Rocky mountains in the distance as seen from my living room window

I can’t go ANYWHERE without getting into a conversation about genealogy.  Case in point:  I was getting my black  ink cartridge refilled and was discussing the merits of laser printing, since I do so much black printing.  Then I mentioned why I used so much and………..and hour later I had some printed profile pages from Ancestry.com and names, dates, and places, and a business card and the kiosk dealer had my email address.

Now I have a Word document with url’s, gravesite screenshots, and ideas for further research.

Why do I DO this to myself?  The dyed-in-the-wool genealogist out there will know what I’m talking about.  There is a passion in our work.  We are 24-hour genealogists.  And we are a patient bunch.

People like to talk about their families – about their roots, their bloodline; in other words, themselves.  And mixed in with all that verbiage is a tidbit of valuable information – a clue – the one you have been waiting for with pen poised above paper.  Hurry, get it down before he goes on to something else and a new clue pops up.  Ya gotta be ready!!!!

Finally, you get to ask a question or two and off you go, forgetting all about what it was you came to the mall for besides getting your black ink cartridge filled.

INDEXING and Other Oddities

Anybody want to learn how to do indexing?  Want to index your childhood province or state?  What about the country where you grew up?  FamilySearch has batches and batches for people to index and, when they are finished, they will be available to view online.  Free!  In perpetuity!!! 

Right now there is a big hooforah about the US 1940 Census, which will be ready to index April 2.  Both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch have put out a call for indexers to help.  Ancestry's results will be available for free for one year (that's the scoop, anyway) and FamilySearch's will be available online free, as with the rest of their indexed records.

Indexing is easy, once you get the hang of it.  I talked to a woman today who did her very first batch and needed help with one button to click on.  She was very proud and, I suspect, will become just as addicted as the rest of us.  There is a satisfaction in completing a record that you know will be seen by someone looking for and ancestor that they couldn't find before.  Their "aha" moment will be thanks to you!!

While being accurate is of prime importance, don't shy away from indexing because you fear making a mistake.  A batch is indexed by two people - independent of each other - and then, if there are different entries for the same thing (the name of a place, for instance), the arbitrator will look at the original image and the project information and decide which indexer is right (Key A and Key B is used, not indexers' names) or if there is a third option that neither indexer knew about.  As soon as the batch is arbitrated, it will go with the rest in that collection and get put online.

Presently, I am arbitrating Ontario, Canada marriages in the early 1900's.  I grew up there and I'm familiar with the county and town names, as well as many last names and the popular first names of the day. No, I wasn't alive then, but grandparents hand down stories from their parents.  For instance, did you know that, in certain areas/families, a daughter-in-law was taken in and treated as a daughter; therefore, when the census-taker came around, she was listed as a daughter, not a daughter-in-law.

Besides arbitrating batches of indexed records, what am I doing these days that keeps me away from my blog?  Clicking on those little green leaves in Ancestry.com and checking out the results and documentation.  Downloading the gedcom that results from weeks of work, and putting the gedcom into Rootsmagic, where I check for duplicates (an automatic process in Rootsmagic) and merging duplicate records.  Then I check everything with my tree on FamilySearch and put it there.  Now I have a database on my computer, one on Ancestry, and one on FamilySearch.  I am also updating my wall chart for my hallway.  Makes for a good conversation piece as guests walk in the door....my hallway is long and narrow and there is room for many generations.  Oh - and I just bought the upgrade from version 4 to version 5 of Rootsmagic and am attending classes for the public at our local Family History Center.  Every day I learn more new things about programs I've been using for a few years.  Oh yes - and I've taken up stamp collecting.  It is intriguing to see how boundaries of countries have changed, which affects genealogy searches and that history is told in the stamps of those countries.

What do I do for fun?   You just read about it.