Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing: Week 69

I missed indexing last week. What a way to start out the New Year. It took me a week but I did write down my goals for the new year. Much of it is organizing. This week I was organizing my schedule and planning out when I would get things I want to do accomplished. It appears I have no time now to do anything, which isn't hard to do when you work 4 hours a day and then come home and sleep 4 hours.

I wanted to accomplish more scanning of my documents on Sundays. You can do a lot of pondering and thinking over the great questions of life while you wait for the scanner to do it's job. Since church isn't until 12:30 p.m. I thought I could fit in a couple of hours of scanning in the morning before church. I actually accomplished something in this area this morning. I didn't actually run the scanner though. I was working on gathering all the photos together.

When I moved a couple of years ago I put all my photos that weren't in albums in a large three drawer plastic storage organizer that is on wheels. I had some miscellaneous photos in my file cabinets that I worked on pulling out today. Next week I will work on sorting the photos. I can just roll the storage organizer/container to the kitchen table and go to town. Then I can work on scanning the photos. Gotta put in some prep time to be the most productive in the long run.

What an example the Church is to us on the importance of preserving precious family history documents and making them more accessible to others. I hope that my personal scanning project will someday be useful to others too. I tell you I won't have a restful nights sleep until all my photos and documents have been digitized and shared with family members and fellow researchers. Then let the fire, floods and earthquakes come because I will have copied and backed up all my precious mementos off-site with others.

Church was good today and my nap was very restful. Now it's time to start working on my FamilySearch Indexing. First things first. Here are the messages from Headquarters.

From: Headquarters
Subject: Indexing Support Hours Changing
Date: 30 Dec 2008

Beginning January 2nd, the hours for Indexing Support will be changing. Continue to contact us toll-free at 1-866-406-1830.

• For help with the indexing program, or specific projects, hours are Monday-Friday from 7:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M., and Saturdays from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (MST, GMT-7).
• For help with UDE, extraction inventory, or to place an order, hours are Monday-Friday from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (MST, GMT-7).
• For help with administration and leadership for indexing and extraction, hours are Monday-Friday from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (MST, GMT-7).
  

The Support page of FamilySearch indexing Web site will be updated to reflect these changes soon.
Note: The Indexing Support offices will be closed on January 1st, New Year's Day.

Second message:

From: Headquarts
Subject: Indexing Support Hours Changing
Date: 30 Dec 2008

Currently, we are indexing the states of Massachusetts and Illinois in the 1920 US Federal Census, and we still need to finish indexing these before we will move on to the other states.

The Illinois project is 68% complete and Massachusetts is 84% complete. We have already completed the states of California and Alabama. Keep up the great work!

After we finish these two states, we will remove the Township field from the rest of the 1920 US Federal Census project. The township information will be collected here at Headquarters.

Arbitrators: As we work to complete the Illinois and Massachusetts projects, do not spend a lot of time arbitrating the Township field. Simply choose the option (Key A or Key B) that is the most correct.

Third message:

From: Headquarters
Subject: Semimonthly Message
Date: 02 Jan 2009

Here is a tip to start your new year:

Save to the Server

Use the Save to Server feature to save your work online to the FamilySearch indexing computers. When you do this it means that any indexing work you are able to do on a batch - be it 5 minutes or 5 names - will not be lost.

If you run out of time, cannot complete the batch within seven days, or have issues with your computer that keep you from completing the batch, your work will be saved and another indexer will be able to pick up wherever you left off.

Also use the Save to Server feature if you do indexing on more than one computer. If you are working on your home computer and cannot finish your batch before you need to leave, save the batch to the server. Then when you start indexing again at work, at the library, or elsewhere, you can open the batch and pick up where you left off.

This feature is found in the File menu while you are working on a batch or you can use the Save to Server icon (a floppy disk next to a computer) on the toolbar in the middle of the indexing screen.

Note: Always remember to submit your batch when you have finished indexing all of the records on the images(s).

Fourth message:

From: Headquarters
Subject: Internet Explorer 6
Date: 06 Jan 2009

There have been some issues with the display of the FamilySearch indexing Web site for users of Internet Explorer (IE) version 6. This version of IE is no longer supported by Microsoft, and users should either update their Internet browser to version 7 or download a different free browser, such as Mozilla Firefox.

To update or download one of these new browsers, follow one of the links below:

For Internet Explorer 7, click here. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page and follow the instructions under the heading, "Get Internet Explore 7")

For Mozilla Firefox, click here. (Then click the green button in the middle of the page and follow the instructions.)

If you use Windows Internet Explorer, but you do not know which version it is:

1. Open the Internet Explorer.
2. Click Help on the menu bar.
3. Click About Internet Explorer.
4. Look for the version number on this page.

Note: If the version is below 7, then you need to update to the newest version of Internet Explorer by clicking on the link above.

Final message is from the FamilySearch Indexing website.

January 5, 2009: Happy New Year!

We cannot say enough to thank all those who contributed to the FamilySearch indexing program over the past year. In 2008, we indexed over 115 million names. That is more than the current population of Mexico. What a great achievement!

We are very excited to see how our numbers grow in 2009.

Wow, that was a lot of message. That's what happens when you skip a week indexing. Now the big questions for the week is what batches am I going to index from. There is quit the variety of languages and projects to chose from.

• Dutch, Flemish (1)
• English (13)
• French (1)
• German (2)
• Italian (1)
• Norwegian (1)
• Russian (1)
• Spanish (8)
  

I guess by now you know me, it has to be an English project. I was hoping that the Massachusetts 1920 US Federal Census was still available but it's gone. I do see the Illinois 1920 US Federal Census available so I picked that. Darn, no projects. Ok, what else to pick? Since I love working in New York or the New England states, I decided to pick the Massachusetts 1865 State Census.

The handwriting was very clear for it being 1865 and all. My batches went pretty quick. I did two of them. It gave me a total of 168 names indexed today. I now have a grand total of 10,173 names indexed to date. I think I am getting used to indexing. It's been a long day and I will close for now.

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