Contact Information

Wallace Haws, wrhaws@gmail.com
Edith Haws, edithhaws_560@msn.com

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Monday, September 5, 2016

Youth Family History Consultants are Amazing!

Two Youth Family History Consultants in the Mesa Central Stake/ Harris 1st Ward are an inspiration! Not only do they display enthusiasm for the Work of Salvation, but have experiences that exemplify that Youth Consultants are in the know and a great asset to the Work.   Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk and video about Youth Consultants is exemplified in our own Mesa Area with youth from one of our own Stakes. 
To view the videos of the Youth Consultants, Maia and Makenna:  CLICK HERE


FamilySearch Apps---New Features are here! 

 FamilySearch Family Tree and FamilySearch Memories just got better!

The Memories App now features a new "Landing Page" where you can easily navigate to upload Photos, Stories, Documents and Audio.  You can also view your memories in the grid view OR the list view.
Download the Apps and give them a try!


Also when making a Audio Recording you can use suggested questions provided by FamilySearch to help, such as:

What do you remember about the place you grew up? 

What would you tell your family who might hear this in the future?





FamilySearch Family Tree App can Now Search Historical Records

 Just like you do from your computer, you can now do searches from your phone or tablet. Note the new option that now appears:

When you search from the person page, the app will give you the option to search FamilySearch or Ancestry.

You can also add  or edit notes in the app under a person's detail page:


Another new feature allows you to add photos, stories or audio the the Family Tree app:



To read about other new features, view the complete blog HERE

 Family History Conference to be held October 29th 

at ASU Institute

ANNOUNCING the 2016 Family History Conference sponsored by the Mesa AZ FamilySearch Library on Saturday, October 29, 2016.    The conference is FREE and will be held at the Tempe Institute of Religion on the ASU Campus, 1000 South McAllister Avenue in Tempe, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:10 p.m.  Attendees can select from the 50+ classes available and register for as many as five classes.  They may also purchase lunch provided by Jason’s Deli.   Come join us as we learn about “Putting It All Together.” Registration opens on Wednesday, September 14, at www.mesafsl.org.



Training Resuming

Family History Consultant/Priesthood Leader classes are resuming on Tuesday, 6 September.  Classes will be for the first 4 Tuesdays of each month from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.  Don't miss this opportunity to get a boost in your calling.

Need Help?-Visit the Training Center

464 E. 1st Ave.  Mesa, AZ
Hours:  Monday: 9 am - 5 pm
                Tues thru Fri: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm


Local FamilySearch User's Group to meet each month at Training Center


The monthly webinar for the FamilySearch User Group will now be presented the last Thursday of each month at the Mesa FamilySearch Library Training Center.  If you are interested come and join them.

September 29
Time:  7 pm
Place:  464 E. 1st Ave., Mesa




Indexing is still important

Have you indexed this month?  The lastest FamilySearch Indexing project is marriage records.
This project is really valuable because these records most often include women! In most cases, there is information about the wife, including her maiden name and parent’s names.  And what is fun, you can pick your favorite State to index!  Maybe you will find someone one your line that you have been looking for!

FamilySearch Blogs---Stay posted

Doing research in Mexico? This blog will help you--click here!

Principles to Help People Love their Ancestors and Family History click here

Five Steps to Identify Old Photos:  click here

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Find-Take-Teach Moments

The new form "Helping Others to Love Family History" helps consultants have meaningful F-T-T sessions.  By obtaining the Helper Number and username before meeting with those who are new to descendency research, the consultant can quickly guide a patron to a Green Temple Icon where ordinance work is needed.  The pathway to discover the icon with no duplicates or data problems is recorded in the lesson plan under "What to do in Family Tree".  After the lesson the form can be left with the patron so they can see the relationship to the person that is ready for Temple work.  This form is now available on this blog under the training tab at the right.



Alayne Favreau and Susan Aston of the Hermosa Vista Stake recently shared a Find-Take-Teach moment.


A Big Thanks goes to all those who indexed during the Worldwide Indexing Event July 15-17.  Number of participants were 116, 475 which surpassed the original target of 72,000!


FamilySearch: Individuals of Unusual Size (IOUS) Can Now Be Merged

In the past, the Family Tree system had some limitations in merging duplicate records that had been merged many times. These were sometimes referred to as Individuals of Unusual Size or IOUS, because of the many pieces of data that had previously been merged. With the upgrade of the Family Tree system, the limitation is now gone so these large duplicate records can be merged. 
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On the FamilySearch Family Tree mobile app, you can now add and edit “Other Information” such as an alternate name, military service, naturalization, and residence. This will let you provide more details and improve the quality of information for your ancestors.
  1. Tap Add Other Information
  2. Tap the type of information you want to add or edit.
  3. Tap Edit to add or edit the information.                                                                                                         Some of the other information you can add is listed below:

To view the complete What's New Blog Click here
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Do you have a direct relative that served in World War II?  Do you know that you can obtain their military records and metals that they earned during the war.  Check out this site!

Grandma’s Pie: A Fun Visual App from BYU


Described as a “visualization tool that allows you to see where your ancestry is from at a glance,” Grandma’s Pie “organizes your FamilySearch tree data in pie chart format in order to give valuable insight about your ancestors’ origins.”
Grandma’s Pie shows the countries of up to seven generations. It is color coded and charts the percentages of the user’s known ancestry by country. For example, in my husband’s case, 59 percent are from England, 25 percent are from the United States, some are from the British Isles, a few are from France, and, yes, a few are from Estonia.
See the complete blog Click Here

Learn about Find-a-grave, the Closest Thing to Being There  Click Here


DPLA and FamilySearch Partner to Expand Access to Digitized Historic Books Online

In concert with the American Library Association national conference in Orlando, Florida, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and FamilySearch International, the largest genealogy organization in the world, have signed an agreement that will expand access to FamilySearch.org’s growing free digital historical book collection to DPLA’s broad audience of users including genealogists, researchers, family historians, students, and more.
Family history/genealogy continues to be a popular and growing hobby. And FamilySearch is a leader in the use of technology to digitally preserve the world’s historic records and books of genealogical relevance for easy search and access online. With this new partnership, DPLA will incorporate metadata from FamilySearch.org’s online digital book collection that will make more than 200,000 family history books discoverable through DPLA’s search portal later this year. From DPLA, users will be able to access the free, fully viewable digital books on FamilySearch.org.  
See Complete Blog Here

New Added Features to FamilySearch Memories

There is now an easier way to upload photos into memories.  On the photo page you will now see upload buttons.  Check out what else is new: learn more

Family History Events to put on the calendar

Family Discovery Days:
     August 6----Tempe Stake, 1871 E. Del Rio, 9 am to 11:30 am
     September 17--Alta Mesa and Red Mountain Stakes, 5350 E. McLellan Road. 8 am to 12 noon
     check out the web page register here

Mesa FamilySearch Library's Family History Conference is coming on October 29th
     This free Conference will be held at the ASU Institute Building again.  Registration is required            and will start in September--more information will be coming.

Roots Tech to be held in the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City on February 8-11.  Registration starts September 15th.


If you have an event that you would like to put on the Calendar, send an email to edithhaws_560@msn.com.



The Mesa FamilySearch Training Center reopens on August 1st after being closed the month of July.
     Address:  464 E. 1st Ave, Mesa    
     Hours of Operation:  Monday 9am to 5pm
                                    Tuesday through Friday  10am to 6pm
     Consultant classes will resume in September
     A four week Genealogy Crash Course for small groups            (4-8) can be scheduled on Wednesdays 7 to 8:30 pm.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Wilford Woodruff and the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

                

               


  "I will here say . . . before I left St. George, the spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, “You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.”

“These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I thought it very singular, that notwithstanding so much work had been done, and yet nothing had been done for them. The thought never entered my heart, from the fact, I suppose, that heretofore our minds were reaching after our more immediate friends and relatives. I straightway went into the baptismal font and called upon brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others; I then baptized him for every President of the United States, except three; and when their cause is just, somebody will do the work for them."   -Wilford Woodruff (Journal of Discourses, Vol.19, pp. 229-31; September 16, 1877)


                   WORLD WIDE INDEXING EVENT

              HELP SAVE THE WORLD'S RECORDS!


       It only lasts for 72 hours---July 15 through July 17

           The Goal is to have 72,000 people indexing during this time

           Be part of the biggest worldwide indexing event ever!  Index one batch, and help                                  someone else do the same!
                                             Sign up to join the event:  click here


                 Mesa Family Search Library Closed in July


The Mesa Family Search Library is now closed through July and is scheduled to open the 1st of August.  If you have films waiting to be viewed, they will be extended so you will still have time to view them after the Library re-opens.


                                 

                      Social Media and Family History

    Have you ever thought that you might be doing family history work by commenting on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.   Check out this blog: Click Here

Check Out the Leader's Page

Do you need a little help as a Priesthood Leader?  click here



Things to Remember

    1.  If you haven't signed up to host a Roots Tech Discovery Day Click Here

    2.  Mark your calendars for October 29, 2016--Mesa FamilySearch Library will hold the next  
        conference at the Institute on the ASU campus. Click Here

    3.  Discover helpful resources for your calling in Family History Click Here

    4.  For questions or to subscribe or unsubscribe from this blog contact:  Edith Haws at
         edithhaws_560@msn.com  or Wallace Haws at wrhaws@gmail.com

    5.  Check out the sidebar to this blog for other training materials and resources


Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Treasure Hunt at Home Fuels the Find!

So why is indexing so important?

                        

Finding a name to take to the Temple is an exciting discovery.  Many have been able to do just that.  The indexing effort has a direct relationship to discovery.   The chart below shows just how many records have been indexed at the time this article was written (1,305,948,057).  These indexed records are placed in the Family Search database and become searchable.  They also are matched to individuals as record hints, which in turn make it possible to discover new cousins and ancestors. 


Unfortunately not all languages are equal in the amount of records indexed.  The majority of current records indexed are in English.  There is now a Call to Arms going out to those who speak a foreign language or those willing to learn to index in a foreign language.  A special focus for French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish speakers is being made.  New training guides and videos and other resources are available to help willing volunteers to learn how to index certain types of records in these languages.  Visit FamilySearch.org/indexing for more details on these new materials and training sessions.


The videos and training can also be accessed within the indexing program.  Go to Help, and then to Resource Guide, then Indexer, and then Language and Handwriting Helps.  Be sure to enter the language in which you want to volunteer.   Here you can find Quickstart Guides and videos and other resources.  Now the treasure hunt begins! Click Here to view Quickstarts

Have a Little Fun While you are Indexing!

The Indexing Song Click Here
Inspector General  Click Here

Liahona 1st Ward, Mesa South Stake

We are pleased to highlight the Young Women of the Liahona 1st Ward and Sister Berta Lujan, the Ward Indexing Director.

We give our special thanks to Shannon Lista, Nadia Morello and Shelem Romero, the adult Young Women Leaders who made this happen and for the constant help and testimony of Berta Lujan.

The Liahona 1 Young Women are participating in Family History by working on indexing in spite of the difficulties many have because they do not have computers in their home.





Do You Need Help?

Whether you need help with Indexing or Family History research, there are several places you can get help.  Does your Stake have a Stake Indexing Director?  Do you know who your Ward Family History Consultants are?  You can check out the Get Help at FamilySearch.org.  Local help is also available at the Mesa FamilySearch Library Training Center.  Starting May 2nd the Library has new extended hours.

Location: 464 East 1st Ave., Mesa, Arizona
Times:  Monday:  9 am to 5 pm
            Tuesday - Friday 10 am to 6 pm
Consultant and Priesthood class:  Tuesdays 7 pm to 8:30 pm 
During the month of July the Library will be close for some electrical work.


New Information:

New Sunday Lesson Materials can now be ordered from the LDS Store Click Here


Family History Priesthood Leadership Session 2016 from Roots Tech is now online Click Here to view

  Leader Resource Page Click Here



Sunday, April 3, 2016

Temple Reservation List

 Why Your Temple Reservation List May Change


Perhaps you have seen changes to the names you have reserved for Temple Work.  Recently as I was preparing to do sealings I double checked the names in my list to make sure it agreed with the cards I had printed about four months ago.  I noticed that one of the cards no longer showed an endowment that my printed card showed as needing to be performed, but the sealing work still needed to be performed.  I always check for duplicates and wondered how this ordinance had been completed.
On occasion a duplicate record is found by someone else or added by familysearch from the new.familysearch program that is being phased out.  It appears that this is what happened to me. I'm glad that the system will automatically change the reservation list if  a double record is added to the system and the records are merged. Another reason for changes have to do with the Two Year Reservation policy which the following article addresses:




Family History Consultant and Priesthood Leader Class Starts April 5th


Family History Consultant and Priesthood Leader training is scheduled for the first four Tuesdays in April, starting April 5th.

Where:  464 E. 1st Ave.

Time:  7 to 8:30 pm. 

Questions:  480-964-1200

Walk-ins are welcome!



New Sunday Lesson Resource Brochures 

A new Sunday lesson is now available at lds.org >serve and teach>all callings>family history> Sunday Lesson: Family History Stories.  Three brochures that can be used in the lesson on how to find a name to take to the Temple and can be viewed and ordered at 
Click here:    LINK TO BYU PRINT SHOP

There is also a PDF that can be downloaded free for the brochure called “Find Your Family Names: a First- Time Guide”.


BYU Family History Library- A Good Source of Information

Are you ready to learn a little more about researching your ancestors?  Or perhaps you need a resource to help someone or teach a class.  The BYU Family History Library offers webinars. Go to:




Click the link below if you missed or wanted to review again the following helps: