Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Using Family Search to find images referenced on Ancestry (screencast)

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Today I was doing some research on Ancestry. (I’ve finished my backlog project and have lifted my ban on searching–more on that in a future post.) I was looking for a death certificate for my grandmother’s sister whom I had just learned through Find A Grave had died at the age of six, in 1922.

A simple Birth/Marriage/Death records search produced a collection called Washington, Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960, but when I clicked on it, it said “No Image Text-only collection.” (A picture of that screen is at the top of this post.) I saw that there was a FHL film number, so I went to Family Search to try to track down the document.

I was successful in finding an image of the death certificate, though I had to jump through a few hoops. After I successfully downloaded and processed it, I decided to do a screencast of the process, in case it help someone here.

Here’s the screencast:

A quick summary is that I searched on the film number in the catalog at Family Search, then when I got another No Image Available message there, I drilled down further to the actual microfilm number mentioned on Ancestry and did another search. That brought up the image. If it hadn’t, I would have gone to the image number (listed in the initial search result at Family Search) in that digitized microfilm. Bottom line: don’t give up if you’re told an image isn’t available!

You can find more information on using Family Search’s card catalog in this post from a year ago: Using the card catalog to find elusive documents on Family Search. And if you’re interested in how I processed that death certificate after I downloaded it, check out the blog post How I process a downloaded document.

Process vs results

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When it comes to your genealogy research, are you in it for the process or the results? I got to thinking about that question recently when I was teaching a client how to process her genealogy source documents in Reunion. When you’re first starting, it can be a slow process. It definitely gets easier.

As we were working through some documents, she asked me how long it takes me to process a document. (The answer to that question, of course, is “It depends on the document.”) Then she asked, “Does it get faster?”

As a new genealogist, she understood that it’s necessary to analyze and glean information from all her documents (and create a source citation) if she wants to be a researcher, not just a searcher. But she was finding progress to be frustratingly slow. I had to break it to her that, even for experienced researchers, genealogy is a marathon, not a sprint.

That got me thinking: Am doing this for the process or the results? I realized that, speaking personally, it’s about the process for me. I think that’s because I don’t feel there’s a finish line with my genealogy research. There’s always more to learn about my ancestors and I really enjoy the process of discovery. And I actually like the painstaking process of the documentation that follows the discovery.

I’m also a knitter and we have this same discussion in knitting. When I start a project, am I doing it for the finished product or for the enjoyment of the knitting? The answer to that question can inform what projects I take on. A Fair Isle sweater would be (for me) a bear to knit, but if I love them and would wear one with pride, it’s worth the effort. That’s not the kind of knitter I am, however. For me, in knitting as in genealogy, it’s all about the process. I have any number of hand-knit garments, shawls and bags that I ended up rarely using. But I sure loved making them.

How about for you? When it comes to your genealogy research, do you enjoy the process or are you in it for the results? (Or perhaps there’s a whole different element I’m not thinking of.) I’d love to hear.

Photo by Nynne Schrøder on Unsplash.

Update on my backlog busting

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A month ago today, I wrote a post called searcher vs. researcher, in which I talked about how I’d accumulated a backlog of documents I’d downloaded but done nothing with. I vowed that until I had processed that backlog (using my digital workflow) I would not search for any new documents.

Then I had to amend that vow a little when I realized how difficult it was for me to completely stop searching. I decided that I would search on occasion, but I would process anything I downloaded so that I wouldn’t add to the backlog

Since I started this process, I’ve been diligent about chipping away at my backlog, I’m happy to report. In my informal Evernote research log, I note which documents I processed and the day’s contribution to the backlog reduction.

I even created a simple spreadsheet (of course) that I store in Evernote and update after each session. That little burst of accomplishment keeps me going. Today’s spreadsheet is pictured above; you can click on it to make it bigger if you’re interested.

As of today, September 25, I have processed 62 of the 103 documents in my backlog. I have just 41 to go and am looking forward to the great feeling of finishing. All along, I’ve been making follow up notes (in Evernote), so I’ll have plenty of searching to do when I finish. I’m going to try hard not to let a backlog build up again!

My pause on searching: Easier said than done

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Just over a week ago, in my post called Searcher vs. researcher, I vowed to get through the backlog of documents I had downloaded but never processed and to do no online searching until the backlog was gone. I’ll confess to you that my resolve not to search dissolved the very first day.

My curiosity about certain things that came up while I was processing my backlogged documents could not be satisfied by merely jotting down a note on my follow-up task list. So I quickly amended the vow I’d made to myself. Now, I try not to do any searching and downloading but when I do, I process the new document during the session in which I download it.

This is working out well. I have managed to resist the temptation to search but every now and then I go for it. (For example, when I’m processing a Washington state marriage certificate and I know that Washington marriage license applications, which have more interesting information, are also easily found.)

Today, in processing an 1880 census, a grandchild appeared living with his widowed grandmother and I need to verify whose parent that grandchild is before I can add the grandchild to my genealogy software and consider the census document processed. That’s going to require a little searching online tomorrow and I’m okay with that.

So far, this backlog-busting project is going well. I’ve reduced my backlog by 25 documents in the last ten days and have 78 documents in my backlog remaining. It’s feeling good!