Family History

The Scout Master and I signed up to take a 10 week family history class during the Sunday School hour of church.  We're on Week 3.  As the only member of the Church in my family, I've definitely felt a responsibility over the years to do some family history work, but I haven't always known exactly where to start.  Here's what President Boyd K. Packer said about that:

"Get a cardboard box. Any kind of a box will do. Put it someplace where it is in the way, perhaps on the couch or on the counter in the kitchen—anywhere where it cannot go unnoticed. Then, over a period of a few weeks, collect and put into the box every record of your life, such as your birth certificate, your certificate of blessing, your certificate of baptism, your certificate of ordination, and your certificate of graduation. Collect diplomas, all of the photographs, honors, or awards, a diary if you have kept one, everything that you can find pertaining to your life; anything that is written, or registered, or recorded that testifies that you are alive and what you have done."

That's it...a cardboard box!  That's pretty do-able, don't you think?  I can totally throw stuff into a cardboard box.  That's not exactly what I did when I got home from church today, but because he made it sound so simple, I got on the website and just started poking around.  I had entered some family names already, but it was a long time ago.  So, this time, since I have a whole new set of branches to add to my family tree, I started with a different set of names.  I added my mother, Chris, and her parents, Irene and Ralph, who have both passed away.  It was fairly easy to find their obituaries on the internet.  (Oh, how I love Google.)  But when I put their names into new.familysearch.org, it filled in about 6 additional generations.  And guess what!  Their temple work has all been done!  Cool, huh?  Well, there are a few gaps, but a LOT of the Temple work has been done.  


So, here are some fun things about this amazing website (these pictures are from my phone because I don't know how to copy them off my computer)

So when I start with "Me and My Ancestors" it automatically goes to my adoptive parents, Richard and Dollie. But because this website is so awesome, there are options to put it additional parents (because some people have those, too)  That little asterisk gives me the option to change views and I can see my whole birth family.

Here's what my birth mother's line looks like.  I just put in all this stuff last night.

  

And this is what the website populated on its own after I typed in Alfred and Bessie's names.  All those little temples with check marks next to them represent work that has already been done.  And all those arrows beside the names mean that there are more generations behind these.  A few of those lines go back to the 1700s in Portugal!  Super cool!!

I had SO much fun exploring this website and finding family members.  This might rapidly become my new favorite pastime.  You should totally check it out!