Who Are Your Ancestors

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.