How to Request Copies from FamilySearch

How to Request Copies of Microfilm Images, Book Pages, CDs, Marriage, Death or Birth Certificates, Wills and/or Deeds from FamilySearch

FamilySearch has slightly reworded the policy for patrons who are requesting copies from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here is the summation:
"All requests for information copied from films, book pages, CDs, marriage, death or birth certificates, wills and/or deeds, etc. will be copied in digital format and emailed to patrons in a zipped PDF or JPG file format. There is no charge for this service if we are able to email to information to patrons."
You can read more in an article by Merrill White in the FamilySearch Blog at http://goo.gl/moULsS.

Posted by Dick Eastman on March 06, 2014 in Genealogy Basics

Policy Change for Patrons Requesting Photocopies From the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah

February 4, 2013 By Merrill White

Please note the following change in the policy for patrons who are requesting copies from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
All requests for information copied from films, book pages, CDs, marriage, death or birth certificates, wills and/or deeds, etc. will be copied in digital format and emailed to patrons in a zipped PDF or JPG file format.

 There is no charge for this service if we are able to email to information to patrons.

 NOTE: Requests are limited to 5 image shots per month.

If a patron does not have an email address, we can mail the information to the patron using the US Postal Service.  However, as much as possible, we will rely on emailing all requests for information through the internet. If patrons do not own a computer or do not have an email address, they can request to have the information emailed to their local Family History Center, where they can print the information at the center.
Patrons should request copies by submitting their request here: Photoduplication Request Form.  All requests MUST include the following information:

• Film or Fiche number
• Item number
• Name of Individual(s) referred to in the record
• Title of the record
• Name of parents, spouse, grantor, grantee, etc.
• Event type (Birth, Death or Marriage)
• Complete event date and place
• Event place (county, parish, township, etc.)
• Volume or page number
• Registration or Certificate Number
• Any other information that will help us locate your record.

 

Backed Up Your Family Tree Lately?

YESTERDAY (to be sung to the tune of the Beatles' song - Yesterday)

Yesterday,
All those backups seemed a waste of pay
Now my database has gone away
Oh I believe in yesterday
Suddenly,
There's not half the files there used to be
And there's a deadline
hanging over me
The system crashed so suddenly.

I pushed something wrong
What it was I could not say
Now my data's gone
and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.
Yesterday,
The need for back-ups seemed so far away.
Thought all my data was here to stay,
Now I believe in yesterday.

--Courtesy of

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter Feb 25, 2014

MyHeritage Adds Millions of Nordic Records

MyHeritage Adds Millions of Nordic Records

(courtesty of Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter Online)

If you have Scandinavian ancestry, you will want to check this out. MyHeritage, the exclusive sponsor of this newsletter, today added more than 32 million records from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, dating back to the early 1600s.

Additionally, MyHeritage is investing millions of dollars to digitize more Nordic historical content and has signed new agreements that will result in a wealth of Nordic historical records to be added during the next few years.

Here is the official announcement from MyHeritage:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden & OSLO, Norway & COPENHAGEN, Denmark & HELSINKI, Finland & TEL AVIV, Israel -- MyHeritage, the popular family history network announced today a market expansion initiative focused on the Nordic countries. Millions of families can now search digitized Nordic records dating back to the 17th century to discover more about their ancestors and the lives they led.

In addition to the significant content added today, MyHeritage is investing millions of dollars to digitize more Nordic historical content and has signed new agreements that will result in a wealth of Nordic historical records to be added during the next few years.

MyHeritage is already the family history market leader in the Nordic region and is the only major company providing services in Norwegian, Danish and Finnish. With more than 470,000 registered users in Sweden, 350,000 in Norway, 300,000 in Denmark and 200,000 in Finland, MyHeritage has amassed the largest Nordic user base and family tree database in the market. MyHeritage users can now enjoy a more comprehensive family history experience that combines family trees and historical records, to paint a more detailed and colorful picture of their ancestry.

MyHeritage has also launched today dedicated social media channels for Norway, Denmark and Finland including local blogs and Facebook and Twitter accounts, to complement its existing popular Swedish social media presence. Followers will be notified about additional record collections as they are added and enjoy tips and tricks for family history research and more information about MyHeritage’s services.

The Nordic historical record collections added today include birth, death, marriage, baptism and other records, covering more than 90 million names. This comes in addition to more than 70 million profiles in 730,000 family trees created by MyHeritage users from the Nordic region, and many more contributed by users with Nordic ancestry. The records and the public profiles are available for searching via SuperSearch, MyHeritage’s search engine for historical records. MyHeritage users also enjoy powerful matching technologies that research their family trees automatically and notify them whenever records relevant to their family are found. This makes discoveries easier and quicker than ever before.

For Sweden, MyHeritage has added 11 million records with 31 million names. These collections include baptism documents dating back to 1611, marriage documents dating back to 1630 and burial documents dating back to 1649. Visitors can find more information about the collections from Sweden and search them at www.myheritage.se/svenska-samlingar.

For Norway, MyHeritage has added 10 million records with 30 million names. These collections include baptism documents dating back to 1634, marriage documents dating back to 1660, burial documents dating back to 1666 and the Norwegian national census from 1875. Visitors can find more information about the collections from Norway and search them at www.myheritage.no/norske-samlinger.

For Denmark, MyHeritage has added 5.5 million records with 14 million names. These collections include baptism documents dating back to 1618, marriage documents dating back to 1635 and burial documents dating back to 1640. Visitors can find more information about the collections from Denmark and search them at www.myheritage.dk/danske-samlinger.

For Finland, MyHeritage has added 5.5 million records with 16 million names. These collections include baptism documents dating back to 1657, marriage documents dating back to 1682 and burial documents dating back to 1725. Visitors can find more information about the collections from Finland and search them at www.myheritage.com/suomalaiset-kokoelmat.

“We're delighted to add this vast collection of historical records to our fast growing database and are excited about the new family connections that our users will make and the family stories they will reveal", said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “This is a treasure trove not only for people in the Nordic countries but for everyone whose family originated from this region. We look forward to enhancing our leadership in the Nordic region and in many additional countries over the next few years – watch this space!”

With a diverse user base, spanning every country and continent, MyHeritage is a gateway to a massive variety of family histories from different cultures, religions and ethnic backgrounds. MyHeritage offers a private and secure environment for sharing and researching family history, and users can choose which information they wish to share. MyHeritage has ranked #10 in Deloitte's 2013 Fast 500 list of the 500 technology companies with the fastest revenue growth across all of Europe.

About MyHeritage

MyHeritage is a family history network helping millions of families around the world discover and share their legacy online. As technology thought leaders and innovators in the space, MyHeritage is transforming family history into an activity that’s accessible, exciting and easier than ever before. MyHeritage empowers its global community of users with unique social tools, a massive library of historical content and powerful search and data matching technologies. The service is available in 40 languages. For more information visit www.myheritage.com.

David Library of the American Revolution

From Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter Dec 3, 2013

David Library of the American Revolution

The David Library of the American Revolution is a great resource for students, historians, and genealogists. It is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to the collection and dissemination of information about the American Revolution as well as related topics of history during that period of American history, and the support of related educational programs and scholarly research. 
 

The David Library is primarily an in-person resource. Anyone who wishes to use the Library's resources will need to visit in person at Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, not far from Trenton, New Jersey. None of the Library's holdings have been digitized, other than the Library's catalog. The David Library is a “non-circulating” library. Patrons must use Library's resources onsite. The collection includes more than 10,000 reels of microfilm, 6,500 books and 2,000 pamphlets. As stated on the David Library's home page:

"Here you will find almost all the basic primary sources on the Revolution, including materials, such as many documents microfilmed at the British Archives, found no where else in this country. And you will find this material in one building, serviced by a small but highly knowledgeable staff that has no other objective than to assist its users in learning about the broad era of the American Revolution."

The David Library's catalog has been digitized and is available at: http://207.67.203.70/D90002/OPAC/Index.aspx.

You can learn more at the David Library home page at http://www.dlar.org/ and especially at the Library's FAQ page at http://www.dlar.org/faqs.htm.

My thanks to newsletter reader Everett Stonebraker for telling me about this great resource.

CROWDSOURCING Genealogy

From Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter Oct 24, 2013

CrowdSourcing Genealogy

Would you be willing to pay $5 to have someone send you a picture of your ancestral village, or great grandma's house? One new crowdsourcing project hopes to makes this possible.

As defined by Dictionary.com:

crowd·source
[kroud-sawrs, -sohrs]
verb (used with object), verb (used without object), crowd·sourced, crowd·sourc·ing.
to utilize (labor, information, etc.) contributed by the general public to (a project), often via the Internet and without compensation.

Actually, crowdsourcing has already been used several times in genealogy. Perhaps one of the biggest crowdsourcing projects of all times was the indexing of the 1940 U.S. census in a joint initiative between the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Archives.com, FamilySearch.org, findmypast.com, and other leading genealogy organizations. Literally hundreds of thousands of indexers around the world helped create a great resource and make it available to other genealogists. (See https://familysearch.org/blog/en/1940-census/ for details.)

More recently, on September 13–15, crowdsourcing volunteers from around the world joined together with FamilySearch.org to index and arbitrate 134,986 Italian records (approximately 400,000 names). Participants were invited to index and arbitrate over 35,000 Italian records in just 48 hours—slightly more than the previous high. (Details may be found at http://goo.gl/nfZDny.)

Ancestry.com has a similar project underway using volunteer indexers and dozens of local genealogy societies have been using volunteers for years to index local records. The recent Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness was actually a crowdsourcing project, although I don't recall the site's owner as ever using that term. That site went offline following the owner's death and a number of newer web sites have since appeared, each claiming to be a "replacement" for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. None of the replacements has been as successful as the original, however.

Now Eric Proffitt is organizing a similar project. His project plans to be a bit more formal than the others, including hiring software developers to create specialized software to allow millions of transactions between people doing family history and amateur genealogists.

Eric reports his family recently spent $1,200 hiring a professional genealogist to visit his wife's ancestral village in Ukraine and send pictures to Eric and his family. As a result, the family was able to see the great, great, grandmother's school, learn about cousins who are still alive, and got a feel for the culture of the area. However, the end result was expensive.

Eric writes, "This got us to thinking: what if we could create a place where normal people like you and me could help each other find their families?? For instance, if I wanted a picture of my Keith Family Castle, but couldn't afford to fly to the Scotland, I could post my request and have someone who already lives there take the picture and send it to me for as little as $5!"

Eric Proffitt has now created Crowd-Sourcing Genealogy, an online place where people can connect with other, normal people to access things such as gravestones, church records, marriage licenses etc. without having to travel across the world, or without having to pay $1,000's of dollars will take Family history to a whole new level.

You can read more about this project at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/crowd-sourcing-genealogy or watch the video below or at http://youtu.be/D-y4-J6veH8. 

Use Google Books to Get Free Copies of FHL Books

New post on FamilySearch Blog

Use Google Books to Get Free Copies of Pages of   Family History Library Books by Nathan W. Murphy Earlier this year, FamilySearch announced a free lookup service for genealogy books and microfilm available at the renowned Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The response was overwhelming, 1000s of people contacted us to take advantage of this free service.  Another way to utilize this service is to start with limited preview Google Books and get us to scan the entire page and email it to you for free. Let's walk through the process. First, start on Google Books: http://books.google.com/     Search for the name of an ancestor:    Google has scanned millions of books that are both (1) out of copyright and (2) still under copyright. If you happen to find a book that is out of copyright, i.e. published before 1923, you'll usually be able to read the entire book for free online and you do not need to use FamilySearch's free lookup service.  For books still under copyright, i.e. published since 1923, Google Books often provides a "snippet view" (see below). You cannot see the entire book online, only a snippet.  What do you do if you want to see the entire page, or several pages from the book?   Our answer -- use FamilySearch's free lookup service. If you find a reference to your ancestor in pages that cannot be viewed, make a note of the: 1.      Name of the Individual (as it appears in the book) 2.      Book Title 3.      Page Number(s) Second, check the Family History Library Catalog to see if that book is available in our collection: https://familysearch.org/catalog-search Make a note of the Call Number. Third, if the book is available in our collection, complete our online Photoduplication Request form: Within a short period of time, you'll receive an email that includes a scanned copy of that page.  Make up to five requests per person per month.  Sit back in your recliner, put your feet up, and let us do the work for you. Nathan W. Murphy | November 4, 2013 at 5:45 am | URL: http://wp.me/p3q0yN-41S Comment    See all comments

Steve Morses's One Step Webpage--Obamacare Data (No Joke) and SSDI

These articles are both taken from Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter at Click here for Obamacare Database and Easy Way to Search the SSDI

Viewing ObamaCare Plans in One Step

Steve Morse is well-known for his "One-Step Webpages," a genealogy web site at http://www.stevemorse.org that indexes large databases, including immigration records, census records, vital records, calendars, maps, foreign alphabets, and numerous other applications. Steve's web site helps simplify genealogy searches, reducing confusion and making information easier to find.

Now Steve has added another "One Step" index, simplifying an even more difficult, even mystifying, web site. It is called the Obamacare Plans in One Step.

No, this is not a joke. Take a look for yourself at http://stevemorse.org/obamacare/obamacare.html. I bet this will become a very popular online tool!

Posted by Dick Eastman on October 23, 2013 in Online Sites | Permalink

__________________________________________________________________________________

The Easy (and More Accurate) Method of Searching the SSDI

The Social Security Death Index is a great research tool for finding relatives who died sometime after the early 1960s.

The SSDI is an index to the Death Master File (DMF) maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA), which contains roughly 100 million records and is updated weekly. The file is created from internal SSA records of deceased persons possessing social security numbers and whose deaths were reported to the SSA.

The information within the SSDI is in the public domain and thereby available to everyone. However, in recent years a number of well-meaning but misguided public officials have attempted to close or at least restrict public access to the SSDI in the name of "preventing identity theft." Apparently, these officials do not realize that public access to the SSDI is one of the best tools for PREVENTING identity theft! (See my earlier article about the theft protection value of the SSDI at http://goo.gl/zthmCx.)

........

Steve Morse is well known for the software tools he creates to simplify the searching of many online genealogy databases. Sometimes I think that Steve Morse is God's gift to genealogists. He takes good databases and turns them into great ones. Steve has created excellent indexing tools to the Ellis Island and Castle Garden sites as well as many other databases of interest to genealogists. His search tools generally will perform faster searches with more accurate results than the search capabilities invented by the original database designers.

Steve doesn't add any new data. He simply improves the search mechanisms and makes the search software available on his own site, called the "One-Step Portal." If you'd like to try Stephen Morse's One-Step Search Portal, go to http://www.stevemorse.org. I suspect you will be impressed by all the searches available there.

Steve Morse saw the weaknesses in the various offerings of the SSDI, so he created his own index at http://www.stevemorse.org/ssdi/ssdi.html. As you can see from the screenshot below, Steve offers more search options than any of the other online sites that offer the SSDI.

Click on the above thumbnail image to view a larger image of Steve's search parameters.

Steve's search engine will search the SSDI records found on the following websites:

worldvitalrecords.com
ancestry.com
familysearch.org
familytreelegends.com
genealogybank.com
NEHGS' americanancesters.org

However, Steve Morse's One-Stop web site only searches those sites one at a time. If you want to search ALL of those sites, you need to perform six separate searches, one for each online service.

Keep in mind that some of these services may restrict the information to paid members of the site. For instance, World Vital Records will only display results to paid subscribers. Ancestry.com will provide limited information to non-subscribers; but, to view the entire record, you need to sign on to Ancestry.com with a user name and password. Other online sites may or may not restrict access in some manner.

Steve Morse's One-Step Genealogy web site is always available free of charge, but the records it points to may be limited by the policies of the external site that controls those records.

.............

Use of Stephen Morse's One-Step Search Portal simplifies the searches as well as adds powerful search options that may not be available on all web sites' copies of the SSDI data. If you want to find the death information of someone who died in the U.S. in the early 1960s or later, go to http://www.stevemorse.org/ssdi/ssdi.html.