Mark your calendar for next Family History Conference, April 26, 2008, York, PA,

STGC ANNOUNCES APRIL FAMILY HISTORY

CONFERENCE PLANS

Have you been thinking about how you can learn more about researching you ancestors? Well, the Susquehanna Trail Genealogy Club (STGC) and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are excited to assist you. Just plan to join us for York’s spring family history conference on Saturday, April 26, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at The Church, 2100 Hollywood Drive, York, Pennsylvania. Registration and welcoming will be from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.; classes will begin at 8:40 a.m. We have lots of interesting local presenters, and we have a few presenters flying in from Utah. You won’t want to miss meeting Don & Jeanine Hartman, who maintain one of the largest FH databases available at http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com Their website of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry with a lot of York County roots athttp://www.linkhitlist.com/cgi/LHL_E.exe?G2L&LinkNo=1456853&ListNo=30907reflects Jeanie’s heritage. Don is the Director for AT&T Global Application Services, and Jeanine is the International Sales Manager for Delta Airlines. They will be presenting “Internet Genealogy Research” and “DNA in Genealogy,” one of their avid interests.

Also coming in from Utah will be professional Dutch researcher Nell Van der Wekken Parker, who recently retired after working 31 ½ years for the church’s Family History Department. She has researched Netherlands family history for over 25 years, having been born in The Hague, Netherlands, and reared in Australia, and living in Utah for over 30 years. She will be teaching us how to prepare to attend the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and what is available.

Accompanying Nell is her husband Vance Parker, who was born in Clinton, Utah. He is a retired mechanical engineer and has been a professional researcher of Scandinavian records for the last 15 years. Vance will teach “English Research”; he will be available for anyone with questions about Scandinavian research, while

Nell will be able to answer questions on Dutch research during the day.

We are excited to once again have Jonathan Stayer, the head of the Reference section of thePennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, to present two courses on “Doing Research at the PA State Archives” and “Researching PA Land Records.” STGC member Jerry Ellis, who is an archivist for the Pennsylvania State Archives, will teach how to prepare for a trip to the PA Archives.

New to our impressive list of presenters this year are Rebecca Whitman Koford and Richard Saylor. Rebecca teaches genealogy for the Howard Community College, Laurel College Center. She hails from Maryland, where she and her husband are rearing 3 children who refer to her as a “detective for the dead.” Rebecca will make three presentations: “Where to Start Your Family History Research,” “U.S. Military Research Records,” and “Brick Wall Case Studies.” Presenter Richard Saylor has been employed by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission since 1991, and he has worked as an archivist within the Bureau of PA State Archives since 1999. He is the co-chair of the Interpretive Committee of the PA Civil War Muster-out Rolls Project and also the project archivist for PA’s Civil War Muster-out Project. He is presently writing the PHMC Civil War Treasures book, due out in 2009. Rich’s presentation at the FH conference will be “Civil War Records at the Pennsylvania Archives.”

Jason Sellers, Eastern York High School photography teacher from the Graphic Arts Department, will teach how to get the most from digital cameras and inkjet printers. “Capturing and Printing Quality Digital Images” will teach tips and techniques that will keep digital photography from being a chore.

Some local members of The Church of Jesus Christ will present a variety of interesting and informative topics. Tina Abplanalp, who is a senior training developer for an international computer company and a member of the Lewisberry 2nd Ward, will offer two classes: “The 5 New Internet Sites Available at the Family History Center” and “Pennsylvania Genealogical Resources.” Dee Bryan, an

FAMILYFAMILY HISTORYHISTORY NEWSLETTERNEWSLETTER Volume II, Issue 2February 2008

outstanding teacher and leader of the York 1st

Ward, has worked on finding her family roots for many years now. Her love of research and reading have resulted in her development of “Leave No Stone Unturned” – a course that will demonstrate how death records, obituaries, and cemetery stones can aid in family history research. Gloria Smith, York 2nd Ward, who holds a BS degree in Genealogical Research from Brigham Young University, will present a class called “Immigration and Naturalization Records.” Family History Consultant A. J. Newcomer of the York 1st Ward, will guide tours through the Family History Center.

A mother and daughter team – Joan and Debra Miller – both members of the Society of Mayflower Descendants – will present the class “A Journey on the Mayflower.” A video called “The Mayflower Story” and a taste of “Johnnycakes” will enhance the class as attendees learn what research they would need to join the society. Another interesting feature of the class will be a presentation by Brandt Bradford, a descendant of Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony.

Last but not least, Jack and Sylvia Sonneborn of the York 2nd Ward , who have been presenters at various family history conferences and who have done research for over 20 years, will teach a class just for Latter-day Saints called “Introduction to new Family Search.” To fully prepare for this course, they will be taking a one-day class on new Family Search prior to attending the computerized Family History Conference at Brigham Young University in March. Jack will also teach a course to help researchers organize their data called “Comparing Genealogical Software Programs.”

At the end of the conference, the Susquehanna Trail Genealogy Club will meet in the gym to award door prizes (winner must be present) and to invite family history researchers to join. Susan Inak, president of STGC, will conduct.

The conference is free, but a lunch is available for $5.50 id ordered in pre-registration. Several fast food restaurants are near the church also. Bottled water will be available for sale throughout the day. Smoking is not permitted on church grounds.

Throughout the day, those attending may view displays in the cultural hall. Organized by club member Bernadette Livingston, the displays will demonstrate memorabilia collected by members of the club and other presenters.

Complete information and registration materials are available at STGC’s website, which is maintained by club member Mark Gagermeier:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~pastgc/index.htmlp. 2

THE PASSING OF A BELOVED PRESIDENT,

PROPHET, AND FRIEND – GORDON BITNER HINCKLEY

The month of January was a sad month when we learned of the death of the beloved president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 28 January 2008. President Gordon Hinckley has been known as the temple-building president. In his thirteen-year tenure, he has worked to improve the church’s historic sites in Kirtland, Ohio, Nauvoo, and Cove Fort in Utah. He established a Perpetual Education Fund to give returned missionaries in less wealthy countries the opportunity to attend college. He granted press interviews, held press conferences, and received a Presidential medal. He met with world leaders, traveled around the world, and opened areas to missionary work that had been closed. He wrote books that became world renown, and he bore his testimony of Jesus Christ every chance he had. We have learned to love him, his wit and his humor, and we will miss him greatly.

After Pres. Hinckley’s funeral, the Quorum of Twelve Apostles met in the Salt Lake City Temple and reorganized the First Presidency as outlined in church policy. “Thomas S. Monson, who was first ordained as an Apostle and called to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1963 when he was 36, was ordained and set apart as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sunday, 3 February 2008.He has called to serve with him in the First Presidency two he called “tireless and innovative workers” — President Henry B. Eyring, 74, First Counselor, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 67, Second Counselor. President Boyd K. Packer was named as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve.” (Meridian Magazine)

Presidency Hinckley has left us words of comfort concerning death:“As we travel through this topsy-turvy, sinful world filled with temptations and problems, we are humbled by the expectancy of death, the uncertainty of life, and the power and love of God. Sadness comes to all of us in the loss of loved ones. But there is gratitude also – gratitude for the great gospel plan given freely to all of us; gratitude for the life, teachings, and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for the life and ministry of the Master, Jesus the Christ, who broke the bonds of death, who is the light and life of the world, who set the pattern, who established the guidelines for all of us, and

who proclaimed: ‘I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.’” (Why These Temples?)

NEW FAMILY SEARCH PREPARATIONS BY OUR

TEMPLE DISTRICTWhen we last attended the Washington DC Temple, we met with the recorder to collect a pile of temple cards completed by the temple. At that time the recorder asked what we are doing in our stake to get ready for the implementation of new Family Search. The recorder said that he had been to Salt Lake City and had been trained on nFS by Elder Marlin Jensen. At the present, the temple workers in Family File are learning the process, and all Family History Directors have access to it. He said that the temple would be changing over to nFS on April 30. This date is not official as we have not received notices from the Family History Department, but it is a guideline if all things go as planned. For us, we just need to realize that nFS will soon be here.

What that means to our ward is that anyone who still wants to get into that window of opportunity to turn in temple cards for the temple to complete the work needs to do that immediately. When that window closes in the next two months, we patrons will have to provide proxies for those cards that have been printed in the past. The temple recorder said that after we change over to nFS, the temple will download cards from the site daily to be used in the temple. You will still be able to do the work for the old cards, but the temple will not find proxies. On nFS, if you choose to do proxy work yourself, you will print a Family Ordinance Request (FOR) with ancestor identifying barcodes on your computer on the nFS site and take them to the temple to print cards, which you will then keep to provide your own proxies.

There will also be a period of time when we no longer will be able to use Temple Ready - about a month before the rollout. When we change over, we will no longer use Temple Ready at all.

We told the recorder that we have met with Bishop Bushey, and he had asked us to make a plan for teaching ward members. Since Jack has been assigned by his HPGL to be in charge of family history for the ward, the Bishop has asked him to oversee the family history consultants in our ward. Jack has started meeting with the consultants, and he and I will help to train them as soon as we return from Utah in March and have nFS available. We will meet again with the Bishop to talk about the plan that we presented to him. Once we are on-board, ward members can schedule an appointment with any consultant for training on nFS, go online and try to learn the

program themselves (not advised), or go into the FHC to be taught by a FH consultant on duty. DON’T PROCRASTINATE

- IT’S ALREADY 08.

GENEALOGY AND TEMPLE WORK

"Genealogy and temple work—you can’t have one without the other. They are two inseparable parts of one supernal decree the Lord has given us to aid in the redemption of the dead. The process of identifying one’s family should be much more than a hobby to a Latter-day Saint. From an eternal perspective, to consider the word genealogy and not its partner temple work—or to think of temple work and disregard its twin, genealogy—makes no more sense than to try to play a game with only half a ball." [George D. Durrant, “Genealogy and Temple Work: ‘You Can’t Have One without the Other’,” Ensign, Aug 1983, page 18]

The Dead Do Speak to Us

The dead communicate with us, so we can find them. I heard of a story that happened to a FHC patron. She is not a member of the church and has no real idea why she is doing this work.She came in to read a film and with tears in her eyes she told the story after she made her exciting find. She said for decades she had been looking for birth and parent information on an ancestor. She had searched all the places she could possibly think of to find clues on the origin of this ancestor - all with negative results. One night her ancestor came to her in a dream and told her his birthday and place of birth. She found the film needed on the catalog that would cover this place and time. She found it as soon as she started looking at the film. Needless to say, all who heard her story had Goosebumps and a lump in their throats. Don't ever give up looking for them--they are waiting, and they will help you.

Letters sent to The Family History Library in

SLC“Enclosed please find my grandmother. I have worked on her for fifty years without success. Now see what you can do.”

“My Grandfather died at the age of three.”

“I would like to find out if I have any living relatives or dead relatives or ancestors in my family.”

“Source of information: Family Bible in possession of Aunt Mamie, until the tornado hit Topeka, Kansas. Now only the good Lord knows where it is.” p.3

Do you remember the movie JAWS?

Do you remember the music? Didn’t it set the tone for the whole movie? It slowly brought your anticipation up to a very high level. But seeing the shark jump out of the water still made you leave your seat. So what about it?

Within 90 days the new FamilySearch will be rolled out. That is the rumor. Renee’s Blog has us listed as contacted. No official announcement as of yet, but we are full of anticipation.

So we are trying to get all of you up to speed on what is needed prior to the roll out official date.

Please obtain your membership number and confirmation date. If you don’t know this information, see Bro. Bowman. Then you will be able to register when the Wash DC Temple goes LIVE.

Also, you need to ‘clean up’ the data you already have. The correct manner to identify The United States of America is not USA, but United States. You don’t have to retype all the place locations…just go to the Global Update section of the TOOLS menu and replace what you have with what is now correct. The same thing applies to PA or Penn;, we need to be spelling out the whole state’s name. The shark is about to jump…..so let’s anticipate the leap.

We Are Each Responsible

Elder Mark E. Petersen said in the May 1976 Ensign, "Be it known that each living person is responsible to assist in the salvation of his own deceased relatives. Our own salvation is largely dependent upon it. We cannot be made perfect without our ancestors, and they cannot be made perfect without us.

What is our obligation then? Each one of us—if we pretend to obey the gospel at all—must search out our dead and have these saving ordinances performed for them.

God holds each of us responsible for saving our own kindred - specifically our own."

I love that talk. Especially the part about "if we PRETEND to obey the gospel"... and then following up with just going to the temple doesn’t cut it. It’s only half of what the Lord has commanded.p.4

I have a hobby; I collect Ancestors –

True or False?

"In this Church we are not hobbyists in genealogy work.  We do family history work in order to provide the ordinances of salvation for the living and the dead."Dallin H. Oaks said this in the June 1989 Ensign.

A GOOD EXPLANATION OF THE COMBINING PROCESS IN NEW FAMILY SEARCH

Once we are using new Family Search (nFS), we will have to combine all the various records for one individual. For instance, my dad is listed twice on the IGI, once as having been born in Augusta, WV, and once as having been born in Slanesville, WV. How did that happen? He really lived in Slanesville, but that was such a small town that they often used the post office address of Augusta. So there are duplicate records because of different people using different places of birth. If ordinances were performed on different dates, there may also be duplicate records on the same person. Then there are the downloads to the Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File that various family members did when they completed their four-generation charts. These will have to be merged, combined, or collated, whatever term you like. On one of the chatlines I visit, a very knowledgeable member of the group has explained it well. “It seems there is some confusion about what ‘Combining’ means.In nFS a folder is created for each individual and all the different records about that individual are combined into that folder. They do not become one record like PAF does when it merges. They become a folder full of all the different records submitted about an individual. This is a different approach than was tried with Ancestral File, which merged the information into one record. The purpose is to combine all the research and Temple ordinances together in one place to reduce duplication of effort.The goal for the future will be to correct all the incorrect information that is in the folders. We

do not have all the tools necessary to make those corrections efficiently yet. For now we are to merge all the information into the same folder even if the information has errors. The way information is displayed in the pedigrees and summaries is based on a sorting of information, that will change at some future point. For now lets work on combining all the duplicate records into the folders. We will be given more tools with each new update to the system.” Gary Turner, Family History Consultant WORLD CONNECT PROJECT

Can’t afford a subscription to Ancestry. If you want a free alternative, try this site:

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/

When we can’t find an ancestor on Ancestry, we often switch to this site and find him there.

Seeking European Sites?

Check here - www.WorldGenWeb.org.     Also, this is the address for the countries included in the Eastern European section of the website.   http://www.rootsweb.com/~easeurgw/ orhttp://feefhs.org/ Federation of East European Family History Societies

SYLVIA’S FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH TALE

You may have noticed that I like to share a research tale with our readers. I am constantly amazed at the information I find about my family on the Internet. Well, this is this month’s tale:

I am named after my Grandfather Krise’s Aunt Sylvia Crossman (Hunt) Hamill. She was his favorite aunt, but I really did not know much about her. She married a William John Hamill in Baltimore, where he and his brother operated a coal oil factory. About the time it burned down, Sylvia was expecting her seventh child. Not only did she learn of this bad news about the business, but she also discovered that her husband had impregnated her younger sister Isabella Cummings Hunt, age 19, who had lived with the Hamills at least 4 years to help to care for the children.

There was trouble in River City! Sylvia’s husband ran off with her sister Isabella, and the couple disappeared from the face of the earth.

My mother’s records list Isabella as unmarried. Well, Sylvia made lemonade out of the situation. She went back to her maiden name, listed herself as widowed, rebuilt the coal oil factory, and became a well-known business woman in oil in Baltimore in the 1870’s so that she could take care of the children.

Not long ago, I posted a message on a family history message board seeking information about Sylvia’s father Joseph Hunt and his wife. Within a few days I had a response, and I met a William Hamill relative who, though she was not related to me, said that she had been in contact with one of my Hunt relatives in Melbourne, Australia. That was rather exciting to find someone researching my Hunt line as my great-grandmother was Nancy Hunt, Sylvia’s sister. [I also have a sister Nancy!]. I had never been able to find out much about her line.

At my request, this new contact sent my e-mail to Mandy in Australia, and I got a surprising response. Mandy is a direct descendant of younger sister Isabella who had run off with Sylvia’s husband William Hamill. William and Isabella presented themselves as married in Australia, where they made a happy life for themselves and produced 12 children. I now have learned that I have a large number of relatives in Baltimore, Australia, and around the world from Mr. Hamill. He and the two Hunt women had 19 children together.

Not only was this interesting to learn the story of my great grand aunts Sylvia and Isabella (my great-grandmother’s sisters), but I was even more touched to receive a picture of both Sylvia Hunt and Isabella Hamill. And while I am sad to learn about Sylvia’s plight, I am happy for my new-found relative Mandy, who has been very generous in providing information about Isabella Hunt’s line. Sylvia and Isabella both lived to be 92 years old, but William expired at the age of 65. They were strong women. Mandy sent a picture of him too. Here is Isabella’s photo.

[The picture of Sylvia Hunt is too dark to print.] Now I have lots more work to do. p. 5Try a blog intended for new family history researchers:http://dufamilyhistory.blogspot.comROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN FHPresident Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, March 1995 commented on technology.

"In recent years we have begun using information technology to hasten the sacred work of providing ordinances for the deceased.  The role of technology in this work has been accelerated by the Lord himself, who has a guiding hand in its development and will continue to do so.  However, we stand only on the threshold of what we can do with these tools.  I feel that our most enthusiastic projections can capture only a tiny glimpse of how these tools can help us - and of the eternal consequences of these efforts."

And another by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley:

"Going hand in hand with this increased temple activity is an increase in our family history work. The computer in its various ramifications isaccelerating the work, and people are taking advantage of the new techniques being offered to them. How can one escape the conclusion that the Lord is in all of this? As computer facilities improve, the number of temples grows toaccommodate the accelerated family history work" (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 1999, 4-5).

SAVIORS ON MOUNT ZION

“In our preexistent state … we made a certain agreement with the Almighty. … We agreed … to be not only saviors for ourselves but measurably, saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father’s work, and the Savior’s work, but also our work.” John A. Widtsoe, Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Oct. 1934, p. 189

"President Hunter's classic statement emphasizes the importance of temple work for our own families and helps us to understand the Old Testament prophecy that "saviours shall come up on mount Zion." (Obad. 1:21)  This exalting service for others unseen is one of the most noble acts of human kindness."

Russell M. Nelson, CR, Oct. 1994,   "The Spirit of Elijah"

p.6

        "We are not only to be messengers of salvation to the living, but saviors for our ancestors who went before us and who, though now dead, have paved the way whereby we might receive our present blessings... The promise was made that, even if they were born at a time and place where they could not hear the gospel preached in life, God would provide saviors for them from among their descendants.  We are those saviors God promised through whom they can have every priesthood blessing."

Elder Theodore M. Burton, Ensign, May 1975

***************************************HOW LONG HAVE OUR

ANCESTORS BEEN WAITING FOR US TO DO THEIR

WORK?

From the death of Abel until the Savior was resurrected spirits waited with anticipation. Then the marvelous news came -- the bands of death would be broken. He would soon be there in the spirit world. President Joseph F. Smith described the scene: "And there were gathered together in

one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality. "I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand." They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death. While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful. "And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on condition of repentance. "Their countenances shone and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them and they sang praises unto his Holy name." (D&C 138: 12, 15-16, 18-19, 24) "I marveled," wrote President Smith, "for I understood that the Savior spent about three years in his ministry among the Jews and those of the house of Israel, endeavoring to teach them the everlasting gospel and call them unto repentance. And yet, notwithstanding his mighty works, and miracles, and proclamation of the truth, in great power and authority, there were but few who harkened to his voice and rejoiced in his presence, and received salvation at his hands. But his ministry among those who were dead was limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection." (D&C 138:25-27)"And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them. But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead." (D&C 138:29-30) But the joy there was short-lived. Within a few hundred years the sealing power was taken away again from the earth. Those missionaries in the spirit world then and the many that have joined them have preached and prayed and taught. Who leads them? The Savior. Who are they? Joseph and Hyrum, and Brigham and John and Wilford, and those great apostles who baptized so many in the early missions to England, they are there, teaching as they did in life. With what success? Wilford Woodruff spoke of Joseph and Hyrum and David Patten, the first apostle to be martyred in this dispensation, and said that they had 50 times as many people to preach to as we have on the earth, and he said that in 1873. Think of the billions who have gone to the spirit world since then. And Lorenzo Snow, who is now preaching with them, said this in 1884: "I believe that when

the gospel is preached to the spirits in prison, the success attending that preaching will be far greater than that attending the preaching of our elders in this life. I believe there will be very few indeed of those spirits who will not gladly receive the gospel when it is carried to them. The circumstances there will be a thousand times more favorable."

Elder Eyring

YOUR BAPTISM = THEIR HOPE

"When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope.Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants makea covenant to find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you willsee in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment. Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands."

Elder Henry B. Eyring (General Conference, April 2005)

REPORT ON THE ST. GEORGE FAMILY HISTORY

CONFERENCE IN FEBRUARY 2008

There was a lot of news at the Family History Conference, St. George, Utah, this past weekend. New FamilySearch is ahead of schedule, and everyone will have it by the end of 2008 or sooner. It is run by 700 servers.

The digitizing is going really well; it takes 20 minutes to digitize one microfilm. 125,000 people are indexing. 74.1 % are LDS; 30,000 are community members. They are indexing 1.25 million names per day on an average. The 1880census took 17 years to index, and Ellis Island took 7 years. The 1900 census is bigger than both of those combined, and it was indexed in 12 months, and that was at the beginning. With the number of indexers working now, it could have been completed in 6 months. More indexers are needed and especially experienced ones who can arbitrate. The indexes are superior at 98+% accuracy. They are working with several genealogy societies to increase the amount of records. Records will begin being released at a faster and faster pace. It is important for members to sign up to help with the indexing so that they can take ownership in the project.

Labs.familysearch.org is available to use. Feedback is very important, it is what drives their ideas to become live products. This is where you will find the records that have been indexed using FamilySearch Indexing so far.The site is http://search.labs.familysearch.org<http://search.labs.familysearch.org/>

PAF is not going away after the nFS is in use. It is a way for individuals to store their data so that they can move it into the nFS. PAF is still a viable and supported product, and an update has not been ruled out.

The Family History Department wants us to work on the FamilySearch research Wiki site and add things. This is for research guidance - not a how-to on products or data on a specific ancestor. It will replace the locality research papers. They really want to involve family history center workers and family history enthusiasts. We should all help add information. It is similar to wikipedia.

The Church wants to involve all members in family history work, especially individuals who haven’t participated before. There is an urgency here. There is a need for us to move forward. ………………………………………………..p.7

Currently only about 4% of memberswork on family history and it must increase.

Lots of commercial partners are making programs that will synchronize withthe New FamilySearch, including FamilyInsight (former PAFInsight), Legacy, RootsMagic, and Ancestral Quest. These programs will allow you to pick which name you want to have displayed (Instead of coming up with your name every time.) The programs will continually make changes and make it better. Sources will soon be able to be added and images linked. It is a phenomenal product, and we are in a family history revolution right now! People adding GEDCOMS will be limited in size and asked, “Are you sure?” If you have suggestions, send them feedback.

FamilySearch.org will be updated and linked to Indexing, NewFamilySearch etc.

I have attended the last five conferences in St. George and presented at four of them. The first one I sponsored at the Morningside Stake Center,the second one I helped Elaine and Bob Booth get going at the Dixie Center and the past two years I have helped Holly Hansen. This year I just wanted to be a student and soak it all in. It was by far the biggest one yet; it was very well

planned and attended, and there was an excitement in the air that was very energizing to all of us.It is a very exciting time to be involved in family history work!Reported by Family History Consultant Shanna JonesSt. George, UT

SPIRITS PRAY FOR MISSIONARIES TO KNOCK ON

ANCESTORS’ DOORS

        "Why is it that sometimes only one of a city or household receives the gospel?  It was made known to me that it is because of the righteous dead who had received the gospel in the spirit world exercising themselves, and in answer to their prayers, elders of the Church were sent to the homes of their posterity that the gospel might be taught to them, and through their righteousness they might be privileged to have a descendant in the flesh do the work for their dead kindred.  I want to say to you that it is with greater intensity that the hearts of the fathers and mothers in the spirit world are turned to their children than that our hearts are turned to them."  Elder Melvin J. Ballard  Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin Joseph Ballard, p. 249

"The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.  Those saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation."

  (Teachings of the Prophet, p. 193.)

AN ANONYMOUS POEM

If you could see your ancestorsAll standing in a row,Would you be proud of them or not,Or don't you really know?

Some strange discoveries are madeIn climbing family trees,And some of them, you know, do notParticularly please.

If you could see your ancestorsAll standing in a row,There might be some of them, perhaps,You wouldn't care to know.

But here's a different question, which Requires a different view -If you could meet your ancestors,Would they be proud of you?

National Burial Index for England and Wales Online

The National Burial Index (NBI) for England and Wales is an index to help family historians find burial records. http://www.findmypast.com/national-

burial-index-search-start.action?redef=0%3Chttp://

www.findmypast.com/national-burial-index-search-start.action?redef=0

This newsletter has been written and compiled by Family History Consultants for the York 2nd Ward and is passed out to others as a courtesy. If you do not wish to receive a copy, please send an e-mail to one of the co-editors asking to be dropped from the mailing list: Jack Sonneborn klompen@verizon.net or Sylvia Sonneborn slysyl@verizon.net ……………………………………p. 8