On Reading Directions

I'll be honest. I didn't read the complete set of suggestions on Ancestry.com's results page yesterday when it told me I got too many hits (read the post here).

Ancestry.com requires that users enter in at least three characters in any name box. My search did not do that.

When the results page told me there were too many results for my search, I glossed over the suggesions. I shouldn't have done this and I've used Ancestry.com enough to know that three characters are required (years ago there was a workaround that they've since fixed).

My problem was (and still is) that there aren't too many results to my search. My intuition told me this and FamilySearch's interface confirmed it.

I should have remembered the three character requirement. I'll admit that.

Ancestry.com should have an error message that accurately states the problem.

Corrections at Ancestry.com

When I see an error at Ancestry.com, I usually take the time to report it. Sometimes I do this just because I might want to find the item again and I would like for others to be able to find it as well. I never keep track of how long it takes for these corrections to be "updated," although Ancestry.com sends a notice when that has happened.

I noticed that my uncle Eielt Janssen Ufkes was indexed in the World War I Draft cards at Ancestry.com as Eielt James. I made the correction. I have no idea how long ago it was submitted, but today I got an email that it had been added. I'm glad that Ancestry.com is adding corrections, but I'm not certain why it takes so long.

Wildcards at Ancestry and Footnote

Footnote.com lets searchers perform wildcard searches with just two initial letters. This is different from Ancestry.com which requires searchers to enter three initial letters before usign a wildcard character.

Footnote.com will allow searches of Ne*, Ni*, etc.
Ancestry.com allows searches of Nel*, Nei*, etc.

U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 at Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com has recently added U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 to their library of databases.

A quick search found my uncle Claude Sartorius, shown here in the roster for the hospital in Danville, Illinois. He was also listed in a hospital in Dayton, Ohio, for a while as well. This reference provided information on his enlistment in the army. I actually had not done too much research on Claude, but now that I'm armed with a little more information I might.

More in the Florida State Census at Ancestry.com

As mentioned in an earlier post, Ancestry.com just released the set of Florida state censuses 1867-1945 on its website. I found cousin Martin Fecht in 1945, apparently with a different wife and two new children. He still is operating a gas station in Dade County, though. The nice thing is that the 1945 census provided his address.

Ancestry has Florida state censuses for

Florida State Censuses at Ancestry.com 1867-1945

Ancestry.com just released the set of Florida state censuses 1867-1945 on its website.

This includes the years of:

• 1867
• 1875
• 1885
• 1935
• 1945
  

I actually found a cousin of my great-grandfather in the 1935 census for Dade County, Florida--Martin Fecht. I split his entry over two images, but he is shown with his wife Gladys and children, Billie and Harlan.

On the second image, his family's four entries start with the one where the husband is born in Illinois. I was not aware that he ran a service station and I did learn that he must have gone to school through the eighth grade and that his wife graduated from high school.

Readers with Florida ancestors can search the Florida state censuses 1867-1945 on Ancestry's website.

Getting Automatic Responses from "your tree" on Ancestry.com

My recent Tips from the Pros on the Ancestry.com blog mentioned getting responses from your trees that are posted to their site. Apparently some are having difficulty with the address I gave. I think I know what the problem is, but will get confirmation and post that. We don't want people missing out on connections.

Soundex Searches on Ancestry.com's NYC Passenger Lists

Call me confused. I think.

I have been working with the New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 at Ancestry.com.

I searched for Mueller, using the "exact" option and choosing "United States" Soundex. I got 27, 456 hits.

I searched for Miller, using the "exact" option and choosing "United States" Soundex. I got 131, 856 hits.

Why the difference? Mueller and Miller are Soundex equivalents. Or am I missing something? I guess what I was missing was that to get the same number of results is to leave the "exact" box unchecked with the last name when doing a search for Mueller and Miller.

In both of these cases, I get 314,500 matches (Mueller last name unexact), US Soundex Search. I also get 314,500 matches for Miller, last name unexact, US Soundex Search. I am guessing that 314,500 is an estimate rather than an exact number.

Ok, but.

I search for Bernard (first name, exact), Mueller (not exact), US Soundex--I get 318 results.

I search for Bernard (first name, exact), Miller (not exact), US Soundex--I get 316 results.

It seems to me that these two searches should return the same individuals. After all the names are Soundex equivalents of each other. I really like all the databases at Ancestry.com . But sometimes the searches...

List of Mortality Schedules Available at Ancestry.com

We have posted a list of mortality schedules that are currently available at Ancestry.com.

The page is here:

http://www.rootdig.com/mortalitystates.htm

Corrections/additions are welcomed.

Habben Family Found in 1880 Mortality Schedule at Ancestry.com

I already knew they were there, but it was nice to find them in just a few clicks.

The image contained in this blog post contains part of the 1880 mortality census schedule for my aunt Christina Habben and her son Harm. They died in Harmony Township, Hancock County, Illinois. Interestingly the entry indicates that she had been in the county for 12 years and son Harm for 10 years.

I've also included the search results page for Christina from Ancestry.com as well. I really wish they would not use the word "city" on the results, but I realize that database administrators have to pick some word to use. The problem is that the political jurisdictions smaller than county are not always cities, sometimes they are townships. There is no town of Harmony in Hancock County.

The 1880 mortality schedules provide information on:

• gender
• marital status
• place of birth
• age
• month of death
• cause of death
• census year
• and location
• how long in the county

Remember that mortality schedules are a "census of the dead," and only are for those deaths that took place in the 12 calendar months before the census date. So the 1880 mortality schedule not deaths for all of 1880. It is deaths in the 12 months preceding the date of the 1880 census--1 June 1880.

The 1850-1880 United States Mortality Schedules can be searched here.

These records were microfilmed by the National Archives years ago and have been available there at at the Family History Library for some time as well.

Christina was a sister to Johann Ufkes (1838-1924), my great-great-grandfather.

Ancestry Releases Mortality Schedules and Index 1850-1880

Ancestry.com posted a new database on their site, apparently today: United States Mortality Schedules (and Index) 1850-1880). This database is incomplete and is still in progerss, users should read the description to be certain what locations are covered. Not all of these schedules are extant, either. This is a welcome addition to Ancestry.com's set of databases. We'll be posting more about this as time allows.

The 1850-1880 United States Mortality Schedules can be searched here.

Searching Ancestry's Directories

Sometimes you still have to do it the old-fashioned way.

On the city directories at Ancestry.com, I performed the search as shown on the screen--Cawiezell as the last name, unexact, living in Davenport, Iowa. There were seven matches, some of which are shown in the image. None were for the last name of Cawiezell.

When browsing manually Stone's 1888-1889 Davenport, Iowa, directory, I located the following entry for several Cawiezells, all living with Maria at 1019 W. 8th Street. I am assuming that Josephine is not the kind of stripper that might first enter someone's mind.

It is always a good idea to search the directories manually if you think the family lived there and they are not in the search results. In fact, there should be Cawiezell entries in every directory from ca. 1855 for Davenport. So I'll have to keep looking.

My wife descends from the Cawiezells.

This directory is one of thousands recently posted and indexed on Ancestry.com.The city directories at Ancestry.com can be searched there. I will be posting more about my work in these directories as time allows.

What is "W & D" in Rock Island in 1888?

The 1888-1891 directory for the City of Rock Island contains entries for August and Charles Mortier, both of whom are working for "W & D." Anyone have any idea what company this is?

This directory is one of thousands recently posted and indexed on Ancestry.com.

The city directories at Ancestry.com can be searched here.

Santa Claus in 1930

Santa Claus in 1930?

Santa Claus is living in Saline County, Missouri in 1930 and appears in the census image at Ancestry.com living with Mrs. Claus--in this case Mabel.

This Santa was born in Missouri and worked in river construction. Just slightly different from working in the manufacture and delivery of toys.

Readers can search the 1930 census for their own ancestors at Ancestry.com.

Search for Santa Claus at all of Ancestry.com

Ontario, Canada Voter Lists, 1867-1900 on Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com just released Ontario, Canada Voter Lists, 1867-1900 on their website. I was really excited as I was hoping to find my elusive Clark Sargent in this database.

So far no luck. I searched for just the last name Sargent, just the first name Clark and later on I will experiment with additional spellings for the last name. Maybe he is just hiding somewhere. Ancestry.com indicates the areas that are included the Ontario, Canada Voter Lists, 1867-1900 and I should also look to make certain all areas are covered. It is always possible that the entire set of records is not extant. One should not assume.

One of these days, I will hopefully find Clark. In the interim, perhaps readers will have success with this database.

Pilgrim Ancestors on Ancestry's Blog

Juliana Smith has posted my article "Pilgrim Ancestors" on the Ancestry.com blog. There are links there to a variety of sites and a discussion of making a proof and establishing a case and working on a Pilgrim connection.

There is also some commentary on my own potential Pilgrim connection.

And if anyone knows anything about Clark Sargent who died in Winnebago County, Illinois, in 1847, let me know. If I can connect to him, then I have a likely Mayflower connection.

Getting more than just the Name

It is more than about reading just the one page or the one item.

The screen shot provides a little bit of information on my family Thomas Ramphey[sic]. The book has been digitized and is on Ancestry.com. Because of the typographical error, I did not find this one by searching on "Rampley." I already located the print book years ago and knew how the name was spelled. Turns out that John Demoss was a brother to Thomas Rampley's wife, Christianna.

This paragraph needs to be put in context. You can't read just the page where the entry appears. If I do that, I lose the fact that this page is talking about early settlers of Jackson Township, Coshocton County, Ohio. I also need to keep track of the author, title and publication date of the book.

History of Coshocton County, Ohio : its past and present, 1740-1881, by N. N. Hill, Jr., A. A. Graham and Company, Newark, Ohio, 1881, page 502. Available digitally at Ancestry.com.

Ancestry.com's Card Catalog

One frustration with some sites is the ability to search for databases that are in a specific locatilty. Libraries at least have a card catalog where one can search for locations, in particular counties, towns, etc. This makes finding specific materials easier. While global searches of websites are nice, there are times when I like to search a specific book instead of looking instantly at every book in the library.

The Ancestry.com Card Catalog will let you search by location, you just have to filter your way down to the level you want instead of typing in keywords to search subject headings the way you would in a library card catalog. The screen shot in this entry is reduced to show more of the page, but in the red circle is where you can filter by location.

Users can simply then scroll down to the desired state and click.

Once you choose a state, the list of counties will appear. That is what happened after I clicked on Illinois.

Every time you choose a new location, the right hand side of the page "updates" to reflect items cataloged based upon your new choice.

The county is as far down as you can go. When I choose the county, the list of locations from which to choose disappears. If you do not see anything, scroll up to the top of the webpage, that is what I had to do.

Then on the right hand side I saw my four references. On the left hand side (under the orangish search button) are clickable areas that tell me where my search is currently focused. I can click any of those to pull up the appropriate list again to change my filtering.

Or I can click on one of the "hits" and search it or (heaven forbid) actually read it.

Before you search the book, read the description so you know what you are searching. Remember that OCR searches do not always find people. I KNEW my ancestor's biography was in this book (I have a copy at home). Finding it searching for Ramply and Bamply did not located the desired entry. I performed a keyword search instead for the word "laurels" only because I remembered that word was in his biography (this has to be on the top of the list of minutia that I have remembered). Any way I did find his biography split over two pages, which is how it was in the original.

I even left the word "laurels" green from when I searched for it.

Of course if I save this material, I should track the book, author, publication information, online source, etc.

I like the Ancestry.com Card Catalog and am glad they either added it or I just noticed it. At any rate, it is helpful.

Now--if they would let me search just for materials in one county at a time instead of either books or just one book. I'm never satisfied.

And if any descendants of James Rampley (1803-1884) read this post, let me know. I'm his 3rd great-grandson.

Varmland, Sweden Parish Records Added to Ancestry.

Ancestry has parish records from Varmland Sweden from 1661-1895.

This is excellent news for the Swedish genealogists with roots in this county. Those with Swedish ancestors know that records from this country are detailed and cross-referenced (some would say they were just a little compulsive).

The records from Varmland cover the 81 parishes of that county. To see the list of parishes, visit the Ancestry.com page for Varmland Sweden. All church records are included, christenings, marriages, funerals, household clerical registers, communion registers,etc.

Now for them to put Ostergotland up. Then I never will get any work completed.

This database is part of the World Collection at Ancestry.com. Those without an account can sign up for a Free Trial

OCR Searches of Ancestry.com's City Directories

The city directories on Ancestry.com.are not like the older ones were. This is easier to notice when you search for names instead of browsing through the towns individually as I originally did.

The first screen shot shown in this post comes from the results when I searched on the last name Mortier.

I found several references I already had and some new ones.

One struck my interest. It was for Mrs. Louisa Mortier. In viewing the entry, I had to be careful and look beyond her name.

The temptation might be to just copy that one name and leave it at that. At least in this image, I do have enough of the source to see where the information was obtained (look at the "crumbline" in the upper part of the screen.

What is missing in this entry is who these people are---what their occupation or business is. Any entry must be viewed in context.



Resizing things just a little, we can see that Mrs. Mortier appears in the lists of Boarding Houses. The one thing I did not originally make a note of was whether her boarding house was in Rock Island or in Moline. In directories that combine more than one location in a book, but separate the entries by city, this is important. I should somehow notate that this list is for Rock Island. The directory contains all the Rock Island entries then contains all the Moline entries.



My search results did not find August in the same year. I wondered why this was. To the best of my knowledge he did not return to Belgium, but anything is possible.


I decided to perform a manual search of the directory for August and was not disappointed.

When I looked at the page for the Mortiers, I realized why their names probably were not returned when I searched. There is a black line running down the page. There is a reasonable chance this interfered with the OCR scan of the text.

August is Louisa's husband and Kamiel is his brother. Other records had not indicated she had operated a boarding house, not even the census. I learned a little more than I expected, after all I was just looking for examples to illustrate a blog entry.

The city directories at Ancestry.com can be searched here.