Skills and

Career Paths
FHGEN 241 – Week 2
 Where will I go?

• There are so many avenues and paths that

genealogy can take us. Whether we pursue
genealogy for our own personal benefit, or choose it
as a career; it promises to be a whole new
adventure!
 Which career path will I take?
• Genealogist working for a genealogical research
firm
• Memory scanning & organizational services
• Forensic genealogist specialist
• DNA genealogist • Author
• Library patron consultant • Small business owner
• Archivist • Historian
• Cataloging and archival preservation specialist • Member of historical/genealogical/lineage societies
and boards
• Genealogical website designer
• Genealogical media producer or program host
• Genealogical tour guide
• Owner of genealogical company
• Lecturer/teacher
• Database manager and many more……
 “When God directs us to do one thing, He often has
many purposes in mind. Family history and temple
work is not only for the dead but blesses the living as
well.”
~ Elder Dale G. Renlund

As we prayerfully consider what path we should take, I promise

you, the Lord will direct your paths. He will guide you to
precisely where you are needed. He will open those doors to us, if
we put our trust in Him.
While I was student here at BYU-I, I was asked
by someone in the community if I would
transcribe an bunch of “old letters”. Prior to
the letters coming to me, it was offered to
several others in the community to see if they
could transcribe what was written. Each time,
the response came back that it was too difficult
to read and they couldn’t do it.

I was enrolled in the Paleography class at the

time. I figured I needed the extra practice, so I
agreed to try. Using a lot of prayer, and the
skills that I was learning at the time, these “old
letters” of Letitia Preston Floyd told the history
and settling of this area of southwest Virginia.
From these pages came the historical figures I
had only read about in history books. People
like Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark,
Patrick Henry, and so forth.
This particular letter, which was
37 pages long, took me about
three months to transcribe. The
skills I was learning at the time
enabled me to transcribe these
historical letters, so that the
history of this woman could be
told. There were many times
when I was transcribing, that I
could feel her presence. It was a
sacred experience for me. It
testified to me, that this work is
important, and that we are being
prepared for precisely a time such
as this.
Genealogy will reach its proper place of respectability among the
sciences only as we, its devotees, adopt sound scientific principles in our
research. We must learn to consider all relevant evidence before we reach
our conclusions. No scientist would do less. When tempted to do less than
our best we should remember two things:

1. Those who come after us will eternally judge us by what we have

actually produced and not by our ability.

2. An error on an ancestral line extended many generations can be far-

reaching in its effect. One wrong ancestor on a line extended five
short generations will have those who follow working on 32 wrong lines,
and on 64 wrong lines in six generations, and so on, doubling each
generation.
When we research on our own family
lines, or the family lines of someone
else, we want to make sure that we
are as accurate in our conclusions as
we possibly can be.

We want our family history to be a

book worthy of presenting to our
Heavenly Father. We will meet those
of our ancestors on the other side.
 “When we have conscientiously
done all we can to locate records of
our ancestors, the Lord will direct
our attention to obscure records in
unlikely places where ancestral
information has
been preserved.”
~ David B. Haight
“We must not be weary in well doing. Should we feel our contribution in
this sacred (family history) work is small or insignificant, we remember that
“the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.” Is it any wonder that when
we receive a testimony of this work, we desire to give so much to its progress
and its advancement.” ~ President Thomas S. Monson

Whatever path we choose to take in our family history work – whether for
our own benefit or as a career, let us not be weary in well doing. Let us
make our family history worthy of acceptance by the Lord.