Several members met at the local Family Search Center last week to use their subscription sites and collaborate with personal research. We had two or three breakthroughs during the morning. And a few of us learned that Fold3 is not particularly user-friendly! On the whole it was a successful visit.
It was great to have Pam Ingermanson back this week for another class about Family Search. She gave us a great overview on the home page before moving on to the tree.
Don't forget to try the AI suggestions on the home page which will help you to add information to some of your ancestors.
Pam explained the items on the tool bar on a person's Detail page and showed us how to contact someone who is adding information to our ancestors' story. We looked at the variations on a person's pedigree and the area where new information is listed.
We also reviewed how to add Memories to each person's page.
Finally, we used the Family Tree App on our phones to learn who in the room was related!
Thanks, Pam, for an interesting presentation.
The final February workshop concentrated on websites. We looked first at PhotoTree.com where you can learn about the types of early photographs and get some help deciding when your ancestors' photos were taken.
How to use Ancestry to locate photographers in the 1870-80 and 1900 censuses was explained, as well as a few links to learning more about those early photographers.
Annie also suggested taking a look at VintageAerial.com for photos of farms taken all over the country mainly during the 1970s.
We viewed a second group of websites to help in locating passenger lists. Ellis Island has updated its holdings and we can now access arrivals from the 1850s. Steve Morse's one-page websites can be helpful as well as another called German Roots.
As always, the FamilySearch Wiki page is a great help for any subject matter.
Here are all the opportunities for adding to your knowledge in March.
March 3: FamilySearch Night
March 5-7 RootsTech2026
March 10: Family Tree Maker Features
March 12: Field Trip -- Family Search Center
March 17: Land Records in Ireland
March 21: Arizona Genealogy Day
March 24: DNA Revisited
March 31: Summer Sendoff
Last week Diane presented ideas for preserving and cataloging photographs. She provided several examples to help in deciding whether to keep or discard family photos. There were also techniques we could use to identify when photos might have been taken.
Diane included a handout for photo inventory and analysis that will be extremely helpful for making decisions about your family pictures.
Thanks, Diane, for that educational presentation!
ARIZONA GENEALOGY DAY
Saturday, March 21, 2026 8:30 - 3:00 FREE
9:00 Honoring Ancestors: Native American Genealogy
10:15 Finding Family: Genealogy in the Arizona Memory Project
11:30 Add a Snapshot to Research
12:45 Liberate Your Research: Using Collaborative Family Trees
2:00 How the Weather Affected Your Ancestor
Google "Arizona Genealogy Day" to register for this free online event.
The main topic this week was a comparison of the three main cemetery websites: Find A Grave, Billion Graves and Interment. Since Find A Grave is the largest, we suggest trying that site first. They are all free and have different goals and perspectives. One other idea is to use the "cemeteries" selection under the Search tab in FamilySearch.
This workshop also included a trip "down the rabbit hole" of research. We used one family name in each cemetery website to compare results and then followed different sources such as death records, census pages, marriage records, etc. to discover more information.
