Research Your Data...continued
2. Utilize Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet. Cyndi’s List contains, literally, over 264,000 links to genealogy websites that are indexed by subject, location or keywords. These are free and subscription-based web sites that contain transcribed data, published family pedigrees and histories, training materials, historical data, photographs, reference and finding aids, and, just about anything you can possibly imagine having to do with family history. Cyndi’s List is your “table of contents”, your “index” to the Internet for genealogy.
3. The Internet has many message boards, blogs and mailing lists available to help you communicate with others around the world who have similar interests in research and training on family history and genealogy.
4. Utilize a Family History Center.
a. FH Centers are staffed with people from who have been called to serve as Family History Consultants or by local genealogy enthusiasts.
b. The FH Center has free access to a number of subscription websites. Currently those include:
Ancestry.com Library Edition
Footnote.com
Genline.com
Godfrey Memorial Library (contains the Newspaper Archives)
Heritage Quest
Kindred Konnections
World Vital Records
c. The FH Center has all of the published Pedigree Resource Files on CD that contain much more information than what is online at FamilySearch.
5. Utilize the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake.
a. You can search the library catalog online FamilySearch.org from your home so that you are prepared before going to the library. The library contains millions of records published on microfilm, microfiche, books and CD’s. Searching the catalog will provide you with information on what is available, film numbers, book references, etc. to save you time, narrow your search, and identify availability of applicable records.
b. Training classes are also provided for free at the library. A schedule is listed here.
Showing posts with label Pedigree Resource File. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pedigree Resource File. Show all posts
29 April 2009
Get Started!
Follow the four easy steps outlined on the form “How Do I Start My Family History?” available here. The first few are covered below. I'll cover the others later.
Identify What You Have
1. Do you have a computerized database of your genealogy and family history?
2. Do you have the information in paper form?
3. If you have neither, do you have a relative that does? If so, contact that relative(s) and ask for a “gedcom” copy of what they have computerized, a photocopy of their material, or take a digital camera and take pictures of what they have.
Don’t reinvent the wheel! Beg and borrow the work that everyone else has already done! This will give you the framework, but, not the finished work. Often, during the course of identifying the sources of the data you have gathered, you will find that mistakes have been made. There really were four sons named “William” in one family. Or, there were two James Millers living in the same town and both of them had sons named George.
Computerize Your Data
Obtain a software program on which to enter your data. Any software package will do. You can download PAF (Personal Ancestral File) from FamilySearch.org for free. Most people who do so, purchase add-on packages from various vendors to streamline the process, create additional reports and charts, search the IGI automatically and search for other records faster. Many other purchased software packages have these same abilities, and more, combined into one package.
Other software packages include: RootsMagic, Legacy, The Master Genealogist, FamilyTreeMaker, and Ancestral Quest, to name a few. If you already have access to new FamilySearch or you want to be ready for the release in Utah/Idaho you will find it much easier and faster to work with if you have either RootsMagic, Ancestral Quest, or the PAF add-on program, Family Insight. My personal preference is most definitely RootsMagic V4.
Research Your Data
Once you have gathered your records turn to the Internet for more information. There are literally tens of thousands of websites that contain data – both good and bad. Remember to gather ALL you can and then determine what is correct by gathering sources to confirm the accuracy of the data.
1. First, go to FamilySearch (or new FamilySearch if you have access.) FamilySearch contains the following databases and are searchable online for free.
Ancestral File- contains information from four-generation pedigree charts that were submitted by individuals to FamilySearch in paper form many years ago.
Pedigree Resource File – contains data submitted by individuals electronically. More data is included on the CD version of these files, located in the FH Center or FH Library, than is displayed on the Internet.
IGI (International Genealogical Index) – for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints it contains dates and temple codes for all ordinance work completed in any temple. It DOES NOT include records for the living, only for those who are deceased. It is updated daily. For others the IGI includes everything except temple ordinance information.
Census Index – contains transcriptions of the 1880 US Federal Census, the 1881 British Census and the 1881 Canadian census.
The US Social Security Death Index –includes many of the millions of people in the US who were issued a Social Security Number and their death was reported to the Social Security Administration. Birth years range from 1875 to the present.
Vital Records -- are transcribed vital records from Mexico and Scandinavia. Other vital records on CD's are located in the FH Center.
Identify What You Have
1. Do you have a computerized database of your genealogy and family history?
2. Do you have the information in paper form?
3. If you have neither, do you have a relative that does? If so, contact that relative(s) and ask for a “gedcom” copy of what they have computerized, a photocopy of their material, or take a digital camera and take pictures of what they have.
Don’t reinvent the wheel! Beg and borrow the work that everyone else has already done! This will give you the framework, but, not the finished work. Often, during the course of identifying the sources of the data you have gathered, you will find that mistakes have been made. There really were four sons named “William” in one family. Or, there were two James Millers living in the same town and both of them had sons named George.
Computerize Your Data
Obtain a software program on which to enter your data. Any software package will do. You can download PAF (Personal Ancestral File) from FamilySearch.org for free. Most people who do so, purchase add-on packages from various vendors to streamline the process, create additional reports and charts, search the IGI automatically and search for other records faster. Many other purchased software packages have these same abilities, and more, combined into one package.
Other software packages include: RootsMagic, Legacy, The Master Genealogist, FamilyTreeMaker, and Ancestral Quest, to name a few. If you already have access to new FamilySearch or you want to be ready for the release in Utah/Idaho you will find it much easier and faster to work with if you have either RootsMagic, Ancestral Quest, or the PAF add-on program, Family Insight. My personal preference is most definitely RootsMagic V4.
Research Your Data
Once you have gathered your records turn to the Internet for more information. There are literally tens of thousands of websites that contain data – both good and bad. Remember to gather ALL you can and then determine what is correct by gathering sources to confirm the accuracy of the data.
1. First, go to FamilySearch (or new FamilySearch if you have access.) FamilySearch contains the following databases and are searchable online for free.
Ancestral File- contains information from four-generation pedigree charts that were submitted by individuals to FamilySearch in paper form many years ago.
Pedigree Resource File – contains data submitted by individuals electronically. More data is included on the CD version of these files, located in the FH Center or FH Library, than is displayed on the Internet.
IGI (International Genealogical Index) – for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints it contains dates and temple codes for all ordinance work completed in any temple. It DOES NOT include records for the living, only for those who are deceased. It is updated daily. For others the IGI includes everything except temple ordinance information.
Census Index – contains transcriptions of the 1880 US Federal Census, the 1881 British Census and the 1881 Canadian census.
The US Social Security Death Index –includes many of the millions of people in the US who were issued a Social Security Number and their death was reported to the Social Security Administration. Birth years range from 1875 to the present.
Vital Records -- are transcribed vital records from Mexico and Scandinavia. Other vital records on CD's are located in the FH Center.
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