Hello again, can you believe this is my third post since returning from RootsTech. We'll see how long I can keep this up. As I said in my previous post, I want to focus on some of the FamilySearch apps and how they can further the interest in family history research. Today I will be discussing Relative Finder.
Relative Finder is a fun app that uses the data in your FamilySearch FamilyTree to determine how you are related to various famous/historical people. The site is free to use and was developed as a project of the BYU Family History Technology Labs. The first time you go to RelativeFinder.org they ask you for your FamilySearch log-in. This is necessary for them to be able to upload your tree so the site can determine who you are related to. Once your FamilyTree has been uploaded the site will display a list of famous people you are related to, such as Presidents, Signers of the Constitution, LDS Leaders, Authors, Composers, European Royalty, etc. For some people this list is extremely long. You can select which category is displayed so it becomes more manageable. If you are curious you can see the connected tree to see who your common ancestors were. This is a fun way to start a conversation on family history, however, make sure you take the information with a grain of salt. It is based on the FamilyTree connections, and many of us have found incorrect families that need to be corrected.
One of my favorite parts of this site is the Groups. I have joined a couple Groups and have also created my own Group. The Group that I created was for my church ward. As I get members registered on FamilySearch I invite them to join the Relative Finder group that I created so they can see how they are related to other members of the Ward. Once they find out they are related to someone they are encouraged to invite others from the Ward to join and see how they are related and as the number of members increases so do the numbers of people they are related to. The use of this Group, along with other tools has resulted in a significant increase in the number of patrons in our Family History Center. These Groups are all password protected so only those you invite will have permission to see the information included in them.
For me, the 12 generations I have in FamilySearch have no link to any of the famous/historical people in the groups or any members of the other Groups that I am a member of. My wife, on the other hand, is related to 788 of the famous/historical people and about one third of the Ward group that I created. But I have discovered through my own research that I am related to at least one famous person. My great-grandfather's brother's wife's first cousin is the great-great grandmother of Paris Hilton. Isn't that how the six degrees of separation thing works?
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Saturday, February 13, 2016
FamilySearch Apps - MooseRoots
Greetings from sunny Florida. It is almost 70 degrees today. It was a wonderful day to get outside and visit the farmer's market, beach, auto show, dinosaur exhibit and just have an enjoyable day. After all that running around I decided to take a break and add my next post to my blog. One of the things I told myself was that I would focus more on the blog posts this year and I will start by focusing on the various apps that can be found on FamilySearch. If you are a registered member of FamilySearch and haven't yet visited the FamilySearch apps page, you are really missing out on some great tools. The apps cover a variety of topics and platforms including Windows, Android, iOS, web based, etc. So there will be something there for you to try out.
Today I want to highlight MooseRoots, one of the web based applications. MooseRoots was also one of the sponsors of RootsTech this year and I had a chance to talk to their representatives while I was at the conference. This site helps you explore the time and area of your ancestors' lives. It provides graphics which allow you to visualize the historic demographic and population trends of a region, provides information on the origins and meaning of names, displays economic data, and suggests record matches to give you insight into their lives.
When you visit the MooseRoots site you will see a search bar that allows you to search the 1940 US census, other US census records, death records, marriages & divorces, birth records, and cemetery records. This site does not access your FamilySearch FamilyTree account so you will have to type in your ancestor's name and birth year for the search.
For my test, I searched for my grandfather, Raymond Anthony Meyer, born 1909, in Auglaize County, Ohio, in the 1940 census. Once I found his name, (it wasn't at the top of the search results) I went to the page that MooseRoots created for him and received the following information: "Raymond Meyer lived in Auglaize County, Ohio at 59 Fourth in 1940, which is also where he lived in 1935. He was the head of the household, 30 years old, and identified as white. Raymond was born in Ohio around 1910. In 1940, Raymond was married to Velmie Meyer." All of this was correct, except his wife was Velma, not Velmie, but I guess I can forgive the transcriber for that small mistake. This part of the page also has an area to add or edit photos and to leave a story if you want to provide more details to this record. Below that section there is a more detailed transcription of the information from the 1940 census as well as the other names listed on the same page and others on the same street. This information can help provide links to neighbors or other family members in the same area. One thing I found in the list was a household at 218 Fourth with Elizabeth Meyer, age 71, daughter Leona Meyer, age 46, sons Alfred Meyer, age 42, and Leroy Meyer, age 26, and grandson Lawrence Steinemann, age 21. I don't know who this family is but they were living on the same street as my grandfather so this provides me a new set of people to research and figure out if they connect to my family. The research never ends.
The personal page for Raymond also provides possible record matches for the other search functions. However, after looking through the possible matches, none were for my grandfather. Below the possible matches there is a timeline. This timeline provides some of the events that occurred during Ray's life. It starts out with the year 1910, which is his approximate birth year based on the 1940 census. So what notable events occurred?
It was interesting to see what was included and what was excluded from the timeline. I was surprised that World War I and the Great Depression were not included but the establishment of the FTC was included. I am really not sure how events were selected for this timeline, but I think there could have been a better selection of events that had more of an impact on a person's life.
According to the information provided on the site, Raymond is derived from an Old French name, Raimund, of Germanic origin, from ragin meaning advice or decision and mund meaning protector. This name was adopted by the Normans and introduced by them to Britain. Subsequently it dropped out of use but was revived in the middle 19th century, together with several other given names of Old English and Norman origin. I also learned that Raymond was most popular in the 1920s when it ranked number 15 among male baby names and it has declined in popularity since then.
Today I want to highlight MooseRoots, one of the web based applications. MooseRoots was also one of the sponsors of RootsTech this year and I had a chance to talk to their representatives while I was at the conference. This site helps you explore the time and area of your ancestors' lives. It provides graphics which allow you to visualize the historic demographic and population trends of a region, provides information on the origins and meaning of names, displays economic data, and suggests record matches to give you insight into their lives.
When you visit the MooseRoots site you will see a search bar that allows you to search the 1940 US census, other US census records, death records, marriages & divorces, birth records, and cemetery records. This site does not access your FamilySearch FamilyTree account so you will have to type in your ancestor's name and birth year for the search.
For my test, I searched for my grandfather, Raymond Anthony Meyer, born 1909, in Auglaize County, Ohio, in the 1940 census. Once I found his name, (it wasn't at the top of the search results) I went to the page that MooseRoots created for him and received the following information: "Raymond Meyer lived in Auglaize County, Ohio at 59 Fourth in 1940, which is also where he lived in 1935. He was the head of the household, 30 years old, and identified as white. Raymond was born in Ohio around 1910. In 1940, Raymond was married to Velmie Meyer." All of this was correct, except his wife was Velma, not Velmie, but I guess I can forgive the transcriber for that small mistake. This part of the page also has an area to add or edit photos and to leave a story if you want to provide more details to this record. Below that section there is a more detailed transcription of the information from the 1940 census as well as the other names listed on the same page and others on the same street. This information can help provide links to neighbors or other family members in the same area. One thing I found in the list was a household at 218 Fourth with Elizabeth Meyer, age 71, daughter Leona Meyer, age 46, sons Alfred Meyer, age 42, and Leroy Meyer, age 26, and grandson Lawrence Steinemann, age 21. I don't know who this family is but they were living on the same street as my grandfather so this provides me a new set of people to research and figure out if they connect to my family. The research never ends.
The personal page for Raymond also provides possible record matches for the other search functions. However, after looking through the possible matches, none were for my grandfather. Below the possible matches there is a timeline. This timeline provides some of the events that occurred during Ray's life. It starts out with the year 1910, which is his approximate birth year based on the 1940 census. So what notable events occurred?
- 1910: The weekend becomes popular in the US.
- 1914: The Federal Trade Commission is established.
- 1919: The US rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
- 1923: President Warren G Harding died of a heart attack at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
- 1927: The CBS radio broadcasting company was founded.
- 1928: Ray's 18th birthday.
- 1940: Ray's 30th birthday.
- 1940: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, reinstating the US Military draft, was signed into law.
It was interesting to see what was included and what was excluded from the timeline. I was surprised that World War I and the Great Depression were not included but the establishment of the FTC was included. I am really not sure how events were selected for this timeline, but I think there could have been a better selection of events that had more of an impact on a person's life.
According to the information provided on the site, Raymond is derived from an Old French name, Raimund, of Germanic origin, from ragin meaning advice or decision and mund meaning protector. This name was adopted by the Normans and introduced by them to Britain. Subsequently it dropped out of use but was revived in the middle 19th century, together with several other given names of Old English and Norman origin. I also learned that Raymond was most popular in the 1920s when it ranked number 15 among male baby names and it has declined in popularity since then.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Welcome Back! A Return From RootsTech 2016
Hello everyone, I bet you thought I was gone. It has been awhile since my last post on this blog, almost four and a half years. If you were following me you know that I started another blog focusing on family history biographies (ourancestories.blogspot.com), was more active in several discussion boards trying to help people with their research, and I switched jobs. The new job took up a lot of my time and still does, but I have decided to focus more time on my writing on both blogs. What made me decide to get back to writing? Well, part of it was due to RootsTech 2016. I finally made the commitment to attend RootsTech and it was a great experience. While I was there I talked to several other Geneabloggers and many other researchers. I realized that people had actually been reading my posts and they were appreciative of the help that I had given them over the years. Also, the diverse vendors and speaker topics that were at RootsTech will provide me with a wealth of information to write about, so please check back occasionally to see what new information I have come up with.
For my return to blogging, I decided to write a bit about my experience at RootsTech and hopefully encourage researchers to take part in conferences, whether they be local, state, national, or international. They are a great opportunity where you can make the contacts and learn new ideas to enhance your research.
RootsTech was February 3 thru 6 this year, mid-winter in Salt Lake and cold enough for a Florida boy to need to buy a new jacket (the warmest clothes we have down in the Sunshine State). According to the registrations there were over 26,000 people registered from all 50 states and 31 countries, and 360 exhibitors. The opening events included a variety of speakers. One of my favorite speakers was Paula Madison who spoke on her research which led to her producing a documentary film titled Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China. This was the story of a broken family from Jamaica and her journey to discover her Chinese roots in and African family. Stan Ellsworth, from BYUtv's American Ride, also provided a great talk. Many of the speakers had heart touching stories about their families and what they had learned during their voyage of discovery of their family stories.
We learned that the demographic of genealogy is changing. There were over 7,000 conference attendees under the age of 18. FamilySearch has seen a 482% increase in use by teenagers. Facebook, Instagram, and Chatbooks are quickly becoming the focal points of genealogy for many.
An overarching topic of discussion during the conference was storytelling. Many of the exhibitors were demonstrating products to assist in writing journals, producing memory books and photo albums, archiving your old film media, and providing creative ways to present these in digital format for the next generations to appreciate. Story Corps was also there with their StoryBooth, recording family interviews and stories. Storytelling is a passion of mine and many of those involved in family history. In the old days, stories were passed through the generations to teach lessons and provide a feeling of place and time for your ancestors. However, over the last century we have lost much of the storytelling. It has been said that memories can be lost within three generations. It is our duty as the historians to keep those stories alive. There is an old Russian proverb that says "You live as long as you are remembered." I also like Dr. Suess' message from The Lorax - "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." I take that to heart, both in my writing and in my view of the world around us. I do care a whole awful lot and I hope that the work I do expresses that and provides the incentive for others to care and preserve their memories and our world for those who come after us.
One thing about storytelling is that it is a passion. In order to tell a big story, you need to start with the small story. You don't need all of the details. Stories can start from pulling on the small strings of knowledge and seeing where it leads you. When I write, I do it as a stream of thought with no idea how it will end. I just let the ideas flow. You can probably tell that by my ramblings. Families that tell family stories have been shown to have better emotional well being and are happier. Is that because they have a better sense of place, that stories bring people together, that they see themselves as part of a larger whole? I don't know for sure but I think belonging is an important part of it. One of the speakers said the following, "Everybody dies, but not everybody lives. Find a way through your stories to allow them to live forever." I find that a very deep thought and an inspiration to my work.
Many of the larger companies, such as FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast announced new initiatives to bring more records to researchers. FamilySearch stated that 2.5 million names are added to FamilyTree and 8 million records are attached to individuals each month. There are currently 1.1 billion names in the FamilyTree. Considering that there are currently over 7 billion people alive today and there have been an estimated 108 billion people who ever lived we still have a ways to go. Also, FamilySearch currently has a total of 615 million source documents online for us to research and there are 318 teams working around the world to bring new records online. For me, one of the greatest announcements was that Ancestry will be adding 100 million new German records to their collection in the next year. This includes 14 million civil registry records from 1,300 city archives. They will also be working closely with FamilySearch to provide over 19 million German church records spanning the time from 1500-1985. FindMyPast announced that they will be working to provide a comprehensive US marriage collection, covering 2,800 US counties with 100 million records. Currently they have 33 million marriage records available to search for free until February 14, Valentine's Day.
The variety of speakers at this conference allowed everyone, no matter their skill level, to choose their interests. Most of the time I was attending talks by the major companies to see what they are planning to role out over the next year. I also attended several talks on German genealogy records and a couple on research techniques. I learned quite a bit from these talks. Now, let me vent a little here - people, you are not the only one attending these talks. There were several occurrences where people answered their phones during the presentations, or worse yet, they just ignored the ringing phone while the speaker was talking. One person sitting next to me let her phone ring several times during the presentation and never attempted to turn it off. Also, it is ok to take a picture of a slide as a note but there were people who video recorded entire talks or took photos of every single slide in a presentation. Not only is that impolite, it is an infringement of copyright. We should be respectful of the work these people put into their presentations.
Will I return to RootsTech next year? I can only hope that I am able. This was a great event, not everything was perfect, but there is so much there that even the experienced researcher can learn something. I hope you enjoyed my return to blogging and please return to see what I will talk about next.
For my return to blogging, I decided to write a bit about my experience at RootsTech and hopefully encourage researchers to take part in conferences, whether they be local, state, national, or international. They are a great opportunity where you can make the contacts and learn new ideas to enhance your research.
RootsTech was February 3 thru 6 this year, mid-winter in Salt Lake and cold enough for a Florida boy to need to buy a new jacket (the warmest clothes we have down in the Sunshine State). According to the registrations there were over 26,000 people registered from all 50 states and 31 countries, and 360 exhibitors. The opening events included a variety of speakers. One of my favorite speakers was Paula Madison who spoke on her research which led to her producing a documentary film titled Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China. This was the story of a broken family from Jamaica and her journey to discover her Chinese roots in and African family. Stan Ellsworth, from BYUtv's American Ride, also provided a great talk. Many of the speakers had heart touching stories about their families and what they had learned during their voyage of discovery of their family stories.We learned that the demographic of genealogy is changing. There were over 7,000 conference attendees under the age of 18. FamilySearch has seen a 482% increase in use by teenagers. Facebook, Instagram, and Chatbooks are quickly becoming the focal points of genealogy for many.
One thing about storytelling is that it is a passion. In order to tell a big story, you need to start with the small story. You don't need all of the details. Stories can start from pulling on the small strings of knowledge and seeing where it leads you. When I write, I do it as a stream of thought with no idea how it will end. I just let the ideas flow. You can probably tell that by my ramblings. Families that tell family stories have been shown to have better emotional well being and are happier. Is that because they have a better sense of place, that stories bring people together, that they see themselves as part of a larger whole? I don't know for sure but I think belonging is an important part of it. One of the speakers said the following, "Everybody dies, but not everybody lives. Find a way through your stories to allow them to live forever." I find that a very deep thought and an inspiration to my work.
The variety of speakers at this conference allowed everyone, no matter their skill level, to choose their interests. Most of the time I was attending talks by the major companies to see what they are planning to role out over the next year. I also attended several talks on German genealogy records and a couple on research techniques. I learned quite a bit from these talks. Now, let me vent a little here - people, you are not the only one attending these talks. There were several occurrences where people answered their phones during the presentations, or worse yet, they just ignored the ringing phone while the speaker was talking. One person sitting next to me let her phone ring several times during the presentation and never attempted to turn it off. Also, it is ok to take a picture of a slide as a note but there were people who video recorded entire talks or took photos of every single slide in a presentation. Not only is that impolite, it is an infringement of copyright. We should be respectful of the work these people put into their presentations.
Will I return to RootsTech next year? I can only hope that I am able. This was a great event, not everything was perfect, but there is so much there that even the experienced researcher can learn something. I hope you enjoyed my return to blogging and please return to see what I will talk about next.
Monday, November 21, 2011
MyHeritage.com buys FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com
So, by now the news has probably reached everyone that MyHeritage.com has acquired FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com. This is a major announcement from some major players in the online genealogy world. I was first introduced to MyHeritage.com some years back when they purchased GenCircles.com. I have been using MyHeritage.com as well as WorldVitalRecords.com for many years now and have found both to be valuable research tools. Each of these sites have their own purpose. MyHeritage is a social network with a great collaborative tree, photo recognition and smart matching capability. WorldVitalRecords has a large collection of records, including newspapers, yearbook collections, links to Google Books, FindAGrave and many others from the FamilyLink collection. Another thing that I have liked about MyHeritage is the international membership. There are over 60 million users from around the world and the site is published in 38 languages. I have been able to link up with people in Germany, England, Australia and other places through common individuals in our family trees. MyHeritage has offices in Europe, Israel, Australia, and now after this purchase, Utah in the US.
So what does this mean in the realm of online genealogy research? That is a good question. I hope this means that they will allow linking of records to their family trees, much like Ancestry.com currently does. I also hope that this will open up the international records to many more people so we can further our research overseas. Only time will tell, but I do see great things from this merger.
If you would like more information on this story, check out the following weblink:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/21/social-network-for-families-myheritage-furthers-u-s-presence-with-acquisition-of-familylink/
So what does this mean in the realm of online genealogy research? That is a good question. I hope this means that they will allow linking of records to their family trees, much like Ancestry.com currently does. I also hope that this will open up the international records to many more people so we can further our research overseas. Only time will tell, but I do see great things from this merger.
If you would like more information on this story, check out the following weblink:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/21/social-network-for-families-myheritage-furthers-u-s-presence-with-acquisition-of-familylink/
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Mapping Your Ancestors
I hope everyone is doing well as we get closer to the major holiday season. I have been playing with a few websites and recently discovered a few new ways to use Google Earth and Google
Maps to enhance my understanding of my ancestors. These are wonderful tools that can help you find where your ancestors lived and see what those areas look like today.The first site is probably one that you have used before. It is the Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records site which can be found at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/default.aspx. There are two main parts of the website which I find very useful. The first is the Land Patent search site. A search on this site might result in finding a digital copy of the original land patent your ancestor was granted. This document provides the Section, Township and Range, as well as the specific parcel of land that was purchased. The second area of the website provides the Plat Image which consists of the original survey maps for the land. These old surveys can provide you an idea of the landmarks which were present at the time the land was originally surveyed.
The combination of these two documents provides you with some pretty interesting information. However, there is another site which lets you map these old parcels on a current map in Google Earth. Google Earth is a satellite mapping program which can be downloaded at http://www.google.com/earth/index.html. Google Earth is a wonderful tool which allows you to look at current, as well as historic, aerial imagery. So, how do you take the information from the land patent and find the location on Google Earth? Well, that takes another website called Earth Point. This site does have a subscription service, however the information I will provide allows you to map locations for free. Earth Point can be found on the web at http://www.earthpoint.us/TownshipsSearchByDescription.aspx.
Once there, you can enter the data from the land patent, such as state, township, range and section in the blanks on the Earth Point website. Make sure you have Google Earth running before you click the "Fly To On Google Earth" button. When you click the button Google Earth will pop up and you will see a pink box showing the section where the parcel was located. You can then figure out what part of the section was granted to your ancestor.
Pretty cool, right? So, maybe now you want to see what that early property might have looked like. Or maybe you have old photos of the house and you would like to post those to a mapping website, like Google Maps, so others can see what the area looked like back in history. There is a fairly new website called What Was There located at http://www.whatwasthere.com/. This site lets you upload your old photos and incorporate them into Google Maps and the Street View. Once you upload the photo to this site you can search the Street View for the proper location and angle to superimpose your photo on the existing property. You can fade in and out to see how well the two pictures match. One thing I would like to see added to this site is the ability to warp the pictures so they fit the current scene a little better. Other than that, this site is a wonderful tool to get a glimpse into the past.
Mapping adds another dimension to your research and brings it to life. Try these new websites and let me know what you think.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Updates for FamilySearch and LDS.org Websites
Yeah, I know, you all must be asking "What has he been up to now and why does he take such long breaks between blogs?" I have been busy again, or still, and I only seem to be able to write when I get that urge to tell you about something that I find very interesting. I'll let the other bloggers keep you up to date on all the other stuff.
So, here is what I find interesting lately - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is continuing to update and add to their genealogy related websites. First, let's discuss what is happening at FamilySearch.org. I am sure many of you have been using the free records search that is up on the site. I just read that they now have 2.34 billion indexed names and an additional 312 million records imaged but not yet indexed (browse only) on the site from all over the world. Even though this seems like a lot of records, there are still many more records that have not yet been indexed or digitized. If you would like to help add more records to this collection you can volunteer at https://www.familysearch.org/volunteer/indexing. If the records you are looking for are not yet online you can now order them online and have the microfilm delivered to your local Family History Center (FHC). It is extremely easy to place these orders. First go to http://www.familysearch.org and look above the search area under the heading Discover Your Family History. Then click on Catalog to begin searching for the record that you need. Alternatively you can skip the first step and go directly to https://www.familysearch.org/#form=catalog to begin your search. Make sure you check the record to see if it is already in digital format or if it is already in your local FHC collection before ordering. Once you find the film number go to https://www.familysearch.org/films/ to begin ordering the film. Payment options include credit card or PayPal. Then you just have to wait for it to be delivered to the FHC.
That is just one of the new things on FamilySearch.org. Another is the linking of some (not all) indexed records to the new.familysearch.org trees. This is applicable for some records that were used for extractions. The general public won't see this on their search pages but for those member of the LDS church, look to the right of the indexed record for a PID number. When you click on the PID# you will be taken right to the record on nFS. Is this a sign of things to come? I don't know for sure but imagine what will happen if we are able to tie the indexed record directly to a record in nFS. I was previously testing a project from BYU where we were linking people mentioned in journals to the people in nFS. Just wait until we can do that with every record currently on microfilm.
The FamilySearch Wiki (https://wiki.familysearch.org) has now been integrated into the FamilySearch format. The wiki is there to help you learn where to search for various records and to give advice. It is being added to daily so even if you don't find what you are looking for today, check back often for updates. One of the updates I just ran across was the posting for FamilySearch Research Help Communities. These communities are located on Facebook, Skype and FamilySearch Forums. The Skype Groups let you chat with others researching the same areas (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Join_a_Skype_Research_Community). There are many groups already formed, including Mexico, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Wales, and Thailand, as well as many states in the US. Those same basic groups are also on Facebook (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Join_a_Facebook_Research_Community). Figure out which community is best for you an try it out.
There is also a new page at LDS.org directed towards getting the youth involved in family history research. You can find the site at https://lds.org/youth/family-history. This site has a couple introductory videos related to using new.familysearch.org and FamilySearch.org. These videos are include information on why members of the LDS church do family history and some of the programs that are available for members of the church. However, anyone who is interested in learning how to use the sites will find some information and may be inspired to continue their research.
That is just one of the new things on FamilySearch.org. Another is the linking of some (not all) indexed records to the new.familysearch.org trees. This is applicable for some records that were used for extractions. The general public won't see this on their search pages but for those member of the LDS church, look to the right of the indexed record for a PID number. When you click on the PID# you will be taken right to the record on nFS. Is this a sign of things to come? I don't know for sure but imagine what will happen if we are able to tie the indexed record directly to a record in nFS. I was previously testing a project from BYU where we were linking people mentioned in journals to the people in nFS. Just wait until we can do that with every record currently on microfilm.
The FamilySearch Wiki (https://wiki.familysearch.org) has now been integrated into the FamilySearch format. The wiki is there to help you learn where to search for various records and to give advice. It is being added to daily so even if you don't find what you are looking for today, check back often for updates. One of the updates I just ran across was the posting for FamilySearch Research Help Communities. These communities are located on Facebook, Skype and FamilySearch Forums. The Skype Groups let you chat with others researching the same areas (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Join_a_Skype_Research_Community). There are many groups already formed, including Mexico, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Wales, and Thailand, as well as many states in the US. Those same basic groups are also on Facebook (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Join_a_Facebook_Research_Community). Figure out which community is best for you an try it out.Friday, July 8, 2011
BillionGraves.com Follow-Up
Hi everyone, hope you all had a great July 4th weekend. I just wanted to post a quick follow-up to my May 26th posting for BillionGraves.com.
Does this mean I won't be using FindAGrave.com any more? Of course not. But I didn't have the photos since they were all deleted from the phone. So what did I do? I was able to open BillionGraves and FindAGrave in two windows and save the photos from BillionGraves to my computer and then upload them to FindAGrave in just a couple mouse clicks.
BillionGraves was originally released as an iPhone app. However they have recently released an app for the Android phones. You can find it in the Marketplace under Billion Graves Camera (Android app or iPhone app). I downloaded the Android app the day it was released and took it out for a short test drive. The app lets you take GPS marked pictures and upload them to the BillionGraves website. I will have to say that I am using an LG Ally phone. My experience may not be representative of all GPS enabled phones.
The app was very easy to use. In order to get the best photographs of the gravesites you need to make sure that there are no debris on the graves and that you are not causing a shadow. You also need to make sure your phone's GPS is turned on and working properly. A couple times as I was preparing to take a photo, the phone warned me that the GPS signal was weak. This usually happened while I was standing under a tree. I found this problem easy to resolve by moving the phone a little bit to improve the signal.
I especially like the ability to upload the images right after the pictures are taken. The app gives you the capability to auto upload and auto delete the images so they don't take up critical memory. I found that by the time I got home all the photos were on the website and ready for me to transcribe.
Does this mean I won't be using FindAGrave.com any more? Of course not. But I didn't have the photos since they were all deleted from the phone. So what did I do? I was able to open BillionGraves and FindAGrave in two windows and save the photos from BillionGraves to my computer and then upload them to FindAGrave in just a couple mouse clicks.
I think this app will revolutionize peoples' ability to index cemeteries. We are already planning on having a bunch of Boy Scouts index a nearby cemetery with their smart phones and tablets as an Eagle project.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and maybe you can test the app on your own.
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