For the past several years our Farr family has been doing downline research from the three sons of Winslow & Olive Freeman Farr:
Aaron Farr
|
Lorin Farr
|
Winslow Farr Jr.
|
Our motivation and inspiration for this project came from Elder Richard G. Scott of the Council of the Twelve in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He challenged family members to search out their family coming down from one of these three ancestors. He also felt that we could go ahead and do temple ordinances where desired on those family members who did not obtain these blessings during their mortal life. Elder Scott has been a constant source of inspiration to us in doing research and temple work. Wherever possible, he speaks at our special temple reunion services that are held every three years. He has also performed other temple work and eagerly seeks to do more. We appreciate his example. To read his letter to our family, please click on the link below.
Elder Scott was married to Janeen Watkins, a descendant of Ben E. Rich and Diantha Farr. Before she passed away, she was also an avid genealogist and supporter of our efforts. She spoke at one of our reunions and was always available to help in whatever way she could. We would like to dedicate this site to Elder & Sister Richard G. Scott for their highly valued work.
Cindy Treu is our research assistant in charge of maintaining our down line assignments and training those who wish to work on Family Tree and other research programs. She has over 8,000 names on the Farr down line from Winslow & Olive Farr. All changes, updates and improvements should be made thru her.’ She will provide any interested family member their down line and help train them to do the work. You can reach Cindy at [email protected] or call her at 801-864-4903.
Elder Scott was married to Janeen Watkins, a descendant of Ben E. Rich and Diantha Farr. Before she passed away, she was also an avid genealogist and supporter of our efforts. She spoke at one of our reunions and was always available to help in whatever way she could. We would like to dedicate this site to Elder & Sister Richard G. Scott for their highly valued work.
Cindy Treu is our research assistant in charge of maintaining our down line assignments and training those who wish to work on Family Tree and other research programs. She has over 8,000 names on the Farr down line from Winslow & Olive Farr. All changes, updates and improvements should be made thru her.’ She will provide any interested family member their down line and help train them to do the work. You can reach Cindy at [email protected] or call her at 801-864-4903.
Downline Research:
Letter from Richard G. Scott:
9 May 2007
Dear Family,
I am very interested in the progress of the Winslow Farr Sr. Family Organization. As you may know my wife, Jeanene Watkins Scott, was a Farr descendant through Ben E. and Diana Farr Rich. Since the first days of our marriage, she has been interested in family history and a strong supporter of the Winslow Farr, Sr. family organization before she passed through the veil in 1995. I have endeavored to keep track of the progress being made in research and biographical efforts by the organization giving every effort and encouragement I can.
I am most grateful to David Farr for consistently updating me on the progress made to identify family members and to provide the temple ordinances for them. I have enjoyed doing sealings for the family from time to time and talking at the reunion temple meetings every three years. I particularly enjoyed doing the temple work that extended the Farr family line from America back to England . This line was recently approved by our research experts after extensive work by the family to extend the Farr line to Bedfordshire , England . I want to extend my personal congratulations to your research committee and particularly to Tim Farr, who has done a wonderful job in overseeing the Farr line research.
I am also very pleased that you are doing down line research to identify those family members living and dead who have come down from Winslow and Olive Farr's children. Some years ago I gave encouragement to this endeavor and appreciate your leaders for pursuing this work. I would commend Harold Armstrong who is chairman of this effort and has several thousand Farr names on his computer from this research as well as those of you individually who are involved. On the website ( www.winslow.farr.org ) under family history quotes are a number of statements from our prophets regarding the importance of this work.
I would encourage as many as are willing to commit to take assignments for their particular down line and work with relatives in seeing that every name is researched and verified. This research in combination with doing the necessary temple work is so important in helping us fulfill our roles as 'Saviors on Mt. Zion .' The joy of uniting family members for now and in eternity is of the utmost importance.
I know you will be blessed by accepting an assignment and then faithfully working at completing your task. May the Lord bless you in this endeavor.
Your adopted family member,
Richard G. Scott
Dear Family,
I am very interested in the progress of the Winslow Farr Sr. Family Organization. As you may know my wife, Jeanene Watkins Scott, was a Farr descendant through Ben E. and Diana Farr Rich. Since the first days of our marriage, she has been interested in family history and a strong supporter of the Winslow Farr, Sr. family organization before she passed through the veil in 1995. I have endeavored to keep track of the progress being made in research and biographical efforts by the organization giving every effort and encouragement I can.
I am most grateful to David Farr for consistently updating me on the progress made to identify family members and to provide the temple ordinances for them. I have enjoyed doing sealings for the family from time to time and talking at the reunion temple meetings every three years. I particularly enjoyed doing the temple work that extended the Farr family line from America back to England . This line was recently approved by our research experts after extensive work by the family to extend the Farr line to Bedfordshire , England . I want to extend my personal congratulations to your research committee and particularly to Tim Farr, who has done a wonderful job in overseeing the Farr line research.
I am also very pleased that you are doing down line research to identify those family members living and dead who have come down from Winslow and Olive Farr's children. Some years ago I gave encouragement to this endeavor and appreciate your leaders for pursuing this work. I would commend Harold Armstrong who is chairman of this effort and has several thousand Farr names on his computer from this research as well as those of you individually who are involved. On the website ( www.winslow.farr.org ) under family history quotes are a number of statements from our prophets regarding the importance of this work.
I would encourage as many as are willing to commit to take assignments for their particular down line and work with relatives in seeing that every name is researched and verified. This research in combination with doing the necessary temple work is so important in helping us fulfill our roles as 'Saviors on Mt. Zion .' The joy of uniting family members for now and in eternity is of the utmost importance.
I know you will be blessed by accepting an assignment and then faithfully working at completing your task. May the Lord bless you in this endeavor.
Your adopted family member,
Richard G. Scott
How YOU can begin downline research:
How to Begin Down-line Research
(below is an example)
Downline Research Guidelines
We appreciate all those who are actively taking part in the challenge to search out our ancestors. In order to make the best use of our efforts, please use the following guidelines:
Thank you for all your efforts in completing this important work.
Downline Resources
The goal of down-line research is to fill any gaps in your family tree and ensure that temple ordinances are completed for your extended family, where possible.
The church has created very helpful tools for family history and temple work.
(below is an example)
- Start at top of family you will be researching – Belinda Hovey Farr & John Alma Young
- Find Belinda Hovey Farr on NFS (new.familysearch.org) and on your PAF file. Select “Spouses and Children” view on NFS -- All 5 of Belinda and John’s children are shown.
- Click on the 1st child: Everett Alma Young. On the PAF file, Everett shows up with his wife, Helen McRae and 8 children. On PAF there is sealing to spouse information, but not baptism or endowment dates. By clicking on “Spouses and Children”, 3 of their 8 children show up. (Remember that NFS will only show information on deceased individuals.)
- Everett and Helen’s 2nd child, Ralph Everett, lived only 6 years, so he has no further descendants.
- The only other child with available information is Richard Wayne Young. You can obtain his wife, Barbara Sue Ingram and daughter, Britta Sue Young’s information.
- Before leaving each person, look at the “Individual Sources” to verify that the information came from a primary or reliable source. If it was only LDS Ancestral File, it cannot be relied on as being accurate.
- After going through the previous steps, update your PAF file with any new information you have gathered.
- Move on to the 2nd child in the family Thelma Melvina Young and go through the same process. Use this process for each child, on each line. It fans out quickly, so it is best to work a child’s line as far as you can and then go on to the next.
- Three things to remember:
- These names are your cousins. The best source of information can be acquired directly from those who knew or have knowledge of these people personally. Check with other family members for histories, birth certificates, or other documents that may be in their possession.
- New.familysearch.org will NOT show any information on living persons. There are many living cousins that could be added to the PAF file, but you will not be able to access that information through NFS and not everyone is comfortable having their personal information, ie., birth date, spouse & children listed.
- Because the information in NFS is not always verified and correctly sourced, there are MANY errors, especially the further back you go in time. If you believe there are children missing, or too many family members, try to put families together using Census records or other Vital Records information.
Downline Research Guidelines
We appreciate all those who are actively taking part in the challenge to search out our ancestors. In order to make the best use of our efforts, please use the following guidelines:
- When entering locations, please use the standardized format, as recognized on new.familysearch.org. For example: Logan, Utah would be listed as: Logan, Cache, Utah, United States. Abbreviations are not recommended (with the exception of temple codes). By standardizing the locations, it makes searches more accurate. If you have not been using this format, it is not necessary to go back and change all your work. We will make those corrections.
- When documenting information on downline individuals, please include primary sources to verify individuals and their relationship to a family (child, spouse, etc.). Examples of primary sources are:
- Social Security Death Index
- Death Records
- Birth Records
- Marriage Records
- Probate Records
- Christening/baptism record
- Draft registration
- War Service records
- Census records
- Family bible (written – not just word of mouth)
- For names you have already submitted, please go back and make sure the primary source has been identified. This will save us from needing to have someone go through and re-verify all the information you have already researched and submitted.
Thank you for all your efforts in completing this important work.
Downline Resources
The goal of down-line research is to fill any gaps in your family tree and ensure that temple ordinances are completed for your extended family, where possible.
The church has created very helpful tools for family history and temple work.
- Members Guide to Temple and Family History Work – a comprehensive guide that takes you step by step through the process of researching your family and submitting names for temple work.
- The entire guide can be downloaded as a .pdf file or individual lessons can be viewed using Windows MediaPlayer or QuickTime Videohttp://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,8856-1,00.html
- Guide can be ordered free of charge from Church Distribution. Follow the Family History links @ldscatalog.com. Item # is 36795000.
- Additional research guides are available for specific areas of research, ie. locality and language guides. These can also be either downloaded or ordered from ldscatalog.com
- New.familysearch.org (NFS) – on-line program and data base for compiling information on ancestors and submitting temple ordinances.
- Everyone is encouraged to set up their own log-on for new.familysearch.org. By doing this, you will be able to access your unique pedigree and family tree.
- To register, you will need your membership # and confirmation date. Your ward clerk can give you this information if you do not already know it.
- Once you have signed on to new.familysearch, take the time to review the overview and familiarize yourself with the program.
- It is important to remember that generally, NFS does not show information on living individuals. Living persons are listed in italics.
- Personal Ancestral File (PAF) – PAF is the church’s free downloadable program for organizing family information.
- PAF can be downloaded to your computer from familysearch.org. From the home page, click on the link to enter identification and begin download.
- The church will no longer be releasing new versions of PAF, so you might want to consider buying a commercial program such as RootsMagic, FamilyTreeMaker, or FamilyInsight. RootsMagic now has a free version that is completely compatible and syncs with NFS.