My Mormon Ancestor

We're so excited to show off some more details about our new books.  Today we are going to focus on the "My Mormon Ancestor" Activity Book.

First I have to give another big thank you to my sister Amy Slade for her help with this book.  Also, many more great thanks to Erin Roudabush, Michelle Phillips and Christine Fazulyanov for their assistance in making this book happen.

You can take a look at the entire Table of Contents in our preview on the Zap The Grandma Gap website. 

With the “My Mormon Ancestor Activity Book” you can:

· Plan an Ancestor Family Home Evening
· Learn about Priesthood Line of Authority and how to trace it
· Find the Patriarchal Blessings of your ancestors
· Complete a temple dot-to-dot
· Document the church service and callings of your ancestors
· Gather information on your family’s missionaries
· Record information about the first LDS members of your family
· Make a handkerchief doll for church

Look at some of these pages:

These books make wonderful gifts for the holidays. Take advantage of the pre-release sale, 20% off all books at zapthegrandmagap.com, till November 30, 2014 and they will arrive in time for Christmas. Other great online and print resources to help families connect to each other by connecting to their past can be found at zapthegrandmagap.com.

My Pioneer Ancestor

We're so excited to show off some details about our new books.  Today we are going to focus on the "My Pioneer Ancestor" Activity Book.

First I have to give a big thank you to my sister Amy Slade (who just had a baby!) for her help with this book.  Also great thanks to Erin Roudabush, Michelle Phillips and Christine Fazulyanov for their assistance in making this book happen.
 

You can take a look at the entire Table of Contents in our preview on the Zap The Grandma Gap website. 

With the “My Pioneer Ancestor Activity Book” you can:

 ·Map out the pioneer route of your ancestors
· Decide what you would pack for a journey across the plains
· Learn how to find direction by the sun
· Compare your day to the day in the life of your ancestor
· Try classic pioneer recipes
· Write a Pony Express letter to a pioneer ancestor
· Play a game about the risks along the trail
· Contrast pioneer schools and modern schools

 

Look at some of these pages: 

 

This book will arrive in time for Christmas gift giving if you order now. Take advantage of the pre-release sale, 20% off all books at zapthegrandmagap.com, until November 30, 2014. Excerpts from all of the books can be viewed on the website at zapthegrandmagap.com/brandnewbooks. Other great online and print resources can be found at zapthegrandmagap.com
to help families connect to each other by connecting to their past.

This post crossposted to blogspot.zapthegrandmagap.com

Ancestral Quest releases new version

With the change that has come in the new FamilySearch API, the software developers have had to release updates to continue to function with the database. If you are LDS and using the new FamilySearch database, keeping your software updated is really important right now so that it will continue to work.

Today, Gaylon Findlay sent me a press release on his new version:
Update for New FamilySearch and News on AutoMatch.

Incline Software released a new update of Ancestral Quest on March 29, 2010 (12.1.23).

New.FamilySearch.Org Access. For users who work with New FamilySearch (NFS), this is a critical update, as it allows you to continue to work with NFS after the changes that were implemented by FamilySearch on 3/29/2010. Users who do not access NFS will find a couple of minor enhancements – like the addition of the display of Age at Marriage and Age at Death on the Family View. This is a free upgrade for all users of AQ 12.1 – simply download and install the new build.

This new release of Ancestral Quest (AQ) takes advantage of new methods provided by FamilySearch for AQ to work with NFS, so that users will find that most functions are now faster. One exception to this is working with notes and sources – users of AQ will still be able to view the notes and sources stored in the NFS records as they have in the past, but FamilySearch slowed this part of the process down in order to speed up everything else. AQ also allows users to transfer their notes right out of their PAF or AQ database directly into the records of NFS.

60-Day Free Trial. Ancestral Quest provides full access to all features of the program for 60 days. If you are evaluating AQ, you can download the new version and continue using it for free until your 60 days have expired. If you haven’t yet given AQ a try, you can download your free trial copy from www.ancquest.com.

Updating. To update, users should follow these steps:

1) Run AQ, go to the “Internet” menu, and select “Check for Latest AQ Release”. Your Internet browser should take you to the download page for the new build.

2) Exit AQ.

3) On the download page, select the option to run the “Basic” installer and run the installer.

That’s it! You may want to verify that the install was successful by running AQ, accessing the “About AQ” screen from the Help menu, and check that you are running AQ 12.1.23.

AutoMatch. Ancestral Quest was the first genealogy program to be certified to Syncronize with New FamilySearch, and received the 2009 FamilySearch Software Award for Most Comprehensive Syncing. One of the many impressive features for which AQ received this award was its ability to auto match. When Incline Software released AQ 12.1 in July of 2008, it included a feature called “Link/Sync/Upload Groups.” For a couple of years, AQ has been the only desktop application with the ability to automatically match large groups of your local records with New FamilySearch. You can choose to match your entire database, or select just a branch of your family tree. Over the years, users have enjoyed the ability to quickly match and link tens of thousands of records using this ability. Once AQ has completed the matching process on your defined group, it provides you with a list of all the matched records – you can choose to complete the process and link them all with a couple of clicks of the mouse, or you can spend time reviewing the list and verifying the matches individually before completing the link. AQ’s Group Link/Upload is also useful in a couple of other ways:

1) During the auto matching process, it identifies any records with duplicates on NFS, which allows you to quickly combine duplicate NFS records before syncing those records with your own records.

2) After you have linked the matching records, you can review the list of records that didn’t match. With a couple of mouse clicks, you can select all these records and upload them to NFS. They will be linked together in families on NFS just as they are in your local file. This feature can be used in lieu of importing GEDCOM files to NFS, with one obvious advantage – it performs the auto matching of records before the upload, so you will only upload records to NFS that are not already there – this avoids creating additional duplicates on NFS.

Ancestral Quest’s Group Link feature continues to provide the most comprehensive auto match capability of any desktop application.

Review of Ancestral Quest’s Other New FamilySearch Features.

* Match records individually – in addition to the auto match, you can match any individual, one at a time if you prefer.

* Match families – as you review a linked person, you can see family members in your local file and compare this with family members as recorded on NFS. For any matching family members, simply link them. For family members that are only in either your database or the NFS database, you can quickly add them to the other database so that both databases will match.

* Exchange data between your local file and NFS – you can download names, dates, places, individuals and families from NFS to your local file. You can upload names, dates, places, individuals and families from your local file to NFS.

* View notes and sources stored on NFS. You can copy and paste notes directly from your local file to NFS, and you can copy and paste notes from NFS records directly to your local records. You can also view the NFS sources while comparing your local records with their corresponding NFS records.

* PAF users will find that AQ can directly open their PAF file just as if it were PAF, and move data between the PAF file and NFS. AQ is the perfect bridge between PAF and NFS, and is a FamilySearch Certified PAF Add-In, as well as a complete application that can replace PAF.

* Import family lines. NFS does not have the ability to export data. Ancestral Quest can import as many generations as you like from NFS directly into a PAF or AQ database, including LDS ordinance information.

* Reserve LDS ordinances and create Family Ordinance Requests (FORs). AQ not only reserves the records and places them on your NFS reserved list, it keeps track of the FORs, so you can later review the names on any FOR, thus tracking the progress of ordinances for that batch of names. As ordinances are completed, AQ allows you to automatically transfer ordinance completion dates from NFS to your local records.

* Assign LDS Ordinance Cards to others. AQ allows you to assign your stack of ordinance cards to others, and keeps track of where each card is located.

Incline Software has provided Ancestral Quest as a premier Windows-based family tree program for over 15 years. In 1999, the LDS Church selected Ancestral Quest as the base for its Windows versions of PAF – both PAF 4 and PAF 5. Users of PAF will find that AQ looks and feels like a major upgrade to PAF. It will feel very easy and comfortable to use, and it provides the most comprehensive syncing with New FamilySearch.

Visit www.ancquest.com for more information. See www.ancquest.com/Ver12-1Tutorials.htm for a list of free training video tutorials.

RootsMagic introduces AutoMatch

RootsMagic 4 Releases Update with FamilySearch AutoMatch RootsMagic becomes First Genealogy Software to Automatically Match People with FamilySearch

SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — March 26, 2009 — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of an update to their RootsMagic 4 and RootsMagic Essentials genealogy software which includes a new "AutoMatch" feature. They become the first- and currently the only-
genealogy software to offer this feature.
Time Saving

As FamilySearch certified software, RootsMagic and RootsMagic Essentials both allow you to share information to and from new FamilySearch as well as find and reserve incomplete temple ordinances for ancestors. In order to do any of this for a person, you must first match the person in your own file with the same person in the new FamilySearch system. In the past, a user was required to find a match for each person one-at-a-time, person-by-person.

"Our users told us that this was one of the more time-consuming aspects of working with new FamilySearch," explained Bruce Buzbee, president of RootsMagic, Inc. "If you had an average-sized file with 6000 people, it may take you several days of repetitive work just to
match each one up with new FamilySearch. People want to be able to jump in and actually work with new FamilySearch and matching by hand was always a tedious first step." Buzbee added, "The new AutoMatch feature does most of this grunt work for you so you can just begin sharing data about your ancestors."

RootsMagic developed the AutoMatch feature over weeks of experimentation and guidance from FamilySearch. The AutoMatch examines each person in your RootsMagic file, searches the FamilySearch database for the person, and after carefully comparing them, matches them together if they are the same; all without requiring user intervention. "What used to take days of manual work is now done automatically in only a few hours," said Buzbee. "You can start the AutoMatch, leave it running while you do something else, and return later to find most of the matches found." Although the match is made automatically, no actual data is transferred without the user requesting it.

Important Update

In addition to the new AutoMatch feature, this update is required for RootsMagic to continue working with new FamilySearch. In the near future, changes made to FamilySearch will prevent versions of RootsMagic and RootsMagic Essentials prior to this update from connecting with FamilySearch. "We encourage anybody using our software with FamilySearch to download this update as soon as possible so that they may continue to enjoy our FamilySearch features," said
Michael Booth, vice-president. "Installing the update now will make sure you have a seamless transition as FamilySearch continues to grow and evolve. Plus you'll get the AutoMatch which is worth the effort of the update by itself."

FamilySearch Made Easy

"We're thrilled to be the first software to offer a feature like 'AutoMatch'," said Booth. "We're sure our users will be just as excited to use it." Buzbee added, "Our mission is, 'Family History
Made Easy', and that is exactly what this is. The AutoMatch feature solves a big problem for every person that uses genealogy software with FamilySearch."

RootsMagic also simplifies other tasks when working with New FamilySearch. RootsMagic 4 received awards for "Easiest to Sync" and "Best Dashboard" at the 2009 FamilySearch Developer Awards. Video tutorials, demonstrating how easy it is to work with New FamilySearch
using RootsMagic 4 are available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/fs.

Free and Available Now

AutoMatch is included in RootsMagic Essentials, free genealogy software which includes all of the FamilySearch features. It is available for download at http://www.rootsmagic.com/essentials.
Current users of RootsMagic 4 and RootsMagic Essentials may update their software for free at http://www.rootsmagic.com/updates.

Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic using their own data. RootsMagic can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read data using the popular GEDCOM format.

About RootsMagic, Inc.

For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose- to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular "Family Origins" software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.

That tradition continues today with "RootsMagic", our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. "Personal Historian" will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. "Family Reunion Organizer" takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And "Family Atlas" creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.

For more information, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com.
Source: RootsMagic, Inc.

Family ChArtist--LDS temples

To go with our New FamilySearch certification, we have put a whole bunch of LDS temple graphics in Family Chartist. So, if you are LDS, you might be interested in these: (If you are not, there are lots of other religious graphics too. Coming to a blog post near you soon.)


There are over 300 different temple graphics that you can use all different ways. And with the other graphics, you can even use them without the normal genealogy chart.
So get ready to check it out. We have lots and lots of options for you.

Family ChArtist--FamilySearch Certification

Ok. Next feature..... Importing information options:Yes, we have a second certification for Generation Maps from new FamilySearch. We have obtained certification to use the new web app with the new FamilySearch Family Tree. The LDS church has been slowly rolling out a new collaborative database which you already know about if you've been reading this blog. The database has been rolled out successfully to the members of the LDS church over the last two years and it is planned that this next year it will be rolled out to the general public.

We have been printing custom charts from this database for a couple of years now and can still help you with that as well. But you can bet, that as we were developing this tool, we wanted to incorporate FamilySearch certification especially so that beginners could use it as a starting place to be able to build a chart.

But the kicker is this...
You don't have to rely completely on the integrity of the information in the database. You have complete control over all the information on the chart. Just enter your username and password for the database, pick out the person you want to start with, and we'll import the information available in the database on your family tree. And then if you see anything in the data that you want to change, simply click on the person and edit the information in the Editing Panel. Click on the Apply button and you are good to go.

Right now, 1) Gedcom import and 2) FamilySearch import, along with 3) manual entry are the only ways to bring information into this new database. But we are already laying the groundwork for being able to bring in all kinds of other information in the next phases of this application. We are working with several other collaborative database providers, picture repository providers, and even software companies to be able to import files from their products. We're hoping to make this THE place to come for gorgeous charts.

Watch for the release date and press release tomorrow. Yee ha. We're getting there.

Breaking my silence.

As you know, if you follow me on facebook, twitter, or this blog, I have been unusually quiet lately. Being quiet isn't one of my strong suites you know. I have thought of it as a kind of drum roll leading up to a new product we are just about to launch. We have been ultra busy getting something really exciting ready for you. And we have a second FamilySearch certification under our belts as of last week. But it isn't quite ready yet. So keep your eyes glued and I'll have some wonderful things to show you shortly.

But in the meantime I have to break my silence on two things. First, I was featured in an exciting new publication. Mormon Entrepreneur Magazine http://www.mormonentrepreneur.net/. Mark Mugleston was a delight to talk to and I quite enjoyed our interview, but I wasn't really thinking about what would be in the rest of the issue. This month's issue is all interviews with some of the leading company founders in genealogy. It was THE MOST fascinating read. I clicked to give it a quick glance and got totally engrossed tonight. I'm sitting in Mesa, about to show off our new product tomorrow at the Family History Expo, finishing things up, haven't been to bed before 2 am for way way way too many days, and I completely couldn't stop reading. I finally tore myself away because I have several hours more work to do tonight. But I can't wait to get back to it tomorrow night after the conference. Congratulations Mark on tapping into the core of the family history industry and helping us all learn from some of the leaders out there. I'm so so honored to be included.

Second, I've been really remiss in not sharing with you the press release sent to me by Lisa Louise Cooke. She and I are real kindred spirits and I so enjoy her work. So in case there is someone who hasn't heard already, I add my endorsement to her new iphone app. I'm so excited for her to be breaking into this new territory. Congratulations Lisa. You are an inspiration as usual. I hope it is really successful for you.

Press Release:

SAN RAMON, Calif. – January 4, 2009 - The Genealogy Gems Podcast, the #1 podcast in the genealogy category in iTunes has launched the first ever genealogy podcast app for iPhone and iTouch (in partnership with Wizzard Media). The Genealogy Gems Podcast app provides users with streaming genealogy audio and video on the go, and exclusive Bonus Content.

A free “online genealogy radio show,” The Genealogy Gems Podcast has provided innovative research strategies, family history expert and celebrity interviews, and genealogy news since 2007. These “gems” of genealogical information inspire family history researchers of all experience levels and helps them make the most of their valuable research time. The new app provides one more way for the popular podcast to reach it’s worldwide audience.

“Mobile technology is the wave of the future,” says Producer and Creator Lisa Louise Cooke. “At Genealogy Gems we strive to be out in front bringing the highest quality genealogy education to those seeking to enrich their lives through family history research. The app makes this possible on a whole new level.”

The app streams all the episodes (including show notes!), and new episodes are downloaded automatically. Bonus content on the new app includes exclusive material such as audio files and custom genealogy themed wallpaper, as well as Cooke’s 20 page pdf e-book 5 Fabulous Google Research Strategies for the Family Historian. New bonus content will be added as episodes are published. Cooke says users have much to look forward to, “There’s always something new coming to your iPhone and iTouch with the Genealogy Gems Podcast app!

About Genealogy Gems

Genealogy Gems is one of the leading producers of online quality genealogy-related media. Also found at the Genealogy Gems Web site http://www.GenealogyGems.TV , recognized as one of the 101 Best Web Sites for Family History 2009: The Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast, the Genealogy Gems TV Channel at YouTube, the Genealogy Gems News Blog, Genealogy Gems Premium Membership including exclusive podcasts and videos, and The Genealogy Gems Podcast Toolbar.

Lisa Louise Cooke is the author of Genealogy Gems: Ultimate Research Strategies, and national genealogy speaker. She also produces and hosts The Family Tree Magazine Podcast, teaches online webinars, and writes and produces videos for the magazine.

Media Contacts:

Genealogy Gems

Lisa Louise Cooke, Producer and Creator

Phone: (925) 272-4021

Email: genealogygemspodcast@gmail.com

Website: http://www.GenealogyGems.TV

RootsMagic Releases Free Genealogy Software

SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — November 18, 2009 — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of RootsMagic Essentials, free desktop genealogy software based on their award-winning RootsMagic 4 system. RootsMagic Essentials contains many core features found in its namesake and is the only completely free desktop genealogy software certified to work with the New FamilySearch system.

Essential Features for Everyone

“Many of our users have told us that they have friends and family members who are interested in getting started in family history but aren’t ready to invest in a more comprehensive package like RootsMagic,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “RootsMagic Essentials gives them the features they need to start researching and recording their family tree at a price that can’t be beat—free!”

RootsMagic Essentials shares many of the same features with the full RootsMagic software including clean and friendly screens, the ability to add an unlimited number of people and events, pictures and media management, the SourceWizard to write your source citations for you, powerful merging and clean-up tools, dozens of reports and charts, support for international character sets, FamilySearch integration, and the ability to share data with other people and software programs. The full version of RootsMagic is available for purchase and includes features not available in RootsMagic Essentials.

New FamilySearch Made Easy

As a FamilySearch certified application, RootsMagic Essentials bridges the gap between your personal family history data and the New FamilySearch internet site. It can seamlessly share your family tree with others through New FamilySearch as well as retrieve the information that you don't have. It also simplifies cleaning up, combining, and correcting information.

RootsMagic is the first software certified to reserve and request LDS temple ordinances. It identifies persons that need ordinances, checks for duplicate ordinances, and reserves ordinances for you to complete. When you are ready, RootsMagic will even print an ordinance request at home that can be taken directly to the temple to print the actual ordinance cards.

Perfect Upgrade for PAF

Users of the PAF genealogy software will discover that their software is unable to directly work with New FamilySearch. RootsMagic Essentials has all of the fundamental features of PAF combined with New FamilySearch integration and much more. It also makes the transition painless by directly reading all of your information from PAF.

Free and Available Now

RootsMagic Essentials is available now for free at http://www.rootsmagic.com. Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic Essentials using their own data. RootsMagic Essentials can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read and write data using the popular GEDCOM format.

"We're excited to make RootsMagic Essentials available to the community," said Michael Booth, vice-president. "Our mission is to provide 'software to unite families' and our hope is that RootsMagic Essentials will encourage more people to record their family trees and connect with their family histories".

About RootsMagic, Inc.

For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose—to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular "Family Origins" software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.

That tradition continues today with "RootsMagic", our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. "Personal Historian" will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. "Family Reunion Organizer" takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And "Family Atlas" creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.

For more information, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com.

Source: RootsMagic, Inc.

The most comprehensive guide for LDS people using New FamilySearch

Even though the LDS church is well known for promoting genealogy, and well-respected for it's contributions to the genealogy community, most members of the church don't do genealogy. Estimates range from 1-5% of LDS people are involved in Family History of some kind. Our company clientele confirm that statistic. Even though we are based in Utah, the headquarters of the LDS church, from what we can tell (we don't ask, nor care, of course) approximately 90-95% of our customers are not LDS.

The developers of the new FamilySearch Family Tree database are hoping to change that statistic in the members of the church. They are hoping that alot of new people will be trying out genealogy for the first time and that this database will make that easier for them. To help these newcomers to genealogy, the church has recently published a couple of new manuals for using the new database. They can be purchased here, here, and here, or downloaded here and here. They are--as to be expected, and as they should be--very general and mostly spiritual in nature.

(If you are not LDS, access to the new database as discussed earlier will be forthcoming shortly. I know what the projections are but I can't tell you--more of that 'under certified affiliate contract' stuff. It won't be long though.)

But, I have recently learned about another great resource for members of the LDS church who are looking to become involved in genealogy. When George Scott first approached me about reviewing his book I have to say I was skeptical--until I delved into this document. Then I went back and looked at his qualifications and he is probably one of the best people to write the book having extensively been a user of New FamilySearch and writing from that perspective. He has obviously done his research and not only could I not find anything wrong with what he put forward. I even learned a little. He has created the most comprehensive manual for dealing with new FamilySearch that I have seen in print. He didn't hold back--outlining every step for beginners, expressing his opinions (which I mostly agree with), warning of the pitfalls and criticizing where criticism was due. It is well worth a read if you are LDS. And I hope you follow his suggestions with regard to the database.

I have one main concern with the new genealogists that will be approaching this database. I am afraid that beginners will have a hard time distinguishing between real research (libraries, archives, real documents, primary sources) and derivatives/pointers to real research (databases and research of other people, aka NFS). After all, New FamilySearch Family Tree is the ultimate secondary source until the sources and documents are linked in. I am afraid new users will use the database as a sole repository for their research and consider what they find there a reliable source without checking. I think for many coming to this new database, the huge amounts of data will be overwhelming. And I hope they can approach it carefully.

George put it extremely well.
"Generally it is best to stay within the bounds of your own research and allow the researchers who submitted the records for earlier centuries to clean those records" (pg 16)
He further explains:
"You have millions of ancestors. Even if you just go back to the year 1500, you may have 100,000 members of your ancestral families. If you spent night and day for your entire mortal life performing genealogical research, you could never build your entire family tree alone. So define your niche, and let PAF chronicle your niche. [He hadn't gotten to talking about certified affiliates yet]. Then, let New FamilySearch serve as a superstructure over your niche, expanding the family tree beyond the bounds of your personal research" [emphasis mine.]
Well said.

He also called it right on the certified software:
"The third-party software firms advertise that you can combine New FamilySearch records and separate New FamilySearch records using their software. Please do not do so at this time... you generally can not see as much information as you can when you are working directly in New FamilySearch. When you see less information, you make a less-educated decision. (In the future this will likely change, as the third-party vendors continue to expand the features of their programs.)"

He advocates combining records first in New FamilySearch and then syncing the data you have researched using certified software. He convinced me he is right--for the time being. The API that the software is using to talk to the database doesn't allow syncing of sources and only allows 300 characters on the notes (until the first of next year). Most of them have holes in what they show you while you are trying to sync (like the contributors, notes and sources, relationships, details and etc.) While the software is great for keeping track of what is going on in the database with the people you are working on, the developers and the API have more to do before everything is working perfectly. It's coming. It will be better the first of next year. It just isn't there yet.

George gives wonderful suggestions on how to decide whether to combine or dispute information (pg 19 or so). And I really appreciated his plea for civility and using the golden rule in collaborating with other people on the database (pgs 7-8, 39-41). At first I thought his step by step process was a little turned around, but as he walked me through it, I was convinced he had the process right. I wish he had spent a little time talking about the difference in good and bad sources/research and going back to the original source (my clarion call on the subject) but that wasn't really what he was trying to do here. He talks about "your research" and "the database" but doesn't really distinguish what "your research" is. I think a discussion on good research would help. And he had some interesting (albeit kind of sidetracked IMHO) stuff at the beginning about we really are all related to each other and the Most Recent Common Ancestor studies that have been done.

I have three criticisms though. The biggest one is that he suggests standardizing all the names of places in your file before syncing the data. You will lose some of the fine points (such as farm names and cemeteries) in your geographical data if you do that. That is the perfect example of why you should use certified software and what could be left in your personal files and not synced with the database. Secondly, he calls the pedigree interface on NFS a "fan chart" (pg 13). Only the Chart Chick would argue with that one. This is a fan chart, the NFS interface is a left to right hourglass chart. And third, Generation Maps charts should have been added to chapter 9 "A Perfect, Inexpensive, Christmas Gift." :-)

Whether you are new to genealogy or not, his new Appendix "E" is a must read about how to resolve major problems in New FamilySearch--such as wrong gender, incorrect relationships, loops and quarantines. If you are LDS and looking to try out or teach the New FamilySearch database, this book is well worth a look.

Rootsmagic announces LDS Temple Certification

RootsMagic 4 Certified for Temple Trips and Ordinance Reservation

RootsMagic becomes First Desktop Genealogy Software to Reserve and Print LDS Temple Ordinances Using New FamilySearch

SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — March 30, 2009 — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of an update to their RootsMagic 4 genealogy software which is now FamilySearch certified for both temple ordinance reservation and temple trips. RootsMagic 4 is the first- and currently the only- desktop genealogy software to offer these features and certifications.

Ordinance Reservation Certified

As an “Ordinance Reservation Certified” application, RootsMagic 4 has the ability to link people in your desktop genealogy file with matching people on the New FamilySearch website. Once linked, RootsMagic 4 makes it easy to share data between your personal file and New FamilySearch. By simply clicking on the temple icon next to a person’s name, you are shown that person's official temple ordinances, complete with dates, temple names, and status. You may then reserve any incomplete ordinances that you wish to perform in the future or update your own file with ordinances which are already completed.

Temple Trip Certified

As a “Temple Trip Certified” application, RootsMagic 4 can create “Temple Trips” from any ordinances which you previously reserved through New FamilySearch. You select which reserved ordinances you wish to print ordinance cards for and RootsMagic will print a paper with a barcode on it known as a Family Ordinance Request (FOR). You simply take the paper to the temple and a worker will scan the barcode, printing off all the desired ordinance cards. Once the ordinances are completed, RootsMagic will update their status in your personal file.

“We’re very excited to be the first to work with FamilySearch in this important work,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “Our mission is, ‘Family History Made Easy’, and that is exactly what this is. To submit and track temple ordinances used to be a long, complicated process involving many files and floppy disks. Together with FamilySearch, we’ve been able to simplify it to a few clicks and a single, printed page.”

New FamilySearch Made Easy

RootsMagic also simplifies other tasks when working with New FamilySearch. Recently, RootsMagic 4 received awards for “Easiest to Sync” and “Best Dashboard” at the 2009 FamilySearch Developer Awards. Video tutorials, demonstrating how easy it is to work with New FamilySearch using RootsMagic 4 are available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/fs.

Free Trial Available

A free trial version of RootsMagic 4 is available at http://www.rootsmagic.com. The trial version allows a person to import their data, add information, and play with RootsMagic’s major features without any time limitation. “We’re so excited about this new release, we wanted to give everyone a risk-free option to try it for themselves,” said Buzbee.

Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic 4 using their own data. RootsMagic can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read data using the popular GEDCOM format.

About RootsMagic, Inc.

For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose- to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular “Family Origins” software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.

That tradition continues today with “RootsMagic”, our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. “Personal Historian” will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. “Family Reunion Organizer” takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And “Family Atlas” creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.

For more information, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com.

Source: RootsMagic, Inc.

Report from the FamilySearch Developers conference. Some good, Some bad

My opinion. For what it is worth.

I asked Ransom Love today about how the LDS church sees the growing FamilySearch PR problem that we are continually seeing at the conferences we go to. In our experience, people who are not members of the LDS church are growing tired of hearing about this new database without any word about when they will be able to gain access to it. I think to some, it seems to be an elusive, secretive thing from which the church is purposely trying to exclude people.

While I didn't get any solid answers from Ransom on why (we got sidetracked on to other things), I can tell you from my experience in working with the church that it isn't a matter of being exclusionary, it is just that the church is putting their resources first into their own agenda, that of helping their own members collect their family history. Once that is accomplished, they will be happy to share the results. I think anyone would agree that an organization has the right to use their resources to further their own agenda first.

The bad news is: what that timeline is and what issues have to be fixed before people outside the members of the church can access to the database. He referred my question about the timeline to Craig Miller. According to Craig, after the database is scaled to be able to handle the traffic and information for the last part of North America (Utah, Idaho, LasVegas etc.), then the next step for them is going to be to include members of the church in Asia. I can understand that they want to take care of their agenda first, and that includes family history work in Asia, but according to Craig there are HUGE obstacles, namely standardization and searching in Asian characters. You can't just anglicize different character sets and expect to be able to search it. (For example how many ways can you spell Kadaffi, Quadafhi, Gadaffi, etc--you know, the leader of Lybia--and Arabic only has 28 basic letters.) Craig said that in the past Japanese citations in LDS databases have actually been standardized to all be Tokyo (horrors!) Dealing with Asian character sets is going to be a big obstacle to get over before they move on to opening the database to people outside the church.

Ransom agreed that there needed to be some marketing work done in the general genealogy community as to why the church is keeping access only for its members. I wholeheartedly agree. I don't think they are trying to be secretive or subversive, I just think they aren't communicating their objectives very well. I would also suggest that making the database read only for everyone would be a simple step and should be done as soon as possible.

The good news is that Robert Raymond's presentation today was very hopeful in talking about adding sources to the database. He is working on standards for source citations in the database--a major issue that I have talked about here. As you look around, most genealogy programs have a list of sources--and then let you add citation information as to the particular part of the source you are referencing. In the real world though, all of the source information is important detail. The line between sources and citation detail is a false one--created by the software companies to allow users easier creation of citations and querying the usage of a certain source. New FamilySearch is working on standards to help guide that usage in the database.

The major issue to the church is not just standardization, but also the question of migration of sources. If they open the database to www links, or even notes on repository locations, we will have a useless database in only a few years. That is not to mention the fact that many sources cite another source as an original that can then cite another ad infinitum. Sources citing other sources creates circular sources the way we see many circular trees in files that are submitted to Generation Maps which have been generated from databases. Tom Underhill raised his hand at the end of the presentation and talked about the importance of migration and how the only way to secure data is to make sure it migrates on to the next system like I've talked about here. Otherwise you end up having documents in WordStar and Word Perfect 2.0 that are useless.

Talking to Robert after the presentation, he said that we would see some real progress in the next year for adding sources to the database. It looked like they are on their way. Wonderful news. In my opinion, only then will this database really become valuable.

So, frankly people who aren't members of the LDS church don't need to be worried about gaining access to the database until the source issues are solved anyway. Until then it is all conjecture. Only when sources are added will the database become more useful. Real genealogists have plenty to be patient about.

P.S. You don't have to be a member of the LDS church to become a developer and gain access to the database that way. I think that would be the hard way to do it though. Might be easier to convert to the church :-)

Generation Maps receives Family Search Developer Award

At the Family Search Developers conference today, Generation Maps received the:
WEB USE OF MEDIA CATEGORY: Best Website Feature for Printing Award.

By simply typing in your New FamilySearch username and password, Generation Maps can take data from the new database to print any kind of decorative or working genealogy chart. The award highlights our work in making navigation of the database easier by printing the big picture of the data—off the screen and out where it is all visible.

Early users are really excited to see the extensive data from the database in one piece. One lady said she thought she had been the only person working on her Eastern European lines, and was thrilled to find other cousins to collaborate with, and to be able to see exactly what they had done and compare it to her work.

New FamilySearch is built to encourage collaboration. On each of your ancestors, you are able to see what other people have added about that person. While the system is still being rolled out, and has lots of improvements in the works, it promises to bring a whole new level of collaboration to family history work.

Several years ago Generation Maps was asked with 6 other companies to become one of the LDS church's early commercial affiliates and to develop products to work with the new database that will eventually replace FamilySearch. We have since become one of the first certified affiliates. (http://www.familysearch.org/eng/affiliates/index.html). As we sat in the development meetings, we tried to come up with ways that Generation Maps could help the user navigate that database. We focused on getting things out and off the screen to be able to see the big picture--something we do best.

Overall, Generation Maps continues to be your one-stop, easy to use, very affordable source for all kinds and sizes of genealogy charts—all of these available with new FamilySearch data or any easily uploaded genealogy file.

Working Charts -

Inexpensive, expansive charts designed to display many generations of data all on one chart. Perfect for assisting your research, family reunion displays, etc.

FamilySearch Family Tree Charts -

Designed to help you navigate the information, then efficiently analyze, organize and clean up the data found in the new program.

Decorative Charts -

Beautiful handcrafted, decorative charts for framing. Select from various backgrounds, fonts and embellishments; add photographs, include step families or other relationships, then create exactly what you want. Generation Maps individually handcrafts each chart, giving personal attention to quality and detail. With decorative charts, the user will receive a website link to your chart via email so you can approve your creation before it is printed.

There is no software to purchase, no program to learn, and no need to search for an over-sized, professional, archival printer. Extra copies of any personalized genealogy chart are half-price, making them perfect for gift giving. Gift certificates are also available. Generation Maps helps you surround your family with a sense of their heritage and charts are a wonderful, easy way to explain to your family members the research that has been accomplished. With Generation Maps, it's easy — just pick out your chart, upload your files, and it arrives on your doorstep! Generation Maps (http://www.generationmaps.com/) is the place to come for all your genealogical chart printing needs.

More information can be found at http://thechartchick.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20FamilySearch and http://www.generationmaps.com/

Family Pursuit

Another company you might be interested in that we saw again in the St.George Family history expo is Family Pursuit. They have been showing their demos and beta at the conferences for a couple of years, but have just begun to actually roll out their product.

Mike Martineau and Les Eldredge et al. have created a "online, wiki-based family tree database" that allows users to upload private family trees to a collaborative website on either a community basis where you can work with other genealogists, or a private basis where family members from advanced to novice can work together on the family genealogy. I'm most intrigued by the private trees that promise to be a place for family discussions and social networking where family members can mentor each other, divide up and assign tasks, and keep and share reasearch logs together. You can add source citations and upload images to support findings. And you can share audio and video files to further flesh out the family stories. They say that "wiki-based merge/unmerge and undo/redo tools provide a fail-safe platform for true collaboration." (and possibly a good old-fashioned family fight? depending on your family :-) The idea of being able to work with other family members in a safe online system will certainly appeal to many genealogists and it looks like they have already worked out some of the collaboration issues that still need to be addressed in the New (albeit larger) FamilySearch system.

They are also under development as an affiliate of New FamilySearch. When Family Pursuit is able to link with FamilySearch, it will bring one family member's link with FamilySearch into the collaborative environment where the rest of the family can work on the information there, looking for duplicates, submitting new information and receiving updates when changes are made on NFS. Mike said in St. George that they are still working out some of the issues with NFS and their web based environment but hopes to have the synchronization working soon.

Take a look at http://www.familypursuit.com/blog for more information or try it out at http://www.familypursuit.com

Christmas Rush, A New Photo Article Published and FamilySearch Certified Affiliates Announcement.

Christmas rush is keeping me hopping, so I haven't been able to post much lately. We are pretty much done accepting custom charts (call me quick if you absolutely have to have it and are willing to pay a rush fee) but we are still taking orders for fill-in-the-blank charts and gift cards until the 19th. The new gift cards look really great--they are self explanatory, good for anything on the site and we send them to you with free shipping.

I have so much to tell you about, but it is going to have to wait a couple more weeks. Watch out in January, I'll probably bombard you. In the meantime, I'll cram a few other things into this post:

So first, I had an online article published yesterday at Meridian Magazine.com. You can see the article on Care and Repair of Photographs here. It is similar to the previous NGS article I wrote on the same topic, and I've briefly talked about the subject here on this blog. So the article should give you a much broader discussion. (Note in the bio that I have apparently become more famous for thechartchick.com than for generationmaps.com :-).

And then, I think I'll resort to spreading the news about what other people are writing. Renee Zamora beat me to it but I'm going to repost it here. Received this yesterday from FamilySearch Support:

**********************************************************
Information on FamilySearch Certified Software Affiliates

One of the Family History Department’s responsibilities in assisting family history consultants is to keep consultants informed about products and services that are available to help members with their family history work. In doing this, the department does not solicit or encourage consultants or members to purchase products or services. The department does not promote one product or service over another.

In the immediate future, Familysearch.org will be updated with a page that shares information about FamilySearch Certified Affiliates. FamilySearch Certified Affiliates are third-party companies and organizations that provide products and services with features that are compatible with FamilySearch programs. Certified PAF Add-ins are programs that allow people who use Personal Ancestral File (PAF) 5 to access, print, update, and synchronize with online information in the new FamilySearch. Please note that these products and services are developed and supported by their respective organizations, not FamilySearch.

To view the page that provides information about these programs, click here.

You are encouraged to learn about these affiliate products and the wide scope of services they provide. Additional information can be found about these affiliates and their services on their respective websites. These programs can be of great assistance to family history patrons as they use new FamilySearch, PAF and other family history programs.
***************************************************************

Likewise there is a new page linked from new.familysearch.org. http://www.familysearch.org/eng/affiliates/index.html. We understand that this page will be changing--hopefully it will be corrected to list our "print" certification soon.

The Comparison Chart

Earlier I wrote about the To-do chart, one of our new charts for the New FamilySearch database. The rollout marches on and more and more people are able to use the database. I wish it was coming faster, but hopefully they are getting it right. It looks like rollout will be complete sometime next year with access for people who aren't members of the LDS church as well.

Several years ago we were asked with 6 other companies to become one of the LDS church's early commercial affiliates and to develop products to work with the new database that will eventually replace FamilySearch. We have since become one of the first certified affiliates. As we sat in the development meetings, we tried to come up with ways that Generation Maps could help the user navigate that database. We focused on getting things out and off the screen to be able to see the big picture--something we do best. Some of those ideas developed into the To-do chart, others developed into the Comparison chart.

New FamilySearch is built to encourage collaboration. On each of your ancestors, you are able to see what other people have added about that person. And if someone adds an ancestor that might be the same as yours, you are able to look at that addition and link your people together.

In this new database, every bit of information added is broken up into what is called assertion tags. Tags will be about a date, a place, a note, or anything. And every tag that is added can never be deleted, only disputed. Our comparison chart is the only place you can see every single tag for a person. So, if you have alot of cousins who also do genealogy (like I do,) the information on your ancestors might be plentiful, like the chart to the right. The Comparison chart is 24 inches wide and as long as your information goes.

On the Comparison Chart, we have color-coded each of the tags according to who contributed the information. If your family is like mine, you know that some researchers are more meticulous in their research than others are. This chart helps you follow what each researcher has done. It is good to see everyone side by side according to the information they have contributed. We are hoping this overall view will help you evaluate the information in this new database to see what you can verify and what needs to be cleaned up. There is also a mark on each disputed tag, so you can see what has been asserted, and decide if there are other tags that need to be marked as disputed.

So far, the users who have bought copies of this chart have been really excited to see the overall picture of this database. One lady said she thought she had been the only person working on her Eastern European lines, and was thrilled to find other cousins to collaborate with, and to be able to see exactly what they had done and compare it to her work.

Like with all of our charts, it is *EASY*. Just go to http://www.generationmaps.com/ and click on Interpretive Charts for FamilySearch. Choose your chart, then on check out, type in your username and password for New FamilySearch, and the ID number for the person you want the chart to start with. Depending on the amount of information on your lines, download may take a couple of minutes. But then you are done. We figure out the layout, the printing, etc. You just enjoy it when it shows up in the mail.

Along these same lines, one of the other early affiliates, RootsMagic, unveiled their upcoming New FamilySearch capabilities on their blog on Friday. It looks good. The affiliates are going to make it so much easier to use this database. Check it out.

Official Certification from New FamilySearch.

Received this from Gordon Clarke today:

Dear Certified Affiliate,

Please save this email as an official record of your product feature certification.Effective July 1, 2008, the below applications are now certified for the designated features.
GENERATION MAPS

Generation Maps (WEB) - Access, Print

Please use the FamilySearch and Certified logos as defined by the legal agreement......

We are now officially certified to print straight from the New FamilySearch database. One of the first companies to get certified.

We have had our printing capabilites for New FamilySearch up and running for almost 6 months now but buried in the website so they were not obviously accessible. We'll move them up to the front now. As soon as you have a login for that database, let us know and we'll print you out a chart of what your family looks like in the data.

Gordon says that www.familysearch.org will link to certified products in the next 30-60 days. And then New FamilySearch will be integrated into www.familysearch.org towards the end of the year.

Chocolates and flowers of congratulations are being accepted. :-)

Blog Post of the week

I actually have an old one for you this week. This is from Dear Myrtle and was a wonderful research evaluation sheet going with my recent theme of evaluating and cleaning up your research. It is kind of LDS slanted, but has some principles that I think apply to everyone. Take a look at: http://www.dearmyrtle.com/powwow/images/ChecklistLDSCleanItUpPink.pdf

Blog post of the week.

I don't know if another blog post could ever top this one. So timely if you have been reading my posts on NFS and attracting the next generation. Apparently all the monkeys are thinking the same thing.

PAF, NFS, and the Princess Bride.

My Thoughts on New Family Search part 2--if I were in charge.

I see only one major flaw that needs to be fixed and that is the "source centricity." Without a major focus, or even minor links to the sources that all this data is being based on, the new website merely allows people to fight over what they *think* is true. And interest in the accomplishment of temple work for LDS genealogists tends to make many (but of course not all) quick and sloppy researchers. If there was a prominence of sources, the person with the source would win--and then the data would be right. Or more right anyway. This of course has to be linked first to images (of documents or photos), then to transcribed data.

I understand the issues with sources and why they haven't addressed them. First, if they allow web links--which they would have to -- my links to my Carpenter information are only good for as long as I pay the bill on my Carpenter website. With the internet such a moving target, New FamilySearch would be useless and full of dead links in 10 years or much less. To give more stability, the church could host images and data, but they don't want to invest in that kind of infrastructure. So now I come to the point -- what I want to see done. (I wish they would just put me in charge (grin).)

The church is already investing huge amounts of resources digitizing the records they have, such as in Family Search Indexing. A faster way to accumulate huge amounts of data would be to bite the bullet and allow people around the world to upload their own images and data. If I could send, or mirror, my family documents on their site, I would be more than happy, even eager, to index my own family's documents. Because I have a vested interest in those particular documents I want to index them--much more than the Ohio birth records that they send me in FSIndexing. And for the most part, I would have ownership, thus theoretically eliminating the copyright issues they are running into with the indexing project. I know it is hard for the church to want to jump into that, but they certainly have the resources, and in the end that is what needs to be done. IMHO of course.

Now, if the name just didn't sound like "New Coke." I have full confidence that in these issues, like the source centricity issue, those in charge are fully aware. It will come. This will be a wonderful database for my children.