Granite Genealogy: March 2012

29 March 2012

Handy Links to 1940 U.S. Census Info

Exciting 1940 U.S. Census Kick-Off Event at Riverton FamilySearch Library

Mark your calendars for Thursday, April 12th, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m at the Riverton FamilySearch Library. The Library along with the Family History Area Advisers serving the Salt Lake City Area are pleased to host this 1940 Census Kick-Off Event! This will be an open house so you can attend any time during the four hours.

Enjoy special classes on indexing, arbitration, and stake indexing leadership each hour. Bring along a laptop if you have one, and, invite your family, friends and neighbors to join the fun!

Go to the1940census.com to register for the indexing project -- even if you already are doing indexing!

Find Your Family in the 1940 Census

From our friends at Archives.com:
The 1940 Census is almost here! Are you ready? Archives.com has prepared this infographic to show some of the cool things you can discover about your family in the 1940 Census. It also shows the steps you'll take to find them when the Census is released on April 2, just a few short days away!

Archives.com is proud to have been selected by the National Archives to host the 1940 Census. Starting April 2, go to 1940census.archives.gov and find your family.

So, who is that with great-grandpa?!

28 March 2012

RootsMagic 5.0.3 Update Released

Just in case you have been hiding out, on a long vacation, or just haven't had a chance to think about it, RootsMagic 5 was released about 4 months ago to include a number of new features. Three main features that I am finding so useful include the following:

Research Manager: No longer do you need to keep track of individual papers and files hanging out in your office or computer. The new Research Manager keeps track of all research logs you create, listing all you have found and all you have not found in your research and links to each person/family in your database. The more I use it the more I love it. I'm starting to get a better handle on my organization.

Timeline View: The new tab displays a full timeline of the person's events and those of his/her parents, siblings, spouses, and children. So I can select my great-grandmother, for instance, and immediately see how old she was on the day each of her children was born, when her husband died, or how old she was when her siblings died and where they died. I have access to my notes on this page and can therefore add notes to a fact that makes the narrative more meaningful and clear.

County Check: Once I got used to this I found I really like this feature. Based on a date that I enter for a fact, the county check tells me if the location I enter existed in the county name I entered and suggests the right one for the time period. So one person may have been born in Salt Lake City, Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory and died in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States. This works for all places in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. This feature also links to an online historical map with county boundaries included.

Just a few days ago an updated version of RootsMagic (Version 5.0.3) was released with some things I've been waiting for!

Here is a breakdown of MY best-of-the-best "new" features added since version 5 was first released.

5.0.3 - 27 March 2012

New: New "Who Was There" list prints all people in a selected place at a selected time
New: "Fix Broken Media Links" now lets you select the starting drive and/or folder (This is one of my favorite features! It saves tons of time. Now, if I could only drill down further! )
New: Media Gallery now lets you sort media by either file name or caption
New: Added options to custom reports to shade alternate records or draw lines between records
New: Added "Living" checkbox to "Add Person screen"
New: Changed 95 year rule to 110 years in New FamilySearch features

5.0.2 - 25 January 2012

New: Added ability to split a place into separate place and place details (on Edit Place screen)
New: Added option to print place details in place index

See a detailed listing and images of new features in RootsMagic 5.

See a complete list of all new features and fixes added since version 5 was released.

27 March 2012

Updated Info About the FamilySearch Indexing App

Last month I posted about the new FamilySearch Indexing app. There were several questions that were raised about how the app operates that were not covered or were not clear in the Guide. I was able to speak with an employee at FamilySearch who is involved in the implementation of the app and he was able to shed some light on a number of issues. So here are a few questions and answers that you might find useful.

If you want to refer back to the original post click here: FamilySearch Indexing App for Apple and Android...

1. I noticed that if you swipe your finger across an entry in the History Tab, the image can be removed. Does it "undo" the submitted transcription?

Answer: No, the only thing the DELETE does is remove the image from the history screen. The transcription has already been submitted.

2. The Guide does not say anything about viewing the tiny image in context by clicking on the right-hand icon at the top center of the app. So do you transcribe ONLY the portion of the name viewed in the small image or do you look for the full name as listed on the full-sized document and transcribe it?

Answer: Yes, view the name in the full image and find the full name. Then transcribe the entire name, but, do NOT transcribe titles such as Mr., Mrs, Miss, etc. You may end up with several submissions with a surname only.

3. Sometimes there are two names inside the name box. Which one do I transcribe?

Answer: Always transcribe the top name only.

4. Why do I not get every name on a full document when I start indexing? Sometimes I will get a name somewhere on the page and sometimes on a new document.

Answer: As you are indexing a name on a document the next name may be distributed to some other indexer. There is no arbitrator involved with indexing within the app. Each name is distributed to about three different indexers and continues until either a consensus is made, or it is pulled for audit. This process is referred to as "crowd sourcing model".

5. After I submit a transcription and realize that I either made a mistake or hit the submit button in error, can a fix it?

Answer: Yes, but only the very most recent submit. When you click on the UNDO button in the upper left of the app after submitting the transcription, the image will return and it can be corrected. This only works on the one document. It will not continue to bring back multiple submissions.

6. Will you explain the Queue size listed in the settings?

Answer: Offline Queue Size - Indexing on the app can be worked on without an internet connection after first downloading or queuing up a number of records while connected to the internet/wifi. You can download as many as 500 records while connected and, then without an internet connection, transcribe all 500 records. Then when you reconnect to an internet/wifi connection the 500 records will be submitted and another 500 records will be automatically queued up.

History Queue Size is simply the number of records that you have indexed that you want to continue to display in the History tab.

7. Why are my stats so low?

Answer: You submissions may take a while to make it through the system long enough to gain a consensus by all indexers. Also, handwriting can be very difficult to interpret.

26 March 2012

FamilySearch Records Updated

We continue to have new FREE records added to FamilySearch and the last couple of months are no exception! As you remember, some of the following databases are new records being added; some are new images added to existing databases; or are new indexes or additional indexes to existing databases. So if you have tried these databases in the past with no luck, try again!

15 March 2012

Intro the 1940 US Census at Riverton FS Library

Riverton FamilySearch Library to Host an Event

Introducing the 1940 Federal Census

On March 17th from 9:00 A.M. to Noon

When you think of the 1940s, images of World War II, big band music, Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman come to mind. It was the era of swing dancing, victory gardens, rationing sugar, and when you might have referred to someone old-fashioned as a “fuddy-duddy.”

Popular genealogist Tim Bingaman will bring the 1940s to life in his keynote address at the Riverton Saturday Seminar on March 17. In his presentation, “The 1940 Federal Census: The Greatest Generation,” he will explain what genealogical gems can be gleaned from the 1940 census, how to get involved in indexing it so it will be made available free online, and how individuals can be located on the census until indexes are available.

Tim Bingaman was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and has lived in Utah since 1980. He began to research his family lines in 1982 and has never stopped. After a three-year stint in the U.S. Army, he attended Harrisburg Area Community College and received his B.A. in history from Brigham Young University. Tim taught high school in St. Johns, Arizona, from 1984-1989, teaching U.S. and world history, geography, economics, and health. He has been an accredited genealogist since 1991 in Mid-Atlantic States research. Currently he is a reference consultant at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Following the 9:00 a.m. keynote presentation, there will be two blocks of four classes each that will cover topics of interest to both beginning and advanced family history enthusiasts.

Classes to be held from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. are:

• “FamilySearch and Billion Graves--Family History Sources Right at Your Feet”--Curtis Tirrell

• “Ireland Research Online”--Phil Dunn

• “Synching Legacy 7.5 with the new FamilySearch”--John Baker

• “Searching for Interesting Information about Your Utah Pioneer Ancestors”--Delwin Remington

The classes available from 11:00 a.m. to noon are:

• “FamilySearch and Billion Graves--Family History Sources Right at Your Feet” (Repeat) -- C Tirrell

• “Genealogy Gifts and Games”--Kim Woodbury

• “Increasing Productivity on the New FamilySearch Website”-- Andrea Schnakenburg

• “Hatching Eggs: The Chart Chick Tries to Engage Her Teenage Children with Their Family History”--Janet Hovorka

Registration is not required for this free seminar. The Riverton FamilySearch Library is located in the LDS Riverton Office Building at 3740 Market Center Drive. The facility is near the intersection of Bangerter Highway and 13400 South, just east of the Home Depot.

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