Using a New, Easy Tool for Finding Ancestors
with WoodenVillage
September 21, 2016 By FamilySearch
Recently a group of FamilySearch Library directors met in Salt Lake City, Utah, and one of the meeting goals was to provide these directors with an authentic, Spirit-led find, take, teach experience. That was not an easy task! Like some of the families who come to your family history center, these directors typically had very full family trees. A stand-out tool that simplified and improved the finding process was the app Ordinances Needed for Your Relatives found on WoodenVillage.org.
This app searches through four generations in a family tree from any chosen ancestor. This works particularly well starting with an ancestor born between 1880 and 1920. The software then searches back down the tree looking for 3 generations of descendants in this selected group.
Recently a group of FamilySearch Library directors met in Salt Lake City, Utah, and one of the meeting goals was to provide these directors with an authentic, Spirit-led find, take, teach experience. That was not an easy task! Like some of the families who come to your family history center, these directors typically had very full family trees. A stand-out tool that simplified and improved the finding process was the app Ordinances Needed for Your Relatives found on WoodenVillage.org.
This app searches through four generations in a family tree from any chosen ancestor. This works particularly well starting with an ancestor born between 1880 and 1920. The software then searches back down the tree looking for 3 generations of descendants in this selected group.
Once all descendants are identified, their needs for temple ordinances are also identified. The software then puts the names into a result table format with PID numbers, lifespan numbers, and gender information. The list links directly back to Family Tree on FamilySearch.
The strength of this app comes from staying with family names that are found within a period when indexed records are available. Because of this, once a name is located, you can often find record hints already showing for these people. Taking it a step further by searching FamilySearch or their partner sites often yields additional records for the family names selected by the WoodenVillage software. By analyzing the list prepared by the software, you can identify individuals with no spouse or couples with no or few children. Looking up these PID numbers in FamilyTree can lead to finding records that will allow you to add a marriage or children to the ancestor.
This software is still in development, so a few glitches are still being worked through. You need time and patience to let the app search through the family tree, but if you open several internet browser windows and run four grandparent names in different windows, the search will go much faster. In my experience, nearly all of the names WoodenVillage found for me were valid family names, and all were in need of temple ordinance work. Give WoodenVillage a try. You may find, like the FamilySearch Library directors I mentioned above did, that finding a family name to take to the temple is simple when you use this app and the tools provided by FamilySearch. Once you give it a try, teach someone else about it!
WoodenVillage Ordinances Needed for Your Relatives--this application is most helpful for those patrons who have full or nearly full family trees.
This software is still in development, so a few glitches are still being worked through. You need time and patience to let the app search through the family tree, but if you open several internet browser windows and run four grandparent names in different windows, the search will go much faster. In my experience, nearly all of the names WoodenVillage found for me were valid family names, and all were in need of temple ordinance work. Give WoodenVillage a try. You may find, like the FamilySearch Library directors I mentioned above did, that finding a family name to take to the temple is simple when you use this app and the tools provided by FamilySearch. Once you give it a try, teach someone else about it!
WoodenVillage Ordinances Needed for Your Relatives--this application is most helpful for those patrons who have full or nearly full family trees.
- On FamilySearch, open the fan chart for the person you are helping or for yourself.
- Note the PID numbers for the ancestors born between 1880 and 1920.
- If any of the ancestors do not have at least four generations of ancestors beyond them, this program will not work well for them. The grandparents do not need to have all ancestors, but a mother or father line needs at least four generations of pedigree.
- In a new internet browser window open www.woodenvillage.org
- Scroll down and select Ordinances Needed for Your Relatives.
- Enter the ancestor’s FamilySearch PID in the correct field box. Run with the pre-selected 4 Ancestor Generations and 3 Descendant Generations. The software makes this choice for you.
- Be sure to use capital letters. Occasionally I had to request several times as the first requests returned “No such number,” which is a program glitch they are working to fix.
- Give the program 20 minutes or so to run. One suggestion is to open 4 Internet browser windows and run all 4 grandparents at the same time, each in a different browser window.
- Once the program is done running, you will receive a long report. At the end of this report, you will see a table similar to this:
10. Click on each name to verify there are no duplicates and the relationships are valid. Once you do that, you
can start requesting ordinances for these ancestors.
II. I found that as I checked these names, Record Hints in FamilySearch helped me find even more family members to add to Family Tree.Remember these results are just for those whose names are already in Family Tree. The
table is not a hint for people to add to Family Tree. You must search for additional family members using Record Hints and Partners.
can start requesting ordinances for these ancestors.
II. I found that as I checked these names, Record Hints in FamilySearch helped me find even more family members to add to Family Tree.Remember these results are just for those whose names are already in Family Tree. The
table is not a hint for people to add to Family Tree. You must search for additional family members using Record Hints and Partners.