Organize Your Family History

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Quick Tip #27: Read the instructions to enumerators

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Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every couple of weeks on a small topic that pops into my head. This one can be very helpful for census research.

Read the instructions to enumerators

When you’re processing a U.S. census record, it’s tempting to record the big information, like birth year and place and occupation, and leave it at that. But there are lots of other pieces of information that you can capture, which can vary by census year. Sometimes it’s not easy to understand exactly what the word or code written in a column refers to, and that’s where the instructions to enumerators come in.

Whenever I take the time to read the instructions, I benefit. They’re easy to find on the historical instructions page on  U.S. Census website or a simple google search like “instructions to enumerators 1910 census” will take you right there. In my experience, the quality of the work of enumerators is variable, so we don’t know for a fact that the enumerator followed the instructions precisely. But at least we can find out what the answer is supposed to mean!

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

Quick Tip #26: Search for an ancestor without using his name

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Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every couple of weeks on a small topic that pops into my head. I learned this trip from Amy Johnson Crow’s excellent, Getting Savvy with FamilySearch workshop.

Search for an ancestor without using his name

When you fill out a search form on FamilySearch on Ancestry, you typically enter the name into the search box of the ancestor whose records your searching for. That seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? But if you’re having trouble finding records on a research subject whose parents’, spouses’s or siblings’ names you know, try the leaving the person’s name blank an instead entering the name of one or more of those relatives. Sometimes you’ll find documents that did not come up with a search on the ancestor’s name.

Why does it work? There are lots of possibilities. Perhaps there was an indexing error on the research subject’s name. Or maybe you were searching on a full name when the document in question uses a nickname or initials. It’s an easy thing to try and you might be pleasantly surprised by the results!

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

FamilySearch has finished digitizing its microfilm holdings!

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Rows and rows of microfilm storage at the Family History Library

FamilySearch announced today that it has completed its massive project to digitize its microfilm holdings. A staggering 2.4 million rolls of microfilm have been digitized.  The project, which began in 1998, was anticipated to take 50 years. Thanks to the development of faster technology, the timeline was shortened by 27 years. Amazing.

FamilySearch’s archive is freely available to anyone with an internet connection and a free account. This digital archive contains information 11.5 billion individuals in over 200 countries.

According to this informative FamilySearch press release about the achievement, “To explore FamilySearch’s free collections of indexed records and images, go to FamilySearch.org and search both ‘Records’ and ‘Images’. The Images feature enables users to peruse digitized images from the microfilm collection and more. A free FamilySearch account will be required to access the service.” I’ll add that I find a lot of digitized images by searching the Catalog by location.

FamilySearch began microfilming documents in 1938. In the past, duplicates of the microfilms were lent to researchers through local Family History Centers, which was much more convenient than having to travel to see them at the Family History Library. In 2017, FamilySearch ended that program when it began to transition to all-online access. It couldn’t be more convenient. (The microfilm collection will be preserved.)

Today’s freely available archive has been in the works for 83 years now. Modern genealogists are the beneficiaries!

Check out this video describing the achievement:

Quick Tip #25: Take another look at handwritten documents

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Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every couple of weeks on a small topic that pops into my head. I have to remind myself of this one with more frequency than I’d like to admit.

Take another look at handwritten documents

We’ve all encountered names that have been poorly indexed. That’s because handwriting can be hard to transcribe. I find that I sometimes misinterpret handwritten words or numbers and enter them incorrectly into my Reunion software. That can lead to wrong assumptions and wild goose chases.

If you find you have conflicting evidence, take another look at the original document to make sure you recorded the evidence accurately. (It happened to me just yesterday, where I discovered that I’d written down that a woman had three living children, when in fact the number written on the census was five.) You may find a transcription error on your part that clears things up.

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

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When you first join the list, I’ll send you a few emails to help you organize your family history. After that you’ll hear from me at the end of every month when I send an email with links to that month’s posts. And every now and then, I’ll let you know when I have something special to promote.