Help!

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

FamilySearch sent me an email this past week, and I thought it might be a great subject to help us on our FamilySearch project.  The subject of the email was “Help”.

As we research our ancestors we can run into roadblocks.  Our Savior, Jesus Christ, has told Joseph Smith that the things he was going through would “give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.”  The same applies to us.  All the frustrations, roadblocks and seemingly closed information doors will help us as we grow in our family history research. 

The good news?  We have Help!

The email I received lists several helps for us.  Brother May and I would like to add others that we have experienced as we have progressed on our family history trails.

My great-great grandfather, Albert Henry Taylor, was born in 1829 in Bedford County, Virginia and married at age 30 in the same county. He was a Quaker.  I had not been able to find any record of parents for him and he is not listed on any census records that I had been able to find before the year of 1850. 

Extensive research has given me the fun notion that he was just dropped by the stork and grew up on his own to adulthood.  What kind of help do I have available to sort this out and find out who his parents were?  The Lord has provided the following:

ü  FamilySearch Help Center.  Open your FamilySearch account.  You can access the Help Center by clicking on the question mark in the circle in the upper right hand corner of the home screen.  It will give you several ways to search – by Topic, by link, by Social Media.

ü  FamilySearch Community.  This is included in the Help Center.  When you click on Community, a new screen will appear with several links including:  Tips and How to Join a Group and Where to ask a question.  You can post your question(s) and the community can help you with your research. Since we do not always know who is working on our family tree (from their own reference point) this is a great resource.

ü  Contact FamilySearch. Click on the Contact Support link and you will see a page with hours of operation and many, many languages!  Choose the language you would like to use and call the FamilySearch support office.  This is a free service and they are very helpful.

ü  Contributors. When you are in FamilySearch or other family history programs, you may see links to other contributors.  They have added, changed or removed information from your ancestor’s page.  You can click on the link attached to their name and ask them for help in your research.  I come from a very small family and finding these contributors has been a wonderful experience.  In this way, I have not only added information to my family tree, but have found living relatives.  The programs Brother May and I use most often are FamilySearch and Find-A-Grave.  The people who contribute to these programs are usually very helpful. 

ü  Patience.  Don’t Give Up! This seems like an unlikely help, but it does help us with our family history.  Remember Albert Henry Taylor?  My mother and I had been working on this line for more years than I can tell and had not gotten farther back than his birth.  However, through the help of the resources above, I now have his direct line back to 1626. 

ü  Knee-mail.  This is the most powerful resource we have.  Heavenly Father has commanded us to gather Israel and link our families together in one eternal chain.  He is there to help us when we call on Him. 

As you gather your family, we can help too.  Even if all we can do is pray with you, I promise it will bring great blessings in your research for your ancestors.

Have an amazing week!  Brother and Sister May