Ask Liz

As I become familiar with blogging I figure out what works and what doesn't. It's always a work in progress.

I've added a feature that I call "Ask Liz" and it allows you, the reader(s), to ask a question if you don't want to put a comment at the end of a post.

Ask Liz is a new feature to ask a question or suggest a post topic

If you have an idea of something you would like to learn more about, need to clarify something or have a question - send it through "Ask Liz." I'm always looking for ideas of things to post on and ways I can help share the excitement of doing research for family trees.

You can also follow the blog via email or through google by selecting the information below:

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I would love to hear what you would like to learn about. Feel free to leave a comment at the end of the post if you liked something, need more clarification or just to say hello!

Comments can be left at the end of a post

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your interest in family history with me!

RootsMagic - How to Use It

At the end of March I wrote a blog post about RootsMagic and how to download the software and import a file from Ancestry or FamilySearch. In this post I will walk through how to add people to your file(s) in RootsMagic using screenshots and explanations to help you create your own database for your research and information for genealogy. RootsMagic also has fantastic webinars, FAQs and downloads on how to use their software and they can be found here.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: When you start a new file for your research in RootsMagic you will need to name the file. I generally use the Surname of the line I am researching and use the month and year that I start the file. As I backup my file(s) each month I rename them according the month and year of the backup. This is helpful in the event of a computer crash for restoration purposes.

Drop Down Menu: Starting out we will look at the drop down menu buttons at the top of the RootsMagic (RM) file.

Drop Down Buttons in RootsMagic

File: Import, Export, FamilySearch Central, New file and Open file are all available under here
Edit: This deals with an individual and you can delete a person/fact, unlink a person or family and view LDS ordinances here
Lists: opens up various lists in RM such as addresses, sources, places, etc.
Add: allows you to add a parent, child or spouse to your file
View: you can view your pedigree or family here, other features such as descendants, people, websearch and timeline are available for full RM users.
Search: you can search for a person from an individual or family list
Reports: family group records, pedigree charts and other reports can be printed from this button
Tools: provides options to make your file unique by color coding people, search for problems and merge people among other features
Internet: TreeShare for Ancestry is located under this tab as well as look up FAQs, see latest news from RM as well as read message boards
Window: this allows you to decide the view of your files - vertical, horizontal or cascaded
Help: houses webinar links, tech supports, handouts and other support features

Image Buttons: These buttons are located directly below the drop down menu.

Image Buttons in RootsMagic

Paper creates a new file in RM
Folder opens an already created file or allows you to open multiple files
Person + allows you to add a person to your file
Person with pencil user can edit the highlighted person in their file
Printer allows you to select reports that you want to print
Books helps to create a family history book
Magnifying glass is a shortcut to search for a person in RM by name or record number
Tree is for users with the full RM program
Merge Sign is a shortcut to merge people in your file if duplicates are imported or created
Notebook is a shortcut to edit notes on the individual highlighted
Certificate allows you to look at sources for an individual, family or all sources at once
Camera allows access to media for the individual or all media in file
Envelope you can see addresses for the individual or all addresses in your file
Sticky Note allows users to create a to-do list for an individual, family or file
FamilySearch Tree opens FamilySearch Central which is the link to accessing FamilySearch through RM
Door is a logout button
Down Arrow allows user to edit image buttons by adding, removing or reordering buttons

Synopsis Box: This is a simple information box on the individual highlighted whether the user is in pedigree or family form of their file. You can see spouse(s), parents, LDS information as well as full name and vital information.

Synopsis Box in RootsMagic

Index Column: is on the left side of the screen below the synopsis box. This is an index of all the people that are in the RM file that you are viewing.

RootsMagic Index

Options allows the user to add or remove information listed in the index but is limited to the following information: show alternate names (name is displayed with a blue + sign next to it indicating alternate name), show birth year (very helpful if you have a family line with the same or similar names in each generation) and show record number (displays the record number of the person in your file - unique just to that RM file).

💎GENEALOGY GEM: users can alternate the width of the column by hovering on the right edge of the index column and adjusting when the cursors changes to an adjustment symbol.

"Main Screen" View: The main section of the screen can be viewed as a pedigree or family chart for basic users. Full program users have more options which will not be discussed in this post as I only have the basic free version and am very happy with it.

Main View Options

Pedigree view shows the highlighted person and the direct line back with the option of viewing 5 or 6 generations at one time. You can maneuver backward and forward by clicking on the red arrows on the left and right of the main screen next to a person listed in your pedigree.

Users can select 5 or 6 generation viewing and maneuver through generations using red arrows

Family view shows the immediate family of the person highlighted in the index (husband, wife and children). Multiple spouses will show in the male/female icon next to the husband and wife. By selecting the gender icon a drop menu will allow the user to select which spouse and children are being viewed. Parents of both husband and wife are shown in the family view as well.

Family View of RootsMagic

✍TAKE NOTE: As with pedigree view, you can move through the family tree in family view as well by using the red arrows next to the father/mother/father's parents/mother's parents.

Descendants, People, WebSearch and Timeline are available through the full version and will not be discussed in this post.

Adding a Parent or Child to RM: As information and records reveal family members, the user can add family information by following the steps listed below.

Select the appropriate relation box to add a person

Click on the box that pertains to the person that you want to add whether father, mother or child
If the person is NOT in your file you will click "Add NEW person"
If the person is already in your file but needs to be connected to a family click "select EXISTING person"

Adding a new or existing person to RM

Add a father - the surname is already autofilled but can be edited as needed
Add a mother - the surname will be blank if the father is not already filled in; always use the name before she was married
Add a child - the surname will autofill if the father's information is filled in but can be edited as needed
Add as much information as possible using birth/death date(s) and location using about/after/before if needed

Add a Father

💎GENEALOGY GEM: users can customize the add person form by clicking on the blue hyperlink in the lower left corner of the Add Person screen. Click on "Customize this Form" and the user can add various life events and information to the Add Person form.

✍TAKE NOTE: once you customize the Add Person screen that information will be shown in every Add Person box

Editing a Person in RM: By double clicking on a name in the index, family or pedigree view a "profile" page will appear for the person you selected allowing you to add information regarding the individual chosen.

Edit Person Screen

In Edit Person mode users can:
Add a fact to a person such as christening, census information, military registration or service, education, occupation or social security number among other facts
Delete fact(s) about a person
View LDS ordinances for the individual if you have this feature enabled
View addresses for the person in their "profile" or select from a main list
View media attached to the individual or select from media file
Create and view a to-do list for the individual
You can add/view/delete notes specific to the person you are viewing
Attach/view/delete sources associated with life events for the individual

My best recommendation for those new to RM is to tinker around with it. Familiarize yourself with the buttons and learn by doing.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Remember that trees from Ancestry and FamilySearch can be imported to your RM file!

Congratulations and happy tinkering! Now go have some fun!

FindAGrave Volunteering - A Great Way to Pay It Forward

Volunteers are a critical and valuable part of family history. Indexing is done by volunteers. Submitting your family tree, sources and photos is volunteering. Helping teach someone how to get started on their genealogy is volunteering. It is a key part of what makes this work roll forward and complete family puzzles.

In this post I'd like to make a plug for Find A Grave. This is a fantastic site that is what it is thanks to volunteers. If you haven't had a chance to check it out...go...now! You don't need an account to search and it's free!

Find A Grave homepage

Enter in what information you know about the person you are searching for. A last name is required to do a search. You can check the box(es) to include information such as nickname or maiden name as well as a partial surname search if you are unsure how the name was spelled.

✍TAKE NOTE: I generally leave birth and death dates blank in case I have incorrect information. If I know what state they died in I will include that - otherwise I start with the location blank and narrow it down from there.

Find A Grave Search 

In this case, I put in a general search for an ancestor in my tree. Originally there were 48 possible matches so I included the state that she lived in before she died.

Hulda's Headstone

I now have the name of the cemetery that Hulda is buried in as well as the exact location of the cemetery. If I were to visit, I would know to go to the Urn Garden. Thanks to a volunteer, there is a picture of the headstone for Hulda. I now also have information on Charles and Clarence as well as dates.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: If I came to this page and there wasn't a picture but I had one in my possession, I could add it to the website for others to see. If I wanted a picture of the headstone, I could click on "Request Photo" and it would be sent to volunteers in the area and they could "Claim" the request.

Uploading photos of your family members headstones and plots in a cemetery is a wonderful way to volunteer to other members of your family that may be searching for the same person you have information on. Thanks to many volunteers, people that are not able to get to cemeteries where their loved ones are buried can request photos to be taken so that they can see what the headstones or family plots look like.

By creating an account you can sign up to become a volunteer and take pictures for others searching for loved ones final places of rest. Going to get photos of a loved ones headstone? Take a moment to look up the cemetery to see if there are any photo requests for that cemetery.

✍TAKE NOTE: If you have location on your camera or phone that you are taking the photos with, this will input the GPS location of the headstone making it easier to locate should a family want to come see the headstone themselves.

With an account you are also able to transcribe photos that volunteers have submitted to Find A Grave making the database searchable.

If you are an avid photographer, looking for a way to pay it forward or just looking for a kind act to do...stop by your local cemetery and see if any photo requests have been placed. Thanks for paying it forward!

FindARecord.com

This is a great website if you only have a few minutes to do some family history. I love the color coding that goes along with it. It also syncs to your family tree on www.familysearch.org. Let's take a look at this great site that allows you to do some work on your genealogy in three minutes time!

FindARecord.com homepage

Click on the orange button and sign in with your FamilySearch account. It will send you to the FamilySearch sign in page to log you in to your tree.

Main page after log in

 The start person will automatically be you if you are the "start" of your tree on FamilySearch.

Who do you want to find has many options:
Ancestors searches for parents, grandparents and all great-grandparents
Descendants searches for children, grandchildren and great grandchildren
Ancestors and Descendants searches for the categories for Ancestors and Descendants
Cousins searches for Ancestors, Descendants as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, and all great-aunts, great-uncles and their children
Everyone searches for parents, grandparents, all great-grandparents, children, grandchildren, all great-grandchildren, aunts, uncles, all great-aunts, great-uncles, nieces and nephews, father-in-laws, mother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, and anyone else connected to your tree through blood or marriage.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: I generally start with ancestors and then work my way down as I clean up my tree.

Generation selection

 Generation selection allows you to choose how far back in your tree you want to search.

✍TAKE NOTE: If you feel overwhelmed then start with 1 generation and as you become more comfortable you can move up the numbers of generations you are viewing.

Now comes the fun part if you like organization and color coding as much as I do! Each field to work on is color coded on this website. We are going to look at each one in order. You can select one or two of the items to work on or all of them! That is one of the features I love about this website. You can pick one area to focus on and clean up your tree from there.

Sources selection box

Sources are very important in research for genealogy. This creates a trail and allows others to see where you found the information that you are documenting. FamilySearch is great at adding in record hints. If someone in your tree is missing a birth, marriage or death date/record or if FamilySearch has found a record hint - this is where it will show up! By selecting just sources you will only see the people in your tree that need this information or have a record hint mentioning them. Again, start small if you feel overwhelmed and work backwards! Start with death records and see what information you can collect to help you make sure you have the right marriage record, birth record, etc.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Remember that genealogy works backwards so if you want to start small, only select death records and then move back to marriage records and then to birth. One step at a time to build your tree and follow your ancestors trail through life.

Person selects information on each individual

Person allows you to break down the person into details for each life event. This gives you a bigger pond to fish in but more specifically focused on each life event. It allows the person searching to start big and break down each event into smaller categories.

✍TAKE NOTE: Always start with the most recent life event (death) to find out what information you can use to help find clues and fill in gaps regarding the person you are researching.

Relationship helps clean up multiples and missing people

Relationship helps to identify possible problems in your tree such as multiple parents, missing parent(s), possible missing children and similar issues.

✍TAKE NOTE: some relationships didn't have children or may have had children that passed away at a young age and in between census records. Some spouses died in between census records so pay close attention to spouse names and ages - if things don't quite calculate right or suddenly the name changes, take a closer look to find any possible gaps.

Problems appear with a triangle an ! inside

 Problems "red flag" problems with dates or possible duplicates. If a child was born out of wedlock and then the parents married, it will be marked as a "problem." If dates were not put in correctly or transposed, it will be marked. If a father died before a child was born, it will flag. Some issues are a simple fix, others may need some research. Don't just change a date to fix it. Take a few minutes to find a record to support the information or verify the date. (See Sources)

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Some men died before their children were born, i.e. their wife was pregnant and then they died. If this occurred and a father died in 1845 and the child was born in early 1846, it will be flagged. Just make a note of the situation and move on.

Clean up helps make the person "complete"

Cleanup helps to do just that - cleanup a persons file in Family Tree. Each person needs one name, one marriage per spouse, character free names, etc. I refer to these people as "complete." Each place should, ideally, have a city/town, county, state and country. Dates are listed in DD MM YYYY format.

✍TAKE NOTE: A date or place may be "correct" but listed as needing a "standardized date/place". Simply back space one space and retype the number or letter you erased. Select the date or place from the drop down menu provided by FamilySearch. It will become highlighted in green and say "standardized place/date selected".

LDS Ordinances can be searched for and reserved

Ordinances can also be searched for with this website. You can select certain ordinances by checking the boxes next to the desired option(s).

✍TAKE NOTE: Before you print up any ordinances, always check for duplicates to make sure you are not repeating anything that may have already been completed.

In 3 minutes time you can standardize a place or date for a family member, merge duplicates, find a birth/marriage/death record, confirm a hint or add a source. Just like that! Have a few minutes? Go now to Find-A-Record and get started.