Answers may be available next week — July 1, 3 and 4 — during the Colonial Heritage Festival at Scera Park in Orem. Through work, technology and help from FamilySearch, the festival is offering a modern experience in history.

In addition to the village staples of of artisans, the school, games, Founding Father cosplayers and the roar of cannon fire attendees can scan QR codes with their smartphones and research their ancestry.

The idea came from Gove Allen, a professor of Information Systems at Brigham Young University and board member of the Colonial Heritage Foundation, and Jon Petty, Allen’s college roommate and LDS Seminary teacher at Davis High School.

While sharing Thai food last winter, Allen talked about his passion for the founding of the United States and Petty shared his passion about helping people find family. It became a reality during RootsTech in March.

Grant Hindsley, Daily Herald file photo

“We saw an opportunity to work together again,” Petty said. “We consulted with Family Search and others to create this experience. However, we are an independent group. This year is the first time we are offering this for festival goers.”

Matt Misbach, technology innovation at FamilySearch, is a big fan of the festival and was eager to help out when Allen contacted him for assistance in creating an interactive user experience.

“I created some open-source technology that allows someone to see how they are related to a set of predefined people in FamilySearch Family Tree without needing a FamilySearch account. Gove was able to utilize what I had created, and take it to the next level,” Misbach said. “To date, all other methods of determining relationships to people in Family Tree require you to have an account with FamilySearch. This experience does not require a FamilySearch account to find out how you are related to significant Colonial era people.”

Misbach said he was happy he was able to work together to come up with an engaging experience for all ages. FamilySearch is able to provide information using its shared Family Tree, one of the largest databases of such information.

“Most people have no idea how amazing the tools are today for finding family from their past,” Petty said. “I love seeing people make connections they did not know existed in their family lines.”

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If attendees find a relative, they can click on their name to get a personal history and, on the dates next to names, access a family tree from the ancestor to the name that was input.

For instance, if someone put in their grandparent’s name and birth or death date, they will be shown direct ancestors or cousins.

Allen noted that, while they are thrilled to help people feel a connection of kinship with the founding of the nation, they don’t want folks without a familial connection with the nation’s origins to feel excluded.

“The American revolution was not just a rejection of British rule that we felt to be tyrannical, but was a rejection of many old-world ideals – including the idea that one’s status in society is somehow determined by one’s parentage,” Allen said. “In America, we value the self-made person and assign people status based on their own achievements rather than on the achievement of their ancestors.”

Allen said they chose a QR code interface for the app because they wanted people to have a quick way to find their family connections to a particular group at the festival. At the bakery there will be a code users can scan. If they find a relationship, they get a free loaf of bread.

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“When someone is visiting the print shop and learning about some of the important documents of our nation, they can scan a QR code and see their connections to early American printers in a matter of seconds,” Allen said. “When you are chatting with John Adams, Patrick Henry and James Madison, they can scan a QR code and see if, and how, they are related.”

New users can input a few basic dates and relevant locations from a deceased parent, grandparent or other close relative to start searching. QR codes will be posted at many of the displays where historical figures are represented

QR code groups include: Signers of the Declaration of Independence, signers of the Constitution, women of the American revolution, Colonial governors, American Army and Navy officers, American militia officers, British military officers in America, Colonial printers, French, Spanish and Hessian military officers, bakers, the Boston tea party, the 1692 Salem witch trials, Mayflower passengers, Revolutionary ministers, British spies, Radicals, American spies, Minister of the great awakening and the Boston Massacre.

The three-day Colonial Heritage Festival is held from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and is free to the public. Free water and ice will be provided with food trucks available. Donations will be accepted as the Colonial Heritage Foundation is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit.

The SCERA Center for the Arts will also feature the Brent Ashworth Museum, Cries of Freedom stage production and military supplies from later wars.

Grant Hindsley, Daily Herald file photo