Part Two of four:
Getting Involved
Let’s begin by stating the obvious: you have to get involved with family history to share it. An example of this was a gentleman who visited our Family History Center and had been asked to encourage people in his church assignment to be involved with family history. Not having much experience himself, he came to the center to get some ideas. There was plenty of material to give him but it wasn’t until he had had his own discovery with his ancestors that he really became enthusiastic about this assignment. Once you have gotten involved with family history experiences, sharing becomes quite natural.
Here are some ideas on how you can get involved with family history!
Ask for Help. Just like the gentleman at the beginning of the article, he asked for help. There are many family history centers where you can find knowledgeable consultants who can get you started. Other websites can give you a start as well including FamilySearch and The Family History Guide.
Give Back. Become involved with a family history service project for example: transcribe records for Find a Grave or do a batch of Indexing for FamilySearch. Both provide priceless records for family history researchers.
Invite. Extend an invitation to a family member or friend to spend an hour together getting started with Family History. A great resource is https://www.familysearch.org/gettingstarted/
Involve Youth and Children. Spend time with children on Sundays at a Family
History Center or at home working on your family’s history. Ask a young person to take time listening to and recording the stories of an older friend or family member. There are some terrific ideas to include family history in school, too: www.hiddengenealogynuggets.com/familytreefun/familytreeschoolproject.php
Join a family history group. This can be accomplished through social media including Facebook, Instagram, a text group with family or friends, a family blog, or an organized genealogy group. See the Family History Guide for ideas.
Submit your family tree to an online database.
Ancestry.com Trees
Kindred Konnections MyTrees.com
OneGreatFamily
RootsWeb WorldConnect
World Family Tree
These sites benefit greatly from the work of earlier researchers. Often several researchers are interested in the same ancestors. Because researchers rely so heavily on the findings of others, sharing information is the way to return the favor.
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Share_the_Information
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/GEDCOM
Hope you find something in this article to inspire you to get involved with Family History work.
In Part Three of Sharing Family History, we will take a look at: Family History Fun.
–Janet Helland – Assistant Director Patron Services- Granite Family History Center