Monday, March 18, 2024

Genealogy Pot-Pourri - Week Ending 17 March 2024

  Here are the highlights of my family history and genealogy related activities over the past week.  

1)  Hosted and presented the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) Research Group Meeting on Wednesday.  I reported on RootsTech 2024, FamilySearch Labs, MyHeritage OldNews and other new features, Ancestry's new features,  the return of Mondays With Myrt, and my DeepStory efforts.

2)  Attended the San Diego Genealogical society British Isles Interest Group meeting on Saturday.  Colin Whitney presented "Exploring Irish Archives."

3)  Watched several more RootsTech 2024 videos and collected more syllabus articles for both online and in-person classes.  Watched the Gilad Japhet session on his artifact DNA testing, MyHeritage new features and coming new features.

4)  Participated in the "Mondays With Myrt" YouTube video conference, and spoke about the FamilySearch Full-Text Search results and the in-person syllabi for RootsTech 2023.

5)  Transcribed the 1802 will of my 5th great-grandfather Theodorus Friederich Houx (1725-1802) of Frederick county, Maryland for Amanuensis Monday theme.  The will does not name any children, and bequeathed everything to his wife.


6)  Wrote a genealogical sketch for my great-granduncle James Richmond (1849-1929) of Wiltshire and Connecticut for 52 Relatives theme.

7)  Did more searching for probate records in Massachusetts on the FamilySearch Full-Test Search feature after a reader question.  At this time, the probate records are very limited, especially in Barnstable County.  Why?  They haven't fed them into the transcription AI machine yet.  See Dear Randy: "Why Can't I Find Barnstable County, Massachusetts Probate Records on FamilySearch Full-Text Search?"

8)  Did more research on the Partridge and Wakeman families associated with the last wife (Mary Partridge (1792-1855) of my 4th great-grandfather Cornelius Feather (1777-1853).  Wrote Do I Have Any 5th Great-grandparents Partridge/Wakeman DNA Matches? after connecting Mary as the mother of Sarah Feather to see if I have AncestryDNA ThruLines to Partridge or Wakeman families.  Yes, I do - 15 of them.

9)  AncestryDNA now has 45,520 DNA matches (up 28 from 11 March) with 1937 "close" matches, for me today, with 15 new ThruLines (all on Partridge lines).  I added Notes to 15 new Matches.  MyHeritageDNA now has 12,354 DNA matches (up 45 from 11 March) for me, with no new Theories (I still have 19).  23andMe brought back the "Relatives In Common" feature and I reviwed some lines. Reviewed the new DNA matches on AncestryDNA, MyHeritageDNA, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe.  

10)  Occasionally matched RootsMagic 9 profiles to FamilySearch Family Tree.  I have matched 50,792 of my RootsMagic persons with FamilySearch Family Tree profiles (up 42).  

11) Used Web Hints and Record Matches from Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast and FamilySearch to add content and source citations to my RootsMagic profiles. I now have 72,398 persons in my RootsMagic family tree (up 54), and 146,693 source citations (up 59).  Resolved 469 Ancestry Hints. TreeShared 130 new and updated profiles with my Ancestry tree.  My Ancestry Member Tree has Ancestry Record Hints with 15,093 to be resolved, but I work on them several times a week.  

12) Wrote 20 Genea-Musings blog posts last week (Sunday through Saturday), of which 4 were a press release. The most viewed post last week was  
MyHeritage DeepStory Creates a Great Short Audio/Visual Biography with over 320 views.  Genea-Musings had about 28,800 page views last week and over 153,000 for the past month.  

13)  Real life:  This is week 210 (four years on) since COVID restrictions started.   I visited Linda every day at the skilled nursing/memory care facility and we played Uno. Went grocery shopping on Monday and Friday.  Walked several days on the block and talked to several neighbors.   I finished reading Iris Johansen's Firestorm and started Tess Gerritsen's The Keepsake. The SDSU Aztec basketball team went 2-1, but lost the MWC championship game to New Mexico, and finished 24-10 on the season; they are a 5 seed in the NCAA March Madness in the East region.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/03/genealogy-pot-pourri-week-ending-17.html

Copyright (c) 2024, Randall J. Seaver

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Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Amanuensis Monday -- 1802 Will of Frederick Houx (1725-1802) of Frederick County, Maryland

 This week's document for transcription is the 1802 will of Frederick Houx in the Frederick County, Maryland probate case files.

*  Frederick County, Maryland Probate Court Records, Record of Wills, Liber GM3, 1793-1804, image 526 of 639:

*  Frederick County, Maryland Probate Court Records, Record of Wills, Liber GM3, 1793-1804, image 527 of 639:

The transcription of this document is:

In the Name of God Amen. I Frederick Houx of Frederick
County being weak in Body and of Sound and Perfect mind and memory
and understanding considering the certainty of Death and the uncertainty of the
time thereof and being desirous to settle my worldly affairs and to be the
better Prepred to leave this World when it shall please God to call me
home do make and publish this my last will and Testament in manner
and form following.  First I commend my soul into the hands of
Almighty God and my Body to the Earth to be decently buried at the
discretion of my beloved Wife  anfd after my Debts (if any) and my funeral
charges are paid I Bequeath as follows.  I Give & Bequeath unto my
beloved Wife Ann Maria all my property of whatsoever kind or nature
the same may consist for her own proper use and benefit and at her own
disposal in such manner as she may think fit.  In Witness whereof
I have hereto set my hand and Affixed my seal this 22'd day of February 1802.
Signed Sealed Published and Delivered by the }
above named Fred'k Houx Testator in             }
presence of us who at his request have             }       Friedrich Houx   {seal}
Signed our names as Witnesses thereto            }
John McDonald       Michael Loehr

Frederick County   August 27'th 1802   Then came John McDonald & Michael
Loehr the two Subscribing Witnesses to the aforegoing last will and Testament
of Frederick Houx late of Frederick County Deceased and under Oath on the
Holy Evangels of Almighty God that they did see the Testator therein
named sign and seal this will that they heard him Publish pronounce
and declare he same to be his last will and Testament that at the
time of his signing he was to the best of their Apprehensions of sound
and disposing mind memory and understanding that they respectively
Subscribed their names as Witnesses to this will in the presence and at
the request of the Testator and all in the presence of each Other.
                                                           Geo Murdock  Reg'r.

The source citation for this will is:

Frederick County, Maryland Wills, Frederick Houx will, written 22 February 1802, recorded 27 August 1802; imaged, "Maryland, Frederick County, probate records, 1744-1983,FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89S1-CYJ7) : accessed 15 March 2024; "Frederick > Record of wills, liber GM3, 1794-1803 > images 526-527 of 639; Original data is from Frederick County, Maryland microfilmed by FamilySearch.

This will is a Derivative Source (because it is a court clerk's handwritten record), Primary Information and Direct Evidence of the will of Frederick Houx wirtten 22 February 1802 and recorded 27 August 1802 in Frederick County, Maryland.

Theodorus Friederich Houx (1725-1802) was born 15 September 1725 in Pflummem, Baden-Wurttemburg, the son of Johann Joseph and Maria Magdalena (Schmidt) Houx.  He died 14 March 1802 in Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland.  He married Anna Maria Federhoff (1731-1811) on 15 May 1753 in Lomensheim, Baden-Wurttemburg.  They had 15 children:

*  Margaretha Elisabetha Houx (1754-1818), married 1776 Johannes Gebhardt (1750-1832).
*  Daniel Houx (1757-1832).
*  George Jacob Houx (1758-1832), married 1782 Catherine Schulzin (1760-1802).
*  Matthias Houx (1759-1831), married 1781 Susan Morgenstern (1759-1848).
*  Anna Margaretta Houx (1761-1856), married 1781 Johannas Conrad Engelbrecht (1758-1819).
*  Johannes Houx (1763-????).
*  Joseph houx (1767-1774).
*  Maria Magdalena Houx (1768-1850), married 1785 Martin Carringer (1758-1835).
*  

Martin N. Seward was appointed administrator, commissioned an inventory, had a guardian appointed for the two minor children, sold personal and real property, paid off and collected debts, filed an account, and the estate file was closed in 1866.  Each of the six living heirs-at-law received $260.70, a one sixth part of the total estate of $1,594.23.

I am a 3rd cousin 5 times removed to Samuel Ross Seaver (1806-1864), with the common Seaver ancestor being my 7th great-grandfather Joseph Seaver (1672-1754).

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NOTE: Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday." John offers this definition for "amanuensis:"

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

Read other transcriptions of records of my ancestors at Amanuensis Monday Posts.

Copyright (c) 2024, Randall J. Seaver

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Sunday, March 17, 2024

Watch MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet’s RootsTech 2024 Session

 I received this from Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage today:

==================================

We just posted a video recording of our Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet’s talk at RootsTech on our YouTube channel.

I highly recommend giving it a watch — especially the mind-blowing genetic genealogy discovery he shares at the beginning! 

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Randy's comments:  YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS VIDEO.  Gilad's using Artifact DNA to find relatives.  The new MyHeritage family tree profile page provides three different biography fields.  The Reimagine app is being included in the MyHeritage mobile app.  MyHeritage integration with FamilyTreeDNA match's family trees.  Sharng DNA results with an expert for help.  Ethnicity Estimates 2.0 coming soon!

Disclosure: I receive a complimentary subscription to MyHeritage, and have received other material consideration in past years. I uploaded my autosomal DNA raw data to their DNA product. This does not affect my objective analysis of MyHeritage products.  I am a subscriber to Family Tree Webinars and love it.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/03/watch-myheritage-founder-and-ceo-gilad.html

Copyright (c) 2024, Randall J. Seaver

Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately. 

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - Week of 10 to 16 March 2024

 Scores of genealogy and family history bloggers write hundreds of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for most daily blog prompts or meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week: 

*  Track DNA Matches You Can’t Place In Your Tree by Mercedes Brons on Who Are You Made Of?

*  Estate Inventories – How to Use Them: Book Review by Linda Stufflebean on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

*  MyHeritage Updates: New Ancestor Profile Pages! by Diane Henriks on Know Who Wears the Genes In Your Family.

*  RootsTech 2024: Paradigm Shift – FamilySearch Knocks It Out of the Ballpark With Full Text AI Search, Transcription & Indexing and RootsTech 2024: DNA Academy and Ancestry Announcements and Rootstech 2024: Friends, Discover Tools, Highways of History and the Storm by Roberta Estes on DNAeXplained -- Genetic Genealogy.

*   Genealogy Serendipity~Maiden Name of Charles A Brock's Wife Found by Charlie Purvis on Carolina Family Roots.

*  A "Rosetta Stone" of Family Relationships by Jacqi Stevens on A Family Tapestry.

*  3 Important Tips for Great Genealogy Source Citations by DiAnn Iamarino Ohana on Fortify Your Family Tree.

*  Another FamilySearch Lab by Marcia Crawford Philbrick on Heartland Genealogy

*  Simple Prompts vs. Prompt Engineering: A Genealogist’s Experiment with AI by Dana Leeds on Genealogy with Dana Leeds.

*  Diahan Southard at RootsTech 2024 by Melanie Mohler on Your DNA Guide.

*  RootsTech 2024 Recap by Alice Childs on GenealogyNow.

*  Sharing Hubby's Irish Roots with Younger Generation by Marian B. Wood on Climbing My Family Tree.

*  Why A Chromosome Browser Is Necessary To Prove Distant Ancestry by Annette Kapple on AK's Genealogy Research.

*  Jude’s Gen – March 2024 by Judith Batchelor on Genealogy Jude.

Here are pick posts by other geneabloggers this week:

*  Friday's Family History Finds by Linda Stufflebean on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

*  Friday Fossicking - 15th Mar 2024 by Crissouli on That Moment In Time.

*  This Week's Creme de la  Creme - March 16, 2024 by Gail Dever on Genealogy a la Carte.

*  5 Star Posts Week of 03/10/2024 - 03/16/2024 by Doris Kenney on A Tree With No Name.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and  read their articles, and add the blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another RSS feed, or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I currently am reading posts from over 900 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/03/best-of-genea-blogs-week-of-10-to-16.html

Copyright (c) 2024, Randall J. Seaver

Please note that all comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. 

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.   Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  

Do I Have Any 5th Great-grandparents Partridge/Wakeman DNA Matches?

After RootsTech 2024, I wrote Testing the Full Text Search in FamilySearch Labs - An Immediate Success!!, and immediately rejoiced because I found a maiden name for the "last" wife of my 4th great-grandfather, Cornelius Feather (1777-1853).   See the genealogical sketch for Cornelius Feather for the information that I have about his life.  

The maiden name of the last wife of Cornelius Feather was Mary Partridge (1792-1855).  She is named as Mary Feather in the first record with her name on it in the 1850 U.S. Census, age 58, born in Pennsylvania.  If age 58, she was born in about 1792.  Now she is named as Mary Feather[s] in the 1830 land deed found.  Mary's parents are Thomas Partridge (1758-1828) and Hannah Wakeman (1763-1814).  But is she the first wife of Cornelius Feather and mother of Sarah Feather?

After some thought, I realized I had a problem because my 3rd great-grandmother Sarah Feather (1804-1948) was born when Mary (Partridge) Feather would have been about age 12, and when Cornelius was about 27 years old. So I wrote "Mary Has a Maiden Name," But "Who Is Sarah Feather's Mother?" to sort out the available data and discuss the next research steps.  

One of the tasks I assigned myself was to evaluate my autosomal DNA matches on AncestryDNA, MyHeritageDNA, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA and GEDMatch.  Do I have any matches with Partridge and Wakeman surnames in their trees?

1)  Since my trees on AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA and GEDMatch did not have Mary Partridge in them, I needed to connect Mary Partridge as a wife to Cornelius Feather as a TEST.  I reasoned that if I had no DNA matches to Mary Partridge then that would be negative evidence for her motherhood of Sarah, and that Mary was not the mother of Sarah Feather and her three siblings.  

I changed the name of the unnamed first wife of Cornelius Feather in my Ancestry Member Tree from "Mrs. Cornelius Feather" to Mary Partridge (1792-1855).  After two days, the Ancestry ThruLines indicated that I had 15 ThruLines!  Here are two screens that show the top of the ThruLines:


There are ThruLines for 8 children of Thomas Partridge and Hannah Wakeman.  My line is in the top screen for Mary Partridge.  Sons George W. Patridge has 4 matches, son David H. Partridge has 6 matches, and sons Jasper, Samuel, Jonas, Isaac and William Partridge have one DNA match each.  Only daughter Sarah Partridge  has no DNA matches.

I tabulated these ThruLine matches using a spreadsheet, with information about relationship to me, shared cM values, segment number, tree size, common ancestors and notes.  Here is the table:

The relationships range from 4th cousin 2x removed to 6th cousin.  The cM values range from 8 cM (1 match), 10 (2 matches), 11 (4 matches), 12 cM (1 match), 14 cM (3 matches), 15 cM (1 match), and 17 cM (3 matches). 

Six of the DNA matches have large family trees (2000 to 16000 people), six have medium size trees (400 to 700 people), and 3 have small trees (less than 60 people).  

I checked the ThruLines for each DNA match listed.  The line for the 7th one down the list looked  wrong, claiming Jonas Partridge as the son of Thomas Partridge, but I noted that the rest of the line to the match was good from the family trees, but the connection to Thomas Partridge should have been through son Jasper.

Some researchers accept 15 cM  as a certainty, and along all accept 20 cM as a certainty, especially with only one matching segment.  So I am probably on shaky ground here.   

The DNA Painter Shared cM Project shows that 0-20 cM has 59% of the cases for a 6th cousin, as shown below:

That's encouraging, I think.  At 11 cM, the chart shows that 36% of the cases for a 6th cousin are between 0 and 20 cM.  

Since Thomas Partridge and Hannah Wakeman are (perhaps) my 5th great-grandparents, I cannot obtain ThruLines for their parents because AncestryDNA provides ThruLines for 5th great-grandparents and closer.  

2)  I looked on MyHeritageDNA for DNA matches for Thomas Partridge and found none.  I searched on GEDMatch and found none.

I searched on MyHeritageDNA for DNA matches with George Wakeman and Sarah Hill, the parents of Hannah Wakeman (wife of Thomas Partridge), in the trees of DNA matches.  I found 3 DNA matches: AW with 30.2 cM in 2 segments, KH with 29.1 cM in 2 segments, and CG with 25.5 cM in 1 segment; all had large trees.   

I also searched on AncestryDNA for DNA matches with George Wakeman and Sarah Hill in their trees, and found two matches with large family trees (JH with 49 cM in 3 segments, and DH with 28.8 cM in 2 segments).  There may be more for other matches without large trees, but they aren't in ThruLines for whatever reason. 

49 cM for a 7th cousin is very rare - only 2% of the cases in the Shared cM project are 50 cM or more.  And only 5% of the cases are 30 cM or more.  I sure wish AncestryDNA had a chromosome browser!!

3)  So my summary of this situation is:

*  I have 15 DNA matches to persons whose family trees include Thomas Partridge and Hannah Wakeman.  The cM values are 8 to 17 cM, with an average of 13 cM.  I would be much more confident if it at least one or two of the matches had 20 cM shared DNA or more. 

*  I have 5 DNA matches as probable 7th cousins (3 on MyHeritageDNA and 2 on AncestryDNA) that have cM values, between 25 and 49 cM, with an average of  33 cM.  

*  Can the Wakeman DNA strain be that strong?  It's on both MyHeritageDNA and AncestryDNA!  

*  Obviously, I need more data!  'Tis a quandary!

The answer to my question in the post title is:  YES I DO, but only if Mary Partridge (1792-1855) is the mother of my 3rd great-grandmother Sarah Feather (1804-1848).

4)  What do my readers think?  Do I have a case for claiming Thomas Partridge and Hannah Wakeman as my 5th great-grandparents based on DNA?  Then there is Mary Partridge being a mother at about age 12 with a 27 year-old man.  Hmmm.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/03/do-i-have-any-5th-great-grandparents.html

Copyright (c) 2024, Randall J. Seaver

Note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear online immediately.  

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share your comments on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Are You a Descendant of Irish Ancestry?

 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!


Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. 

1)   This Sunday is St. Patrick's Day.  Are you a descendant of Irish ancestors?  Who are your most recent ancestor(s) who were born in Ireland?  Do you have DNA Irish ethnicity?  Have you performed any Irish genealogy research?

2) Tell us about your Irish ancestry, ethnicity and research in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

Here's mine:

My most recent Irish ancestor is probably my 9th great-grandparents, Ellis Barron (c1605-1676), who married Grace --?-- (c1605-1643).  They migrated to Watertown, Massachusetts Bay before 1640.  They are the only ancestors that I have with Irish ancestry.  

On the DNA tests, Ancestry does not show any Ireland ethnicity.  In 2014, Ancestry said I was 18% Irish, in 2016 Ancestry indicated I was 16% Irish, in 2021 they said I was 7% Irish, and in 2022 they said I was 6% Irish.  Now it's 0%.  I feel cheated out of rainbows and pots of gold.  

MyHeritage does not show any Ireland ethnicity.  23andMe lumps British and Irish together (38.7%).  FamilyTreeDNA does not show any Ireland ethnicity either, but lumps England, Scotland and Wales together (88%).

I have done some Irish genealogy research for Seaver surname persons.  There were several thriving Seaver families in the 1800s, one around Dublin and another in County Armagh.  Other researchers have traced some of the County Armagh Seaver families back to migrants from England in the early 1600s.  I don't know where Robert Seaver (1608-1683), who migrated to Massachusetts Bay in 1634, was born, but I think it was in Berkshire, not Ireland.  

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Copyright (c) 2024, Randall J. Seaver

Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not be posted immediately.

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Added and Updated FamilySearch Record Collections - Week of 9 to 15 March 2024

   I am keeping track of the new and updated his8orical record collections at FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list) every week.

As of 15 March 2024, there are 3,304 historical record collections on FamilySearch (an increase of 4 from last week):


The new and updated collections this week from FamilySearch are:

--- Collections Deleted ---

England, Lancashire, Rusholme Road Cemetery 1821-1933 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/3460245); 67,177 indexed records with 844 record images, DELETED

--- Collections Added ---

Bonaire, Civil Registration, 1831-2003 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000172); 37,238 indexed records with 15,336 record images, ADDED 06-Mar-2024

Curaçao, Civil Registration, 1817-2003 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000122); 425,712 indexed records with 111,915 record images, ADDED 06-Mar-2024

Saba, Civil Registration, 1876-1996 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000229); 8,587 indexed records with 3,256 record images, ADDED 06-Mar-2024

Sint Maarten, Civil Registration, 1869-1979 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000164); 14,541 indexed records with 4,942 record images, ADDED 06-Mar-2024

United States, Merchant Marine Officer License Applications, 1889-1910 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000210); 1,907 indexed records with 1,907 record images, ADDED 12-Mar-2024

--- Collections Updated ---

Argentina, Jujuy, Civil Registration, 1888-2000 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4489444); 2,472 indexed records with 3,258 record images (was 2,159 records with 2,936 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Belgium, Antwerp, Civil Registration, 1588-1953 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2138481); 960,168 indexed records with 3,208,709 record images (was 960,168 records with 3,208,709 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Belgium, Brabant, Civil Registration, 1582-1950 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1482191); 86,665 indexed records with 6,411,594 record images (was 85,684 records with 6,411,594 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Belgium, Namur, Civil Registration, 1800-1912 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2138511); 721,969 indexed records with 372,768 record images (was 717,713 records with 372,768 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Bolivia Catholic Church Records, 1566-1996 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1922463); 9,424,997 indexed records with 1,649,601 record images (was 9,420,042 records with 1,649,601 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024

Brazil, Alagoas, Church Records, 1802-2016 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2820768); 1,241,761 indexed records with 189,023 record images (was 1,237,132 records with 188,244 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Brazil, Mato Grosso, Civil Registration, 1845-2013 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2001286); Index only (835 records), no images (was 835 records with 0 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024
Brazil, Minas Gerais, Civil Registration, 1879-1949 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/3479702); 928,477 indexed records with 385,963 record images (was 926,605 records with 385,223 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Brazil, Paraná, Civil Registration, 1852-1996 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2016194); 3,196,256 indexed records with 1,689,031 record images (was 3,190,877 records with 1,689,031 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Brazil, Pará, Civil Registration, 1815-1995 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4473609); 285,275 indexed records with 85,434 record images (was 278,109 records with 83,654 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024

Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Civil Registration, 1860-2006 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/3741255); 1,730,476 indexed records with 881,562 record images (was 1,729,953 records with 881,309 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Civil Registration, 1829-2012 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1582573); 6,922,813 indexed records with 5,100,470 record images (was 6,920,227 records with 5,100,470 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Brazil, Sergipe, Catholic Church Records, 1785-1994 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2177298); 1,302,950 indexed records with 273,847 record images (was 1,300,651 records with 273,847 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Chile, Catholic Church Records, 1633-2015 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/3405096); 8,342,399 indexed records with 1,056,061 record images (was 8,324,945 records with 1,053,080 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Colombia, Catholic Church Records, 1576-2018 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1726975); 26,711,897 indexed records with 12,659,776 record images (was 26,684,940 records with 12,659,776 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024

Colombia, Civil Registration, 1553-2021 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4469480); 724,077 indexed records with 854,016 record images (was 723,723 records with 854,016 images), UPDATED 12-Mar-2024
Costa Rica, Catholic Church Records, 1595-1992 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1460016); 4,339,827 indexed records with 962,203 record images (was 4,339,605 records with 962,203 images), UPDATED 13-Mar-2024
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kisantu Diocese, Catholic Church Records, 1894-2016 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000138); 395 indexed records with 147 record images (was 320 records with 121 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024
Dominican Republic, Catholic Church Records, 1590-1975 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1918910); 2,311,844 indexed records with 238,265 record images (was 2,311,842 records with 238,265 images), UPDATED 11-Mar-2024
Find a Grave Index (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2221801); 241,110,544 indexed records with 241,110,544 record images (was 238,795,323 records with 238,795,323 images), UPDATED 13-Mar-2024

Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia, Wuppertal, Civil Registration, 1810-1930 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000010); 129,917 indexed records with 126,655 record images (was 128,296 records with 125,197 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Gibraltar, Church Records, 1697-1991 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4453925); 58,341 indexed records with 6,175 record images (was 57,934 records with 6,092 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Guadeloupe, Civil Registration Records, 1792-1872 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4293709); 770 indexed records with 103 record images (was 770 records with 103 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Guatemala, Chiquimula, Civil Registration, 1877-2008 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2790265); 457,586 indexed records with 357,652 record images (was 457,339 records with 357,411 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Guatemala, Guatemala, Civil Registration, 1877-2006 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2075150); 4,591,015 indexed records with 1,486 record images (was 4,590,984 records with 1,486 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024

Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Civil Registration, 1877-1994 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2451045); 1,007,079 indexed records with 17,993 record images (was 1,006,254 records with 17,993 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Guatemala, Izabal, Civil Registration, 1877-1994 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2443319); 423,055 indexed records with 9,848 record images (was 422,635 records with 9,848 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Haiti, Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince, Catholic Church Records, 1866-2017 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4279947); 99,925 indexed records with 19,063 record images (was 97,903 records with 18,840 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Iceland Church Census, 1744-1965 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2697871); 1,858,148 indexed records with 48,540 record images (was 1,858,148 records with 46,275 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Iowa, Church and Civil Births and Baptisms, 1837-1987 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2366597); 89,517 indexed records with 8,242 record images (was 89,517 records with 8,242 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024

Iowa, Church and Civil Marriages, 1837-1989 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2366605); Index only (7,482 records), no images (was 7,482 records with 0 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024
Iowa, County Death Records, 1880-1992 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2110820); Index only (857,181 records), no images (was 857,181 records with 0 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024
Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1740-1900 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2820100); 5,924,149 indexed records with 200,464 record images (was 5,873,821 records with 191,056 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Italy, Teramo, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1936 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/3006903); 4,867 indexed records with 2,195 record images (was 3,942 records with 1,775 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Mexico, Michoacán, Catholic Church Records, 1555-1996 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1883388); 5,852,247 indexed records with 5,283,986 record images (was 5,848,085 records with 5,283,986 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024

Mexico, Puebla, Catholic Church Records, 1545-1977 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1837906); 9,013,155 indexed records with 6,124,553 record images (was 9,013,011 records with 6,124,553 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Netherlands, Noord-Holland, Civil Registration, 1811-1950 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2020117); 1,973,243 indexed records with 6,635,049 record images (was 1,973,243 records with 6,635,049 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024
Ohio, Stillbirths, 1918-1953 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000024); 188,794 indexed records with 188,601 record images (was 187,419 records with 187,227 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Paraguay, Civil Registration, 1842-2012 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000049); 7,523 indexed records with 9,413 record images (was 7,520 records with 9,408 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024
Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885-1950 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1589502); 3,476,872 indexed records with 1,789,697 record images (was 3,476,792 records with 1,789,697 images), UPDATED 14-Mar-2024

Peru, Arequipa, Catholic Church Records, 1660-2020 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4447275); 422,343 indexed records with 136,247 record images (was 422,343 records with 142,118 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Peru, Catholic Church Records, 1603-1992 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1877097); 21,093,039 indexed records with 4,192,353 record images (was 21,088,369 records with 4,192,353 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Portugal, Setúbal, Catholic Church Records, 1555-1911 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1935451); 1,092,362 indexed records with 829,309 record images (was 1,092,208 records with 829,309 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1807092); 3,320,277 indexed records with 191,547 record images (was 3,320,277 records with 191,547 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Puerto Rico, Civil Registration, 1805-2001 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1682798); 5,091,890 indexed records with 4,581,756 record images (was 5,091,700 records with 4,581,756 images), UPDATED 13-Mar-2024

Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1469151); 413,985 indexed records with 128,317 record images (was 410,143 records with 128,317 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
South Africa, Western Cape, Deceased Estate Files, 1951-1958 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4319131); 514,445 indexed records with 343,822 record images (was 512,408 records with 343,789 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1417492); 1,197,608 indexed records with 682,974 record images (was 1,131,292 records with 682,974 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Sri Lanka, Civil Registration, 1768-1990 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2209866); 7,502,189 indexed records with 7,328,201 record images (was 6,111,202 records with 5,843,266 images), UPDATED 13-Mar-2024
Texas, Hidalgo County, Marriage Records, 1875-2021 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000017); 171,435 indexed records with 269,326 record images (was 170,645 records with 252,276 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024

Uruguay Civil Registration, 1879-1930 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1837849); Index only (1,206,753 records), no images (was 1,195,680 records with 0 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Venezuela Civil Registration, 1873-2003 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1823609); 1,119,140 indexed records with 586,312 record images (was 1,116,555 records with 586,312 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Venezuela, Archdiocese of Caracas, Catholic Church Records, 1638-2020 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4465438); 238,117 indexed records with 83,805 record images (was 229,911 records with 82,005 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Zambia, Archdiocese of Lusaka, Church Records, 1950-2015 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/3736255); 305,325 indexed records with 24,907 record images (was 301,752 records with 24,710 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024
Zimbabwe, Diocese of Gokwe, Catholic Church Records, 1956-2022 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/5000101); 111 indexed records with 14,506 record images (was 90 records with 8,716 images), UPDATED 15-Mar-2024

--- Collections with new images ---

Grenada, Church Records, 1747-1930 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/4440820); 83,372 indexed records with 8,783 record images (was 83,372 records with 8,781 images), last updated 05-Jan-2024

--- Collections with new records ---

Mexico, Querétaro, Catholic Church Records, 1590-1970 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1881200); 3,039,959 indexed records with 1,380,077 record images (was 3,039,938 records with 1,380,077 images), last updated 08-Mar-2024
Peru, San Martín, Civil Registration, 1850-1999 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2306525); 470,937 indexed records with 249,700 record images (was 470,933 records with 249,700 images), last updated 08-Mar-2024

--- Collections with records removed ---

Mexico, Distrito Federal, Civil Registration, 1832-2005 (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1923424); 7,057,951 indexed records with 4,936,321 record images (was 7,057,952 records with 4,936,321 images), last updated 21-Oct-2021

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My friend and SDGS colleague, Marshall, has come up with a way to determine which collections are ADDED, DELETED or UPDATED, and to alphabetize the entries in each category. Thanks to Marshall for helping me out here!

In order to select a specific record collection on FamilySearch, go to   https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list and use the "Filter by collection name" feature in the upper left-hand corner and use keywords (e.g. "church england") to find collections with those keywords.

Each one of the collections listed above has a Research Wiki page (use the "Learn more" link). It would be very useful if the Wiki page for each collection listed the dates for when the collection was added as a new collection and the dates for major updates also.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/03/added-and-updated-familysearch-record_01350149351.html

Copyright (c) 2024 Randall J. Seaver

Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not be posted immediately.

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Dear Randy: "Why Can't I Find Barnstable County, Massachusetts Probate Records on FamilySearch Full-Text Search?"

 After my blog posts about the FamilySearch Full-Text Search (see Testing the Full Text Search in FamilySearch Labs - An Immediate Success!!) last week, I had several emails from readers asking me questions like:

"Why can't I find Barnstable County, Massachusetts probate records on the FamilySearch Full-Text Search page?"

The short answer is:  "Because they have not used artificial intelligence to index and transcribe the names from the handwriting on the thousands of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Probate Records images yet."

1)  For instance, here is the Full-Text Search page for the keywords [+barnstable +massachusetts]:

There are 31,397 results when filtered for "USA, Massachusetts, Barnstable."  Of those, there are results for the following categiries:

* Adoption (692)
* Court (9,482)
*  Property (23,408)
*  Will (8,739)

That looks promising, but when you filter for "Will" you get only the 8,739 results: 

Of those 8,739, most of them are Bond records, Guardianship records and some post-1900 wills.  Maybe uers will be lucky and find their ancestors.  Or not.

2)  There have been probate records in Barnstable County, Massachusetts since 1686.  Using the "Record Year" filter we can see that there are records for these centuries:

By century, the records currently on Full-Text Search for Barnastable County Wills is:

*  1600 (5)
*  1700 (4)
*  1800 (4,893)
*  1900 (3,738)
*  2000 (6)

3)  So where are the Barnstable County, Massachusetts Probate Records?

They are still in the FamilySearch Catalog entries for Barnstable County, Massachusetts!  They were microfilmed decades ago, and digitized in the last decade, and the researcher can find them by doing it the old fashioned way.  Here is the FamilySearch Catalog page for "Probate Records, 1686-1894" for Barnstable County: 


And further down the same page are listings of the "digital microfilms" that comprise all of the available probate records:


There are 3 volumes of Index material (which help you find which probate records volume(s) your target person is in) and 102 volumes of Probate records for different year ranges.  Each probate records volume has between 500 and 600 images (each image has two pages), so 102 volumes adds up to approximately 102,000 pages of records.  

4)  To find useful information about a target person, the user will have to do the hard work of using the catalog digital microfilms to:

*  Find the target person in the Consolidated general index volumes
*  Copy down the volumes and page numbers for the records for the target person
*  Find the pages in the specific volumes for the target person
*  Copy, print or download the specific pages for the target person
*  Transcribe or abstract the contents.  

Just like we'e done it for decades at the county courthouse, the FamilySearch Library or local Centers, or online in the FamilySearch Catalog.   

Eventually Full-Text Search will use AI to find these records, index the names on the pages, transcribe the handwritten text, and provide us with more information about our ancestors.  

5)  The lessons learned here are:

*  FamilySearch Full-Text Search has not indexed or transcribed every probate record in every county.

*  FamilySearch does not have every probate record (or any record type) for every county - the digital microfilm for Barnstable County goes from 1686 to 1894.  

*  The user can use FamilySearch Catalog digital microfilm to find probate records (and many other types of records!) at home, or at a FamilySearch Library/Center (if the digital microfilm can only be viewed there).  

*  FamilySearch Full-Text Search, at this time with 100 million images, is useful but very limited. 100 million seems like a lot, but they have over 2 billion images already digitized.   Eventually it will probably have all of them in Full-Text Search, but it will likely take years to get there.  

*  This example probably can be duplicated for every county in the United States!

6)  Patience, grasshoppers!!!  Please don't assume that not finding something in Full-Text Search means that there is no record.  Users have to look in every possible location for records.  

As an example, Ancestry.com has a "Massachusetts, U.S. Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991" collction that has volumes of Barnstable County Probate Records into the 1990 time frame.  And they are indexed (perhaps not completely).  

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/03/added-and-updated-ancestrycom-record_15.html

Copyright (c) 2024 Randall J. Seaver

Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not be posted immediately.

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.