Help Page

Website Access:

Login

Login is required to access data on this website. (Login link on the mobile site can be found by clicking on "hamburger" icon.)

Options

No Login Required - Certain functions including "Search", "Find: Surnames", "Find: Places", and "Find: Search People" are available with limited capabilities. You will be able to see a list of names from the Primary Tree but no additional data will be available. This gives you the opportunity to see if an ancestor of yours may be included on the site prior to registering.

Guest Login - You may login as a guest (username=guest, password=demo) to view the Demo Tree only (see Trees under Site Menu below). This login is for the purpose of getting a glimpse of the site (including types of information available) to determine if you would like to see more. You will be able to access limited functions and to view info on some of the Surnames that appear on this site. You may also use this login while you are waiting for your registered account to be verified. Note: The Guest Login acesses a different tree than the search functions not requiring a login. Unless the person/place you found exists in our direct line ancestry, they will not be viewable with a Guest Login.

Registered Account - With a FREE registered account you will be able to access the full site with only some restrictions on access to living individuals based on your relationship to family members. If you are not related you will have full access to non-living individuals only. If you believe you are related to members of this family, please include your relationship in the comments box when you register so I can give you the appropriate access to living individuals in your branch of the family. Please read and agree to the website Privacy Policies & Terms of Use prior to registering for an account.

Please note that registered accounts must be verified before they become active. Usually this takes no more than a few hours and is often done much sooner. You will receive an email when your account is activated. You may use the Guest login while you wait.

If you forget your username, please follow the instructions on the login screen and it will be sent to you at the email address in your profile. (If your email in your profile is not current and you can no longer receive email at your old address, you will need to contact me directly to obtain your user name.)

If you forget your password, please follow the instructions on the login screen to request a temporary password which will be sent to the email address in your profile (see above).

Username, password and other contact information changes may be made to your profile via the "Edit Profile" link on the Menu Bar. This link only shows if you have a registered username and are viewing the standard (not mobile) site. If you change your email address after obtaining a registered account, please use this link to update that information.

Conventions:

Names

The following naming conventions are followed in most cases.

Names

Site Navigation:

There are four primary ways to navigate this site. They are 1) Site Menu, 2) Drop-Down Menus, 3) Search and 4) Menu Bar, Quick Links. These methods are explained below.

Site Menu

This navigation is only avaiable on the home page and only if your screen width is greater than 900px. Other than choosing a Tree at the top of the menu, everything else is also available via the drop-down menus and their functions will be described there. Trees refer to the pedigree view and can be also be accessed via the ancestor tab of any individual.

Trees

The Demo Tree is the only tree viewable to those who do not have a registered account. It contains only our direct ancestors, no siblings, no living persons. Photos and other media are not attached to this tree. Updates other than corrections are unlikely to be made to this tree. This tree is refered to as "Tree-Demo". Note: As the primary purpose of this tree is to demo the site, you will no longer be able to view this tree while logged in with your registered account. All information is included on the "Meeks-Metcalf" tree.

Meeks Side and Metcalf Side both refer to the primary tree though have different starting points. Surnames within parentheses appear in the first and second ancestrial generations. This tree is accessible only by those who have acquired a registered account. All information in "Tree-Demo" is also available in this tree although this tree may be more up-to-date. Having a registered account will allow you to view all persons in this tree. Note: Depending on your access rights you may or may not be able to view data other than initials and surname on some living persons. This tree is refered to as "Meeks-Metcalf".

Selecting either "Side" will bring up a tree diagram showing a "root" individual (myself or my husband).

Navigate the tree by hovering over "down" arrows or clicking on "left" or "right" arrows for a "New pedigree".

Clicking on an individual will bring up their "person" page which shows personal data, family data, notes, sources, attached photos, documents, albums, etc. From here you can select other people related to them, return to tree mode, discover relationships, download gedcom files (if your account contains those rights), etc.

To view other people, photos, etc. click on the underlined links or thumbnail images.

To view trees, relationships, timelines,download gedcoms, or suggest changes, click the appropriate tab at the top of the page.

The medium blue bar contains additional options depending on which tab is selected.

Drop Down Menus ( on mobile site )

There are 5 drop down menus located in the upper right of each page: Find, Media, Info, Help, and "Language".

Find

Surnames - Displays the most common surnames in this database and allows for searching of surnames by beginning letter or character.

Bookmarks - Displays bookmarks you have set. Bookmarks are only available to the user on the computer they were set up on.

Places - List of places where events have occured for persons in our tree. Go here to find out what places are most common in our tree and what happened there.

Dates - Go here to see what Births, Marriages and Deaths occured on Today's date. You may also choose other dates. Same as "Dates and Anniversaries" on Site Menu.

Calendar - Displays a monthly calendar view of births, christenings, marriages, deaths, and burials.

Cemeteries - Displays Cemeteries with a link to Headstone records. On the cemeteries page click on a location to view all cemeteries in that location. Note: Clicking on USA will bring up all cemeteries listed on this website that are in the United States. If more than one cemetery is in a selected location clicking on the cemetery name will bring up more information about that cemetery. If only one cemetery exists in a locality that information will automatically be displayed.

Search People - Displays the Advanced Search form for finding individuals. See Search for more information.

Search Families - Displays the Advanced Search form for finding families.

Submit Family - Allows you to submit a family (Father/Mother/Children) that you believe should be represented on the website. If you only want to update information about an individual already on this site, please use the suggest tab found on that individual's page.

Media

Media can be displayed in either Descriptive View or as Thumbnails Only. Rolling over a thumbnail in Descriptive View gives you a preview image of most photos, documents, and headstones (not available for multipage documents nor other media types). Rolling over a thumbnail in Thumbnail View will display the media's title. Click on a thumbnail or title to display the photo or document full size. Clicking on a linked individual or family will bring you to that person's or families' personal information page.

Photos - Displays list of photos (thumbnails and brief descriptions) of family members. Photos are sorted alphabetically by surname. In most cases, women may appear under maiden name when young and married name if photo was deemed to be have been taken after marriage. Cousins generally appear under common ancestor surname.Note: Not all photos may be displayed depending on your access rights. When viewing the large image of a photo containing a group of people, rolling the cursor over family members will display that family members name.

Documents - Displays a list of documents. Documents include Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, Bible Pages, Letters, Ship Passenger Lists, WWI and WWII Draft Cards, etc. These items are sorted alphabetically by document type. if looking for a specifice name use search at top of page.

Headstones - Displays a list of headstones (thumbnail images, brief description and cemetery). Headstones are sorted alphabetically by surname. Married women will appear under husband's surname.

Histories - Go here to read personal stories about our ancestors. Included are short historical book excerpts and personal memories. You will find additional "Histories" under "Folios".

Recordings - Displays list of audio recordings (currently unpopulated).

Videos - Displays list of videos (currently unpopulated).

Buildings, etc. - Displays list of photos of buildings, ships and other notable items relating to our ancestors.

Folios - Folios are miscellaneous multi-page documents or collections. Here you will find collections of articles about our ancestors, family trees (hand-written by ancestors), non-genealogical books and pamphlets, etc.

Book Excerpts - This is a collection of pages extracted from books containing genealogical, biographical, and historical information relating to our ancestors. Many of these entries also include a link to a digitized copy of the original book on Internet Archive.

Census - Displays a list of census records. If the title includes "(ancestry.com)" the image is on ancestry.com and thus will only be viewable if you have an ancestry.com account.

Albums - Albums collect multiple media items related to a particular family name together in one place. Some items will appear in multiple family albums.

All Media - Displays list of all media items listed above except family albums.

Info

What's New - This gives you quick access to the last 20 items in a category added or modified during the previous month. This is most useful for the frequent visitor.

Most Wanted - This link leads to people that I am researching but have hit a dead end on and need help with, or to photos that I am missing information on. Maybe you can contribute something here.

Reports - Contains various reports generated from the database. Additional reports will be added as I get requests.

Statistics - Want to know how many records of a particular type are in our database? What ancestors lived the longest? This is where you may find some of the answers.

Trees - Displays a list of trees available on this site along with the number of individuals, families, and sources included. Note: You will not have access to all trees listed. See Trees for more information.

Branches - Displays a list of branches available on this site along with the number of individuals and families associated with each branch. Clicking on the number of individuals or families will display the list of those individuals or families. Note: Depending on your access rights you may or may not have access to information on living individuals in a particular branch.

Notes - Displays a list of notes related to individuals included in your access rights.

Sources - This is a link to a list of all sources currently cited. Note: Much of the data on this site is not sourced or sources are incomplete. Updates will be coming as I get them entered.

Repositories - Displays list of source repositories.

Contact - Links to Contact form allowing you to send me your suggestions, comments or questions.

Help

About Site - Brings you to this page for help in navigating this site and other information. Please let us know if other topics of information would be helpful.

Privacy & Site Use - Links to the Privacy and Terms of Use document (also available at the bottom of every page on the standard site).

"Language" (current language is displayed)

Search

Located in the top right corner of every page, the search form will allow you to find people by first and/or last name. Click on the arrow to initiate the search or select one of the options below. Results will include all persons whose name contains what is entered into the search boxes. (i.e. Entering just "Par" in the last name field will return all persons with surnames of "Metcalf", "Paradis", "Parker", etc. as well as "Shepard" and "Sparks".)

Menu Bar ⁄ Quick Links ⁄

The Menu Bar at the top of each page contains a short icon menu on the left just under the page title. To the right just under the drop-down menus are additional quick links. (On the mobile site menu bar links, when available, are located by clicking on the "hamburger" icon.) Media pages also have either an active icon link or link buttons for navigation.

Main Menu Bar

Home - Quickly returns you to the home page.

Login / Logout - Link to login or logout of the site. Intially "Login" will be displayed. Once you are logged this will change to "Logout" and will also display your username.

Edit Profile If you are logged in with a registered account, you will also see this link which allows you to change you user profile: username, password, and contact information. (Not currently available on mobile site.)

Share / Hide - Initially "Share" is displayed. Clicking on it provides a link to Facebook, allows you to publicly recommend this site on Google, or tweet about this site. To collapse the Social media links, click on the "Hide" icon. (Not available on mobile site.)

PrintPrint - Print info from the current page. (Not available on mobile site.)

Bookmark - Bookmark the current page for later reference. Available on most pages.

Media Pages

Other Notes and Interesting Facts:

Display

A screen width of 1280 pixels or more is recommended to view this site in standard mode. However, most pages will display fine on a smaller screen or on a mobile device with a screen width of only 960 px such as the original iPad. For small screens, using the mobile site may be a better option. This option will display automatically on a phone and is an easily switchable option on a tablet. Landscape orientation is desireable for most pages, however, on a phone portrait orientation will display some pages better and may be necessary to view all options on drop-down lists.

Known Issues

On certain mobile devices (original iPad and possibly others) images on some pages are not initially displaying full size, but rather as a very small square. This only appears to affect multipage documents. (Folios, Book Excerpts, and some Documents contain multiple pages.) If this occurs on your device, try refreshing the screen to bring up the full image. A fix for this is being explored.

Site Name & Design

The site name of Meeks & Metcalf Ohana comes from my maiden name Meeks, my husband's last name Metcalf and the word Ohana which Hawaiians use for family. No, we are not Hawaiian, although we did live there during a tour of duty with the Navy. Using the term Ohana and the few Hawaiian design elements was just a way to have little fun with our last name which technically is an Anglicized version of the French Canadian surname of Paradis.

Title Bar Photos

The blue photos were created by converting original photos to cyanotype. Cyanotype was invented about 1842. This is a simple, inexpensive photographic method in which images are created when ultraviolet light converts light-sensitive chemicals to Prussian blue. It was popular for photographs from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Blueprints were created in this way until the 1950's.

This page is a work in progress. If you have any questions or suggestions on what you would like to see here, or are willing to help translate this page please contact me.

Return to Home Page

About this Site

Login

Names

Site Menu

Drop Down Menus ( on mobile site )

Search

Menu Bar ⁄ Quick Links ⁄

Display

Known Issues

Site Name & Design

Title Bar Photos