User:Srpacker

Sue Packer, Family History Consultant, and Kaysville Utah Family History Center volunteer.

It is a generous idea to gather records of living people to preserve their history and make it available for future generations. We can explore different ways to do that.

Several of our students or visitors at the Family History center ask about using FamilySearch Family Tree to record their living relatives. They assume that if they add the names of their grandchildren, cousins, aunts etc.to the Family Tree database then the information is preserved however this is not true.

Family Tree

Family Tree is primarily a tool for recording information about deceased ancestors. 1. There is a Family Tree feature that allows you to add live people so that you can connect to the deceased part of your pedigree. However the people you add are only place holders and can be seen only by you when you are logged in. For a how-to video that explains what to do when your family tree is empty go to familysearch.org/tree-training

2. Be aware that if you add “living” people such as aunts and cousins then you are the only person who will be able to see them. The record will remain there but not viewable to anyone until you change it to “deceased”. This means that in years to come when you are not alive to log on and see the names that you put there, no one else will be able to see them either.

3. If the person you have added dies while you are still alive and you log in and change the designation to “deceased” at that point then others can see the record and you or they can reserve the temple work and do it.

Preserve records in other ways

It is important to save genealogies in such a way that protects the privacy of living people and at the same time makes the information available to future generations. This is a tricky thing to do and many genealogists worry that their work will be lost when they are gone. One solution is to share what you have with as many family members as you can in the hopes that even if some lose it and some are not interested, at least one will carry on your work. Sharing your file can be done in several ways. First you enter the names into a genealogy program like PAF or Legacy or Rootsmagic. From here you can: • Print pedigrees and family group sheets and distribute them to members of your family. • Put the database on a CD that you distribute to your children etc. • Store a copy of your file and instructions with other valuables so that whoever finds it will know that it is of great worth and attend to it in your absence. • Use your file to add people to Family Tree when one of your relatives passes away.

This article gives some helpful suggestions on how to involve Your Extended Family in Family History. https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Involve_Your_Extended_Family_in_Family_History