Where does my responsibility for my deceased relatives end?
How far should my research and documentation of my deceased relatives go? Am I responsible for only my direct ancestors (husband and wife) and their children and spouses (all the fields on a paper Family Group Sheet)? What about the children of the children of my direct ancestors? What about the parents of the spouses of the children of my direct ancestors?
Here’s an example. While entering my direct ancestors and their children into FamilySearch, a marriage record of one of the children will appear in Research Help. When I link the marriage record to the child, I find that the spouse and spouse’s parents are listed on the record but are not in FamilySearch, so I add them. Then, Census records for the spouse’s parents appear in Research Help, and when I link the Census to the parents, I find that they have other children listed in the Census who are not in FamilySearch, so I add them. And it just keeps going without end.
On the one hand, I feel like I can’t do everyone else’s genealogy for them, even though I have all the data at hand, and I am also depriving others of the joy of doing the research and documentation for their direct ancestors. But on the other hand, when I accidentally discover the records of a deceased person who is not in FamilySearch, I almost feel like they are calling out to me from beyond the veil to add them, so they can have their temple work done. Also, I have documentation of the entire posterity of one line of my direct ancestors in a book containing over 3,000 people, but I doubt if descendants five and six generations down would even know to look there for their people. I’m torn. Where should I stop? Thank you.
Best Answers
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Agree with Brett -- Elder Oaks said something about Family History that I like - You are not expected to do everything but everyone is expected to do something -- that is not an exact quote but I think it conveys the correct attitude - Just my opinion.
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But for some reason I also feel the need to standardize every date and place, find the Find A Grave record for everyone with no date of death, and to try to find the full middle name of everyone I see with just a middle initial.
You are in good company here.
Given that you feel the urge to polish pages, you could set limits on yourself in some dimension you don't care much about. That way you can go to town on those pages you choose to work, and ignore the rest.
So, for example, if your thing is doing all your own direct ancestors, then in the process of finishing all attachments on your family's historical records you could attach siblings and other spouses but otherwise ignore them. You will have built a tall, narrow, sturdy tree, a tree that will delight other contributors who make links to it. Well done. Time for a break and a beverage of your choice.
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Answers
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Mark
Welcome to the "Community.Familysearch" Forum.
I am just another 'lowly' User/Patron ...
[ And, I happen to be a Member of the Church ... ]
FYI
The CHOICE is YOURS ...
One can do, as MUCH; or, as LITTLE, as one WANTS ...
The Work is NEVER ENDING ...
What you DO NOT do; HOPEFULLY, someone else MIGHT do (or, no one may do) ...
Just do what you. WANT; and, CAN ...
There is NO 'hard and fast rule' ...
I hope this helps.
Just my thoughts.
MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU IN THIS IMPORTANT WORK.
Brett
ps: He ONLY wants to 'see' you DOING the Work, PERFECTION is NOT, required; and/or, expected.
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There is always more work that can be done . . .
but it is not all on you - - -
use the spirit as a guide - - - but there is really no reason to stop doing family history work - throughout your life - just because some phase has been completed - - - - but of course - it all has to be balanced with other very noble and important causes and goals.
we are all a team working together.
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Here is the scope of my usual project:
- Every person with a certain surname is my subject
- And both parents of every subject
- And all spouses and children of every subject
- And both parents and all full siblings of those spouses
- For all of these persons I attach all sources
- ...and merge all duplicates
- ...and deconflate all conflations that I see. They are easier to see after attaching sources and merging duplicates.
I go down "rabbit holes" into other parts of the tree only when needed to resolve conflicts and untangle messes. Some of these rabbit holes are deep.
I usually choose a surname that is rare. Some surnames I finish in a day. One big surname has taken years and another will take more years. But I have lots of help. Here is one tree. I worked only the first 2-3 generations at the top.
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Here is another descendancy tree I am working on, that is not nearly as far along. It is in a part of the world where a lot of novice genealogists have made a lot of conflated messes, so there are many dead-ends. Most of my "brick walls" are more like piles of tangled, mangled debris left after a hurricane.
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That is a noble work - I also do similar - but such is way beyond what the average person should consider their "responsibility" (which was the original question) - realizing that life is a balance - between many other very very deserving demands.
Each one of us has to follow the spirit - - and few have the time, expertise and schedule to dedicate to an entire surname. (though I indeed have also done similar to what you have done for various surnames).
Life is a balance - we must follow the spirit - as to what is the right thing for each one of us - - and each one of us will choose a different "balance".
Some - like my wife - will focus more on the "living" - others like myself will focus more on the deceased.
but life has to be balanced.
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Exactly. Do what moves you.
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Darn! I was hoping there is an official "rule". Thank you, everyone, for your advice and guidance. Dontiknowyou's process sounds very manageable. I also spend most of my time attaching sources, resolving and merging duplicates, and untangling messes. (I think I have gone down more than my share of rabbit holes.) But for some reason I also feel the need to standardize every date and place, find the Find A Grave record for everyone with no date of death, and to try to find the full middle name of everyone I see with just a middle initial. 😄
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26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things
27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
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I've been thinking about your question and whether or not to throw in my thoughts for a few days and have decided I might as well go ahead.
From reading your question and listening to the tone of your question, I have to say I think you have fulfilled your responsibility. That means you are now in the realm of opportunity for freely given, extraordinary service and just plain fun. You can take the skills you have learned thorough accepting your responsibility and use it to bless and help not only your deceased extended family but your living relatives as well, in particular those whose interest or skills in family history research are pretty well limited to using Ordinances Ready.
So go ahead and pick a project that intrigues you and jump in. If it is that book of 3000 names, you might as well get started. Don't be surprised as you work through the book, however, to find that a high percentage of the people in the book are scattered here and there in Family Tree and you find your main work becomes gathering scattered twigs and properly connecting relationships and doing merges. That is also very valuable work.
I'll just share the main project I am working on so you can see another approach to take. The majority of my wife's family lived on a large island on the western coast of Norway. The Church's extraction program for the area went up to 1878. To make sure that we are not missing any of her extended family, I am going line by line through the parish registers for 1879 and onward for births and marriages and adding them to Family Tree or improving their records if already there and adding these digitized scans of the original records as sources. I attach them to their parents, use census records and the searchable transcriptions on the Norwegian Archives website to find all their siblings and add them with sources, then I find their grandparents, who are usually already in Family Tree due to the extraction program, get their records cleaned up, then take care of all the aunts and uncles. With getting connected to grandparents, checking View My Relationship shows that the original child added is some type of cousin to my wife about 95% of the time. Usually due to the extraction program and old submissions, there will be multiple copies of grandparents, aunts and uncles already in Family Tree. My record number of required merges to fully clean up on of these three generation sets is about 120 merges.
Occasionally I will run across a family that has been really messed up in Family Tree and can get it thoroughly untangled, which is very fun.
Several times I have run across a person who will have a duplicate pop up with a lot of descendants in the United States and from the look of the record it is clear the people working on them could never get them connected to Norway. I've been able to make and prove the connection, add sources to document the connection, often including emigration sources, and tack on an extra eight generations past their brick wall. That is very satisfying.
I do not submit any temple work for any of the people since my wife and I have plenty to do with closer relatives. When I cross paths with these family again as they all intertwine, however, I have seen that other people quite quickly find the people I have added and reserve or reserve and share all the ordinances. I haven't gotten any complaints about the people already being there and well sourced!
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I am doing much the same as @Gordon Collett and the most gratifying part is the occasional message I get from someone who has been working on their own family genealogy for decades and had an impenetrable brick wall that, worked from the other side, was a door.
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My father-in-law just passed away 27 July, 2021. He had reserved hundreds of name to do temple ordinance work. He would do ordinances daily, health permitting. How can I get those names he reserved tranferred to my family search account?
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@David L Parker , condolences and please make a separate topic for your question. It will be escalated out of Q and A.
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David
Welcome to the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.
I am just another User/Patron ...
[ And, I happen to be a Member of the Church ... ]
'Yes' ...
As 'dontiknowyou' has already proffered ...
In relation to your particular matter, the BEST place to post is, under the 'Category' of "Temple", in this "Q and A" Section, of this "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.
Here is the direct link to that 'Category' of "Temple":
"Q and A" Section
'Category' = "Temple"
Home > Help Center Categories > Temple
Temple
https://community.familysearch.org/en/categories/temple-support
You can REPOST this post of yours there; and, where, a "Moderator" [ie. 'FamilySearch' "Support" (Personnel)] can take on your matter, via/through a "Private" communication (ie. 'Messaging').
You can, wait; and, hope, a "Moderator" [ie. 'FamilySearch' "Support" (Personnel)] notices you post here; but, I suggest that it would be quicker to simply repost in that 'Category' of "Temple".
I hope this helps.
Brett
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