Using "Where Am I from?" on family search
Written by: Sarah Day
Where Am I From is a wonderful activity on Familysearch that allows you to explore your heritage in many cool ways.
The Basics
Where Am I From is one of the activities on family search. To access it you must first create a free familysearch account. Once you have created an account and logged in you can now access the activities. The activities are found on the top toolbar. So once you login, look at the top and click on the word activities. This will open a drop down menu where you can click on Where Am I From.
Generations
When you first enter the Where Am I From? activity it will bring up the generations view. This will allow you to see all of your ancestors on a map. You can explore the map and see where your ancestors had important events in their lives. The tab along the bottom says the number of generations. This bar will allow you to change the number and which generations you see. You can move the blue circle along the line to just show generations 6-8 or just generations 2-6 or any combinations you would like to see. Directly above this bar is three ovals. The first is the all ancestors oval. This is the one that comes pre selected and allows you to see all of your ancestors. The one directly to the right of all ancestors is converts. This one will allow you to see which of your ancestors were converts to a new religion. The final oval says immigrants. This map will just show you your ancestors who immigrated. It will also show you where they immigrated to along blue lines. Over on the right hand side of the screen there is a plus and minus button. These buttons will allow you to zoom in and out on the map.
My Heritage
This is another cool feature that Where Am I From has. When you enter the where am I from activity look along the top and the third option along the top bar says My Heritage. Click on this tab and a new screen will come up. This screen will allow you to see what percentage of your ancestors were from which country. This is one way to identify what country you may want to choose as your homeland. When you click on one of the countries a bunch of cool information comes up. Lets explore those great features!
Ancestors
The first option on the tabs that appears is ancestors. This page lists all of the ancestors on your tree that are from that country. It also lists what generation they are in. For example is may say grandparents or 4 times great grandparents.
Food
The next tab along the top is food. The food tab allows you to see what foods are common in this country. It lists what type of diet is eaten there, how many meals are eaten, how big and when, and things to know about food in the country, things that are polite or rude or common or weird.
Recipes
Now that you have explored the food you can explore the recipes. This is the next tab along the top. It lists the name of the dish, what type of dish it is (side dish, dessert, main dish, bread, etc..), the ingredients, and the directions. You can also change recipes using the arrows right below the image. You can also print out the recipe if you would like. This is a great idea if you make it and want to save it again for later. To print just press the Print Recipe button near the top of the recipe.
Families
This tab is the next one on the list. This is a place that will tell you about what families are like in this country. It may explain how many children are common, who lives in a home and for how long, and other information like this. So here is your place to learn more about families in one of your homelands.
Social
The next tab up is social. This page has a few sections. The first one is greetings. So how do you greet others in the country. What is an acceptable greeting and what is not. The next section is gestures. What gestures are common, what gestures are not and what about things like person space and handshakes are those acceptable in this country? Next is visiting. Are impromptu visits to a neighbor’s house okay? Or should you call ahead? And while you are visiting what things should you do? Do you need to bring a gift? Shoes on or off? Or any other important things to be kept in mind while visiting. The final section on this page is cultural attributes. It talks about values, morals, vacations, working hours, perception and more.
Fun Facts
Fun facts is an awesome tab. It is located to the right of the social tab. It just includes a list of fun facts about the country. Basically trivia and a ‘have you ever heard about….’ type of things.
Traditions
This tab lists the common traditions in that country and how they are celebrated and how they came to be. For example on the United States tradition page it talks about Christmas and lost teeth. But each country may list different traditions that are important and celebrated in that country.
Changing countries
Once you have selected the country and explored the different features of your homeland through the sections and tabs described above you may want to choose a different country to learn about. To do this is quite simple. Simply go up under the toolbar that lists ancestors, food, recipes, etc.. and click on the arrow next to the country name you are learning about. It will then pull down a drop down menu from which you can choose a new country. Simply select the new country from the list and keep exploring!
