Gather, Find, Prove

First Day of Class “Family History on the Internet”: Discussions for Friday 

1. Handouts: I will e-mail you copies of any handouts that I make up. I will also post it on my website. If you don't have a printer and still want a paper copy of something, I suggest you put the document on a flash drive and take it to Office Depot or Kinko's; you can even send them the docs via the Internet and then go pick them up.

2. Jon Shepherd will be helping me this session with the class. I've asked him to share his experiences with you as an Ancestry.com user, his insights on Findagrave.com, and more. I will be focusing on FamilySearch.org, strategies of researching on the Internet, and sharing some insight into learning the skills of research. Or not! You are the stars of this search and where you need help and ideas, we will strive to address some of those concerns. We sure can't do everything in 8 weeks, but maybe we can hit some of the things that will help you with finding your family either on the Internet or we can use the Internet to tell us where to look.

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Some of the elements of researching that we will discuss in class will have to do not only with gathering the information about your family, but also analyzing the evidence and evaluating the various documents or other types of proof.

Here is a document.  Tell me what you learn from this "clue":  

 Is it just as important for you to cite your internet sources as it is a source a book?  What is the best way to do that?  How can you keep up with all the records you find when you are using the Internet as a tool.  First, gather these finds.  Put them in a notekeeper like Evernote, OneNote, etc.  You can also use Pinterest to save images!  Make a family group on Facebook and share your finds with your relatives.  

After the finding- gathering phase, you will want to compare the information in the document with what you already know about your relative.  Don't immediately assume that a similarity in name or place makes it your guy.  We will go into more detail later on, but building a profile for your ancestor is rarely a one step process.

Various links on the Internet will help with obtaining the proper tools for your search.  Order a "Quick Sheet" for citing sources from Ancestry.com's Database and Images.  Create a research log and always capture the sources, one a time...before you go on to the next "find".  

• www.genealogical.com specializes in making such tools available.  Key Person in "Evidence" is Elizabeth Shown Mills.  Google her name and see what I mean.
• Building a Solid Case for your research on a someone's profile calls for a Genealogical Proof Standard.  The author is Christine Rose for one such book. 
   
• My goal as a teacher this session is to help you see more clearly that which you are detecting.  You may have to utilize a magnifying glass both literally and figuratively to see everything a piece of evidence has to "say".  Shining a bright light on a dark closet will make those corners yield up their secrets.  What detective rules will you follow?

• FamilySearch.org=Free Records
• FamilySearch Tree- Plant your tree one person at a time.
• FamilySearch Wiki- Knowledge Base (Kind of like wikipedia, but for genealogy)
• FamilySearch Apps- Have a little fun.
• FamilySearch Memories- Stories, photos, documents (Share)

 Please get a FamilySearch Account today.