VERIFY FAMILY HISTORY

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VERIFYing your FAMILY HISTORY's temple ordinances for only $0.75 per person

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS   (FAQS)

 

  1. WHY UGANDA?
  2. WHERE IS UGANDA AND IS ENGLISH SPOKEN THERE?

  3. WHO ARE YOU? (GOOD FAMILY HISTORY QUESTION!)
  4. WHY VERIFY?

  5. HOW DOES THE CHURCH'S FORTHCOMING FAMILY HISTORY PROGRAM AFFECT THIS? OR, SHOULD I WAIT TO SUBMIT ORDINANCES?

  6. WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR VFH COME FROM?

  7. WHAT EXACTLY IS BEING VERIFIED AND DOCUMENTED?

  8. HOW DOES VFH VERIFY AND DOCUMENT MY PRECIOUS WORK?

  9. WHAT HAPPENS TO MY VALUABLE NOTES?

  10. WHAT DOES VFH DO WITH MY NEWLY DISCOVERED INFORMATION, IN ADDITION TO TEMPLE ORDINANCES?

  11. WHAT IS VFH'S PROCESS?
  12. WILL VFH SET UP MY FAMILY HISTORY?
  13. WHAT ABOUT CREDIT CARD FRAUD, WHEN YOU BILL ME AND CONFIDENTIALITY?
  14. GENEALOGY PROGRAM COMPATIBILITY?
  15. GUARANTEE?
  16. REFERRALS?
  17. SOUNDS INTERESTING BUT . . . .?
  18. OTHER CONCERNS?
  19. LEGAL ISSUES?

 


1.    WHY UGANDA?

Elder Wade and Miriam Brown were missionaries in Jinja, Uganda. They set up a group of members to work together to economically better their lives. Merrill Clark learned of this group and "adopted" it and has set up the VERIFY FAMILY HISTORY program.

Our  employees have been members for an average of eight years. They are educated, honest and proud of the high quality work they do. Many are returned missionaries.

However, Uganda has terrible employment opportunities. This work allows them to provide for their families, build the Church in Uganda while helping you in a high quality way to VERIFY your ancestors’ ordinances and document them in your FAMILY HISTORY.

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2.    WHERE IS UGANDA AND IS ENGLISH SPOKEN THERE?

Uganda is located in East Africa. (Click on Uganda Map to see where Uganda). Our employees are located in Jinja, Uganda, which is in southern Uganda, right on Lake Victoria, about 50 miles east of the capital city of Kampala.

       Uganda’s official language is English.

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3.    WHO ARE YOU? (GOOD FAMILY HISTORY QUESTION!)

Verify Family History is a New Jersey corporation, which  uses 24-7 Uganda Limited, a Ugandan corporation.  

Both corporations are owned by Merrill Clark, who lives in Summit, New Jersey.

Email Merrill Clark

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4.    WHY VERIFY?

The three most important words in genealogy: “VERIFY,” “VERIFY,” and “VERIFY.”

NOT RECORDED, NOT DONE: “and whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven . . . .” (D&C  128:8) and “Hence, whatsoever those men did in authority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully and kept a proper and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven  . . . “ Doctrine & Covenants 128: 9 (emphasis added).

Unfortunately, many temple ordinances may have been “done,” but have not been properly recorded; thus need to be “redone” to be properly recorded.

VERIFYing the known ancestors’ ordinances means you know what ordinances are officially done. You may then move on, finding the unknown ancestors and doing their ordinances and VERIFYing them.

Even if your ancestors’ temple work is “done,” you should nevertheless VERIFY that it is done and clearly document it for your posterity. Some Alma Chapter 5 type questions to ask yourself:

        1.      Are your FAMILY HISTORY records arranged so that your posterity may easily pick them up and start where you leave off? and 

        2.     What benefit will your posterity have from your extensive FAMILY HISTORY research after you die?

It is ironic and sad that many caretakers of their FAMILY HISTORY leave poor FAMILY HISTORY records with scant and mysteriously coded information for their posterity.

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5.         HOW DOES THE CHURCH’S FORTHCOMING FAMILY HISTORY PROGRAM AFFECT      THIS? OR, SHOULD I WAIT TO SUBMIT ORDINANCES?

It does not affect this program. No, do not wait to submit your names if you first VERIFY your ordinances.

President Hinckley stated in the October 2005 General Conference the following:

"One of the most troublesome aspects of our temple activity is that as we get more and more temples scattered across the earth there is duplication of effort in proxy work. People in various nations simultaneously work on the same family lines and come up with the same names. They do not know that those in other areas are doing the same thing. We, therefore, have been engaged for some time in a very difficult undertaking. To avoid such duplication, the solution lies in complex computer technology. Preliminary indications are that it will work, and if this is so, it will be a truly remarkable thing with worldwide implications." Link to President's Hinckley's Talk.

Temple Ready has not been updated in several years. Temple Ready is the program that “clears” names that presumably have not been done submitted to the temples.  Thus, ordinances that have been done in the last couple of years are not recognized in Temple Ready. Thus Temple Ready does not catch some ordinances and they are done again and again and sometimes again.

Even though Temple Ready has a significant time lag, the International Genealogical Index (IGI), an official source of the temple ordinances, is updated weekly and does not have a time lag. VFH uses the IGI to VERIFY your FAMILY HISTORY, thus your FAMILY HISTORY temple work is up to date. After you VERIFY your work, you may submit the unfinished ordinances through temple ready.

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6.    WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR VFH COME FROM?

Heaven! 

Merrill Clark wrote: “I come from a family where ‘all the work is done.’” I have actually learned that while much of the ordinance work is done, some of the work for even known people is surprisingly nevertheless NOT DONE. The ordinances were probably performed, maybe more than once. But they were not properly recorded and the official Church records did not reflect the ordinances, thus the ordinances were not considered done. Out of frustration, I have had to VERIFY my extensive FAMILY HISTORY and found many missing ordinances to perform. Out of my frustration was born a blessing.  

Also, I have done a lot of FAMILY HISTORY, stopped, and then picked it up, several times. I am always amazed at how long it took me to get up to speed each time I restarted to VERIFY what I had previously done.  It made me think of how hard it would be for my daughters to pick up where I finally stop, thus I have verified my FAMILY HISTORY so that my daughters may easily start where I  finish. VERIFYing and documenting the ordinances saves a lot of time for the rising generation. Sometimes, taking a step back, allows you to accelerate three steps ahead.” Merrill Clark

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7.    WHAT EXACTLY IS BEING VERIFIED AND DOCUMENTED?

    There are four essential FAMILY HISTORY temple ordinances to VERIFY:

           B=     Baptism

           E=     Endowment

           SP=   Sealing to Parent

           SS=   Sealing to Spouse

  These four ordinances are researched on the Church’s official source, which we          VERIFY for $0.75 per ancestor.

If an ordinance is not done, it will be left blank in the ordinance area. In our final report to you, we will indicate what ordinances have not been done.

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8.     HOW DOES VFH VERIFY AND DOCUMENT MY PRECIOUS WORK?

We use the IGI (International Genealogical Index), an official source of the Church to VERIFY your work.

To document your work, in the event section (Baptism, Endowment, Sealing to Parent and Sealing to Spouse section) for the individual in PAF, we input the verified date and temple (if available). In the notes section for the relevant event, we will put all the official Church source information and the date it is verified.  If there is no ordinance, we will leave the event section blank. Here is a sample note of a baptism and an endowment:

    Abraham CLARK; Male; Birth: About 1750 Grantham, Lincoln, England; Baptism: 14 APR 1998 WASHI; Endowment: 07 NOV 1998 WASHI

Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church to request LDS temple ordinances. Search performed using PAF Insight on 01 Jan 2007

When we are finished, we also send you via email (so you can save it in your computer) a summary VERIFYing report in Excel or Word, listing all of the VERIFYing ordinance dates and a notation where VERIFYing dates were not found, that looks like this in Excel:           

Full Name

RIN

MRIN

Bap Date End Date SP Date SS Date

Herbert Henry CLARK

1

9

9 Jun 1876 22 Mar 1889 19-Jun-1979 22 Mar 1889

Mary Elizabeth MEADOWS

2

9

22 Jun 1883 22 Mar 1889 Not on IGI 1/10/07 22 Mar 1889

Hazel CLARK

3

  Child Child BIC child

Edith CLARK

4

1

9-Aug-1900 28-Jun-1922 BIC 28-Jun-1922

Olive CLARK

5

2

10-Nov-1994 12-Nov-1994 BIC 24-Jun-1995

Lauren CLARK

6

  3-Aug-1905 4-Jun-1926 BIC Not on IGI 1/10/07

Reuben CLARK

7

3

Not on IGI 1/10/07 Not on IGI 1/10/07 BIC Not on IGI 1/10/07

Ira CLARK

8

4

4-Jun-1910 28-May-1931 BIC Not on IGI 1/10/07

Wilford CLARK

9

5

12-Jul-1914 23-Sep-1927 BIC Not on IGI 1/10/07
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9.    WHAT HAPPENS TO MY VALUABLE NOTES?

If your notes are in the general note section, they will not be touched. If your notes are in the source section for the ordinances, your notes will remain. An additional citation will be added by VFH. Thus, you will have two citations for the same ordinance.

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10.  WHAT DOES VFH DO WITH NEWLY DISCOVERED INFORMATION, IN ADDITION TO TEMPLE ORDINANCES?

We will likely find additional ancestors, exact dates and exact locations. If you want we will add the information to your file. We only add it if you want it and it is very likely an ancestor or likely the correct data, but we only consult the IGI. For example, if possible parents are discovered that connect with your ancestor’s name, exact birth, marriage or death date, they will be assumed to be the ancestor’s  parents. If you only have an approximate date for your ancestor and we find an exact date in a same small village with an unusual ancestor name, the exact date will be assumed to be correct.   (There is a fee of $0.75 per added person, $0.75 to verify the ordinances of the added person and an additional $0.75 for any non-temple data entered. This option is on the Work Order Form.)

 With additional information that is not as likely but possibly correct, such as who the parents may be, if you want we will add it to the individual or marriage note section of the person, but we only consult the IGI.  For example, where parents are unknown and the birth year and location are known, we will put in the note section names of parents that had children in the same location with the same name during the birth year. (It  is  $0.75 per ancestor, regardless of the number of notations entered for that person. This is also an option on the Work Order Form.)

We will let you know what ancestors and ancestors' information have been added. We will send you back a PAF file with a different name, thus your original file will remain intact. You may then go into PAF and use the match/merge option for you to VERIFY what we have documented.

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11.    WHAT IS VFH'S PROCESS? 

  1. Determine what ancestors’ temple ordinances you want to VERIFY. First 15 are free and you may use that to check us out. No obligation. (If you are only submitting 15 names, just send the PAF file to submit@verifyfamilyhistory.com and tell us what 15 you want and do not worry about  the next steps.) 

  2. Download the Work Order Form in Word and fill in the information. (You may save it in your computer, type in the information, save it as a completed form and email it as an attachment to workorder@verifyfamilyhistory.com or fax it to the toll free fax number (866) 920-2228. 

  3. Email to submit@verifyfamilyhistory.com the file of your ancestors waiting to be verified. (Contact us if you do not understand this or any other step and we will help). (If you do not have a PAF (Personal Ancestral File) file, we will happily construct a PAF file of your family for an additional cost.)

  4. We will then immediately do the requested work and email you back a PAF file with a different name and a summary in Excel or Word of what ordinances have been verified and the open ordinances waiting for you to do, along with an invoice.   

  5. You may easily pay us either through www.paypal.com, which accepts credit cards. Our paypal payment email address is pay@verifyfamilyhistory.com. You may also send a check/money order to our US address:   VERIFY FAMILY HISTORY, 72 Division Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901.

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12.    WILL VFH SET UP MY FAMILY HISTORY?

 If you have not set up your FAMILY HISTORY, we will be happy to start and VERIFY it. We will need as much information on what ancestor you want to start. However, we will only consult the IGI (International Genealogical Index). If there is other FAMILY HISTORY work you need, such as merging files or deleting duplicates, please contact us. Email:proviah@verifyfamilyhistory.com

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 13.    WHAT ABOUT CREDIT CARD FRAUD, WHEN YOU BILL ME AND CONFIDENTIALITY?

 Credit Card Fraud. You may be rightfully concerned about sending payments to or using your credit card with an African country. Our company in the United States accepts' Paypal absolutely free. You may use a credit card with Paypal and Paypal does not allow us to see your credit card information, thus your credit card information remains confidential. A Paypal account is fast, easy and safe to set up at www.paypal.com. You may also mail payments to: Verify Family History, 72 Division Ave., Summit, NJ 07901.

When Payment is Due. We bill you AFTER the agreed-upon work is expertly done. You will receive an invoice via email with your work. 

Confidentiality. All information is confidential. The horse thieves in your family's ancestry will be protected and possibly converted and if so, their temple ordinances will be done.

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14.    GENEALOGY PROGRAM COMPATIBILITY?

We use the Church’s free and excellent PAF (Personal Ancestral File) program. If you do not use PAF, you may: (a) freely download it at www.familysearch.org ; or (b) copy our PAF VERIFYing and file into your FAMILY HISTORY program. All FAMILY HISTORY programs are easily compatible if they have the “gedcom” feature and virtually all programs have a “gedcom” feature for easy importation of data.

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15.    GUARANTEE?

If you are not well satisfied, please do not pay us. We only want to be paid from our well-satisfied customers. If you have paid us and become dissatisfied, we will promptly refund your money.

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16.    REFERRALS?

After you are well satisfied and you refer a customer who spends more than $100.00, you will receive 30 free names for each such customer. VERIFY free!

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 17.    SOUNDS INTERESTING BUT . . . ?

           First 15 names are free. No obligation.

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18.     OTHER CONCERNS?

Other concerns that are stopping you from VERIFYing your ancestors’ ordinances, please email to info@verifyfamilyhistory.com and we will address them.

If you are interested in VERIFYing your ancestor's temple ordinances but are not interested in using our services, please briefly email us why? merrill@verifyfamilyhistory.com. We value your input and are always seeking to improve our business.

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19.     LEGAL ISSUES?

VFH is not part of the Church. While the owner and employees are all members of the Church, this business is independent of the Church. 

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VERIFYing your FAMILY HISTORY's temple ordinances!

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Copyright © 2007   Verify Family History. All rights reserved.
Revised: 02/03/07.