1790-1920 United States Census Indexes and Images (including the 1890 fragments) are re-installed on FamilySearch Computers.
Access to these records is not through Ancestry.com. By clicking a special link, pale green in color, you get a menu of 50 of the 24,431 Ancestry databases available. Other census records and passenger lists are “index only” on this Family History Library Edition of Ancestry. But, you know genealogists–we will take whatever we can get and beg for more.
According to my library informant, this special Family History Library Edition of Ancestry is currently available only at the main library. And it will be coming soon to your local Family History Center, by previous agreement. Watch for it.
A new search link will allow individuals, who are already registered members of Ancestry.com’s site, to access those databases they have paid for from the Library. This access is more difficult than just clicking a green link on the familysearch computers, so additional time is needed to get it ready.
The 1850 census on Ancestry has been recently updated, so if you checked it before, check again. Completeness is difficult to judge, when compared to the actual manuscript census pages. It could be the index entries are faulty for the family names that refuse to appear. When you combine entries that were poorly written by the original enumerators, with misreadings and typographical errors by the modern transcribers–some ancestors are still hidden.
We have become used to Instant Ancestors. And we seek to avoid due diligence research work whenever we can–I fall into this trap too. Click on the link, get the page with ancestors on it, push the green print button. Or, horrors!, add the information directly to your own database right on your laptop. Without comparison, without analysis of the data, without checking for accuracy. Then we wonder why our ancestors elude us for 20 years and more.
The 32 people who attended the Research Retreat sponsored by My Ancestors Found.com last week, got some of both–Instant Ancestors and due diligence research. And all of those who consulted with me, wanted documentation and proof that the person in the documents was the same person who appeared on their pedigree charts. How glad that made me!
Genealogy Success is not an Accident–EVER. Those who invest the time in accurate work, carefully matching the evidence from one record to another, build each generation with ties to the one before.
This week we learned that Bounty Land Certificates often include the place of origin or birth as well as place of residence. DAR Lineage Books may include the actual migration patterns of each generation down to the current Daughter. Online census records match marriage data now found online too.
Which reminds me. I have inherited a very large collection of American marriage transcripts for the whole United States, with special emphasis on Kentucky and Virginia. Now these records are only on paper; we will begin to digitize them and create an online, searchable database. This News Sheet will alert you when it is ready. A new computer has just been installed in our Genealogy Library Center for data input. And I am looking for volunteers to help with the input. Email me <arlene@arleneeakle.com> if you are interested.
Read not to contradict and confront, nor to believe and take for granted…but to weigh and consider for yourself. Sir Francis Bacon
Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle
P.S. During the month of May we celebrate some important milestones–including the founding of Jamestown VA. I have some special episodes and happenings for this month. Tune in often.