposes can be divided into three steps:
1) Gather Information
2) Organize Information
3) Process Information

Process
With an attempt to "begin with the end in mind", here's what we need for and do in the "Process" step.

We are trying to take care of these items: B E P S C
B is for Baptism
E is for Endowment
P is for sealing to Parents
S is for sealing to Spouse
C is for sealing to Children

In order to do this we need the following information:
B & E: The name of the individual, male or female, an event date & place
P: Add the individual's father's name
S: The name of the husband, marriage date & place

C: This is just an indicator from the Parent's perspective that the children have been sealed to the parents. The information is taken care of from the Child's perspective.

Once we reach the "Process" step, we can see where additional information needs to be added and go back to the "Gather" step.

In the "Process" step, we also share the information with others.

Organize
There are many ways to organize genealogy. The most common tools are the pedigree chart and the family group sheet. There are other tools that can also be used. The key to organization is to pick something that works for you. Use it until you discover you need something else or until you find something else that works better for you.

I like the Ahnentafel numbering system.

Today it should be obvious that organizing information using the computer has many advantages that have not been available in the past. The computer presents its own set of problems -- picking software, understanding data, doing backups. There is also the choice (or need) to store things locally as well as online.

Gather
This step can be split into two parts: 1) Where to look & 2) What to gather.

Where

• At home
• At relatives' homes
• On the internet
• At libraries
• At government & religious institutions (including parishes, court houses, government offices, etc.)

What

• Vital records (e.g., birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, censuses)
• Military records
• Journals, personal & family histories
• Newspapers
• Books
• Photo albums
  

Summary
Naturally, this is just an overview; therefore, there are lots of details and even many whole items that have been left out. We will cover some of these details and other items in subsequent lessons.

Assignment
This is a multiple choice assignment -- choose multiple items! And, please share what you learn.

• Do something!!
• Contact one of the Family History Consultants for an in-home consultation!!!
• Visit the Family History Center
• Play with PAF
• Gather your home-based information
• Check out the Family History Religion class at BYU -- Rel261
• Try something else

Greetings

Well, I thought I would start a blog for my activities as a Family History Consultant in the Royal Park Ward. First, I thought I should explain a few things.

1) I am not (yet) an avid blogger. I created my first blog last July (2007) called code-geek and since then I have not created any entries in that blog.

2) I design and write software for a living. I've done this for more that 20 years. (I think it is about 26 years now.)

3) I am learning about family history, so "consultant" is more of a goal than an accurate description of my experience.

4) What is a "Family History Consultant" as I have used the term? This is a position or calling in the church that I belong to. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. I am by no means an official spokesman for the Church, so the things I state here are my own thoughts and explanations. I have been a member of the Church my entire life, and my family has been members of the Church for several generations, so I have what I think is a pretty good idea of what the Church is all about. Right now, though, I'm trying to explain what a "Family History Consultant" is. A position or calling in the Church is an area of responsibility that we, as members of the Church, are asked to take by our leaders. We do this on a volunteer basis. We believe that these callings come from the Lord through our leaders by inspiration by the Holy Ghost. I believe this. Therefore, when I am asked to take a calling, I do it. As a Family History Consultant my responsibility is to help others with their own family history. I should probably put some sort of link here that directs the interested reader to more information, but I currently don't know what I would link too ... and I don't know how to link a this point in time (this is my first real blog entry).

5) What is a "Ward" and what is the "Royal Park Ward"? A Ward is a geographic area in the Church presided over by a Bishop. Usually a Ward has between about 300 to 600 members. The Ward, however, includes all people whether members or not as we believe that we have a responsibility to care for all people in the Ward whether a member of the Church or not. Of course everyone has a responsibility for themselves and I think that good people everywhere care for their neighbors and friends. I think it is nice to know that there are people available and willing to help when help is needed. The "Royal Park Ward" is the Ward that I belong to. It picks its name up from the street where the church building is located.

Okay, now that I've got those short explanations in place, what is this blog about? I wanted a place that I could share my experiences and help those people in my Ward.