Family History is Fun!

 Dear Brothers and Sisters, When I woke up this morning I saw a new email from FamilySearch titled “Discover Your Faithful Ancestor”.  Curious who that might be, I opened it and found that a 1 st Cousin Five Times Removed was in Nauvoo and traveled through Winter Quarters with the Saints.  This may be a bit common-place for many of you, but for me it is exciting.  When my mom, sister and I joined the church in 1962, we were the only LDS in our family. I believed we were 1 st generation LDS until about 4 years ago!  Now I am discovering so many of my ancestors were among those faithful Saints who helped spread the gospel and fought for religious freedom in the early years of the Church.  I love these stories and cannot wait to meet these family members.  Stories bring us closer to those who are still living today and to those who have passed away, such as my newly discovered 1 st cousin, Orilla Crandall (1803-1852).  When we add stories to FamilySearch, we are helping someone els

 Dear Brothers and Sisters, As I re-read the blog from last week about eating the elephant one bite at a time, I realized I had posted a “Guy Fieri-size” bite!  (If you have watched Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on TV you understand the reference.  He takes MONSTER bites when he is sampling food!).  So, for the next few weeks, we will break it down to smaller, more petite bites.  Today we will start with Memories and just discuss Photos and Documents.  This seems like a simple bite but it can be a whopper if you have never uploaded photos.  We take a lot of photos with our phones and cameras, but do they ever get transferred to the computer?  There are several ways to accomplish this bite. I am not technologically expert but I try to transfer my photos to my computer on a regular basis.  Here are some tips I know about. If you want to save the photos to your computer, then use them to include in FamilySearch, set up your photo files on your computer if you have not already done

   Dear Brothers and Sisters, Each Sunday I receive at least one email from FamilySearch about a record found, a relative’s birthday coming up, a recent change in a record made by someone else who is working on some of my relatives, etc.  As the family tree grows, keeping up with it can be overwhelming!  It is like the big Family History Elephant in the room! However, when I was growing up, I was taught the adage, You eat an elephant one bite at a time.  So this week’s “blog” is about some simple things we can do with our families to eat our family history elephants….. one bite at a time! As you go onto Family Search, open up the page of the closest relative to you who has passed away.  It could be a grandparent, a parent, a child, or aunt, uncle or cousin.  Here are some “little bites” you and your family can do for that person: Details: 1.        Check the Details.   Are all the dates and places listed in the standard manner or do they have a red ! by them.  Are they com

  Dear Brothers and Sisters,    I have been impressed to start a weekly “blog of sorts” to help our ward do Family History.   When Brother May and I were first called as Consultants, we posted a little note in the weekly bulletin on Sundays and had a monthly Family History Challenge for our ward.   I miss that opportunity to inspire you and your families to do family history and, to tell you the truth, I have been wondering how to get going again.   The answer to my prayers came in this month’s LDS Living Magazine.   An ad caught my eye.   It showed an old photo of a family and had the words:   “Can you hear us?   We need your help.”   Then in the body of the ad it stated:   “We are your family, your ancestors from the past.   We are on the other side and need your help.   The records of our lives need to be found and submitted for saving ordinances. You may have felt our promptings to act.   In fact, you may feel it now as you read this.”    I felt it.   So I am acting…….   When I