ONLINE Searchable DEATH INDEXES and RECORDS -- reprint from Dick Eastman 20 May 2014

Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records at DeathIndexes.com

Dick Eastman · May 20, 2014 · Online Sites · 2 Comments

One of the great online tools for genealogists is the “Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records” web site maintained by Joe Beine. It is a directory of links to other websites with online death indexes, listed by state and county. Included are pointers to death records, death certificate indexes, death notices and registers, obituaries, probate indexes, and cemetery and burial records. You can also find information on the site about searching the Social Security Death Index online.
The listings are listed by state with a few large cities also having separate indexes as well.
The Death Indexes web site has been around for years but continues to grow and grow as Joe keeps finding more death records available online. If you don’t find what you want today, stop back in a few months and you may find it then. The site is “barebones” with no fancy graphics, no style sheets, and no advertisements. However, it is easy to use.
If you are looking for a death record, start first at http://www.deathindexes.com

Norway Celebrates Its 200th Anniversary—Online Data Making It Easier to Trace Your Norwegian Roots

Norway Celebrates Its 200th Anniversary—Online Data Making It Easier to Trace Your Norwegian Roots

 

To see or leave a comment, CLICK HERE


If you have family roots in Norway, you have a celebration coming up. The bicentennial of Norway’s independence is May 17th. There are almost as many descendants of Norwegians in the U.S. (4.5M) as there are in Norway today (5M). Norwegians are the 10^th largest American ancestry group in the US. There are more descendants of Norwegians worldwide than native Norwegians—but more about this country’s fascinating history and independence in a moment.
First, if you want to research your Norwegian roots, here are some tips from Nordic genealogy experts.
Liv H. Anderson was born in Kristiansund, Norway. Liv has been fascinated with Norwegian genealogical research since she was 12 years old. “I love everything about it except the dust on the books,” she says. She moved to Salt Lake City in 1968, gaining her degree and certifications in genealogy at BYU. Today she works helping patrons of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City with their Norwegian research.
Anderson suggested, “Find out everything you can about your ancestors in the United States. Find who was the first emigrant to the US from Norway. Then find that person in a census report. That will help determine the place of birth in Norway.”
There are many other facts you can look for to help your research. “Find the year your ancestor emigrated and what port they left from. That will open up emigration records,”Anderson says. “Those records can lead you to father and mother, grandfathers and grandmothers. Find the church they went to. That also opens up records of the past.”
There is a galaxy of Norwegian genealogical records. They are by government and church, farm and county. If you can acquire the initial information about the emigrants, people such as Liv Anderson at the Family History Library in Salt Lake can guide you.
Resolving the complexity of Norwegian records is the specialty of Alfhild Aanensen, a native Norwegian and service missionary with FamilySearch.org. For years Aanensen has been diligently coordinating much of the work of the FamilySearch Norway Project—digitizing Norway’s rich farm history books (bygdebøker) dating back to the 1700s and creating a searchable regional database online of the individuals who resided on these farms.
Bygdebøker are also the earliest way of identifying locations and locations of families. Compiled by local historians, they are excellent local histories and reveal who lived on which farms throughout generations, who may have inherited the farms, who may have immigrated to what country, and when they died.
Aanensen is also part of a team that is painstakingly reconstituting all of the families found in these publications into online family trees, one book at a time. It’s part of a pilot project called FamilySearch Community Trees. Aanensen noted that the FamilySearch Norway Project could move much quicker if there were more Norwegian volunteers.
Aanensen has gathered over 1 million names already through this project and is publishing them by clerical district (the area included in the congregation of a church, another reason to trace ancestors back to what church they attended).
Aanensen has been working on this project in Salt Lake City for 5 years. This summer, she must return to Norway for 6 months to satisfy her work visa. She is looking forward to getting back to her desk in Salt Lake as soon as possible to continue her contributions on the FamilySearch Norway Project.
If you are just getting started with your Norwegian family research, Anderson and Aanensen suggest starting with searches on FamilySearch.org and the Digital Archives of Norway. These two sites provide church, census, probate, emigration records, and more. If you need research assistance, try the FamilySearch Wiki. It includes research guidelines and links to a host of additional online Norwegian resources.
If you have the luxury of attending the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, go to the Nordic section and ask for help. You can also seek online assistance from the Family History Library staff on the Facebook, Norway Genealogy Research page. If you know where your Norwegian ancestry originated, you can try the Norwegian American Genealogical Association or many other bygdelags (ethnic organizations) for assistance. These organizations are comprised of descendants of emigrants from each particular area of Norway (see fellesraad.com for more information).
Norway has one of the longest and most interesting histories in the western world. Up to A.D. 872, Norway consisted of small kingdoms. After 800, Viking expansion united much of the country. In A.D. 1000, Christianity was brought by Olav Trygvasson and Alav Haraldsson. From 1523 to 1814, Norway was united with Denmark. In 1814, Norway adopted its own constitution, providing for an elected legislature and a constitutional monarch.
That’s the 1814 we’re celebrating—the bicentennial of Norwegian Constitution Day, May 17 (Syttende Mai in Norwegian). The celebrations are held in many nations. Children are emphasized in the parades. In Salt Lake City, the celebration is in the Peace Gardens at Jordan Park, 1000 South 900 West. If you don’t have Norwegian ancestors, just show up and someone will probably hand a Norwegian flag to you, adopting you for the day.
John Hartvigsen is a vexillologist who takes his grandchildren to the Syttende Mai celebration at the Peace Gardens every year. As a vexillologist, he is an expert in the history, symbolism, and use of flags.
Shown here with the Norwegian flag, John says Norwegians in the US proudly display them as a symbol of their heritage. At the parades celebrating Norway’s Independence Day, all may participate—as long as they carry a Norwegian flag.
Norway added a blue cross inside the white Danish cross with their first efforts to be independent. Denmark ruled Norway from the 14th century until 1814. When Denmark found itself on the losing side of the war with Napoleon, Norway was given over to Sweden. Norway quickly created a constitutional monarchy on May 17th.
Hartvigsen’s ancestors lived on an island in the northern part of Norway. They immigrated to the US long ago as Mormon pioneers.
Most Norwegian emigrants settled in Minnesota or the upper Mississippi Valley. Almost 1 million Minnesotans claim Norwegian ancestors. Utah’s pioneer heritage includes prominent Norwegians. Knud Peterson of Hardangar, Norway, emigrated in 1837 and was one of the early settlers of Lehi. Ellen Sanders Kimball of Telemark County, Norway, wife of Mormon Church president, Heber C. Kimball, was one of the three women in the first company of Mormon pioneers to enter the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

Hartvigsen grandchildren at the May 17 celebration children’s parade at the Peace Gardens.

If you’re a descendant from one of the many “Sloopers”(a nickname for Norwegian immigrants after the type of ship they first immigrated in) who celebrate Norway’s Independence Day on May 17th, you should check out some of the resources listed above to find your ancestors. Or better yet, add to your FamilySearch.org family tree online, add some of your family photos, or some of your favorite Norwegian ancestral stories. If you don’t have Norwegian blood, you’re still welcome to most Norway celebrations being held throughout the country this Saturday, May 17, including the one at the Peace Gardens. Just grab a flag when you get there and wave it like an official Norwegian celebrant.

About FamilySearch
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries, including the renowned Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Do I Still Need a Desktop Genealogy Program or is Family Tree Enough?

 Renee's Genealogy Blog, May 15, 2013

To see comments, go to Renee's Genealogy Blog: Do I Still Need a Desktop Genealogy Program or is Family Tree Enough?

 Do I Still Need a Desktop Genealogy Program or 

is Family Tree Enough?

If you're a family history consultant then you have probably came across this question. "Why do we need a desktop program?  Can't we just use the FamilySearch Family Tree instead?" At RootsTech 2013 I attended an Unconferencing session hosted by Gordon Clarke, FamilySearch API Program Manager. This same question was asked of the Tree Share Panelists: Bruce Buzbee (RootsMagic), Luc Comeau (Legacy Family Tree), Gaylon Findlay (Ancestral Quest), and Dovy Pukstys (RealTime Collaboration/AncestorSync)

I am going to try and recap their thoughts and my own as to why we still need a desktop program.

1. In theory it would be lovely to work only on the web, but Family Tree does not have the power that a desktop program can give you. The same features in a desktop program would be too costly to recreate on the web. 

2. People want to keep some things private, especially if it can be embarrassing or hurtful to other family members. They don't want to share certain things until they are ready to do so. Information that is private can be vital in how you come to conclusions in your research. There is more security having your database under your total control on the desktop than the web will ever be. The Family Tree is also not intended as a place to record information on living individuals. Being able to have both the living and the dead in one family database seems to eliminate a potential hassle and security concerns.

3. Custom reporting is a big reason for maintaining your own database with a desktop program. Analytical reporting and queries on the desktop would be very expensive in a web application. The bandwidth needed would be very costly. Online applications will not have the processing power that is available on a PC. They just cannot compete with your computer resources. The reports from a desktop program look more professional than the website versions. You can also save reports made on the desktop as RTF files and massage them exactly the way you want in Word. This gives you a lot of control and a great advantage.

4. In a desktop program you can have more than one database. You can have a database with proven research and another with those that are not. In the research process you can come across individuals that may be part of a family. In the desktop program you can continue to do more research and prove your conclusions before you add them to the Family Tree. If instead you added your assumptions to Family Tree while building your case, others that have access could change your findings. It's also easier to sift, sort and compare electronically people in your database than online.

5. The web vs. the desktop has two different purposes and usually two different audiences. The web is used to attract people to genealogy, to share with others and get them interested. When people really start researching their family history you will find they start using a desktop. They have to because the web is a box and doesn't fit everyone and doesn't have all the power as the desktop computer. The desktop is where the real success and real concrete evidence is finalized for a real researcher.

6. There are a lot of people that still are not online. When you put your family history online you can only share it with family members that are online. There is a need to be able to share in other ways. You could create Shareable CDs or books with your family history to share with others. These types of options will not be available with online applications. 

7. Desktop programs allow you to organize and analyze your data in a particular way. You can create special groups of people based on specific search criteria.  For example: finding everyone living during the 1940 US Federal Census. Then you can focus your research efforts on those individuals for that data set. 

8. Life gets busy; people tend to work on their family history in little pockets of time. Desktop programs have To-Do Lists and Research Logs that help you manage and track your research efforts. They help you keep records on your thought process and what records you have searched. You can record which records you want to look at in the future as the impressions come to you. These are great tools in breaking down brick walls and furthering your research.  You're not spinning your wheels trying to remember where you left off each time you get back to your family history.  In the long run this makes a person much more productive with the little time they do have to devote on their genealogy.

9. With a desktop program you can get very comfortable knowing its not changing on you. With a website the company can change things really quickly and you have no control over that. Everyone that uses the website is forced to change.  With a desktop program you can stay with an older version if desired and not be forced to change. The desktop programs interface between New FamilySearch and Family Tree is likely to stay very similar to each other. If you were only using the websites you suddenly experienced a whole new learning curve.

10. One great customizing tool in the desktop program is color-coding. You can select a specific person and color his ancestors. If your 2nd cousin color-coded it would be different lines. A community environment doesn't give you that customization. 

11. The desktop program have internal record numbers (RINs). People get used to memorizing people in their file by record numbers. On the web that would be very hard to wrap your head around the numbering systems. 

12. From a web developer KISS is the entire world. Keep it Simple... the most successful websites are the simplest ones. Desktop can go as complex and customizable as desired. The web treats everyone as one person. It's hard to give that customization. The web mimics what the desktop has already done. People will continue to use desktop programs because the developers innovate in the way genealogist care about. Web guys innovate in ways that will bring more users, but not necessarily better research. 

13. If you have your data in a desktop program and something happens to you it's still on your computer and someone can find it. If all your data is sitting up on a company's website and that website disappears you don't have your data. Your data is actually safer in your possession because you can make sure you've got backups.  You make sure that as media type's change you take your data and migrate it and use different formats. So if one of them happens to go down or disappears you still got the data in a format. To keep your data on a website or in a single cloud it's at your own risk. 

14. How many people that only used New FamilySearch have now lost data, with the migration to Family Tree? Not everything has been transferred over. What do they have as a reference to make sure the records are now correct?  Do they need to manually retype all the changes in again? Each time you retype data you add the element of human error while doing so.  In a desktop program you can compare your data with what is on the Family Tree. Then send an exact copy of what is in your database if changes are needed. Are you confident that Family Tree will not be replaced in the future with something else?

15. As a genealogist I have experienced where I needed to go back several years of research to an old backup to see what it was at that period in time. You can't get that picture in a website, because it is always changing. By making backups routinely you have a historical snapshot of what the state was at that point in time. 

16. If you only keep your family history on Family Tree you are missing out on finding potential researchers working on your lines. The more places you share your research on the web the greater potential you have of finding other family members. Desktop programs allow you to create GEDCOMs to share your data on other websites. You can upload your database to Ancestry.com, WorldConnect, Geni, and MyHeritage, to name a few. You can also create your own websites with desktops programs and host them yourself. These in turn can be searchable in Google where other researchers can find you.

17. Maintaining your own database is the only way you can be sure your data or some portion of it has not been lost, corrupted mechanically or merged improperly.  Some temple ordinances have been lost or have choked in the pipeline.  If you have your own records on what has been done previously you can help FamilySearch find the missing ordinances and restore them.  If you are dependent on FamilySearch maintaining those records you have nothing to fall back on.

18. When you use a desktop program to interface with Family Tree you will stay connected as long as you don't close the program. On the Family Tree you will be periodically logged out if you are inactive for even a short period of time.  Anyone that does research will need to step away for a few minutes to consult other resources, their research logs, or just analysis their findings.  Having to continually log back into Family Tree is very time consuming and frustrating and doesn't make for a good experience.

19. In a Desktop program you can choose colors, fonts, display styles for names, dates and places. You can set up your database to show in the way that will best assist you in your tasks.  An online application does not have that ability. 

20. Desktop programs provide a variety of "Dashboard" features for tracking your temple submissions and their progress. It's easier to determine who still needs their ordinances done and which have been completed. You can manage your temple cards and record which family members you have assigned them to. 

21. Desktop programs can help keep you in touch with living family members that are not interested right now in family history. It can be a great tool in planning family reunions.  You can determine very easily all the living descendants of a common ancestor. Most programs include a way to record contact information. You can also generate calendars showing family members birthdays and other special events. 

The Family Tree is a great tool, but it is just not there yet to replace the desktop programs.  Maybe in another 10 years the technology, bandwidth and computing power will evolve enough for it to do so.  For now, there is still a great need for the desktop programs. Family Tree and the desktop programs actually need each other.  The Family Tree helps by getting new people interested in working on their family history.  It's a starting point for them.  The desktop programs in turn receive new customers when the Family Tree users realize they need more features to help them manage their research efforts. This in turns helps them come to better conclusions in their research that then can be added back to the Family Tree. 

FamilySearch is doing a wonderful job by allowing third party affiliates (genealogy software programs) to interact with the Family Tree through their API. It bridges and brings the online experience within the desktop experience. You can have the best of both worlds together.  To learn more about the third party affiliate programs certified to sync with Family Tree check out the following link: https://familysearch.org/products

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day.

Posted by Renee Zamora at 7:28 AM

2014 Brookings Family History Fair May 3

Brookings Family History Workshop 

FREE!!!!!!!

A Taste of the Largest Family History Conference in the North America

—Rootstech 2014—

If you would like a taste (beginner, advanced or hobbyist) of the largest-attended Family History Conference in the North America (over 10,000 attendees) without having to pay a $190 admittance fee or travel hundreds of miles to view/hear a wide variety of current topics in Family History, along with live speakers, please plan to attend:

Saturday May 3, 8:00– 3:30 pm

Brookings Ward The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-Day Saints, 200 22^nd Ave, (south of Hospital)

Northeast door

Sponsored by Brookings SD Family History Center and Brookings Area Genealogical Society

Click Here to Register Online

To Print a Registration Form, Click Here

For Information or  Registration Forms emailed to you, contact:

Pat Walker 605 534 3103 or Liz Gorham 605 692 4551

Email: brookingsworkshop@gmail.com

Registration and Check In    8:00 am - 8:30 am

           Welcome     8:30 am

 Note: Some Syllabuses Already Online Now! 

 *Live Speakers—Remainder are RootsTech 2014 pre-recorded classes

Session 1 – 8:50 – 9:50 am

• *Navigating FamilyTree by Jean Steele* Learning to add and edit people; search and attach sources. This will be a hands-on workshop.  You are not required to bring a device, but if you do bring your own device, (to follow along with the instructor) you should have already registered at FamilySearch at www.familysearch.org by clicking on upper right corner "Join for Free". Laptops rather than mobile devices seem to work best for the search options. There are some minor limitations on mobile devices for entering and searching items on Family Tree. Bring what you have and we will work with it

• Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Results by Josh Taylor When using a search engine pressing Search often yields an large amount of search results. Discover ways to manage online searches and read between the lines" of your results. This presentation includes search engines and popular family history websites

•  How to Use YouTube for Family History by Lisa Cooke– If you have a free Google account, you can have a free YouTube channel for your family history. Learn about:  Setting up Your channel, uploading your first video, customizing your channel layout, organizing channel playlists.

Session 2 – 10:00 – 11:00 am

• *Writing a Moment From a Life by Mary Haug* Focusing on writing narratives about your family history to enhance genealogy work that focuses more on factual data.  The instructor will talk about how she began writing her own memoir by focusing on one small moment, event, or character at a time. If time permits, the class members will write a response to a writing prompt. She will also provide a bibliography of books on memoir writing

• Piecing Together History: Crowd-sourcing Events by Cheri Daniels As a technology driven society we have focused most Crowdsourcing initiatives on social media venues and electronic collecting methods. However, a balance of tech and nontech approaches is necessary to reach a generation in transition.

• Effective Database Search Tactics by Kory Meyerink    Your research success depends on knowing the best way to search each different collection. Boolean, truncation, keyword, fielded data, proximity, phrase, wild cards and wild words are not foreign terms, but rather your keys to genealogical success!

Session 3 – 11:10 am – 12:10 am

• *Best Free Genealogy Websites by Jodi Sides*. Looking at best websites for climbing your tree without emptying your wallet.

• Finding Your British Roots by Elaine Collins Old World, New Records: findmypast.com as the Key Resource for Tracing British Ancestry - 35' BONUS - 5 Ways to Do Genealogy in Your Sleep or Visit FHC last 1/2 hour.

• Getting the Most Out of Ancestry by Christa Cowan (of Ancestry.com) – Cover 5 major areas of Ancestry website and favorite tools to advance your research.

12:15 pm Lunch

 Join us for a $7.50 prepaid (by April 26)  
Payable to: Brookings Ward
Sandwich, Salad, Desert Lunch or 

bring a lunch or visit nearby eateries

Session 4 – 1:20 – 2:20 pm

• *Who Will Write the Next Chapter in Your Family History? by Larry Cool*.

           This class is geared toward your next generation.  
 It is an interactive class so bring your laptop or your Ipad. 

• The class revolves around 6^th through 12^th grade students.  At some point in this time frame of a student’s education, their history, social studies, or English teacher will probably have them write a paper on their family.  They may also be part of an organization such as the Boy Scouts or the Girl Scouts where they may be able to earn a merit badge or some other rank or credit for doing research on their family’s history.
  
  
  You do not have to be this age to take part, but if as an adult you have a youth who is your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, niece, or nephew, bring them along.  If you are able to bring your grandfather or grandmother, so much the better.

• How to Scan an Elephant by Denise Levenick Learn how and when to achieve best results using a digital camera, mobile scanner, or portable device to digitize your awkward family keepsakes and oversize research materials

• Intro to DNA for Genealogists by James Rader  Family historians are presented with many tools in Genetics and DNA. This session is the first and will introduce the concepts and methods used in applying DNA results to Genealogy pursuits 

 

Session 5 – 2:30 to 3:30 pm

• *FamilySearch Search, Wiki and Blog by Perry Hanavan* FamilySearch (FS) provides free access to billions of records as well as  a powerful search engine for ancestors.  FS Wiki is about finding records that may have been generated about your ancestors and the places where the records might be found. The FS Blog keeps researchers current with family history information.  Search, Wiki and Blog will be introduced and examples provided.

•  Finding Family/Ancestors Outside the US with New Technologies by Daniel Horowitz Learn how MyHeritage can help break down brick walls in your research outside of the US by harnessing the power of an international family history network.

•   Basic Online Resource for Beginning Genealogists by Lisa Alzo This session will walk beginners through the exciting journey of genealogy as to what information is online, how to effectively search databases, and share information with others.

Visit the Family History Center (FHC) for Individualized Help (Sign up at Registration)

Click Here for more Information on our FHC--contacts, hours, holdings

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We invite you to pick and choose from a smorgasbord of topics that will satisfy your hunger for new information and ideas, timely topics and chance to mingle with fellow researchers from a wide geographic area.

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