We have chosen a variety of topics for the month of January. Let's hope we can continue to meet!
January 4: FamilySearch - What's New? What's Old? Family Tree
January 11: The 1921 British Census
January 18: DNA Update
January 25: Citing Your Sources - A Review
The following information comes from a National Archives press release via Dick Eastman's Genealogy Online Newsletter.
"The scheduled April 1, 2022, release of 1950 Census records is a little more than three months away, the National Archives is completing efforts to digitize those records and using technology to make them more accessible than ever."
National Archives employees have been working on digitizing and indexing the records and developing and testing a new, dedicated 1950 Census website.
"The OCR being used to transcribe the handwritten names from the census rolls is about as good as the human eye,” said Project Management Director Rodney Payne. “Some of the pages are legible, and others are difficult to decipher. So, the National Archives developed a transcription tool to enable users to submit name updates. This will allow other users to find specific names more easily, and it provides an opportunity for the public to help the agency share these records with the world.”
"The website is currently in development and will undergo rigorous testing in the coming months to ensure a successful launch."
We'll see!
I have just learned that Steve Packer, one of our favorite speakers, passed away in February of this past year. Steve gave many presentations to our club, including researching in England, migration trails, immigration and naturalization, free websites and researching in Eastern Europe. However, his passion was research in Germany, as he had traveled there many times in search of records of his ancestors. Steve also enjoyed speaking to us during our cookie nights!
We will miss Steve and his entertaining and educational presentations.
This week we responded to a couple of member queries. The two topics were photo identification and useful passenger list websites.
Some of the photo websites included www.phototree.com, vintageaerial.com and www.thephotodetective. The gallery portion of Photo Tree happens to be down at present, as they seem to be moving websites. The rest of the site is usable, however. Vintage Aerial is a site with aerial photos of farms--mainly in the eastern half of the United States. You can search by state and then county. Maureen Taylor is the accepted expert on identifying photos. She has a weekly podcast as well as her website, www.maureentaylor.com.
We looked at various ways to reach passenger websites. Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org are the go-to sites for New York passenger lists, but www.castlegarden.org and www.ellisisland.org can also be used. Steve Morse's website, www.stevemorse.com is a good spot for further research.
On American Ancestors www.americanancestors.org/browsedatabase select "Only Free Databases" underneath the search bar. This will return results that you can view without a subscription. The following list is from Family Tree Magazine, March/April 2020.
Massachusetts Vital Records, 1620-1850
Gloucester, MA: Burials in Gloucester Cemeteries
Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati (military officers of the Revolutionary War)
New York Wills, 1626-1836
Rhode Island Roots
Index of Revolutionary War Pensioners, 1800-1900
Boston Pilot: Irish Immigrant Advertisements
Our workshop this week was "interesting," as the projector was not working and we had to improvise. (It was still not fixed this morning for the computer club.) We were going to focus on "Images" and "Genealogies" on FamilySearch.
Instead of a formal presentation, everyone accessed FamilySearch and we looked first at the images selection under "search." Each member tried one of their ancestors' birthplace or another location where they might have lived. We learned a bit about how this area of the database was created and how to navigate through the digitized microfilms. You can only search for locations in this part of the website.
We also looked at genealogies where many of the "old" submissions of family trees are kept. If you upload your family tree, this is where you will find it. It is possible to search the entire section at once, or you can choose either the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File or the IGI section separately.
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This week we looked at two websites that may help your research at the county level.
www.usgenweb.com allows you to choose a state and then any county that is presently being supported by a volunteer. Be sure to note the "last updated" date, as some are not as current as others. There is a Canadian gen web site, but it did not seem to be working this week.
www.linkpendium.com is another website with two options. There is a search field for surnames at the top that lets you burrow down to any name. You can also select a state and county to research. Be sure to take a look at the "Societies" option, as there may be a local genealogy society available for you to join. You can also find websites for other countries.
We used names and locations submitted by attendees for demonstration.
FamilySearch opened registration this week for RootsTech 2022, the largest family history event in the world held online March 3–5, 2022. It offers a forum where people of all ages across the globe are inspired to discover and share their memories and make meaningful connections. Register for free at www.rootstech.org today. RootsTech 2022 will be a virtual-only experience, with some enhancements and improvements.
A new set of educational classes will be featured during 2022, along with new technologies to explore in the virtual expo hall, and inspiring stories shared by a fascinating line-up of keynote speakers.
