Handout from Indexing Class (contributed by Stephanie Holladay)

The first principle is that our efforts to promote temple and family history work should be such as to accomplish the work of the Lord, not to impose guilt on his children. Members of this church have many individual circumstances—age, health, education, place of residence, family responsibilities, financial circumstances, accessibility to sources for individual or library research, and many others. If we encourage members in this work without taking these individual circumstances into account, we may do more to impose guilt than to further the work.
The second principle is that we should understand that in the work of redeeming the dead there are many tasks to be performed, and that all members should participate by prayerfully selecting those ways that fit their personal circumstances at a particular time. This should be done under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord and with the guidance of priesthood leaders who issue calls and direct the Church-administered portions of this work. Our effort is not to compel everyone to do everything, but to encourage everyone to do something. ~Elder Dallin H. Oaks “Family History: In Wisdom and Order” (Ensign, Jun 1989 pp. 6-8)



Here are some blessings that can come from indexing:

· Indexing gives you an opportunity to be involved in family history in your own home, working at your own pace

· Indexing helps you learn skills like reading old handwriting and locating information on standard documents that will help you do your own research

· Indexing increases the amount of available information on an ancestor in easy to access, digital form (who knows – that ancestor could belong to YOU!)

· Indexing provides a way for families to work together on a project that is gospel related

· Indexing helps you personally fulfill one objective of the three-fold mission of the Church – to Redeem the Dead

· Indexing will hasten the process of identifying ancestors who need temple ordinances performed in their behalf, creating a welding link between generations (D&C 128:17-18)



Ready to start indexing? You can sign up at any time:



· Go to www.familysearchindexing.org and follow the three steps:

· Download free software necessary for indexing

· Create an LDS (members) or FamilySearch (non-members) account

· Take the online tutorial and begin indexing!







Questions? Contact Stephanie Holladay , Cedar Mill stake Indexing Director at (503) 690-3603 or holladaytime@hotmail.com






Step 1: Church employees and missionaries travel around the world to take digital images of genealogical records (birth, marriage, death, census, church registers, etc.)



Step 2: These images are uploaded to the Church indexing website at www.familysearchindexing.org.



Step 3: Volunteers become trained to index records at the above website.



Step 4: Volunteers can request a “batch” of records to index, which they will have 7 days to complete. Each batch is indexed twice to ensure correctness by an A and B indexer.



Step 5: If there are discrepancies between the A and B indexers, the batch is sent to an arbitrator who has much experience with indexing and will choose the most correct information.



Step 6: The completed batch will disappear from the indexers computer after submission, but will become a permanent part of FamilySearch’s online database once that project is complete. This database is free and searchable by anyone interested in seeking out their ancestors.



Step 7: A person can go to www.familysearchindexing.org (or in our area to new.familysearchindexing.org) and type in whatever information they have about an ancestor. The computer searches the database for all exact and close matches. The person can navigate to that record and determine if this is someone in their family tree. If it is, and temple ordinances need to be performed, the person can request those ordinances to be done either by themselves or by other temple patrons.



Step 8: The process keeps on going! The more records missionaries are able to take digital images of, the more projects an indexer can choose from. The more indexers, the faster a project is completed. The sooner a project is completed, the sooner it appears on the FamilySearch database. The more individual records on the database, the greater the chance that YOU will find your ancestors and connect them to you through the sealing ordinances of the temple!