Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing: Week 65

I missed indexing the Sunday before last. My cold went into the flu. I also missed getting my flu shot in October. I will never make that mistake again. It took several days to great my strength back after the flu but I am back to normal again. I have also gotten my flu shot and a B-12 shot for good measure.

I am not sure what news I might of missed while I was out of commission. I checked the FamilySearch Indexing website and found this message on there.

November 11, 2008: Ancestry.ca and FamilySearch Announce Agreement to Digitize and Index Existing Canadian Censuses

[The following is from a press release dated 10 November 2008.]

Ancestry.ca announced a joint initiative with FamilySearch International to improve online access to a comprehensive collection of Canadian censuses. As part of the agreement, FamilySearch will digitize and index Canadian census records that Ancestry.ca has acquired. These digitized and indexed records will then be made available to Ancestry.ca members on the company's Web site, and the indexes will be available for free to the public at FamilySearch.org. The images will be free to qualified FamilySearch members and all FamilySearch family history centers.

FamilySearch will deliver images and indexes to Ancestry.ca for censuses from 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1916, to launch online in 2009. In return, Ancestry.ca will provide indexes to FamilySearch for the 1891 and 1901 censuses.

[Please note: Qualified FamilySearch members include indexers who submit 900 names in 90 days and receive 90 days of free image access. The validation system that will enable FamilySearch to authenticate qualified FamilySearch members will be implemented in 2009.]

We also had a message in the program's My Message section.

From: Headquarters
Subject: Semimonthly Message
Date: 20 Nov 2008

Indexer's Responsibility

An indexer's responsibility is to make a searchable index of all the records that appear in his or her batch(es). This index is not a transcription of the information, but is meant to help individuals locate their ancestors (in the index) and lead them to the original documents so they may form their own conclusions and interpretations about the information contained in the records.

Occasionally, you may not agree with the information on the image - a name may be misspelled, or a child named Thomas may be listed as a daughter. The most basic indexing rule is "type what you see." Please read the field helps and project-specific instructions carefully to know when to correct misspellings and inconsistencies in the records.

Returning a Batch

While it is your responsibility to index all of the records that appear in your batch(es), at some point you may accidentally download a batch that you do not feel comfortable indexing. You may not understand the language or you simply do not want to index the batch. You have the option to return any batch that you download for any reason.

If you want to return a batch (while it is open) so that someone else can index it, click File on the menu bar. Click Return Batch... and click OK.

If you would like to return a batch to take it out of circulation - because the image is too light, too dark, or for another reason - click File on the menu bar. Click Return Batch..., select the option under the heading "Return this batch and take it out of circulation" that describes your reason, and click OK. If you select Other, you will be asked to e-mail an explanation to your group administrator.

You may also return batches from the indexing start page. Click the name of the project in the My Work section of the page. Then click the Return Batch button in the middle of the start page.

I could of used this piece of information week before last when I was indexing.

How I need to figure out what project to work on. There are batches in English, French, German and Spanish. Since I only do English that narrows things down a bit. But, we have ten English projects.

• UK - Cheshire - Church Records - 1618-1992
• UK - Cheshire - Land Tax - 1778-1832
• Arkansas Marriages III - 1837-1957
• Belguim - Antwep Foreigners Index - 1840-1930
• Massachusetts Death Records - 1906-1915
• Massachusetts Marriage Records - 1906-1915
• 1916 Canadian Census
• Illinois - 1920 US Federal Census
• Massachusetts - 1920 US Federal Census
• New Hampshire - Early to 1900 Births
  

Boy, do I wish there was a New York project so it would be a piece of cake to figure out what to work on. This many choices makes it difficult. Well to start I picked working on the Massachusetts - 1920 US Federal Census.

I worked on that batch and then decided to do another batch of the same. Wouldn't you know my luck that page was so faint. I had to have it zoomed all the way up to read it. But, I did managed it. I even indexed a male son named Carol. I knew a Carol that was a male so the name didn't seem so odd to me. It reminded me of the message from Headquarters and how we need to index records as we see them.

I decide that two batches were enough for the night. I indexed 100 records. My grand total is 9555 names indexed to date. I have 445 records to index before the end of the year in order to reach my goal of 10,000. I really think I can achieve that.

Now I am off to make some pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a very happy holiday making new family memories.

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