November 2022- Consultant Training- Using the Consultant Planner

Using the Consultant Planner

What is the Consultant Planner?

FamilySearch "The Planner is a tool available for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for helping someone else with his or her family history. Use it to view the FamilySearch Family Tree from the other person's point of view, browse discovery activities, design personalized family history experiences, record notes and build lesson plans." Note: the Consultant Planner is only available on accounts of members of The Church and can only be used when helping of other members of The Church.

How do I access the Consultant Planner?

1- Sign into FamilySearch.org

        2- Click on the Question Mark Icon (near your name in the upper right hand corner)

3- Select "Helper Resources"

What's on the Consultant Planner?

Home page of the helper resources main option- left hand side

• Recent Articles for Latter-Day Saints- link to the latest blog articles pertinent to Latter-Day Saints

• What's New at FamilySearch- learn about the changes and new features at FamilySearch

• FamilySearch Community- a place to ask assistance of others in the FamilySearch Community.  Please note: Anyone can answer the questions posed.  So take the answers with a "grain of salt" and look for those whom link to Knowledge Articles for verification of their answers. 

• Easy Invitations- A great way to introduce members in your ward to FamilySearch providing a quick link for them to learn something.  Do not use the "invite" option as the first contact.  Let them know you will be sending them something so they will look for it and know it is coming.  Then meet with them to follow up on what they found.

Bottom section provides a ton of links for additional helps and options.

                   Highlighting only three

• Personalized Family History Experiences (under Calling Information)- Contains information about how to create Personalized Family History Experiences including some great instructive videos.   

• Family History Network (under Calling Information) -This shows the local family history center, and also the local network of Temple and Family History Consultants- in your ward, stake, area and area office. 

• Family History Activities  (under Quick Links) - A quick link the activities page.   Please note not everyone wants to do things online.  For those looking for non-technology options, use the In-Home Activities.   These In-Home Activities have suggestions for simple non-tech activities as well as digital options. 

Planner -   right hand side

There's an option to access to your own tree to see what it looks like.  And options to send invitations to others to allow you direct access to their account.  

Click on your name to access your planner.

Four Options on the far left hand side

• Discovery Ideas- these each apply to the your account (or the person whom you are helping)

• Family History Activities- quick link to all of the Family History Activities based on the person FamilySearch Family Tree.  Great options to draw on the interest of the person being assisted. 

• Hints- Record Hints needing attached- possibly creating new people or events

• Temple- List of persons within their tree needing temple ordinances completed.  Some persons need more information before being eligible for temple ordinances. And also some persons with possible duplicates.  

• Tree - can view from all of the different fan chart options including research helps and temple ordinances needed

• Notes- Place to record your thoughts, ideas or future research options.

• Plans-  Where to record the research you have done for others and prepare the lesson for assisting others

Where can I learn more about using the Consultant Planner?

How to Use the Planner Blog 

How to Use the Planner Knowledge Article 

How do I Prepare a Lesson Knowledge Article 

 

BYU Family History Tutorial- Using the Consultant Planner -  outdated screen shots, but some great ideas for how to use the Consultant Planner. 

Temple and Family History Planner and Lesson Video Playlist  - this walks one through each step of the personalized family history experiences in short video options. 

Top Ten Websites/ Ideas for November

1-   Alert Note-  Notes now appear on the right hand side of the person page, as well as under the collaboration tab.  For those important notes, an option to add an "alert note"  which will appear just under near the top on person page.  Thanks to Claudette Jones for sharing this new function.

2- Using Goldie May- Software Power Tools for genealogists. Thanks to Dorothea Larson for sharing this option

3-Learning Resources on FamilySearch - Note: some are old options and so the screen shots will not match current screen shots, but a lot of options for those wishing to continue their family history studies. 

4- Interview Questions for Life Histories by Family Tree Magazine. 

5- U S Census Tools  from The Family History Guide- Want to know what was asked on each census or where to find census worksheets. Check out this blog article. 

6-Cemeteries- Finding the Stories by Lisa Louise Cooke  

7- What Does That Mean?  300+ Family History Abbreviations by Family History Daily  

 

8- Exploring the Unindexed Images by Family Search

9-  Personal Digital Archiving by Jermey Myntti 

 

10- New Blog Layout-  Check out the new layout and new options

    There are a set of tabs across the top under the main header.   One of these is the community projects.  We have started working on a number of community projects, information about how to get involved can be found on this tab.  Check back often as projects will continue to be added in the future.  

October Consultant Training

 Topic-  Sources, Record Hints and Tasks  

What are sources?

Sources provide evidence of the names, dates, places and relationships shown in Family Tree.  There are basically two types of sources:  Primary and Secondary.   

Primary sources may include birth, marriage, death, censuses, etc.  Those record made at the time of the event and recorded by eyewitnesses.  As Shaura teaches "They were there and aware."   Also look at the originals.

Secondary sources may include old letters, indexes, books, compiled genealogies, etc.   Records telling about something that happened previously and is just now being recorded.    This would include memories or life histories written later in life.  Both can provide valuable information into a person's life.   

Why are sources important?

If one is looking to verify a person's existence, residence or relationship, sources provide the evidence of those things. 

Always evaluate a source and see if it's a primary source or a secondary source and how or when it was produced or obtained to help identify how much credence you will give to that partial source.  i.e. Memory of someone giving their life history later in life compared to a birth record of their sibling.    Aunt Ellen might think Johnny was born about 1925, but his birth record clearly is recorded as him being born in 1924. 

If records or people disagree about a name, place, event or relationship, sources can assist in evaluating the validity.   It is best to have multiple sources to support each piece of information.   There might be seemingly several duplicates of the same document in FamilySearch.  However, each is a unique source.  In some cases the same records have been microfilmed from various repositories.  Always attach every source that applies the individual in FamilySearch, even if there is another copy of it already attached. 

Additionally, it is hoped that everyone will review the sources attached before making changes to the record.   If incorrect sources are attached, it can confuse others as the information doesn’t match the information shown on the record.  It also confuses the computer’s search ability as the information from these incorrect sources might also list residences or events to confuse the search algorithms.  

What are Record Hints?

According to FamilySearch:  "Record hints are historical records that Family Tree finds for you about your ancestors.  Family Tree conducts this search automatically.  In fact, since we are always adding new historical records to FamilySearch, our hinting system is always looking for new record hints about your ancestors." and "Record hints can help you learn more about your ancestors. You may learn yours ancestor's occupation or find a physical description.  A record hint may identify missing children, parents, siblings or other relatives."

How to use Record Hints?

Record Hints can help to provide evidence of things you already know about the person, but can also provide;

• Additional Relationships
• Additional events or facts
• More correct dates
• Name variations
• More complete place names

Review the Record Hints and attach them to FamilySearch as you deem correct. More detailed information about attaching sources is found in the additional help below. 

Please note: Record hints are not always correct, so use caution in attaching them to FamilySearch.  Look especially at the relationships and the locations. 

What are Tasks?

Tasks are lists of the persons in your FamilySearch tree whom have record hints needing to be reviewed and possibly attached.  There are differences in the lists between the mobile app and the website, including listing of different persons because of the way each searches the tree.    

Tasks also lists those for whom temple work is needed.   

There are options to show just the hints or just the temple work needed. 

The mobile device scans for 7 or 8 generations of ancestors and any additional lines you have viewed. (including those of other families if you were assisting someone in their tree).  It also has the option of expanding to more generations on the pedigree and looking at a person's descendants for 3 to 5 generations.  

The website scans for 6 generations of ancestors and one generation of their descendants.

Also note:  Not all records that might pertain to your ancestor will automatically shown in the Record Hints section.  For each individual whom you are working with, also use the "FamilySearch" search option to see what other records might apply to your individual.   

Record hints and tasks are a great ways for persons to get started in FamilySearch.   

Additional Helps 

    Record Hints- FamilySearch Knowledge Article

    Tasks - FamilySearch Knowledge Article

    Record Seek - FamilySearch Wiki Article   and Record Seek website

    Sources Tutorial-  BYU Family History Tutorials

    Handout from Tammy's class on Sources and Unfinished Attachments

   Other Options for learning from Family History Guide

• Family History Guide Project 1 Goal 8

• Family History Guide Project 1 Goal 9

Top Ten Websites or Tips for the Month

1- RootsTech Registration is open. March 2-4, 2023

2- Mistakes Genealogists Make - YouTube video by Genealogy TV

3- 5 Questions Genealogist Need Always Ask - by Family Tree Magazine

4- The Secret of Finding Old Family Photos - by Lisa Louise Cook about using the DeadFred website.

5- BYU Topic Subject Training Guides - A blog by The Family HIstory Guide about using the training guides. A link to the BYU Family History Training Guides

6- How to make an Heirloom Recipe Book - It's not too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts.

7- Extreme Genes - Scott Fisher has a weekly podcast and offers from free tips and some paid courses for learning more about genealogy.

8- Using Cemeteries and Funeral Homes for Genealogy - from Genealogy.com

9- 21 Apps to use for Family History - by Lisa Louise Cook

10- How to Digitize Preserve Media in 7 Steps - by Family Tree Magazine.... Remember, we have machines to digitize about any media you might have in the basement, storage room, garage or even older formats on your computer, floppy disks or flash drives. Comes in and see what we can do for you for FREE!

September Ward Consultant Training

 Topic-Basic FamilySearch Skills

Standardization of dates and places, adding information, editing information, and changing relationships.

Standardized dates: 

    31 December 2000 -- date, month spelled out and year in four digit.  FamilySearch will offer their standardized suggestions.    If you don't know the exact date, one may use: calculated, about, before or after.  Or use a range:  from 1870 to 1880.  Be sure to click on the standardized option offered by FamilySearch.

Standardized places:  

    Burley, Cassia, Idaho, United States -- City, County, State, Country (all spelled out).  For places outside of the United States, start with the smallest geographical area, and go to the country level.  Use the location at the time of the event.  Click on the standardized place offered by FamilySearch.  Check the drop down options to see what the geographic location was at the time of the event.

If the exact place isn't showing as a standardized place, it can be submitted to FamilySearch for inclusion.  Use this knowledge article for instructions.

Reason for Standardization:  

    Standardized dates and places improve the accuracy of the search, record hints, and duplicate features of Family Tree.  In some cases, the lack of standardization will affect the ability to complete the temple ordinances. 

Name Tips:

    Use the person's birth name or complete legal name. 

    Use normal capitalization. 

    If the person legally changed their name, show that name. (This does not apply to married names- always use the maiden name).  In this case, list the birth name  in the Other Information- Alternate Names. 

    If the person used another name for any reason, or had nicknames, add those into the Other Information- Alternate Names.

    Titles would include: Dr., Count, Rev.   

    Suffix would be Jr., Sr. III, etc. 

    Do not use: not named, unnamed, son, twin, mister, or wife as names.

    Do not use "or" to list two different names. 

    Do not use the following characters in the name field.   \ @ # $ % ^ & * = | ~ ? < > { } [ ] ( ) : ; 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 

Changing Relationships:

    Couple Relationships apply to the connection of the spouses.  Five options are available:  Marriage, Divorce, Annulment, Common Law and Lived Together.  More than one can be used.   These are accessible by clicking on the pencil icon by the marriage date (or by the "no marriage events").  This opens the Couple Relationship pop up.  Click on "Add Event" to add a new event.  Click on pencil icon by event shown to edit that event.  One can also remove a spouse within the Couple Relationship pop up.  Click on Remove or Replace under the spouse.   Facts, Sources, and other notes can also be added to the relationship in this pop up.  

    Parent- Child Relationships apply to the connection of the child to the parent.  Five options are available:  Biological, Adopted, Guardianship, Foster and Step.  To edit the parent relationship, click on the pencil icon by the child's name listed under the parents.  This will open the Parent-Child Relationship pop up box.  The father or the mother can be removed or replaced, or the child can be removed from both.  Relationship types can be added to either the father or mother.  Sources and notes can also be added to parent-child relationship.  

Note: Persons may be shown in multiple couple relationships and in multiple parent-children relationships. One may select a preferred relationship, this will allow all charts and views to show the preferred relationships.  To do this- use the "Set Preferred" option at the bottom of the Family Member Section. 

Changing relationships will delete the persons incorrectly connected to your family in Family Tree.  My personal tip-- Be cautious when using this option as to not create persons without any family relationships. Try to, if possible, make sure the person you are deleting from your family is connected to their correct family members.   

Options to learn more about adding and editing information. 

Adding and Correcting Information on FamilySearch for LDS by Kathryn Grant     

Editing Facts and Relationships in FamilySearch - BYU Family History Tutorial  

Changing Information in FamilySearch - The Family History Guide

Note: These videos/websites use the old person page and so the screenshots will not match those shown on the new person page.   All editing options on the new person page can be done by clicking the pencil icon by the section one is wishing to change. 

Ten Top Tips and Websites

1- Temple and Family History Leaders can use the Leadership and Clerk Resources to send out emails to members in their wards (or Stakes).   Sign into your account on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.  Go to the nine dots by your name and select "Leadership and Clerk Resources".  Then click on "send a message" and select to whom you wish the message to be sent.  Type in the message and send it out to everyone selected.

2- There is a new training guide for Burley Family History Center.  The old one is outdated due to the changes in the home page and person page recently implemented on FamilySearch.  The new training guide is accessible on a link from the homepage of the Burley Family History Happenings blog.

3- Working with Hidden Gems on FamilySearch  YouTube video by James Tanner

4- Boost Your Brain Power 2- Avoiding the Same Name Trap by Kathryn Grant

5- 25 Best Websites for Beginners  by Family Tree Magazine

6- Hidden Meanings of Gravestone Symbols  

7- Canadian Records and Sources by Genealogy.com

8- How a Research Log will Transform your Research  by Family History Daily

9- 5 Things Every Genealogist Should be Doing by Family History Fanatics

10- Reverse Hints on FamilySearch

August 2022 Ward Consultant Training

 Topic from the month: New Person Page

Person page Knowledge Article

The Family History Guide Newsletter about the New Person Page

YouTube Video about the New Person Page 

• Top banner: Change the portrait photo (click on center of photo to change), view the family tree, and see your relationship to the individual, and follow/unfollow (receive notifications when changes are made on this person)
• About: A basic overview of the person showing family, memories, time lines and other interesting facts and historic context. 
• Details: Add or edit vital information, add or edit family members and relationships, view research helps, search records including hints and potential data issues, see the latest changes, tools (possible duplicates, merges and printing).
• Sources: See what sources have already been added, attach new ones, and detach ones that don't belong.
• Collaborate: Leave notes and discussions about this person for others who use this information in the future.  Notes can be deleted by others. Discussions cannot be deleted by others. 
• Memories: See what photos, documents, stories, and audio recordings have already been uploaded about this person. Upload new ones if you have them. 
• Ordinances:  See the ordinance status of the person. 

Top Ten Websites to Check Out

Find Fun Family Recipes in Newspapers.com By Lisa Louise Cook

Ancestry's New Photo Scanning Options a YouTube video showing how to use your phone to crop, edit, scan, colorize and enhance your photos.   Thanks to Sue Egbert for sharing this great option. We will have a class on this in the future. 

How to write a family history report

Southern Colonial Research- Maps and the Law  By Diana Elder

History Resources for England Counties on The Family History Guide

16 Records for Identifying Ancestor's Hometown

10 Best Websites for Italian Research

Using Tree Search on Find My Past   Warning- always view others trees as "clues" unless they have sources attached. 

Ancestry.com Series #3- Searching and Adding Information and Sources - by Nancy Busby.  She had four videos in this series, they are all available on BYU Family History Virtual Class Archive

Christmas Gifts by Marilyn Thomasen. It's not too early to start on some Christmas gifts. There is a handout with this video. 

July 2022 Ward Consultant Training- Navigation and Help

Monthly Topic- Navigation of Family Tree and Using Help Options

Home page views-

The Family History Guide Basic Navigation  

Family Search icon is the magic home button.   Clicking on the FamilySearch icon in the upper left hand corner will always return one to the home page. 

There is a new home page, if you haven't been migrated to the new one yet, you will be.  Or you can manually choose to view it now. 

Basic tabs at top are the same.

Family Tree-  access to the Family Tree- one big open edit tree we are all sharing

Search- look for records

Memories-  quick link to Memories section- showing memories you have uploaded and all of those connected to ancestors in your tree

Get Involved-   the indexing and name review options including the 1950 census

Activities-  options to learn more about you and your family using information gleaned from FamilySearch

Temple- place to reserve names using Ordinance Ready or to view names you have reserved, also links to view completed temple ordinances for those you have reserved.

New Options- 

Friends - place to create mini Facebook like groups to share information and temple reservations

Tasks- recommended records to be attached or persons needing temple work

Recents- quick link to last 50 persons you viewed in the tree

A section with your yearly contributions.  One showing recently uploaded memories to your ancestors.  

Shortcut to Ordinance Ready and notice the new option to schedule a temple appointment from the home page.  Note: Twin Falls is not requiring appointments, but is still recommending you schedule one. 

Another Search Option for all collections, another view of recommended tasks and another option to see most recently viewed in Family Tree. 

Different tree views- 

The Family History Guide- Different Views

1- Landscape- basic horizontal pedigree with both person's and spouse's lines showing- only show 4 generations, can open one ancestor's line at a time

2- Fan Chart- only shows person's line (options to filter for birth country, stories, sources, etc.)- can show 7 generations and can move anyone to the center to get more generations on that line

3- Descendancy- shows the descendants of the person (options to add more generations up to down the tree)  It is helpful to turn off the portraits to see more people on the same screen.

4- Portrait- vertical pedigree with photos of ancestors showing (if no photos, make sure the portraits are turned on)

5- First person- vertical pedigree from one ancestor- used mostly for clan genealogies (Korean and Chinese)

Using Help  and Communities- 

The Family History Guide- Help

The question icon at the top of every page is a "help" option for that page.  So it will appear differently on each page from which you access it. And the knowledge article appear differently for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so make sure you are signed up prior to clicking on the icon.  The top options will apply to the page from which you accessed the help section.   From there one can go to the Help Center or the Community to get further assistance.   Also links to Contact Us  (to call or schedule a chat with FamilySearch)  and Helper Resources (more on this in a future class).

For Help Center-

    1- Search tip on Help Center- less information is better.   Use only a few keywords (one or two) to start the search, then use the related articles to assist in narrowing things down. Open related articles in new tabs as to not loss the original search results.

    2- Can go into a specific topic and check the links from there

    

For Community- 

    1- You must sign in there again (same username and password)

    2- You can join groups or just search for answers or ask questions

    3- Can search globally or within categories

    4- Before asking a new question-  use the search option to see if someone else has already asked a similar question.

    5- Beware anyone can answer the questions, so use answers without knowledge documents (or supporting links) with caution.

    6- Suggest an idea is a place to suggest new things or changes you would like to see added to FamilySearch.  Again use the search option to see if the suggestion has already been made. 

This Month's Top Ten Websites to Check Out:

1- Daughters of the American Revolution Website- See if you can find your ancestor in their database.

2- Revolutionary Records on FamilySearch 

3- Rule Six- Records Move - James Tanner explains how paper records moved from one locality to another in this YouTube video.

4- Using PERSI Like a Pro - by Lisa Louise Cook, a video and article

5- FamilySearch.org- 10 links you have to use - Devin Ashby.  You will probably be surprised about some of these links on FamilySearch. 

6-  FamilySearch Discoveries in Minutes- Devin Ashby  Family History doesn't have to take hours, see what you can do in a few minutes. 

7- Summer Activities from The Family History Guide

8-  Ward Temple and Family History Plans-  Handbook and short video.

    Also check out our page with sample plans.  

9-  BYU Family History Webinars -hundreds of options for every skill level and interest

10-  RootsTech 2023  Live and Virtual! March 2-4, 2023

June 2022 Ward Consultant Training- Accounts

This month we will be discussing everything to deal with accounts.  

How to create an account and change settings 

Creating FamilySearch account and settings- How to Video

Creating a FamilySearch Account

Creating a Church Account

Who can create an account   

Persons need not be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to create accounts.  All are welcome to create accounts.  However for minor children, ages 8-12, they can only be created with parents permission.

Creating accounts for children ages 8-12 years old

How to recovery account information   

Retrieving Username and Password

Difference between church accounts and FamilySearch accounts

Split of Church Accounts and FamilySearch Accounts

Church Accounts can be used to sign into FamilySearch and for the Discovery Screens at the center (This is a recent new option.)  Username and passwords can be retrieved using a Membership Record Number, email or text number used to set up the account. 

FamilySearch accounts are necessary for signing into the FamilySearch apps.  Username and passwords can be retrieved using the email or text number used to set up the account. 

Other Tips

It's best if each account has a unique email address

If you share an email for multiple accounts, it will create issues when attempting to retrieve username and passwords via email. 

Helping someone else create an account

It's best to have everyone create their own account.   That way all changes made reflect on their account.

When helping someone create an account, make sure they record their username and password in a safe place so they can use it in the future. 

Tips and Tricks for June

1- Don't forget about our Youth Summer Program.  Encourage the youth in our wards to attend this opportunity.  Wednesdays 10 am to 6 pm from June 15 to August 10.  Please help spread the word to all of the youth in your ward.  The flyer can be found here. 

2-  Did you know, we are open on Sundays from 2 pm to 6 pm?  Except for holidays- closed for Father's Day, July 4th weekend, and July 24th during the summer.  Check out our calendar for closures. 

3- Family Tree has created 10 templates to assist in your personal research.  Find them here.

4- Kathryn Grant's latest family history video.  More Mysteries of the Change Log Revealed   In case you want to view her original video about Change Log Revealed

5- Tips for working with Old Photos Albums 

6- Researching with the Family History Guide Webinar coming July 7th.  More info here

7- Using The Family History Guide to accomplish family history in only 15 minutes a day.  

8- Using Guided Research on FamilySearch

9- Using Goldie May for Family History - Check out their YouTube Channel

10-  Helping Others Learn to Love and Do Family History

May 2022 Ward Consultant Training- Ward Plans and Organization

We are excited to be starting our Ward Temple and Family History Consultant Trainings again.   Each month we will feature one topic rotating topics throughout the year.   We will offer some tips and tricks to assist in fulfilling your calling and your personal family history research.  And there will be time for questions and answers and discussion among the consultants.   Please come prepared to share your successes and ask your questions.  We hope to learn from one another.  At this time, all handouts will be posted on the blog so those not able to attend the classes will have access to the basic information.  Check out our calendar for specific dates and times.   

May topic is Ward Plans and Ward Organizations.

Ward Plans are the basis for all Temple and Family History Work in our ward.  Here's a short 3 minute video from RootsTech which explains Ward Plans.

From the Handbook of Instructions, see Section 25.2.6 for more details.

"Each ward should have a simple temple and family history plan. This plan helps ward members, including children and youth, participate in family history work and prepare to work in the temple. 

In developing the plan...

~ Consider the available needs and resources.

~ Identify actions to take during the year.

~ Determine how to implement the plan and make assignments accordingly."

Also share the plan with the whole ward so everyone knows it.  Ensure there are specific tasks for the Ward consultants to accomplish.  And have a measurable assessment to know if the ward plan is working.  Plans can be changed as needed throughout the year or at the annual review. 

Sample Ward Plans

Ward Organization

Tips and Tricks from May

1. Top 9 websites for Mapping

2. Changes to Ancestry- more than Cosmetic

3. Recommended cleaning options for tombstones

4. What happened to the 1890 Census

5. Best kept secret for learning everything family history.  The Family History Guide

6. Check out our own research specialists. 

7. Six ways to preserve your experiences

8. Create a weekly attack plan

9. 1950 Census Indexing at FamilySearch with Lisa Louise Cooke

10. Online tools for Family Reunion planning