SALT LAKE CITY — Craig Miller could have made excuses.
He descends from Mormon pioneers. His ancestors have prepared family names for temple work since joining the church. His parents even sought help from professional genealogists, with limited results.
It would have been easy for Miller to conclude that all his family history work was done.
But it wasn't.
And when he was contacted by unknown relatives from back East — descendents of a brother who left Scotland to mine coal in America before the rest of Miller's family joined the church — he was gifted a hidden branch of his family tree. Although not LDS, these relatives wanted to share family history information.
"We got together. Come to find out, we have 700 new names," said Miller, who works as director of member needs for the LDS Church's Family History Department. "If you make an effort … the Lord will open up the doors and find the rest of your family."
Miller knows how communication and technology can open those doors, which is probably why he speaks with so much enthusiasm about New FamilySearch. The Web-based family history program, now accessible to most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at new.familysearch.org, is designed to make preparing family names for temple ordinances a more simple and collaborative process.
There is work enough to do, and it's easier than ever to perform and harder than ever to make excuses.
So whatever the reason for avoiding family history work, New FamilySearch likely has an answer.
Don't know where to start?
With New FamilySearch, everyone can begin by logging on. There, they'll find a simple family tree, which is the fundamental element of the site.
New FamilySearch has taken the 1.3 billion records that have accumulated over 170 years from membership records, temple ordinance records and computer databases, among other sources, and puts them in the context of family relationships.
"Now what we're trying to do is take all that information and put it on the same individual in the family tree," Miller said. "It's literally one family tree."
With this streamlined view, those venturing into family history won't have to start from scratch. They can immediately see what information the church has: who their ancestors are and what temple work has been done.
"You pick up right from where everyone leaves off," said Tim Cross, a product manager for New FamilySearch.
All the work's been done?
In many cases, the work has been done — too many times. But even that creates opportunities.
Church members, particularly those with pioneer ancestry, will likely see a lot of duplicate names when they zoom in on the details of their family tree. In the past, people working with their own computers and pedigrees would submit names to the temple, unbeknownst to relatives working on the same name. Multiple ordinances were often performed for the same person.
With New FamilySearch, church members can see how much duplication exists and begin merging records.
"We're bringing it together and putting it in front of everyone so they can all see what changes need to happen to that data," said John Huff, a product manager for New FamilySearch.
It's a new avenue for family history work, especially for those who think their relatives have done it all.
According to Miller, the site has merged obvious duplicate names "as best we can." But in some cases, individual family members will need to analyze the data and determine if duplicate records refer to the same person or not.
"It's going to take a human being," he said. "You can only take the technology so far."
Miller suggests that church members "walk" their family tree and see what needs to be fixed.
"I virtually can guarantee that something will be amiss and that you need to go in and take a look at it," he said.
Don't have time?
Preparing names for temple ordinances has never been simpler, and can now be done entirely from home.
The process once required numerous steps. Records would have to be saved on a gedcom file, exported to a disk, taken to a family history center, imported into a program called TempleReady, exported onto a disc again and taken to the temple, where cards would be printed.
With New FamilySearch, the process involves clicking an icon and printing out a family ordinance request.
"Now people can do that at home on the Internet," Miller said. "The whole goal was to simplify that process and make it so it's easier and so it's not so error-prone."
The work can also be tracked in a more timely manner. Cross points out that an individual can take a name to the temple, wake up the next morning and see the name in the system.
"It's just that real-time," he said.
You'll do it when you're older?
New FamilySearch and its complementary technologies make family history a more accessible activity for younger, tech-savvy audiences.
Instead of researching with microfilm, they're using familiar tools, says Kim Woodbury, a public affairs representative for FamilySearch.
"It kind of makes family history cooler," she said. "All of a sudden, family history isn't just something you do when you're old."
Cross points out that youths are comfortable on a computer. "(They) aren't too keen on doing hard-core research genealogy, but they love just going on and clicking around and navigating the tree and learning about their ancestors," he said.
New FamilySearch has also opened the door for third-party developers to build upon its platform and provide creative, educational technologies. One of Cross' favorites is an iPhone "app."
Don't know enough?
New FamilySearch exists in part to facilitate collaboration. So if someone gets stuck — or has trouble starting — help is close by.
One feature allows an individual, such as a ward family history consultant, to sign on as a helper and guide others through their work.
Family members can easily share information electronically and work together to complete ordinances. For example, an individual can prepare a name, electronically send a family ordinance request for someone to take to the temple, and then follow up online to see if the work has been completed.
Whenever possible, the site provides information to connect individuals working on the same line, meaning users will probably get to know a lot of new relatives.
Users can now all benefit from each other's work, Huff says. "It's this synergy that exists from the collaborative work of all the members that are all descendents of the person in doing their work, instead of just one person toiling in darkness and hoping that they're going to be able to complete it."
Next week: New FamilySearch — what it is, what it isn't and what it will be.