Getting Started

How do I get my free FamilySearch account?
How do I find my ancestors?
How do I add photos and stories?
How do I find names and dates for my ancestors?
How do I help with indexing? 
How do I take family names to the temple?
All my temple work is done.  Now what do I do?
How do I print a temple card?
CREATING A FREE ACCOUNT
How Do I Get A Free FamilySearch Account?
 
FamilySearch.org
Start at Familysearch.org
  1. Click on Create Account
  2. Follow instructions to create an account.  
    1. An email or phone number is important later if you can’t remember your username or password.
    2. It will ask if you are a member of the Church.  If not, say no and continue. If yes, enter your membership number (find it in LDS tools or ask the ward clerk).  This will give you free access to partner websites like Ancestry.
    3. After creating your account, sign in and click on Family Tree to verify that you have your tree.
Report your success or ask for help.

GETTING STARTED
How Do I Find My Ancestors?
 
Get the big picture.
Familysearch.org
  1. Login ... with your familysearch username
  2. If you don’t have a familysearch account, create an account on that same page by clicking Create Account
  3. Upper menu, click on family tree - tree - family lines
  4. Upper left, click on fan chart
  5. Print and put in your notebook.
Report your success or ask for help.

Explore your family tree.
Familysearch.org
  1. Login … with your familysearch username
  2. Upper menu, click on family tree - tree
  3. Upper left, click on fan chart.  Explore birth country, photos, stories.  How far out does your line go? What countries do your ancestors come from?  Are there any photos or stories attached?  Look at family members of ancestors.  Try printing a family group sheet.
  4. Check your immediate family for correct data.  Start with yourself.  Add children, spouse, parents.  Do you have both parents, grandparents, all great grandparents?   Do you know siblings, grandchildren? Call living relatives to get more details.
  5. When you enter names of deceased people, FamilySearch may find a possible match for your relative. Check carefully and then, if correct, add them directly into your family tree.  All their connected ancestors will also join your tree.
Report your success or ask for help.

Verify and research.
Familysearch.org and log in
  1. From your fan chart, look at the research helps.  Click on an ancestor highlighted in blue.
  2. Open up the person detail page.
  3. Look in Research Help and Search Records in the right hand menu for a record hint.
  4. If the record matches your ancestor, attach the record to your tree.
Report your success or ask for help. 

PHOTOS and STORIES
I Want to Enter Photos and Stories.  What Do I Do?

Familysearch.org, sign in.
  1. Click on memories.  Now explore the gallery.  Do you have memories there already?  Are they tagged?
  2. Search on google for an ancestor.  Copy the story or photo.  Go to the memory page for your ancestor.  Add stories and photos.
  3. Get the FamilySearch Family Tree app.  Add photos, stories, audio, documents.  Tag them.
RESEARCH
How Do I Find the Names and Dates for my Ancestors?  

Familysearch.org
  1. Click on an ancestor who needs work.
  2. Open up the person detail page.
  3. Look for hints under Research Help in the right hand menu.  
  4. If the record matches your ancestor, attach the record to your tree.
  5. Next try the different websites under Search Records.
Report your success or ask for help.

Other places to research (free for members when signed in at Familysearch.org or free for all at a stake family history library):  
Ancestry.com
Findagrave.com
Stake Family History Library
Family History Library locally in Orange, or in Salt Lake City

Indexing
How Do I Help with Indexing?
 
Go to Familysearch.org and click on indexing.
Web Indexing.
Find a batch and open it.
Start indexing. 

Temple Work
How Do I Take Family Names to the Temple?

Find 3 to 5 ancestors who need temple work.
Familysearch.org and log in
  1. Start with your four generations.  This is your responsibility.  Check all ordinances for all couples and their children.
  2. Click on the FamilySearch logo in the upper left corner.  Look through Recommended Tasks for green temples.
  3. Or look through your family tree for green arrows.  You may need to look at children of an ancestor and their spouses.
  4. In order to do temple work, it is best to have an ancestor’s name, birth date and place, death date and place, and marriage date and place.
Report your success or ask for help.

I need family names to take to the temple today.
Familysearch.org and log in
  1. Click on Temple - Ordinances Ready
  2. Choose your ordinance
  3. View People - Take to Temple
  4. Print the cards or save the QR code to show at the temple office (arrive in plenty of time for them to print your cards)
Report your success or ask for help.

My Family Tree is Full
“All my Temple Work is Done.”  What Do I Do Now?

Ordinances Ready will find temple work for you. (See How Do I Take Family Names to the Temple?) 

When it appears that all your work has been done, start searching backwards.  We are going to go to your ancestors who were born about 1800.  We will look at their grandchildren and their spouses to see if there is temple work missing there.  
Go to Puzzilla.org.
Sign in to see a tree of dots.  Hover over the starting dot to see you.
Now find an ancestor back a few generations that was born about 1800 or earlier.
Click on that dot and view descendants.
Now hover over the center dot.  That is the ancestor you just chose.
Starting from the center (and I usually start at 12 o’clock so I can keep track of where I am), find the first dot that has no children.
If it has a yellow square, ignore it.  That ancestor died young and most likely really had no children.
If it has a gray square, ignore it.  That one will be ready to work on in a few years.  (To do temple work without getting permission from the closest living relative, they need to have been born more than 110 years ago.)

This ancestor that you just found may have had a spouse and children that have not been recorded yet.  This is where you start your research.

You can also check Hope Chest, a Google Chrome extension.

I Have a Family Ready for the Temple
How Do I Print Out a Temple Card?

When you have a name, birth date and place, death date and place, you are ready to do temple work.  (You also need marriage date and place to seal a couple.)  
Go to the person’s detail page. Click the Ordinances tab.  Click the green arrow, Request Ordinances and follow the directions to print out the card.  You are ready to go to the temple and do the work!

Documents

Checklist for Member
progress_member__2_.docx
File Size: 9 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
Checklist for Friends
progress_nm.docx
File Size: 9 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
Blank Ancestor Timeline
ancestor_timeline.docx
File Size: 47 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
Family History Guides, as one editable document
family_history_guides.docx
File Size: 11 kb
File Type: docx
Download File