Comments about ‘Interest in genealogy taking off thanks to new TV shows’

For anyone who watched the first show:

UN - BE - LIEVABLE!

I would really like to watch these programs. Would it be possible to post the days and times so I can watch them.

The geneological files of the church are not compromised as you say....we all have sinners, fatherless children, and criminals in our family trees. However, we have many good folks too. When people come to the real meaning and understanding of Temple Work they will realize that geneology is connected with becommiung a partner with our Lord, Jesus Christ, in securing the salvation of the human race. There are many guide lines in the New Famiily Search to keep the records accurate. It is not about finding nobility in our family tree. Accuracy is akin to truth. Accuracy is king.

Family history research is a wonderful opportunity to teach our children about our ancestors and to see where we came from. I loved the show last Friday with Sarah Jessica Parker. She was truly amazed to find her family IN American History. Anonymous, the church has NOT corrupted files!! You must have no clue and never done any research! The records are microfilmed from originals. People make mistakes in their histories, but with technology things are much better. Check it out!

True revelation begets true investigation.

Nice.

There is a grain of truth is what Anonymous said. Temple work for Elvis Presley, for example, has been done several times. Unless Lisa Marie has secretly joined the Church, his temple work should not have been done once, but should instead have been left for a descendant of Elvis to do.

As Ifamhis noted, the LDS Church does have excellent microfilmed records. The problem is, many Church members never consult them when they submit names for temple ordinances. Thus, the records of the Church are less accurate than they should be -- "corrupted" is too strong of a word -- because members relied soley on unaided memory or "family records" for all of their information.

I read a paper written by a math prof in Ireland about a model he built that indicated that 80% of those alive in Europe in the year 1000 are the common ancestors of everyone living today who are of European descent. The other 20% have no living descendants today. The model continued to say the same on a world wide basis of those who lived 2000 years ago. The 1000 year figure held true when actual European genealogies were researched. Every one of European descent today has some nobility and royalty in their lines. The same holds for people from any part of the world - we all have rich and poor, good and bad ancestors. What's great, is that we could all very well be descendants of people like Abraham, Mohammed, Peter, Gengis Kahn, etc. Most married couples lines cross within 9 generations, too.

Some people just have to always post a sour note. "Anonymous" is not likely an expert on geneology and probably really has no idea how accurate the records are.

Want to know an interesting little factoid? If you go back 30 generations (about 750 years) you will find that you have about 1 billion ancestors. However, there were only about 400 million people living on the earth at that time.

What does that mean? Clearly there is a lot of overlap. We are all much more closely related than we might realize.

Geneology is an inspired work. The Lord has said he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. That is what geneology and Temple work are all about.

I believe that this great interest in geneology of the last few years is a fulfillment of prophecy. The work of our Saviour is being fulfilled.

Yes there are mistakes made in genealogy work but "the Church does not make mistakes people do".

Yes there are a lot of people who perform work for other than their own line but the Church makes a point of asking all persons to be HONEST and enter only those persons positively identified and proven as being on their family line.

There are provisions for entering notes and sources for any person entered and no entry to the Church's database should be made without using these items so that other users can follow those lines in their own research.

Anonymous is right. The church's genealogy temple records are a mess. Ancestral File, IGI and Pedigree Search are all full of bad data and information with people sealed to the wrong individuals and families. When I brought this up at the Family History Library, I was told "it didn't matter." I suspect that is why they won't allow non-members to even look at New Family Search.

Why won't the church allow non Mormons to even look at New familysearch? What are they hiding?

I love this work but I cringe everytime I see the word genealogy spelled incorrectly.

Does it bother anyone else?

Hucked on fonics wurks fer me

For 2 yrs I've been watching Troy Dunn on WE TV in his "Locator" series, which preceded several of these shows. He deserves a mention for his good work.

I just love doing Family History. It used to be that I would be lucky if I found one person's information. Now it is amazing how much has been found. A couple of generations back some ancestors didn't know how to read and write. What a difference to what we have to know now.
It is good to know our ancestors warts and all. Real life happenend and we can learn from it.

"I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me those who are to come, I looked back and saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers,and in front to see my son,and his son, and the sons upon sons beyond. And their eyes were my eyes.
As I felt, so they had felt and were to feel, as then,so now, as tomorrow and forever. Then I was not afraid, for I was in a long line that had no beginning and no end,and the hand of his father grasped my father's hand, and his hand was in mine, and my unborn son took my right hand, and all, up and down the line that stretched from Time That Was to Time That Is, and Is Not Yet, raised their hands to show the link,and we found that we were one, born of Woman, Son of Man, made in the Image, fashioned in the Womb by the Will of God, the Eternal Father."
(from How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn)

One reason NewFamilySearch is restricted to members: It includes information tied to church membership records in your family, including for those who are still alive.

I have just started getting more and more into my family history. It's just fascinating....I can spend hours and hours reading about their interesting lives. It becomes really fun when you start fleshing out their lives and find pictures etc. I can't wait to meet all of my wonderful family members someday. Maybe I have already met them before this life, I don't know.

Was anonymous' comment removed? I thought it was interesting but I guess the reaction was a little much. I feel anonymous was on the right track about the many upon many false entry du to over zealous people.

So then members are more worthy to view then non-members? It reeks of the same situation as Temple marriage, which in my opinion is just plain wrong.

"Cats" is picking a fight and should be censored. Peoples views are their own rather anyone wants to accept that or not. Personal attacks on posters should be censored.

People have person views about genealogy. Lets talk about genealogy and what we need to do to make it better and fix the wrongs and not start telling people off because we don't like what they have to say about genealogy.