Learning about your ancestors can be so much fun. When it
comes to genealogy, you probably wonder where to start, especially if you’re a beginner.
When I first became interested in my ancestors, I wasn’t sure how to go about
it. I needed some help. So I became a volunteer at the Family Search Center and
was taught how to help the visitors who came into the center. That was the
beginning of a marvelous experience. The Family Search genealogy website is
free to the public at www.FamilySearch.org.
There are no fees. Even with covid19 and being closed during the past year, we
are still helping people who call in.
How do you begin?
1. Create a username and password.
2. Fill in the information about yourself, your parents,
and grandparents. Record two to four generations of your family, including
children.
3. You can upload photos,
documents, stories, and audios to the pages of your family members in the
section labeled “Memories.” Preserve original photographs by scanning them at
300 dpi and uploading them to Memories. This
should be your number one priority. If you don’t record these memories,
they will be lost.
Only deceased people are visible to the public on
FamilySearch. Anyone who is still living that you added to your family tree
will not be visible to the public. It will only be visible to you. This is for
the privacy of that person. 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 bloodlines 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.” –FamilySearch
Writing
a Biography
Have you considered
writing a biography of your parents or ancestors? Whether you’re writing a
story about a loved one or your own autobiography, you might feel that it is
overwhelming. I have an idea. If you have an inspiring story to tell or
intriguing incident to describe, perhaps writing each experience as short
stories would be easier for you rather than beginning at birth and listing
everything they did chronologically. Each chapter could be a short story.
How do you organize
your story to make it interesting? First thing to do is divide it into four
sections.
1. The hook: Introduce your
character. Tell something interesting about him or her.
2. Develop your Character: What does he look like? What was
his personality like?
3. Construct Events: It sets the stage for what you’re about to tell your
reader, leading up to the purpose of the story.
4. Present the Theme of the Story: The character should be faced
with a decision to make or a problem to solve, etc. This is the plot of the
story.
Remember! Write your
story in narrative style rather than just adding facts. Keep it interesting.
Add description. Here is an example of facts only:
Marcus was asked to bury the skunks his
father had shot. Before burying them, he would drain their scent into a bottle
first. When he took the skunk oil to school with him to show his friends, he
accidentally dropped it and it splattered all over the floor. It smelled so bad
that the teacher excused school for the rest of the day. His friends considered
him a hero because he had gotten everyone out of school.
Now… taking these facts, I narrated this story and added
description. This is how my father’s short story turned out.
When Marcus was thirteen, one day he closed down the school. It wasn’t on purpose,
but his friends thought he was a hero. Marcus was asked to bury the skunks
that his father had shot. Before he buried these skunks, he went to his bedroom
and got his glass jar. Then he drained their scent glands and screwed on the
lid nice and tight.
The following day, he took the “skunk oil” to
school with him to show his classmates. Marcus was so excited as he explained
what he had done. His friends were listening and a few girls were peeking over
his shoulder. They had never seen “skunk oil” before. With all the excitement
and attention he was receiving, he felt the bottle slip from his hands and land
on the floor of the schoolroom.
The bottle broke into a million pieces and
skunk oil splattered everywhere. It landed on the pant legs of his friends, the
skirts of young girls standing nearby, and on his own shoes. As the oil
saturated the wooden floor, the children moaned as the room filled with the
most putrid, foul, disgusting, detestable odor anyone had ever breathed
in.
The children instantly held their noses with
their fingers and turned and ran out the door, stumbling over one another as
they ran. Marcus was close behind. And so was the teacher! She excused school
for the rest of the day and Marcus did not get into trouble. He figured the
children were so excited to get out of school that no one told on him.
Don’t forget to add photos to the
biography. Pictures help to bring a story to life.
FREE online classes at FamilySearch!
Classes are taught daily at 10:00
a.m., 1:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time at
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/St_George_Utah_FamilySearch_Center.
To see what classes are taught
each day, click “Online Classes.” Then click “Class Schedule.” To join a class,
click “Join Current Class.” You can listen to the
instructor 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 and Publishing Your Biography.
Bio of Linda Weaver Clarke: I
was raised in the Rocky Mountains of Southern Idaho and now live among the red
desert hills of Southern Utah. I am the author of 32 books and 28 Audible
audiobooks: Historical Romance, Cozy Mystery, Swashbuckling Romance, Historical
Mystery Romance, a Children’s Book, and Nonfiction. I work at the St. George Family
Search Center where I help people find their ancestors so they can learn about
their heritage. Every month I teach a class at the Center that is free to the
public. I believe it is important to learn about our ancestors.
