Download PhotoFamilySearch has just introduced a new website and app specifically built to assist in doing Family History work in Africa. Africa is one of the fastest growing areas of the church, and the purpose of the new website is to provide a simple way for members and friends to get started with their family history and for anyone to find information on their ancestors more easily.
The website and app will provide powerful help to all Africans, even those experienced in genealogy, through the “Find Ancestors in Africa” experience. Many countries in Africa have few historical written records available for research. In many African cultures, records were memorized and recited orally by a designated member of a tribe or village. Several years ago, Family Search started visiting villages and recording these oral records. Since then, separate teams have been transcribing the names and information from these oral histories so that they are searchable.
Previously, finding information from the oral histories was cumbersome and difficult. This tool makes it simple to select the African Country you are interested in and then look for the tribe or village your ancestor came from to search further. You can also search by surname. It is amazing that some of these oral histories that were recorded contained hundreds of family names and relationships.
Download PhotoOnce a record is found that you are interested in, you can see the information and family relationships available for that person. You can also click on and listen to the actual recording that was made in the native language of the person reciting it. These include languages such as Twi, Ga, Guan, Fante, Kibemba, Bamoun, Tshiluba, and many more depending on the country. Pictures from the tribes and villages, and of the people that were interviewed are also available to view.
For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the key features is “Prepare a Name for the Temple.” This part of the site walks a person who has never worked with FamilySearch through the steps of building the first three generations of their family tree: themselves, their parents, and their grandparents. Then for any of those family members that are deceased, it walks them through preparing those names for the temple.
Download PhotoThe” Create a Beautiful Family Tree” uses the information that was previously entered for “Prepare a Name for the Temple”, or it walks through a similar process to enter the first three generations of ancestors for people without a church account. If you have pictures of ancestors, those can be entered as you work on entering each family member. Once you have family entered, you can choose from one of several tree chart templates and build your own Beautiful Family Tree.
Because the site is new, ongoing updates and improvements are being made to try and provide African researchers as many resources in a simple to use and easy to find manner as possible. Keep checking back for updates and availability of more records.
This site is accessed on the web at https://familysearch.org/africa and an app can be downloaded for android smart phones from the Google Play store.