WHAT'S A KNOWLEDGEBASE? CHECK THIS OUT

The Family History Guide is used by The Church for training. The training covers everything from learning about FamilySearch Family Tree to searching land records. Including MyHeritage, Ancestry, FindMyPast and Geneanet. 

A KNOWLEDGEBASE covering the United States and some general information has just been added.  James Tanner in his blog  "Rejoice and be Exceeding Glad", provides a good fist look at it. 

  The Countries Knolwdgebase: The Family History Guide becomes even more valuable

https://thefhguide.com/research.html

One thing that The Family History Guide does for those of us who are searching for our ancestors is to organize and structure the online world of genealogy and family history in a way that we do not need to guess where to go or what to do next. For example, at last count, I have posted 11,419 blog posts not counting Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest posts. There are 89.103 Wiki articles on the FamilySearch Research Wiki. There are 5,827,000+ articles in English on Wikipedia.org and a search for the word "genealogy" finds 50,824 articles. This is just scratching the surface of some of the information that is available online.

Think about it. Jointly, the large online genealogy database companies have billions and billions of records. Where do you start? How do you begin to understand what is available and how to learn all that there is to know? Well, those of us who are working on The Family History Guide are trying to organize and present all that information in a way that you can systematically progress and learn what it is that makes a good genealogical researcher along the way. The KnowledgeBase on The Family History Guideis part of the solution to the challenge of learning.

You can read more about the KnowledgeBase, presently being developed and implemented, from this article:

Introducing the Countries Knowledgebase

What is The Family History Guide? From one standpoint, it is a structured and sequenced way to learn about genealogy and family history by organizing thousands of links to online sources of information. But it is really a way to help everyone who uses the website to appreciate the core values of family, home, and heritage that go to make up the best of what we have to offer the world as human beings.

What is even more incredible is that the entire website with all of its linked resources is absolutely free. It only becomes available because of volunteers who spend their time and energy making it available. How can you help? Simple, you can donate to the whole operation through The Family History Guide Association.

SCAN IT, PHOTO IT, RECORD IT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

A RootsTech Keynote Speaker addressed the benefits and challenges of  information preservation and access. The FamilySearch Blog posted this address.

David Carmicheal’s Keynote Captivates Attendees at the Access and Preservation Day Held at RootsTech 2019 by Robert Raymond David Carmicheal, state archivist of Pennsylvania, gave the keynote address for the Access and Preservation track of RootsTech, which was held on Wednesday February 27, 2019, at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. His presentation, titled “What are the challenges and opportunities archives face over the next decade, and what role can you play in that future?” was given to a receptive audience composed of important industry associates and RootsTech attendees. Digital Record Preservation David told about a first foray into digitization 30 years ago when he directed a New York archive project to digitize a collection of maps. He chose a nonarchival format that became obsolete within a few years. He found that rescanning was cheaper than converting. Fast forward 30 years. Last year, the lieutenant governor had no paper records to transfer. “We have lost the safety net of paper records,” he said. “Born digital records [records that were created and only exist digitally] have both challenges and opportunities.” He explained three things that excite him about digital records. The first is capitalism. “We [the archivists] are the happy beneficiary that captains of industry are demanding preservation.” Second, digital records create huge opportunities for cooperation. Lastly, digital records give the ability to create virtual communities and virtual archives. Archivists can reach around the world for volunteers. Challenges of the Past There are three challenges of the past that no longer keep David up at night. It is no longer necessary to worry about preserving records for hundreds of years. Technology changes so quickly that it is folly to worry about the distant future. All we must do is keep digital records viable for another 10 years. During those 10 years, we can figure out how to keep the records alive for another 10. Electronic formats no longer keep up. Rather than trying to preserve every format, the archive has a policy that long-term records must be created in specific formats, such as PDF/A, that we know can be preserved long-term. The idea of keeping every single record no longer worries David. For example, the archive has only one photograph of Teddy Roosevelt dedicating one of the state’s buildings. It is such a good photograph, even if they had more, everyone would use that particular photograph. If you have the right picture, you don’t need to have more. Go aggressively after the right records. Current Problems for Archivists David mentioned three problems that still worry archivists. One is the inertia that exists in IT departments. Because IT has always had all the state’s servers, they don’t understand an archive’s need to manage records actively. David said Pennsylvania is fortunate. The Pennsylvania CIO “gets it” and supports the archive’s approach to record preservation. Another problem is user expectations. For paper records, it sufficed to describe boxes and folders. For today’s users, if it is not online and individually described, it doesn’t exist. Lastly, the greatest danger archives face today is irrelevance. Archivists are always answering the question, “Why should we fund you?” You Know What Records Are Important “You know better than I why archival records are important,” David told the genealogists in the room. “You need to tell us.” People use records in compelling ways. Examples generate much more support in the legislature. David related two examples. He told how a 92-year-old woman wanted to visit her Italian homeland one last time before she died. She was unable to provide the documentation of her Italian citizenship necessary to obtain a passport. Fortunately, archival documents made possible an old woman’s final wish. Decades ago, blight wiped out the American chestnut. In Georgia, biologists used Georgia archives to determine where the American chestnut originally thrived. With an improved American chestnut variety, the biologists wanted to plant in the same places, giving the new trees the best chance of survival. Genealogical records put the human face on history. Stories help us convey value to others. Archival records are used in so many compelling ways. David said, “As a state archivist, I use stories like these to sell our story.” “Gather those stories and share them with the archivist. They will use them. The impact is more compelling. Ultimately, what we do is not about records, it is about people.” David Carmicheal is state archivist of Pennsylvania. Previously he was state archivist of Georgia, and director of records and archives for Westchester County, New York. David’s archival work includes construction of two state archives buildings, national efforts to protect essential government records, and service on NARA’s advisory committee for the electronic records archives. One of his books, Organizing Archival Records (AASLH, 4th ed.), has provided practical advice to small archives for 25 years.

WHAT IS GENEANET?

Geneanet is one of FamilySearch's lesser known partners. James Tanner, in his blog "Rejoice and be Exceeding Glad", provides us with a short introduction to this site. While it is headquartered in France, it covers all of Europe and the USA as well. Receiving a hint from Geneanet about an ancestor in NJ convinced me that they are on the ball.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad...

---

A Short Introduction to Geneanet.org

You may or may not have noticed but FamilySearch.org has a new partner listed on each individual's detail page; Geneanet.org.  Who is this newcomer to the list of websites that can be automatically searched from the FamilySearch.org Family Tree? Here is a brief explanation from their website:

Launched in 1996 by genealogy enthusiasts, Geneanet is a community of more than 3 million members who share their genealogical information for free: more than 6 billion individuals in the family trees, some digitized archival records, some family pictures, some indexes, all available through a powerful search engine, and a blog. 

The Premium subscription offers additional options, including an advanced search engine, and to access hundreds of million of indexes provided by our partners. 

The Geneanet team is passionate about genealogy and emerging technologies. And at Geneanet, genealogy is almost a family affair as several team members have common ancestors!

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a free subscription to the website because of the FamilySearch partnership agreement.

https://partners.familysearch.org/solutionsgallery/s/gallery-profile/a2Rf10000079nuHEAQ/00063

The link for logging on with your LDS Account is available on the Solutions Gallery at the bottom of the pages on the FamilySearch.org website. Members qualify for the Geneanet Premium Subscription.

Geneanet.org has a huge searchable collection of French and other European records called the Genealogy Library containing over 3 billion indexed individuals in old books, academic journals, newspapers, obituaries, and hundreds of thousands of documents. You can search for the names of your ancestors. These resources come from all over the world from places you may never have seen documents previously. Here is a search of just the newspapers and magazine titles.

Here is a part of the list of collections:

The website is particularly helpful in searching for French ancestors.

The website has a lot of other projects and resources and is certainly worth investigating. You can also put a family tree up on the website and receive record hints from the website.

A GOOD ASSUMPTION

We all make assumptions. Our whole existence is based on assumptions. Water is wet, if you let go of something it falls, the sun will rise in the morning, there is a God, etc. The Genealogy Tip of the Day posted a warning about making assumptions.

Assuming that You Should Not Assume Posted: 25 Mar 25, 2019 06:42 PM PDT Years ago, a well-known genealogist wrote that her Italian immigrant ancestors in the United States in the early 1920s would have had a certain type of celebration and eaten a certain type of dessert and the holidays. The statement struck me as something of an assumption. She didn’t mention any family members who remembered being at this type of event or having memories of Grandma or a family member making a certain special pastry. The writer indicated she had read about the tradition and assumed that her relatives had to have done it. It can help your research to learn about cultural practices of members of your ancestor’s ethnic group, social class, local area, etc. It can be fun to incorporate some of these traditions into your modern life. It broadens your perspective. But don’t assume that just because a certain ethnic group usually “did a certain thing” that your relatives had to do it as well. Families can be different for one reason or another. Four of my great-grandparents were the children of German immigrants. I didn’t know that in many German families “beer” was a thing until I was in college. For one reason or another, it wasn’t a “big” thing in my immediate family.  Although they did speak German at home, (until World War I) gave their children ethnic names, and drank tea like it was going out of style (that was an Ostfriesen thing). My 1870-era Irish immigrants practiced no Irish traditions. Every family is different. It’s best if you can to ask about what traditions were practiced in your family, if you can. Assume that you should not assume.

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WHO'S IN THOSE OLD PHOTOS?

If you have old photos or CD's, this is a must read. In it's Tip of the Week, the Riverton FamilySearch Library some great ideas on identifying who is in those old photos or CDs.

Tip of the Week

You inherited a box or CD of old family photos found in Grandma’s attic. Great! But
who are all those people? If you are one of the fortunate ones, you can look on the
back of the photos for notes to identify who they are. However, most of us will be
scratching our head wondering who is in that photo?
There are a number of ways to try to identify unknown individuals in your family photos.
The process can take time and perseverance, but it is definitely rewarding when you are
able to put a name with the face.
1. Ask Family Members:
• This is an obvious way, but many don’t bother to try.
• Seek out distant relatives, not just close family members.
• The more eyes, the better chance for success.
• No relative is too far in distance or location on the family tree to potentially not
have information about your photographs.
• While inquiring, ask if they have photos they are willing to share. You may
find a match from a different photograph.
2. Share Your Unidentified Photos on Social Media:
Facebook
• There are many groups on Facebook that may help.
• Look for family groups, genealogical societies, or pages dedicated to specific
states or countries.
Pinterest
• Create a Pinterest board for your unknown photographs.
• In the description for each pin, include keywords such as location (i.e.
Pittsylvania County, VA) or a possible surname (i.e. Richardson).
3. Websites Dedicated to Unidentified Photographs:
• DeadFred.com and Ancestors Lost and Found are popular, free sites.
• Upload your photographs for help in identifying, or search what others have
posted.
• Searching by surname, location, or by the photographer’s name may locate
ancestors’ photographs you recognize.

Riverton FamilySearch Library - Tip of the Week 03/17/19 Page 2/2
4. Perform a Google Image Search:
• Upload your unidentified photographs into Google’s Image search to see if
the photograph appears anywhere on the web.
• It’s possible the photograph is identified on someone’s genealogy
website/blog.
• It is possible to get a match that is not your unidentified individual, but may be
a different relative that can be used to look for more information.

WHAT TO DO? THERE'S NO 1890 CENSUS

The Riverton FamilySearch Library posted a tip of the week on City Directories on March 10. It has some great ideas on what to do between the census or in the case of 1890, in the absence of a census.

Tip of the Week

City Directories - They’re Not Your Old Phone Books
City Directories are "among the most important sources of information about urban areas and their
inhabitants." (A quote from the Library of Congress website)
The word “city” can be misleading. These helpful directories were in many small, urban towns and go
back through the 1800’s.
How can city directories help me in my research?
City directories are not like a phone book. They listed people alphabetically, by address, and evolved
from just the name of the head-of-household to more detailed family information, such as names of all
the occupants at an address, occupation of head-of-household, ages and sometimes where they
moved to. This is a great in-between-census place to look.
“If you’ve ever been frustrated because most of the 1890 US census data was destroyed in a fire,
consider the possibility that your ancestor may be listed in a city directory taken in that year. If you
run into that familiar problem of trying to differentiate between two or more people of the same
names, a city directory might be able to help you there as well. Since the purpose of a published city
directory is to allow the user to locate specific individuals, they made a point of listing identifying
information such as middle initials and occupations.”

Fredrickson, Aubrey. “Genealogy How to Issue”, MyTrees.com, Sept. 21, 2012.
Be sure to look for people with the same surname in the same directory for possible family affiliations.
Where can I find city directories?
• City Directories of the United States of America
• United States Directories Genealogy - FamilySearch Wiki
• Online Historical Directories Web Site (a Google site)
• Google: Search for the [city or county] + “City Directory”
• Google Books: Search for “City Directories” plus your city name.
• New York Public Library: Search for “City Directories.”
• Internet Archive: Search for “City Directories.”
• Ancestry.com: Log in (no account? Visit a FamilySearch facility) and select “Search” then
“Card Catalog” and search for “City Directories” in the “Title” field.
• Cyndislist.com: Select “Categories” then “Directories: City, County, Address, etc.” Reporting
480 links as of 12/17/18
• Library of Congress: In their search bar, leave “Everything” in the 1st field and enter “City
Directories” in the 2nd
.

What else can I find in city directories?
• Occupations, business names and addresses, place of employment.
• Home ownership, place of residence.

Riverton FamilySearch Library Tip of the Week - 03/10/19 Page 2 of 2
• Spouses and maiden names.
• Hidden stories, place of origin, histories
Example:
I opened up Google and entered: google books “Salt Lake City + city directory”. The first result was
Salt Lake County, Utah Online Historical Directories.... I clicked on this site. The first link was an
EBOOK of a “City Directory and Business Guide,” published in 1869. It contained some very
interesting information including a brief history of Joseph Smith and the history of the Church as the
saints crossed the plains. There was section called “Chronological Events of Utah” from 1847
through 1868, which had many names and dates associated with the events.

HEADING WEST - MIGRATION ROUTES

The Riverton FamilySearch Library is on the move. Well , not quite. They have posted a list of how the pioneers went west in one of their Tips of the Week. Here it is.

U.S. Migration Patterns:  Migration trails listed here, as well as others that can be found online, may help you learn which trails your family might have taken in earlier years of the colonies and the United States.  Tracing the trail, census records, and town records, may enable you to find other family members also.  Click the title links to get more information on the FamilySearch Research Wiki’

Wilderness Road:  Daniel Boone and 35 axmen blazed a trail called the Wilderness Road from Virginia through the Cumberland Gap and into central Kentucky for the Transylvania Company. When the trail opened in 1775 it became the route of 70,000 settlers who came to Kentucky on foot or horseback before the trail was upgraded to wagon road in 1796.

Cumberland and Great Lake Trail:  A break in the Appalachian Mountains allowed pioneers to cross the valley.

Great Valley Road:  (also called, the "Great Wagon Road," "Great Warriors' Path," "Valley Pike," "Carolina Road," or "Trading Path") was the most important Colonial American route for settlers of the mountainous back country of the southern British colonies.  It went from Philadelphia, PA over to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia forking into the Tennessee Valley and Knoxville.  The other fork went more south into the Piedmont Region of North Carolina; and, then to its terminus on the Savannah River at Augusta, GA.  From Philadelphia to Augusta was 735 miles (1183 km).  Several other important early pathways merged with or split off from the Great Valley Road.

After 1744, the Great Valley Road was most heavily used by Ulster-Irish immigrants, called Scots-Irish in America, to spread through most of Appalachia bringing their Presbyterian religion.  Pennsylvania Germans also used the trail to spread into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  Starting in 1753, Moravians of Pennsylvania followed the road to settle the Wachovia region of North Carolina.  The first settlements of Virginians in Tennessee were associated with the end of the trail in that region in the 1760s.

Pioneer Road:  In 1746 the Pioneer Road first crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains from Alexandria to Winchester, VA, where it fed into the Great Valley Road.  The Wilderness Road opened in 1775 into central Kentucky, and branched off the Great Valley Road in southwest Virginia at Bristol (Sapling Grove).  Starting in the late 1770’s explorers and pioneers at Staunton, VA started using the Kanawha Trail which followed the New River/Kanawha River into West Virginia.  From the terminus of the Great Valley Road at Knoxville, Avery's Trace to Nashville opened in 1788, and the Georgia Road to Athens opened in 1805.

Oregon Trail:  The Oregon Trail started in Independence, MO; then to Fort Kearney, NE; to Fort Bridger, WY; to Soda Springs, ID; and, to Flagstaff Hill at Oregon City, OR.  This trail began the 1840 rush by settlers and followed a 2,000-mile journey of great migrations in the history of the United States.

Mormon Trail:  Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1846 to 1868, traveled this 1,300-mile (2,092 km) route, known today as the Mormon Trail, and is a part of the United States National Trails System

Find a migration trail your family might have taken and see if names listed belong to your family.  Because they often traveled in religious or ethnic groups, some families could be related.  It is important to always look at all the listed families.

WHERE DID THOSE IMMIGRANTS LAND?

The Riverton FamilySearch Library posted a list of  US and Canada ports of entry which is shown below.

Immigration Ports of Entry

If you can’t find immigration records in New York ports, try other ports…

Major U.S. Immigrant Ports:

• Castle Garden - It operated until the U.S. Office of Immigration opened the newly built Ellis Island in 1892.
• Ellis Island - In the Upper New York Bay, it was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the U.S. as the United States' busiest immigrant inspection station for over 60 years from 1892 until 1954.
• Philadelphia - In the 1800s, they came through Philadelphia and headed to Texas or the Midwest.
• Boston
• Baltimore
• New Orleans - Coming through New Orleans during Civil War times avoided pressure to join the Union Army; although doing so meant quick naturalization.  In the 1700s, most of our German ancestors came from Rotterdam through New Orleans.
• San Francisco
• Galveston

Canada - Canada was easier and less expensive.  By the 1890s, Canadian steamship companies advertised that passage through Canada was a way to avoid the US government’s rigorous immigration inspections.  Look for records in all these ports.

·         Quebec City, Quebec

·         Halifax, Nova Scotia

·         Saint John, New Brunswick

·         North Sydney, Nova Scotia

·         Vancouver, British Columbia

·         Victoria, British Columbia

NEW NORWEGIAN CENSUS COLLECTIONS ONLINE

My Heritage has just announced the addition of 6.8 million records from the Norwegian census collections of 1891, 1900, and 1910. This was the subject of a Genealogy's Star blog by James Tanner. It will be posted on the tips and tricks bulletin board in the zone office.

The announcement from my Heritage as follows:

MyHeritage has worked on digitizing these collections in partnership with the National Archives of Norway (Arkivverket).

  

With the release of these new collections, MyHeritage now offers approximately 34 million historical records from Norway, including census, baptism, marriage, and burial records. As the Scandinavian market leader for family history research and DNA testing, MyHeritage also offers 136 million records from neighboring Sweden and 105 million records from Denmark. MyHeritage is the only major genealogy company to provide its services and full customer support in all three Scandinavian languages, as well as in Finnish, and offers the greatest potential for new family history discoveries for anyone with Scandinavian origins. It also has the largest user base in Scandinavia and the largest collection of Scandinavian family trees.

The three new collections are now available on SuperSearch™, MyHeritage’s search engine for its 9.6 billion historical records. Searching the Norway census collections is free. A subscription is required to view the full records and to access Record Matches.

RELIVE THE JOY OF ROOTSTECH!

While RootsTech 2019 is history, you can still you many of the presentations. Check out the FamilySearch log for details.

Watch free RootsTech sessions online

Re-Live the Joy of RootsTech! Discover your favorite keynotes, plus over 20 recorded sessions—including tips for DNA, What’s New on FamilySearch, and more. View Free Videos

WHAT'S A CHATTEL MORTGAGE?

The following was a post by Genealogy Tip of the Day Chattel Mortgages Posted: 20 Mar 2019 06:43 AM PDT Some towns and counties kept records of chattel mortgages. These mortgages generally are for property other than real estate and can include: livestock, tools of a trade, merchandise in a store, household goods, and similar items. These records may or may not be available on microfilm or in digital format. Like other records, they can provide additional background on your relative’s life, social standing, and family relationships (sometimes). One advantage to these records is that your relative did not have to own real estate in order to appear in them. Some ways to determine if these records exist in the location of interest include: searching the FamilySearch catalog; asking local librarians; contacting local historical or genealogical societies; asking researchers familiar with the area

CLUSTER RESEARCH

Cluster research the topic of a two-part post in James Tanner's blog "Genealogy's Star". It is titled

A Step-by-Step Approach to Using Genealogical Cluster Research

A copy of these posts has been posted on the tips and tricks bulletin board in the zone office.

WHAT IS A WITNESS?

What Witnesses Are Post by Genealogy Tip of the Day

Generally speaking, a witness is indicating that they witnessed the event described in the document they are signing. A witness to a marriage is saying that they saw you got married. They are not saying that they are related to either of the parties getting married. They are not saying that they approve of the marriage. They are not saying that the bride’s dress compliments the groom’s tuxedo. 

A witness to a will is saying that they know who the testator is and that they appeared to be able to sign the document of their own volition. They are not saying that they approve of anything in the will or that they are related to the person signing the will (although witnesses to a will generally can’t benefit from the terms of it.).

A witness to a deed is indicating that they saw the grantor(s) sign the document and that they know the grantor. They aren’t agreeing to the price. They aren’t saying the legal description is correct.

Witnesses may be related to the person signing the document. They may be warm bodies also in the same office on the day the document is signed.

Of course, if the same person witnesses several of your ancestor’s documents over time…that’s a clue that there was a potential relationship between the witness and your ancestor. But that witness whose name only appears once may simply be another person who was in the same place having legal work done on the same day.

MY FAMILY TREE APPS ARE LOADED, ARE YOURS?

Have you loaded the FamilySearch Family Tree app on your Smartphone? Three apostles gave that as one of the objectives for Temple and family history consultants at a training seminar last month.

So what can you do on your smartphone?

• Ordinances ready is ready.
• Do you have any relatives nearby?
• Check out record hints.
• What does family tree know about your ancestors?
• See your ancestors on a world map.

Check out the familysearch blog at the bottom of the page for more information.

If you want to have some fun with your kids, grandkids or great-grandkids, load the FamilySearch memory app. Then have everyone take a selfie.

ARE ORDINANCE READY NAMES REALLY READY?

What is necessary before a family name is ready for Temple ordinances?

1. You might want to check whether the name you intend to submit is your relative or somebody else's with the same name. While this might provide you a name, the other family might be quite upset to find somebody outside of THEIR family did the temple work. It's the same reaction we have when somebody changes our family tree with bogus information.
2. Equally important is checking for duplicates. The Temple work may already be done but on a duplicate name. When beginning my mission I inadvertently created a duplicate of myself. Later I went to the escalation department to get it corrected. They did! And announced that there were 19 other duplicates. There are a lot of duplicates out there.

The question really is whether the new app, Ordinances Ready, is really ready. While it generates a lot of enthusiasm, are the names really yours or are they duplicates? Ron Tanner, Senior Product Manager at FamilySearch, talked about Ordinances Ready in his annual Rootstech "What's New Talk". He listed six sources for Ordinance Ready names. They are:

1. Pulled from your own reservation list
2. Pulled from your own names that you have shared with the Global Temple List
3. Pulled names from people with whom you are related from the Global Temple List
4. Pulled from names found by searching up and down your own family lines (green icons)
5. An ancestor from the Global Temple List

It will also do the following:

• Ignore people who are subject to the 110-year rule
• Verify that the name qualifies for temple ordinance work
• Verify no possible duplicates

My personal opinion is that qualifying family members for Temple ordinances is not a race to see how many you can get, but to make sure that ALL of the members of your family receive the ordinances.

A NEW WIN FOR RECLAIM THE RECORDS

March 13, 2019, is a day to celebrate. The index to Millions of New York State post-1965 marriage records became available for free thanks to Reclaim The Records.

This is the latest in a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits won by this nonprofit organization. Their announcement states:

"Greetings from Reclaim The Records! We're that scrappy little activist group of genealogists, historians, journalists, and open government advocates, fighting for better public access to government-held genealogical and historical documents. And today, we're pleased to inform you that we just won our fourth lawsuit! We fought the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) for the index to marriages performed in the state of New York post-1965, and after seven months, a judge has now ruled in our favor. 

This means that the basic index to millions of marriages in New York State will become available to the public. They'll go online for free public use, without any paywalls or subscriptions or usage agreements. That's because we at Reclaim The Records never charge anyone for records access; instead, we work to bring public data back to the public. 

You can read the backstory of this case here, on our website or you can also read about it in a previous issue of this newsletter. We've also posted online all the documents that go along with it, including all the requests and appeals and denials. And now you can finally read the judge's decision in this case, too — it goes step-by-step through the government's attempts to withhold these genealogical records from the public, and knocks down each excuse."

For more information about Reclaim the Records go to their website.

https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/

 

IDENTIFYING MYSTERY PERSONS IN YOUR PHOTOS

Unidentified persons in your family photos is a real challenge. The Riverton FamilySearch library "tip of the week" has outlined a 4-point procedure for identifying who's in some of those photos you inherited.

"You inherited a box or CD of old family photos found in Grandma’s attic. Great! But who are all those people? If you are one of the fortunate ones, you can look on the back of the photos for notes to identify who they are. However, most of us will be scratching our head wondering who is in that photo?

There are a number of ways to try to identify unknown individuals in your family photos. The process can take time and perseverance, but it is definitely rewarding when you are able to put a name with the face.

1. Ask Family Members: 

• This is an obvious way, but many don’t bother to try. 
• Seek out distant relatives, not just close family members. 
• The more eyes, the better the chance for success. 
• No relative is too far in distance or location on the family tree to potentially not have information about your photographs. 
• While inquiring, ask if they have photos they are willing to share. You may find a match from a different photograph. 

2. Share Your Unidentified Photos on Social Media: Facebook 

• There are many groups on Facebook that may help. 
• Look for family groups, genealogical societies, or pages dedicated to specific states or countries. Pinterest 
• Create a Pinterest board for your unknown photographs. 
• In the description for each pin, include keywords such as location (i.e. Pittsylvania County, VA) or a possible surname (i.e. Richardson). 

3. Websites Dedicated to Unidentified Photographs: 

• DeadFred.com and Ancestors Lost and Found are popular free sites. 
• Upload your photographs for help in identifying, or search what others have posted. 
• Searching by surname, location, or by the photographer’s name may locate ancestors’ photographs you recognize. 

4. Perform a Google Image Search: 

• Upload your unidentified photographs into Google’s Image search to see if the photograph appears anywhere on the web. 
• It’s possible the photograph is identified on someone’s genealogy website/blog. 
• It is possible to get a match that is not your unidentified individual but maybe a different relative that can be used to look for more information. Genealogy is like a magic mirror. Look into it, and pretty soon, interesting faces appear. "

This email was sent to you by the Riverton FamilySearch Library. If you'd rather not receive emails of this sort from us or would like to add any of our other email distributions, please Click here. Riverton FamilySearch Library 3740 West Market Center Drive, Riverton, Utah 84065-8026 – Phone: 801-240-9601

WHAT'S NEW IN FAMILY SEARCH FAMILY TREE?

If you want to know what's going on you need to talk to the guy who's in charge. In the case of
FamilySearch Family Tree, that's Ron Tanner, Director of Product Management. His annual presentation at RootsTech is not only informative but very entertaining as well.

James Tanner, in his blog. Rejoice And Be Exceeding Glad, has done an excellent job of outlining some of the new features in FamilySearch Family Tree. Google knows where to find him as well as his blogs. Just in case, a link to his blog is attached below.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RejoiceAndBeExceedingGlad/~3/fFkc9ZqpL6k/what-has-changed-on-familysearch-family.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

If you want to know what's going on in FamilySearch Family Tree go to the bottom of the page and look for the heading "Blog".

FLASH DRIVES AND SSD'S

Have we ever lost a flash drive? Or do you find you have a whole bag of flash drives at home, but not with you when you need one. Family history centers and libraries have boxes full of lost flash drives.

You might ask why the owner couldn't be found. The answer is simple, no identification. No label on the outside nor file on the inside that would identify the owner. A label on the outside or file on the inside identifying the owner would save a lot of heartaches.

The price of flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD drives) has been dropping. For $135 you can buy a 1 TB solid-state drive. Or, if you need more backup, for slightly less than $300 you can buy a 2 TB solid-state drive.

So why by an SSD? The answer is speed and reliability. Here is the scoop...

Genealogy's Star

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How reliable are SSDs? (Flash Drives or Thumb Drives) Posted: 16 Mar 2019 06:32 AM PDT

...overall SSDs (including flash drives) have a failure rate of .5 % as opposed to a failure rate of 2 to 5% for spinning hard drives. See Enterprise Storage: SSD vs HD. This is why the cost factor is so important. Hard drives are still less expensive than solid-state drives for large capacities, but with the drop in prices of solid state devices, the advantage begins to disappear.