New Look for labs.familysearch.org and Conference Update

Time to check out labs.familysearch.org if you haven’t been there recently.  The web site has been re-designed.  Some old favourites are still there and some new things are being added.

What is still there?

1.  Research Wiki – also available under Learn at Familysearch.org – “The FamilySearch Research Wiki provides free family history research advice for the community, from the community. The wiki is a free and growing resource fueled by the largest network of volunteer genealogical researchers and enthusiasts in the world.

Now is the time to join in and contribute to this free and rapidly growing resource that is available to everyone. FamilySearch invites those with expertise in genealogical research all over the world to contribute to these resources. Choose your preferred language, sign in (registration is free), and join many volunteers in making a huge difference helping others with their own family history.

The wiki is available in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish”

2.   Forums  – also available under Learn at Familysearch.org – “The Forums project is aimed at providing the most up to date information to anyone who uses FamilySearch products to work on their family history. Through the Forums anyone can ask questions about product features, research techniques, hints and tips, or even about specific families in specific locations. And anyone who knows the answer can reply. Come participate and give us your feedback. The more who use it the better the information.

The forums are available in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish.”

3.  England Jurisdictions 1851 – a great tool – do I have lots of English research?  – “The England Jurisdictions 1851 project simplifies research by consolidating data from many finding aids into a single searchable repository that can be accessed by clicking in a parish boundary. Features include contiguous parish and radius search lists and relevant jurisdictions as they existed in England in 1851. Data includes changes to parishes prior to 1851 and lists of non-conformist denominations in a parish. (requires Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, Safari 3 or newer)”

4.  Standard Finder – do you get frustrated “occasionally” by standardized place names?  This is a huge undertaking . . .  . – and actually a great project that is very helpful and getting better. Place and Preview were very interesting – didn’t realize there were so many places named Norfolk in the world.  Using this project will give you greater understanding of the project and a link to send Feedback on names that need correction! – “Standard Finder is a FamilySearch Labs application which provides access to standardized information for names, locations, and dates. These databases are used by several FamilySearch applications to assist researchers in searching for exact spellings as well as for indexers who enter information used for RecordSearch.”

5.   Community Trees – a good resource – need to know how to look at the collections – click on See Community Trees so you can browse the collections – “Community Trees are lineage-linked genealogies from specific time periods and geographic localities around the world. The information also includes the supporting sources. Most of the genealogies are joint projects between FamilySearch and others who live locally or have expertise in the area or records used to create the genealogies.”

New (or relatively new!) – as of 30 March 2012 only Submit Your Tree was available – the others are yet to arrive! :

1.  Submit your tree – I was asked to try this last summer, but just haven’t got there yet . . .  “This beta test of Submit Your Tree is an easy way to upload a GEDCOM file and compare it to millions of records that are already in new.familysearch.org. The process distinguishes between ancestors who are already in new.familysearch.org and those that are not. Once you have gone through this process, please use the orange feedback link to provide your input.”

2.   Fresh – can’t wait to see what this is going to be! – “This project represents the new face of FamilySearch for people who have never participated in their family history before.”

3.   FamilySearch Maps – “Get the help you need in person. It may be closer than you think. Search for family history around the world.”

4.  Ohio Research Assistance – OK I admit I was at first underwhelmed as I have no ancestry in Ohio, but they are developing this tool to provide research help for other areas of the world too – “We are experimenting with how to best provide research help to our users throughout the world. Our first phase is to provide research assistance to those needing help finding their ancestors in records involving the State of Ohio.”

Genealogy Conference update!

Registrations already over 200!  Don’t miss your chance to hear Gena Philibert Ortega (author, blogger Vice-President for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists & a Regional Director for the California State Genealogical Alliance) the keynote speaker on Friday night, Dick Eastman (Owner and writer of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and Blog) on Saturday, and attend a live webinar with Thomas MacEntee (Founder of High-Definition Genealogy and a professional genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research)

Go to http://rdgensoc.ab.ca/conferenceindex.html for details.

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FamilySearch Facts as of 16 Sept 2011

The people at FamilySearch are very busy helping us with our Family History.  We like to share up to date facts about the FamilySearch web sites and were very pleased when FamilySearch shared the following information with us this week.  Aren’t these amazing numbers! – and new collections are being added so often!

1.     # of searchable names from original source records in FamilySearch.org’s Historical Records Collections: Over 2.3 billion

2.     There are 707 historic record collections at FamilySearch.org

3.     # of browsable digital images at FamilySearch.org: 312 million

4.     # of hits on FamilySearch.org: Over 10 million hits per day.

5.     FamilySearch Indexing is the largest community-based transcription initiative in the world.

·         Over 125, 000 active (index at least oneproject/year) volunteer indexers.

·         Indexing 400,000 arbitrated names per day.

·         Over 500 million names indexed since the application was launched in 2005.

·         Publishing over 200 million indexed names per year now (double entered, arbitrated).

·         Over 100 current projects. New projects added weekly. See the current lists of projects at Indexing.FamilySearch.org.

·         Search completed indexes and un-indexed images at FamilySearch.org.

·         Indexing program is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish with more language interfaces and international projects coming.

·         Greatest need is for native language indexers for international projects.

·         Many partners—historical societies, state, national, and religious archives—use it to improve access to or accuracy of their indexes.

6.     2.4 million rolls of microfilm

7.     FamilySearch is producing over 160 million new digital images a year from original source documents.

a.     100 million digital images a year created through microfilm conversion

b.     60 million new digital images produced a year from new field captures.

8.     15 high speed scanners are dedicated to converting existing films. Time to complete the digitization of the film collection is projected at 6 years.

9.     185 camera teams currently filming records in 45 countries (new field captures). Most are digital cameras.

10.  Search digital images and indexes at FamilySearch.org. Millions added weekly.

11.  4,600 Family History Centers in 126 countries

12.  Scanning digital books in cooperation with select public libraries.

a.     Over 65,000 scanned titles to-date.

b.    These collections will be added to FamilySearch.org in the future. Some are available now at FamilySearch.org under the link Books.  See Labs.familysearch.org to try a new interface.

Thank you to FamilySearch for sharing this information with us!

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Some Why? questions

1. Why did you print the article on blank forms last week?
2. Why should we sign in at FamilySearch.org?
3. Why go to the labs.familysearch.org web site?

1.  Although the article last week was about finding blank FH forms I was hoping you would see some of the resources available under Learn – which is the research wiki which we used to access through wiki.familysearch.org.  This replaces the section on the old version of familysearch.org that was entitled “Research Helps.” I hope you will explore and become familiar with the resources under the Learn link.  I apologize for not articulating my purpose more clearly.

2.  Why should we sign in to FamilySearch.org?  There are 2 reasons:  (1).  If you want to send Feedback or participate in the Forums, and (2).  If you want to view images in Historical Records.  You don’t need to sign in unless you are going to access these 2 items.

3.  Why go to the labs.familysearch.org web site?  (1).  To see if anything new is under development – nothing new there at the moment! – and (2).  to access England Jurisdictions 1851 – a great resource for research on England – and Community Trees – “lineage-linked genealogies from specific time periods and geographic localities around the world. The information also includes the supporting sources. Each Community Tree is a searchable database with views of individuals, families, ancestors and descendants, as well as printing options.”

You can access these 2 products directly:

maps.familysearch.org

and

histfam.familysearch.org

Next week:  What happened to the IGI?

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Researching Jewish Records around the world using the Knowles Collection

Do you have Jewish ancestry or are you helping someone with Jewish ancestry?

A major research resource was updated this past week when the Knowles Collection expanded from 75,000 records to 115,000. This used to be Knowles Jewish records in the British Isles but the Knowles Collection has now expanded to become 5 collections:
1. Jews of the British Isles
2. Jews of the Americas
3. Jews of the Caribbean
4. Jews of Europe
5. Jews of Africa and the Orient

What is the Knowles Collection?
Use this record to find the genealogy of many Jews from the British Isles. The great advantage of the Knowles Collection is that it links together into family groups, thousands of individual Jews (over 75000 as of Jan 2010). Until now, these records were available only at the Family History Library through a complex indexing system devised by the late Isobel Mordy whose collection forms the basis of the Knowles Collection. (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/The_Knowles_Collection:_the_Jews_of_the_British_Isles )
Todd Knowles is a consultant working on the British Reference Floor at the Family History Library in SLC. He has a blog which tells you why he started this collection as well as giving you news about his collection. http://knowlescollection.blogspot.com/

How do I access the Knowles Collection?
Either:
1. Through FamilySearch Community Trees which is a searchable database. Go to labs.familysearch.org and click on Community Trees or use the following link:

http://histfam.familysearch.org/

Then click on Advanced Search and select any one of the 5 sections of the Knowles Collection that appear on the menu in the Tree field.
or:
2. Through the Jewish Family History Resource Section on familysearch.org (in the lower centre of the FamilySearch.org home page or through the following link: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp?page=home/welcome/site_resources.asp%3FwhichResourcePage=Jewish
The FamilySearch page gives you a link to download the collection as either a PAF file or a GEDCOM. Remember this collection is now over 115,000 records – you may just want to search in Community Trees.

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Tips for getting the most from England Jurisdictions 1851

Do you have ancestors from England or help someone who does? Have you been using the great new mapping tool recently released by the church? Please note that this tool is for England only – no Wales, no Scotland and no Ireland. This project is the result of a great deal of work by many people. As far as I know there are no plans to do a similar project for other countries.
England Jurisdictions 1851 can be found at http://maps.familysearch.org/ – just type maps.familysearch/org in the address bar or got to labs.familysearch.org and click on the link.
This project set out to map and show information on jurisdictions in England as they were in 1851. You can search for and find places using a variety of types of jurisdictions: parishes, rural deaneries, dioceses, hundreds, poor law unions, counties, and civil registration districts.
Research in England is helped when we know the name of the parish. How does England Jurisdictions 1851 help us?
The first things to do after entering the web site is to type in the name of a place? Is it a parish or a place within a parish? Searching for Brampton Bierlow will show that it was in the parish of Wath upon Dearne in 1851. Always remember the results are answers for 1851 – and may change for later dates.
Clicking on either the parish in the list on the left or on a pin on the map will open an Information Bubble with three tabs: Info, Jurisdictions and Options
“Info Tab
The Info tab will be activated automatically when you click on a pin or within the boundaries of a place.
This tab will provide the following information:
• What ecclesiastical status it has (Ancient Parish, Ecclesiastical Parish, Chapelry, Extra Parochial)
• When and from what other place it was created
• If it was a chapelry and which was the mother church
• The names of other places in a parish (hamlets, villages, wards, divisions, etc.)
• The year Parish Registers and Bishops’ Transcripts begin and other notes concerning records and where to search.
Jurisdictions Tab
Click the Jurisdictions tab to see the names of the jurisdictions that relate to that place. Included jurisdictions are: Parish, County, Civil Registration District, Probate Court, Diocese, Rural Deanery, Poor Law Union, Hundred and Province. By clicking on a hyperlinked jurisdiction name, you will be shown a highlighted view of the boundaries of that particular jurisdiction.
Options Tab
Click the Options tab to find the following features: List contiguous parishes, radius search, search the Family History Library Catalog, search the FamilySearch Research Wiki, remove a highlighted selection and the Information bubble.”
(from the Help file for England Jurisdictions accessed through the ? in the top right hand corner).
Selecting Continguous Parishes will add a List Tab to the left of the screen and show a list of adjoining parishes which can be printed. Radius search allows for user selection of the radius to be searched and show the results as a printable list.
In the top centre of the screen is a drop down list after the words “Click Map to Select.” Use the drop down list to choose a Parish, County, Civil Registration District, Diocese, Rural Deanery, Poor Law Union, Hundred, or Province. Then click on the map to highlight the jurisdiction and activate the information bubble. The information bubble will list options for searching in the jurisdiction.
The Help file accessed through the ? in the top right hand corner of the screen provides more tips.
This is a great tool. Use it and teach it any time you are doing research in England.

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