Sometimes the hardest thing about doing family history is in knowing where to start. Now in less than a minute, you will know exactly where to begin.
RootsTech 2014 is come and gone. We hope you were able to view some of it online if you could not see it in person.
If not, you can view videos the the RootsTech website.
One fascinating item we learned about from the conference comes from Puzilla. Simply by logging it, in less than a minute you are able to see who has yet to be found and attached to your genealogy file (as recorded in FamilySearch.org).
In order to use the tool, you do need to have a FamilySearch account and you will need to have uploaded your family history to FamilySearch.
To the right below is an example of my family history, as shown in Puzzilla. I can see that on my mother’s side it goes back a couple generations. On my father’s side it goes back a few more. I can see where each line stops so I know where to begin my search
Here are four reasons I love this new tool
- Sometimes the hardest thing about doing family history is in knowing where to start.
Now in less than a minute, you will know exactly where to begin. - Why do family history when my family has already done all the work?
Now you can see exactly what has been done and what still needs to be done. - I get stuck trying to find one bit of information for one person and want to give up.
I can now take a break for a little bit on that line and work another line. Success creates success. If you get hung up on one line, you can get frustrated and give up. But the positive feelings you get coupled with the lessons learned when succeeding on another name or line will help you when you return to the other name you took a break from. - I have to scroll through name after name to see what has been done and what hasn’t, zooming in and out. I get lost.
By choosing how many generations back you want to go, you can see immediately instantly what lines are missing and which are completely in a single view.
Give Puzzilla a try.
