FamilySearch trees can now document same sex relationships

From FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org):

FamilySearch Adds Ability to Document All Family Relationships

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (10 December 2019), The FamilySearch Family Tree now provides the ability for users to document all family relationships, including same-sex relationships. Nonprofit FamilySearch provides access to the world’s genealogical records and other free services to create family discoveries and memories. FamilySearch is a free service that enables anyone to discover, build, manage, share, and preserve their family’s history. It encourages genealogical accuracy based on original source records and contains over a billion user-contributed lineage-linked records. Patrons are now able to document same-sex relationships, including same-sex marriages and same-sex adoptions.

HOW IT WORKS

When adding a spouse or parent to the FamilySearch Family Tree, the user can now add a spouse or parent of the same sex.  The Family Tree mobile app will also support this new capacity after users install the necessary updates. 

(Original press release at https://media.familysearch.org/familysearch-adds-ability-to-document-all-family-relationships/)

NB: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church behind the creation of FamilySearch, has issued a separate press release at https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/familysearch-document-same-sex-family-relationships which notes that the church has not changed its theological position on not sealing same sex relationships.

(With thanks to FamilySearch)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Looking forward to Glasgow Family History Discovery Day!

It's the conference of the week, and I'm looking forward to speaking at it about Irish Family History Resources Online - and as usual, I'll have a few wee words and thoughts to impart!

The Glasgow Family History Discovery Day kicks off at 10am at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 35 Julian Avenue, Kelvinside, Glasgow, G12 0RB. Amongst the speakers there will be Irene O'Brien, Alison Spring, Bronwen Fogg, Roger Gardiner, Sandy Duncanson, June Cumming and James Greer.

For further details, please visit http://www.glasgowfamilydiscoveryday.com

I'll hopefully see you there! :)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

FamilySearch to cease microfilm distribution

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has announced that its FamilySearch service (https://familysearch.org) will permanently cease its family history records microfilm distribution service from September 1st 2017, thanks to the vast proportion of material that it has already digitised, and which it will continue to digitise until 2020.

For the full announcement, please visit https://www.lds.org/callings/temple-and-family-history/familysearch-microfilm-discontinuation?lang=eng.

(With thanks to Thomas MacEntee via Facebook)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.
For details on my Scottish & Irish genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.
For my genealogy research service, please visit http://www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk.

FamilySearch commences new Discovery Centre build in Utah

From FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org):

Salt Lake City, Utah (October 10, 2016)--The popular Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City has begun construction on its new Family History Discovery Center. When complete, the main floor attraction will create family history experiences for patrons of all ages. The project is on a fast track to be completed in February 2017. Admission will be free to the public.

"We have been excited for quite some time to start construction on the new discovery center," said Tamra Stansfield, manager of the Family History Library. "Our guests, particularly those who are completely new to family history, will be able to enjoy fun, personal discoveries through interactive technological experiences with their family's history."

Stansfield said the new center will make the library another unique and exciting destination for locals, families, and youth groups, as well as for tourists of all ages visiting Utah or Temple Square from around the world.

The Family History Library is the flagship facility in a network of over 4,900 family history centers worldwide managed by FamilySearch International, a nonprofit subsidiary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The fun, engaging activities designed for the discovery center are part of an organizational effort to introduce more people to the many fun facets of personal and family discovery.

FamilySearch is learning that if individuals and families have fun, personalized, quick successes and experiences with their family’s history, they will continue to be more involved at different levels throughout their lives. It also deepens appreciation for family connections across multiple generations.

The new discovery center will create a fun environment for families to discuss their family history together in inviting, unexpected ways. Youth particularly will enjoy the life-size touch-screen computer monitors for some of the interactive stations. In addition, there will be an enclosed space for parents with smaller children that will allow them to explore their family history while also being able to observe their children play.

A fun green-screen feature will let guests choose from a variety of themed backgrounds to create a lasting photo memory of their visit to the discovery center.

The new transformations are designed to offer unique interactive and immersive discovery experiences for visitors of all ages while still offering the vast collections and expertise the library is known for among family history enthusiasts and researchers.

When the new discovery center opens, "We expect to find the next generation of dedicated family historians at play in our library," said Stansfield.

Many of the interactive features in the new discovery center will use a patron's family history in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree to create custom learning experiences at a variety of stations. Stansfield suggests individuals and families take the time now during construction to create a free account at FamilySearch.org from home and begin building their family tree, adding favorite family stories and photos together. A developed family tree will enhance their experience when the discovery center opens in 2017.

The Family History Library's staff and other typical services and historic record collections will continue to be accessible during the construction of the discovery center.

The prototype discovery center currently located in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City will be closed to the public once the new center is opened in 2017 but will continue to operate as a FamilySearch development lab, where future experiences can be created and tested. A smaller discovery center was opened earlier this year in Seattle, Washington.

If you would like to follow the new center's construction progress, a time-lapse camera link is available online at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGng78LVGBHHVfJMBnaK5aMcVM4plnHpk.

Find this news release and more artist's renderings of the new discovery center online at http://media.familysearch.org/family-history-library-begins-construction-of-new-discovery-center/.

(With thanks to FamilySearch News via email)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Genealogy fun on Vancouver Island

I'm currently on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, which is one of the most stunning places I have ever visited - it's a bit like Scotland, but with added steroids - the mountains are bigger, the weather is better, and the hospitality is stratospheric! I left the mainland on Monday, departing from Horseshoe Bay on a 90 minute ferry trip which was visually stunning.

On Monday night I was then the guest at Nanaimo Family History Society (www.nanaimofamilyhistory.ca), where I gave a talk on the use of British and Irish newspapers, and on how to find them, both online and offline. There was a great crowd and a warm reception, so a huge thanks to all who came along! Tonight I am visiting the Qualicum Beach Family History Society (www.qbfhs.ca), where I will be contributing my experiences on researching a Scottish murder case. On Friday and Saturday we then have the main events here on Vancouver Island at Parksville, a two day packed agenda of talks, first with a series of four talks on Friday through two Scottish and Irish workshops that I am leading, and then on Friday at the International Genealogy Conference: Unlocking the Past 2016 (www.qbfhs.ca/workshops/conference_2016/), along with Colleen Fitzpatrick, which I'm looking forward to immensely!

After running an online Pharos course chat session yesterday morning, I spent the rest of the day having a wee dander around the place, with my host Donna Fraser, and visited several local attractions of interest. We stopped off at Cathedral Grove, where there is a stunning forest of Douglas firs, named after the Scottish botanist David Douglas (1799-1834). The trees can live for over 800 years, but a storm just a few years ago saw several of the giants blown down, through a strong wind known in the local native language as a 'qualicum', hence the name of the area (not averse to seeing such winds from time to time!).

From a genealogical point of view we also visited the LDS family history centre at Qualicum Beach (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Qualicum_British_Columbia_Family_History_Centre), where I met and spoke to Joe Forsyth, a volunteer from the north of England who is one of their most experienced researchers. The centre is located at 591 Arbutus Street in Qualicum Beach (tel: 250-752-2233), and has a host of predominantly British based resources for ancestral research, with access also to several worldwide based websites such as the main records vendors (Ancestry, FMP, My Heritage, TheGenealogist etc), as well as sources I have not used so much, such as NewspaperArchive.com, which has several US, British, and Irish titles amongst its holdings. You can book the computers for two hour periods, there are also microfilm readers available, and the Qualicum Beach FHS library resources are also held there. Well worth a visit if you live on Vancouver Island and fancy a delve into your British and Irish ancestry!

Onwards and upwards today - typing up a client report shortly, and meeting someone I have done some research for recently to see if we can come up with some other options for future research, before my session tonight on the Mount Stewart Murder. A bit like my routine back home - but perhaps with a tad more added sunshine...! :)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

LDS Family History Discovery Day in Edinburgh

A Family History Discovery Day will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Edinburgh on October 10th 2015. Registration for the event commences at 8.30am, with the first presentations available from 10am.

For further details on the programme visit www.safhs.org.uk/news.asp. For details of the centre's location, visit https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Edinburgh_Scotland_Family_History_Center

(With thanks to SAFHS)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Polygamous marriage in the early Mormon Church

The New York Times has an article identifying the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has posted an essay online confirming that its founder, Joseph Smith, practiced polygamous marriage, with up to 40 wives. The Times article is at www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/us/its-official-mormon-founder-had-up-to-40-wives.html.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, aka the LDS Church, aka the Mormons, is one of the main worldwide drivers of generating family history content provision, through its Family History Library set up and its online FamilySearch website at https://familysearch.org. Its members have a theological requirement to research their ancestry, for reasons including posthumous or 'vicarious' baptism, and the permanent 'sealing' of relationships from their point of view in the afterlife.

Personally speaking, I'm not at all interested in whether Joseph Smith did or did not practice polygamous marriage. What I do find interesting, however, from a family history perspective, is the discussion about the practice of polygamous marriage in the early church, which was practised from 1841-1890. As many from the British Isles migrated to the US to help found the church, it may be an issue of interest to those here with Mormon connections and/or ancestry. The article, entitled Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo, is freely available to read online at https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo.

(With thanks to Thomas MacEntee via Facebook)

Chris

Stuck for a Christmas gift?! I have a series of genealogy books available in the UK, Australia and Canada, on Scottish, Irish and British based subject areas. Further details at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. Santa approves!

Mormons and Chicago Irish join Ancestry

Two more new additions to Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk). The LDS Member Name Index, 1830-45 contains the names of many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from that period, whilst Chicago Irish Families, 1875-1925 is a collection of records of Irish family members who settled in the northern American city in that period.

Chris

Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)