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Now that I’ve had a chance to catch my breath,
after attending this year’s March 26-27 BYU Computerized Genealogy
Conference, I’m excited to tell about some new developments highlighted
there.
In the opening session Steve Olsen, managing director
of the Family and Church History Department, brought us up to date
with his presentation about “LDS Church History Online.” His many
responsibilities include the Church Museum of History and Art and
the Church Historical Library and Archives.
Launched
Overland
He explained that a soft launch of this site has
operated for about a year, but now full-text information, the result
of many years’ intensive collaboration, is available. This is the
most complete listing of individuals and companies in which Mormon
pioneer emigrants traveled west to Utah from 1847 through 1868.
Some 40,000 pioneer names can be found on this site—about two-thirds
of those who came to the Valley (some rosters have not been found
for all companies). The site also identifies sources we can research
to learn more about the experience of each company.
We can search
for a specific person by going to lds.org, then clicking
on “Church History,” a link on the left, in the navy-blue
column. That takes us to the Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel
icon. Click on that, and we can then insert our pioneer’s name,
using the search form available, or browse the list of companies
alphabetically or chronologically.
Not Just Names!
I first typed
the surname “Tracy” into the search field and almost instantly got
a list of all members of the family who crossed the plains. I was
advised that my direct ancestors, Moses and Nancy (Alexander) Tracy
crossed in the Benjamin Hawkins Company, in 1850. Also listed was
their son, Helon Henry, also my ancestor, who was then only an infant,
so crossed the plains in their arms. How exciting it was to find
five source links to information about his mother Nancy, including
some of her journal accounts! The site even told me she was thirty-four
years old when she made the arduous trek, burying a son along the
way.
Seeing all this
makes me want to share information I additionally have about my
Tracys, including a recently discovered photo of the coffin wreathing
at Nancy’s funeral. A cousin of mine, Julie Ann Johnson, contacted
me, as referred by another cousin, about six years ago. She had
become trustee to a box of her mother’s genealogy materials that
few in the family even knew existed. Though of course reluctant
to let such treasures out of her hands, she invited us to visit
her and see what might interest us.
Dan and I made
the long drive to her home and were not disappointed—what a treasure
trove of information! Julie agreed to go with us to Walmart, so
we could make prints of some photos and other documents. Through
the miracle of modern technology, we soon had images that were as
good, or maybe even better, than the originals—on good, photo copy
paper, at very little expense and without fear that the originals
might be lost in-transit or in the mail (this of course was before
the two of us got photo-scan able).
Julie also had
an identified photo of our joint ancestor, Thomas Burdett, Sr.,
who never left England, but watched much of his family emigrate—what
a thrill to finally identify an unlabeled copy of the same print
that had long been in my files. I am glad to say that I also had
some materials Julie was delighted to have, including a pose of
Nancy A. Tracy she had never seen.
click
to enlarge
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Funeral wreathing of Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy
(1816-1902) Photo courtesy of Nancy’s descendant Julie Johnson
and Walmart |
Getting back
to the Tracy information on the Overland Trail site, I noticed that
some dates were missing for my Tracys that I can provide. As this
site invites, “If you have information that could improve this database,
you can also submit a request
to add or correct information” (have documentation ready).
Lots to Share
I was sad to
see that others of my pioneer ancestors were not yet on this site.
Why is it that with only a one-third chance of not being included,
two-thirds of my pioneer ancestry was not represented here? That
response to odds seems to be par for the course; so far as my genealogy
quest goes (I can now look on this as a chance to help build this
amazing collection).
Brother Olsen
also announced that the Church will be involved in an ongoing project
to make more pioneer journals available, so I am motivated to submit
my transcriptions of some early family journals that I have been
arranging side-by-side with scans of the original handwriting. What’s
in your attic that you can make available on this fantastic site?
There is much
more that I can’t detail here—let’s keep an eye on emerging developments
on this site, the product of dedicated historical research of many
and the merging of incredibly huge databases.
Sensational Selection
Sessions geared
to just about any computerized genealogy task were available at
this conference. It was hard to choose from among forty seminars,
with such titles as “Jump Start Your Family Tree Online,” by Barbara
Rennick, “Using Personal Ancestral Files with Other Church Software,”
by Steve Cannon, “Sourcing an Unsourced GEDCOM File, by Kory Meyerink,
“Mapping your Ancestors Electronically,” by Geoff Rasmussen, and
“Using PDAs in Your Research,” by Rhonda McClure.
I only wish
each of us could partake of the full menu. Two sessions I attended
were particularly meaningful for me:
Making Sense of the Census:
Karen Clifford,
AG, FUGA, gave an extremely helpful presentation about “Comparing
Online Census Records.” Her syllabus outline includes a chart that
maps “Census Indices Linked to Images On-Line as of February 2004
(major collections).” Karen has graciously consented to let us share
her valuable chart with Meridian readers. It can be accessed at
http://www.graonline.com/pdf/English/onlinecensus.pdf.
Sister Clifford, president of Genealogy Research Associates, Inc.,
also has research suggestions and census and other aids available
that you can find at
www.GRAonline.com. Since we do not yet have one
database that includes all U.S. censuses, having access to this
chart, as included in the conference syllabus, alone made attending
this conference a must.
Clifford suggests
some free internet census services that we can access:
FamilySearch.org – 1880 US Federal Census Records, 1881 British and Canadian Census
Records.
USGenWeb.org – many transcribed census
indexes are available including substitute census records.
Census-Online.com – essential guide to many individual census sites on line.
Cyndislist.com – a guide to census records
online as well as other census resources.
Ancestry.com – is free for access at
LDS Family History Centers.
ProQuest – is available through university or public library districts.
In her always
engaging way, Sister Clifford provides important suggestions for
use of on-line census indices. What impressed me was how important
it is to understand where our information comes from originally.
Because indices are secondary sources, she emphasizes how crucial
it is that we check the link to the original document and search
it, rather than rely on electronically generated reports. The reason
for this is that secondary reports can be incomplete. Certain spelling
variations may be somehow overlooked during indexing, or we could
miss that spelling in our own search. What is in the original could
be mistyped, misinterpreted, or otherwise garbled. What’s really
scary, she reminds, is that it could be “edited or changed so easily
without leaving a trace.” Still, while keeping these cautions in
mind, what we can now learn in very little time, using online census
records, is for me like a modern-day parting of the Cs.
Out of a Hat!
Alan E. Mann,
AG, a perennial favorite at genealogy confabs, set sights spinning
with his discussion of “What’s New in Family History on the Internet.”
For example, he told about a new device that scans each page of
a book, actually turning the pages itself, while converting the
image into recognizable text. Every word in this book is then indexed,
with a link to the scanned page entry. All of this is done automatically,
without human intervention, other than putting the book into the
scanner, taking it out when it’s finished, and using the results!
Of course this device is, at this point, too expensive for home
use, but it is being made available to libraries and archives all
over the world. Can you fathom how this will aid Elijah’s cause?
Things are happening
so fast, Mann predicts that five years from now researchers will
say, “Microfilm? What’s that?” He and I remember days, getting
dizzy and blind, churning census films page by page, peering into
darkened chambers of a hat, so to speak, before census records were
indexed and many made computer search capable, through miracles
of modern technology. It all makes me wish I were age twenty and
could start “The Search” all over.
I have Brother
Mann’s authorization to link you to his on-line (and from time to
time updated) syllabus for his presentation. There you can access
some of the most exciting new links available:
www.alanmann.com/byu/new.htm
A Million Wills!
So many of us
who have English ancestry will find this site invaluable: Did you
know that over one million wills are now on line at
http://www.pro.gov.uk/online/docsonline.htm
Civil Enterprise
Did you know
that records of 40,000 Civil War Union soldiers will soon be on
line, as linked to their census and pension records? (This is a
joint project, conducted by BYU and the U. of Chicago—watch Mann’s
syllabus site for this link.)
Latter-day Liahonas
Another amazing
Internet capability facilitates research guidance. In this connection,
many of us will think on the excellent help to be found on familysearch.org.
Here, though, Mann talks about “the concept of getting research
suggestions or assistance from artificial intelligence.”
Brother Mann
demonstrated putting his database with 62,000 names through such
a program. It responded with 12,000 suggestions that included provision
of on-line links that could be helpful! On his syllabus site, he
provides conference attendees and you readers with examples of programs
or websites that will do this for you “automagically,” as he puts
it. Mann demonstrated how such programs can analyze your research,
recognize missed data, and then recommend searches we may have missed!
Like I said, I was born too soon.
GenSmarts, a
program that includes mostly U.S. materials, can be downloaded from www.Gensmarts.com. It will analyze your genealogy file, make research suggestions, and will make suggestions
as “to do” items. It recognizes nine different genealogy software
programs, as well as GEDCOM. As Brother Mann explains, it “also
gives suggestions from over 100 online catalogs and record repositories.
It even includes some 60,000 specific records from a variety of
sources, including the Family History Library Catalog.
IGI Surprise
Mann’s presentation
(and on-line syllabus) tells also about what Hugh Wallis has done
to help researchers use the IGI more effectively, as found at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/ .
His IGI Batch
Number Search Tool, for the UK, USA, and Canada, identifies over
50,000 extraction batch numbers and lists them by state or county,
then by town. Each batch number has a link that takes you to familysearch.org
and fills out the batch number for us, so we can search IGI extractions
by town.
Wallis also
provides an IGI middle name index for England, Scotland, and the
Isle of Mann. As Mann (no Mann is an island) explains, “IGI searches
ignore middle names unless you check the exact spelling box, which
often restricts your search so much that you miss what you are looking
for. Hugh has indexed the entire IGI for England and Scotland by
middle names, so you can use that information to find your people.
Descendants of John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith rejoice!”
Paf Insight
There’s
so much more, but you can go to Mann’s site yourself. I must mention
just one more item he tells about--Paf Insight, a tool for LDS users.
This software can be downloaded from
www.ohanasoftware.com.
As
Mann explains, “It runs on your computer, but it searches the Internet
“automagically. Select an individual, family, or any portion of
your PAF file, and turn the program loose. Not only will it find
matches in the IGI, it will update your file with temple dates.
It also has a number of non-web related functions.” He then goes
on to give six important reasons why this program is so important.
You've
read this far, so here’s your bonus:
FamilySearcher
As
Brother Mann suggests, much of what we can use is freeware, so there’s
nothing to lose giving it a try. Such a tool is FamilySearcher,
which can be downloaded from
http://myweb.cableone.net/kevinowen3/familysearcher.htm.
Zap the Map!
Mann also recommends
zapmeta as a search engine, useful to those of us seeking
on-line historical records. As with most of what I learned at the
conference, I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but thought I’d
better toss that hopper into your hat if you haven’t pulled it forth
already (when I reach in the hat, I pull out BUGGGGS).
As you can tell,
it’s getting late. Dan and I keep saying it’s high time
we went on vacation, but neither of us can tear ourselves away from
the magic on the Internet. I suppose we could compensate by installing
sun lamps overhead, but we’d fry to a crisp before we even knew
another month had come and gone.
Swells of
Understanding
What
a thrill it is to witness God’s hand speeding Elijah’s mission!
It’s a blessing and honor to know that each of us is invited to
participate in this magnificent quest to link all on this planet
to each other, as part of our own eternal family. What comfort to
know that we can be part of a prophesied movement, facilitated in
ways we could not have dreamed even a few years back! Such hope
comes from knowing that our Lord evokes, of our small carings, swells
of understanding that, empowered by His grace, can turn hearts—especially
our own, toward a more peaceful world.
Copyright 2004, Sherlene Hall Bartholomew
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