LDSROOTS Revolutionizes the Way People Search Family Tree (Donny Osmond Tripled His Genealogy with the Help of New Service)
by David R. Barlow
Editors’ Note: Meridian Magazine has just joined forces with LDSRoots to bring our readers the most powerful and unique genealogy tool yet created. Too often in genealogy, every one is working in their own research corner, unaware of others who may be working on the same family lines. With this technology you’ll instantly find others around the globe who are working on the same lines that you are. Check the program out at https://meridian.ldsroots.com
Building the Worlds Largest Jigsaw Puzzle
Genealogy is like a complicated jigsaw puzzle made up of billions of pieces scattered all over the world. Fitting the right pieces together is a tremendous challenge because many of the pieces have been duplicated thousands of times, have been lost, or are torn. Everyone has a few pieces of the puzzle but we have never seen the big picture to see how our pieces fit with the others. Some of us have organized small teams and have pieced a corner or part of the border together, but the real problem is that we have all been working on our own independent card tables. LDSRoots is about to change that.
LDSROOTS recently launched new technology designed to be “a giant card table large enough for the world to work together on genealogy.” The online service is a collaborative database where users pool their knowledge and records to build one huge shared database. The service also includes the first complete software program (like PAF) on the Internet. The software, called the “Genealogy BrowserT,” acts as each users’ interface between their genealogy, family members and others throughout the world allowing each user to compare his/her family tree with others.
Cleaning Up the Mess!
Genealogy today is an inefficient mess! Everyone is working as an island. We are storing genealogical information in our home office filing cabinets or on our home computer hard drive where no one else can share it! It’s almost as if the genealogy devils got together at some convention with the theme, “How to boot those seeking roots!”
The following illustration will help you put it all into perspective. If you select any ancestor in your 15th generation, and suppose that ancestor had two children, and each of those children had two children (most actually had more) and so forth.you would have 65,536 cousins living on the earth today who are also direct descendants of the same ancestor!
How many of them may already be working on your genealogy?
Yet, because we are working as independent islands, we don’t know how to find the 50,000 people have already looked up the microfiche, birth, marriage and death certificates of our ancestors.so we duplicated what has already been done. What a waste of time! (Maybe we should have our own convention on, “How to boost your roots!”)
Why the Internet was “Really” Invented
The truth is, getting people throughout the world to cooperate and work together in a symbiotic effort, would not be possible without the Internet. Maybe THIS is the reason the Internet was REALLY invented!
Consider this quote by Spencer W. Kimball in his famous, “Lengthen Your Stride” address:
“I believe that the airplane was inspired by the need for quick and far away transportation for the Brethren. The business needs are all secondary. I believe that the telephone. the television and radio were permitted by the Lord for the specific purpose of building His kingdom. I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse…”
Could it be, that the Internet was also created for the “furthering of the work”.for genealogy!
Now you can actually find distant cousins and coordinate your efforts…just think about the progress. . . the efficiency. . . when we work together.
Donny Osmond Connects with Others to Grow Osmond Family Tree
A perfect example of how this service works come from the Osmond’s family tree. Donny Osmond submitted his genealogy of 15 generations and 392 ancestors into the shared database. When it finished comparing his genealogy with the genealogy submitted by other users.
His genealogy tripled!
Really.
The Osmond family tree now goes back 53 generations to the year 314 and has 949 ancestors.
Donny, with marked emotion said, “I have been searching my genealogy for over 20 years, and this program is the most amazing tool I have ever seen! I’ve always known there were other people out there who had information I was missing. I just didn’t know how to find them. This technology is certainly connecting the world together.”
The “Roots” of LDSRoots/OneGreatFamily
The advanced technology behind LDSROOTS was created by Alan V. Eaton, who has become a technical guru in the genealogy community by taking genealogy from indexes of static databases to a technically advanced, living database. Eaton was the technical lead for the online version of FamilySearch.org.
Eaton, with is work with FamilySearch.org, was given a front row seat to view the main issues and problems that have been tormenting genealogists for decades. He set out to create the ultimate genealogy program that would solve problems such as:
- Wasting time duplicating work that has already been done
- Difficulty coordinating research with family members
- Difficulty correcting and exposing erroneous data
- Lack of involvement with many LDS people who are walking “guilt-trips”
- Many LDS people doing “temple file” names when the work for their own ancestors remains undone
During Eaton’s 3-hour UTA bus commute from his home to work at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake developed the Genealogy BrowserT on an old beat-up laptop computer his associates named “The Hummer” (the fan was broken). “I had to lean the screen against the seat in front of me because it kept falling of the base,” describes Alan. (Alan should become the new poster child for the benefits of using public transportation!)
How It Works
Genealogy sites today only focus on names, dates and places. When you enter in the name of your great grandfather into a search box you will usually end up swimming through 500 results-or none at all.
Using “Relationships” to Find Your Ancestors
Sophisticated, patent-pending technology is the backbone of LDSROOTS. The service uses “Hand-print technology” which is a radical departure from conventional genealogy research because it enables users to search their lineage through relationships, not just names, dates, and places. The five fingers of the hand represent the relationships-mother, father, siblings, spouse, and children. You have a fingerprint that uniquely identifies you, and you also have a “hand-print” that uniquely identifies you and each of your ancestors.
For example, there may be hundreds of men named “John Smith” born in the mid-1800. But how many John Smiths are likely to have a father named Benjamin, a mother named Sarah, four brothers, two sisters, a wife named Elizabeth and five children?
Searching for ALL of your Ancestors-ALL of the Time
LDSROOTS is built on the concept of sharing data, not just storing data. In the spirit of sharing, continuous searches are automatically performed for possible matches with your data amid data submitted by more than 100,000 people in over 131 countries. Because neWhen a match is discovered, the system checks to see how close the match is. If it is a 100% match, the new information will automatically be grafted onto your tree. If it is 99% match or lower, you will receive a “hint” in the form of a light bulb appear next to the ancestor in your family tree. By clicking on the “light bulb” you can view the record of the other user and compare it, side by side, with your own. You can then choose to merge the records, email the user, or clear the hint.
Because new users throughout the world are adding new information everyday, you might look at your family tree at breakfast, and come back at lunch to find new light bulbs lighting up your family tree.
Linking Your Family Tree
Current online databases collect family trees, but make no attempt to link them. Eaton’s plan is to link all the family trees they receive to create one great family. Individuals will maintain their own trees, but when a common link is found either by submitters or the matching and merging programs from LDSROOTS, the submitters can collaborate and reduce all the information to a single record containing all that is known about the matched individual. Information can be kept private at the discretion of the person who has contributed the data.
As the world works together (at the same card table), we will not only to build the world’s largest lineage-linked database; we will also build the most accurate database at the same time. As a shared database, LDSROOTS has a unique opportunity for the world to work together on data to resolve conflicts. For example, if two members of LDSROOTS have conflicting information on an individual in the database, both will see a conflict indicator in the form of a lightning bolt, embedded in their family tree. Each member is then able to view the conflicting data and is encouraged to collaborate to resolve the conflict. If the difference cannot be reconciled, each member can agree to disagree, giving each a customized view of his or her family tree.
Special LDS Features
LDSRoots offers special LDS features on the toolbar of the Genealogy BrowserT. There is a brief demonstration of each of these features on the homepage of Meridian Magazine’s LDSRoots.
1. Ordinance Indicator – This is my favorite feature LDSRoots. The Genealogy BrowserT actually allows you to see an unlimited number of generations at once on your computer screen by using a unique “zoom” feature. Other software programs like PAF only allow you to see four generations at a time. By clicking on the “Ordinance Indicator” icon on the toolbar, lines connecting your ancestors will turn green if their temple work has been done! If the border around name of your ancestor is green, his/her temple work has been done. If line connecting them to their parents is green, they’ve been sealed to parents, if the line to children is green; they’ve been sealed to children.
2. Qualified for Temple – By selecting the “Qualified for Temple” icon, small temples will appear throughout your pedigree to indicate which ancestors do not have their work done, but “qualify” or have enough information for you to do their temple work.
3. Export for Temple Ready – By selecting the “Export for Temple Ready” icon, you download the names that “qualify” and check them against the Church’s “Temple Ready” index.
4. Pedigree Statistics Bar – The Pedigree Statistics Bar will tell you how many ancestors are in your pedigree, how many ancestors are in each generation, and how many ordinances your are missing and which ones. (This feature is not demonstrated).
How To Get Started!
- Sign up and create your account.
- Plant your family tree!
- You can start by entering one ancestor at a time (this might give you a great excuse to spend some time with your grandmother to get a few names of your ancestors).
- You can upload a GEDCOM from any other genealogy software program such as PAF, Legacy, etc.
- With your family tree firmly planted, get the rest of the family involved! Your “Aunt Martha” will love to have someone else to work in the “family tree orchard” and you won’t have to feel guilty anymore!
LDSROOTS is currently offering a free trial as well as paid membership that allows full access to its features. You can see the Genealogy BrowserT in action by exploring the genealogy of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Abraham Lincoln and other “famous” people at ‘Meridian Magazines LDSROOTS.
2001 Meridian Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
