1940 Census Indexing Updates...Arbitrator Help Needed!

Its hard to believe that the 1940 census is just a few days away from being with us for a month!

Let's all take a look at the hard work of many individuals who are giving of their spare time to help with this great effort in bringing these recors to the world.

These charts show how awesome the community is and what everyone has done in just 22 days!

Looking at the above chart helps to see the near completion of Idaho, Kansas, New Hampshire and Utah with Delaware, Oregon and Colorado already completed, amazing!

Looking at all of the states one can see how close we are to completing Florida, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska and Virginia in the 90% area of completion!

With all this hard work we are in need of individuals who can help with arbitration to help get all this information out there! From a FamilySearch Blog Post yesterday I quote,

"We currently have a backlog of over 3 million images for active projects that need to be arbitrated. That’s 3 million images and their respective indexes that aren’t published on FamilySearch.org because they haven’t made it through arbitration. They could be published in a matter of days if they were all arbitrated today. It’s just a matter of having enough volunteers to do the work."

So a call was put out for arbitrators;

"How do we fix the backlog? Easy—we just need more arbitrators. If you’re an arbitrator, we need you. If you’re a former arbitrator who left to focus on indexing, we need you. If you’re a former arbitrator who stopped volunteering for FamilySearch altogether, we need you. If you’re an experienced indexer who thinks you might be qualified to arbitrate, we need you. If you’re an indexer who is willing to get the proper amount of experience so you can qualify yourself to arbitrate, we need you too."

It's a great blog article with information on how to help with being an arbitrator with the first step for newbies to go to the Indexing Resource Guide.

Whether you are an indexer or an arbitrator a great big THANK YOU is being sent to you from all of us who research ancestors either for ourselves or others!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

E-Books:Digital Resources for Researchers

http://ebook-reader-review.toptenreviews.com/

Do you own a digital reader or do you use a small laptop, a smart phone or a note pad for reading electronic versions of books? As more and more books become available digitally the need for these readers becomes greater, however this writer believes there will always be room for the physical book for awhile yet.

While authors make their books available as a digital download, there are still those books that are being scanned and put into digital format for preservation purposes. One of the problems with the electronic version is the question of ownership? Even though one has purchased an ebook, the eReader doesn't really own the books in their eReader. Copyright issues still abound within this realm. There are other issues but time will work its way through all these issues.

So how can a family historian or genalogist take advantage of this type of media in their research? There are many of older historical books that have been and will continue to be scanned making access that much easier.

The first location for historical books worth mentioning is the Internet Archive. According to their site "their purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format."

http://archive.org/

Just a few of the many types of family history books freely availabe on this site which contains over 1 million digital books are the following:

• City Directories
• Vital Records
• Marriage Records
• Probate Records
• Pension Records
• Newspapers

Another site worth sharing is FamilySearch.og which has been digitizing books for many years now. According to their site they have a collection of more than 40,000 digitized genealogical and family history publications in connection with 6 other libraries that are also freely available.

Google Books has also made many of their digitized books that are 'out of copyright' available through their collections as well as limited previews for those that are still in copyright. They have over a million books available that were published in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Using the same topics mentioned above provides more books with vital data in them available for use in one's research! From an 1873 Saint Louis City directory to a 1922 City Directory for Flint City along with vital records for Sherborn, Massachusetts in 1850, the list is amazing, one just has to look!

Thanks to most public libraries, access is available to HeritageQuest online which houses thousands of ditized family and local histories downloadable again to aid one with their genealogial research. 



There are other online archives out there so let's use the comments and let others know where they are, it is possible to help someone break through another brick wall as they learn of new resources! 

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Possible Ways to Identify Individuals in a Photo

Do you have photos with no clue as to who is in the picture?

There are many times when, in the process of doing research that one comes across photos that have been saved for the 'next' generation,  unfortunately no one is around who seems to know the names of the individuals in the photos.

There are many ways to try and solve these kind of problems:

• Circulate the photo among family relatives
• Post the photo on vaious websites
• Show photo to an analysit
• Don't give up 

Circulating photos among family relatives can be done by setting up a 'Flickr' or 'Shutterfly' family account. Scan the photo, upload and send out notices to family members.

http://www.flickr.com/

http://www.shutterfly.com/

Each of the above websites provides both private and public access to photos. Another place one could place the photo is in the new social site called 'Pinterest' and list  it in an "Ancestral Colletion' with a description of 'unknown'. The number of individuals who are combing this site may add to the chance of someone who could assit in identifying the photo.

http://www.pinterest.com/

Another well known place to post photos to help with identification is 'DeadFred.com'. This site has been helping family historians and genealogists since 2001. There are some strick rules before posting and so if the picture is older than 1960 this is the place to go.

http://www.deadfred.com/

Photo analysis can be done by different individuals but one would want to have someone that does this for a living or is familiar with the process of photo analysis. One of my colleagues has been doing this many years, her name is Maureen Taylor and she is considered a 'Photo Detective'. She has various publications as well as attends many conferences and is known as the "Nation's foremost historical photo detective".

http://www.maureentaylor.com/

Regardless of which method one decides to use to perhaps identify the individuals in a photo, putting them away and not trying will never solve the problem.

If you have additional ways to solve these mystery pictures, please share them through the comments!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Navigating to the 1940 Census on FamilySearch

Individuals who want to view the 1940 Census images on FamilySearch.org will find the set up just a bit different from the usual way of accessing other images and databases.

Currently most images and databases are accessible by clicking on the correct area under the words "All Records Collections" which in this case is the United States. Once there take a moment to put the records in order by most recent date by double clicking 'last updated' and click on United States Census, 1940 and you are brought to this screen:

Very quickly the colorful map fades into a multi-color map which allows you to hoover over a state and see the indexing progress!

The color code is on the left and slowly but surely the colors are changing thanks to those who are helping with the indexing!



Each state is color coded as shown above. As you hover over a state you get a snapshot of what is happening...

Note on the two images above that Colorado is 98% finished indexing while Rhode Island is just 1% indexed. Each state provides you with a choice of helping, viewing and/or just learning more about that state. No matter what your choice everyone benefits...

1) If you choose to view the images-an ancestor or two is found and shared with other family members

2) If you choose to help, everyone benefits

3) If you choose to learn more you increase your knowledge about that state and learn about lots of   resources which will help your research in that state

When you choose to view the images, you are taken to a breakdown like this if the state isn't indexed completely:

Once the state is completely indexed this is the screen you will come to:

To all who are indexing, Thank you! Indexing will bring the 1940 Census to us for easier searching - collaboration and community in action!



Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   



Youth + Puzzles = Ancestor Interest

Family reunions can be a time of fun and getting to know family members only met at that time.

As children and young adults spend time together they often form bonds that can turn into lasting and vital friendships throughout their time here on the earth.

To add to the opportunity to connect with family members of their own ages, it is a time to learn about the members of their family that preceded them and often have memorable pictures taken to record the monumental event as reunions can happen annually or sporadically depending on the family circumstances. 

But what about those family members who are no longer here? How can those left behind help their own offspring learn of these outstanding individuals who laid the foundation of their very existence?

In our family we made a video of my husband's father after he had passed on and shared it with our children. I have another blog entitled, Who Will Tell Their Stories? where I share stories of ancestors related to my children so that they can learn that they are more than a name on a pedigree chart or a family group sheet. Some families have written wonderful books both online and in a physical book form to share with their families and each one of these are fantastic ways to help our offspring learn about their heritage.

Another way I have found is through puzzles. There is a program from 'Kraisoft" called "Jigsaw Puzzle Lite" which allows one to create a puzzle from ones' own pictures. When you first go to their website there are many interesting games one could choose, but go to "Downloads" at the top which brings you to where the program needed is located in a drop down list. Scroll down till you locate Jigsaw Puzzle Lite, click it to download it and install it to your computer. Now the fun begins!

This is the first screen you will see once it is installed.






Click on 'Download' and let the program load up till you get to this screen:

This is the top of the next screen, click on 'Play Now' which brings you to this:

Click on "Make own Puzzle" and upload an ancestral picture. It will look like this when almost ready:

At this point you can click "Make" on the left hand side of the screen next to the picture looking link this. It will create the puzzle for you and bring up a small box where you can click "Play" and watch the puzzle pieces disperse on the screen ready to be put back together.

Together with younger members of your family you can put the picture back together and talk about the individuals in the picture.

This is a wonderful time to share ones heritage with younger members of their family regardless of age, most youth enjoy doing puzzles. These puzzles can be emailed and shared and done over and over.

Discovering the legacy of those gone on before us can help to bridge any generation gap that may exist and create a bond as well as overcoming identity crisis that seems to resonate among some in younger generations!

Enjoy and please share your stories in the comments!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Connecting the dots...

Photo by Nat Tarbox

Timelines can be helpful in many different ways, but when it comes to Family History and genealogical research it can be critical.

Often when analyzing a family's migration one wonders why a family moved from point a to point b, especially if the place of settlement was another country.

Some of the interest around the 1940 US Census release has occured from descendants of individuals who left various locations in Europe and settled in the US because of the social unrest occuring at that time.

Historical events can and usually have a ripple affect on individuals moving and settling in another location. Additionally, loss of jobs, the ability to support a family and/or opportunities in new locations can also be additional clues as to why families relocated to new countries and/or new locations far away from their current and familiar surroundings.

One needs to consider what was happening in the time period of the ancestral research in their current location as well as in their surrounding communities and the whole world. All of these types of events affected the lives of those living at that time. This also includes epidemics as well as unusual natural events like floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.

There are programs that allow one to add in those situations that were occuring at different points in history. No one person can recall everything and it is important not to forget anything that could affect a families' move. Timelines also come in all shapes and sizes, but the information they provide can aid one in breaking through a brick wall problem.

Most locations have a historical timeline of events in their area which can be accessed through a browser search online or that localities archive or library. Software programs that provide the larger scale of historical events have been created just for the genealogist in mind.

Remembering that a timeline is a chronological list of events for a location, a family or even an indvidual. Most genealogical software programs allow for a timeline of an individual from the information already entered on that ancestor. Progeny has a program called Genelines that allows you to add in the historical  world events surrounding your families.

In addition, there are other timelines that will need to be consulted going down to the actual area your families are located. These can usually be located in local libraries, online or in published volumes in relation to the history of that area. OurTimeLines has a website to assist in creating custom timelines. Timelines can also be done with an Excel spreadsheet, there are many ways to create a useful timeline.

There are a couple of online tutorials available in the education section of FamilySearch.org. The first on is entitled "Timelines and Lifelines" and the second one is a Mentoring Class from ICAPGen called "History, Geography and Timelines".

In closing there is an exellent article in the FamilySearch blogs entitled "Its About Timelines" which shows how these are often used to solve many genealogical problems.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Indexing Progress Displayed on an Interactive US Map

Everyone likes to see how things are going whenever working on projects and FamilySearch has desinged this interative US map to track the progress of all who are so generously indexing the 1940 US Census which was just released on Monday.

As one looks at the map there are different colors that show the different stages of progress being made, the darker the color the more imaging that is complete. Just hovering over a state will show its status as is shown in the above page clip. Colorado is 75% indexed already! That is truely amazing and to those involved I share my love and respect for your dedication and enthusiam to make this a reality.

The white areas are not being indexed yet along with the fact that those records have not been uploaded. The light tan is in progress, for instance, hovering over Virginia brings up the following image:

When one clicks on the 'Explore Images" one is taken to a very detailed progress break down by "counties", clicking on the county brings in the next level of progress all the way down to townships, etc.

This is a marvelous way to keep up with what is actually going on! This is a very well thought out method of keeping track!

The "Learn More" section takes you to a special page just for Virginia with a percentage indexing bar along with a fantastic list of all who are participating to make this census fully indexed. It is an amazing list that includes:
Participating Societies, Virginia History in the 1940s, Virgina Research Topics, links to Wiki Articles, Research tips and so much more about this one place, it is truely a "snapshop" in time!

At the end of the page there is a whole section on 1940 Census Research Assistance:



Videos and Guides!



Each state is treated with just as much information and resources, all involved are to be commended for creating such a great resource for the world!

As I glance around the map, California is at 3%, Oregon is at 28%, Kansas is at 41% and so it goes as you hoover over the states with some color in them.

Thanks goes out to all involved. If you would like to help just go to http://the1940census.com/ and download the indexing software, it doesn't take but a few minutes to join in this major undertaking of indexing the 1940 US Census!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   









Patience needed to Explore the 1940 Census

The 1940 census was released on Monday, April 2nd but we must all be patient as the images are uploaded on the various sites. There are 3.6 million images which will take time.

These census images are being made available on FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, and http://1940census.archives.gov/.

While the indexing begins looking for an ancestor in this census can be a challenge as explained in an earlier blog post. Enumeration districts can be complicated, asking for cross streets and surrounding street names may still not get you to the correct one.

Still the opportunity to locate one's kin page by page is evident as one reads through the various posts of excitement and successes on Facebook over the last few days. It is interesting to see how the different uploads are progressing.

FindMyPast.com is offering to look up a person for you and let you know when that record is available:


FindMyPast.com

As of today, April 4th, FamilySearch.org has uploaded the following:

Alabama - Colorado - Delaware - Florida - Kansas - Louisiana - Oklahoma - Oregan - Virgina

Ancestry.com has uploaded a few more:

Of course all of them are available through NARA.gov but the length of time it takes to load the images varies according to how overwhelmed the servers are at the time one is on.

Indexing has begun as batches are now ready and waiting. Many are working already as some have reported their indexing achievements on Facebook which is really wonderful to hear!

Enjoy your hunt but do take some time to pitch in and help index these records for our ancestors. To sign-up and get started just go to http://the1940census.com/, when you scroll to the bottom of the page click on "Download the Indexing Software", install it and choose a batch! Be sure to post your sucesses and any finds!

Feel free to post your comments here too!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com   







Ready-Set-Go! Indexing Call to All! Celebrating the 1940 Census Release!

As I contemplate the anticipation of the release of the 1940 US Census tomorrow at 9am EDT, it will be 7am in my location and yet one can sense a feeling of excitement in the air even tonight.

We live at a time where 'pulling together' will allow us to achieve much and perhaps make it possible for millions to be able to locate their family members so much easier once the indexing is complete!

Imagine the impact on those who have never looked for their ancestors before as they hear about this release and decide to search for their ancestors. With the immediate methods to locate an individual a little difficult, indexing is going to make this search so much easier. NARA is to be commended for developing a treasure trove of finding aids on their website. They are going to have an "Opening Live Webcast event at 8:30am EDT" Here is the link to that live webcast.

The quote from http://the1940census.com regarding this release:

"NARA will provide access to the images of the 1940 United States Federal Census for the first time. Unlike previous census years, images of the 1940 U.S. Federal Census will be made available as free digital images.

Upon its release, the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project, a joint initiative between Archives.com, FamilySearch, findmypast.com, and other leading genealogy organizations, will coordinate efforts to provide quick access to these digital images and immediately start indexing these records to make them searchable online with free and open access.

While the work of indexing begins tomorrow, the efforts of many will make this work go so much faster! We need the help of as many individuals as possible to hasten the ability to look for an individual by a name and not just an enumeration district.

Findmypast.com 1940 page has a wonderful write up about some of the highlights of this particular census, including the story and a picture of Sayed Mehren:

 As a former census worker I can well imagine how the census worker must have felt as they were told his age was 128 years old!

In addition to this article, there is a great section on what life was like in the 1940s.

The1940Census.com site reminds us that those who are listed on these census pages are called the 'greatest generation' because they:

Survived the Great Depression

Fought in the Second World War

Innovated technology (TV, Microwave)

Sacrificed in the name of freedom

Practiced thrift and compassion

Understood hard work and industry

Help us to make this indexing go as quickly as possible and if you are at the many celebration locations enjoy the day!

Those who are the Family History Library will be treated to a buzz in the air as we welcome the 1940 US Census online! The festivities will include special bookmarks and cake for all who are there between 11am and 2pm (MDT)!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

http://timelessgen.blogspot.com

http://gen-reflections.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessGenealogies

Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved

     claire@timelessgen.com