By KRISTE GUSTAFSON
Imagine sitting at a computer, typing in your name and finding out you are directly related to a king. For BYU students interested in genealogy, this is possible with a database called the Ancestral File.
The new 1996 version of Ancestral File has hit the computers at BYU and is causing excitement in the Family History Department, said Kip Sperry, assistant professor of Family History. The new version of the genealogy database contains over 29 million names.
The previous version, put out in August 1992, contained more than 15 million names, which is less than half of what is contained in the new edition. A typical student may even find his or her own name in the Ancestral File.
The updated Ancestral File will enable students to find ancestors that were not on the earlier version, said Julie Moses, a junior from Parma, Idaho, majoring in family history who is a Family History lab assistant. 'It increases the chances that someone is going to find something that will help them with their family history,' she said.
This new resource should greatly increase the ease of genealogical work.
'Ancestral File is one of the first places people should look when searching for ancestors, both living and deceased,' Sperry said.
'The Ancestral File is a lineage-linked record of families and pedigrees that provides names with dates and places of birth, marriage and death,' Sperry said.
The Ancestral File also contains some temple information but should not be used to verify ordinance completion, Sperry said. To verify ordinance completion, the International Genealogical Index (IGI) is the official LDS source.
One benefit of the Ancestral File is that it provides users with information on others who may be researching their family lines. Moses got in touch with an unknown cousin this way. 'Now I talk to her all the time about my grandmother's line,' she said.
'The Ancestral File, on compact disc, is available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, all of the over 2,800 Family History Centers and at some other libraries,' Sperry said. The database is also available on the network at BYU, but not on the Internet.
Students can access the new Ancestral File in three locations on campus, including the Family History Lab, located in 102 JSB, the Family Search Computer room in 4442 HBLL and in 335 KMB. The lab in the KMB is primarily for history and family history majors, but it does have limited open hours.