Finding cousins who need baptism and confirmations

What's the easiest way to bring up a list of absolutely every person in my tree (there are around 300-400) and their temple ordinance progress. I know temple opportunities in FamilySearch does not do this. And I can't seem to find a way in RootsMagic either. Surely it can't be that difficult. I also tried using Puzzilla, but couldn't seem to work it out that way either.

mikeashfield1991 wrote:What's the easiest way to bring up a list of absolutely every person in my tree (there are around 300-400) and their temple ordinance progress. I know temple opportunities in FamilySearch does not do this. And I can't seem to find a way in RootsMagic either.

I don't know what you mean by "my tree". That is not at all a well-defined term. Do you mean just your direct-line ancestors? Or does it also include their children? What about spouses of children? How about their children?

Clearly you have something in mind, if you can put a number to it. What is your definition of that term?

mikeashfield1991 wrote:Surely it can't be that difficult.

It certainly doesn't sound simple to me. First of all, there's no clear definition for "my tree", and even if there were, you're asking for the traversal of a huge tree, which would take considerable time to prepare. Multiply that by millions of users, consider the fact that this data is changing all the time, and yet would need to be stored somehow.

It's conceivable that an application could be written to do that using the FamilySearch partner APIs, but I know there's no such feature on FamilySearch, and I certainly haven't heard of such a thing among the current FamilySearch partner applications. Partner APIs have a limitation on how rapidly they can access the FamilySearch data, so it would take some time to gather the data, but it could be done, if the application defined the portion of the Family Tree to be examined, and someone were willing to create such an application.

aebrown wrote:I don't know what you mean by "my tree". That is not at all a well-defined term. Do you mean just your direct-line ancestors? Or does it also include their children? What about spouses of children? How about their children?

Keeping in mind that the unspoken goal of FamilySearch is a single tree for all mankind, there really is no limit on the number of cousins and in-laws that might be connected to you.

And keep in mind that even if you find someone, their work might well have been done. It's just under a duplicate record. Even then, there's a possibility that they were a member. I've run into some family that I know are members but their work isn't showing. I'm not sure why. I need to dig up a list and find someone to check into that.

I don't know how more plainly I can describe 'my tree and everyone in it'; I'm not trying to be awkward. I just mean, every person, spouse and child, spouse and child for those children etc. I am a convert to the church, and for the large majority, the work hasn't been done (until I get way back into the olden days where those people then have also been linked into). How about if I word it like this:

Every person in my tree, who I 'created' a unique ID for in FS, including all their descendants, spouses and children and so forth.

Does that make more sense?

mikeashfield1991 wrote:What's the easiest way to bring up a list of absolutely every person in my tree (there are around 300-400) and their temple ordinance progress. I know temple opportunities in FamilySearch does not do this. And I can't seem to find a way in RootsMagic either. Surely it can't be that difficult. I also tried using Puzzilla, but couldn't seem to work it out that way either.

In FamilySearch Family Tree, there is only one "tree" as Russell has stated. You and your cousins can see and modify the same people in the same "tree". Since we are all "cousins" I can modify all the records you create for deceased persons in Family Tree, and you can modify all the records I create for deceased persons in Family Tree.

I understand that you and I can have private trees in RootsMagic, Ancestral Quest, Ancestry, etc. However, in Family Tree, we all share access to all deceased persons, their sources, memories, and temple ordinances.

Here is more help for Puzzilla:
https://familysearch.org/campaign/finding-our-cousins
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/How_to_Puzzilla
https://familysearch.org/blog/en/puzzil ... y-centers/

Please note in that last article on Puzzilla premium services that premium services are available to Family History Center patrons free of charge.
These include:

• New Research Targets. Highlight persons that may have missing family members where new research opportunities may be available.
• Search. Highlight records that match a specified name, location, or FamilyTree ID.
• Hints. Highlight FamilyTree records that have pre-matched historical records. Hints do the searching for you.
• Sources. Highlight records that have sources attached. This reveals records that lack sources to help you improve the quality of your tree.
• Changes. Highlight records that were created or changed by you.
• Possible Duplicates. Highlight records with possible duplicates to help improve the quality of your tree.
• Incomplete Ordinances. Used together with Possible Duplicates, the combination helps find ordinance opportunities for records that do not have possible duplicates.

The last two bullets above apply directly to your question, as well as Russell's caution about possible duplicate records.

mikeashfield1991 wrote:Every person in my tree, who I 'created' a unique ID for in FS, including all their descendants, spouses and children and so forth.

Does that make more sense?

It makes more sense, since you have now added the detail that you are interested in people you created. But this definition makes it less likely that FamilySearch or any partner would create such a feature. Given your rare situation, I can certainly understand why you would want this feature. But for the great majority of the users of FamilySearch, that definition would not work well at all.

Your definition would not work for me for two major reasons:

• I have added many persons to Family Tree, but for many of them I am not interested in the status of their temple work. For some, this is because I'm not directly related (e.g., I added the parents of a spouse of a cousin) or they were born less than 110 years ago and I am not a sufficiently close relative to do their temple work without additional permission.
• On the other hand, there are many persons in Family Tree that I am related to, but were added by someone else. I'm quite interested in the status of their temple work.

I suppose someone could create an application to gather ordinance status for people based on flexible definitions, but that makes the project even more daunting. Certainly doable, but I wonder if anyone would be sufficiently motivated to create such a feature or application.

I am also an only member of my family. And I have been able to connect "my tree" to the world in such a way that when exploring sources, picking the "easy fruit" in adding people, I've discovered myself way far away from the direct line. Once you start adding cousins and inlaws, the width of the tree can become mind boggling immense.

There is an extension called Hope Chest that may be helpful. It is not officially supported by FamilySearch but I've heard several people recommend it: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/ ... Hope_Chest

You can try "Ordinances Needed for Your Relative" at WoodenVillage a FamilySearch Partner at WoodenVillage.org/autoOrdinances.html. Just enter the number of generations of your tree that you want searched. The app will search your ancestors and their descendants or your cousins. Happy Hunting!

There is this new app available as a chrome extension that will give you a nice spreadsheet you can sort an filter. I found 9000 green temple names by running this. It took it 29 hours to complete but I may never have to run it again. It even links the spreadsheet to family search to make it easier to request the ordinances you want and have a trove of work to do without having to reserve a bunch of names that other people may be able to use.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... h?hl=en-US

It seems pretty simple to use you just sign in and enter the familysearch ID you want to start on and it runs in the background.

Giraffelitis wrote:It took it 29 hours to complete but I may never have to run it again.

I disagree. Since it searches descendancy, I'd expect new people to be added as they pass on.

And like other tools, it can only search people who have been added to Family Search. So it may need to be run from time to time, but probably with years between runs.