Q. How do I find the person I’m looking for?
A. There are a number of ways, but the search box on the home page
provides the most straightforward method. It is the dark green box on the righthand side of the
page below the picture of Abial.
To use it, simply type the surname of the person you're looking for into the white box under
the words "Last Name" and any of the person's given names into the white box under the
words "First Name." Then click on the button labeled "Search." This will present
you with a list of possible matches. When you see the name of the person you're looking for, click on
it. This will take you to the page about that person.
It's important to remember that the genealogy lists people using the surname they were born with.
If you're looking for a woman and only know her married name you won't find her this way. See the
question about this, below.
Q. What if I don't know the person's full name?
If you don't know the person's full name, you can just enter what you do know. For example, to
search for someone whose given name is "Barbara" but whose surname you are unsure of,
just enter "Barbara" in the place for the first name and leave the place for the last
name blank.
There is also an Advanced Search that works the same way as the search
box on the home page but allows searching on more information than just names.
You might also want to try looking at the surnames in the genealogy
if you don’t have a clear picture of who you’re looking for.
Q. How do I find a woman when I only know her married name?
A. The easiest way to do this is to use the Advanced Search.
On the Advanced Search page fill in her given name, if you know it, in the slot for "First
Name." Then further down the page, choose "Female" for "Gender" and fill in
her husband's last name in the slot labeled "Spouse's Last Name." With this done,
clicking on the "Search" buttton will bring up a list of possible matches.
Q. How do I find an individual’s ancestors?
A. Once you locate the individual, the easiest method is to click on the "Ancestors"
tab. This will show you a graphical display of both the paternal and maternal ancestors.
Once you have the ancestor chart displayed, you can click on the arrows located at the far
right ancestor if you need to see additional ancestors. There are a number of formats for you
to choose from (Standard, Compact, Box, Text, Ahnentafel, and Media) to display
ancestors. Try clicking on the various options and see which one works best for you.
Q. What if I want to see an individual’s descendants?
A. The tab marked "Descendants" can be used to display the descendants of an individual.
There are several different formats that descendants can be displayed in. You can switch
between them to display the information the way that works best for you.
Q. Can I show a descendancy chart from an ancestor to a particular descendant?
A. Yes, it's easy. First, find the ancestor you'd like to start from. Then click on the the
"Descendants" tab. Select the "Text" format. This will display all of the
descendants of the selected person for four generations as an indented list. If you need to display
more generations to find the descendant you're looking for, change the number in the
"Generations" field. When you find the descendant you're looking for, click on the
small symbol following his or her name.
You'll see a graphical display showing the descendancy path from the ancestor to the
descendant.
Q. Is there a way to tell if two individuals are related?
A. Yes, the "Relationship" tab will show a graphic display of all the people between
two relatives. To use this function, locate the first individual and then click on the
"Relationship" tab. Next, click the "Find" button for "Person 2,"
the second individual. This brings up a box in which you type the name of the second person
to be related. Click the "Search" button. This displays a list of people with names
that match what you typed. When you see the one you're after, click on it to select the second
individual. Once you have the two people selected click the "Calculate" button to
display the relationship between them.
Q. The timeline function looks interesting, what is it?
A. A timeline is displayed for an individual when the "Timeline" tab is clicked. The
timeline shows important events in history that occurred during the life of an individual or a
group of individuals. It gives you a unique perspective to see what was going on in the world
during the lives of our ancestors.
Q. I see a mistake in the information presented. How can I correct it?
A. The "Suggestion" tab allows you to send corrections, updates, comments or any
other information to us. Information on which individual you are referencing is automatically
attached to the message when you make a suggestion using the "Suggestion" tab. We will
take your suggestion and add it to the genealogy during the next update cycle.
Q. Can I send you information about someone who should be in the genealogy but isn't?
A. Yes, please! You can use the "Suggestion" tab as outlined above, you can e-mail us,
you can write us a letter, or you can download a form designed specifically for that purpose and fill
it out. You can get the form by clicking here. The form
is useful for us because it provides the information we need in a standard way, and it is useful for
you because it reminds you about what kinds of information the genealogy needs. But whether you use
the form or not, if you have information about people who should be in the genealogy but aren't,
please let us know.
Q. I understand there are pictures of people in the genealogy. How can I see them?
A. To see what pictures, if any, we have of an individual, display the page about the person,
as described above. Scroll down to the end of the page. If we have pictures of that person, you will
see a list of them. For each photo in the list there is a small "thumbnail" of the
picture, a title, and a description or caption, if the picture has one. Clicking on the thumbnail
or on the title will display the picture.
Most of the pictures are kept on a separate photo-sharing website called flickr.com. Those that
are of people who are now children are stored on this website where only people who are registered
and logged in can see them. You can tell which website a picture is on by how it displays. The
pictures stored on flickr.com display on a white background with "flickr" in the upper left part of
the page. Photos on this website display on a page that looks very much like this one -- tan and
green with a Abial's stern visage in the upper left. To get back to this website from flickr, use
your Web browser's "back" button.
Q. I found a picture I like. How can I get a good-quality print of it?
A. There are several ways to do this, but for most people, the easiest is to use one of the
on-line digital photo printing services. There are four that get pretty consistently good reviews:
Snapfish,
Walgreens Photo Center,
York Photo and
Kodak Gallery. Of these,
Snapfish is the easiest to use from Flickr because Flickr and Snapfish have "integrated"
their systems. First, we'll look at using Snapfish with Flickr and then the others. There are some
differences in pricing and print quality, but not much. I've used Snapfish and have been quite
pleased with the results. All of them can ship prints to you by mail and most can print them at
a local outlet such as Walgreens, Target, Wolfe Camera or Ritz Camera on the same day you place
your order.
To order a Snapfish print from Flickr, click on the "pull-down" labeled
"Actions". It's just above the photo you're interested in. This brings up a menu of
things you can do with the photo. Choose "Order prints and more" by clicking on it in the
menu. Flickr will then lead you through the first steps of the ordering process and send you over
to Snapfish to finish things up.
To use one of the other services for prints, follow the instructions on the website for the service.
The only slightly tricky part is that the services all assume you're using them to print pictures
you have taken with your digital camera, which, of course, is not what you'd be using them for.
So, where they talk about downloading the pictures from your camera to your computer, you'll be
downloading them from the on-line collection of Frost photos instead. Once you have done this, the
services work just the same as they do with digital photos you have taken with your digital
camera.
If the photo you're interested in is on Flickr (see above) there will be a "pull-down"
just above the photo labeled "Actions". Clicking on it brings up a menu of things you
can do with the photo. Choose "View all sizes" by clicking on it in the menu. This takes
you to a page displaying a much larger version of the photo together with the option to choose
among various other sizes of the same photo. Choose the original size by clicking on the word
"Original" if that size is not the one already being displayed. Just above the list of
sizes, you should see "Download the Original size of this photo". Click on that text. The
details of what happens next depend on which Web browser you are using. On most browsers, a dialog
box appears that lets you choose between saving the file containing the picture and opening it.
Choose the option that saves the file. This brings up a "Save As" dialog that lets you
tell the browser where to save the file and what to call it. Once you have chosen these, click on
the "Save" button to download the file and save it on your computer. This is the file
you will "upload" to the photo printing service you choose.
If the photo is on this website, a caption is displayed above the picture. In the caption
you'll see "A full-sized version suitable for printing may be found here." with the word
"here" underlined. Right click (Mac: option click) on "here". This will bring
up a menu that lets you save a copy of the picture on your computer. Exactly what the menu says
depends on which Web browser you are using. If you are using Firefox, choose "Save Link
As ...". If you are using Internet Explorer, choose "Save Target As ...". Choosing
this menu item will bring up a "Save As" dialog that lets you tell the browser where to
save the file and what to call it. Once you have chosen these, click on the "Save"
button to download the file and save it on your computer. This is the file you will
"upload" to the photo printing service you choose.
Once you have saved the file containing the picture on your computer, go to the website of the
photo printing service and follow the instructions for uploading a photo. With that done, you'll be
able to order prints in various sizes by following the instructions the service provides.
Q. Is there a way to print the display without all the headers and icons?
A. Yes, just click on the "Print" link located above the control tabs. A format that
is simplified for printing is presented and you can use the print function of your browser to print
the page.
Q. What are the three green boxes located on the upper right of the page for?
A. These let you access additional information that is contained in the genealogy. You can
hover your mouse pointer over each to see the types of detailed information that are available
on the site. Note, the site is still expanding and some of the items may take you to areas where
we are still working.
Q. Do you have any other suggestions for using the site?
A. Yes, two. First, if you have questions about how to use the site, please
contact us. We're happy to answer questions. And if your question is one
that might interest several people, we'll add to this FAQ. Second, click on stuff to see what
happens. You can't break it, and trying things out is the best way to get to know what the site can
do.
