Saturday, February 25, 2012

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - FamilySearch Indexing

It's SATURDAY NIGHT again - are you ready for some major GENEALOGY FUN tonight (or whenever you get around to it...)?


Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and I really think that you should do this), is to:


1)  If you are not one already, become a FamilySearch Indexing volunteer so that you can work on the 1940 U.S. Census when it comes out after 2 April 2012.  Go to https://www.familysearch.org/volunteer/indexing and  sign up to index.  If this is new for you, take the Test Drive, download the software, and do some tonight!  


2)  Once you have the software on your computer, then do some indexing.  If you are new to indexing, then download a batch and work on it, learning the process along the way.


3)  If you are an experienced indexer, then do a batch or two for SNGF.


4)  Tell us what record collection you indexed, and how many records you did tonight.


5)  Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Google Plus stream post or Facebook status line.


Here's mine:


I have not done FamilySearch Indexing before.  I used my FamilySearch ID and signed into the system, and downloaded the software.  I was able to specify the group that I want my credits to go to (I chose my Chula Vista Genealogical Society).  I watched the five-minute instructional video.  Then I worked for awhile on the "test batch" of War of 1812 Pension cards, which included only the last and first names of persons.  That was almost too easy, but it got me used to the process.


I then was able to choose a "real" database to index, and I chose the 1871 England and Wales census.  I did one page of this census - 26 entries.  The persons were all inmates in a home of some sort in Kent.  It took about 30 minutes to perform this.  The only problem I had was that it wanted me to add data to the 26th line when when there were only 25 names on the page.  Here is an image of my indexing accomplishments for the




That was so much FUN that I'm going to try to do a batch or two every night.


One of my very best and long-lasting memories of the geneablogger visit to FamilySearch in October 2010 is sitting next to David Rencher for eight hours of presentations.  He indexed the whole time we were there, never missing a beat with his keyboard or missing a word or image of the presentations being given by his colleagues.  It was an impressive display of multi-tasking.  I wish I could do that!


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/saturday-night-genealogy-fun.html


Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

5 comments:

Debi Austen said...

I've been working on the Texas Deaths (1890-1976) - it's amazing how many of the deaths were children under 5 years old. It sure is a reminder of how our medical care has improved.

Elizabeth Handler said...

I signed up about ten days ago and tonight, I chose England and Wales 1871 Census and indexed 24 names.

The trick is to remember to look in the box in the lower right hand corner for instructions. After you do a few batches, you can check your arbitration results, which you obviously want as high as possible. Checking those really helps you know where you're making errors in order to improve in the future.

Can't wait to do the 1940 US Census!

Jasia said...

I would really like to participate in the 1940 Census indexing project but I'm not committing to it just yet. I know it will be a lot of fun to do and would distract me hugely from doing that other April pasttime of mine... the income tax return, lol! So I'm using the indexing project to motivate myself to get my taxes done early. If I have them done and filed by April 1st, I'll join in on the indexing. So if you hear of me indexing on April 2nd you'll know my taxes are done, lol!

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

I have indexed off and on the past year. It's a great thing to do while watching sitcoms. Today I indexed World War I Drafts in Missouri. That's where my husband's grandfather was living.

Emily Garber said...

Thanks, Randy, for giving me the push I needed. I tried indexing several years ago and found out they were not Mac compatible. So, I've devoted my indexing energies to ItalianGen. Got signed up with FamilySearch Indexing. I'm cruising at 100% in arbitration! But that was at the beginning level. Think next time I get in I'll raise the level of difficulty.