Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Modeling Large-Scale Historical Migration Patterns Using Family History Records, Brian Bunker, Elias Wise, Eric Severson, Sam Otterstrom

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Location has a powerful effect, and humans seek to understand not only where they are, but where they have come from. Thus, genealogy and migration are both important human concepts, and one can help to illuminate the other. Historical migration studies use records of all types to attempt to model and explain the movement of individuals and families. Our purpose is to use the new Family Search database compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members to create a flexible search engine which will enable visualization and analysis of migration by community or by place …