Genealogy Bank's Updates of the SSDI

For those concerned about having the latest information, try Genealogy Bank. Their version of the SSDI (as of today) contained a reference for my grandmother who died in Bradenton, Manatee County, Florida on 9 September of 2008. It might have been in their earlier, but I haven't been checking it on a regular basis for updates. But that's still pretty fast.

Here a Johann, There a Johann, Everywhere a Johann

Juliana Smith over at Ancestry.com's blog has posted my article "Here a Johann, There a Johann, Everywhere a Johann." It about too many people in a small town with the same first and last name and some thoughts on separating out individuals with similar names.

Feel free to read and post a comment.

Home From Detroit

For those who were at the Ancestry.com session on Saturday at the Detroit Public Library, here is the list of "quick links" I use myself at Ancestry.com. Note that these links work on your home account for Ancestry.com, but are not for the Library Edition.



The online handout for the Ancestry.com session is online as well.



I only wish I had more time to actually use the Burton Collection while I was there. My wife's ancestor was Jacques Cardinal, a voyageur who came to Detroit in October of 1707. Maybe next time.

Headed to Detroit

I'll be in Detroit, Michigan this weekend making two presentations at the Family History Festival held at the Detroit Public Library.

I will be presenting programs on "How to Use Ancestry.com" and "Problem Solving as Applied to Genealogy".

Blog readers are welcome to come up and introduce themselves---just not while I'm making a presentation!

Soundex to eventually return too

I forgot to mention in my previous post that Soundex capabilities will also eventually be coming to the new search interface at Ancestry.com. Yeah (again).

Map of Databases at Ancestry.com

One of the things I miss in the new search experience at Ancestry.com is the map that allowed one to browse the databases geographically. Sources tell me this will return. No time frame, but it is in the works. Yeah.

Soundex on New Search at Ancestry.com?

Is it just me? Or have they taken away the Soundex search at Ancestry.com?
I cannot see it on the newly released Washington Deaths 1891-1907.
Urgh.....

Exact matches on what is not there

Mark me down as confused, at least partially. And mark me fully down as irritated.

I searched on Ancestry.com in their new search for John Ufkes. I used a year of birth as 1838, plus or minus two years. The screen shot is as shown.

I did have the death year of 1924 listed as exact. Apparently that is why no census results were returned for John. When I searched for John Ufkes with only a year of birth as 1838, plus or minus two years, I obtained several results (mostly from census records)--as shown below.









I understand that my original search required the death year of 1924 to match. However, census records (sans mortality schedules) typically do not have a year of death with which to match. It seems to me that census results that match the year of birth should be included, regardless of whether an "exact" match on the death date is indicated.

It must be necessary to leave the death date blank to bring up census records. Urgh...now I have to search several different ways for one person. I thought new searches were supposed to be improved. (sometimes I think they should take a lesson from the "new Coke").


It seems logical to me that a search of records that do not include any death dates should not require the death date to match, even if I indicate a matched date in my searches. But then it has been nearly two decades since I had "sets and logic." Maybe the rules for logical have changed.

I still like the old search better.

Using the My Tree "hints" at Ancestry.com

My article on using the My Tree "hints" at Ancestry.com went live on the blog the other day. The person I used was a German immigrant to Davenport, Iowa in the 1850s and later. I would be interested in comments from others who have used the hints.

In the article, I did import some of the hints into a database I created on Conrad Krebs and his family. I did not use my "good" database for this, but created a new one so I could see how things worked. Comments on using the hints can be posted to this blog entry.

The "new" search at Ancestry.com

It is not just me. I hear this "in the field" on a regular basis. People are not happy with the new Ancestry.com search. Several attendees at the Montana State Genealogical Society conference in Butte, Montana, this past weekend expressed their frustration over the new search at Ancestry.com.

Frankly, it is a little frustrating to me too. Finding things is not intuitive.

I had a few extra minutes at the end of one of my lectures and decided to show the German topographical maps from the 1860s-1900s on the Ancestry.com site. I had used them and had blogged briefly about them. But could I find them quickly on the site. NO. I ended up searching my own website to find my blog entry about them and used that link to search the database.

This was a quick workaround and got me where I needed to go. But not everyone can go to their own blog and find something they have blogged about before. If I have difficulty finding things I have used before, I imagine others have problems as well.

I still find myself using my very crude list of Ancestry.com links to navigate certain databases. It looks pretty shabby, but it gets me to where I need to go and I don't have to waste time looking for things or trying to learn they way someone else thinks.

We Are Back

After a hiatus, we are back. It has been a crazy few weeks. My last living grandparent passed away rather suddenly in Florida and the following weekend I had a seminar in Butte, Montana. The folks in Butte were really great and I enjoyed my time there.

Just two reminders from the presentation:

• Consider writing an ancestor's biography (with sources) and submit it for publication in a local genealogical society quarterly or newsletter. This is a great way to preserve at least part of the information you have accumulated.
• Identify people on photographs NOW. Also identify any family items while those who remember are still alive.

We'll be posting more as time goes.

Been Away for a While

I have had some personal issues come up over the past week that have required me to be away from the computer and have also distracted me somewhat. I am working up on catching up on all my email and other genealogy work--but it will take a little time.

German Topographic Maps At Ancestry.com

Ancestry has added German topographical maps from the 1860s to the early twentieth century
to their site.

These are really nice maps. A sample image has been placed here. It is from the 1901 map for the Aurich area, but only Holtrop and the surrounding area is shown. This is where several of my families lived in the 1860s and before.

The "overview map" has also been scanned and is where users should start and indicates what pages of the map contains what areas (click on Übersichtsblatt to get the image--it is large).

We will be posting additional suggestions for using the maps, but I wanted to make blog readers aware of their availability on Ancestry.com. I'm hoping to have more time to really get into these maps over the next few days.

Blog readers who do not have a subscription can get a free trial at Ancestry.com and do some experimentation.

Ancestry.com also has Meyers -Orts on their site as well.

Checking Your Filter and your Junk Mail Folders?

How often do you check what goes into your junk mail or s *p*a*m folder? I just checked mine last night and there was one from a relative. Who knows how it got in there, but it pays to periodically scan those messages so that something does not get overlooked.

1855 Illinois Census-Peter Bigger

I've been doing a little more work in Ancestry.com's Illinois State Census database, particulary the 1855 Illinois.

The only census reference I have to ancestor Peter Biegert/Bieger (take your pick on how it is spelled), is his 1855 census reference in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois. It indicates Peter is between 20 and 30 years of age. This is the only record that allows me to approximate his age which means he was born between 1825 and 1835. His wife (in the same age bracket) and his two daughters are also listed.

Peter died in November of 1855. I am just fortunate that they were in Illinois for the 1855 census. Somehow he and his wife (so far) have not been found in 1850. Speculation is that the family was moving at the time of the census as they Bieger family is known to have arrived in Illinois in 1850 from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Another Suggestion for Footnote.com

I am still working in the city directories at Footnote.com . I have a suggestion.

There needs to be another way to browse the images in a dataset other than scrolling to the very end of moving ahead one or two sets of images. The Chicago city directories are well over a thousand pages each. My searches for "thomas frame" many times bring up no results and searches for "frame" bring up too many. Since the directories are alphabetical, I like to just go to the Frame section.

The problem is that because of the way the "paging through" works, it takes forever to get just to the "F" section. It could always be worse, but I wish there were a way to jump faster through the images when a text search does not work and one wishes to get to a specific page or area of the image set.

1892 Chicago City Directory At Footnote.com

I have been using the Chicago City directories on Footnote.com again and have noticed an irregularity with the 1892 directory. According to the pages currently on footnote, the online images jump from page 20 to page 1001. There definitely is a jump as the directory goes from general advertising into the "M" section of the alphabet.

Bummer as I'm looking for Thomas Frame. Hopefully it gets fixed soon. I do like what Footnote.com has online, but this is a little frustrating.

All the current online city directories at Footnote.com can be searched here. You can browse the Chicago ones by year from 1843-1909. Feel free to post searching suggestions for the city directories here. You can see what other city directories Footnote.com has as well besides Chicago.You can also get a free trial with footnote.com if you do not already have a subscription.

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11th Annual Genealogy Computing Week

March 2009 will be the 11th annual Genealogy Computing Week at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois. We are in the process of setting topics. In the past we have had all-day hands workshops on:

• Using Ancestry.com
• Using Footnote.com
• Overseas Research
• Maps and Images
• Family Tree Maker
• Using Genline for Swedish Research
• RootsMagic
• DeedMapper
• Online Research Techniques

We are soliciting topics and ideas for content for 2009. Suggestions can be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com. Our registration fee will remain the same in 2009 at $35. We realize that it costs to travel and many of our participants are not local residents. Galesburg is easily accessible via interstate and Amtrak does run to Galesburg. Unfortunately there is no campus housing, but there is an Enterprise can rental very close to the train station. Questions about our workshops can be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

Google them All...

Honestly, I have not been in the habit of "googling" each and every relative, especially those who have probably been dead twenty or more years.

I am slowly (very slowly) working on the descendants of Barbara Haase (died 1903 Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois). One granddaughter, Ruth Haase Hillberry was born ca. 1894 and lived in Michigan in the 1950s. On a whim I did a Google search for ruth haase hillberry and one of the results was a webpage hosted by Albion College's Special Collections Department that contained names of College alumni. One alumni was apparently Ruth Hillberry--see Ruth Haase. I contacted the college to see if they have any information on Mrs. Hillberry.

Just goes to show what you might locate when you google. I think I've got some more work to do.

1825-1865 Illinois Census

The 1825-1865 Illinois State Census have been released on Ancestry.com.

The images here are a quick shot of the entry for James Rampley in Hancock County, Illinois, in Walker Township in 1855.

The enumeration indicates there is one 40-50 year old male, 1 20-30 year old male, 2 males between 10 and 20 and 1 male under 10. There is 1 40-50 year old female, and two females between 10 and 20. This is consistent with what is known about the

family.

The right hand side of the entry indicates James had a cooper's shop and that 4 in the household were eligible for the militia. The other numbers have to do with the amount of production from the family's farm.

Those with family in Illinois during the time period can search The 1825-1865 Illinois State Census for their own family. All of these census records are head of household enumerations only. They are also on microfilm at the Illinois State Archives and the Family History Library. ISA does have some indexes, but they are not available online.

Getting the Most out of Obituaries on Ancestry's Blog

Juliana Smith recently posted my article "Getting the Most out of Obituaties" newspapers on the Ancestry.com site.

Some of the suggestions are general for searching any newspaper, online or not. Some suggestions are based upon the fact that the searches of Ancestry's papers are done with OCR technology.

I've spent some time searching the several Davenport, Iowa, newspapers on their site. The obituary for a Conrad Krebs is used as an illustration in the article.

The article can be viewed on Ancestry's blog here.

Robert Barnes' Baltimore County Families 1659-1759 is free on World Vital Records for the next seven days.

The image in this posting is for Lewis Demoss--my ancestor. The daughter listed as "Pine" is now thought by some researchers to actually be "Jane." At some point in the transcription, the handwriting was misread--which is why it is imperative to trace things back to the original as much as possible.

And when downloading a page from a book, always make certain that the sources or other explanatory material are downloaded as well. In this case the sources of the entry for Lewis Demoss are indicated in the parenthesis at the end of the entry.

World Vital Records has several databases that are free for the first seven or so days of their inclusion on the site.

Davidson County Tennessee Land Abstracts

World Vital Records has placed some volumes of early land record abstracts from Davidson County, Tennessee on their webste.

The image shown in this post is for a relative of my wife. These volumes are searched with an OCR search, highlighting the name on the page as shown in the image.

Of course, these abstracts are not the complete record. They are an abstract of the names and other information in the deed. If you want to see the complete record with the metes and bounds description, the Family History Library has the records on microfilm.

This database is free on World Vital Records for the first seven days it is active.

The "blank" Chicago city directory on Footnote.com

The last city directory in the "browse section" of Footnote for the Chicago city directories indicates it is [blank]. It appears to be at least two years of directories combined, perhaps more. I panned through several pages and the print looks different, seeming to indicate at least two directories have been combined in one entry. I did notice the following title pages (or at least what I thought were title pages:

• 1843
• 1867

Is anyone familiar enough with the Chicago city directories to know what years are in this "blank" set?