FamilySearch Got Me Started

By Wendel K. Walton

I know well the feelings of being overwhelmed at the task of family history research and how difficult it is to maintain enthusiasm. Thirty years ago when the Church requested that we submit the names of three generations of our ancestors, I responded. Some years later when four generations were requested, I again responded. But in each instance I stopped short. Each time I submitted what I had copied from others—never verifying the information or even filling in missing information. It seemed such an effort just to type up the forms that when I finished I couldn’t wait to return the genealogical binders to their places on a dusty shelf. But now this has all changed.

When I was called to serve as the director of a stake family history center, I was amazed at the power provided by two computer programs: Personal Ancestral File^® (the Church’s family history software program designed to help organize family history on home computers) and FamilySearch (a massive database of family history work and research aids).

Gone are the days when I would labor over preparing a family group sheet or a pedigree chart on a typewriter. Gone is the need to copy information more than once. Using Personal Ancestral File, I typed the information once and it was readily available to make corrections or copies simply by using a few keystrokes.

With my own records organized on Personal Ancestral File at home, I began to use FamilySearch at our family history center. The computer searched the more than fifteen million names on Ancestral File™ (a database of family histories available on FamilySearch) for my family and found many individuals related to me. I quickly copied information about these individuals from Ancestral File to a diskette and from the diskette to my own database, which I had organized using Personal Ancestral File. Then, following the straightforward instructions, I combined the new information with what I had entered previously.

As I worked with Ancestral File, I noted that while it contained information of which I was previously unaware, there was much information in my possession that Ancestral File did not contain. Noting how I benefited from the labors of those who submitted information to Ancestral File, I became keenly aware of my responsibility to contribute to Ancestral File and subsequently submitted more than fifteen thousand names for inclusion.

Because of the many information gaps in my records, particularly regarding Latter-day Saint temple work, I searched the International Genealogical Index™ to help determine what work remained to be done. This file, also included as part of FamilySearch, contains information on more than two hundred million deceased individuals—information accessible in a few seconds.

With the help of Ancestral File and the International Genealogical Index, I quickly came to the end of the research that had been done on my family. Now it was time to examine primary sources such as vital statistics, parish registers, census records, and cemetery records. So I turned to another tool of FamilySearch, the Family History Library Catalog. With this index to almost every record in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, I quickly learned what records might provide additional information on my family. Because most of the holdings are on microfilm, I made arrangements to rent the films from the library so I could examine them in our family history center.

Now the time I spend doing family history is spent doing research and temple ordinances instead of simply copying someone else’s work. I owe my enthusiasm for family history to FamilySearch. Without it, I might never have started.