Service Opportunities Available

Two service opportunities were found this weekend.

1. Findagrave community weekend. Join the findagrave community at your local cemetery October 7-9. Take pictures of open photo requests or help photograph memorials with no gravestone picture. If you want to participate become a member of findagrave (free membership) and you will have access to join in the fun.

2. Help a new cemetery site (namesinstone.com) map your local cemeteries. This is a great website, it takes findagrave one step farther and puts a map of the people around them.

These two opportunities would be great family, ward, youth, or scouting projects. We hope you will check into one or both events and start giving back to the genealogy community.

Which Document is Correct?

The marriage of Robert Melekian and LaVenda Healy was searched for and found in Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan.

The marriage was found, what more did I need to do. However, I was looking through newspapers in Michigan, and the thought came to me; look in surrounding states for more information about Robert Melekian. In a newspaper in Garrett, Indiana, a license of marriage was found for the year 1932.

The marriage certificate above is for 1934, so were they engaged for two years? I did a little bit of poking around and found a marriage certificate for Robert Melekian and LaVenda Healy in DeKalb, Indiana in 1932.

There are two marriage dates, two marriage certificates found. Two sets of marriage licenses are found proving they are the exact same person. Why would there be two documents for two separate years? Which do you use? What could have hapened? Too many questions come to mind. Any suggestions?

Family History Library Block Party

The Family History Library  in Salt Lake City is hosting a block party. This party will be on Saturday June 11 from 10 am to 2 pm. There will be a lot of free outdoor and indoor events for the entire family. If you would like more information you will find it at FHL Block Party

Save the Date

Memorial Day gives each of us a moment to remember those who have served this great country. Many of us have members of our family who gave up parts of their lives in order to help our country remain free. Sitting on my desk is a picture of two brothers before they headed off to war. One in the Air Force as a bombardier and the other in the Marine Corp as a paratrooper.

Our family was one of the lucky ones and got both brothers back in one piece. Even though they came back physically, they were forever changed by this experience of fighting for their country. They did not share many stories about their time in the military, but there was one in an autobiography which has impacted my life.

As a part of the Air Force, he was fighting with his unit on Iwo Jima trying to neutralize Mount Suribachi. They were fighting the enemy on their front, but had to worry about the snipers at their rear. This continued on for days, until, "Then on D-day plus 4 we saw it! The stars and stripes flew on top of Suribachi. What a glorious sight! Some shouted, some wept, some prayed to thank God for His help. All rejoiced at the sight of that tiny flag a top on iron pipe signaling a great psychological as well as tactical victory. Now we could keep our faces pointed north and concentrate on the enemy strength which lay ahead without worrying about the sniping action from the rear." Seeing this tiny American Flag flying in a far away country, brought overwhelming feelings to their hearts. They understood what this flag represents, and they gained strength from it. Reading this story, helped shape how I view the flag, and this country. How grateful I am for those who have fought to help each one of us keep our freedoms intact.

Take a moment today to look through your genealogy and find someone who has helped make this country a great place to live.

Happy Memorial Day!

Save the World's Records

FamilySearch has created a new indexing event for this summer. July 15-17 will be seventy-two hours of indexing. Be sure to join this team of people from around the world, trying to make valuable records available online. In order to join this team follow this link. The Worlds Records 

You can also find more about this event on Facebook Worldwide indexing event 2016 and Twitter #TheWorldsRecords

After you have joined this event, please invite your friends and family to become a part of this great team too.

Hidden Treasure on FamilySearch

While I was at the family history library in Salt Lake City, I saw a tour in progress. They were in the midst of telling those on the tour, that a goal of FamilySearch is to make it possible for everyone in the world that has access to a computer, will have access to records for their family. At the time that I heard this, I thought it was really cool, but was somewhat skeptic on how this was going to be possible. However, through the years, since this encounter, I have seen many miracles with the accomplishment of this worthy goal.

Many records have been made available on familysearch.org. However, you might not know how to access all of them. If you go through the records under the search tab, you will notice a lot of records available for our use. According to the numbers on familysearch, there are 2,099 databases for countries around the world. This is amazing! However, if you are only using this you are missing out on a lot of records that have been made available for our use.

Here are the steps to get to these valuable resources...

1. Click on FamilySearch Catalog

2. Type in the area you want to research in. When searching in the catalog, you want to write your search area like this ... Country, State, County.

 3. Pick the category that fits your research. For example you might want to find a birth, marriage or death record, so your category would be vital records.

4. Pick the database that includes the years you are looking for.

5. Scroll down to the Film notes, and look for a camera icon. This means that the film has been put online, but does not have an index. You will have to look through this film as  if you are on a microfilm reader.

This has become one of my favorite parts of the FamilySearch website. It has been so much fun to have these records at the tip of my fingers. FamilySearch is doing great things. Make sure you don't miss out on all of the resources on this great website.

Happy Searching!

AM I Married?

As I was researching this past week, this situation arose. On the 1910 United States Census, it was found that the marriage between Charles Figg and Elizabeth Hall was her second marriage. Elizabeth had a son from this first marriage named Albert Hall. Albert was found in the 1925 Iowa State Census, where his parents were listed as William Hall and Elizabeth Wright.

A marriage record was searched for the William and Elizabeth. The following is the document I found:

William Henry Hall and Lizzie Wright, Iowa County Marriages, 1838-1934, FHL Film Number 1003361 item # 3, page 248.

The only information that is recorded on this document is the license date 11 December 1883. There is a place for the marriage to be recorded, but it was left blank.

Here are a two documents that were found, which also state she was married to someone before Charles Figg...

1. 1885 Iowa Census shows her in the household of her mother, and she was listed as a widow. Albert is also in this household.

Lizzie Hall in household of Ruhanna Wright, Muscatine, Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa; citing p. 111, 1885, State Historical Society, Des Moines; FHL microfilm 1,020,168.

2. In the marriage between Elizabeth and Charles, her surname was Hall Wright. Her father was Wilson Wright and Ruhuma Hall.

Family History Library Film Number 1003492 page 98.

Can Elizabeth really be married without an actual marriage date? If not where can I continue my search for a marriage between Elizabeth Wright and William Henry Hall?

Great Classes Available Online

If you are like me and you could not fit Rootstech into your schedule this year, you can still catch up with some of the classes they had in Salt Lake. If you go to rootstech.org and click on "watch all sessions," you will see what sessions are available. As I was looking through the list of videos, I made a list of ones I want to watch...

1. Closing Death Records: Silver Bullet or Dead End
2. Using the Genealogical Proof Standard for Success
3. Best Websites & Apps for Finding Local History
4. Scottish Genealogy - Finding People (I have elusive Scottish ancestors, and can use all the hints in finding them as I can get)
5. Proven Methodology for Using Google for Genealogy
6. Homespun & Calico: Finding Our Foremothers
7. A Digital Treasure: PERSI and Your Family History
8. My Ancestors Are from Britain - What do I do Next?
9. Family History in a Digital Future
10. Become a Master Searcher on Ancestry (You can never know too much about a website)
11. Cemetery Crowdsourcing
12. Finding Elusive Records on FamilySearch.org

If the classes on my list, do not interest you, there are at least 14 other options for you to choose from. I am very excited to catch up on the latest information in the genealogy field. There is so much to learn, now I have to find the time to do the learning. Good luck!

Braving the Boxes

Have you ever been given a box or multiple boxes and you just did not know what to do with it? In the boxes there are so many different documents, photos, and other treasures about your ancestors, but they are hidden by the pure amount of stuff in the box. You have to put forth work in order to find the treasures that are in the boxes.

One of the best pieces of advice that I got tonight about how to work with these boxes was organize first and glean family history information later. Too many times we want to read through each piece of paper first as we are going, but if we organize it and then went through small portions, it will help us feel like we are accomplishing a lot.

 Here are a few guidelines we were given tonight...
1. Choose a specific time to work on your family history - you have to set aside a time or you will never get to the work you want to accomplish.
2. Gather supplies needed - put them into one place that no one can touch so you are not hunting for your supplies each time you sit down to do research.
3. Sort your box out by family first - Put documents together by the surname of the individuals.
4. Sort by individuals within the family - Start separating them out according to the different names you find.
5. Sort by date or time period of record - a few different ways you could do this would be by child, youth and adults. You can also do it by different periods (specific years, events in history, etc)
6. Make digital copies to share on FamilySearch - Do not just keep the information you find to yourself, make it available for other people to learn about their family too.

Here are some hints of things you might want to save...
1. handwritten notes
2. copies of correspondence
3. Books, articles, magazines that pertain to your research
4. If you feel something is important - keep it - You might not know why you feel it is important, but the answer will eventually be made known to you.

Remember that your inherited boxes should be a blessing a not a burden. Find the joy that will come when you find the treasures about your family members.

Thank you Diana Harmon and Alison Krutsch for the knowledge you shared with us.