Ancestry.com Celebrates New 2012 Collections

I am taking the week off so I forgot to tell you about a special offer from Ancestry.com. They are offering free access this week to 30 collections new or updated this year. To access the collections, visit Ancestry.com/2012. As usual, to access free collections on Ancestry you must provide your name and email address to obtain a free account.

The 30 collections are:

• 1940 United States Federal Census
• Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1954
• Border Crossings: From Mexico to U.S., 1895-1957
• California, Railroad Employment Records, 1862-1937
• Canada, Nominal Rolls and Paylists for the Volunteer Militia, 1857-1922
• Canada, Voters Lists, 1935-1980
• Galveston, Texas, Jewish Immigration Records, 1901-1917
• Lancashire, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1911
• Lancashire, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1986
• Lancashire, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936
• London, England, School Admissions and Discharges, 1840-1911
• Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
• New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842
• New South Wales, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1854-1930
• New York, Naturalization Records, 1897-1944
• New York, State Census, 1892
• New Zealand, Maori Land Claims, 1858-1980
• Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Immigration Records, Special Boards of Inquiry, 1893-1909
• U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958
• U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962
• U.S., Buffalo Soldiers, Returns From Regular Army Cavalry Regiments, 1866-1916
• U.S., Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960
• U.S., Confederate Pensions, 1884-1958
• U.S., Records of Aliens Pre-Examined in Canada, 1922-1954
• U.S., World War II Cadet Nursing Corps Card Files, 1942-1948
• UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927
• United States, Atlantic Ports Passenger Lists, 1820-1873 and 1893-1959
• War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815
• Washington, Marriage Records, 1865-2004

For the 1940 census, Ancestry has indexed additional fields:

• House owned or rented
• Value of home or monthly rental if rented
• Attended school or college
• Highest grade completed
• Employment code
• Hours worked the week prior to the census
• Duration of employment
• Occupation
• Class of worker
• Occupation code
• Weeks worked in 1939
• Income
• Income from other sources

The 1940 census asked additional questions for two people on each page. Ancestry has indexed these fields for those individuals:

• Father birth place
• Mother birth place
• Native language
• Veteran
• If child, is veteran father dead
• Military Service
• Usual occupation
• Usual industry
• Usual class of worker
• Usual occupation code
• If a women have they been married more than once
• Women age at first marriage
• Number of children ever born

May your ancestors always be those two individuals. (And may the odds always be with you.)

My Christmas Card to You

I still have my The Generations Network Christmas shirt as you can see in the photograph to the right. I wear it once a year, even though Ancestry.com changed their name.

FamilySearch. did something interesting with their logo—see below—in a Christmas greeting they recently sent me.

If FamilySearch can play with their logo, so can Ancestry.com. Here’s what Ancestry did for a recent email campaign:

 

 

On a serious note, recent tragedies have underscored the importance of family, friends, and community. I pray you and yours will have a very, merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.

--The Insider

Ancestry.com Opens and FamilySearch Closes

In separate announcements Ancestry.com announced it is opening a public forum and FamilySearch announced it is closing theirs.

“While the Ancestry Message Boards are for finding people and places,” said Ancestry spokesperson, Matthew Deighton, “our new Support Communities is the place to go to get answers to product questions, and to find tips and solutions submitted by community members.”

The top three issues on the Ancestry Community Forum thus far are:

1. My subscription will end—what will happen to my tree?
2. Problems with sign in
3. Received DNA results…confused

Meanwhile, FamilySearch’s Janell Vasquez announced that “due to user feedback, we are discontinuing these forums as of December 31, 2012… We apologize for the inconvenience that this will cause for those of you who have come to enjoy your collaboration with each other on these forums.” Vasquez suggested users join FamilySearch Facebook groups or contact FamilySearch support. Several users posted comments that they didn’t trust Facebook. A couple of users announced that they will probably stop indexing because of the change.

FamilySearch said it is “transitioning our Forums into a new question and answer tool.” Information will be posted this week with instructions on how to help test potential replacement software.

The idea behind a community forum is that ordinary people like you and I answer questions that others have. In my mind there is some question if the genealogical community is large enough or interested enough in helping vendors support their products.

Stay tuned…

Monday Mailbox: FamilySearch Family of Websites

Dear Mr. Insider,

I have noticed a number of web sites for FamilySearch.org. Is there some place that lists all of the different variations/locations that are connected to FamilySearch.org?

Signed, Jerry

Dear Jerry,

Believe it or not, you can navigate to almost all FamilySearch websites from http://familysearch.org. The few exceptions are specialized websites or websites that can’t be reached because of broken links on FamilySearch.org.

• http://new.familysearch.org – for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here, new means old.
• http://consultant.familysearch.org – for family history consultants of the Church

Signed, The Insider

---

What Jerry really needs is a good site map. Too bad FamilySearch won’t provide an official one. Here’s a quick attempt.

• Search
• Historical Records
• International Genealogical Index
• Genealogies (including Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource Files)
• Catalog
• Classic Catalog (FHLC)
• Books
• All Historical Record Collections
• Family Tree (visit invite link first)
• Learn
• Getting Started
• Another Getting Started (you must login)
• Research Wiki
• Research Courses
• Discussion Forums (stay tuned for tomorrow’s article)
• FamilySearch Centers (and FHCs)
• Order Microfilm
• Indexing
• Blog
• TechTips
• User
• Settings
• Source Box
• Help
• General
• About
• Feedback
• Privacy
• Terms
• Other
• Affiliate Products
• Archivists
• Careers
• Developers
• Labs
• England 1851 Jurisdiction Maps
• Community Trees
• Press
• Television
• Volunteer

Talking Photos No Longer Limited to Hogwarts

LegacyStories.org recently announced it had become the first certified web application to read the new FamilySearch Family Tree.

This special certification allows our LegacyStories members to search for and bookmark their writings, photos and oral narratives to ancestors found in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree.

In early 2013, FamilySearch is planning to launch the revolutionary TreeConnect feature. At that time our members will be able to easily link their bookmarked stories to the Family Tree.

LegacyStories.org’s “Talking Photos” feature allows users to record a narrative on their computer’s microphone and associate it with a photo.

The entire press release can be read on the web.

NARA’s Bill Mayer Speaks About Genealogists

William A. “Bill” Mayer became Executive for Research Services on 18 June 2012. In a recent interview Mayer made comments of interest to genealogists.

With so much changing in terms of digital access through our partners like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, I’d be very interested to hear from the genealogy community how their practices are changing. … I’d also welcome discussions that highlighted ways the genealogy community could support NARA as well: deeper more effective citizen archivist programs; citizen scanning projects; sharing of expertise from our most expert public researchers – any other ideas?

Did he say “citizen scanning projects”? That sounds intriguing. I wonder what that means.

On online access Mayer said,

"Access" in general, regardless of format, is a primary mission for NARA, and Research Services especially. I see methods that focus on both the in-person and the online as critical to our work today and into the future. But to be realistic, there’s simply not enough funding to do everything we see necessary to provide comprehensive, high-functioning systems for access. So choices need to be made. Arguably, digitization enables a broader reach for records than ever before. But what about the guidance and pathfinding through the maze of information found online? How do we support that?

Mayer expanded on that topic.

Access to information is never done well by a "one size fits all" approach. Digital access is an excellent method for expanding the reach of the record and exposing the record to wider audiences – but that access has to be coupled with excellent customer services that make the most of the connection between the record and the researcher. My top-level plans are to focus our work on the key areas of Discovery (finding what we have), Access (getting to what we have), and Preservation (ensuring content is available for generations to come).

On the seemingly opposing goals of access and preservation, Mayer said,

Protection and Preservation of our holdings does not mean we can’t facilitate easier access. That’s why you see such a rise in digitization efforts.

Asked about when the content digitized by Ancestry.com and Fold3 would be available free to the public, Mayer said,

Those are rolling dates depending on the collections being digitized and the agreements that govern each collection. New records are released regularly, and free access to the public is available at every NARA facility nationwide the moment the collections are available on the partner sites. There are quite a number of these collections, so I’ll look forward to sharing a more explicit listing for future communications.

In other news, NARA has announced the addition of census reference reports to the existing set of genealogical research reports consisting of African American, Military, Native Americans, and Immigration. Reference reports are one to four page papers describing research strategies for frequently used records.

Monday Mailbox: Please Tell Me Your Name

Dear Ancestry Insider,

Please tell me your name so that I may know who I am looking for in Las Vegas, ok?

Signed,
Ron Bremer

Dear Ron,

You thought I’d fall for that old trick? Straight up asking?

Ask me in my 2013 NGS Annual Conference session and I will tell you my name. But you don’t have to wait until then. Several people approach me each conference to tell me that they recognized me from my picture.

Signed,
The Insider

---

Dear Ancestry Insider,

Hi, I guess you can not enter the Ancestry.com contest if you don't own a cellphone!

Not everyone has a cell phone and not all cellphones have an app capability or camera. I'm one of those people.

Diane H.

Dear Diane,

As was I until September. I hear you. However, my previous smart phone had gotten dumber and dumber. When it broke, I took the plunge. But it’s more expensive and not everyone can afford that.

Signed,
The Insider

FamilySearch Family Tree is Coming

I found a video on YouTube that demonstrates the basic functionality of FamilySearch Family Tree. It is titled “Family Tree from FamilySearch.” It was not posted by FamilySearch, so it does not give official pronouncements. For example, it states that, “Later in 2012 this massive database of family information will be made available free to everyone” Still, in my opinion it gives excellent information.

After all the rumors about FamilySearch Family Tree’s public availability (or lack thereof), I thought I’d check the FamilySearch blog for the latest news. I searched for [Family Tree Is Coming]. I found an article available to the general public that was posted 19 November 2012 and is titled “Family Tree Service on FamilySearch.org Coming Soon.” While throughout the year FamilySearch has stated that Family Tree would be available to the public by the end of the year, this article seems to be squirming in that regard. The article starts off by stating that “Within the next few months, FamilySearch will make Family Tree available to everyone on its website.”

Stay tuned…

Ancestry.com Holiday Contest

Ancestry.com is running a holiday contest. Prizes are: a six month US Deluxe subscription, an AncestryDNA kit, a copy of Family Tree Maker 2012, or a gift membership. To enter the contest use your camera phone and Instagram. Take a photograph and tag it with #ancestryholiday.

Instagram is a free photo sharing app for Apple iPhones and Google phones. For more information and for links to the respective app stores, visit the Instagram website.

NGS 2013 Conference Registration Opens

Blame the 2013 annual conference of the National Genealogical Society.

You’ve noticed I didn’t post many articles in November. I’m teaching a session at the conference and preparations have been so fun, I’ve spent all my free time working on it.

In “Do It Yourself Photo Restoration” I teach how to use a free and simple program, Paint.NET, to do basic photo restoration. I’m having a hard time tearing myself away to write articles, do genealogy, and work on extra-curricular professional activities.

The 2013 NGS Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from May 8th until May 11th at the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center and one block off the Las Vegas Strip.

The weird thing about this conference is that I’ve been asked to be a luncheon speaker on Saturday. Isn’t that weird? Other than you few, nobody’s ever heard of me. It’s audience participation, so please come and help me out.

Register now for the early bird discount. For more information, visit the NGS 2013 Family History Conference page of the NGS website. Visit the Online Conference Program to see me (and other speakers, I suppose). While you’re at it, see the conference brochure and register for the conference.

Six Month Motor Home Genealogy Road Trip

 
The Brown’s motor home sits in front of Ancestry.com’s Provo headquarters.
Image copyright Ancestry.com

“Most people who know Rob and Kathy Brown are either jealous or think the Browns have totally lost it,” wrote Genelle Pugmire in an article Saturday in a Salt Lake City newspaper.

The family sold their home and talked Ancestry.com into sponsoring a six to nine month drive around the country in a motor home packed with five children. “The Great-Great-Great-Grand Adventure: A Family History Journey” will take the Browns “a distance of more than 10,000 miles, visiting 40 states and more than 40 major cities,” according to Rob Brown.

According to Pugmire, Rob’s mother told him, “You're a little too young for a mid-life crisis.”

For more information, read the entire Deseret News article. Visit http://ancestry.com/adventure to track the Brown’s journey.

I just hope someone warned them what it is like doing genealogy with a name like Brown.

Monday Mailbox: Ancestry.com Results Differ

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I am presenting a lecture to a library next month regarding the difference between the Library and Home edition of Ancestry.com. I was at the library and used my personal account and the library account to see what was the difference. What I got was much more surprising!

[Insider note: Pam searched for James Wilmington and viewed the results summarized by category to see a breakdown of results by database. She found the Ancestry Library Edition did not include results from the following databases:

• Du Pont romance: a reminiscent narrative of E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
• Heads of Families at the first census of the United States taken in the year 1790: Massachusetts
• History of Harrison County, West Virginia
• Maurice Times (Maurice, Iowa)
• North Carolina Heads of families at the first census of the US
  taken in the year 1790
• Southwest Virginia historical records
• State census of North Carolina 1784-1787
• West Eau Claire Argus (Newspaper)]

At first, I thought the Library edition had more records, 1552, than the Home edition, 1245. I came home and thought, let me try that one more time. I did the same search and there was a higher number, 1584.

[Insider note: The following databases returned zero records the first time Pam ran the query on her Ancestry.com account. The second time she ran the query, she got the correct number of results.

• 1901 Census of Canada
• 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta
• New York State Census 1892
• New York, State Census 1915]

I always thought I got strange results when I search at the library and sometimes at home. Today, I caught it!! Often, if I get a zero result list, I redo the search. And, I am always right because I would get different results. I realize computers are not perfect…cough…cough…but, could Ancestry also have issues? <g>

Hoping you may have some insight on this. I am going to tell the librarians and patrons to always use both library and the home edition if they have it. In addition, never believe the results, especially when you get zero!

Pam

Dear Pam,

Gosh. Has it been five years since I reviewed the Ancestry Library Edition? (See “The Ancestry Library Edition.”) The Library Edition is distributed by ProQuest. ProQuest has products of its own that duplicate some of the content of the Ancestry Home edition. To protect these other products, the Ancestry Library Edition excludes content that competes with them. Certain newspapers and books are excluded, including the ones you identified.

Databases coming and going in the Home edition is more interesting… and problematic. I don’t think this is a case of the Home edition not working at the library. Ancestry.com doesn’t know when you are at home. (If they do, we’re all in trouble!) Try the query again at the library with your Home edition. I think you’ll find it works fine.

I think what you saw was a failure of the Ancestry Ra system. Back in January 2010 I wrote about Ra. (See “Ancestry.com Bloggers Day: Data Center Tour (Part 2).”) A failure in Ra could explain databases going away and then coming back.

Loads of generic servers are divvied up to handle requests to particular groups of Ancestry.com genealogy databases. One group might be birth, marriage, death databases. Another group might handle military databases, and so forth.

Note that the databases left out the first time you ran the query are all census databases. That’s what makes me suspect Ra. The results from a group of census databases may have been left out.

If this is what happened, and Ancestry failed to inform you, then people have to heed your warning to “never believe the results, especially when you get zero.”

Thanks for sharing your experience,
--The Insider

Ancestry.com DNA Research Revealed

Ancestry.com’s leading DNA scientists participated in the 2012 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting. Leading DNA experts from across the country gather to present the results of the latest studies. Several scientists from Ancestry presented papers. We can see a bit of the work going on inside Ancestry by reading what they’ve said about their papers:

Pushing the boundaries: Using Haplotypes to infer ancestral origins for recently admixed individuals

This research presents new ways to look at people around the world, and continually pushes our thinking on how we determine ethnicity and population boundaries—specifically in challenging regions like Central Europe—with better data, better algorithms and better analysis.

In other words, Ancestry’s DNA scientists are working with haplotypes to make it possible for AncestryDNA to better determine the ancestral home of people with European ancestry, for example.

Using Y-chromosomes Haplotypes to improve inferred ancestral origins in European populations

In a nutshell, this abstract illustrates how predictions of geographic ethnicity for European populations using autosomal genotypes can be improved by incorporating Y-chromosome information. In fact, using Y-haplogroup distributions to redraw regional boundaries within Europe improved ethnicity predictions by up to 9%.

This description runs counter to what I thought Ancestry was trying to do when it hired these scientists. Beforehand, Ancestry offered a Y-chromosome DNA test—males only—to determine his ancestral home. I thought they hired a bunch of DNA scientists because they were trying to apply autosomal DNA to aid in that determination. This description makes it sound the opposite. It makes it sound like the results of autosomal tests are being refined—again for males only—by going back to the Y-chromosome. This is interesting considering AncestryDNA’s test continues to be available to both men and women and continues to give a full breakdown of genetic ancestry.

Genetic evidence of multiple non-Asian migrations into the new world

An analysis of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) Y-chromosome and mtDNA databases resulted in evidence for multiple migrations from the Iberian Peninsula into the New World (Mexico, Central and South America); specifically, two groups were identified—Basque males who share ancestry within the last 2000 years and a Jewish group in Mexico, which fled persecution during the Inquisition.

This study seems to have little application to Ancestry’s business. Perhaps part of the deal when Ancestry acquired Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) DNA samples was to allow some research projects like this one to continue. (One of the samples Ancestry bought from SMGF was my own. I guess the lesson there is to think twice before making a goodwill offering to a non-profit foundation, particularly when the offering is a DNA sample.)

SMGF has some very informative animations teaching more about DNA:

• Introduction to Molecular Genealogy
• Four Types of DNA
• Autosomal DNA
• X Chromosome DNA
• Y Chromosome DNA
• Mitochondrial DNA
• Mutation and Haplotype

DNA is an exciting frontier in genealogy and it is good to see Ancestry pushing the envelope.

FamilySearch By the Numbers

FamilySearch recently released the current size of their collections as of the 1st of November:

Total images published in Historical Records section: ................................................. 698.9 Million
          An image is a graphical representation (photograph) of
          an original, physical document.

Total records published in Historical Records section:................................................... 1.99 Billion
          A record is the information documented (transcribed)
          for a single life event. For example, a birth record, a
          marriage record, a death record.

Total searchable names in Historical Records section: .................................................. 3.07 Billion
          Searchable names are all (transcribed) names
          contained on a record. For example, a single birth
          record contains three names (child, father, mother).

Total collections on FamilySearch Historical Records section: .................................... 1,311 Collections

Free Census Guide

Ancestry.com recently ran a promotion billing itself as the “Home of the U.S. Census, 1790-1940.” (See http://www.ancestry.com/census.) What do you think? Are they?

Along with this promotion Ancestry is offering a free seven page PDF census guide, “Follow Your Family Using Census Records.” I think the offer was to subscribers only, as it presupposes access to Ancestry.com, but I think anyone can click the link and get the booklet.

The 1940 census is free for (I can’t remember how long) on Ancestry.com, although you’ll need to sign up for a free account. Ancestry.com indexes and images can be used for free at many libraries and at FamilySearch family history centers (FHCs).

All the census indexes are available for free on FamilySearch.org, with or without a free account. Images are another story. According to the FamilySearch.org website, images to U.S. censuses are available as indicated below.

Census	Via link to a subscription Website	At a FHC	To members of a supporting organization*	Free to everyone
United States Census, 1790	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1800	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1810	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1820	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1830	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1840	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1850				X
United States Census, 1860	Fold3.com
United States Census, 1870				X
United States Census, 1880	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1890	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1900				X
United States Census, 1910	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1920	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1930	Ancestry.com	X	X
United States Census, 1940				X

I have got to say I don’t understand. All the images were produced by FamilySearch. FamilySearch has the most awesome census indexing volunteers in all the world who could have chunked out free indexes to all the pre-1900 censuses in just a few months. (Actually, they did. They did the A key and the arbitration. Ancestry provided the B key.) Yet FamilySearch users can’t freely see many of FamilySearch’s own images.

Yup. Ancestry.com really is “Home of the U.S. Census.”

 

* FamilySearch is fully supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

KSL-TV “Geneology” News Story

Recently (Friday?) Salt Lake City television station, KSL, aired a story on genealogy and FamilySearch. As is somewhat traditional with television stations, they misspelled genealogy. But otherwise it is a nice piece that highlights FamilySearch and gives a little bit of information about their work in Germany.

To read the story and to watch the news segment online, click here.

Freedom: A Gift From Your Ancestors

Several years ago Ancestry.com, Inc. (then MyFamily.com, Inc.) employees participated in the Grand Parade of America’s Freedom Festival at Provo. We were handlers for a big balloon like the one to the right.

It was a bit tricky maneuvering the balloon around traffic signals and under low-hanging trees. Gloves were a necessity, but wrapping the rope around your hand was a good way to lose fingers.

I don’t want to denigrate our volunteer efforts. Let’s just say we were not invited to help again the next year.

Where am I going with this? Ancestry gave us all matching t-shirts and on this election day I wanted to share the saying printed on them.

“Freedom – A gift from your ancestors”

Our ancestors lived, sacrificed, or even died that we might live and that we might live free.

Go vote.

Utah Pioneer Database Quality Rumors Put to Rest

According to its website,

The Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868, [database] is the most complete listing of individuals and companies in which Mormon pioneer emigrants traveled west to Utah from 1847 through 1868. It is an incomplete listing, as rosters have not been found for all companies. It also identifies sources to learn more about the experiences of each company.

The database is the work of Melvin L. Bashore, senior librarian at the Church History Library and Archives. He received a Distinguished Service Award from the Oregon-California Trails Association for this extraordinary database.

When published on the Internet, the database’s website invited contributions. This raised questions about the possible inclusion of non-primary information, diluting the quality of the database. When I got the chance to contribute, I jumped upon it as an opportunity to learn how contributions were handled.

I had come across a document witnessed by Harmon Cutler that stated that the George Wilkins family travelled in his company of 1852. It named father, mother, and two children and it specified the parents’ death date.

I submitted a full transcript of the document along with a complete source citation. I shortly received a response from a volunteer missionary that greatly added to my confidence in the database. It stated that because of their interest in accuracy they only accept

what historians call “primary sources,” (period documents such as a pioneer diary, the company journal, an autobiography or a letter written by one of the pioneers, the individual’s obituary, or a source published during the pioneers lifetime, etc.) Such documents must be explicitly clear that an individual was in a specific company or that they traveled at a particular time.

The missionary stated that my source met the criteria and he had added the information to the database. I was happy to see these safeguards to protect the quality of the database.

After setting such high expectations, I was surprised and disappointed with what I found when I searched for George Wilkins and family. Additional information had been added along with a one-word citation: “FamilySearch.” Was the source one of FamilySearch’s high-quality historical records? Or was it one of the error-ridden, source-less online trees?

And the database has no mechanism to associate citations with particular pieces of information. It is impossible to tell which information came from which source.

Further, the FHL film number had been stripped from my citation, leaving users no apparent method of accessing the source save to personally visit the Church History Library and Archive in Salt Lake City. My transcript had likewise been discarded.

In the end I found the rumors to be true. I discovered that “The Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868” database does indeed suffer from the use of second-hand information. However, and to my surprise, the sources were not those supplied by contributors but those supplied by its own staff.

Ancestry.com and Facebook

I’ve wanted to write an article that does justice to Ancestry.com’s recent Facebook integration, but it has been a couple of weeks and I still don’t have time. If I can’t do the feature justice, at least let me point it out.

See Ancestry.com’s blog article, “Using Facebook to Grow Your Family Tree.”

For my last article on Ancestry.com and Facebook, see “Ancestry.com Developing Facebook Application.”

Monday Mailbox: Errors in Ancestry.com City Directories

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I have been a member of ancestry.com for many years. In the past year, especially, I've noticed many, maNY, MANY errors in the transcribing and indexing on ancestry.com.

I accessed the City Directories for Enid, OK and wow, what I found was astoundingly egregious. All you have to do to verify what I'm saying is to start with the 1905 Enid, OK City Directory and search for Joseph Hutcheson. You'll go mad trying to find a decent index for him.

Access the City Directory for Enid, OK and start going up the years. On the way, please do enjoy such genealogical tidbits as "Walnut Hyde" (taken from the street name and last name....don't ask me) and "Baking Soda Tea Bisquits..." taken from a store advertisement. Then, there's also "telephone 7 days a week" and "Ill" instead of an "H", or "II" (as in "The Second"), instead of an "H", even after women's names.

Some of the most egregious errors I've ever seen! It is quite apparent that whoever is doing the transcribing is not only unfamiliar with the English language and common names, but with the English alphabet, as well. Beyond that, there is apparently NO quality control - no checking for veracity. These butchered transcriptions and indexes are sent to Ancestry.com where they're uploaded immediately - if they do random checking, then they're using aliens or people who don't speak English ...or children who can't spell...or read, to do it.

The way some letters don't seem to be understood by the transcriber, tells me that whoever is transcribing doesn't speak English well and probably is sitting in front of some kind of chart. But since these people are probably paid by the record, their managers are probably telling them to hurry, hurry, hurry. That's their incentive. And that, sadly, is the reality of what's happening to the records at Ancestry.com.

Signed,
Patriot Gal*

Dear Patriot Gal,

It will come as no surprise to you to learn that about a year ago Ancestry.com started employing a whole new set of indexers for their city directories. These indexers do not speak English. They have problems reading. As you surmised, they work from some kind of chart, as the English alphabet is foreign to them.

While they hurry quite a bit faster than you or I would, it is not greed or speed that induces them to count advertisements as directory entries. The problem there is pure stupidity. That’s right. They are not smart enough to always recognize what are obviously advertisements.

They aren’t children or space aliens. These new indexers are computers. And despite what some people think, computers are very stupid, especially when it comes to reading and comprehension. It is a great achievement that Ancestry has coerced the degree of accuracy that it has from these directories. Most computer read content is far, far worse.

For more information, see my article, “Data Extraction Technology at Ancestry.com.”

Signed,
--The Insider