States That Kept VItal Records Before 1880

You may as well know what is not available in the way of State Vital Records. There are only 14 that kept records before 1880. To me it is interesting the Hawaii is one of them.

Vermont 1770, Massachusetts 18841, Hawaii 1850, Virginia 1853, Rhode Island 1853, Delaware 1860, Florida 1865, Michigan 1867, Washington DC 1871, Wisconsin 1876, New Jersey 1878, Iowa 1880, and New York 1880.

Going to the State Level is often an effective way to find vital records. I suggest you also go to the FamilySearch Wiki. It will likely lead you to the resources in a particular State or County. You find the link to the Wiki on FamilySearch.org under the heading "get help"  For example: here is the link to the North Carolina Wiki Page: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/North_Carolina

Good researchers have a plan they follow. For many that know the State their ancestors lived in, the resources on the Wiki page for that State or County are a pretty good plan; just follow every link posted on that State or County Wiki page.

The First Four

To the beginner. Your job is a Treasure Hunt. You are out to build your family tree. With FamilySearch Family Tree you get help. Many of your long lost cousins are likely to join in the hunt for your family and connect them to the tree.

When you connect in to  FamilySearch Family Tree there may be some errors. That is why you have the features of editing, discussions, and sources: so you can work together to get it right.

You are likely to be like me, finding it to be exciting and fun.

The first thing to do is get a Family Search account. Then login and start building you tree with those who are alive. Only you see live people you put in your tree for privacy reasons.

Keep building your pedigree until you connect to ancestors that are deceased. The deceased are visible to all. As thousands are already using FamilySearch Family Tree your deceased ancestors are possible already in there and you will see your pedigree chart populate. Don't be alarmed if there are  errors. Fixing them, proving what is correct, and attaching the source to the tree as proof is the fun part.

We suggest you make public at least your email, so your common relatives can contact you to work with you in getting them all and getting it right.

The second part of the hunt, is the hunt. There are hundreds, even thousands, of websites to help in the hunt because there are so many involved in this fascinating work.

However I want to refer you to the Fantastic Four: http://familysearch.org/ http://ancestry.com/ http://Google.com/ (using the work genealogy in your search) and http://findagrave.com/ These four sites will help you get the cream of the crop, the records most easily found.

By the way, Ancestry.com is free at a local FamilySearch Family History Center. The others are always free.

This will get you a huge start. Start with those families closest to you. Then work  out. Find the correct records and attach them to the tree.

To learn family tree and each of it's components you can go to the website http://familysearchtraining.com/ It is really intuitive and easy to learn. The training site videos should be all you need, but there are practice exercises there for additional help.

Enjoy, or should I say, catch the spirit. Larry

By the way - Family Search has a Wiki and a Training Center. I will post about those next. Much is already here as I have been writing for over a year on this subject, I vainly suggest you study this site. :)

The FamilySearch Wiki Is Now Easier To Locate

My, it can be difficult keeping up with all the site changes to FamilySearch.org. The FamilySearc Wiki is one of your most important research tools. It won't find your ancestor, it will help you find the place to locate the ancestor.

Thankfully the Wiki is now easier to find. Just go to http://familysearch.org and click search. The wiki option will be at the top of the search page. See photos below.

I find it very helpful to research the area my ancestors lived. 

It not only leads you to sources, but it helps get to know what they went through. 

The Important Parts of FamilySearch.org

Always sign in. If you don't have an account register for one. Even if you just want to search, sign in. There is more searchable data for those who have registered and signed in.

You can browse by location, even by parents. A parent only search sometimes brings up children you weren't aware of.

FamilySearch.org should be the first place you go to search for an ancestor.

Family Tree should be available now to the entire public, once they have signed in. If that doesn't work for you (it should) email me at larry@cragun.net and I will get you the invite link.

Family Tree may need you to start building it yourself. If  you have any difficulties, the site http://familysearchtraining.com/ is awesome for learning family tree.

The learn section is important. Video training for all levels of knowledge in genealogy research. Plus, the wiki is there. The Wiki is your number one place to research.

This Power Point gives you more insight -

It all starts at this website from Larry Cragun

Cool Video On FamilySearch Wiki

FamilySearch Wiki

Click Here

to see a video on how to  use the FamilySearch Wiki

You won't be sorry

FamilySearch Wiki Is Your Number 1 Research Tool

This great resource which is growing is not the place to find your ancestors - rather it's the place to find out where to find them.

In training a recent missionary he wanted to find out where his indian ancestors obituaries could be found. We went to the Wiki and was directed to that answer plus a great section of interviews that the Chocktaw Nation members had to go through to receive benefits from the Choctaw Nation.

The Wiki made it easy to find and the results were astounding, finding documentation on ancestors known, and names of many othe ancestors he had not yet located.

To find the Wiki, go to https://familysearch.org/ and click on learn.

Click the photo as you see on the left.

Note the Family Search Wiki is a free collection of family history articles provided by family history enthusiasts from around the world. The wiki makes it easy for people to share research information and useful tips. Research Wiki articles are valuable resources for anyone who wants to learn more about their family history.

The search bar appears and you are on your way.

 

 

The Family Search Wiki, Your Number One Research Source

Below are links to a complete presentation on the Wiki. It may seem like the least interesting post as an article that I have published. However, if you study the content in each of these links it will likely become the most important genealogy research article you will have read.

The Wiki won't have the answers to your family history search, it will likely have the answer as to how to find the information you are seeking.

The content in the Wiki is growing daily. The good news is that it is possibly, even probably, your number one research source.

I encourage you to take the time to review everything in the following links. It just may multiply your research success and eliminate a whole bunch of wasted time.

Researching in the Wiki ~ Student Handout
Researching in the Wiki ~ Teaching Guide
Researching in the Wiki ~ Case Study with links
Researching in the Wiki ~ Case Study without links
Researching in the Wiki ~ Beginning Wiki User Page Links

Researching in the Wiki ~ Powerpoint (view online, click to advance slides)
Researching in the Wiki ~ Powerpoint (download, begins when you click on the link)

Learning Genealogy Is Getting Easier Each Day

One of the reasons genealogy research is getting easier to do is that so many are focused on it. All over the world individuals, governments, societies, businesses, and churches are catching the spirit in a passionate way.

The LDS church has a leading website: http://familysearch.org/. All information on this site is free to the public. Family search is able to partner with a lot of businesses and organizations in adding data to its database. Some data that would cost to obtain comes free to family search through trading or sharing resources. An example is that the UK 1911 census is the exclusive domain of FindMyPast.com. Through it's partnering relationship, Family Search.org has that census.

Family Search not only has billions of records of data, it is one of the best learning centers for the beginner or intermediate genealogist. If that might interest you click on learn as you reach http://familysearch.org/ It will take you to a page like the one below:

There is the Wiki with expertise help on thousands of specific topics, showing you how to research that topic.  There are training videos that are excellent. There are forums to post you questions.

Catch the spirit, dive in. It's fun.

Family Search Wiki - The # 1 Research Tool

FamilySearch Wiki

Have questions/ideas about Family Search Wiki? Guess what! We hold monthly online meetings so we can hear from you!  | http://bit.ly/tUIYXY |

 

Serve A Part Time Mission From Home? Really?

Yes, and are you ever needed. 

The church has a mission zone that supports questions from patrons world wide. This is an actual missionary calling, interviews, calling letter, and badge. After two months of training the at home missionary serves 15 hours per week at home. The at home missionary is called for at least one year. At home missionaries serve answering important questions on doing family history. These come by email, phone calls, or text messages.

There are currently over 500 at home missionaries and family history needs at least 1000 more. When you inquire our department matches your skills and interests with the needs of family history. We place and train people in their department.

Our biggest need is new family search. That will become family tree. We also assign people to the wiki, family history centers, indexing support, online film ordering, and family history research.

I've felt a  lot of emotion at times, realizing the blessing an at home mission call can be to a member or family. I almost cried at the excitement of a mother when she realized we were placing her son as an actual missionary. A similar emotion was felt when a sister wheel chair bound realized she was going to be able to provide meaningful service.

If you want to explore this opportunity call 1-800-453-3860 ext 2-0850 or email: mission@familysearch.org

Sister Whitney Horning



I highly recommend this video of Sister Horning. It tells more in a few minutes than I could in an hour. Sister Horning Tells Her Story

For our friends and patrons who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, you can give back in many ways too. Serving in a local family history center is one example. The biggest need is in idexing the 1940 Census.  That project starts the 1st week of April. The data will be easy to read and index. The results will be posted free of charge on FamilySearch.org. You can sign up now by going to 1940 Census website

There is also a new iPad ap in the Ap Store.

Content Rich Family Search - Growing In Value - Family Search Wiki Growing in Size

New and Improved Search

Get Tips from Experts, and Share What You Know

One Sign In for All Family Search Resources:

Click here for the what's new page: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/whats_new

Did you know that the Family Search wiki is now the #1 Research tool. The wiki recently passed the 66,000 article count and is growing daily.  The wiki doesn't answer your research questions, rather it shows you how and where to research. Go take a look here:

Click here: Family Search Wiki