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

IGI Q and A - Part 2

FamilySearch product manager Robert Kehrer recently responded to user comments about the International Genealogical Index (IGI) on the FamilySearch Blog. This is the second in a two part article telling some of what he said.

New Search Features Coming

One commenter complained that a search for people in England returned U.S. census records. (Ancestry.com users will recall when this was a problem. Ancestry has already added a fix.)

“We will shortly be implementing a feature,” said Robert Kehrer, “that will allow you to tell the system you ONLY want records that originate in England.”

Kehrer responded that the current system will return all matching records regardless of where the record was created. Search results above the orange bar closely match the criteria you specify. This might locate an English ancestor both before and after immigration.

When you get to the orange bar in the search results, things change. I almost always stop looking when I hit the bar. “Below the orange bar,” said Kehrer, “you may see other records matching some but not all the parameters you searched on, like the name, and other events.” However, results below the bar will all be connected to England, for example, in some way.

The new feature will change that. Records only from a specified locality will appear in the results. The new feature will also support restricting results to a particular record type, such as “birth.”

Pedigree View

A commenter asked what had happened to the pedigree charts available on the classic familysearch.org. Kehrer announced that a tree view was under development. “You’ll be pleased to know that we are currently coding up for delivery in the very near future (measured in weeks if all the code testing goes well) a tree view for AF/PRF/Contributed IGI records.”

“This view will show the primary person, all spouses, children, parents and grandparents. all names will be clickable to move them into the primary person position. All primary person data, notes, sources, and citations will be viewable. Secondary persons will have basic vital data shown as well.”

Separating Indexing and Contributed Information

Where on classic.familysearch.org the IGI could be searched as one unified record collection, now the IGI has been separated. About 600 million entries were the result of indexing (extraction) projects. These have been separated into many state- and country-specific record collections.

About 208 million entries were contributed by users. These have been placed into a collection separate from the indexed entries. Both sets can be searched—one at a time—from a special collection page: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/igi .

A commenter expressed appreciation that FamilySearch had separated indexed records from contributed records.

“We have received a lot of positive comments from people who recognize the slightly different nature of the contributed data,” said Kehrer. (I am a big supporter of dividing the IGI into the two parts.)

He said that the present “user experience” (requiring two searches) is the result of the limited time FamilySearch had to get the IGI off the old computer system before it went down. “We are now working to make it easier to search both contributed and indexed data with one search,” he said, “and still be able to see which type of data you are looking at in the results.”

The IGI is Not Complete

One commenter expressed concern that talking about a “complete IGI” might be misleading to some. Just because all the entries from the classic IGI have been loaded onto the new system doesn’t mean the IGI is a complete record of the various parishes and jurisdictions covered. Inclusion of some records from a locale doesn’t mean the IGI includes all records from that place.

I second that sentiment. The IGI contains a small selection of records in FamilySearch’s microfilm collection. Some films were skipped. Some films were partially skipped. Some records, such as stillborns, were never indexed. Some indexed records were discarded rather than duplicating user contributed entries. That means an entire parish may be present except for a handful of people.

The commenter expressed concern that no more parish records would be indexed for the IGI. On the contrary, Historical Record Collections, the successor to the IGI, continue to be expanded.

“FamilySearch’s record acquisition efforts have not stopped by any means,” said Kehrer. “Rather they have accelerated now that we are not anchored down with the old site technology. New indexed and image only collections are being published and new records are being added to previously published collections every day.”

It is true that there will no longer be a single collection that contains all the indexed entries from the IGI, but just like the old IGI, all can be searched in a single search. FamilySearch’s collection is growing too fast to be constrained to a single database called the International Genealogical Index. They have over 1300 collections now containing over 3 billion searchable names. And that is growing fast.

Person Search versus Record Search

In response to one comment, Kehrer innocuously explained an important detail about FamilySearch’s historical records. It is important but easily overlooked. “FamilySearch records are person-centric.” This means that FamilySearch’s Record Search doesn’t search for records. It searches for mentions of people in records.

The remark came in response to a commenter who pointed out an unexpected oddity in a record title in form like this one:

"Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976," Sam Ealy Johnson Jr. in entry for Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1973

This title, for address https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J69H-GKM, is the mention of Sam on President Johnson’s death certificate. This address, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J69H-GK9, is the mention of Rebekah Baines on the same certificate. And https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J69H-GV1 is the mention of President Johnson on that certificate.

Search for Sam Ealy Johnson with spouse Rebekah Baines and the result list shows all the person-mentions for Sam, regardless of whose record he appears on.

“Each of the persons in our databases have their own person details page,” said Kehrer. “Please don’t make the mistake of thinking you are looking at a household record or a birth certificate record.”

FamilySearch’s record search returns people-mentions, not records.

IGI Q and A - Part 1

FamilySearch product manager Robert Kehrer recently responded to user comments about the International Genealogical Index (IGI) on the FamilySearch Blog. This is the first in a two part article telling some of what he said.

Classic Search vs. Newest Search

Several people commented that the old, classic FamilySearch.org was much easier to use and asked if FamilySearch couldn’t please bring back the old search.

“There is no way to re-implement the old site and it’s search,” said Robert Kehrer. But that doesn’t mean the new site can’t be improved. He said he would be “passionately interested in the specifics of what you found better and easier to use on the old site.” FamilySearch is continually refining the new site.

Got a specific suggestion? Leave a comment below and I will pass it on.

Finding the IGI

The IGI can be found at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/igi. Most of us aren’t going to remember that URL, however. To get to the IGI collection page without knowing the URL,

1. Start from the FamilySearch home page.
2. Click on “All Record Collections.”
3. In the Filter by Name box, type in IGI (or International).
4. Click on the title, “International Genealogical Index (IGI).”

One person complained that this was a difficult way to find a record collection. Kehrer agreed, but pointed out that you don’t need to get to the IGI page to search the IGI. At least for indexed entries, when you search from the home page, you are searching the IGI. Plus, you also get results from the other 3 billion names in FamilySearch record collections.

As for finding record collections, Kehrer said they are redesigning the page to make it easier to locate any particular collection.

Missing Entries

Users are complaining that entries are missing in the new IGI. One commenter pointed out he had family from South Africa that was missing from the new IGI. I tried searching Community Indexed and got thousands of results from anyplace but South Africa. As I randomly looked through the returned results, skipping 400 results, I happened across one from South Africa (Patrick Saunders Trumpeter). I wonder why it wasn’t at the top of the list? The results were part of the World Miscellaneous Births and Baptisms, 1534-1983 collection. You may have greater luck searching there than searching from the IGI page.

Another commenter singled out Monte Escobedo, Zacatecas, Mexico church records from the middle of the 1800s.

Kehrer verified what users are experiencing. About 234 million records are missing from the IGI.

“When we went live with the IGI on the new site we believed that we had loaded all of the old IGI data,” he said. “We have unfortunately discovered that some data was missed.” This discovery was aided by users who could provide specific examples of missing entries.

FamilySearch has identified about 14 million indexed records and 220 million contributed records that have not been loaded yet. “These records have been identified,” he said. “We’re are in the process of preparing that data and will load it shortly.”

Kehrer said with some confidence that those who can’t find records will probably find their ancestors once they load the missing data.

Got some names, dates, and places of people you know are missing? Leave a comment below and I will pass them on.

 

Tomorrow: New features, pedigree view, IGI not complete (redux), person search versus record search

Ancestry.com Sold for $1.6 Billion

It was announced yesterday that Permira, a private equity firm, has agreed to buy Ancestry.com for $1.6 billion dollars. Actually, I’m not astute enough to know if Ancestry is being bought for $1.6 billion, or if it is being valued at $1.6 billion. Suffice it to say that major stockholders will be making lots of money.

It sounds like Tim Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Howard Hochhauser, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, are selling some of their stock and keeping some. The same seems to be true for Spectrum Equity, a company that owns 30% of Ancestry’s stock. According to a message sent to employees Monday morning, many employees will also be offered stock ownership opportunities.

Private equity firms buy companies with the idea of selling them later at a profit. It can be an outright sale, or by going public (again, in Ancestry’s case). Premira hopes to grow the value of the company by expanding its business in Western Europe. The company will go on with its current structure and will continue with headquarters in Provo, Utah.

The purchase will not actually occur until sometime in 2013, after shareholders have approved.

Hopefully this dispels continuing rumors. Ancestry.com is not owned by FamilySearch or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Neither does Ancestry.com own FamilySearch.org, nor have they found a way to purchase a Church. The two are separate entities who, in my opinion, sometimes cooperate but mostly compete for users and for rights to acquire records. That’s my opinion, anyway.

For a list of companies currently owned by Premira, see http://www.permira.com/investments#.

For the full text of the announcement, see http://ir.ancestry.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=714983.

Monday Mailbox: Please Change My Email Address

Dear Ancestry Insider,

Please change my email address from something@somewhere.com to someWhereElse@elseWhere.com. I really enjoy your posts.

Thank you,
Anne Lamson

Dear readers,

If your email address changes, I can’t update your subscription address for you. You need to do it. Come to my website, http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com by clicking an article title in one of my newsletters. Then look on the right side of the screen for “Subscribe by email.” Enter your new email address and you’re all set.

Thank you,
The Insider

Ancestry.com Acquires 1000memories

Ancestry.com announced earlier this month that they have acquired the website and company 1000memories. 1000memories is a photo hosting website for all the photographs you have sitting around your house. Photos can be uploaded from your hard drive or transferred from facebook, instagram, or Flickr. Photos can be scanned by scanner, digital camera, or smart-phone app. Photos can be sent to a scanning center where slides and photographs are professionally scanned for a cost of 22 cents apiece or more.

For the full text of the announcement, visit the official announcement or the Ancestry blog. For 1000memories take on the acquisition, visit the 1000memories blog.

Two RootsTech Hotels Added After Two Sell Out

RootsTech has announced the addition of two hotels after the first two, the Salt Lake Plaza and the Radisson, both sold out. These two are adjacent to the conference center. I don’t know if you can still reserve at non-conference rates. They may be entirely sold out.

The two added hotels are the Little America Hotel and the Crystal Inn Hotel & Suites. I’ve not stayed in either one, so I can’t say much. Well, that’s not entirely true. I stayed in the Little America once back in the ‘70s. Yup. It’s that old. But it has been regularly remodeled. The best thing about it is that it is located near a Trax light rail station that is inside the free-fare zone. It’s a quick ride from the Little America to the doorstep of the convention center.

While the Crystal Inn is also within the free fare zone, there is no convenient bus route. Google recommends walking about three blocks (0.4 miles) to the Trax station (next to the Little America) and riding from there. The hotel does state that they have a free shuttle which runs downtown. I imagine RootsTech Organizers will make certain that the shuttle runs to and from the convention center.

Ancestry.com World Archives Project Update

The World Archives Project (WAP) is Ancestry.com’s community indexing program. In a recent update, Ancestry.com announced that in the past four years the project has completed 170 projects. They have published 130 databases with indexes available for free searching on Ancestry. Viewing images still requires an Ancestry subscription.

There are currently 26 projects available for indexing. Among these are California Railroad Employment Records, 1862-1950; Kansas, City and County Census, 1919-1978; Liverpool, United Kingdom, Crew Lists 1860-1919; Pavia, Lombardia, Italia: Registri di Matrimonio, 1866-1937 (Registers of Marriage); and USHMM Lodz, Poland, Vital Records of Jews in the Lodz Ghetto, 1939-1944.

In the update, Ancestry announced that a Mac version of the indexing software is now available. Active contributors are eligible for Ancestry subscription discounts. Active contributors are those that index or arbitrate 900 or more records in a rolling 90 day period. Active contributors can also see the images from WAP projects, so long as Ancestry has permission to publish the images. Some projects, such as those with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum call for image publication on the partner website.

I like the way Ancestry posts project statuses and recognizes their top indexers:

For my stories on the introduction of the WAP back in 2008, see

• Ancestry Indexing Project Beta
• World Archives Project Beta Begins
• Details Revealed About Ancestry.com Indexing Initiative

Monday Mailbox: Family History Center Volunteers at RootsTech

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I am a Family History Consultant, or so they call me at the Family History Center where I have volunteered for the last 4 years.  I am not a member of the Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. From the information given here and on the link you offered, I get the impression I do not qualify for this [RootsTech family history consultant] discount.  Suppose that's true?

Signed,
Margaret

Dear Readers,

I know that FamilySearch really, really appreciates members of the community who volunteer to serve on the staffs of their local family history centers. I contacted the RootsTech Conference Dude (sorry, I don’t know his actual title). He verified that all family history center staff qualify for the discount. Contact info@rootstech.org if you have further questions. Before I could get back to her, Margaret had done just that and received the discount.

Signed,
The Insider

Sing Us a Song, You’re the Camera Man

He doesn’t sing for a living. Oscar Fabian Riquelme Achucarro is a camera man. He photographs records for FamilySearch. He was featured recently in a FamilySearch blog article.

“FamilySearch International is currently capturing over 80 million new images of historical documents per year with the help of some 200 camera operators,” says the article. Operators may be employees, volunteers, or contractors.

Oscar is working in Porto Alegre, Brazil where he spends 40 hours a week photographing documents. “Like most camera operators, Oscar can capture 3,000-5,000 images a day, and up to 60,000 images per month.” Using a foot pedal to control the shutter, Oscar can make his camera sing.

Read the decidedly long titled article at “Meet the Camera Man—An Inside Look at How Historical Documents are Being Digitally Captured.”

Family Tree Maker—The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Some people have claimed that Ancestry.com is skipping the release of a Family Tree Maker 2013 because they are still fixing serious tree-synching bugs in the 2012 product. Regardless of their motives, Family Tree Maker 2012 owners received word recently that another free update is available.

A few of the new or improved features are:

• Several bugs have been fixed in Tree Sync and several new features have been added, such as the ability to flag desk-side media objects for exclusion when uploading photos and documents.
• In the Places workspace locations are grouped together hierarchically to make them easier to access.
• Backups can now include media files from where ever they are on your hard drive and can now include information such as website favorites and historical events for timelines.
• Facts can be copied and pasted to multiple family members, including media and citations.

For more information, read “Another Bonus Update for Family Tree Maker 2012.”

RootsTech News

RootsTech is offering Family History Consultants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a $99 discount to attend all three days of RootsTech 2013. To get the $99 price, consultants must use a discount code at checkout. Consultants received the code in an email on or about last Friday. If you are a consultant and are not receiving consultant emails, I encourage you to register:

• Go to https://www.familysearch.org/serve
• Login if not already
• Go to My Preferences
• Select your Church calling
  

Get Ready For RootsTech!

This is a great, high energy video. If you presented, blogged, exhibited, sponsored, or just attended RootsTech 2012, check it out. You might see yourself. You’ll definitely see people you know.

Can’t view the video above? See it at http://bcove.me/bh51ll4f.

Monday Mailbox: RootsTech Hotel Space Going Fast

Dear Ancestry Insider,

The week of Roots Tech is not only spring break for skiers but also the NCAA basketball regional finals at the nearby Energy Solutions Center. Many of the hotels are completely booked like the Marriott across the street. Downtown Salt Lake will be very crowded that week. Those of us traveling from out of state should get our hotel and flights early and please get the word out to Roots Tech attendees.

Signed,
Widholm *

Dear Widholm,

Yikes! I hadn’t realized there were that many things happening in Salt Lake that week. Thanks for the warning. I was aware that the workshops are filling up fast. If you’ve already decided to go to RootsTech, act now. If you haven’t decided yet, give it some thought. Right away.

Signed,
The Insider

RootsTech 2013 Registration Opens

I’ve accepted an invitation to be an official RootsTech 2013 Blogger. The first order of business is announcing the opening of registration. Here is the announcement from FamilySearch:

RootsTech 2013 Registration is Live with $149 Early-bird Pricing

Registration is now live for the 3rd annual RootsTech conference on March 21-23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, UT. With several thousand attendees each of the first two years, the 2013 conference is shaping up to be the biggest and best yet!

RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, offers an opportunity unlike any other to discover the latest family history tools and techniques, connect with experts to help  you in your research, and be inspired in the pursuit of your ancestors.  You will learn to use the  latest technology to get started or accelerate your efforts to find, organize, preserve, and share your family's connections and history.

New in 2013! A full track of Getting Started classes and labs will help those new to family history learn where to start, how to build their family tree, and how to use technology to explore their connections. Learn more.

Register NOW and Save $70 with Early-bird Pricing!

Registration Options

Full 3-Day Pass Access to everything RootsTech has to offer (250+ classes).	$219 $149 (Early-bird Pricing)
One-day Pass Full admission for just one day.	$89
Student 3-Day Pass Student ID required.	$39
NEW! Getting Started 3-Day Pass Beginner track with access to over 30 classes.	$49 $39 (Early-bird Pricing)
Getting Started One-Day Pass A selection of fundamental classes to help get you started.	$19
Developer Day Pass (March 22) A full-day technology program just for developers.	$89

Learn more and register at www.rootstech.org.

RootsTech has something for everyone, whether you are an avid genealogist, just getting started, or simply want to discover the latest technologies and solutions to better connect with your family. At RootsTech, come prepared to experience world-class content from speakers all over the country, an exciting exhibitor hall, and great keynote speakers.

Evidence Explained and the Index Derivative Type

When it was recently released, I read Elizabeth Shown Mills’s latest online lesson, “QuickLesson 10: Original Records, Image Copies, and Derivatives.” While we often speak of sources as being originals or derivatives, real life is not always that tidy. Mills presents three caveats to consider when classifying a source. One thing that can be done is to distinguish between formats that preserve the original content and those that process the content and the form of the content. Mills lists about 10 of each type.

I want to emphasize the characteristics of one of the derivative types she presents: indexes.

I regard indexes (as they are called on FamilySearch.org) and databases (as they are called on Ancestry.com) as nearly the worst of all derivative types. Indexes are used as finding aids. To that end, publishers apply all sorts of treatments to the information found in the original records. The information originally in the records is interpreted and transformed, and conclusions are drawn. Some of these are made by keyers and indexers. Some are applied en masse by computer algorithms.

• Names. Name parts are divided into given and surnames, sometimes incorrectly, even swapped. Indexers might be instructed to interpret abbreviations. Keyers and indexers misread names. You should also be aware that to increase findability, publishers standardize names—behind the scenes “Jack” becomes “John” and so forth.
• Dates. Dates are often assumed to be Gregorian, regardless. Or dates from other calendar systems may be forced into Western Calendar format.
• Birth Dates. Birth dates may be inferred from age. Birth years calculated this way for a June 1 census are wrong over half of the time.
• Places. Abbreviations may be interpreted by indexers or computers. Indiana’s “Ia” may become Iowa and its “In” may become India. Place names may be forced into a hierarchy of three jurisdictions (town, county, state for the U.S.) regardless of reality. As with names, publishers standardize place names behind the scenes, sometimes using pick lists, making it impossible to find some records.
• Race. Race, color, nationality, and ethnicity may be confused, standardized, and reduced to pick lists that exclude and confuse many values.

The next time you use an index, remember these shortcomings. Indexes should be considered finding aids. When available, always view the image. When images are not available, always use the index information to obtain copies of the original record.

The other nine lessons can be found on the website Evidence Explained: Historical Analysis, Citation & Source Usage.

Insider Speaking at UGA Conference Saturday

The Utah Genealogical Association (UGA) is holding their 2012 Fall Conference this Friday and Saturday, September 21st and 22nd, at the Larry H. Miller Campus of the Salt Lake Community College (9750 South 300 West, Sandy, Utah).

UGA is touting this as a new, family friendly conference.

Bring your family to explore your roots: the Utah Genealogical Association Fall 2012 Conference will be a new kind of event for teens and adults.  Classes, vendors, and activities will involve all experience and interest levels.  Activities will be available for children or grandchildren of conference participants (accompanied by participant)  from 1:00PM until 4:00PM Saturday. …

With a fresh schedule and vendor's activity booths, this will be different than any genealogy conference you've ever seen or attended.

There is a free family history consultant track. Special pricing is available for families and one-day registration is available.

I will be giving two presentations on Saturday. Come by and say hello.

Ancestry.com Developing Facebook Application

Did you know that Ancestry.com bought We’re Related, the Facebook app?

We’re Related was formerly owned by FamilyLink.com, Paul Allen’s company. MyHeritage.com bought most of FamilyLink, but the We’re Related Facebook app was not included. (See “MyHeritage acquires FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com!”)

In March 2012, Ancestry.com purchased the We’re Related Facebook app (according to a document Ancestry filed with the Federal government).

A search for “Ancestry” on Facebook revealed that there is also an Ancestry Facebook app. The app offered to help me build my family tree in minutes using my Friends list.

The app had a hard time building the Insider’s family tree, choosing Drew Smith as my most likely relative. (I knew the Genealogy Insider was a distant cousin, but who knew about Drew?)

I asked a friend with more family than I have to try it out. It was slick. In just a few minutes I… I mean he… had 12 people in my tree. Granted, all were living, but even dead people have to start somewhere. Siblings, spouses, parents, nephews/nieces, aunts/uncles all fell into their proper place with minimal effort.

Ancestry then asked for missing parents and grandparents. This is important as it allows the Ancestry hinting engine to start finding records of your Ancestors. Ancestry then saved the newly created tree and took me to the regular member tree page.

People added to the tree this way are linked to their Facebook accounts so profile picture changes are reflected in your tree. I could not find a way to add additional people from Facebook once the tree was created. No doubt that will come in the future.

I think this is killer cool technology and look forward to using it more.

Check out http://www.ancestry.com/facebook or www.relatedonfacebook.com, and www.wererelated.com. You must have a Facebook account, must login, and must grant the Ancestry app permission to access information about you and your friends.

Serendipity in Genealogy: Niue Island Disaster

“In 2004 a maximum force, category 5 cyclone struck the island nation of Niue. It was miraculous that only two people lost their lives, as the devastation leveled a long coastal area.” Homes perched 90 feet above sea level were crushed and swept away. The island experienced wind gusts up to 200 miles per hour.

“The fury of nature took a heavy toll on trees, buildings, and people on Niue.” Priceless government records were lost. “These valuable documents include[d] 30,000 images of birth, death, and marriage records and an index of Europeans who had immigrated to Niue. The documents also included genealogies of Niue women which are used to determine property rights as well as some other genealogies.”

“Years earlier FamilySearch volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had meticulously microfilmed many of Niue’s vital records.” Consequently, following the disaster the Church was able to present copies of these missing records to Niue’s government leaders.

That is what we call, “Serendipity in Genealogy.”

---

Source

FamilySearch. “Niue Island Disaster - FamilySearch Records Preservation.” YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHgh5D76EjU : accessed 13 September 2012.

FGS Insider Ketchup

The Federation of Genealogical Societies annual conference has been over for a week and I have several articles I had hoped to write. Unfortunately, it is time to ketchup…

War of 1812 Pension Digitization Project

The Federation is sponsoring the War of 1812 Pension Digitization Project. So far, there are 298,598 images online. A second camera has been deployed. Over a thousand people have donated and the project has received its first six figure gift. They also have a new brochure.

And pay attention to this: the Illinois State Genealogical Society will match contributions dollar for dollar up through $10,000. Since Ancestry.com is also matching, a gift of $25 becomes $100. Visit the ISGS website to make your contribution.

FGS 2013

The 2013 FGS conference will be in Fort Wayne, Indiana, home of the Allen County Public Library. If you haven’t visited in a while, come see their new facility built in 2007. This library is one of the top genealogy libraries in the country and I’m excited to be visiting it for the first time.

Ephemera

One nice aspect of national conferences is luncheons. I attended one with a presentation by David McDonald. He is the president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and a Director of the National Genealogical Society. He is also a man of the cloth and it showed. I speak not of his tremendous speaking ability, although that was present. No. I sat at his table and when someone asked for the iced tea, he sprang to his feet, grabbed the pitcher, and proceeded around the table, serving us all.

When he stood for his presentation, he began by saying “I’m not making a scholarly lecture. This is lunch!” He spoke to the subject of ephemera, which he defined as stuff. We listened entertained and moved as he talked of the heirlooms in his family. Many were not recognized as such, such as the 4-inch tall Humpty Dumpty sugar bowl. (Yes, having a great fall was part of the story.)

In the end the moral was simple. We need to label more than photographs. We need to write down an explanation of the stuff in our lives that we’ve received from previous generations and stuff that we wish to be valued by later ones.

“Let me encourage you when you are busy and the internet goes down to go take a look at the top drawer, the jewelry box… and write down what those things mean.”

Don Anderson at FGS: We Have the Opportunity

“We have the opportunity to do more,” said Don Anderson, senior vice president of patron and partner services at FamilySearch. Anderson spoke at a luncheon on the closing day of the annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. He made the comment in the context of the large numbers FamilySearch is producing and what still needs to be done.

FamilySearch has about 607 million images online and are adding about 500 million more a year from its microfilm collection at the Granite Mountain Records Vault. That means at the FGS conference next year FamilySearch will have more than a billion images online. The entire vault will be converted in less than six years. FamilySearch is capturing an additional 75 million a year directly from the field and not available on microfilm. FamilySearch has more than four billion indexed names online. About three billion are in historic records and about a billion are in family trees. FamilySearch has over 300 online training sessions. It has research resources in 28 countries. You can call for help 24x7, toll free from all over the world. There are over 70,000 wiki articles.

“How do we do all this?” he asked. “Nearly all of this is created by volunteers.”

Family history societies have played a large role in this. For the 1940 U.S. Census project, 434 societies helped, indexing in all 50 states.

Many societies saw something in return. “The consortium engaged in significant public relations activities,” indicated Anderson. They engaged a premier public relations firm to increase coverage of the 1940 Census. This resulted in hundreds of stories. In some instances local news media approached local societies in order to put a local face on the story. This increased exposure for societies.

Anderson played a couple of media clips illustrating this. I couldn’t find the video he played from Burbank ABC 7, but I found an article in the L.A. Times mentioning the Southern California Genealogical Society. He showed a news story that ran on St. Louis Public Radio. Ann Carter Fleming of the St. Louis Genealogical Society was one of two guests. (I don’t recall if Anderson played some of the segment or not.)

Anderson warned us before showing one of his slides. “I [show] this at the risk of being discouraging,” he said. “My intent is to be encouraging.” He then showed us the graphic below, comparing the size of the records in the vault versus what has been indexed so far. He compared these to how many new records FamilySearch is capturing each year. Finally, he showed the comparatively small size of the 1940 Census Project.

 

“We have the opportunity to do more,” said Anderson. “We have the opportunity to accelerate this tremendously.” There are lots of additional members and additional societies that could engage in these efforts.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Community Project. The Italian Indexing Project. Four point four billion records in the Granite Mountain. Additional annual record capture.

“That’s the challenge. That’s the opportunity.”

“Together we can make the world’s records available to the world.”

FGS Archives Award to Tuscaloosa Genealogical Society

Photo credits: Tuscaloosa
Genealogical Society

The FGS Archives award is presented to an organization or an individual in recognition of exceptional contributions in the area of archival access, preservation, or services. In the Keynote session of the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference Thursday morning, FGS Director Mike Hall presented the award to the Tuscaloosa Genealogical Society for their project to preserve fragile, deteriorating county records in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. They call it the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse 7th Floor Records Project.

According to a July 2007 article in the Tuscaloosa News, genealogist Karen Hunnicutt came upon the records in the attic of the courthouse. They were stored in dirty, leaky conditions with no temperature control. The court intended to destroy them once they were digitized.

The Tuscaloosa Genealogical Society obtained permission in 2007 to take more than 450 county probate books and arranged for a temperature controlled environment in which to store them. Society members have moved them all and have cleaned 415 so far. Seventy have been microfilmed. Fourteen have been indexed with a total of 47,000 entries.

Congratulations, Tuscaloosa for a job well done.

Monday Mailbox: FamilySearch Language Issues

Dear [LDS-WC],

I tried the new Family Tree at familysearch.org. I find it to be inferior to new FamilySearch (nFS). But that's my personal opinion. Maybe I'll get used to it over time.

But there's a problem you might be able to help me with:

As I first started doing my genealogy on nFS a year ago, I quickly found out that it was best to not use nFS in German but rather use the English interface. Besides a few translation issues the help center is real nuisance if you use it in German. Not all articles have been translated into German. And I often spend hours to find a KB article only to find out later that it is only available in English and can only be found if you switch the interface to English before searching. That's why I am doing my genealogy completely in English on nFS.

I have configured my church account accordingly and set the preferred language to English. Everything works just fine - at least in nFS. While trying Family Tree at FS I found out that it is behaving strangely. The outer frame of the website (framed above by "Family Tree -- Learn -- FamilySearch Centers -- Indexing -- Blog") is in English. Also the links to Settings, Help and the Sign Out button is in English. The inner frame, consisting of the actual Family Tree, is in German. I haven't yet found a way to switch it to English.

First I thought it might be that FS sees my German IP address and switches back to German. So I tried an U.S. proxy, connected with an IP address from Chicago (after having deleted all cookies) and still got the German inner frame.

So I'm lost here. Language settings on lds.org and FS/nFS websites have always been a constant nuisance. But at least I always found a way around them and got what I was looking for. Not this time.

Here is a screenshot: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/152/42547868.jpg/

So if anybody has any ideas how to get Family Tree in English - please let me know.

Thanks,
Sebastian Buck *

Dear Sebastian,

I spoke to a product manager about your situation. Here’s the scoop:

FamilySearch is working on globalizing headers and footers so they appear in the patron’s language. This should be done soon. Until then, the headers and footers will always be in English.

Family Tree appears in the language of the operating system and browser. If you change the preferred language of your browser and relaunch it, Family Tree should come up in the preferred language. Before November FamilySearch plans to provide a language setting in the footer which will give you a convenient way to switch languages of headers, footers, and Family Tree.

Signed,
The Ancestry Insider

Bashert in Genealogy

It is as though our ancestors want to be found. Uncanny coincidence. Olympian luck. Phenomenal fate. Tremendous intuition. Remarkable miracle. We call It, “Serendipity in Genealogy.”

“Serendipity” is not the right word to describe experiences researching the horrendous events of the Holocaust. Judy Wilkenfeld uses the Yiddish word “bashert” (destiny or fate) to describe the “coincidences” she experiences in her research. Several of these occurred in her search for the fate of her grandmother during the Shoah.

Please read her account in her own words, titled “Evidence” on her Provenance blog. Contrast the fortunate “coincidences” of April 14th with the terrible non-coincidences of July 23rd. Finally read about the discovery and awful reality of the photograph.

Thank you, Judy, for sharing this moving and very personal experience.

FGS: Chris van der Kuyl, CEO, brightsolid

Chris van der Kuyl, chief executive officer of brightsolid gave the keynote presentation at this year’s annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. His presentation was titled, “The Family History Community: A Global Powerhouse for Collaboration.” The history of brightsolid and its web properties is rich in collaboration (but mostly acquisition).

One part of van der Kuyl’s presentation really impressed me. “The real power of technology is when it is unleashed to everyone,” he said. Then he told us a little bit about Jack Andraka, a fifteen year old sensation. Andraka is a high school Freshman in Maryland. He invented a way to test for viruses and antigens using a specially prepared strip of paper. His pancreatic cancer test costs $3. That is 27,000 times less expensive than existing tests.

brightsolid was founded in 1995 as Scotland Online and changed its name to brightsolid in 2008. It is wholly owned by DC Thomson, which is a family owned publisher of newspapers and magazines. Brightsolid has two units: brightsolid online publishing and brighsolid online technology. Its online publishing unit has a dizzying array of websites:

• Friends Reunited – A British social networking website. Acquired in 2010.
• Genes Reunited – Launched as a sister site to Friends Reunited. Acquired in 2010 with Friends Reunited.
• findmypast.co.uk – Founded in 2003 as 1837online.com. Published complete England & Wales BMD. Acquired in 2007.
• findmypast.com.au – Australian Find My Past. Acquired it from World Vital Records in 2010. Originally WorldVitalRecords.com.au.
• findmypast.ie – Launched in May 2011 as a joint venture with Eneclann.
• 1911Census.co.uk – Launched in 2009 in partnership with The National Archives. Funded the project and operates it as a revenue-sharing partnership.
• 1901censusonline.com – England & Wales censuses from 1841 to 1901. Founded by Qinetiq. Bought by Friends Reunited in 2005. Acquired it in 2010 with Friends Reunited.
• ancestorsonboard.com – Launched in 2006 by findmypast.co.uk. They acquired it the following year.
• ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk – Launched in 2002 as a partnership with the National Records of Scotland, the Court of the Lord Lyon, and brightsolid.
• British Newspaper Archive – Launched in November 2011 as a partnership with the British Library. When Dennis Brimhall visited brighsolid’s office, they tried typing in the name of one of his ancestors and up he came as the first hit. (How many of us wish that would happen for us?)
• censusrecords.com – I don’t recall when they launched this. It was this year or last. It is a small, pay-as-you-go site specializing in the U.S. census.
• findmypast.com – Launched in July 2012 for an American audience. They are offering a Pioneer Membership for $4.95 a month. The offer runs through September 9th. They acquired the 1940 census as part of the 1940 U.S. census community project. “It has been an absolute privilege to be a partner on this project,” he said. They are negotiating several key partnerships to make them more competitive with the major U.S. players.

Countering Ancestry.co.uk sponsored “Who Do You Think You Are,” brightsolid is sponsoring “FInd My Past the TV Show.” The show connects ordinary people to a significant event in the past.

Van der Kuyl’s background is video games and brightsolid is working on one to draw in younger genealogists. “Family House” allows players to populate a house with related people. I think it allows you to furnish the house and set the appearance of the people.

(I don’t know if it is related, but brightsolid has posted a video of a different concept, “Your Family Story,” on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbxc6f_Yy_k.)

Van der Kuyl reviewed brightsolid’s values. (Also available as a YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6d51uN9M50.) “Our mission is to surpass your expectation,” he said.

“It’s about value creation, not just profit making.”

FGS: Librarian’s Day

Librarian’s Day at FGS Conference
Photo credit: Kim Harrison

I’ve mentioned that Wednesday, the first day of the FGS conference, has a special audience: genealogical society officers. Well this year (and most years) the first day of the conference was also Librarians Day. As you are doubtlessly aware, many libraries have genealogy collections. Librarians day is designed for librarians, archivists, and other information professionals serving family history researchers.

I wasn’t able to attend the entire day, but the program looked great. The opening keynote was Dr. Edwin C. Bridges, director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, who spoke about “Is Alabama History as Rich and Interesting as Greek or Roman History?” Laura Caldwell Anderson, archivist for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; Jim Baggett, head of the Department of Archives and Manuscripts at the Birmingham Public Library; and Elizabeth Crabtree Wells, special collections librarian and archivist at Samford University, discussed Birmingham resources for librarians and their patrons.

The luncheon speaker was William J. Forsyth, directory of product management for ProQuest. ProQuest is the Librarian’s Day sponsor and sells a variety of subscription services to libraries, including Ancestry Library Edition. (I sometimes wonder if FamilySearch.org would get more attention from libraries if ProQuest offered a FamilySearch Library Edition. But I digress…)

In the afternoon Amy Johnson Crow spoke to the topic of “The Importance of Your Genealogy Collection’s Website.” Crow is a genealogical content manager at Archives.com.

“It is not enough to have a website,” she said. “You have to have a good website.” Crow went on to quote Voltaire: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” and warned participants, “I never said you had to have a perfect website.” Crow also advised tat attendees provide great content and site navigation. “Content is like chocolate,” she said. It has to be rich and it has to be satisfying. “Whatever content you have, it has to be good. It has to be meaningful.” She offered the Ohio Obituary Index as an example. The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (not a NARA presidential library) offers this index of 2.1 million obituaries. The index gives enough information for users to identify an ancestor. Then it gives a link allowing users to order a copy of the obituary. The index has brought the Hayes Center a tremendous amount of traffic and attention.

Curt B. Witcher, the Genealogy Center manager at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, spoke to the topic, “Sources and Resources: Mining the Gold from Genealogical & Historical Serials.” (Private message to Curt: Sorry about the lousy photograph. I’m a terrible photographer.)

Periodicals contain hidden sources, locality-specific tips, and all kinds of history. “Doing the history eliminates the mystery,” says Witcher. Long bibliographies contain unmined gold. If an article about a topic contains a long bibliography, look through it for other potential sources. “I think it is really exciting for our customers to pull together records about a locale,” he said. “Where does history live? Down at the locale.” There are several ways to find articles of interest. The Allen County Library’s Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is a large subject index to articles written in genealogy and history periodicals. “I think subject indexes have a place alongside every-name indexes,” he said. PERSI is available on HeritageQuest and Ancestry.com.

If you’re a librarian and wish to attend Librarian’s Day, they are scheduled before ALA, NGS and FGS conferences.

Record Access in a Post 9/11 World

David Rencher spoke at a luncheon of this year’s annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. He opened his remarks telling the story of the 2001 conference. It was the organization’s 25th anniversary. It was the Tuesday morning before the conference opened. The celebration was ready, the cake, the balloons, the door prizes.

“Then suddenly, on a beautiful promising sunny day,” said Rencher, “our lives changed as a nation and as a genealogical community.” It was the 11th of September.

“Little did we know at the time the transforming effect that single event would have on our access to genealogical records,” he said. Legislators joined in a bi-partisan effort to restrict access to records. Identity theft also became commonplace and genealogical databases quickly became a target of legislators.

The genealogical community has an organization to help fight these trends: the Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC). You may feel at times that RPAC is not doing all it can, but sometimes over reacting hurts a cause. RPAC takes thoughtful and effectual action.

Arizona has published many
vital records online

Genealogists have experienced wins and losses since 9/11. Arizona’s online vital records is a big win. Pennsylvania is a big win where previously restricted vitals have been transferred to the state archives and can be published. The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is in danger of being limited or being eliminated altogether. Representative Jason Chafetz of Utah is working to curtail the work of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

RPAC is monitoring these situations and acting according to reason and effectiveness. RPAC is seeking a state liaisons from each state to help it monitor and coordinate its efforts. In one existing state the representative advised RPAC to take no action, since congressmen respond best to citizens within their own state. In that particular instance, efforts at the state level successfully saved public access to a set of historical records.