Source Linker: Attaching a marriage hint to the spouse and in-laws

Source Hints in FamilySearch are absolutely wonderful! The historical records can help you to prove the pedigree. We just need to make sure we are attaching it to the right people, by checking the names, relationships, times and places.

Marriage records often provide new information that you will want to add to the Family Tree. And what do you do when there seems to be no matching record on the Family Tree? Often the Change focus link on the historical record (left side) or the Change focus link in Family Tree (right side) provides an easy solution. This short video illustrates the process.

To watch the video in as larger forma on Youtube, you can click here.

Screen sharing in a Zoom meeting

Our stake Temple and Family History leaders have been using Zoom for our meetings with ward and branch leaders and consultants. Zoom has the advantage of working on multiple different platforms. When helping or training someone, it is almost essential to be able to view their screen in real-time. 

(I find that this is better than FamilySearch's Help Others feature, since there is no need to check whether you are on the same screen and to keep refreshing the screen to see the changes made by the person you are helping.)

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Using Windows

I normally host my Zoom meetings on my Windows desktop computer. There, the secret is to click the little arrow to the right of the green Share Screen button
1. click Advanced Sharing Options 
2. Who Can Share
3. All Participants.

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Using an iPad

0. tap your video image
1. tap More
2. tap Meeting Settings
3. tap Allow participants to share screen
4. tap On (this is an on/off slider)
5. tap Done

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Using Android

0. tap the video image or your name

1. tap the green Share button

2. tap Screen

3, tap Start Now (if prompted)

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Using MacOS

So far, Mac users seem to have had no issues with screen sharing. Since I do not have access to a Mac, I do not know the steps involved. If you know the steps, please let me know.

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Note that large differences in screen sizes between the host and the participant can cause extra challenges, If the participant is sharing the screen of a mobile app, the host should already be familiar with the mobile app. I prefer to host on a large-screen device, if screen sharing will be involved. 

Be aware that your free Zoom account gives you unlimited time with one other person, or 40 minutes with two or more people. If the time runs out, you can restart the same meeting immediately to get another 40 minutes.

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How can I see ordinances that involve a living person?

 In FamilySearch, ordinances for living people are hidden. This means that you cannot even see your own ordinances. In fact, sealing ordinances for deceased people are hidden if they involve a living person.

For example,
When Mary looks at her own record in Family Tree, her own ordinances are not shown. This protects her privacy, even from someone she has authorized as her FamilySearch helper.

Mary can see the ordinances for her deceased husband John, except for his SS, because the spouse (Mary) is still living. (If one of John's parents was still living, his SP would also be hidden, for the same reason.)

If Mary wants to see her own ordinances, she can request a print-out called an "Individual Ordinance Summary" from her bishop or ward clerk.

Empty Tree?

 When you are helping patrons research in the FamilySearch Family Tree, this is one of the first questions you will want to ask. The answer may determine what to do next. Another good question is, "Were your ancestors members of the Church?"

As a helper, take a quick look at their tree:

1. Empty Tree - The patron and possibly their parents are the only people shown.
If you are helping a public patron, or a convert or the child of convert: Since the next generation or two will be living people, protected by privacy laws, the best sources of information will usually be the patron's family. I would usually help them to fill in what information they can remember, as a start. I would probably give them a printed pedigree chart and a few family group records to use when gathering information from family members. 

If the patron's ancestors were members, the patron just needs to add any living ancestors to build a bridge to them. See FamilySearch: When Your Family Tree Is Empty!

2. Larger Tree - Start with the procedures used with an empty tree. Then do some research. By now, we should be looking for dead people, so any records for them should be public. 

As their Consultant, teach them to use the research tools listed in Search Records on the right side of the personal pages. The FamilySearch link will search through the billions of records in our Historical Records databases. 

If the patron is a member of the Church help them to sign-up for a free account with Ancestry, findmypast, and MyHeritage, by taking them to https://www.familysearch.org/campaign/partneraccess/ These large commercial companies have billions of additional records that you can search for free. (Ask your patron to write down their account information, so it does not get lost.)

Encourage cautious optimism. Names can be tricky. The same name does not mean the same person if the times, places, and relationships disagree. Different versions of the name do not prove they are different people, if the times, places, and relationships match. (This is especially true of immigrants. Johannes Mueller from Hanover and John Miller from Germany may be the same person.) 

Living People in the FamilySearch Family Tree

Living people are handled differently than deceased people in the FamilySearch Family Tree. FamilySearch needs to protect the privacy of living people, but the records of deceased people can be made public.

This is not obvious when you look at the Tree views, although the Person views have a yellow banner. 

Records of living people can only be seen in the FamilySearch account where those records were created, 

This means that if you forget your username and password and create a new account, all of the living people you added in the first account will be hidden from the second account. Instead, use the "Forgot username or password" function on the Sign-in screen, to access your existing account..

This also means that there is no point in creating more than a minimum number of living records.

I can create records of my children and grandchildren, for my own use, but they cannot see them. 

This means that each user will see a different record for any living person, This is easily verified by the fact that they will have different ID numbers. 

For example:

My wife and I are both living. I can see myself and my wife when I look at Family Tree. She can see me and herself in Family Tree. But the records we see are different records with different ID numbers. And when our children see us in Family Tree each of them sees a different record ID for each of us. Why are there all of these duplicates? FamilySearch doesn't want duplicate records of deceased people, so why is it creating all of these duplicate records of living people? Because it guarantees the privacy of the living,

Sometimes you will want to merge duplicate records, but you are prevented from doing do, because one record is marked as Deceased and the other is marked as Living. Obviously one or the other has to be wrong. Correct the status that is incorrect, and then merge the records.

What do I do if I cannot see my ancestors, (or my spouse and my in-laws) in the FamilySearch Family Tree? 

The solution is to create records for the living people to connect you to the deceased people. Once you connect to an existing record of a deceased person, all of their deceased ancestors will be shown as connected to you.

For example:

Mary and John have been married for over a year. Mary is troubled by the fact that John and his ancestors are not shown when she looks at the Family Tree. But when John looks at Family Tree on his computer, he sees many generations of his ancestors, as well as Mary and her ancestors. John vaguely remembers that Mary's sister Amy asked if she could sign into his account as a helper. He thinks that Amy added information to his account, but he has no idea how she did it. What can they do?

They could always get help from a Temple and Family History Consultant. That's Amy's calling, and they are sure she would be glad to help. But Amy just left on a 2-week cruise.

Instead, they call the free help line 1-866-406-1830. Mary is asked to sign in her FamilySearch account. She is asked to create a new record for John. Then she is asked whether John's parents are living, They are, so Mary is asked to create new records for both of them. Mary asks if she can just add them to her tree by pasting in the ID numbers shown in John's account. She is told that those records are hidden except in John's account, and that she will need to create new records for them. The same is true of John's grandparents, except that one grandfather is deceased. The deceased ancestors can be added by ID number or by Finding them. In 15 minutes, Mary can see John and his ancestors for many generations. It was time well spent. 

This process will connect you to ancestors who are already in the FamilySearch Family Tree. It will not find those who are not in the Family Tree. That becomes a research quest for another day.

I encourage you to watch this 3-minute video, which I just found. It illustrates the process beautifully. FamilySearch: When Your Family Tree Is Empty!

How do I use the Help Others link in Family Tree?

 

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can use the Help Others link to view another person's family history information in Family Tree. Please use this tool to help someone else experience more fully the blessings of temple and family history work. While you are signed in as a helper, all changes are attributed to the person you are helping.

Before you start, please ask the other person for permission. Please do not ask for his or her FamilySearch password. Instead, you will ask for the following information:

1. The person's helper number. This is available after sign in, on the Settings page, under Account.

2. The person's FamilySearch username. (In place of the person's FamilySearch username, you can also use the person's full name and date of birth.)

Steps (website)

1. While signed in to FamilySearch, click Help Others. (This link is located in the upper right corner of most FamilySearch pages, below your name.)

2. If you know the person's username, click Username. Otherwise click Full Name.

3. Enter the requested information, and click Sign In.

Note: Some members have a helper number with a letter at the end. You must capitalize it. 

4. When you finish helping, on the right of the top green banner, click Stop Helping Others and then Stop.

Steps (mobile app)

1. Open the app. Open the main menu.

Android: Tap the 3 lines—usually in the top left part of the screen.

Apple iOS: Tap More.

2. Tap Help.

3. Tap Help Someone.

4. If you know the person's username, tap Username. Otherwise tap Full Name.

5. Enter the requested information, and tap Start.

Note: Some members have a helper number with 4 numbers and a letter at the end. You must capitalize the letter at the end.

6. When you finish helping, on the right of the top pink banner, tap Stop and then Yes.

Note: You will be able to see changes being made by the person you are helping if he or she is also using the Family Tree app at the same time you are.