Your Search for a Genealogy “Easy” Button

Genealogy has become a search for the “EASY”  button.   And Genealogy is closer than ever to giving you such a gift.  FamilySearch.org has loaded over 300 million new index entries, abstracts, and images on Family Search.  Death certificates from several states–like Texas and Utah.  Parish churchbooks for Denmark and Norway. 

Check out the overlay of death entries for Utah:  certificates, 1904-1956; deaths and burials, 1888-1946; Utah County and Salt Lake County deaths, 1908-1949; and Veterans with Federal Service buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966.  The overlap is wonderful–especially if the bulk of your ancestry have died in Utah, as mine has done.

You can go from incomplete or incorrect  family groups and pedigrees to the primary source documents to fill in the gaps and to make corrections.  You can insert images of the documents themselves from a wide variety of basic records.  This is about as EASY as it gets.  No need to look up the correct, current address, fill out the right form, put the stamp on the envelope, and take it to the post office.  Then wait patiently until the certificate or notice arrives in the mail.  And no need to re-order when the clerk on the other end of the order sends you the wrong entry.  This “EASY” Button works well.

Check out Ancestry. com–as a subscription member or as an “Institution” patron.  With over a billion index entries, abstracts, and images for specialized ethnic ancestors. The kind of ancestor that requires long-distance hunting in imperfect reference guides that are often woefully out of date.  Now their passenger lists and naturalizations appear like magic on the screen.  And Have you tackled the 1930 census yet?  You can print out family groups with father, mother, and all the kids for every family with your ethnic surname.  This “EASY” Button works well.

And this is just the two most prominent websites–those we search regularly, and often all-day long. 

Not that all data is part of this new, magical, amazing digital world of genealogy–it will take tons of volunteers and lots of years to finish. 

Don’t wait in the slow line!  Get in the digital line first.  Always.  FIRST.  Then revert to the older methods if you don’t find what you seek. 

Tomorrow, get in the digital line again and re-check.  Is your ancestor there yet?  Oh, well.  More data will be available to you online the day after that.

Can you ignore the old methods? 

Let me be the first to tell you, NO!  Can’t do it, yet.  Maybe never.  Because if the image is blurred, or too light.  Or the transcript is misread, or the index incorrect.  Or the original spelling of the name tricky because the English clerk was listening to a German speaker repeat his name.  Or…you see the drift. 

The genealogy research system served you and I before and it will empower both of us NOW to find your hard-to find ancestors no matter what the challenge of the records is.  Or the format they appear in.

The Southern California Genealogical Society JAMBOREE 2010 is just days away.  And I have prepared an “EASY” Button for you–actually easy, easier, and easiest buttons.

  1. If you want to trace your hard-to-find ancestors yourself.  Attend my three NEW presentations on old topics.  NEW stuff from the genealogy research and study I have done this past year–just for you–with “EASY” BUTTONS:  
    Fri 4:30 – 5:30 FR-024 Eakle, Ph.D., FUGA. Migration Patterns into the Central United States. OH, IN, IL, MO, KY, TN, AR, OK – specific sources and their locations, exact routes (including stopping places along the way), places of origin for group migrations, and the foreign influx from Europe and Canada. [I]
    Sa 10:00-11:00 SA-039 Eakle. American Court Records. Over 95% of all adults in America have appeared in court at least once during their lifetime. The evidence from court records can build a pedigree as no other source. Also included: how to use indexes, how can legal terms and age limits aid your proof?
    Su 12:30-1:30 SU-087 Eakle. Tracing a Southern Pedigree. Trace ancestors back through Arkansas to Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland origins. New search strategies and little used sources to help you bypass burned court houses, gaps in vital records, and ancestors always on the move. One of the most significant migration patterns (VA and NC to TN to AR to CA) is discussed in detail: sources available to help trace such a pedigree, where they are located, and how to search them. Also included new finding aids and state-wide indexes available.  WITH URL’s for those online! 
  2. Visit with me, personally, at my booth in the Exhibit Hall:  Table 103 just inside the door.  –on Friday, June 11.  On Saturday, June 12.  On Sunday, June 13.  You can bring  your hardest-to-find ancestor for my expert recommendations.  Suggestions based on what I know works!  I will be available all three days.  And my time at Jamboree  2010 is FREE.  This is an “EASIER” Button.  I outline what you can do.
  3. Sign me up as your favorite genealogist.  Bring information on your hardest-to-find ancestors to Jamboree 2010.  And sign me up to get started.  Include what you know about each one–the more you tell me, the better I can work for you.   There are several “for-hire” genealogy research packages I offer.  Read about them on my Home Page http://arleneeakle.com and choose the one that  fits your specific needs.  This is the “EASIEST” BUTTON.  I do the work, you enjoy the exciting results.

http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/2010jam/home.htm If you haven’t registered, yet–get cracking.  This is one great event you won’t want to miss.  Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle. 

PS  And I am bringing  my 1/2 ton pickup truck filled with genealogy books and research aids to help you do your own genealogy work better.  Including the NEW 2010 edition of Tennessee Research by Afton Reintjes.  It includes a preliminary version of a 1790 “Census” for Tennessee–this alone is worth the price of the book!

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