Edgewood New Mexico FamilySearch Center/Class Notes: Difference between revisions

Barrett explained how military records are useful for genealogy. Most of us will have at least one ancestor who served in the military, and several types of military records will have an abundance of information. For example, pension records include the application for a pension which often includes narratives of events during service, marriage certificates, birth records, death certificates, pages from family Bibles, family letters, depositions of witnesses, affidavits, discharge, and other supporting papers.

Newsreels are another source of information, but not always joyful. Barrett told a story about his first cousin who served during World War II. During an amphibious assault at Salerno, his cousin was injured on the beach with what was probably a broken ankle. The event was filmed and featured in one of the many popular newsreels that were shown in movie theaters prior to the main feature. Imagine his mother’s surprise when up on the big screen she suddenly saw her own son lying on a cot on the beach—even before she had been notified that he had been injured!

One thing that was popular with the audience was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall feature. ''Fold3'' lets you search by name or zoom in on the wall itself to a name. Selecting a name brings up the person’s military records including when and where they served and how they were killed. Below is a screen shot from the class illustrating this feature.  

Barrett explained why ''Fold3'' is such a useful site. “Several websites have good access to military records. ''FamilySearch'' and ''Ancestry'', for example, are very good. However, ''Fold3'', with its major focus on military records is, in my opinion, the best single source for military records. The search engine used to be a little difficult to use, but recent improvements make the search feature easy and powerful. You can also browse by war or conflict. A major feature is that you can set up a memorial to honor your veteran ancestor. And many documents and records are exclusively on ''Fold3''. In my own experience, I have found records on ''Fold3'' that I had not found on any other website.”

Marjorie Kraus presented a fascinating class on July 27th on making the ''FamilySearch'' Research Wiki your best friend. There were twelve attendees including three on ''Zoom''.

[[File:Edgewood FHC SecretWeapon.jpg|thumb|423x423px]]

Kraus began by saying that the ''FamilySearch'' Research Wiki is often overlooked as a tool in family history research, noting that people even roll their eyes when she mentions it. To convince us of its usefulness, she first listed the following four common research obstacles:

Kraus then asserted that the ''FamilySearch'' Research Wiki can be your “secret weapon” to help you tackle these obstacles.

* Be aware that land boundaries can change over time. If you can’t find records in one county, search all the adjoining counties.

This presentation really opened some eyes about the genealogical records that are available online. One audience member who was new to family history said that she often brings up her Family Tree and just sits in front of the screen not knowing what to do next. She was now fired up after learning about the ''FamilySearch'' Research Wiki. To quote Kraus, “It’s amazing! You don’t know what you’re missing!”

Marjorie Kraus presented “Making Corrections in Your Family Tree,” with emphasis on “Your,” which was a warning to avoid correcting another person’s tree because you are more apt to make a mistake in a tree you are unfamiliar with.

[[File:EdgewoodFHC FamilyTreeCorrectionsIntro.jpg|thumb|487x487px]]

Kraus had several more warnings based on the many cases she has encountered where people have carelessly merged, added, or deleted people from a tree or changed birth, marriage, and death information to make it fit the person they thought it was. She gave the following advice:

When viewing a person on ''FamilySearch''’s Family Tree, Kraus pointed out a very important feature. Next to the person’s name, there will be a box on the upper right labeled “Research Help” where you may find some research suggestions. She recommended that you look at every one of those items. If an item is preceded with a red box with an exclamation point, it is an inconsistency that definitely needs addressing.

Kraus gave the following tips when researching and correcting entries:

* If you have extensive corrections to make to an entry, it is best to wait until you can make them all at once, especially if you are aware someone is “watching” the person you are working on. This is because Family Tree will notify any “watchers” of changes made to people they are watching. If a watcher sees just a part of your corrections, it may be confusing, and they may undo your work. Family Tree usually emails these alerts on the weekend, so start making your corrections early in the week and be finished before the weekend.

Kraus closed with demonstrating ''FamilySearch''’s Source Box, a great place to store sources, especially if you are waiting to create a person until you have enough information. You get to this by signing into FamilySearch and then clicking on your name in the upper righthand corner. On the drop-down list, click on “Source Box.” The Source Box stores every source you have ever used. You can organize them by folder to make them more manageable or you can delete them once you have attached them to your tree or have determined that they are no longer relative to your research.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plat Plat]

* [http://www.mnhs.org/search/about Minnesota Historical Society] Use Minnesota People Records Search to exclusively research birth, death, and state census records, as well as Veterans Graves Registration and World War I Gold Star Rolls.