Mark Your Calendars - UVPAFUG Meeting!

UTAH VALLEY PAF USERS GROUP MEETING

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 9 May 2009, from 9 am until noon IN THE EDGEWOOD/RIVERSIDE LDS CHAPEL, 3511 North 180 East, Provo, Utah. The chapel is behind the Jamestown shopping plaza on the east side of University Avenue in the Provo "River Bottoms". You get to it by turning east at 3700 North ("Will's Pit Stop") from University Avenue and then south on 180 East. There is a map showing the new and old locations on the group's website http://uvpafug.org .

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Donald R. and Diane M. Snow on FINDING GRANDMA THROUGH THE LONDON FAMILY HISTORY CENTRE. Don and Diane Snow recently returned from the England London Mission with the particular assignment of serving in the London Family History Centre. This presentation will describe the odyssey of finding information about Don's Grandmother, Ann Stafford Snow Condie. Where she was christened in England and information about her family have been a genealogy brickwall for many years. The Snows daughter, Linda Westover, in preparing for a trip to visit them in London a year ago, found information in an index of a parish register that was newly posted online and which broke through the 20-year old brickwall and opened up lots more.

They will describe the entire odyssey and show how they used websites, timelines, libraries, GPS's, Google maps, digital newspapers, and many other on- and off-line genealogy records. This research all culminated with the visit of the daughter and her husband to England and a trip to see the actual location in Derbyshire. The Snows both taught at BYU, Don in Mathematics and Diane in Humanities. They have 6 children who live with their families in Utah, the Midwest, and on both coasts. Don and Diane are snowbirds and spend part of the year in Provo and part in St. George. Don was one of the early founders of the UVPAFUG and has been working with and teaching classes for it since 1991.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes taught concerning technology and family history. As usual, there will be something for everyone at all levels of expertise. The classes currently scheduled for this meeting are the following:

1. On the Path with PAF, by Ralph Hansen
2. PAF 5: Advanced Search, Custom Lists, Global Search and Replace, by Duane Dudley
3. Discussion: Genealogy Software for the MAC (cont'd), by John McKinney
4. Workshop: Organizing Your Family History System, by Beth Ann Wiseman & Renee Zamora
5. Q&A on Finding Grandma, the London FHC, and British Research, by Don & Diane Snow
6. Video of last month's main presentation: Exciting Family History Discoveries in the BYU Special Collections Library, by Roger Flick
7. Legacy, by Joel Graham
8. RootsMagic, by Sue Maxwell
9. Ancestral Quest, by Don Engstrom.
   

All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. Several of the officers, including Gerhard Ruf, President; Don Snow and Brian Cooper, VP's; Beth Ann Wiseman, PAFology Editor; Kay Baker and Gerry Eliason working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill, Lynne Shumway, and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD Library, will all be there. They will help with membership, answer questions, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter PAFology, and check out DVD's of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group's website http://uvpafug.org and the press releases are online at http://blog.uvpafug.org/. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106), VP1 Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu, or VP2 Brian Cooper at vp2@uvpafug.org.

FamilySearch Publishes its First Portuguese Collection Online

Millions of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro Civil Registration Records Now Digitally Searchable on the Web

SALT LAKE CITY—FamilySearch added the Brazil, Rio de Janeiro Civil Registration to its online collection—about 4.5 million new digital images. The free collection contains searchable digital images of the original birth, marriage, and death records from all of the municipalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro from 1889 to 2006. The new digital images can be searched for free at FamilySearch.org (click Search Records, and then click Record Search pilot).

The published records cover births up to 1930, marriages to 1950, and deaths up to 2006. There are an estimated 18 million names in the free online digital collection. FamilySearch continues to film civil registration records in Rio de Janeiro and will update the collection as applicable.

Prior to now, the Rio de Janeiro Civil Registration records were only available in archive offices in Brazil or on microfilm through one of FamilySearch’s family history centers worldwide. FamilySearch digitized the collection—over 2,500 microfilms, spanning 117 years of vital records—and published them online for free public access.

“Now instead of ordering some of the films and traveling to a local family history center to use it, researchers worldwide can search any of the 2,500 films digitally and freely online from the comfort of their home,” said Paul Nauta, FamilySearch public affairs manager. “Family history enthusiasts with Rio de Janeiro ancestors have just been handed a big-time free gift,” added Nauta.

FamilySearch’s online digital image viewer makes it easy to search the historical documents. Patrons can quickly navigate from a Rio de Janeiro municipality down to individual towns. Simply click on a town, and the images are typically divided up by birth, marriage, death, and a year range—making it very convenient to comb through the original records for that town during a specific period in search of a Brazilian ancestor from Rio de Janeiro. Digital images can also be printed or saved electronically.

“Civil registrations (Registros Civis) are the vital records made by the Brazilian government and are an excellent source of accurate information on names, dates, and vital events,” said Lynn Turner, FamilySearch collection manager records specialist for Latin America. “The new digital image collection online is extremely important for those doing genealogical research in Rio de Janeiro because they document critical events in a person’s life and cover such a large percentage of the population—and they are freely accessible to anyone with Internet access,” concluded Turner.

Civil records were kept for all the population, including the Catholics and the non-Catholics. There was a large infusion of non-Catholics in Brazil after the 1880s. The civil registration records are an important public record of this section of the population as well.

FamilySearch has the largest collection of Brazilian vital records outside of Brazil. Currently these records are available to the public on microfilm through FamilySearch’s 4,500 family history centers worldwide or affiliate public libraries. FamilySearch plans to continue expanding online access to its Brazil collections. Pernambuco and Paranã will be the next state civil registrations added to the collection.

Family History Church Service Missionary Opportunity

To: Family History Consultants in North America

As we prepare to release the new FamilySearch Web site to Church members in Utah and Idaho, we have a need for more Church Service missionaries to serve part-time in answering family history questions from the convenience of their own home.

FamilySearch Support missionaries assist with any of the following family history products and resources:

• The new FamilySearch
• Familysearch.org
• Internet Indexing and Name Extraction
• Record Search
• Family History Center Support
• Research Support and the Research Wiki
  

In addition, missionaries may help test new family history programs and provide important feedback. There is a real need for service missionaries who are fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, or Chinese.

Please invite individuals who have a strong family history background and some computer experience and who may be interested in this service mission opportunity to contact FamilySearch Support for more information.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,


FamilySearch Support

support@familysearch.org

1-866-406-1830

FamilySearch News: Volunteers Transcribe 250 Million Historical Records

Incredible Effort Speeds Up Access to Online Genealogical Information

SALT LAKE CITY—FamilySearch volunteers reached a monumental milestone this week, transcribing their 250 millionth historical record. The incredible online initiative started in January 2006 with a few thousand volunteers and has now grown to be the largest Web-based initiative of its kind with over 100,000 volunteers worldwide. The 250 millionth record was part of the current Nicaragua Civil Registration indexing project online at index.familyearch.org—one of 45 projects being indexed by online volunteers. It was extracted by three different online indexers from Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras.

FamilySearch manages the largest collection of genealogical collections in the world—2.5 million rolls of microfilm and millions of additional digital images from over 100 countries worldwide.

For decades, FamilySearch has allowed the public to use its collection for free through 4,500 family history centers throughout the world. In 2005, it began to improve access to its collection by converting microfilm to digital images that could be searched online. The next step was to create an online tool that volunteers around the world could use to look at the digital images and extract relevant data that could then be published online in searchable indexes linked to the digital images. FamilySearch Indexing is that tool.

“What makes the 250 million record milestone even more impressive is the fact that each record was actually indexed at least twice to ensure accuracy,” reported Paul Nauta, FamilySearch public affairs manager. “The result is an amazing searchable online index for people around the world,” Nauta added.

The unique quality control process means each document is transcribed by two different indexers. In the case of the 250 millionth record, the two indexers were from Nicaragua and Guatemala. Any discrepancies in their two transcriptions were then forwarded to a third volunteer—an arbitrator—who would have made any needed corrections between the two transcriptions. In this case, that arbitrator was from Honduras. “Three volunteers, three countries, one common goal—to provide access to the world’s genealogical records quicker and more economically,” said Nauta.

In 2006, FamilySearch volunteers indexed a total of 11 million records. “Today, thanks to the growth in our volunteer numbers, FamilySearch volunteers are now transcribing about a million names per day. At that rate, we expect to hit the 500 million milestone much quicker than the 250 million marker,” added Nauta.

Today, tens of thousands of volunteers, young and old, log on to indexing.familysearch.org 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from all over the world to help with the ongoing goal to transcribe the world’s genealogical records. Some donate a few minutes a month, others hours a day. Some do it as a sort of “pay it forward” activity because they have personally benefited in their family history research by using FamilySearch’s collections over the years. Others help because they like the idea that just a little bit of donated time can help preserve historic information and make it more available for public access.

Completed indexes are ultimately made available online for public access through FamilySearch.org or through one of FamilySearch’s family history centers.

FamilySearch, at any given time, has over 35 online indexing projects underway—many of them international projects. “Volunteers usually have a preference for one type of indexing project over another,” said Paul Starkey, FamilySearch Indexing project manager. “For example, if you have ancestors from Spain, you might be very motivated to help index the Spain Catholic Church records because it could facilitate your personal research once the completed indexes are published online.”

Anyone interested in volunteering or seeing what projects are being indexed can do so at www.indexing.familysearch.org.

Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing: Week 80

I'm watching American Idol while I do my FamilySearch Indexing tonight. I listen more to TV than I actually spend time watching it. I didn't work on indexing Sunday because I was busy cleaning up my laptop. I'm not really sure if fixing a computer problem is a good Sunday activity but that's what I was up to.

My desktop computer for a while now has been giving me issues with freezing up. It just kept getting worse and worse. It was more like it was pausing and thinking instead of doing anything. I noticed it happened more so when I was on the internet vs just running a program by itself. Then Mozilla Firefox started to crash on me and Mozy wouldn't back up anymore. I decided it was time to figure out what was wrong with it.

I tried various freeware anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. It was hard finding ones that wouldn't cause some type of issue. I liked Avira Antivirus but it didn't like PC Tools Spyware Doctor and I didn't want to loose Spyware Doctor. I had tested and compared it with other anti-spyware programs over time and discovered that it did a great job keeping my computer clean. If I ran Spyware Doctor and then ran Spybot Search and Destroy or Ad-ware these other programs wouldn't find anything that Spyware Doctor didn't. I also liked how Spyware Doctor would run at various time in the background and just tell me when I needed to delete things it found.

Then I found on Kim Komando's site a link to the free version of PC Tools Antivirus program. I downloaded it and now my anti-virus and anti-spyware programs were getting along. No more false positives messages showing up. While I was at it I download PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition since I had read how bad Windows XP edition was. Even though that was taken care of I still had issues with the computer freezing, pausing, Mozilla crashing. I dug around on the internet and spent two days, the week before last, trying to resolve the problem. I just didn't want to have to reformat my hard drive and install everything all over again.

I removed old programs or those I thought suspect, no difference. I ran CCleaner and Disk Defrag, no difference. I went to PCPitStop and ran various tests on my computer. I had a lot of issues. I worked through them. Some issues were with my registry. I found RegSeeker a freeware program that helped clean all of that up. Still I had issues. I tested for the Conflicter virus - nothing. Then I found out that Java doesn't uninstall it's previous version when you download an update version. The various versions can fight with each other and cause computer issues like I had. I was shocked to see so many Java versions on my computer. I removed all of them and reinstalled the latest. Nope that didn't help either

This past weekend I was already to nuke the hard drive and start all over. Then I had this one though, why not remove Mozilla Firefox since it's the only program that crashes? I could then clean up things again and reinstall it. It was my last hope. I removed Mozilla and started over again. I only downloaded the Add-ons that I really, really used and knew they worked with verison 3. I hadn't check those since I upgraded from version 2.

What do you know but that solved my problem. I am back in the business of computing. For all the time I spent trying to avoid nuking the hard drive I could have nuked it and reinstalled everything again in the same amount of time. Oh well, I learned a lot. My husband told me the laptop was sorta doing the same thing, so Saturday and part of Sunday I worked on cleaning it up too. Now both computers are running just fine.

Computers can be a wonderful tool at times or a major pain in the butt. Now that I have a fresh clean computer I can once again get into the business of indexing. First I have to check for messages from Headquarters. Yup, we have one.

From: Headquarters
Subject:Project Instruction and Field Helps
Date: 16 Apr 2009

A Quick Reminder

Because projects may vary widely in appearance and in how they are to be indexed, please remember to do the following:

Read the project instructions for each new project before beginning to index.

• To go to the project instructions for the indexing screen, click the Project Information tab on the right side of the screen just below the image. Then click the Indexing Project Homepage link.

As you index, refer to the field helps found in the bottom right portion of the indexing screen.

• The field helps give specific instructions for each field as you click on that field to index it. Click on the example links at the end of the field helps to see how that field is to be indexed.
  

We are always amazed at the amount of work you, our volunteers, put into indexing and accuracy you are able to achieve. Following the tips above should help make your indexing experience more enjoyable and even more accurate.

I am really anxious to see if the New York 1892 State Census project is still available. WAHOO!! It still is. I only download one batch to work on. I am still nursing my sore arm. The rotator cuff is doing great now after resting it. At least I can see one good thing out of working on my computer issues, it helped me rest my arm while I waited for tests, etc. to finish as I troubleshot things. My tennis elbow is still there but better. I am not going to over do so one batch of indexing is enough for now.

The batch was very easy going. Sometimes I had issues with letters but I could find similar letters in other names to figure out his writing style. It really doesn't take to long to do a batch, even though it has 160 names on it. You only type the first and last name, sex, age, country born, and citizenship - if I remember that right. It really goes fast. I have now indexed 11,670 names to date. Now it's time to go to bed.

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

FamilySearch News: Popular British Jewish Database Grows to 40,000 Records

SALT LAKE CITY—FamilySearch expanded its Knowles Collection—a free popular database of Jewish records hailing from the British Isles. The collection builds upon work commenced by the late Isobel Mordy—a well-known historian of the Jews of the British Isles.

Mordy was a retired mathematician and used a complex code to link Jewish United Kingdom families in her research. Her work yielded 8,000 names and has been very popular for Jewish family history researchers with British ancestry.

“The complexity of the code Mordy used to index her research is daunting even to the most experienced researcher,” said Todd Knowles, author and manager of the Knowles Collection and a British Reference consultant for the famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. It took Knowles a few years, but he ultimately managed to transcribe the records from Mordy’s work into a more easily searchable genealogy database.

The great advantage of the Knowles Collection is that it links together electronically tens of thousands of individual Jews into family groups. Knowles has since expanded Mordy’s collection of 8,000 names to a collection of over 40,000.

“The records come from over 100 individual sources,” noted Knowles. “That saves the researcher a lot of time and travel.”

Some of the record sources were actively maintained until the mid 1980s, so many people living today will be able to find their relatives from recent memory in the collection. The newly added names come from many types of records—censuses; probate records; synagogue birth, marriage, and death records; biographies; and more.

Perhaps the most interesting records added recently include over 200 Jewish Welsh marriages from a community in the city of Cardiff, original synagogue records, and patron-submitted records. Some of the families tie into the work of Malcolm Stern’s The First American Jewish Families, which includes families who had English ancestry.

The collection can be accessed at FamilySearch.org on the Jewish Family History Resources page. It is available to download for free as either a GEDCOM or PAF file. Individuals can add their own records to the collection by contacting the collection’s author, Todd Knowles, directly at knowleswt@familysearch.org.

FamilySearch manages the largest collection of genealogical records worldwide. A significant portion of its collections come from the United Kingdom.

Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing: Week 79

Happy Resurrection day!

I was up to greet this lovely morning and enjoy this special sabbath day. The family has been gathered round and we have had a yummy Easter feast. Now it's time relax and focus on getting FamilySearch Indexing done.

My arm, that has been bothering me for the past three months, finally got painful and annoying enough for me to visit the doctor this past week. The pain was not just in the elbow but now going up into my shoulder. I had been doing "self inspired" therapy on my arm. Flexing, bending, stretching it. I figured if it hurt it was helping to work things out. Well after visiting the doctor I discovered that not only did I have tennis elbow but I had also managed to work myself right into a possible torn rotator cuff. This was not good news.

I received literature on what was safe to do for "home" therapy, boy was it way different than what I had come up with. I was also at the point I could hardly move my arm. After several days of resting the arm I am happy to report I am doing better. Now I just need to keep up the resting part. The doctor asked me "How realistic is it for you to not use the computer?" I reported that it was "Not Possible, it's my life!" So reduction in computer time is what I need right now.

I am going to do my FamilySearch Indexing but only one batch. If I am lucky enough that will be the New York State Census if it's still available. For now lets see what messages headquarters might of given us.

This message is off the FamilySearch Indexing website:

April 9, 2009: Indexing Application Available in Seven Languages

The FamilySearch indexing application is available in three new languages: Italian, Portuguese, and Russian. These languages are in addition to English, French, German, and Spanish.

The application start page in Russian:

We have current indexing projects in six of these seven languages. Watch for our first Portuguese project in the coming months.

My Messages in the indexing application has one also.

From: Headquarters
Subject: Project Reminders
Date: 10 Apr 2009

We are so thankful for all of our indexers and arbitrators and the great work that you are able to accomplish by working together toward a common goal. Already this year, we have completed over 33 million names.

There are a few things to remember as you are indexing some specific projects:

• New York 1892 State Census. Most images in this project have four columns of names. Please be sure to check the entire image and index all of the names before submitting the batch.
• UK-Cheshire-Land Tax. Index each column from top to bottom before moving to the next column. Also, do not repeat the name of a proprietor for each of the occupiers listed, unless the name was actually written out multiple times on the document.
• Belgium-Antwerp Foreigners Index. When indexing a Type 1 form, remember to turn off the highlights and index all of the names on the document. Most Type 1 forms have four columns of names. Most Type 2 forms only have two columns of names.
  

Thank you again for your tremendous service. Keep up the great work!

When I was indexing from the New York State Census last week I noticed how easily it would be for someone to miss those extra pages if you didn't do a little investigating on the scroll bars. Now it's time to see if they still have any New York 1892 State Census batches available. WAHOO!! There is a batch for me.

I've decided that while I index this week that I will listen to my CD "Jesus of Nazareth" a talk given by Truman G. Madsen. I finally got around to ripping my CDs to my computer so I can easily listen to them. There are 10 CDs in the series so I have plenty to listen to. I just seem to concentrate on every word in the stories Truman Madsen tells, they are so good. Well it's time to tell if they will be to distracting while I index.

It seems like no time at all and I completed the batch with 160 names indexed. I had to go over the names twice while I was indexing. As I worked further down the line I got used to the way the census taker wrote different letters. It explained why I couldn't make sense of some of them earlier. The first letter of some names would look like a big "O", after a while I realized they were B's, D's, P's, and R's. Needless to say I was very engrossed with the batch and my CD so the time just flew by.

Speaking of flying I need to get to bed. My grand total for indexing to date is 11510. Slowly but steadily I am making progress. It's taken me 79 weeks to get here and I have long since development this into a habit. Even though my arm aches at least I know I accomplished something.

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

Utah Census Form

Utah Census Form

1. _____________________ (Given name)

2. _____________________ (SURNAME)

3. Descendant of:
A. Brigham Young _____
B. Heber C. Kimball _____
C. Laman and Lemuel _____
D. Cain _____

4. Tribe of Israel : _____________________

5. Number of occupants residing in home in each category: (Listed in chronological order)
A. Nursery _____
B. Junior Primary _____
C. Senior Primary _____
D. Young Women's _____
E. Young Men's _____
F. Relief Society _____
G. Elder _____
H. Dearly Departed _____
I. High Priest _____

6. Occupation [Please select all that apply.]:
A. Amway dealer _____
B. Shaklee dealer _____
C. Nonie juice dealer _____
D. NuSkin dealer _____
E. Melaleuca dealer _____

7. Automobile:
A. Station Wagon _____
B. Van _____
C. Suburban _____
D. School Bus _____
E. Double Decker _____

8. Favorite place to eat the night before Fast Sunday:
A. Chuck-A-Rama _____
B. Hometown Buffet _____
C. Sumo Sam's All You Can Eat Feeding Trough _____

9. Favorite Hero:
A. Nephi _____
B. Abinadi _____
C. Samuel the Lamanite_____
D. Steve Young _____
E. Johnny Lingo _____

10. Which of the following do you bring to church [check all that apply.]:
A. Scriptures _____
B. Franklin Planner/ Daytimer _____
C. Pen/Pencil _____
D. Lifesavers/ Cheerios _____
E. Tic Tacs _____
F. Game Boy _____
G. Big Gulp _____
H. Cooler _____
I. Sony Walkman _____
J. TV Watch _____
K. All of the above _____

11. Do you prepare your church lessons:
A. A month in advance _____
B. A week in advance _____
C. While in the bathtub _____
D. While on the toilet _____
E. During Sacrament Meeting _____
F. During the closing prayer of Sacrament Meeting
G. During the opening prayer of the class you're teaching _____
H. Just wing it [according to the promptings of the Spirit] _____

12. Do you think pews should be permanently equipped with Big Gulp holders?: yes___ no ___

13. How many years has your family sat in the same place for Sacrament Meeting:
A. 10-20 years _____
B. 20-30 years _____
C. 30-40 years _____
D. Over 3 generations _____

14. How much time does it take for you to fall asleep during a high council talk:
A. 1/100,000,000th of a second _____
B. 1/999,999,999th of a second _____
C. 1/999,999,998th of a second _____

15. Which day of the month do you go home/visiting teaching:
A. 31st ______
B. 31st ______
C. 31st ______
D. 31st ______

16. How many church basketball fights were you in last year:
A. 1-10 _____
B. 10-20 _____
C. 20-30 _____
D. You'll have to ask my lawyer _____

17. Which of the following has been your most effective Family Home Evening:
A. Arguing about getting along
B. Having an opening and closing prayer with dinner
C. Gathering around the television to watch, "Everybody Loves Raymond?"

18. How many times a year do you make:
A. Green Jell-O salad _____
B. Funeral potatoes _____
C. Cabbage and Top Ramen salad _____
D. Turkey , cashews and grape-stuffed croissants_____

19. How many water-filled two-liter bottles do you own:
A. 1-2 thousand _____
B. 2-3 thousand _____
C. 3-4 thousand _____
D. Enough to fill the Great Salt Lake _____

20. Which of the following do you feel is the most secure facility in the nation:
A. Alcatraz
B. Fort Knox
C. Ward Libraries

21. How many structural engineers do you hire annually to insure you'll win the pinewood derby: _________

22. Keeping the Word of Wisdom in mind, how much of the following do you consume:
A. Chocolate:___pounds daily X 365 days annually = ____
B. Cola: ____gallons daily X 365 days annually = ____

23. If you had to choose between witnessing the Second Coming or attending a BYU/UofU football game, which would you choose?
A. Second Coming _____
B. Football game _____


AMEN!

New FamilySearch Roll-out Hits Idaho & Utah

Yes, it's official the roll-out to Idaho and Utah is taking place. I received today the dates for the first temples in this area to go live.

Sister Zamora,

The Twin Falls Temple district will begin using new FamilySearch on April 14 and Monticello will begin using the new system on April 21. Rexburg, Manti, and Vernal have received notices that they are in the preparation stage. Official “go live” dates will not be given for these temples until they are two weeks out from the release of the system.

Thanks,

With this exciting news I have updated my "New FamilySearch Roll-out" spreadsheet. We have 129 Temple Districts, with 108 now live with NFS. Five temple districts have been announced to go live and 15 remain to receive notification. Four of those are in the Asia & Middle East Temple Districts and are reportably going to be the last to go online.

Instead of having the whole Wasatch Front go live with NFS at one time it has been decided to do a slow release, starting with the smaller temple districts. Rumor has it that larger temple districts, such as South Jordan, will be among the last to go live in that area. It has also been speculated that the release might take place in partial temple districts by stakes.

Either way its exciting to see NFS reach this leg of the journey. Now all we need to do is keep the release in our prayers that it will run smoothly. AND, Please, Please, Please, PLUS a word of CAUTION, individuals that just get access to NFS don't go uploading a GEDCOM to the system!! It was the IOUS (Individuals of Unusual Size) that brought the roll-out to a halt before and could very well do it again.

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

FamilySearch Indexing Update: New York State Census, Belgian, and Argentina Projects Added

There are many new, upcoming, and completed indexing projects to report in this update. There are 12 new projects (see Current Projects chart below). These include three Belgian and two Argentina projects. The New York 1892 State Census project will be of great interest to many people. FamilySearch could not do all of these great initiatives without the great time and effort contributed by so many terrific volunteers. Thank you for your continued support.

Current FamilySearch Indexing Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion

• Argentina, Buenos Aires 1855 Census Spanish (New)
• Argentina Censo 1869–Catamarca y La Rioja Spanish (New)
• Argentina Censo 1869–Corrientes y Entre Rios Spanish 44%
• Arkansas County Marriages V English 20%
• Australia NSW Newspaper Cuttings English 88%
• Belgium–Antwerp Foreigners Index Dutch, Flemish 27%
• Brandenburg Kirchenbücher German 49%
• España, Lugo–Registros Parroquiales [Part 1] Spanish 16%
• España, Ávila–Registros Parroquiales Spanish 78%
• France, Coutances, Paroisses de la Manche French 9%
• Germany, St Petersburg Church Records 1833-1885 German 1%
• Illinois, Cook County Birth Registers English (New)
• Italy, Trento Baptism Records, 1784-1924 Italian 60%
• Mexico Censo de 1930–Sinaloa Spanish (New)
• Mexico Censo de 1930–Sonora Spanish 88%
• Mexico Censo de 1930–Tabasco Spanish 70%
• Mexico Censo de 1930–Tamaulipas Spanish (New)
• Minnesota 1895 State Census English 74%
• Missouri–1920 US Federal Census English (New)
• Nevada–1920 US Federal Census English 89%
• New Mexico–1920 US Federal Census English 75%
• New York 1892 State Census English (New)
• Nicaragua, Managua Civil Records Spanish 13%
• Norway 1875 Census part 1 Norwegian 10%
• Perú, Lima–Registros Civiles Spanish 10%
• Rhode Island 1925 State Census English (New)
• UK, Cheshire–Land Tax English 58%
• UK, Cheshire–School Records English 44%
• Ukraine Kyiv 1840-1842 Russian 10%
• Venezuela Mérida Registros Parroquiales Spanish 1%

Current FamilySearch Partner Projects

• Arkansas Marriages IV English (New)
• Australia–Victoria Probate Records English 31%
• Belgique–Registres des Décès - Charleroi 1851-1900 Dutch, Flemish (New)
• Belgique–Registres Des Décès (Français) French 21%
• België–Overlijdens Registers–In het Nederlands Dutch, Flemish 74%
• België–Overlijdens Registers–Kalmthout 1851-1900 Dutch, Flemish (New)
• België–Overlijdens Registers–Mechelen 1851-1900 Dutch, Flemish (New)
• Bremer, Schifflisten German 42%
• Flanders Death Registration French, Dutch, Flemish 76%
• Indiana Marriages, 1882 to Apr 1905 English 82%
• Indiana Marriage Returns, 1882 to April 1905 English 31%
• Nova Scotia, Antigonish Church Records English 72%
• Ohio Tax Records–2 of 4 English 71%
• Vermont Militia Records English 37%

Upcoming Indexing Projects

Look for the following projects coming in the near future (Note: These projects are currently being created. Dates when indexing is scheduled to begin will vary.)

• Arkansas Marriages VI
• Arkansas Marriages VII
• Australia, Bounty Immigrants, 1824-1842
• Australia, Greenwich, Genealogical Records
• Austria, Vienna Population Cards
• Brazil, Pernambuco Civil Register 1900-1920
• Brazil, Rio de Janeiro Marriages 1900-10
• Canada, British Columbia Birth 1854-1903
• Canada, British Columbia Marriages
• Chicago Archdiocese Cemetery Records 1 (1864-1989)
• Czech, Litomerice Church Records - Part 1 1552-1905
• Freedmen Marriages
• Germany, Baden Church Books 1810-1869
• Germany, Mecklenburg 1890 Census
• Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates 1
• Indiana, Allen County Marriages 1811-1959
• Jamaica, Trelawny Births
• Peru, Lima Civil Register Index 1910-1930

Recently Completed Projects

(Note: Recently completed projects have been removed from the available online indexing batches and will now go through a final completion check process in preparation for future publication.)

• Argentina 1869 Census–Cordoba y San Luis
• Arkansas Marriages III
• Michigan–1920 US Federal Census
• Nayarit–Censo de Mexico de 1930
• New Brunswick 1871 Census
• New Hampshire–1920 US Federal Census
• New Jersey–1920 US Federal Census
• Nova Scotia–1871 Census
• Ontario–1861 Census
• Rhode Island 1915 State Census
• UK – Cheshire Parish Registers part 1

FamilySearch Record Search Update 7 April 200

FamilySearch added over 16 million new indexed records and almost 500,000 new digital images this week to its Record Search pilot (see chart below).

Seven new states were added to the 1920 U.S. Census index (Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts). Four counties (Clay Crittendon, Desha, and Monroe) of Arkansas marriages have also been published and includes the indexes and the images. The Arkansas records date from 1837 to 1957. Many thanks to our good friends at the Arkansas Genealogical Society and other FamilySearch Indexing volunteers who help make these priceless collections more readily available online.

See the chart below for more details. The new records can be searched for free at FamilySearch.org (Click Search Records, then Record Search pilot).

Collections:

1920 US Census
Indexed Images: 15,860,466
Comments: Updated —7 new indexed states (Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts)

Mexico, Chihuahua Church Records
Digital Images: 370,418
Comments: New

Arkansas Marriages
Indexed Records: 207,488
Digital Images: 116,337
Comments: New —4 counties (Clay, Crittendon, Desha, and Monroe). Result of joint initiative with the Arkansas Genealogical Society.

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 main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing: Week 78

Don't tell anyone but I think life just quieted down long enough for me to do some FamilySearch Indexing. It's been weeks since I've work on indexing. Every time I sit down to index one of my children, my spouse, neighbor, or friends needs or wants something from me. Life has just been so crazy. It doesn't help that I work 25 hrs a week, along with 4 hrs at the family history center and then trying to get in 20 hrs a month for paid genealogy research. Every day I come home from work and sleep 4 hours so I can be awake 4-5 hrs to do something before bed. I'm just running out of time. What I really need is to stop taking 4 hour naps. One hour would be great I just wish my body would understand what my brain thinks is best.

It appears that everything is out of control right now. I am way behind in answering emails. I have 763 blog articles waiting to be read in my Google Reader. Plus, I haven't even begun to look at my taxes. At least my checkbook is balanced and my paperwork is organized. I told myself after I do my indexing this week that I will work on my taxes. As for my 763 blog articles waiting to be read. Well, I'm just going to mark them all read and just start over fresh. Hope I don't miss something really important. I really love to read blog articles about organizing.

My paid genealogy research is probably only going to get about 10 hours in this month. My work will always be there so I can't do anything about that. But sleeping, well I am a slave to that. If I don't get all the sleep my poor fibromyalgia body needs then I get sick and can't achieve any of my goals. I can still wish though.

I did do one thing positive in saving time and anxiety. I got rid of my dog. I loved him but he was the smelliest dog I have ever met in my life. You would bath him and two days later he would smell again. It was so frustrating. My dog loved me and followed me everywhere. He reminded me of Pig-Pen on Peanuts. Instead of a dust cloud it was a green mist that followed him everywhere. I can't tell you how nice it is to smell spring instead of dog. My dog was also spastic and couldn't walk on four legs half the time. He would just wipe out and most of the time practically take me down with him. It's been amazing not having to trip over the dog all the time. Sad to say but no one in the household has missed him since we gave him away.

I know my ranting has nothing to do at all with indexing. It's just the fact that we are into spring now and my list always seems big at spring time. So much to organize and do after the sleepiness of winter. As you can tell, I'm still trying to figure out my schedule to fit everything into life.

I did just have a wonderful talk with my daughter on the phone. I gave her some family names to do temple work for and she had an amazing experience there. She and her friends did the names of sisters, she could feel their spirits there and feel their joy for their names to be called and work to be done. I was so happy that my daughter and her girlfriends could have a witness to why we do all this work finding deceased relatives and sealing families together for the eternities. It was also nice for me to know that yes someone up there really appreciates the hard work I do researching families and preparing their names for the temple. Sometimes I get so obsessed with the gathering that I don't take time to stop and smell the roses of eternities.

On March 27th I received the following email from a reader.

Renee,

Looks like the New York 1892 State Census is now being indexed by FamilySearch volunteers. Thought you might like to know!

Katie

I was excited when I heard word of a NY project and I am still hoping I might find it available to work on. First I need to check up on any news from Headquarters. Yup, we have one!

From: Headquarters
Subject: Learning the Language of Indexing
Date: 03 Apr 2009

Becoming an expert at indexing can sometimes feel like learning a new language. Below is a list of short definitions of some words and phrases that you may come across as you index.

• Image. The photograph that appears on your screen when you open a batch.
• Page. The left or right side (or both sides) of an open book found on the image.
• Document. The piece(s) of paper shown on an image in a batch.
• Record. Information regarding a principal person (the main person for whom a record was created) and the associated event.

Records can refer to:
-Each entry line on a census.
-Each event (birth, marriage, etc) listed on a document, card, page, or other form.

• Field. Sections of data entry area when specific pieces of information are entered for a principal person. For example, names are usually entered into Given Name and Surname fields.
  

Knowing the above definitions can help you distinguish between similar-looking phrases, such as:

• Reorganizing Fields. Changing the order of the fields in the data entry area of the indexing screen, while indexing or arbitrating.
• Reorganizing Records. In an arbitration batch, changing the order of records while using the Record Matching tab.
  

Now for the big moment. Is my New York project still available? WAHOO!!! The New York 1892 State Census is there. I am jumping for joy! The batches were very large. I did two of them about 150-160 names each. All together today I indexed 319 names. That makes my grand total to date 11,350. I am so glad that I was able to get my indexing in. What a sense of accomplishment! I really needed that today.

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

Mark Your Calendars - UVPAFUG Meeting!

UTAH VALLEY PAF USERS GROUP MEETING AND NEW LOCATION

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 11 Apr 2009 from 9 am until noon IN THE EDGEWOOD/RIVERSIDE LDS CHAPEL, 3511 North 180 East, Provo, Utah. The Group appreciates the Edgemont Stake for allowing us to meet in their new LDS chapel behind the Jamestown shopping plaza on the east side of University Avenue in the Provo "River Bottoms". You get to it by going east on 3700 North from University Avenue and then south on 180 East. There is a map showing the new and old locations on our website given below.

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Roger C. Flick on EXCITING FAMILY HISTORY FINDS IN THE BYU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS.

Roger was born and raised in East Los Angeles and went on a mission for the LDS Church to the West Central states. He graduated from BYU in Math and Education and then obtained a Master of Library and Information Science degree from there. He went to work at the BYU Library and had a major role in setting it up and doing much family history research. Roger is a popular presenter at national and local genealogy conferences and is a frequent speaker at BYU Education Weeks. He serves as a cataloger librarian and consultant for Computer Assisted Research Projects at BYU's Harold B. Lee Library. He is also an Accredited Genealogical Researcher in English research. He has also served as president of the local chapter of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers and teaches family history classes in the BYU Distance Learning program. His talk will discuss what is available and how to use it from the Harold B. Lee Library's Special Collections.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes taught concerning technology and family history. As usual, there will be something for everyone at all levels of expertise. The classes currently scheduled for this meeting are the following:

1. Using PAF Insight and Family Insight, by Duane Dudley
2. Panel Discussion: Organizing Your Paperwork by BethAnn Wiseman and Renee Zamora
3. Genealogical Software for the MAC, by John McKinney
4. Q&A: Exciting Family History Discoveries in the BYU Special Collections, by Roger Flick
5. Ancestral Quest 12.1, by Gaylon Findlay
6. Legacy Review and Handwriting in English Records, by Joel Graham
7. Roots Magic 4, by Bruce Buzbee.
   

All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. Several of the officers, including Gerhard Ruf, President; Brian Cooper, 2nd VP; Beth Ann Wiseman, PAFology Editor; Kay Baker and Gerry Eliason working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill, Lynne Shumway, and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD & Video Library, will all be there. They will help with membership, answer questions, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter PAFology, and check out DVD's and videos of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group's website http://uvpafug.org and the press releases are online at http://blog.uvpafug.org/. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106), VP1 Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu, or VP2 Brian Cooper at vp2@uvpafug.org.