Thursday, May 31, 2012

Research Communities ~ An Extension of Genealogical Kindness...





Earlier this year the opportunity to assist in indexing the 1940 US Census became evident. This resulted in the biggest recruitment effort ever taken to involve the community with this massive task. Over 132 million people were living in just the 48 Continental states in 1940 and more than 3.8 million pages. Additionally, a number of major companies partnered with this great endeavor, Archives, FindMyPast, ProQuest  and the National Archives and an overwhelming number of Societies and individuals are currently working hard to complete this fantastic resource in record time. To all who doing just that we in the research community say a big Thank You as we have now passed the half way point!


A new community effort is slowly being launched to provide research services to those who need it through Facebook Genealogical Research Communities. At this time, there are more than 100 genealogy research communities established on Facebook answering every kind of genealogical question imaginable. Some are purely directional as to what to do next or where to go next and others are a little more involved. The FamilySearch Research Wiki is a great resource to many of these individuals. Others who research in those area are also providing answers and it is another valuable show of support from the awesome genealogical community.

Pages exists for each of the US states along with several countries and ethnic groups. Each page is managed by a research team of FamilySearch volunteers from around the world and is designed to answer research questions and point individuals in the right direction to continue on with their own research. The world areas covered are:
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Ethnic Research Communities
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • North America
  • Oceania
One can post a question or answer a question, either way, a community in action is what will be seen by all who participate in these community efforts! It is truely another amazing opportunity where the community shines again and pays it forward to all.

Today on Facebook, one of my colleagues, Sheri Bush sent out a request to encourage her genealogical friends to consider adoping a county website referring to these 'Genealogical Research Communities' so that more aid can be provided throughout the world. The early beta testing has shown that these communities do provide a great resource to many who may not be able to find help at a Family History Center or are just beginning to do research.

For those who may be interested in helping out, there is a lot of information on the FamilySearch Research Wiki's Adminstrators page. There is also a Facebook Admins page, both provide great assistance to all. One should check it out and take it into consideration as another opportunity to be part of a constantly growing genealogical community!




Thanks to all who are already Administrators!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
     claire@timelessgen.com   



Saturday, May 26, 2012

Memorial Day: A National Day of Mourning





There are no words that really can express the depth of gratitude felt by those who are left behind and can enjoy the freedoms we do because an individual gave his or her life for us and yet each year we try on Memorial Day to do just that.

All over the United States there are cemeteries covered in flags and flowers in rememberence of all who have died for this country, the numbers are staggering of those who have done this for all of us.

Genealogists and family historians often record their deaths with tears in their eyes as they think of all that could have been for that individual and yet we are years away from the actual events and so it is no wonder what their immediate loved ones must have felt and gone through at that time, it is indeed a sad and solemn reference that is given to all of these brave individuals and their immediate families.

There are many online resources to help us find out more about these individuals today then there were many years ago for the survivors who may have never really known what happened to their loved one. A website has been set up totally dedicated to Memorial Day. This site explains the history behind the day along with a listing of another 16 sites also dedicated to this day. There are many other interesting and valuable links on tihis site worth reviewing.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a veterans burial locater which can help to locate where a specific soldier is buried. The Amercan Battle Monuments Commission has a listing for WW1, WWII and the Korean War. There is a National Grave Registration Project sponsored by the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War which provides a database of all the final resting places of all Union Civil War Veterans.

Fold3 provides an alphabetical list of Revolutionary Soldiers from 1775-1783. along with many other collections and claim to be the "web's premier collection of original miliary records."

Of course Ancestry.com has a very large collection of military records also and do need to be mentioned for making some many of the military records available online from the first entries of the WW1 draft records many years ago.

The National Archives is where one goes to attain copies of service records and many other military resources. Most states military records can be located through the USGenWeb sites. Some states also have memorial sites set up for their fallen heroes.

While I have cousins and relatives who have fought for the US, most of my ancestors fought from the Canadian borders and were Carignan Soldiers. When doing research there were many references to many being members. Their history is worth reading about, Dick Eastman wrote an excellent article on these individuals entitled Carignan Soldiers or Soldat Carignan.

There are many other memorial sites to war veterans from around the world, I especially appreciate the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site which is a massive database from many wars and provides burial locations. Not to be outdone, there are many others from other countries too. Here are a few:

Australian War Graves Photogravic Archive
Norwegian War Graves
Polish War Graves
South Africa War Graves Project
War Graves and Memorials in New Zealand

In closing all one can say is 'Thank You' and may the families of those who have given all be blessed with all they need at this time.


Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
     claire@timelessgen.com   

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Genealogical Community Impact is Simply Amazing!






The genealogical community rocks!

The hard work of so many to get the US 1940 Census indexed is just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the commitment of so many. The report out just yesterday on this one project was staggering. They have added 3 more states to the list of completed states with searchable indexes. Acording to the article more than 43% has been indexed and arbitrated, I do believe we are making indexing history! The full list of statistics is located within the article.

Beyond the statistics are those who are working so hard to help out, we say thank you! Our map is looking so colorful...



In addition to these awesome statistics, the indexding community continues to help in other areas too. The list of newly complted projects includes Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Italia, Napoli, UK, England and Wales, and Canada. These records will soon be on FamilySearch.org.

Lastly, new records just added to FamilySearch.org come from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Netherlands, Italy, Peru, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Wales!

These records are sure to aid many in their genealogical research, check them out and happy hunting!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

Facebook


Twitter @TimelessGen

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

     claire@timelessgen.com   


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

E-NewsPapers





There is no doubt that many individuals enjoy reading the latest news stories or just catching up with what is going on in today's world. Individuals of all ages will often look for different sections in a newspaper.

There is the current news of the day, the sports news, perhaps some entertainment updates and the latest new movies coming out and of course their is the funnies that can bring a smile to one's face.

In todays' online environment one can have an online paper through Paper.li. Anyone can be an author and start on online newspaper. Imagine being able to write and post updates on a particular topic or create it as a newsletter, either way the tools are right there for anyone to use.


One can spotlight articles from other sources like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or any web content and bring them together to build your newspaper. This online resource allows a writer to publish fresh news worthy articles every day from all who publish online, this serves multiple purposes, it gives the editor of the opportunity to be newspaper publisher, it allows other's works to be published and lastly it gives the reader a chance to see all that is going on in a particular field.

Some genealogists are using this new tool very wisely and being successful at it too! The GeneaBloggers Daily brings together news relating to genealogy in various areas. Some of them are 'education', 'technology', 'society' and there are many area covered in this daily.



There are many different e-newspapers out there to read, it is just a matter of using a search engine to see what one can find.

I see this as a great tool for society newsletters or someone who has the time to publish daily and expand from a blog like this to a newspaper.

Enjoy this new opportunity to finally be the publisher you've always wanted to be and notice all those who appreciate the efforts you make as bring fresh new news to your readers!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Twitter @TimelessGen

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

     claire@timelessgen.com   

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The 1940 Census Race is On...



Working Together

Indexing & Arbitration

As individuals work together to bring the Indexed 1940 US Census online, it has become very evident that many wonderful individuals are working very hard to bring this to reality sooner rather than later!






Today's announcement of "6"states up online, indexed and easily searchable is now a great resource for those whose families were living in Delaware, Colorado, Kansas, Oregon, Virgina and New Hampshire! This is truely amazing and is all from the efforts of more than 100,000 volunteers nationwide.

According to the release today, more than 45 million records have been indexed, another astonding fact in the race to completely make these records available to all who need them. There is always room for more indexers and one can sign up by going to this 1940 link. So how is our color coded United States looking now?



Slowly this map is filling in and it shouldn't be long till another large group are added to the current 6 that are now fully indexed. Checking out the 'State by State' break down, one can easily see the progress of their state. My home state is at 31% which to me is fantastic.

There are even some online classes available to help you understand how to use the information from the US Census records to aid your genealogical research. The classes available are as follows:


Lots of feedback and posts are also available on Facebook and the 1940 website, so be sure to check in and see the progress being made by a great community!!!


Thank you All !!!!!!!!

 Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Twitter @TimelessGen

(c) 2005-2013, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
     claire@timelessgen.com   


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

There Ought To Be a Way...









Family Historians and genealogists are usually very tech savy and take advantage of online databases, online resources and all possible ways to locate their ancestral families.

One of the many ways is to reach out through 3rd party websites that help to match those who submit their genealogical databases to other databases on their site. Once a match is found, the website informs each of the parties that there is a possible match between those two individuals.

The concept is a great one and I myself have discovered many new 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on cousins from around the world. Early on, RootsWeb was the place to upload a gedcom file to put a family database online, however, one had to do the searching to find the connections to others

One of the early adapters to this concept of matching databases was OneGreatFamily which began back in 2000. At that time there were just a few other commercial companies trying to help individuals link with other individuals by comparing their genealogical databases.

Fast forward to 2012 and there are many sites that now aid this great endeavor, however, unless you are willing to use their online interface as your main and only database you run into problems of outdated files and lose the connections that have been made from those outdated databases. While I enjoy making connections, I still want to have my own database on my own PC and don't wish to keep it all online.

Today, there are many genealogical community databases, each one is able to assist those that belong to their community and are able to assist one another with genealogical research. Ancestry.com puts little green leaves when connections are made, MyHeritage.com sends emails of connections as well as GenesReunited which acts as the middle man and a notice through emails. OneGreatFamily attaches an icon to the place where additional information can be added and there are many others that follow a similar pattern.

My thoughts are that there ought to be a way to update the original gedcom file without having to remove it and re-upload a new gedcom which becomes outdated the next time you add to your database, perhaps someone will be able to figure out a way to do just that so those who don't wish to use the online system 100% can do so. Hopefully the wait for a solution is not far away...

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

Facebook


Twitter @TimelessGen

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

     claire@timelessgen.com