Weekly Family History Activities

From Come, Follow Me:

“When you climb up a ladder,” Joseph Smith taught, “you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 268).

Sometimes that ladder of exaltation seems impossibly high, but we were born to climb to the top. Whatever limitations we may see in ourselves, Heavenly Father and His Son see something glorious in us, something godlike. Just as Jesus Christ “was in the beginning with the Father,” so “ye were also” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:21, 23). Just as He “continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness,” so also “you shall receive grace for grace” (verses 13, 20).

There are so many areas of family history; therefore, there are SO many ways you could begin. However, just as in climbing a ladder, you progress by taking step after step. Whether you are new to family history or an expert, keep taking consistent steps to attain your goals.

What interests you most about family history? Is it the stories? Is it the pictures? Is it discovering new ancestors? Family history experiences are most successful when you personalize the time to what interests you most. To identify where you want to start, ask yourself what you like to accomplish or what interests you the most. If you are uncertain, here are a few suggestions:

• Upload family photos to FamilySearch.
• Add details to photos on FamilySearch.
• Add audio to photos.
• Create a fan chart.
• Find names for the temple with Ordinances Ready.
• Take a family history class.
• Bear your testimony of family history to your family and the Spirit of Elijah that can help connect you with your ancestors.

If you are new to family history, you may want to check out the following resources for ideas.

Beginner’s Path in The Family History Guide 

For Beginners at The Family History Guide helps you with computer basics, terms to know, and The Family History guide and its partners. 

Navigate: FamilySearch Project 1, Goal 1 begins the step-by-step learning system for FamilySearch.

1. Take care of the critical steps while there is still time to do so.
2. Examine your choices and decide on your goals (use small manageable steps.
3. Always re-evaluate and readjust your goals and research objectives.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:40–50

"Set in order your own house."

From Come, Follow Me:

At about verse 40, Doctrine and Covenants 93 seems to transition from teachings about God’s glory and our divine potential to instruction about parenting and putting our houses in order.

Counsel together as a family about what may not be “right in your house.” What can we do to “set in order [our] house”? (verses 43–44).

In Doctrine and Covenants 93, several of the leading brethren of the Church were commanded to set their own houses or families in order. “[Y]ou shall set in order your own house, for there are many things that are not right in your house.” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:42)

Just as you know it is important to have your own house in order so it is important to have your family tree in order. Are there things in your family tree that you could “set in order” to improve its accuracy or searchability? 

As you watch the video, note the following suggestions that Family History Fanatics gives on how you can clean up your family tree. Which ones might you use to clean up your tree?

• Standardize locations
• Edit vital information
• Delete duplicate information
• Tag Sources
• Add dates to sources timeline
• Delete unhelpful notes
• Detach incorrect sources

You may also want to review The Basic Steps in Cleaning Up the FamilySearch Family Tree by James Tanner for ideas he gives such as:

1. Carefully review every entry currently in the Family Tree for completeness and accuracy.
2. Standardize all the dates and verify and standardize all locations (i.e. places).
3. Start researching every entry (every single person) by adding any appropriate Record Hints.
4. Continue doing more research until each entry is supported by multiple historical records including source citations to those records.
5. Be sure to copy all information from the historical records into the entries for each person.
6. Resolve any potential duplicates including using the feature to look for similar names.
7. Standardize the dates and places over and over as new sources are added.

Standardizing names, places, and dates will help clean up your tree and make researching easier. Find some names, places or dates in your family tree that need to be standardized and make the corrections. 

For additional information and help, you can view these resources:

• Enter standardized dates and places into Family Tree
• More about Standard Place Names in FamilySearch Family Tree
• Add or correct a standardized place name in Family Tree 
• The Ins and Outs of Standardized Places and Dates in the FamilySearch Family Tree - James Tanner (Video-approximately 58 minutes)

“The FamilySearch system constantly searches digitized, indexed records to identify records that may match records in the FamilySearch Family Tree. When a possible match is found, FamilySearch creates a record hint.

“Record hints that match your family can provide new, important information about your ancestors, including the following:

• Additional relationships
• Additional events and facts
• More correct dates
• Name variations
• More complete place-names

“You will know that there is a record hint when you see a small blue box or icon to the right of a person’s name in the Family Tree.” (Record Hints: A Quick Way to Add to Your Family History) 

Find relatives that have record hints. Determine if these hints match what you know about your ancestor. If this new source of information refers to your ancestor, attach the record to the corresponding person page. Your Relatives Are Featured in Historical Records can help you locate some record hints if needed.

For additional information and help, you may want to view these resources:

• Use Record Hints • FamilySearch 
• Record Hints and Attaching Sources • The Family History Guide 
• How to Use "Record Hints" • FamilySearch 

Note: President Nelson encouraged us to do the following for six months, but it may be a wonderful opportunity to carry this invitation through your study of the Doctrine and Covenants this year: 

Suggestion for journaling this week: Find the promises in Doctrine and Covenants 93. Write or audio-record about their influence in your life, and share with your family.