NFS Update for 27 January 2009

Theoretically, the Las Vegas Temple is now live! Once again a temple has probably gone live without an update to the official knowledge base article 102463. Do you think maybe FamilySearch waits to update this article until they get my NFS update?

What a roller-coaster Las Vegas has gone through, on, then off, then on again, then off again, then on again.

The release of NFS in the Las Vegas Temple district comes as we approach the 20th anniversary of the temple later this year. The temple was announced on 7 April 1984. Ground was broken 30 November 1985. After an open house, the temple was dedicated 16 December 1989.

The Las Vegas Temple stands in sharp contrast
to "the Strip."   Image: © Tomo.yun

Aaron Shill, a reporter for the Mormon Times, says,

Church members here recognize the incongruity of a strong LDS community against the backdrop of a city defined by gambling and associated activities that run counter to church tenets. Some call it a contrast; some a dichotomy.

No other districts are known to be in the transition phase to New FamilySearch. Latest rumors place the transition for any other districts late this year.

Belated Bloggers Day Report

As promised, here are links to articles posted by attendees at Ancestry.com's Bloggers Day held Friday, 9 January 2009. Before we left the Generations Network's Board Room, where most of the presentations were made, I prevailed upon Diane Haddad to take a picture of the group. Here we are:

From left to right,the gals are:

Jennifer Utley, Ancestry Magazine editor-in-chief

Diane Haddad, Family Tree Magazine managing editor, the Genealogy Insider

• New and Next at Ancestry.com - What’s coming up in 2009
• From Paper (or Film) to the Web - The digitization and indexing process
• Secret Genealogy Blogger Revealed! - Who's the Ancestry Insider?
• Online Searching: It's Complicated - How searching works
• Inside Ancestry.com's Top-Secret Data Center
• Wrapping Up Our Look Inside Ancestry.com

Elizabeth Shown Mills, FASG, FNGS and author

Pat Richley, DearMYRTLE

• Touring TGN/Ancestry
• TNG & TGN - Was that a Trekie reference?
• More Reports of the TGN/Ancestry Tour
• Genealogical nightmare
• A picture is worth 1,000 words

The guys are:

Drew Smith, Genealogy Guys

• The Genealogy Guys Podcast #162 - 2009 January 21

The Ancestry Insider

• I'm in heaven
• Content is King!
• Ancestry.com's Key Messages

Andrew Wait, The Generations Network Sr. VP and GM of Family History

Curt Witcher, Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center Manager

Mike Ward, The Generations Network Public Relations Director

Dick Eastman, Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Randy Seaver, Genea-Musings, etc.

• Day 1 in Salt Lake City
• Day 2 in Salt Lake City - Visit to TGN - Part 1
• Day 2 in Salt Lake City - A Visit to TGN - Part 2
• Day 2 in SLC - A Visit to TGN - Part 3
• Day 3 in SLC - the TGN Dinner and FTM 2009
• Saturday Night Fun - Who Went to A.com?
• I didn't do it... Ancestry and Rootsweb are down right now
• Photograph from TGN Visit

Visiting NARA: Making Reproductions

I recently made my first visit to the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). This is one in a series of articles inspired by that visit to help you make your first visit to the National Archives. The information in today's article is a mixture of personal knowledge gathered from that trip and information from General Information Leaflet (GIL) 71, The National Archives in the Nation's Capital – Information for Researchers.

Making reproductions

Archives I permits self-service copying, although you need to ask the staff's permission each time, so they can verify that the records you wish to copy can be safely copied. In general, a document should not be allowed to hang over the edge of any copy machine, scanner, table or desk. Hand-held scanners are prohibited because they can damage documents. You can bring your own scanner, but see the restrictions, below.

The National Archives and Records Administration is one of the few archival institutions in the world to offer researchers the opportunity to make self-service copies of records. This rare privilege carries with it responsibilities for careful handling of original documents. Fragile or oversized records may not be self-photocopied, although NARA or an authorized vendor may be able to make the copy for you.

Photocopies

Self-service black-and-white photocopiers are available for your use in the textual research room. Self-service reader/printers are available in the microfilm research room. Staff told me that they hope to add a color copier. A debit card reader attached to each copier deducts money as a copy is made. Debit cards may be purchased onsite through vending machines or at the Cashier’s Office. The vending machines take bills only. The Cashier’s Office is open from 8:45 am to 4:30 pm in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC (10 am to 4:30 pm in Archives II at College Park), Monday through Friday.

I understand the photocopiers add an imprint indicating the document is a copy so that when you are checked prior to exiting the building, the documents won't be mistaken for originals. I didn't use the photocopiers, so I didn't see exactly how this worked. It looked like there was always a short line to use the copiers when I was there off season during extended hours.

Scanner

You may use your own scanner with the following restrictions: the copying surface (platen) must be the same size or larger than the record; the scanner must not cause friction, abrasion, or otherwise damage records; light sources must not generate heat on the records; and equipment surfaces must be clean and dry before being used. Drum and automatic feed scanners are prohibited.

Personal paper-to-paper copiers are permitted only under certain restricted conditions and are subject to highly specific guidelines. If you intend to bring a scanner or copier, you must make prior arrangements with the Customer Service Center.

Because of preservation considerations, research room staff must examine all original records before you make copies using your own equipment.

Digital Camera

Fortunately, you may use a digital camera. Unfortunately, I have a shaky hand which produces blurry photographs (familial tremors). Fortunately, a bright light will avoid blurring. Unfortunately, you may not use a flash or your own artificial lighting. Fortunately, the textual reading room has a copy stand (see image of a copy stand, above). Unfortunately, the evening I was there one of the two light bulbs was burnt out. Fortunately, the working bulb produced enough light and the camera mount held the camera steady. Unfortunately, one bulb isn't appropriate for archival purposes. Fortunately, having only one light source produced aesthetically beautiful shadows and depth that, for me, was more valuable.

Using a light table produces steady, clear photographs. 
Using just one light source sometimes increases the aesthetics.

Of all the copy options, I prefer the digital camera with a copy stand. I didn't have to wait for photocopy machines. I didn't have to get a debit card or pay anything. I didn't have copies to be reviewed when exiting the building. It felt like I could make copies a little faster than a photocopy machine. Plus, the copies are color! I love capturing the full rainbow of ink and paper colors. I love the dynamic range of light and shadow!

Coming home with these fabulous images is part of what made the trip to Washington so fulfilling for me.

How do I subscribe?

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I have a friend who wants to subscribe. I am receiving your Ancestry Insider by e-mail subscription, but I do not remember how I subscribed. Would you be so kind as to send me the link or information on how to subscribe so I can share it with her?  My friend is a Family History Consultant.

Thank you,

Mary

Dear Mary,

Thank you for recommending me to your friend. Forward this message to your friend. To subscribe to the Ancestry Insider by e-mail, click here.

You can also subscribe at the Ancestry Insider website. I'll tell you how to get to the website in just a moment. Click one of the links shown to the right. If you wish to receive the Ancestry Insider by e-mail (no more than once per day), click subscribe by email. If you wish to subscribe using a news reader, click one of the other three links. If you use the Bloglines news reader, click on the Bloglines button. If you use Google's feed reader, click on the Google button.

If you use some other reader, click on the Subscribe in a reader link. If you need to paste a URL into your reader to subscribe to a news feed, use this URL:

http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

To get to the Ancestry Insider website, go to http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com . To get to the website from an e-mail, click on any of these:

• The article title
• The gray "The Ancestry Insider" to the left of the masthead picture
• The masthead picture
• At the bottom of the e-mail, the link labeled "The Ancestry Insider."

Yours,

-- The Ancestry Insider

Flanders fields and inauguration day

World War I ended at 11:00 am on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 after the Germans signed the Armistice. The following year England's King George V dedicated the anniversary of Armistice Day as a day of remembrance to those who were killed during the war. Remembrance Day continues to the present, both within the Commonwealth and without. It is even commemorated in the United States, where it is called Veterans' Day, although it shares military honors with another holiday, Memorial Day.

Remembrance Day also bears the title "Poppy Day" as a result of Canadian military physician John McCrae's poem, In Flanders Fields. On 2 May 1915 McCrae witnessed the death of his young friend and former student, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer. That night he presided at Helmer's service in the absence of a chaplain, burying his friend in a growing cemetery just outside his aid station in the complete darkness required by security.

The following day McCrae paused from his gruesome work to step outside his aid station. The station was situated at the bottom of a hill overlooking the front so that as soldiers were shot, they would roll down to his care. McCrae paused to look out over the cemetery. War had twisted and disturbed the soil across Belgium which in turn had prompted the growth of wild poppies to a degree never before seen. Crudely dug graves further prompted growth of the blood red flowers from which his morphine was derived.

In Flanders fields

McCrae put pen to paper and wrote:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
      In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
      In Flanders fields.

The poem quickly came to mark the sacrifice of not just Canada's dead, but all the allied dead from the Great War. It was an immediate success. However, not everyone agreed with allied recruiting's use of the fiery third stanza to incite additional young men to join their fallen comrades in Flanders fields. Today, some groups forego inclusion of the third stanza altogether.

Ancestry.ca's Flanders fields ad

It is within this context that Ancestry.ca ran the poppy-laden, color, half-page advertisement shown above. The ad ran in a Canadian newspaper last Remembrance Day. There was a great problem with the feel-good advertisement offering free database searches for ancestors who served in the Great War. According to a UPI story, historians quickly came forward to identify the gun-toting soldier as a German.

"I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the picture of the German soldier," said Canadian history buff, Kevin Nikkel. It's an outrage to the memory of those who died fighting for this country." Nikkel had three uncles fight in the war.

"We're so sincerely apologetic for this unfortunate error," said Ancestry.ca spokesperson, Karen Peterson.

The backlash backlash

As you read the remainder of this article, don't mistake my message. I do not condone or defend Ancestry.ca's mistake. Following the public flogging of Ancestry.ca, several interesting blog posts were published. Put prejudice aside and read on.

"I have been embarrassed about my heritage sometimes," wrote blogger Spitfire in "A different type of white guilt." She has ancestry that died on both sides of the great wars. She proudly celebrates Remembrance Day. She said, "I've learned to live with my history and heritage."

"Why is it so terrible to remember that war has casualties on both sides?" wrote Raphael Alexander of British Columbia in "Canadians have German grandparents, too." Of Canadians with ancestors that fought for the "wrong side," Alexander wrote, "Did they not also sacrifice in the war? What makes the loss of their grandparents somehow lesser?"

"Remembrance Day is a day to recall all of the soldiers who died in the struggle of global consciousness for freedom. Not just the Allies," said Alexander.

Wasn't World War I sparked by the assassination of a minor official of a minor government and fueled by nationalism? Wasn't it a war where soldiers on both sides would just as soon celebrate Christmas with the enemy in no-man's land than carry on the political machinations of government officials who directed the battlefield use of poison gas?

What was the torch and faith of the boys of Flanders fields? The dominion of Canada over Germany? Is that what McCrae had in mind? Adopting nationalism by honoring Canada's fallen above those of Germany's? Do you think that adopting the evil that led to their deaths will uphold the torch and give peaceful slumber to these fallen boys?

One of the lessons—maybe the principal lesson—of doing genealogy is learning from the mistakes of our ancestors.

And so on this, the inauguration day of Barack Hussein Obama, I ask: How do we take up this torch and these lessons and apply them to us, this inauguration day? Is it not non-partisan, non-racial respect? Yes, that seems obvious enough. So let me hit closer to home. What about good will and fair treatment of Ancestry.com by consumers mirrored by good will and the fair treatment of consumers by Ancestry.com?

As George Washington first said, "So help me God."

Videos I've posted

I admit this post is more for me than for you. I can't remember from one time to the next how to imbed a video in a blog article, so I need a way to refer back to some of the videos I've embedded before. (Did you notice my inconsistent spelling? I did that to see if it would drive Lawrence bonkers! Don't worry; private joke.)

Do you remember these posts?

• 24 Apr 2008 - Serendipity in Genealogy: And the Telly Goes to...
• 10 Apr 2008 - FamilySearch Not Affiliated With Texas Polygamists
• 01 Oct 2007 - He Had Tapped Me on the Shoulder
• 18 Aug 2007 - Building Successfully Imploded Near FHL
• 16 Aug 2007 - Half a Negro Boy

NFS Rollout Update for 14 January 2009

It's time once again to update you on the progress of New FamilySearch (NFS) and its younger sibling, Family Tree, which we could call New New FamilySearch, but that would be too, too confusing. As we previously reported on these pages, NFS is coming to Las Vegas! Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who registered their Family History callings received the magic e-mail Tuesday informing them that their temple district was going live on Temple Tuesday, 27 January 2009.

You're Going Live Message

The "you're going live" e-mail message has been updated since I shared it with you a year ago. Here is the way it currently reads:

From: support@familysearch.org
Sent: Tuesday, [ 14 days prior to the go-live date ]
To: [ mailing list name at FamilySearch.org ]
Subject: New FamilySearch to Go Live on [ day/month/year ]

To: Priesthood leaders, family history center directors and family history consultants in the selected Temple district.

Beginning on the Tuesday date listed above, the new process for printing temple name cards using Family Ordinance Requests will be used in your temple. The new FamilySearch will be available to the general membership of the Church within your temple district on the previous Saturday. No additional notice will be sent to priesthood leaders or members of the Church in your temple district concerning these dates.

We ask that family history consultants and center directors encourage members who have existing TempleReady disks to take them to the temple and have their temple name cards printed before the new FamilySearch becomes available. Beginning immediately, please do not create any new TempleReady disks in your family history center for members who live within your stake or temple district.

If you have not done so already, please complete the new FamilySearch online training prior to the temple release date. This will greatly benefit your preparation for helping members to use the new FamilySearch as part of the new process for preparing ancestral names for the temple. Please contact FamilySearch Support by e-mail or phone if you have any questions or problems.

Thank you for your support of temple and family history work.

Sincerely,

FamilySearch Support
support@familysearch.org
U.S. and Canada : 1-866-406-1830
International: Go to http://contact.familysearch.org for more toll-free phone numbers.

30-day Rollout Preparation Survey

At least some of the members of the Las Vegas temple district received a survey about their preparations for the New FamilySearch. The e-mail message looked like this:

From: support@familysearch.org
Subject: New FamilySearch rollout preparation
To: [ mailing list name at FamilySearch.org ]
Date: Sunday, [ 30 days before the temple's go-live date ]

To: Family History Center Directors and Consultants in Selected Temple Districts

We are coming down to the final few weeks before the new FamilySearch is introduced to the members in your temple district. We again hope that your preparation activities are progressing well.

To help us to have a better idea of what you may need to finish your preparations, would you please take a few minutes and complete a very short survey. The survey may be viewed by clicking here or by going to http://www.inquisiteasp.com [Sorry, I can't give you the full URL 'cause that could mess up the statistics.]

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance with the new FamilySearch, please contact FamilySearch Support.

Sincerely,

FamilySearch Support
support@familysearch.org
U.S. and Canada : 1-866-406-1830
International: Go to http://contact.familysearch.org for more toll-free phone numbers.

New Old FamilySearch.org

In other news, the home page for the old FamilySearch.org website got a new look recently, as shown in the illustration below. Contrast this with the previous iteration shown on the PAF-LUG blog.

The new home page sports several minor changes.

• The name and logo of FamilySearch owner, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is displayed prominently in the header. The phrase "a service provided by" is situated just to the left of the logo.
• The "Start Your Family History" section on the right side of page has been supplemented with an historic photograph. Refresh the page and you'll see a different photograph.
• I don't remember if this is new or not, but the header is now in a frame so that it won't scroll off the top of the screen as you scroll down the page.
• The "Free Family History..." heading is larger, dark blue, in a new font and has a little more white space, which makes it look more inviting.

Along with the home page changes, the Family History Library Catalog page has had a minor facelift with links to three training videos.

If you hear any news about the rollout of New FamilySearch... you know the drill. AncestryInsider@gmail.com

Ancestry.com's Key Messages

In a previous life I somehow landed in an executive position without an MBA. Perhaps it was my lack of proper schooling that prompted a communications executive to arrange for some media relationship training. I learned that companies, spokespersons, candidates and politicians prepare to meet the public and the press by deciding the key messages they wish to communicate. Speeches, advertising, trade show messaging, press releases, press campaigns and pre-prepared answers to press questions are crafted to best communicate the key messages. That's why politicians often sound like they are evading questions; they respond with prepared key messages instead of addressing the questions addressed to them.

Ancestry.com has an excellent PR guy, Mike Ward, so it came as no surprise to me when mid-afternoon Friday (Bloggers' Day), it hit me that there were several messages common to almost every presenter. At the time, I thought there were only two key messages. Companies have to keep the number pretty limited; people just can't pick up more than a half-dozen, tops. Three or four key messages is probably optimal.

Andrew Wait, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Family History, was our host for Writers' Day. Somehow I never got to spend any time with Wait when I worked at Ancestry.com, so I didn't know him. Wait did a great job communicating the key messages. He seamlessly integrated them into his presentations. You see, you don't want your key messages to sound flaky or forced. The messages become less believable that way.

Several times throughout the day Wait reiterated that Ancestry.com knew that various aspects of the website don't work well, that they had made wrong decisions at times, that they were working hard to fix the problems and even stuff they were pleased with could still be improved. At different points, Wait shared several anecdotes about his wife's use of Ancestry.com, at one point sending us into loud guffaws when he announced that his wife would divorce him if he were ever to do away with Old Search. He was completely believable, authentic and open. Hat's off to Andrew Wait.

Mike Wolfgramm, Senior Vice President, Development, made a couple of presentations during the day. Wolfgramm showed obvious enthusiasm for Ancestry.com's technology, server architecture and content pipeline processes. He did an excellent job explaining some pretty complicated technologies and it was apparent that he enjoyed working at Ancestry.com. When I worked at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org always did a much better job communicating how awesome the technology was that they were developing to digitize their vault holdings. Friday, Wolfgramm did a credible job claiming that Ancestry.com was doing some innovations of their own.

It was during our tour of Ancestry.com's content production facility that I became aware that we were repeatedly hearing key messages when a couple of the male presenters, after explaining their area's role in production, made virtually identical tangents, talking about passion and caring and doing genealogy.

Tim Sullivan, President and CEO, concluded his Saturday night speech, indeed the entire evening, with these three messages:

1. Ancestry.com employees are real people who care about their work, want Ancestry.com to work well and use it themselves.
2. "We're having a blast doing what we do," Sullivan said, and
3. "We'll continue to make mistakes, but our hearts and our passions are in the right place."

I immediately recognized all three as the key messages we had heard over and over, all day Friday. More importantly (for the Generations Network, at least), after what I had seen and heard, I believed him.

Content is King!

"Content is King," declared Ancestry.com's Tim Sullivan last Saturday night. This is the mantra oft repeated by the genealogists at Ancestry.com to each new executive that joins Ancestry.com so I was glad to hear it from Sullivan's own lips, even though I believe market forces like Google, FamilySearch International and others might one day overthrow the King.

Sullivan, president and CEO of the Generations Network (TGN), which owns Ancestry.com, made the remark in Salt Lake City at a special invitation-only dinner Saturday night which Ancestry.com hosted for various genealogical world luminaries: keynote speaker for the dinner, Elizabeth Shown Mills, a fellow of both the American Society of Genealogists (FASG) and the National Genealogical Society, and an esteemed academian and author; Loretto Dennis Szucs, award-winning author and FGS co-founder; Jay Verkler, president of FamilySearch; Kathleen Hinckley, APG Executive Director; Jake Gehring, APG President; Curt Witcher, Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center Manager; Drew Smith, Genealogy Guys co-host; other APG and FGS officers; Dick Eastman, Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter; Pat Richley (DearMYRTLE), genealogical e-community pioneer; Elissa Scalise Powell, author and lecturer; Jennifer Utley, Ancestry Magazine editor-in-chief; Diane Haddad, Family Tree Magazine managing editor; and genealogy uber-blogger, Randy Seaver.

Many were in town for the 2009 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy starting today, Monday, January 12, 2009 through Friday.

Pillar #1

Sullivan presented Ancestry's three pillars for investment in 2009. Pillar #1 is content. Ancestry.com will spend more on content in 2009 than any company ever has before, according to Sullivan. I glanced at FamilySearch's Verkler for a reaction to this statement, but he maintained a perfect poker face. I don't know what FamilySearch's budgets are, but I know the numbers of people they deploy and the amount of equipment involved is huge compared to Ancestry.com.

• Go to www.familysearch.org .
• Scroll to the bottom and click on Records Custodians.
• In the left side-bar, click on Worldwide Activities.
• Click on a country or area to see FamilySearch's collection statistics for that place.

FamilySearch is also currently bearing the expenditure of building their content pipeline. Again, I don't know dollars but I've seen headcount. Mind you, I used to run a software development group and I know what headcounts cost six years ago. It's not fair to compare pipeline development costs of the two organizations, since Ancestry's pipeline is a mostly smooth-flowing machine. But if you do, FamilySearch is far, far outspending Ancestry.com. Thank goodness for those tithe paying Mormons and Church leaders who are willing to expend countless dollars preserving genealogical records.

Now, if I could just access them all on the Internet... But that's a topic for another day.

Pillar #2

"If content is king, then technology is queen," said Sullivan. The other bloggers present Saturday night and Friday have covered some of this technology pretty well and I'll provide some links to their articles as soon as time permits. The one item from Sullivan's presentation that I wish to mention here concerns international websites. Sullivan said that the company would be creating a lot more websites internationally in 2009. These would be different kinds of websites than what we've seen, but he didn't specify any more.

Pillar #3

Lastly, Sullivan talked about the company's investment in marketing. Ancestry.com has received lots of public criticisms over the percentage of revenues spent on marketing, both by commenters on my blog as well as elsewhere. Having been a software company executive, the numbers never bothered me as they are in line with the industry as a whole. Sullivan was kind enough to walk through the scenario of cutting those numbers and using it to obtain more content. Initially, the annual increase in content would jump. But without marketing activities, the subscriber base would increasingly erode. With the decrease comes decreased investment in content. Year-over-year, the effect snowballs until revenues drop below what is required to keep the website up and running and they have to pull the plug. It's not a pretty thought.

The reason Ancestry.com is able to spend more on content in 2009 than it ever has before is only because its marketing efforts are growing the number of subscribers, according to Sullivan.

Sullivan closed by repeating the key messages that had been presented repeatedly to the bloggers and writers on Friday. They were...

Well, actually, its late and I'm out of time. That round up will have to wait. Stay tuned...

I'm in heaven

I'm sitting at a table with a few of the big genealogy industry bloggers and writers, a few of the people that I look up to immensely. I don't want to steal any of their fire, so I won't immediately reveal who. But you may be seeing posts about our meeting very soon on their blogs. I'll add my two cents as well when the time comes.

Visiting NARA: The Archives Website

I recently made my first visit to the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C. This is one in a series of articles inspired by that visit to help you make your first visit to the National Archives.

Understanding the National Archives Website

Archives.gov, the website of the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA), has a colossal amount of information. For the latest information and to answer questions not addressed in this series, consult the website. Unfortunately, sometimes it feels like a maze of twisty little passages that sometimes look all alike and sometimes all different. For example, search for "hours" and compare some of the results, such as the suggested link, "...Changes in Hours," "Extended Research Hours," "...Extended Research Room Hours," "...Changes in Hours," "Proposed Hours," etc.

Each page of archives.gov has so many links that it is easy to spend half your time doubling-back on yourself. The home page is one of the worst, with nearly 150 links from which to choose; the main genealogists' page, more than 110. Unfortunately, making the website easy to navigate is NARA's 4th and lowest web priority. That's not to say they've taken no thought to do so, as we shall see they've provided us plenty of tools.

XYZZY

The magic to spelunking archives.gov is understanding its organization. Archives.gov is divided into sections for different users. Near the upper-right corner of the home page is a green box (shown to the right) that lists the sections of the website. The two of most interest to us are Genealogists/Family Historians and Researchers. The first highlights NARA records of interest to genealogists. The latter gives information about doing onsite research at the National Archives. I encourage you to spend some time exploring these two sections.

Often, links from one section jump to another. This can lead to disorientation, looping and dead ends if you don't orientate yourself after each link by looking at the picture in the header or checking the bread crumbs.

As shown in the diagram, below, the bread crumbs are located immediately below the header. Unlike dropping tasty food crumbs in some cave adventure, the bread crumbs don't show the path you used to arrive at the page. Rather, they show how the page fits in the logical organization of the website. Remember looking at the results of searching for "hours"? Perform the search again; click the links once more; this time look at the header and bread crumbs. Notice that conflicting hours of operation are merely faithfully archived copies of old press releases. Also, did you notice that as soon as you click in the Search box (at the top of the page) you are given the choice of searching the entire website or just the current section? Limiting your search to one section is one way to avoid potentially outdated or extraneous results.

Page Layout

Understanding the page layout used on archives.gov will help you avoid "link overload." To return to the home page, click on the blue box at the top-left or the home icon underneath it. To return to the main page of a section, click on the name of the section in the header or the bread crumbs. The footer links and the other header links don't change, so I mentally eliminate them from the clutter. This just leaves the left sidebar and the page contents.

There are three icons across the top of the page contents. The first icon formats the page for printing by leaving off the header, footer and sidebars. The second icon allows you to email a link to the page and the last icon bookmarks the page, which adds it to your browser's list of Favorites or Bookmarks.

The left sidebar is a helpful list of links that apply to that particular page. (A few pages also have a right sidebar with links.) I've seen these links lead to pretty much anywhere: up the bread crumb trail, down the bread crumb trail, over to a different section or elsewhere on the same page. To prevent looping back on yourself, if you find a page of interest, read the page contents before following any links. Next, follow any links of interest in the page contents. Only then should you use the sidebar to look for additional pages of interest.

Make liberal use of your browser's Back button. Consider opening links in new windows (or tabs, if your browser supports tabbed browsing). And remember to keep an eye on the header and bread crumbs.

Notable links

• As mentioned previously, the main pages for the Genealogists/Family Historians and Researchers sections are good starting places when preparing to visit the National Archives.
• Beginning Your Genealogical Research at the National Archives and Records Administration in the Genealogists section is a 158 slide presentation in PowerPoint format. It outlines the different types of records available at the National Archives. The most powerful advice given is, "Think of possible ways your ancestor interacted with the Federal government."
• The National Archives in Washington, DC
• Information for Researchers at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC
• When I visited the National Archives, the computers available for patron use had a special home page. You can familiarize yourself with this part of the National Archives website before you go, even clicking on links to premium web sites like Ancestry.com. But you won't be able to access the premium web sites for free until you are at the Archives.

Like many web sites today, the commerce section of the National Archives website has a different look and feel than the rest of the website. You won't generally touch this part of the website unless you purchase something or consult the Microfilm Catalog. Explaining the use of this section of the website is beyond the scope of this series. A pamphlet describing the contents of each microfilm publication is available for download from this section. Unfortunately, I don't think there are reusable URLs to these downloads. A few have been duplicated on the regular website and have addresses such as www.archives.gov/research/microfilm/m1947.pdf, which is the address for the descriptive pamphlet for microfilm publication M1947.

Lastly, here's a link that you're not likely to need unless you author a blog or website. To create a reusable link to an entry in ARC, the Archives Research Catalog, use this format: http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=654530. Replace 654530 with the ARC identifier.

Ancestry.com future content

I assume the economic downturn is putting its chill on the genealogy industry. Genealogists will find it more important than ever to spend their money carefully. Perhaps that is why Ancestry.com is taking big steps to woo subscribers.

In an e-mail to registered users, Ancestry.com CEO, Tim Sullivan, offered 25% discounts on annual subscriptions and directed users to a web page with a "detailed look at" upcoming content additions. (Non-U.S. content requires a World Deluxe subscription.)

The page says, "we asked members like you what kind of historical content you thought would add the most value." The page goes on to state that they will be adding more content than ever before to "the world’s largest online collection of historical records."

Some of the plans listed are,

• U.S. State Census Records, 1800s–1900s — Ancestry.com claims to have the most complete online collection of state census records. They say they will be adding more than 10 million records and 50,000 images.

• England & Wales Birth and Marriage Indexes, 1916–1983 — Images are already available on Ancestry.com with a peculiar range-index, either Ancestry.com is doing a real index to this collection, or they are doing a deal with FreeBMD. Ironically, the collection itself is an index, so the images become superfluous, having no additional information, once you have an electronic index.

• U.S. Naturalization Records, 1792–1989 will have 5 million names and 10 million images from more than 20 states. A new immigration collection will contain 2 million records of immigrants crossing from the U.S. into Canada.

• The Complete Canada Census, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1916, will be indexed and online. One or more of these are joint projects with FamilySearch. The 1930 Mexico Census is the only Mexican federal census available to the public and has 16 million individuals. I've seen this census on FamilySearch Indexing, so I assume it is a joint project also. U.S. Deaf Marriages, 1889–1894 is an Ancestry.com World Archives Project.

• Ancestry.com will add millions of military records, land records, court records, newspapers and Jewish records. They will make continued updates to their contemporary obituaries collections and will update the PERSI index. Godfrey Memorial Library refused to renew Ancestry.com's license to the AGBI index (formerly at www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3599) since a competitor acquired both AGBI and former director of the Godfrey Memorial Library, Richard Black. In the complex three-way agreement, Ancestry.com is rumored to have received a first-round draft pick. (Just kidding.)

• Ancestry.com will add 8 million names to the Australian Electoral Rolls, 1901–1936. The Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850–1934 will get 700,000+ new names. Other international additions include Italian vital records from Toscana, Lombardia, Liguria and Piedmonte regions; and millions of Scandinavian vital records. Ancestry.com will add more U.K. City and County Directories as well as German Phone Books.

• Ancestry.com is also planning on adding a headstone photograph collection.

• U.S. Deaths Abroad, 1910–1974 — I assume this information is from NARA. The first thing Ancestry.com is likely to publish is the finding aid, 1870-1906 Registers of Consular Dispatches in 14 volumes (Inventory 15, Entry 82) which is rolls 19-32 of M17 although I seem to recall reading lately about the 1857-1922 Notices of Deaths of U.S. Citizens Abroad (Inventory 15, Entry 849).

To see the Ancestry.com web page and the complete list of upcoming content, click here.

Ancestry.com possible future directions

Ancestry.com has leaked possible future directions for their website. In a poll directed to some website visitors, those selected to take the poll were able to see possibilities being evaluated.

Besides standard customer satisfaction questions, Ancestry.com was particularly interested in how users felt about the website's search capabilities.

Respondents were asked how interested they would be in these possible enhancements:

• Specify interest by record type (e.g. military, land, religious, ethnicity, etc.
• Show real name in public profile.
• Add to your task list suggested next steps based on what you've already done.
• See indicators on search results that show which records have already been viewed.
• Receive suggestions on where to search for missing information about an ancestor.
• Save a search.
• Write an online personal history.
• Create multi-media stories containing text, photos, audio and video.
• Upload existing audio and video files.
• Download all your site contributions or purchase a copy on DVD.
• Create slide shows with photos, records, music and narration.
• Write a family history blog (provided by Ancestry.com) to share your experiences and discoveries with others.
• Correct fields other than names
• Add fields not keyed by Ancestry
• Vote to prioritize database fixes.
• Access images as you would on a microfilm reader. It was not specified if this would include the images currently hidden from view because no names are present.
• Higher resolution maps with the ability to zoom in to details. Hopefully Ancestry.com would fix the resolution problem I highlighted in my article of 20 August of 2008.
• Digitization service for photos and documents.

Respondents were categorized by family history experience, how long they've used Ancestry.com and frequency of use. Interestingly, respondents were also asked if they have their own blog and if they use social networking sites.

I'm pleased that Ancestry.com product managers continue to use scientific measurement tools to discover customer desires and evaluate customer satisfaction. In my opinion Tim Sullivan has built a great product management team and I think features added during his tenure reflect this.

This makes the still unfolding saga of new search particularly interesting to watch. Will Anne Mitchell respond to my challenge in The Perfect Search Storm? I've extended the deadline until end-of-day Friday to see if anyone will submit an entry for New Search. Will Old Search or New Search win the challenge? Stay tuned!

Contest images fixed

Sorry about the small images in The Perfect "Search" Storm contest article. I have fixed them. You can know begin the contest. Also, I have heard that there is a bug with the Search From Tree feature. The box with info from your tree follows you as you scroll down the page. Unfortunately, it obscures a result, so you can't use page scrolling. Long time readers know I believe in that methodology. I was hoping it would win, but if the bug is still present, it probably won't. Sorry, Ancestry.com. I don't think I can give an exception on the rules. You still need to count every keystroke, although you can enter a subsequent, amended entry with the extra keystrokes substracted off.

The Perfect "Search" Storm

I've been meaning to do a search "shootout" for a long time, pitting Ancestry's old, exact search against Ancestry's new search experience. Mind you, I'm talking the whole ball of wax here, including Ancestry's tree-based search experience. Well, last night I found the "perfect storm," the optimum combination of elements to create a contest worthy of pitting the two titans against one another.

Anne? Are you listening? I've thrown down your gauntlet.

Any of you, all of you, can participate. The more the better. Do you feel like Ancestry.com's new search is a step backwards?

The rules of the contest are simple.

1. Log in and set the search to old or new before you begin. Set or clear exact. Jot down your choices.
2. Start from the home page. Record the time. GO!
3. Start searching (or tree building), writing down a list of each keystroke and mouse click along the way.
4. Score 100 points for each instance you find where the target individual is referenced by name in the U.S. Federal Census. Record the time, the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks, the census year and location. Then start a new count of keystrokes and mouse clicks.

   OK. Maybe the rules need to be a little more explicit.

5. For this shootout, each click of the mouse and tap of the keyboard counts one point. Don't forget to count scrolling, Back button and Forward button. Shift keys are free. Don't use your mouse's scroll wheel, since that neutralizes some differences between the formats of old and new search results. If you hover over a result link to see the pop-up information, count that as a click.
6. Plan your strategy carefully in advance and record your experience the first time through. No fair going back and starting over using what you've learned. Be honest and include the clicks and taps from everything you try on your first time through, even activity that got you nowhere. See the last rule in this list for information about submitting subsequent or amended attempts.
7. Be sure to include any clicks and taps after the last successful search up to the time that you stop searching. I know; it will be tempting to leave some of this off, deciding belatedly that you really stopped seriously looking several minutes earlier. "To thine own self be true..."
8. If you plan to use Ancestry's tree-based searching, before you begin create a new tree with just yourself to preclude any pre-loaded, relevant information.
9. Do not make any name corrections on Ancestry.com's records; that would alter the contest search experience for those that follow you. (Yes, you can read a hint into this rule.)
10. Do not consult any information other than what is returned by Ancestry.com (other than the death certificate, as directed below).
11. Do not look at the comments attached to this message.
12. When you have results, post them as comments to this message. Your entry should include a list like this:
    
    12:45, Start, Old search, Not exact, Tree-based
    1:08, keys=452, clicks=72, 1900, California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, p. 4
    1:08, keys=0, clicks=0, 1920, California, Orange, Anaheim, p. 7
    1:09, keys=0, clicks=1, 1910, California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, p. 8
    1:12, keys=138, clicks=15, 1880, Illinois, Cook, Chicago, p. 26
    2:00, keys=351, clicks=186, stop
    
    
13. The deadline for the contest is the end of day Tuesday, 6 January 2009 NEW: Friday, 9 January 2009. Because of the holidays, it is unlikely that Ancestry will change their website code during that time. That hopefully keeps all contestants on an equal footing.
14. If you wish to post your results on a blog of your own, may I ask that you post a comment here with a link to your results.
15. Now the final rule. If you want to submit a subsequent or amended attempt, go ahead iff (that's short for "if and only if") you have first submitted an honest first attempt. Identify the submission as a later attempt and explain why other readers should consider it instead of or in addition to your first attempt. ("I misunderstood the instructions..." "This is the theoretical best for this search type..." "The sun was in my eyes..." "I don't know why I didn't follow my usual method..." "I wanted to try the other search...")

Have fun! And may the best search win!

Oh... I almost forgot to set the stage.

Family tradition says that you are cousins to the famous Ewings of Dallas, Texas! On her deathbed, your grand-aunt gives you an old photograph of your Ewing ancestor's headstone with a cemetery name penciled on the front. Click on the photograph, above, to see a full-sized copy. Then use FamilySearch Record Search pilot to find the death certificate. The John Ewing of the headstone and death certificate is the target of your Ancestry.com search. Everybody play fair. And don't forget to come back and post your results in a comment.

On your mark; get set; GO!

New FamilySearch

Remember, I am not a spokesperson for either Ancestry.com or FamilySearch International. This article gives my opinion as to the history, current state, and future of New FamilySearch. I have not included any confidential information and I am solely responsible for the contents of this article.

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I have a question and didn't want to look as uninformed as I really am by posting online. I ask for your patience, please. I've not been deeply involved with genealogy for about 6 years, but just got asked to teach a class in church at BYU, so I am frantically trying to get back up to speed.

I thought that there were temple districts using NFS as a beta test. Sacramento is one that I know for sure is. Aren't there several districts already using NFS in an effort to get all the kinks worked out? I read your announcement about Las Vegas and began to wonder. How will their use be different from the temple districts that are just testing it? And what are the implications for the rest of us?

Signed,
Ollie Magneson

Dear Ollie,

Don't worry; I wouldn't think of disclosing your uninformed-state secret. (Hold it, everyone! Before you send me nasty messages telling me I'm a discredit to my employer, I changed Mark's name... Oh, dang...)

Seriously, here's the skinny. New FamilySearch (NFS) is a single family tree that all of us share and work on in common, as if we all shared one PAF file. FamilySearch is temporarily calling it New FamilySearch and it is temporarily located at http://new.familysearch.org. But eventually it will be called FamilySearch Family Tree and will be relocated to www.familysearch.org. The 1.0 version will be available to all, members of the Church and non-members alike.

However, the first priority for NFS was to stop the flood of duplicate temple ordinances by replacing TempleReady and the associated need to check the International Genealogical Index (IGI) to avoid duplication. Accordingly, a version 0.9 was written to this end. It lacks many niceties considered standard in a genealogy product, but those features are not central to replacing TempleReady and can wait for a 1.0 product.

After alpha and beta testing were complete, a multiple-phase rollout was commenced on 26 June 2007 when St. Louis started using NFS. From that moment on, NFS has not been in some extended beta test as some suppose, but has been in real use in real temples.

Early users of NFS found bugs, of course, as well as user interface problems. That is one reason for doing a phased release. But these problems were nothing, in retrospect. Like the hero of a tragedy, NFS 0.9 contained an unknown fatal flaw that doomed it to failure as soon as the rollout began. Ironically, the flaw arises out of the problem that NFS is designed to avoid: too much duplication.

Our hero's tragic flaw

Somewhere along the line, two conflicting mantras were established for NFS. Our hero's fatal flaw results from an unforeseen interaction between the two.

1. No one can change your data except you.
2. To keep things simple, New FamilySearch combines Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File and the International Genealogy Index into one database.

Not knowing the number of duplicates beforehand, the first mantra was kept by keeping a full copy of every piece of data, no matter how often duplicated. After the rollout began, users began combining duplicates from these three databases. Some individuals were duplicated many, many more times than expected and when NFS users combined them, "individuals of unusual size" (IOUS) started to grow.

Steps were taken to slow IOUS growth. The addition of PRF disks was halted. The import of complete GEDCOMs was frowned upon. And NFS continued to perform its primary function, adequately replacing TempleReady.

The Arizona

Then on 5 February 2008 the rollout hit Arizona. Because of the large number of Church members there who are descended from early Church members, the growth rate of IOUSes exploded and IOUSes became large enough to swamp the computer servers running NFS. The system was sometimes too slow to use. I'm sure within a week FamilySearch knew they had big problems. The decision to freeze would have been gut wrenching and probably had to reach to the highest levels. On the 19th, word first leaked out. On the 21st, official word was sent out. The rollout was stopped, frozen solid.

Emergency steps were taken to rehabilitate system performance. Hard limits were placed on the number of duplicates that can be combined. (I believe it is currently 85?) GEDCOM import size was restricted. I imagine the length of the delay was predicated on how long it took database engineers to scan through all the millions of individuals in NFS to find and split the IOUSes into pieces small enough for the system to handle.This had to be done while the system was in operation, actively serving 26 temples.

The result was an NFS that worked near flawlessly as a TempleReady replacement for anyone who doesn't have ancestors that were famous or were members of the Church. These ancestors were the ones becoming IOUSes. When the freeze thawed, the rollout could continue only in districts where most members didn't have many ancestors fitting this characterization. By 14 October the tragedy had run its course. Utah, Idaho and Las Vegas have been on hold ever since, waiting for a true fix to the IOUS problem. Rumors have pointed to Q3 or Q4 of next year before this newer than New FamilySearch will be ready.

Family Tree

While all this was going on, work on a 1.0 user interface was progressing. Developers are using a system called Agile Development that encourages regular user interaction during iterative development. This allows us, the future users of the program, to try things out along the way, identify design flaws and influence the product before it is set in stone. If you have a New FamilySearch account, you should feel a responsibility to do this at http://labs.familysearch.org.

That brings you up to the unexpected announcement that Vegas was going live without the rest of us! What does that mean? Obviously, FamilySearch feels like the system is robust enough to handle the additional traffic and that letting Las Vegas start using the system is worthwhile, despite members inability to combine all duplicates together.

Teaching Church Members in Utah

In the mean time, what do you teach in Utah?

• Teach the members the fundamentals of source-based research and analysis. It's the only way the quagmire of NFS will ever get cleaned up.
• Teach the members the extreme importance of avoiding further duplication. Each hour of necessary research now will save ten later on.
• Teach the members to follow the rules for temple submissions. Stop submitting people you're not related to. Stop submitting people you don't have nearest-kin permission for. Those that do so are embarrassing the Church and turning away the hearts of those we'd like to bless. You will be held responsible for those who might have accepted ordinances (alive or dead), but didn't because of your disobedience.
• Teach members the importance of turning their hearts in two directions. Those with Church-member ancestors should seek out their spiritual experiences, histories and photographs. Teach all members to never let their own spiritual experience go unrecorded, for their future posterity.
• Teach members not to feel guilty. We don't need everyone to do everything; we just hope everyone can do something. Do only what you have time to do. FamilySearch Indexing is great for students who only have 10 minutes here or there for family history. Just be sure to Save to Server, so your few minutes of work can be passed on to another to finish.

I hope this helps. Above all, have fun! This is a glorious work.

Sincerely,

The Ancestry Insider

Visiting NARA: Civil War Soldiers & Sailors

I recently made my first visit to the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). This is one in a series of articles inspired by that visit to help you make your first visit to the National Archives.

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors

The National Park Service is assembling an online index of American Civil War Soldiers and Sailors (CWSS) at

civilwar.nps.gov

Sailors have yet to be completed, but soldiers were completed in September 2004. The index contains entries for 6.3 million soldiers, both Union and Confederate. The index was assembled by the park service and partners from index cards archived by NARA. Historians have determined that approximately 3.5 million soldiers actually fought in the War. A soldier serving in more than one regiment, serving under two names, or spelling variations resulted in the fact that there are 6.3 million General Index Cards for 3.5 million soldiers. (Source)

To begin searching for soldiers, click on Soldiers.

Putting it all together

As an example of using the CWSS, let's see if we can find the compiled military service record (CMSR) of Abraham Annison, an African American from Maryland who fought for the Union. While we don't know in which unit Annison served, as an African American he would have been assigned to one of the US Colored Troop (USCT) regiments. Enter this information and click Submit Query.

The one search result shows Abraham Annison of the 19th US Colored Infantry Regiment. Clicking on the regiment name, we see it was organized at Camp Stanton, Maryland. While it is common to find soldiers who signed up in states other than their own, finding an Annison in Maryland is enough to justify further investigation. The search results cite film number M589 roll 3 as the source of this information. I don't think any additional information is available, but we can look up m589 in the National Archive Research Catalog (ARC) to find the records M589 indexes. A search for M589 returns Indexes to the Carded Records... in which the "Function and Use" section indicates,

This series was created to index the series "Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Volunteer Organizations During the Civil War, 1890-1912" (ARC Identifier 300398).

A search for ARC identifier 300398 shows that the CMSRs for the USCT 19th are available on microfilm publication M1822. We are in luck! This regiment is one of the few for which compiled military service records are available on microfilm. Since it is available on microfilm, it is probably available online. We check the chart in my article titled "Compiled Military Service Records." In the row for "Union Army" and the column for "Online CMSRs" we see that CMSRs are available on Ancestry.com for a few USCT regiments.

On Ancestry.com, we search the database, "U.S. Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1861-1865" for Abraham Annison and find two potential matches. The first has 44 enclosures! Pay dirt!

Viewing the black and white images, we see the fire damaged CMSR envelope front and back.

   

Further into the documents we find some genealogically important information. From the "Company Descriptive Book" abstract card (left, below) we see that Annison was age 18 on 18 December 1863 and was born in Cecil County, Maryland. On the "Deed of manumission and Release of Service" (right, below) we see that Abraham Annison was also known as Abram Anderson, the slave of William G. Etherington of Cecil County, Maryland. Knowing the slave owner is necessary when researching Annison's ancestry. (It makes me ill to do African American genealogy; you research property records!)

   

Conclusion

That illustrates how to use the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors (CWSS) system. Most of the time you won't be lucky enough to find the CMSR online or on microfilm. You can order a copy of the CMSR from NARA for a fee. But you can also put it on your list of records to look at when you make your first visit to the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Compiled Military Service Records

Compiled Military Service Records

When researching volunteers, start with the compiled military service records.

Some years after the Civil War, the War Department needed an efficient method of checking military and medical records in connection with claims for pensions and other benefits. Beginning in 1886 the staff of General Fred Crayton Ainsworth began the ambitious project of abstracting various military service records for volunteer soldiers: muster and pay rolls, descriptive rolls, returns, hospital records, prison records, accounts for subsistence and other materials. For each time an individual volunteer's name appeared in these records a card was prepared.

   
Front and reverse sides of the two cards in one soldier's service record.
A unique number is stamped on the reverse of each card.

The card abstracts for each individual soldier were placed into a jacket-envelope bearing the soldier's name, rank, and military unit. This jacket-envelope, containing one or more abstracts and, in some instances, including one or more original documents relating specifically to that soldier, is called a compiled military service record. (I've also seen various shortened forms of this long term such as military service record, compiled service record or simply CMSR.)

    
Front and reverse of a compiled military service record jacket-envelope,
shown in both views with the envelope flap open.
The number of each enclosed card is written on the front of the envelope.

A compiled military service record is only as lengthy as the material about an individual soldier and their unit. A typical record shows nothing but the soldier's name, rank, military unit, dates of entry into service and discharge or separation by desertion, death or dismissal. It may also show age, place of birth and residence at time of enlistment. If you are extremely lucky, for some wars it can include pension and benefit correspondence and documents between the soldier or his survivors and the war department. (For some wars, this material is held separately from CMSRs.) This type of material is the gold you are hoping to discover.

The cards were so carefully prepared that there is virtually no need to consult the original records from which they were made. The original records are thought to rarely contain additional information about particular soldiers.

Original company records don't contain additional information about individuals.
(What idiot wasn't wearing cotton gloves?!? Me?!?)

Organization

Compiled military service records were arranged by war/historical period, thereunder by state or other designation, thereunder by military unit (usually regiment) and thereunder alphabetically by soldier surname. Microfilmed or computerized CMSRs typically maintain this organization.

While a historical period may bear the name of a war, records of other conflicts during the stated time period may be included. For example, War of 1812 includes years 1813-14 of the Creek Indian War. The wars and historical periods are:

War or historical period	Years	Index on microfilm	Online Index	CMSRs on microfilm	Online CMSRs
The Revolutionary War	1775-83	M860	Footnote	M881	Ancestry, Footnote
Post-Revolutionary War period	1784-1811	M694	N.A.	M905	N.A.
War of 1812	1812-5	M602	Ancestry	M678*	N.A.
Indian wars	1815-58	M629, etc.	Ancestry	M1086*	N.A.
Mexican War	1846-8	M616	N.A.	M278, M351, M638, M863, M1028, M1970	N.A.
Union Army	1861-5	By state	CWSS	N.A.*	Ancestry* (USCT), Footnote*
Confederate Army	ditto	M253	Ancestry, CWSS, Footnote†	By state	Ancestry* (CSA), Footnote†
Spanish-American War	1898	M871	N.A.	M1087*	NARA (M1087)
Philippine Insurrection	1898-1903	M872	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.

N.A. = Not available
* A few are available
† Most are available

Finding aids

Various indexes exist to facilitate finding compiled military service records. Before computers were available, two types of card indexes were prepared for most of these records: general (nation-wide) and state indexes. These card indexes are available on microfilm and some have been computerized. New, computerized indexes exist for compiled military service records published online.

Consult an available index to learn if a CMSR exists for an ancestor and if so, the state and military unit or units (usually a regiment) in which he served.  General indexes are available for every war or historical period, and state indexes exist for federal military units bearing a state name (for example, 1st Virginia Militia) except for the Mexican War and the Philippine Insurrection.

Each index card contains the soldier's name, rank, and military unit. General indexes include cross-references to variants of soldiers' names. Cross-references are made to the final unit designation if a unit was known by more than one name, and the various names are shown on one or more abstracts. In addition, cross-references are made to the appropriate unit designation if the records of the soldier's service in different units are consolidated into a single record.

Depending on the care taken in preparation and the search capabilities available, computerized indexes may or may not incorporate these cross-references. When searching online, be prepared to manually search for name variations and alternate unit names. For difficult to find ancestors, you may wish to consult all available indexes.

A researcher may fail to locate the record of an individual's volunteer military service for several reasons. The soldier may have served in the Regular Army (covered in Chapter 4 of Genealogical Research) or in a state unit that was not Federalized. His name may have been misspelled. (My ancestor Paul was denied a pension because he was indexed under Raul.) Proper records of his service may not have been made; or, if made, they may have been lost or destroyed in the confusion that often attended military operations. Or references to the soldier in the original records may be so vague that proper identification could not be made.

Sources for this article

Today's article is largely quoted (with liberal adaptations) from page 127 of Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives of the United States, chapter 5 ("Service Records of Volunteers"), section 5.1 ("Introduction"). Minor sources are

• "Fred Crayton Ainsworth, Major General, United States Army," Michael Robert Patterson, Arlington National Cemetery Website (www.arlingtoncemetery.net: Michael Robert Patterson, accessed 4 Dec 2008); this is a private, not a government website.
• "CWSS System Overview," National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (www.civilwar.nps.gov: accessed 4 Dec 2008).
• National Archives Trust Fund Board, Military Service Records : a select catalog of National Archives microfilm publications (Washington, DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, National Archives and Service Administration, 1985); equivalent catalog lists available online.