The Family Tree
By Terence L. Day
Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald City newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.
Web site still in making but great for research
This story was published May 11, 1999
The site that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has placed on the World Wide Web for genealogical researchers is fantastic beyond my wildest dreams.
The site is not officially launched, but it is up for beta testing. In lay terms, this means the computer folks have set it up and invited people to come use it and report problems. After the problems have been resolved and perhaps a few refinements made, the site will officially launch.
What kind of problems, you ask?
Well, for example, when I went to the search engine to look for my father, I typed in "Lyle Day." Dad died in 1949. I not only typed in his name, but in the space reserved for his mother's name I also typed "Ada Rene Barnes." The search engine thinks I'm looking for a person named Lyle Day Ada Rene Barnes.
Not surprisingly, it didn't find anyone with that name. Nor did it find Dad when I typed in just "Lyle Day." I don't know why, because the search engine finds Dad when I type in "Lyle Keith Day." Perhaps this is one of the glitches that software engineers in the church's Family History Library are counting on us finding during this massive beta test.
When I typed in "Theodore Day" I found a herd of Theodore Days, including my great-grandfather, Theodore Barber Day, and his grandson, my uncle Theodore Russel Day. It also "turned" Theodore Johnson Day, one of Theodore Barber Day's sons.
This was a case of digging up my own work. Many years ago, I put information on these Teds in the Mormon church's computerized Ancestral File. This made a good research tool to check out the new Web page. Knowing what I should find, I easily could evaluate what I didn't find.
The Web page displays information in a software product called FamilySearch. In addition to what I hoped to find, and did find, FamilySearch found 32 other Theodore Days.
Each name found during a search is displayed in blue letters, indicating that the words are linked to more information. So, I clicked my mouse button on the names of the Teds in my family, starting with the most ancient of Teds, Theodore Barber Day.
Almost instantly, a new page appeared on my computer screen. It was what seasoned genealogists will recognize as an individual record. It contains my great-grandfather's full name and vital data - birth date and place, marriage and death information.
There's also an important little blue button labeled "details" beside the words, "Submitter(s) and Interested Researcher(s)." Clicking on this hyperlink, I quickly discovered I twice have submitted information on this line.
Conveniently for an impending geriatric case, this new page gives me my address so I can write myself for more information.
Well, you can see how valuable this information is. On some lines, I've found half a dozen or more submitters on one name. This allows genealogists to coordinate efforts and check with each other regarding questions or conflicting information.
Let's go back to T.B. Day's individual record. It also contains another feature of great value -another little blue button to click for a pedigree chart (family tree).
Pushing Ted's button took me to a pedigree showing his parents. That's as far as we've gotten on this line, which disappears down a badger hole in Morgan County, Ky., around 1800. But if we had submitted a half-dozen more generations of ancestors, the links would be there, and anyone connecting to the Mormon Web page would be able to almost instantly access all that information.
Another feature offered on the Web site is a means of submitting information on your family to this massive database - the world's largest genealogical database.
Despite some of the bugs, this new on-line resource for genealogical research is phenomenal. I gather - the church is not making any announcements until the project is finished - that FamilySearch gives researchers access to the entire Ancestral File from their home computers.
It truly will astound genealogists who never have worked on such a system.
Until now, this data has been accessible only at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or in any of the Mormon church's 3,000-plus Family History Centers.
At these centers, the data is on compact discs, but Ancestral File has become so huge that working on CDs has become cumbersome. A great resource, but what a blessing that genealogists with their own computers and access to the World Wide Web no longer will have to juggle CDs.
The greatest thing of all, of course, is that you will be able to work with this database 24 hours a day. Insomniacs will be able to do genealogy at 3 a.m. in their pajamas!
You will find this great new tool at: www.familysearch.org/
I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I am. How about giving this new Web site a try, then sending me an e-mail with your comments or evaluation?