Thursday, October 30, 2008

Indexing Update

Partner Indexing Projects

FamilySearch has a growing number of society indexing partners. FamilySearch Indexing is working with genealogical or historical societies to complete projects of mutual interest. Volunteer indexers may have noted that partner projects are not readily listed in the available batches to index online unless the volunteer has been granted permission to participate by a partner.

FamilySearch indexers can request to participate in a partner project by sending an e-mail directly to the project’s contact or administrator. The society contact information is found next to the project listing (Go to FamilySearchIndexing.org, Projects, Current Projects, scroll down to partner projects, or just click here.

If permission is granted by the partner, an indexer will receive an e-mail with a new user name and temporary password to use when accessing that society’s project(s). Volunteers should use their regular login and password to continue indexing FamilySearch’s open (non partner) projects as usual.

Current society partners and projects are listed below:
  • Algemeen Rijksarchief en Rijksarchief in de Provincien (National Archives of Brussels)
  • Arkansas Genealogical Society
  • Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia
  • Immigrant Ancestors Project
  • Indiana Genealogical Society
  • Ohio Genealogical Society
  • The New England Historic Genealogical Society
Current Partner Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion Status

Arkansas Marriages [The first of these projects] English 5%
Arkansas Marriages IV English 2%
Belgique – Registres Des Décès (Français) French 14%
België - Overlijdens Registers - In het Nederlands Dutch, Flemish 5%
Bremer Schifflisten German New!
Flanders Death Registration French, Dutch, Flemish 33%
Indiana Marriages, 1790 – Apr 1905 English 60%
Indiana Marriages, 1882 – Apr 1905 English 64%
Indiana Marriage Returns, 1882 – Apr 1905 English 48%
Indiana Marriages, Apr 1905 – Dec 1957 English 40%
Nova Scotia Antigonish Church Records, 1823 – 1905 English 35%
Ohio Tax Records – 2 of 4 English 59%
Vermont Militia Records (Coming Soon) English New!

Indexes can be searched for free at http://pilot.familysearch.org. Visit regularly to see what is new!

Mark Your Calendars - UVPAFUG Meeting!

UTAH VALLEY PAF USERS GROUP

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 8 Nov 2008, from 9 am until noon in the LDS "Red" Chapel at 4000 North Timpview Drive (650 East), in Provo. The main presentation will be by Gerhad Ruf on USING WORLDCONNECT AT ROOTSWEB FOR PUBLISHING AND BACKUP. The presentation will describe the advantages in using the WorldConnect database to publish your genealogical data online and to use it as a backup for that data. There are many options for controlling your data and these will be detailed in the presentation.

Gerhard Ruf has worked with various aspects of computers and technology over the past 25 years and since 1995 he has served in the leadership of the Utah Valley PAF Users Group. He has been its President for many years. Gerhard has been presenting classes on genealogical software for at least 10 years and his topics have included many aspects of using computers and the Internet to enhance your family history research. He has spoken at local, regional, and national genealogical conferences and workshops, and is currently employed at MyFamily.com as a Community Operations Specialist at The Generations Network, the parent company of Ancestry, RootsWeb and other genealogical web sites. He develops and teaches classes to the staff on the application of genealogical principles. Gerhard was born in West Germany, grew up in Utah, and graduated from BYU with a degree in Physics. He and his wife, Deon, reside in Orem, Utah.


Following the main presentation there will be several classes taught concerning technology and family history. As usual, there will be something for everyone at all levels of expertise. The classes currently scheduled for this meeting are the following:
  1. Using Google in Genealogy, by Lila Sowards
  2. Free Look-Ups and Free Web Sites, by Laurie Castillo
  3. Q&A on Using WorldConnect by Gerhard Ruf
  4. Individual Mentoring, including a mini-class on using HeritageQuest Online, by Rae Lee Steinacker
  5. Video: (Last month's main presentation) A Practical Guide for Family History Consultants, by DearMYRTLE
  6. Legacy 7, by Joel Graham
  7. An Introduction to RootsMagic 4, by Sue Maxwel
  8. Ancestral Quest 12, by Gaylon Findlay.

All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. Several of the officers, including Gerhard Ruf, President; Brian Cooper, 2nd VP; Eileen Phelps, PAFology Editor; Kay Baker and Gerry Eliason working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill, Lynne Shumway, and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD & Video Library, will all be there. They will help with membership, answer questions, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter PAFology, and check out DVD's and videos of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group's website http://uvpafug.org and the past press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106), VP1 Elder Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu, or VP2 Brian Cooper at vp2@uvpafug.org.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing - Week 62

Well, the worst just happened to me while my techie son reformatted the hard drive to my computer. I left the external plugged in while he was doing the reformatting and he reformatted that too! That was my backup and now it is all wiped out. I didn't make DVD copies of my hard drive this time because I thought the external was good enough. It worked perfect the last time.

I do have some old backups of my hard drive that I installed but a lot is missing. Thank goodness I have my Mozy backup of my hard drive but it costs to have them send me the disks. I will focus tomorrow on setting up my computer to download right from Mozy. It might take a couple of weeks but it's do-able. Can you believe my luck or what!

I checked on the FamilySearch Indexing website and there were not any new messages. In the indexing program there was one message in My Messages for us.
From: Headquarters
Subject: Semimonthly Message
Date: 15 Oct 2008

Thank you for your excellent work so far on the the 1920 US Federal Census. We are currently indexing records for four states from this census: Alabama, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts. As of today, we have completed 34% of the batches for these projects. Great work!

Please remember while you index and arbitrate these projects:
For the Township field, index all of the information that was eritten to the right of yTownship or other division of county, located in the heading of the document. This includes the information written next to Name of Incorporated Place and Ward of City. Also include words such as: township, precinct, or ward; however, do not include punctuation or symbols.

Click here to see an example of how to index the Township field.
There were no New York projects to work on so I decided to continue my work from last week on the Missouri 1870 U.S. Federal Census. I was able to complete 3 batches tonight that makes 120 records. I have indexed to date 9,337 records to date. If I keep up at this rate I will have no problem reaching 10,000 by the end of the year. Wahoo!!

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Early Bird Discount

Register now to take advantage of the Early Bird Discount!

The Early Bird Discount ends October 30!

The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be January 12-16, 2009 at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a week-long educational experience taught by expert genealogists.

Learn to be more effective:
Using the internet
Researching "beyond the library"
One-on-one-problem-solving for your personal research project
Explore the many possibilities of the records of:
Spain and Latin America
German-speaking areas
England
Focus on:
American records and research
The Gulf South states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.

Classes finish in the afternoon each day allowing time for research at the world renowned FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY, located just two blocks away.

In addition (or if you can't attend the day courses), there are 15 optional evening classes on dynamic topics ranging from maximizing Internet searching to organizing what you find to solving research problems. So much to choose from!

No matter which course you attend, you will be a better genealogist by January 16th. What are you waiting for? For more information or to enroll online, visit www.infouga.org.

If you prefer, you can call toll free 1-888-463-6842. Leave your name and phone number. You will be called within a day, and our helpful administrative assistant will register you for the Institute.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing - Week 61

Hopefully I can get through my indexing today without my computer freezing up on me. Do you remember a few weeks ago my son was hogging my computer and it was giving me fits? Well it happened again and this time my son really messed up my computer with installing video programs off the internet to work on movies he was creating. The big problem is my computer resources don't match what was needed to run the programs. Major difficulties here Will Robinson. Did I ever tell you I don't share well with my computer. Can you blame me here!

I think I finally got it through my non-techie son's head that what he was doing was causing the problem with the computer freezing up. I think I have him understanding not to download spyware, sorry freeware, onto my computer. That he can't load anything from now on onto my computer and if he does I am selling him to the lowest bidder, plus changing the computer password so he can never access it again if he ever makes it back home. Sorry just have to rant. I really don't share my computer well with others, especially when they do things to mess it up. So far today I have not experienced it freezing up on me. Hopefully it will continue working great for me or I'm going to have to nuke the hard drive. Don't you just love computers some time.

I received a comment from a reader on my blog article last week. I mentioned that I needed to index 100 names each week to qualify to see some of the images hosted on other sites.
Notice that all LDS Members will have free access to all images available threw these agreements. This will likely be verified with the new LDS Accounts feature that is being developed. When fully developed this will allow one Login and password for all LDS sites for Church members.
Yes, I forgot about the part that since I am LDS I do get a little benefit because my tithes and offering money is helping to pay for my access through these arrangements with third parties. Just this past week I received the address to sign up for your LDSAccount which will be the main sign-on account for many online LDS Church resources. You go to http://ldsaccount.lds.org/ to sign up. It will be great to have only one login to remember. Right now the site is in beta and you can only access www.beta.lds.org, www.ldsces.org and LDS Art Competition through the login.

To begin indexing I started my regular pattern to see if there are any announcements for us and I wasn't disappointed. This one is from the FamilySearchIndexing website.
October 9, 2008: Mac Users and Java - Resolved

A fix has been created for Mac users who have not been able to start the indexing application for the past week (see announcement below on Sept 29th). For the fix to apply to your computer (if you are one of these Mac users), click the Start Indexing button in the bottom right corner of this home page.

If you experience an issue, such as a certificate mismatch error, please click here to run a file that will remove old JAR resources from your computer. Then click the Start Indexing button again, if needed.
There were no new messages from Headquarters on the My Messages portion of the program. There are a copy of posts I had this week on my blog about Indexing this week.
I couldn't believe it when I started to index this evening. My New York Census is gone! What are I going to work on now? I was on such a roll with the 1870 U.S. Federal Censuses so I decided to work on batches in Missouri.

I did three batches so that made 120 names indexed tonight. My grand total to date is 9,217. I wonder if I will be able to reach 10,000 names indexed by the end of the year? Wouldn't that be so cool? I think I will make that my goal.

One batch that I worked on the census taker abbreviated everything he possibly could. He had really nice handwriting but I think he couldn't spell. Just a gut feeling here. It made me realize that when I have names I can't find in the index to make sure I check possible abbreviations for the name or initials for the person too. Sure glad he didn't index one of my families. Well that ends my adventure in indexing for the week.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Monday, October 13, 2008

FamilySearch Indexing Update: 2 New 1870 U.S. States Added; Cheshire Project Nears Completion

FamilySearch Indexing Update

13 October 2008

We had great response to our request a week ago for help with the Cheshire – Poor Law project. Thanks to the focused effort of many volunteers, the Cheshire project is now 97% complete! That’s a 15% increase from last week (or 5,748 batches – Indexer A + Indexer B + Arbitration). It should only take a few more days to get to 100% completion. Sincere thanks go out to all of our indexers who responded to the request. Keep up the great work!

New Projects This Week

This week, two new indexing projects were added—Missouri and Tennessee from the 1870 U.S. Federal Census collection. Please send a message to all friends, colleagues, and family members who might be interested in participating in indexing the two newly added state projects or any of the current indexing initiatives noted below.

Current Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion Status

Alabama - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

85%

Argentina Censo 1869 - Buenos Aires

Spanish - 1869

76%

Arkansas Marriages II

English - 1837-1957

10%

Brandenburg Kirchenbücher

German - 1789-1875

9%

California - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

32%

España Lugo Registros Parroquiales

Spanish - 1530-1930

7%

Florida 1945 Census

English - 1945

30%

France, Coutances, Paroisses de la Manche

French - 1792-1906

7%

Guanajuato Censo de Mexico de 1930

Spanish - 1930

60%

Guerrero - Censo de Mexico de 1930

Spanish - 1930

38%

Illinois - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

16%

Massachusetts - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

17%

Missouri - 1870 US Federal Census

English - 1870

(New)

Morelos - Censo de Mexico de 1930

Spanish - 1930

78%

New York - 1870 US Federal Census

English - 1870

88%

Nicaragua, Managua Civil Records

Spanish - 1879 - present

8%

Tennessee - 1870 US Federal Census

English - 1870

(New)

Trento Italy Baptism Records

Italian - 1784-1924

7%

UK - Cheshire - Poor Law

English - 1848 -1967

97%

Venezuela Mérida Registros Parroquiales

Spanish - 1654 - 1992

0.4%

Everton Online Edition FREE Access

Since the initial launch of the Genealogical Helper as an Online Edition, it has been determined that hosting the magazines on World Vital Records' servers was causing too much confusion and difficulty of access for subscribers. To alleviate the confusion, Everton's have undertaken the hosting themselves, with a much simpler user interface.

Everton apologizes for any inconvenience that genealogists experienced with the initial launch of the Online Edition, and are confident that your experience will now be a pleasant and rewarding one. Everton is offering access to the two Online Edition issues now available at the site: Jul-Aug 2008 and Sept-Oct 2008 absolutely FREE until October 17. Simply go to: www.everton.com. ALSO - until October 27 the $12 annual subscription fee to the Online Edition of the Genealogical Helper will be reduced to $10.00, and the $29.00 annual subscription fee for the hard copy edition of the magazine (includes access to the Online Edition) will be reduced to $25.00.

The Genealogical Helper is widely recognized as having no equal in terms of amount of total content, educational and research information, and lists of organizations, events, and repositories. The complete magazine is online, and all websites listed in either the content or advertisements are hot-linked.

Friday, October 10, 2008

FamilySearch Indexing: Anyone Can Help with Family History Anytime, Anywhere

October 10, 2008 — News from the Church

As they pore over digitized census records and church ledgers, Church members participating in FamilySearch indexing in England are reminded that with every click of the mouse a person comes closer to being found and closer to receiving temple ordinances.

Henry Burkhardt, who is indexing the Brandenburg Church Book Transcripts from the Potsdam State Archives in Germany, has experienced this feeling, as have many others.

The vision of FamilySearch’s volunteer indexing projects is spreading worldwide from Latin America to Asia and from the old to the young. Members with access to the Internet are taking advantage of FamilySearch’s user-friendly Web site and taking time to index between classes, during work breaks, or in place of watching television.

For some people like Austin Corry, a university student and a member of the Logan University 15th Ward, Logan Utah University Fifth Stake, indexing has became a fun, relaxing experience.

“I found time to index 15 minutes here, an hour there,” said Brother Corry, who has indexed more than 17,000 names in his spare time. “It really isn’t an inconvenience, but a great opportunity to bring the Spirit into your everyday life.”

Global Indexing Fits a Busy Life

One of the reasons FamilySearch members worldwide love the indexing program is because the software is designed to fit a busy lifestyle. Previously known as extraction, indexing was once a time-consuming, monotonous process of shuffling through paper copies, taking weeks to do a single batch.

With the help of digitization and Web functionalities, each batch of names takes some 30 minutes to complete. Volunteers are given a week to complete a batch, and they can save their work at any time and start again later where they left off.

“What I really like about indexing is that you can do it on your time, one batch at a time,” said Patricia Mollemans of Germany. “It is not overwhelming; it can be done in half an hour or so. I do a batch, I upload it, and it’s done. I think this is great for a lot of people who would not find the time with the old extraction model.”

Indexing creates data files from digitized records, which allows the information to become searchable through a free electronic database on FamilySearch.org. There is no minimum or maximum limit to how many names an individual can do. Every name indexed makes a difference in helping people locate their ancestors.

FamilySearch has a variety of indexing projects available in Dutch, French, English, German, Italian, and Spanish. Indexing projects in Czech and Russian are forthcoming. Area FamilySearch managers are helping recruit index volunteers in many countries to become a part of the global effort.

“Now that records for more countries are available, more members are enthusiastic about participating,” said Francisco Javier Gómez, FamilySearch support manager for the South America North Area. “They feel that this is one more proof that the Church is really engaged in helping the whole world to get to know their ancestors.”

Indexing Strengthens Testimonies, Unity

In 2007, students in the Logan Utah University Fifth Stake, a student stake in Logan, Utah, USA, not only met their goal of indexing 100,000 names, but exceeded it by 3,000. They surpassed that total after the first two months in 2008 while on the way to shattering their new goal of 200,000 names.

But results can’t always be quantified. Blessings have come through increased sacrament meeting attendance and stronger testimonies. Elaine Mander, a FamilySearch representative in West Midlands, United Kingdom, said indexing has brought her closer to heaven more than any other form of service.

The effort put forth in the Logan stake has unified wards. Individually, students have turned their eyes to the temple, gaining a greater appreciation for its significance by committing themselves to maintain their covenants and live temple standards.

“The Spirit is present,” said Kay Baker, stake high councilor over the indexing work. “As young people get on the computer and start entering names and doing family history work, they find it fun and exhilarating.”

Activity has also increased among less-active members as bishops have given them assignments to do indexing.

“(Through indexing) they can serve and feel like they are contributing, and it has helped some of them come back into activity and to correct what was wrong in their lives,” said Bruce M. Cook, recently released president of the student stake.

Students Redefining Stereotypes

While family history work is generally regarded as the domain of older members, the students contradict that stereotype. Some ward socials and family home evenings in the stake have turned into indexing “extravaganzas.” Between completing index batches, students snack on treats, socialize, or play a game of volleyball. Some of these socials have lasted into the wee hours of the morning with students signed up to come in at various times of the night. One ward started an indexing marathon at 6 p.m. and ended at 8 a.m. the next day.

“It was fun to see members of the bishopric and high council stay up through the night with students to [help us] reach our goals,” Belinda Olsen, a member of the stake, said.

The indexing has motivated some to begin working on their own family roots and to do temple work. In 2007, students in the stake researched and cleared some 2,500 family names for temple ordinances.

“I think that it is really important for all members to become involved with indexing and family history work,” Sister Olsen said. “If we always leave the responsibility up to someone else it will never get done.”

New Technology Sparks Youth Interest in Family History

FamilySearch public affairs manager Paul Nauta said the Church-owned family history service is thrilled to see the increasing volume of teenagers and college students who are motivated to do indexing work or search for their own ancestors. He also hopes continued enhancements to the FamilySearch Web site will attract more technology-minded youth.

“As opportunities to do family history or volunteer online grow, youth seem naturally primed to get involved,” Brother Nauta said.

Anyone interested in family history work can become an indexer by going to the FamilySearchIndexing.org Web site, click on the “ link, and follow the step-by-step download instructions.

More Records Added to 1901 Census at FindMyPast.com

Leading UK family history website findmypast.com has added the county of Kent to its new version of the 1901 census for England and Wales. Just under a million records from Kent have now gone live and can be searched at http://www.findmypast.com/CensusPersonStartSearchServlet?censusYear=1901. More counties will follow over the coming months.

NEWS OF THE 1911 CENSUS

Next year will see the eagerly awaited opening of a brand new census for England and Wales. The 1911 census has details of over 36 million people resident in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, as well as, for the first time, a full enumeration of the British Army servingoverseas. It is the most detailed census ever produced and is an amazing resource for family, house and local historians. The first e-newsletter update about the project will be sent out shortly. To make sure you receive your copy, you can pre-register now athttp://www.1911census.co.uk/ - the official website of the 1911 census for England and Wales.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

New Temple Site Locations Announced

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today gave more details about the locations of the five new temples announced by President Thomas S. Monson at the Church’s general conference in Salt Lake City on Saturday

The Philadelphia temple will be built in downtown Philadelphia, at North Broad Street between Hamilton Street and Noble Street. Several other temples occupy urban sites, including those in Manhattan and Hong Kong. No designs have been completed for this temple or the others announced on Saturday.

For the temple serving the greater Kansas City area, the site will be in Clay County, Missouri, on residential land within the Kansas City limits that is already being developed by the Church. The development is known as Shoal Creek.

The temple in Córdoba, Argentina, will be situated on the Belgrano meetinghouse site, next to the present mission home of the Church, and the Calgary temple will be built on Church-owned land next to an existing chapel in the northwest part of the city, at the intersection of Rocky Ridge Road and Royal Oak Road.

In Rome, the temple will occupy part of a 15-acre Church-owned site near the ring road skirting the northeast section of Rome.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Summit County Ohio Court Receives Grant

The following press release is from FamilySearch.org.

Hundreds of thousands of historic records will be freely available online

Salt Lake City, Utah—Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, and the National Association of Government Archive and Records Administrators (NAGARA) announced on July 24, 2008, that Judge Bill Spicer and the Probate Division of the Summit County Common Pleas Court in Akron, Ohio, were awarded a 2008 grant for the digitization of Summit County marriage, birth, and death records. The court’s grant was one of only two awarded in 2008. This significant grant will make it possible for Summit County to digitally preserve and provide free online access to select historical documents.

The project targets 1840 to 1980 marriage records for over 550,000 individuals, birth records prior to 1908 for over 46,000 individuals, and death records prior to 1908 for over 22,000 individuals. A free, searchable name index linked to the digital images of the original records will be available to the public through the probate court’s Web site www.summitohioprobate.com and the grant partners’ sites.

“As a result of the grant, our Website, which was chosen as one of the 10 best in the country by the National College of Probate Judges, will now have the added distinction of being a model for the state and country for accessing historical court records,” said Judge Spicer. “Not only will it improve access, but by reducing the need to see the often-fragile originals, it will make the court’s job of preserving hundreds of thousands of original records easier. The project is a far-sighted and important effort in preserving local history. On behalf of the court and the citizens of Summit County, I thank the project sponsors for selecting Summit County Probate Court as its 2008 grant recipient.”

This is the first year that this national grant was offered. It is sponsored by Ancestry.com and FamilySearch and administered by NAGARA. Under the grant, FamilySearch will digitize the original documents on-site in the Summit County courthouse by the end of 2008, and Ancestry.com will create an electronic index linked to the images. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2009. The commercial value of the grant is estimated to be $150,000.00.

Outside of this and similar business transactions, no legal or other affiliation exists between FamilySearch and The Generations Network.

Itsourtree.com helps to save energy

The following is a press release from isourtree.com. Please direct questions to: Christian Richtscheid, Press Relations Officer, Email: Christian.Richtscheid@itsourtree.com

In spite of rising energy prizes:
itsourtree.com brings the family closer together

Energy costs are constantly rising while the budget for family visits is shrinking. There is less money left in the wallet for the trip to the grandparents. Online family network itsourtree.com sets itself the target to bring the family closer together by means of the platform’s communication features.

The medium internet is a quick and free alternative to stay in contact with the family even at long distances. Building a common family tree is the first step to simple family communication. Other relatives can be searched for in the database and then invited to collaborate in the family tree, photos of the last family reunion can be shared with all relatives. The easy-to-use message system keeps the relatives up-to-date on everything and they get over a cancelled visit more easily.

Itsourtree.com, the fastest-growing family network worldwide, has become an important research and communication tool for both genealogists and families all around the globe. So far, more than 5 million families use the platform to combine genealogy with the fun of family connection.

About itsourtree.com

Apart from the English site, the services are available in Germany (www.verwandt.de), in Poland (www.moikrewni.pl), Spain and South America (www.miparentela.com), Portugal (www.meusparentes.com.pt), Brazil (www.meusparentes.com.br), the Netherlands (www.verwant.nl), Italy (www.parentistretti.it) and France (www.familleunie.fr). The platform will continue expanding to other European countries as well as worldwide. Itsourtree.com is supported by leading Business Angels and Neuhaus Partners, a well-known venture capitalist.


Sunday, October 05, 2008

Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing - Week 60

I am watching LDS Genealogy Conference while I am indexing today. It seems I can't just watch TV anymore without doing something with my hands. It is such a luxury to have a laptop and be able to work on it out here in the living room.

I checked the FamilySearch Indexing website for any messages and was not disappointed.
October 2, 2008:
Access to Indexes and Images


All indexes created by FamilySearch volunteers will be available free to the general public through FamilySearch.org. Access to any images with a “convenience fee” provided under FamilySearch affiliate agreements (e.g., with Ancestry.com, Findmypast.com, and Footnote.com) will be available for free through any family history center worldwide, to LDS Church members, and qualified FamilySearch indexers (a volunteer who indexes 900 names in a 90 day period will have 90 days of free image access).

FamilySearch is testing a validation system that will enable it to authenticate qualified FamilySearch members. It will be implemented in 2009.

To search indexes and images freely now at FamilySearch's pilot site, click here.
That makes me wonder if I am indexing enough in my current pattern to pay my "convenience fee"? 900 names in 90 days would average 100 records a week. Yes, that seems manageable to me. Though the death certificates do take longer to index and it would be harder to get the numbers doing those. To bad they can't even that out a little.

That reminds me that I received an comment from a reader on how to get some high numbers.
Renee,

I always enjoy your blogs, especially the ones about indexing. I was interested in the message for people in Utah to do returned batches. I live in FL, but wish I could help- I'd love to help get the Irish BMD indexes out. I am anxiously waiting for them to be released.

I've been doing the UK Cheshire Poor Law records lately. For anyone who is interested in getting high numbers, you do 5 to 30 records and get credit for the entire 50 in the table.

Keep up the good work! Pat Payne
I love high numbers and I would love to work on those records, but I need to do my New York batches while they are available. But, first I need to see if there were any messages for us in the My Messges area of the FamilySearch Indexing program. There are two places to look now for messages from headquarters and it gets a little confusing where to find them. We did have a seimimonthly message from Headquarters.
From: Headquarters
Subject: Semimonthly Message
Date: 02 Oct 2008

To all indexers, arbitrators, and group administrators:

Please take a moment to review and update your personal information currently stored in our database. You can see this information on your My Info page on the FamilySearch indexing Web site.

1. Open your internet browser and go to www.familysearchindexing.org.
2. Click the Sign On link in the top right corner of the page.
3. Type your user name and password (the same ones you use to sign in to the application).
4. Click OK.
5. Review your information.
  • If you are a group administrator, you will need to click the My Info link in the top right corner of the page to see your information quickly.
6. Make any changes needed.
  • If you need to change your Group or Stake, click the field and start typing the name. A drop-down list should appear. Continue typing until the name of your group or stake appears. Click the correct name.
7. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Accurate information is very important to our administrative efforts behind the scenes here in Salt Lake City. We greatly appreciate your help with keeping our database updated.

Sincerely,

FamilySearch Indexing
Well, maybe that's why I have never heard from anyone locally about my indexing. My Group or Stake showed as Utah 0008. I think I was just floating out there in cyberspace somewhere. At least everything is now up-to-date for me.

I was very pleased to see that the New York 1870 U.S. Federal Census Records were still available for me to work on. I did nine batches totaling 360 names. Making a grand total of 9097 records indexed to date. I feel like I could of indexed more but the program was running so slow. Maybe to many people were on line today at the same time as me. It was terrible when you needed to look at the previous record to get information for the page you were indexing. It seemed like I needed to do that on every batch.

Well, indexing is done for the day and conference is also over. I think I will go take a nice nap before I work on my own genealogy.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Friday, October 03, 2008

FamilySearch Indexing Update: 3 October 2008

Over 29 million new names were posted this past week on the FamilySearch Record Search pilot. Kudos to the FamilySearch volunteer indexers for their monumental contributions! The chart below lists the current indexing projects and their completion status. Volunteers can help any time by registering or downloading a current project at www.familysearch.org (click on Index Records>Volunteer or Start Indexing) or www.familysearchindexing.org.

Project Spotlight: United Kingdom, Cheshire Poor Law

The United Kingdom, Cheshire Poor Law indexing project is currently 82% complete. We would like to finish this project by the end of next week, 10 October 2008. If volunteers have time to donate before October 10th, try doing at least a batch or two (or more) from this project. (To download a batch from a specific project, click the Download From… button in the My Work section of the indexing application’s start page, select the from the list, and click Download.)

The Cheshire project includes several types of records kept by the workhouses in Cheshire County, including the Chester Union Workhouse at Hoole, from 1848-1967. Some of the poor in the community would go to the workhouses for only a short time. Some ended up spending the rest of their lives there.

We are indexing birth and baptism records, death and burial records, admission registers, and creed registers. The information gathered depends upon the record type and includes the names of those admitted, admission dates, religion, names of children, names of parents, birth dates, baptism dates, names of the deceased, death and burial dates.

These are not all of the Poor Law records but a significant portion of them. It is estimated that these records include 500,000 names. [The population of Cheshire County during the time period of these records is uncertain, but the population in 2001 was 673,781—so a significant portion of the community is represented in these records.]

Current Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion Status

Alabama - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

79%

Argentina Censo 1869 - Buenos Aires

Spanish - 1869

66%

Brandenburg Kirchenbücher

German - 1789-1875

8%

California - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

28%

España Lugo Registros Parroquiales

Spanish - 1530-1930

6%

Florida 1945 Census

English - 1945

24%

France, Coutances, Paroisses de la Manche

French - 1792-1906

7%

Guanajuato Censo de Mexico de 1930

Spanish - 1930

56%

Guerrero - Censo de Mexico de 1930

Spanish - 1930

35%

Illinois - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

15%

Massachusetts - 1920 US Federal Census

English - 1920

15%

Morelos - Censo de Mexico de 1930

Spanish - 1930

68%

New York - 1870 US Federal Census

English - 1870

55%

Nicaragua, Managua Civil Records

Spanish - 1879 - present

8%

Quintana Roo - Censo de Mexico de 1930

Spanish - 1930

88%

Trento, Italy Baptism Records

Italian - 1784-1924

7%

UK - Cheshire - Poor Law

English - 1848 -1967

82%

Venezuela Mérida Registros Parroquiales

Spanish - 1654 - 1992

0.3%

Thursday, October 02, 2008

FamilySearch Record Search Update: 29 Million New Records Added

29 Million More Records Added to Record Search Pilot

02 October 2008

Over 29 million names or record images were added this week to FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot. Significant data was published from 2 indexing projects (1860 and 1870 U.S. Censuses), 3 digital image collections [Vermont Probate Files, Quebec Parish Registers, and Cheshire Church Records], and 3 enhanced vital record index collections [Mexico and Germany Baptisms]. 

The entire collection can be searched for free directly online at http://pilot.familysearch.org or through the Search Records feature at FamilySearch.org.

Following is a chart of the new data added the week of September 29, 2008.  

Collection Name

Indexed Records

Digital Images

Comments

1860 US Census

7,015,614

7,015,614

Updated – Illinois reworked; added 22 New states with image links to Footnote.com

1870 US Census

3,308,819

 

Updated - 3 new states (MA,NJ,MS)

Vermont Probate Files

 

205,527

New

Quebec Parish Registers

 

1,361,289

New

Cheshire Church Records

 

698,970

New

Mexico Baptisms

17,038,268 New, 19,682,189 reloaded

N/A

Updated - reworked to improve search experience with surnames, dates, etc.

Germany Baptisms

20,626,866 reloaded

N/A

Updated - reworked to improve search experience with surnames, dates, etc.

Germany Marriages

4,439,954 reloaded

N/A

Updated - reworked to improve search experience with surnames, dates, etc.


Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing - Week 60

I was sick this past weekend so I wasn't up to working on my FamilySearch Indexing Sunday. It is just amazing how quickly time seems to fly. I can't believe we are already into October. It just seems like a month ago I was writing my article on my New Year goals. I'm still working on organizing my genealogy. I am obsessed with that subject.

When I tried to open my FamilySearch Indexing program on my desktop I noticed that all my icons are broken. When I try to click on them the tell me they are unable to launch the program. I don't know what the deal is with that now.

I looked on the FamilySearch Indexing website and found this notice.
Date: September 29, 2008:
Subject: Mac Users and Java

If you are a Mac user that installed a Java update over the weekend and are now having issues launching the indexing application, click here.
I'm not a Mac user but I do use Java so I did the click here thing.
Document ID: 104454
FamilySearch indexing: Indexing no longer runs on a Macintosh
Problem
Error message when trying to log in to indexing: java.lang.NullPointerException
Resolution
Following an update released by Apple around September 28, 2008, Macintosh users of indexing get an error message. Thus far we have tested this with OSX 10.4 and 10.5 and both the Intel and PPC platforms. Currently only MacOS 10.5 on Intel chips is working.

This problem was caused by Apple's update, not a change in the indexing program. We are working to determine what course of action we can take but we are early in the process right now. Please check this page for updates.
Well that message doesn't apply to my situation. I decided to go to the FamilySearch.org website and click on the Indexing link from there. It did give me a notice:
A special update to the FamilySearch Indexing application has been completed. Start the application as you usually do. [OK]
That did the trick and the program loaded and is now working for me. There was a message for us this week.
From: Headquarters
Subject: Project Completion Team
Date: 23 Sep 2008

To Volunteers in Utah:

We are requesting volunteer to join our new Project Completion Team. For numerous reasons, projects nearing completion are delayed as we evaluate some troublesome batches. These batches must be submitted so the project can reach 100% completion and be published on the Internet. Our project Completion Team will be responsible for submitting these batches.

If you have been indexing for a few months, or have indexed over 2,000 records, and would like to participate on this team, please send an e-mail to Byron Mortensen, the group administrator for this team, at MortensenB@familysearch.org. Include your name, indexing username, and list the languages you feel comfortable working with.

You do not need to be an expert in genealogy or reading old handwriting. You do not need to be fast at sifting through these difficult images and not be afraid to mark records as "Unreadable". We will provide training materials for you and send messages to keep you informed of projects and needs.

We will be asking you to look at batches that other indexers have rejected. You will evaluate each to see if it is reasonable to extract the records within an hour or less. If it is, proceed to index the batch. If it is not, we will explain how to finish the batch and send it back to us.

The goal for this team will be the same as the goal we have here at headquarters: To make more records available to more people faster.

If you participate in this effort previously, we want to say thank you and keep up the great work. Your contributions have been extremely significant and appreciated. We are now trying to create a unified team who can work together just as our larger indexing workforce works together.

We appreciate all of your indexing efforts and for your help with this initiative.

Sincerely,

The FamilySearch Indexing Team
Sounds like a wonderful thing to be a part of. My only questions is why only Utah volunteers? I don't have an answer to that. Maybe someone will enlighten us.

I did want to post a readers comment to me last week regarding my comment on the messages from headquarters. I thought them very basic and straight forward on things we all needed to do. To me them seemed to be basic common sense.
I hope that people actually read the messages and follow them. You would think that it's pretty basic information, but I can't tell you how many people do things like put United States in the country field (even though the familysearch folks have mentioned that you shouldn't before) or do things like putting the 0 in front of the page number. There are also people that for the first nine numbers put a zero in front of them (01, 02, etc.). It creates more work for the arbitrators.

Sue Anne
Thanks Sue Anne for the reminder. I sure hope we are all applying the messages given from headquarters. Sorry if I sound like they weren't important they are. I just had never thought to do it the incorrect way. I guess with thousand of indexers we can all come up with our own way of doing things and that doesn't necessarily mean it's the correct way. Thank goodness we have these messages and also the guides to tell us how to work on the projects.

I was happy to see that the New York 1870 US Federal Census records were still available for me to index. YIPEE!!! I love New York. I worked on 3 batches all of various legibility. One of the census takers must of been a doctor working on the side. I heard that the reason doctor's handwriting is so bad is because years ago the prescriptions where held as secret formulas that only the pharmacist could decipher. My census taker must of felt the census page was one big secret to withhold from posterity. I did manage it though.

I indexed 120 people and that brings my grand total of records indexed to date to 8737. Now I'm off to read more articles on organizing my genealogy.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Mark Your Calendars - UVPAFUG Meeting!

UTAH VALLEY PAF USERS GROUP

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 11 Oct 2008, from 9 am until noon in the LDS "Red" Chapel at 4000 North Timpview Drive (650 East), in Provo. The main presentation will be by DearMYRTLE (Pat Richley) on A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR FAMILY HISTORY CONSULTANTS.

The role of Family History Consultants is crucial to an active Family History program in any ward and stake and especially during the much anticipated change-over to new FamilySearch. Many wonder what we can be doing while our long awaited "official" FH manual is still awaiting final signatures? Myrt offers suggestions to build interest among non-genealogists in wards, tackle organization challenges, teach correct research principles even for class participants with diverse ancestral backgrounds, and coordinate with other consultants in the ward and stake.

DearMYRTLE is the nom de plume of Pat Richley, a retired post-secondary computer instructor. An active genea-blogger, Myrt is author of DearMYRTLE's Joy of Genealogy (2006), and The Everything Online Genealogy Book (2000), instructor at DearMYRTLE's Salt Lake Study Group, hostess of DearMYRTLE's Family History Hour and the Family History Expos genealogy podcasts, author of the Teach Genealogy Blog, and coordinator for UGG (The Union of Genealogy Groups in Second Life). She recently presented classes at BYU's 2008 Computerized Genealogy Conference, the National Genealogical Society, the Utah Genealogical Association 2008 Fall Conference and will serve as the dinner speaker at UGA's 2009 Salt Lake Institute. Myrt last presented at a Utah Valley PAF Users Group meeting in 2006, where she spoke about "Getting from the Index to the Original". Her website is www.DearMYRTLE.com.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes taught concerning technology and family history. As usual, there will be something for everyone at all levels of expertise. The classes currently scheduled for this meeting are the following:
  1. New FamilySearch, by John Blake
  2. Using WorldVitalRecords, by Robert Raymond
  3. Family Pursuit, by Michael Martineau
  4. Q & A: A Practical Guide for FHCons., by DearMyrtle
  5. Individual Mentoring in the FHC
  6. Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay (author of AQ)
  7. Legacy, by Dean Bennett
  8. RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee (author of RM)
All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. Several of the officers, including Gerhard Ruf, President; Brian Cooper, 2nd VP; Eileen Phelps, PAFology Editor; Kay Baker and Gerry Eliason working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill, Lynne Shumway, and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD & Video Library, will all be there. They will help with membership, answer questions, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter PAFology, and check out DVD's and videos of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group's website http://uvpafug.org and the past press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106), VP1 Elder Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu, or VP2 Brian Cooper at vp2@uvpafug.org.