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We like to spread the word that The Family History Guide is an industry-leading website for research—and it's free. But it's even better when others help us get our message out, and that's certainly the case with this recent FamilySearch blog article by genealogy experts Kathryn Grant and Sally Odekirk: Free Genealogy Websites to Elevate Your Research. The article begins with a Gateway category, which is defined as a gateway or hub for research resources on the internet. The four gateway sites mentioned are Conference Keeper, a hub for genealogy conferences, jobs, cruises, etc. Cyndi's List, a huge collection of over 300,000 links on many genealogy topics FamilySearch Wiki, specializing in record collections and research strategies The Family History Guide, a site with research training, learning projects, and many video and tutorial resources We're honored to be included in this short list of global leaders in family history research. The Family History Guide also has two knowledgebases and hundreds of practice exercises for research. But there's more ... FamilyHistory Activities We are also mentioned in the article sections for family history activities, alongside FamilySearch Activities, and Relative Finder from the BYU Technology Labs. The Family History Guide has the largest collection of free activities, with well over 200. Also included are an activities index for quick reference, and activities for Latter-day Saints, such as a family history companion for Come, Follow Me. Training and Education The Training and Education section of the article has this to say: As mentioned above, The Family History Guide offers free self-guided learning on a variety of topics, such as general research, country-specific research, and using family history websites such as FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com. Also of note are over 200 Class Outlines that can be used for quick and easy training on a wide variety of genealogy subjects, and over 50 quizzes. The Online Tracker tools help you assess your learning progress quickly and efficiently.
Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy's Star blog site. Security is one of the major concerns of the day. You can regularly read about huge websites and databases being hacked and the information stored compromised. Security on your computer or your smartphone should be as automatic as locking your door at night (or during the day depending on where you live) and routinely locking your car unless you live in San Francisco and leave it unlocked and empty to avoid a broken window. Even genealogists need to be aware of the security of our data. The first and most common issue is logins and passwords. Basic security mandates logins and passwords that have enough characters (letters, numbers, and other symbols) to be harder to sign in (weak vs. strong). In addition, each password should be unique. It is not a good idea to reuse a password. Most of us have a place we keep our passwords. That place should be secure and subject to password protection also. If you have them on a piece of paper, make sure the location of the list is secure. One way to create a strong password is to use a combination of words, numbers and symbols. For example: this is a strong password ElephantMachineDoctor34!! assuming it does not exceed the number of characters mandated by the website or program you are entering. Random letter, number, and symbol passwords are extremely hard to remember and difficult to type correctly. Although the password generated by the websites or programs are strong, they are also random and arbitrary. The next level of security concern is when you are using a computer in a library, FamilySearch Center, or some other publicly accessible place. Depending on the facility where the computer is located, unless you log out of any programs you use, the computer may remember the login and password and allow any random person who uses the computer have access after you leave. For example here in the BYU Library Family History Center, if you login to websites and programs, some of the websites and programs will keep you logged in even if you log out of the main BYU access program. In the case of the university, all the computers are supposed to be wiped clean every night but we still find absent people signed in on a regular basis. Email addresses are not intended to be secure. One obvious reason is that your email address will likely be used as your login although sometimes the website will send you an email to verify that it is your email address. It is a good idea to have one email address for day-to-day use and another used for signing into secure websites. You can have several different email logins but using more than one or two for routine email become complicated. The multiple emails can cause problems when they are used as the login for a website and then forgotten. You may have to log into the website and the website will send a key for logging in to your old email address and if this happens to be the one you have forgotten or closed, you may go through a complex issue with the website before being admitted. If you forgotten your login or password, most websites and programs have a way to restore the password or have create a new one. Always remember to immediately write down the new password. If you are like me, I would forget what I used almost as soon as I was through logging in. An unrelated issue is maintaining the security of your computer, smartphone, or other device. Pinning your passwords on a stick it note is not a good idea unless you take another step and encode all your pass words. Your code could be quite simple: 3456Missippi23!!! could be shown on your password list as 34M2!!! and you could then have created a system that only you know about that lets you know that 34 is 3456, M is Mississippi, and 2!!! is really 23!!!. There are many more security concerns. Phishing is one issue that is becoming endemic. Phishing involves send a legitimate looking email requesting some personal information. Phishing is not limited to email, it is also becoming common with text messages and phone calls. If you get an unfamiliar email, text, or phone call make sure that you do not open the email or text and do not answer the phone call even to tell the person on the line to hang up. You should have a working voice mail if you are concerned about having phone calls from a sizable group of people. Let the phone call go to voice mail and if it turns out to be a legitimate phone call, text or email, you can either call the person back or contact them in some other way. Legitimate contacts will leave a voice mail or call you more directly so you know who is calling. Genealogical information is usually not private and since it found in available historical records, the information is not something that people who are trying to gather personal information to sell or use for criminal purposes. One exception is the common banking secure question that is the maiden name of your grandmother or some other relative. People like me have multiple family trees on various websites and almost all my family trees are open to the public and contain the maiden name of my grandmother (or some other person). Apparently banks do not know about online family trees. Another issue happens when a website you are using is hacked. You might get a notice to change your login and/or password. Do it the minute the procedure is available. On the other hand, if you are not really using the website it is a good idea to sign out, if you can, and take the program off your computer or stop using the website. But don't use the old password. This subject could go on for volumes with examples of dangerous behaviors. But the basic idea here is to be aware of the need for security and learn about the ways your security can be increased.
Just six weeks ago, David Rencher led off our series of live interviews for the Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid project. Two weeks ago he was in the news, receiving a Lifetime Genealogy Achievement Award from the International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences (ICGHS). As noted in a recent FamilySearch blog article, the ICGHS 36th annual congress was held in Boston, Massachusetts, USA—the first time the event has been held on United States soil—thanks to Rencher’s collaboration with the congress. You can read the full article here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/familysearch-cgo-david-rencher-receives-lifetime-genealogy-achievement-award Stay tuned for the latest news on the Viewpoint project, including an update on the broadcast dates, times, and channels for the three video segments featuring The Family History Guide.
How much do you know about your name, first or last? The Family History Guide has a wealth of information that can help you understand the origins and meanings of names, whether for you or for your ancestors. Here's a quick list of resources and links found in The Family History Guide that can help you get started with understanding the names that are important to you: FamilySearch Surname Origin - https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname Type a surname and click Find Now to see the meaning of the name, where in the world it's most commonly found, and links to stories and records featuring that surname. Linkpendium Surname Search - https://linkpendium.com/ Check out the right panel for Jump to a surname and then type the name and click Go. This points you to a wide variety of records for the surname, including cemeteries, census, family trees, and group sheets. Project 4: Discover, Goal 3 - https://www.thefhguide.com/project-4-discover03.html#e Choice E in Goal 4 connects you with helpful articles and videos that explore the use and meanings of first names and surnames in your genealogy research. Surname Distribution Maps - Many country pages have a Choice in Goal 1 that provides a link to a surname distribution map, which shows where surnames are concentrated in the country. Example for Belgium - https://www.familienaam.be/ (try using the Bol surname). In countries that have names based on patronymics (derived from a father's first name) or where multiple surnames are often used, such tracing surnames can be less useful or more complicated. Still, the study of names can provide genealogy clues, context, and interesting backgrounds.