War of 1812: Preserve the Pensions!

Posted on the FamilySearch.org blog January 24, 2013 By David Rencher

FamilySearch has made a generous donation of $250,000 to support this community effort to the War of 1812 “Preserve the Pensions” Digitization Fund.These 7.2 million images, among the most requested documents at the National Archives, are part of an industry effort led by the Federation of Genealogical Societies that will provide free online access to these important historical records. By visiting the War of 1812 Pension Applications Files,you can view, free of charge, all images that have been placed online so far. For anyone who would also like to donate to this worthy cause or get additional information, visit the Preserve The Pensions website. Full Story

I've Been Transferred

It looks like I will spend the rest of our mission in World Wide Support. I'll be taking phone calls, answering email, and texts regarding questions on Family Tree and new.familysearch.org. It should be a great learning process as I can see some of the questions coming in are rare and interesting.

FamilySearch Adds Collection Updates to Australia, BillionGraves, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Spain, and the United States

January 15, 2013 By Rob Goates

FamilySearch added an additional 7 million new, free indexed records and images this week to its collection. Notable additions include the 1,747,863 indexed records and images in the Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books collection from 1592-1910, the 1,308,956 indexed records from the United States General Index to Pension Files collection from 1861-1934, the 1,115,732 images for the Luxembourg Census Records collection from 1843-1900, and the 1,023,459 added to the United States Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports, from 1820-1874. New searchable records were also added this week for Colombia and six states in the US collections. See the table below for the full list of updates. Search these diverse collections and more than 3.5 billion other records for free at FamilySearch.org. Full Story

Nathan And Sanford Porter Family Information

Copied from the journal of nathan t porter from Larry Cragun

This slide show can be enlarged by clicking the 4 arrow icon in the right corner.

How Is That Research Repeat Going?

Don't you just love wasting time? It's fun knowing you are doing research already gathered by others isn't it?

Teach it to your kids too, about that? Research Repeat, the ancient way in Genealogy. It's Great!

I guess those most committed to this concept are you in Ancestry.com who have your information as PRIVATE, like it's a secret, like you are the only grandchild of Adam and Eve.

I have a suggestion for you - change your name - pick something no one else has picked. Look for suggestions. Here is one, make your new last name something like Goooooooosen. No one has that one yet, I bet.

By the way, stats show that 80% of research concluded is "Research Repeat"

There is another way for those interested: it's called FamilySearch Family Tree. It has already saved me months of research time thanks to the generous attitude of others related to my Elisha Cragun 2nd great grandfather.

When we all work together we can accomplish amazing things. How about that thought?

If you want to try it out, let me know.

PS: The sarcasm is meant in fun.

Coming To Family Tree:

There are many who would like to find fault and not use FamilySearch family tree as it isn't in a perfect completed stage yet.

One of the complaints is that it won't print pedigree charts and family group sheets. That is soon going to be solved. I saw a screen shot of the printing features of these two reports and they are nicely done.

Family Tree has been under development for just over a year and a half. It's giant project, at times having over 600 engineers and developers building it, a huge commitment and one not to be taken lightly or treated disrespectfully.

As it is it is awesome. So what if it has a bug here or there or if there is a feature I want that isn't there yet.

IT SOLVES THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN RESEARCH, THAT OF "RESEARCH REPEAT". We waste so much time duplicating another persons work.

That came front and center to me this month when Gaylynn Heiner Hone provided her years of research she had done on Elisha Cragun, who I had decided to focus on. I'm guessing the near 100 pages saved me and anyone else embarking on this task at least a year in research time.

A feature being developed that I am most enthused about is the family sharing feature. Here family members can share living information amongst themselves: stories, photos, documents, etc. I've wondered how do I input into the tree my photos and documents without dying. Also, if I am dead will the heavens allow me to attach something to the tree? Probably not. So the problem will be solved.

Very soon the duplicates bug will be resolved.

For those of you using new.familsearch.org please STOP. I mentioned a reason yesterday, but as added reason, when you merge a file in newfamilysearch it messes up the tree. Get used to the tree as I expect new family search to be turned off for the reasons I have mentioned.

And to you who are determined to gripe and find fault, it's over, the decision has been made: family tree is the future and you will be glad once you get it.

PAF Can Pollute Family Tree

It is not a good idea to use a desktop software and synchronize your data up and down to new.familysearch.org

Our training zone policy has been to not download data from new.familysearch.org as it has a lot of incorrect items that will be placed into your desktop file.

Last week I discovered a reason no to upload into new.familysearch.org. There is a companion product to PAF called Family Insight.

One of our users uploaded through Family Insight into new.familysearch.org and it created a duplicate of every one of her ancestors in Family Tree. All the ordinance work all of the facts she had in her desktop are now showing as an  ancestor in the Family Tree. A no no, which fact by itself is a reason to abandon PAF and Family Insight as a tool to synchronize.

She or someone now has to go in and merge each ancestor as a duplicate person. I'm thinking the family tree engineers will have to block Family Insight as this could become a big issue.

ALSO, DO NOT DO A COMBINE IN PAF, ROOTS MAGIC, LEGACY, OR ANY OTHER AFFILIATE PRODUCT!

Remember The Susan Boyle Audition? Here it is again.

Inspirational

Danger - You Might Lose Your Money On Some Sites

Friday is usually for fun. Not today.

Yesterday, in search of a copy of a death certificate, the new missionary I was training went out and spent a dollar for a death certificate.

They charged him the dollar plus $19.95. They didn't deliver the certificate.

For a while  he was able to chat with them. They said just wait. He waited. He went back in the afternoon to chat again. The chat feature was gone.

No chat, no certificate, no $20.95. Let that be a lesson learned.

Is It Possible To Trace Your Ancestry Back To Adam And Eve?

Warning. Contains spoilers.

Have you ever heard these words uttered?

When asked if it is possible for living people to extend ancestral lines back to Adam and Eve, Robert C. Gunderson, Senior Royalty Research Specialist, of the Church Genealogical Department, stated:

The simplest answer is CLICK HERE FOR THE ANSWER