The Autumn 2022 Stake Family History Update

Welcome to the the Autumn Stake Family History Training. Below are a number of news items and resources for you and your ward to use. If you are new to your calling or this blog, you may want to scroll down even further to see the other news items and resources highlighted this year. The main news items for this autumn are:

• Our Area Temple and Family History Advisors, Don and Marsha Sparhawk, have provided information on creating a 2023 Ward Temple and Family History Plan.
• There are a number of updates from FamilySearch and other Church organizations. Some of these are already operational. Others are being rolled out and will be coming soon to our area. Keep scrolling down to see all the new resources.
• Ideas for activities, including a long list of ideas for incorporating temple and family history activities into your Christmas celebrations this year.

If you would like to share ideas for activities or report on successes in your ward that would inspire others, please contact Heather Cromar (Cedar Point Ward - cromarh@byui.edu). 

 

Time to Create a Ward Temple and Family History Plan for 2023

 

As the end of the year is fast approaching, it is important for each ward to prepare to create a new Temple and Family History Plan for 2023. This could be an update of the 2022 plan or it could be an entirely new plan based on the needs of your ward. 

Don and Marsha Sparhawk, our Area Temple and Family History Advisors recently sent out the following information that may help with this task that I've been asked to pass along. 

They shared:  

 As we approach the end of another year, this is an excellent time to write a new Temple and Family History Plan for 2023. As we have visited with church leaders in the Rexburg Coordinating Council area, we have learned that some wards are struggling with developing a Temple and Family History Plan for their ward. We thought it would be helpful to share ideas for Ward Plans. If you would be willing to share your Ward Plan, please send it to us, and we will email it to everyone on our mailing list. (sparhawkd@byui.edu)

While visiting a church building in Sugar City recently, we saw a 2022 Ward Temple and Family History Plan posted on the bulletin board in the hall. We were struck by two things: (1) its simplicity and (2) it was posted in a public place for all ward members to see. We were later told that each family in the ward had been given a copy of the ward plan. Attached is a copy of this ward plan by the Teton Island Ward (Sugar City Stake):

Short Church Video about Creating a Ward Plan

There is a new 3-minute video called “Helping Members Gain the Vision” that discusses developing a Ward Temple and Family History Plan. Here is the link to the video. 

 Examples of a Ward Temple and Family History Plan

In his instruction during the 2019 Temple and Family Leadership Instruction meeting, Elder Dale G. Renlund gave examples of what a plan might address:

• Involving the ward’s 10- and 11-year-old children in temple and family history service.
• Encouraging children and youth to qualify for and use a limited-use recommend at the   appropriate age.
• Involving every new convert in temple and family history service.
• Encouraging new converts to obtain and use a limited-use recommend.
• Helping ward members enter the first four generations of their family into the FamilySearch Family Tree.
• Helping specific individuals prepare for the temple (as assigned by the bishop).
• Encouraging temple attendance without establishing quotas or reporting systems. 

Here’s what the Church Handbook states about a Ward Temple and Family History Plan:

Chapter 25.2.6 - Ward Temple and Family History Plan

Each ward should have a simple temple and family history plan. This plan helps ward members, including children and youth, participate in family history work and prepare to worship in the temple as often as their circumstances allow.

The Elders Quorum and Relief Society presidents help the ward council develop the plan. The ward temple and family history leader also helps. In developing the plan, they:

• Consider available needs and resources.
• Identify actions to take during the year.
• Determine how to implement the plan and make assignments accordingly.
• Examples of what the plan might include are listed below:

• Help members build their family trees on FamilySearch.org or with the FamilySearch Tree app (see 25.4.2).
• Involve new and returning members, youth, and children in family history work.
• Help specific members prepare to receive temple ordinances.
• The bishop reviews and approves the plan. Members of the ward council take the lead in implementing it. They report on progress in ward council meetings. They also update the plan as needed.

Ideas for a "White" Christmas

 

The goal of having a "White" Christmas (picture individuals dressed in white to complete ordinances), has been around for a long time. This may be an activity or goal you would like to create with your ward, either as an entire ward, as a group (Elder's Quorum, Relief Society, Youth), or as a family. You may also choose this Christmas to encourage participation in other areas of family history and temple work. 

Here are some ideas:

• One ward set this as a goal and decorated a tree with ornaments symbolizing each ordinance completed. You can read more here.
• Give the gift of temple work to just one of your immediate relatives. Here is an inspiring story of a very young boy in the Philippines who came to the temple at Christmas to do work for his father. You can also read this story from the New Era. 
• Give the gift of family history to your own family members. This could be scrapbooks, digitized photos, copies of important family documents, and so forth. Here are some ideas from Legacy Tree Genealogists.
• Participate in family and cultural traditions. This could include eating traditional food, participating in traditional holiday activities (such as lighting advent candles), putting on a nativity play with the children or grandchildren, and so forth. Share with the younger members of the family the reasons your family participates in these activities at Christmastime. Here are articles from the Ensign and from the FamilySearch Blog that share other ideas. 

       

 

• Visit one or more of the Christmas displays at the area temples. Here is information about the Christmas activities at Temple Square this year. 
• Create a Family History Advent Calendar. This could include participating in traditional family activities, making memories, indexing names for FamilySearch as a family, attending the temple, creating family history gifts, making ornaments as a family, watching old home movies, and so forth. 
  

  
  
  
  
• Enjoy a family reunion. Share stories of your ancestors and create new memories. Record interviews with family members and post them in the "Memories" section of FamilySearch. 

Build the FamilySearch Tree with the 5-a-Day Project

 

FamilySearch has partnered with the BYU Record Linking Lab for a number of years to create tools to make it easy for individuals to help build the FamilySearch tree by linking records to existing people in the tree or to even create new individuals that are not currently in the tree. Their program uses the already existing record-linking tool in FamilySearch that many of you have been using for a number of years to link records to your own ancestors. 

Several of these projects have targeted minorities and other underrepresented groups such as the 1910 US Census project to grow the number of blacks in the tree or the two recent projects to add records from WWII Japanese internment camps to the tree. This will help those using FamilySearch for the first time have a greater chance of finding their deceased ancestors already in the tree. 

Their new program focuses on letting people sign up to help by participating for just a few minutes per day with their 5-a-day hint email. When you sign up, you will be sent 5 hints or links to the record-linking tool that will let you link records in the tree. This would be a great project for beginning to intermediate researchers who just have a few minutes a day to help build the tree. If you need help starting this activity in your ward, you could get training from Heather Cromar (Cedar Point Ward). The link to the sign-up form is here.

Access Premium Research Sites at a Family History Center

 If you are at a FamilySearch family history center and are connected to the center’s WiFi, when you visit the record search page, you may see this banner underneath the header:

The Download link takes you to this article in the Help Center:

“How do we use the FamilySearch center premium content browser extension?”

These research sites include:

• 19th Century British Library Newspapers
• Alexander Street
• Social and Cultural History--Personal accounts of well-known historical figures.
• The American Civil War—Letters and Diaries
• The American Civil War—Images, Photographs, Posters, and Ephemera
• Women and Social Movements in the United States
• American Ancestors
• Ancestry Institution
• ArkivDigital --Swedish Church Records and other historical records.
• British Newspaper Archive
• FamNet -- The online family history network for those who have New Zealand roots.
• Findmypast - The premiere British research site. 
• Fold3
• Geneanet -- The first site dedicated to genealogy in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany.
• Irish Ancestors
• MyHeritage Library Edition
• NewspaperArchive
• Puzzilla

 

New Home Page Features on FamilySearch

 

There are a few new features in the redesigned FamilySearch home page that may help you and your ward members have a better experience. If you want to try out the new home page, push the slider in the upper right box to the right. 

One of the new features is the All Collections Search, a powerful new tool that will allow you to search all resources (Family Tree, Records) with a single search. Trying out this tool with some of your own ancestors may help you become familiar with it so you can assist ward members in using it to meet their own research goals.

Ordinances Ready is Now on the Logged-In Home Page

 

You may have already noticed this feature as it was rolled out in early September, but it may be helpful to show this to ward members who enjoy using FamilySearch on their home computers and laptops rather than their phones. The placement on the home page will allow all users easy access to this key feature. 

FamilySearch Has Updated the Person Pages

 

FamilySearch has been working on a redesign for some time and the new pages can be accessed by clicking on the link in the upper right corner of the old pages (see below). Some of the new features, as seen in the top picture, include a timeline on the right-hand side of the "About" page accessed from the toolbar just under the main header. This feature includes not only events recorded in the data sections, but it also contains historical events that give background and context to an ancestor's life. 

Clicking on the "View With Map" link at the bottom of the timeline section will bring up a map that will show the location of the events. 

This autumn may be a good time to become familiar with the new pages. Beginning in early 2023, the old pages will disappear completely. 

FamilySearch Has Added a New Feature Called "Other Relationships"

 

This autumn, FamilySearch released a new feature called “Other Relationships.” It allows you to record many types of non-familial relationships, such as those arising from slavery or other associations such as neighbors and employers. You can also use it to record family members for whom you do not yet know the exact relationship when there is a gap in the family tree. The “Other Relationships” section is below the family relationships section.

"Other Relationships" is a powerful tool to help with some types of research. According to FamilySearch, here are some great uses for this new tool:

"1. Slavery. Unique identification of people is important in genealogical research. For enslaved persons, the identity of slaveholders is important in differentiating one person from another.

2. Cluster migration. Historically, people did not migrate very far alone. People from church congregations, neighborhoods and extended families often moved together or in succession.

 

3. FAN Club. Elizabeth Shown Mills coined the name FAN club as a mnemonic for collaterals of elusive ancestors who you should be researching: friends, associates, and neighbors. Researching your ancestor’s FAN club can lead to records and evidence about your ancestor that might otherwise go undiscovered. AKA Collateral or cluster research."

For more information about Other Relationships, in the Help Center see “What is the Other Relationships feature in Family Tree?”

New Temple Cards

The cards produced by FamilySearch for us to take to the temple change periodically, and in 2022, there has been a small update to the look of the card. It is just slightly smaller with a QR code rather than a bar code and a different font. Otherwise, the rest of the elements will seem familiar. 

Susa Young Gates and the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead

The Church website has a number of entries and articles on family history and temple work. One that you may find inspiring is this article on Sister Gate's unique opportunity to speak with President Joseph F. Smith and read his remarkable vision prior to it being published Church-wide.

Here is some context that may feel familiar:

When she visited President Smith that night in November 1918, Susa had recently been reminded of the widespread lack of enthusiasm for family history work. Members of the Relief Society general board had nearly voted to discontinue genealogy lessons. “I have had to take the part of the genealogical work against all others,” she wrote in one letter. She had barely succeeded in preserving it as part of the curriculum. At the October 1918 Relief Society conference, stake leaders reported that the genealogy lessons were too difficult. They suggested that the lessons be “simplified” and “emphasis placed on the spiritual rather than on the educational side of this study.” Susa assured them that the recently published Surname Book and Racial History would help make the lessons more accessible. But she had long insisted that the spiritual and the practical dimensions of genealogy were complementary. “All the desired inspiration in the world will not save our dead,” she declared. “We must also have information in order to consummate that noble work.” She labored on, making every effort to provide both information and inspiration to her fellow Saints.

And here is her reaction to the vision:

Susa’s description of the vision highlighted the aspects she found most compelling: “In it he tells of his view of Eternity; the Savior when He visited the spirits in prison—how His servants minister to them; he saw the Prophet and all his associate Brethren laboring in the Prison Houses; Mother Eve & her noble daughters engaged in the same holy cause!” Long an advocate for women’s causes, Susa rejoiced at the specific mention of women in the revelation, grateful “to have Eve and her daughters remembered.” And she rejoiced in the revelation’s affirmation of the work on behalf of the dead. “Above all,” she wrote, “to have this given at a time when our Temple work and workers & our genealogy need such encouragement. No words of mine can express my joy and gratitude.”

You may read the entire article on the website.