Genealogy for Beginners

Would you like to learn about your ancestors? There is a genealogy website that is free to the public where you can learn about your heritage. It’s absolutely free. No fees at all. How do you get started?

Go to www.familysearch.org.

1. Create a username and password and any other information about yourself.

2. Fill in the information about your parents and grandparents next. Record your family back two to four generations and record all their children.

3. You can upload photos, documents, stories, and audios to the pages of your parents and ancestors in the section labeled “Memories.” Preserve original photographs by scanning them and uploading them to Memories. This should be your number one priority. If you don’t record these memories, they will be lost.

Remember one thing. Due to the privacy policy, only information about deceased people will show. So if you upload a bunch of photos and stories on your own page about yourself, it won’t be visible to others until you pass on. This is the same for any of your living relatives.

Don’t get overwhelmed with too many projects! As you gradually become confident, you can set more goals such as researching your family’s history. Work on “Memories” first and make that your number one priority.

What is Genealogy?

“Genealogy is the study of a family’s origins and history and is often referred to as a family history.  The first known use was in the 14th century to display a pedigree of royal, aristocratic, or clerical blood lines as a means of gaining and commanding respect.   Some family trees, like that of Confucius, have been found to list 80 generations dating back 2,500 years.

“Initially passed down by word of mouth the family genealogy was later depicted in the form of stylish paintings and documents.   It has currently gained international interest as access to more and more on-line records has resulted in significant advances in its documentation and display capabilities.   As it was in the times of an ancient king’s genealogy which showed his relationship to the gods, today’s family histories continue to be a form of storytelling to preserve the past for future generations.   In today’s climate, the more accurately one can document the past the more likely it will survive through the ages.  Today’s genealogy can take the form of simply collecting and preserving family information, all the way up to adding information to the world tree.”

--FamilySearch

There are free online classes at FamilySearch:

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

To see what classes are taught each day online, click on the “Class Schedule.”

Classes are taught daily at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. On Thursdays, there may also be a class at 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Below the Class Schedule is “Join Class.” When you click on that link during a class, you can listen and join in the conversation because it will be live. The teacher can answer any questions you have.

The two classes I teach each month are: Writing Your Biography twice a month and Publishing Your Biography twice a month. 

Below is my schedule for July.

July 9 at 10:00 - Writing Your Biography

July 16 at 10:00 - Publishing Your Biography

July 20 at 1:00 - Writing Your Biography

July 27 at 1:00 - Publishing Your Biography