FamilySearch Labs

The following is from an email I received from a friend about the new Labs tool at FamilySearch. We should all check it out. ==>

I will definitely check out the latest on Pro Tools at Ancestry. Just as soon as I tear myself away from FamilySearch labs. OMG, I’m having so much fun!

I learned about this from Randy Seaver down at the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, in whose monthly sessions I participate. Anyway, check it out.

See the attachment below. At the moment, they mostly have full-text searching for land and probate records only, but I’ve already found a number of additional land transactions from some of my ancestors in early Ohio. Yes, the AI comes up with some very creative spellings, but I’ve not found that to be a gross impediment. Can I just say that it’s way, WAY faster than trying to browse all this stuff.

If you like this new tool at FamilySearch, be sure to give them positive feedback. We want this tool to remain, and to be expanded.

https://www.familysearch.org/labs/

FamilySearch Can Find Relatives in Cemeteries

When driving by a cemetery in a strange town, go to the above URL or scan the QR Code and check to see if you have relatives there.

Monterey Family Search Center has a Library!

The Monterey Family Search Center is unique.  It not only has 9 computers that can be used for internet searching for your ancestors, but it has about 5,000 books for genealogy research.  There are other Family Search Centers in the country that are larger than this one, of course.  But if you live near the central California coast, the Monterey FSC has the largest genealogical library between here and San Francisco.  

Did you know that you can view the contents of this book collection from your home?  Go to the FamilySearch Wiki page, “Monterey California Familysearch Center”? Look under the Links paragraph and you will find Books available at Monterey FSC.  Search using PDF rules, Control F, type your search info, such as, Alaska. Yes, you can even download the file.

Click here to go directly to the file:

www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/File:Monterey_Calif_FSC_Books_list_a.pdf

This book list was created by Scott Davis with the help of Sharon Coniglio in 2023. If you were unaware of this project, it took over three months of day to day input and collaboration.

If you see some books that interest you, remember you can see them just by coming into the Monterey Family Search Center.  It is currently open Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon.

---

Genealogy Puzzles (?)

Through the years, I’ve learned a lot about the right way to do genealogy at the blog Genealogy’s Star by James Tanner.  I follow him using Feedly.  Today he had a post about errors he has found in data in the FamilySearch family tree.  He presents them in a puzzle fashion and I found myself getting a kick out of trying to find the error.  Perhaps you will find this particular post fun and informative too. 

https://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2022/06/lets-just-think-about-what-we-are-doing.html

---

Place of birth vs. Ethnicity

One of the reasons people take a DNA test is to figure out their ethnicity. That is fine, I have no problem with that. In fact, I have tested my DNA at 6-7 different places! But did you know that FamilySearch.org has a tree display option that will show you the country of birth of your direct ancestors? Yes, country of birth really is not ethnicity at all (or is it), but the price is right, and some of my grandkids think it is a great show-n-tell chart! All you need is to have built out your ancestral tree at FamilySearch to where you connect to the already-existing folks in the “one world tree”. Here is how:

Sign into FamilySearch and then open your tree. The default display mode is Landscape as shown in the upper left corner of your tree screen. Presumably you will be the focus of your tree. You can change the focus to someone else, if you wish.

Then, first click where the word Landscape originally showed and select Fan Chart. Then a drop down will appear and select Birthplace. Bingo — a colorized fan will display with a color code table signifying the Country where the ancestors were born. You can select how many generations to show.

Oh ya, you need to have filled in the Country of Birth for the ancestors that you add to the tree! That is where the genealogy research come in. I don’t have a good display for that!

Try it, you just might like it. While you are there, try the other fan chart options.

AI Genie

The dream of many genealogists is that the technology industry would create an AI module that would build the “master tree” and then all we would need to do is maintain it by adding new births.

DeepMind’s latest venture, Neural Algorithmic Reasoning, is using Google Maps as a test bed. I wish they had pointed their test routines at Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. Maybe next year?

Meanwhile, FamilySearch is not setting still. They have digitized all of their microfilms and are currently indexing the lot. The trouble has been that indexing has always depended on human volunteers. There seem to be more data than there are volunteers! People like you and me just aren’t helping.

One solution FamilySearch is developing is computer-assisted indexing using artificial intelligence. Yes, really. Read this really interesting article that appeared in my Google News feed today.

https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-10-29/computer-assisted-indexing-familysearch-records-231067

The artificial intelligence the computer uses is not perfect, and that’s where people come in. You can help the system get better by actually working on your family history at FamilySearch. Records indexed by a computer are labeled with a box in your system that reads “This record was indexed by a computer. If you find an error, click here to report it.” The AI system will learn from what you tell it.

Read the above article for more understanding. The people and the FamilySearch AI systems might be able to build the “master tree” before DeepMind gets around to it! 🙂

(The article appears to be in a LDS members only site, I am not sure how long it will remain in the public domain. If you are interested in this, I would advise you to read the article pronto.)

Microfilms in the Monterey California Family History Center

We have just added a PDF here in this blog-space that shows a list of all the microfilms that are housed here in the Monterey California Family History Center.

Even though FamilySearch is no longer making microfilms and fiche available for rent, our local Family History Center has about 5,000 “long term” films available to be viewed. Yes, some of these have been digitized and can be viewed in FamilySearch from home. But some are not. You can view and/or download the PDF file below which contains a list of the tape housed in Monterey FHC. Then, when you find a tape in your searching at FamilySearch.org, you can check here to see if we have it. If we do have it, then you can visit the center to view it.

Perhaps a few details about the report will help you use it.  Basically the report is a cross reference between the film number in FamilySearch (called SLC Number) and the film identifier here (called FHC Number).  The report is sorted in order of the SLC Number.  The PDF file is searchable.

The SLC Number is a 7 digit number, our report includes leading zeros.  Code of M means Film.  Films that start with 6 are actually Fiche. 

The FHC Number starts with ‘F-‘ followed by the state or country code.  It is used as a locator in our Library. So F-IA-25 means the 25th film in our Iowa group. 

Find the film first in Family Search. Then if you are interested in viewing the real thing, check this report to see if we have it.

If you need more help with using this report, perhaps we can create a Zoom “show-n-tell” meeting!  Ask Shelly about that.

The PDF file is in a submenu under FHC in the menu bar.  Find it here too:

Click to access mty-fhc-tapes.pdf

---

Getting FamilySearch website help

To get help from the FamilySearch website, go to FamilySearch. In the upper right hand corner, there is a “Get Help” (a little circle with a question mark in it) icon. Clicking on “Get Help” will produce a drop-down box listing the various ways to find answers to questions and links to “Contact us“. “Contact us” includes Call Us, Live Chat, Send Message or Finding Local Help.

For those who only want to make a quick voice call: Family History Customer Service 1-866-406-1830

---

There are also new Virtual Research Strategy Sessions available where you can get guided help for research questions which are 20 or 40 minutes sessions via ZOOM with a FamilySearch Research specialist. Genealogical research strategy sessions are free, virtual meetings designed to provide you with research guidance, methodology, and next steps.

Read more here: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Virtual_Research_Strategy_Sessions

---

There is always the Family History Guide for free online self training:  https://thefhguide.com/index.html

---

“In theory I’m anti crastination, but in practice I find I’m often pro.” – Nicholas Gruen

---

Questions

A couple of questions popped up this week. I could guess answers, but I would prefer to tease the group with them and get better answers in the process.

First question:
Two people are DNA matches at Family Tree DNA. Not close cousins, but real matches. They also are experienced users of Family Search and have placed themselves into the “one world” tree. They do not know how they are related. All communication has been by email. They have tried to discover their relationship by using the “View My Relationship” function from within the Person View of various “most recent common ancestors” on both sides. But it never works. Could it work? Should it work? Why won’t it work?

Second question:
Two men are Y-DNA matches on the Big-Y test out at a Genetic Distance of 9 (8 STR differences out of 389) level. In the Yfull tree, they “connect” 950 years ago. But, they do NOT match autosomally. Could they? Should they? Why not?

New question:
Can Family Search be used, generally, to solve these tree building exercises needed to bring DNA matches together? Specifically, can Family Search be used to connect the guys in the 2nd example?  We always use Ancestry.com and Thrulines to connect the dots, but if people cooperate, would the “View My Relationship” at Family Search be a better way? Just an idea….

---

More free genealogical classes and webinars

Speaking of FREE classes and webinars about genealogical research, did you realize that Familysearch.org has lots of them and they are all free!

The webinars are broadcast using Zoom. There are many classes available, look for the October and November schedules by clicking on the link below.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Family_History_Library_Classes_and_Webinars

Train yourself, then train others. If you help someone in your family learn to do genealogy, their fresh eyes can help you flesh out your shared tree!

“Would you go to someone’s funeral who didn’t go to yours?”