Digital Microfilm -- Browse Probate Record Collections on FamilySearch

We had our monthly CVGS Computer Group session in the Computer Lab at the library today, led by my colleague, Shirley Becker.  Genea-Musings reader Ginger from Ohio was there - thanks for coming, I hope you learned something.

This was a very frustrating session for many of the attendees.  The topic was FamilySearch Browse Only record collections, with the goal of introducing the attendees to finding ancestral records without a search engine.

Shirley got the students to go to FamilySearch, find a state with Probate Records, and then follow directions in an article created by Robert Ragan of Treasure Maps fame (which I can't find online now) that described how to search the Browse Only collections.  Then...most of the attendees had comments like:

*  "Where are the search fields?"

*  "Do they expect me to look through 14 million images?"

*  "How do I know which "book" to search?"

*  "How do I find my ancestor's will?"

*  "How do I make the record image larger?"

There is no search field to magically make a will or other record appear on your computer screen when you're in a FamilySearch Browse only record collection. 

I helped two students understand the basic process (County > Index > Record Book > Record), and we searched New York probate indexes and will books for records, and were successful.

My guess is that 90 to 95% of all researchers are completely lost when faced with a Browse Only collection on FamilySearch.

I wrote a number of blog posts about this process for New York and Pennsylvania probate records in recent years, including:

*  Step-by-Step Process for Accessing and Finding New York Probate Records on FamilySearch (posted 16 April 2014)

*  Finding Genealogy Gems in the New York Probate Records on FamilySearch (8 April 2014)

*  Finding James Vaux Probate Records in Erie County, New York (5 July 2012).

I've done similar searches in Pennsylvania for:

*  Pennsylvania Probate Records on FamilySearch! (27 June 2012)

*  Finding Daniel Spangler's Probate Records on FamilySearch - the Russell Index System (15 October 2012)

Think of this process as "digital microfilm."  You have to manually search for the information you seek.  Rather than obtaining a series of microfilms (an Index, a Record Book, another Record Book, etc.), you do it online on FamilySearch; for FREE, in your pajamas.  Rather than turning a microfilm crank, you can advance image by image or by guessing an image number to zero in on the desired page.  And guessing again.  

 The process is fairly complex, but it can be boiled down to County > Volume List > Index > Record Book > Record Image (using one of my New York searches below):

1)  County

*  Know the State and County where your target person was a resident with property.

*  Go to the probate or estate collection for the target State [Note: not every state has a collection of this type yet.]

*  Use the "Browse xx,yyy,zzz images" link to see the County "Waypoints."

2)  Volume List:

*  Go to the correct County and note the list of "Volumes" of record books that are available.

3)  Index

*  On the County "Volume list" above, look for a "book" with an Index for probate records - another "Waypoint."  There may be more than one!  Think of this as the list of "digital microfilm" available for that county.

*  Search the Index for your target person.  The indexing may have a unique system - every one seems to be different.  You can jump to another image number using the field at the top of the screen.  You usually have to guess an image number and guess again until you find the right page.

*  If you find an Index item for your target, write down the column headings and the column information.

4)  Record Book

*  Go back to the "book" Index list of "Waypoints," and find the correct "record book" for the record you want to find.  

*  In the "record book," you have to guess an image number and then iterate until you find the right page.  Note that "page number" in the Index usually does not equal "image number" in the record collection.  Most of these digitized record books have two pages per image, and many "record books" contain more than one volume of records.

*  Be sure to check succeeding images in the "record book" - there may be more than one image for the record.  Some probate files can have dozens of record images.  

5)  Record Image

*  When you find the desired record for your target person, note the database name, the "bread crumb" trail to find the record, the image number, the volume number, the page number, and the specific item found.  

*  Download the record image to your computer and rename the file so that you can find it in your computer file system.  Cut and paste it into your digital file folder system (you do have one, don't you?).

It IS complex, isn't it?  

Please note that not every probate record in every county in every state was microfilmed, or has been digitized.  But about 30 states now have Probate record collections like New York's and Pennsylvania on FamilySearch.  These are often original source records (or derivative source records from court clerk transcripts) and are very helpful to determine death dates, relationships, real and personal property, and more.  

There are really three ways to find probate and land records in a distant state and county:

*  Go to the County of interest and search the musty books and estate files, and perhaps be allowed to take a photograph or obtain a photocopy.

*  Use Family History Library microfilm at the FHL or FHC (after renting the film)  to find records, and either take a photograph or a digital image..

*  Use the FamilySearch Browse Only collections - "digital microfilm" - to obtain a digital image.

I really appreciate the convenience, the organization, and the ability to download the records from the comfort of home, for FREE!  Every researcher needs to learn how to do this!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/digital-microfilm-browse-probate-record.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

MyHeritage iOS Mobile App Appears to be Updated

The last time I wrote about the MyHeritage Mobile App was in Technology Tuesday - MyHeritage Mobile App - Family Tree (posted 23 September 2014).  The screen views on the current MyHeritage Mobile App  webpage looks about the same as back in September.

1)  I updated the MyHeritage Mobile App on my iPhone recently, and looked through it, and noted that the screens look different.  After logging in, the opening screen looked like:

The three main sections of the app are:

*  Family Tree - build your family tree
*  Family Photos - View and share family photos
*  Research - Search billions of records

2)  I tapped on the "Family Tree" link and the tree opened showing the name of my tree at the top and five  generations of ancestors (shown in landscape below):

This is a different "look" than the pink and light blue on the current website and the previous MyHeritage mobile app.  I like this view much better - the contrast is great.

3)  To see information about an ancestor, I tapped on my great-grandfather, Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922):

The screen above has four links - for "Research," "Facts," "Photos" and "Relatives."  The "Facts" tab is shown on the screen above.

To edit a Fact, the user taps on the Fact.  Here is the Edit screen for the Birth fact:

I can add or edit information for the Fact by tapping on the fields on the screen above.

The "Photos" tab shows the images attached to the person.

The "Relatives" tab shows the list of relatives - parents, siblings, spouses, and children for the person:

3)  Back on the starting screen, I tapped on the "Family Photos" link and saw:

There are two sections on the "Family Photos" screen:

*  Family Crests
*  Family Tree Photos

I can add a photograph from my phone by tapping on the orange "+" icon.

I tapped on the "Family Tree Photos" link and saw thumbnails of all of the photographs I have attached to my MyHeritage tree:

4)  I will look at the "Research" link in a subsequent post.

5)  I haven't seen an announcement about this "new look" of the MyHeritage iOS Mobile app.  Maybe it's in the works and I stumbled across it before MyHeritage could post it.

I updated the MyHeritage mobile app on my Android tablet, and it looks similar to the previous iOS app and the app website.

I don't see any way to see Person or Research notes (other than the "Description" field in a Fact) or source citations for the Facts.  Maybe I'm wrong.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/myheritage-ios-mobile-app-appears-to-be.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

CGSSD Meeting on Saturday, 18 April: John Finch on "Family Research and the Civil War"

The Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD) meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month  (except December) from 9:00 am to noon on the campus of UCSD, University of California, San Diego.  See our web page www.cgssd.org  for directions.

The next meeting will be held on Saturday, 18 April 2015.  Here are the details:

9:00:  Membership meeting to vote on proposed merger with the San Diego Genealogical Society. Discussion: 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 am.  Vote at 9:45 a.m. - Paid members only.  
           (See NOTE at the end of this email for additional details.)

10:00: Break, refreshments

10:20: Announcements followed by program:

Family Research and The Civil War

presented by:

John Finch

The Civil War (1861 – 1865) is, arguably, the most significant single event in our nations history.    John will describe the range and scope of this struggle and it’s impact on the populace.    If, at that time, your ancestors were living within the then defined boundaries of the United States, the Commonwealth of Virginia to the Arizona Territory, their lives were altered by this conflict.

John has been a member of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society since 1999 and has served as Library Coordinator, Program Chair and President (2005 - 2006 term).   He is also a member of the Lee County, Illinois Historical and  Genealogical Society.   Retired from U.S. Navy, 1980, and San Diego County Probation Department, 1999.   A cancer survivor.

John developed an interest in his own family history at a very young age, but did not begin an active pursuit of research until after retiring in 1999.  Now, he spends several hours each week researching his family.  He volunteers at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library on Wednesday mornings to assist new and seasoned researchers.

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pines Road, turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any space other than those specifically reserved for UCSD vehicles. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website www.cgssd.org; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website for directions.

NOTE:  

The April 18th meeting will include a member meeting to vote on the proposal to merge CGSSD with the San Diego Genealogical Society.  The letter is available on our website, http://www.cgssd.org, our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/CGSSD, and the COMPU.GEN blog at http://compugen.blogspot.com/.  Please review this letter before attending the meeting. The board will answer questions about the proposal prior to the vote at the April 18 meeting.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/cgssd-meeting-on-saturday-18-april-john.html

Bride Linda and the Moms -- Post 355 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I'm posting old family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is one of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver/Carringer/Leland family collection:

This photograph was taken on 21 March 1970, the occasion was my wedding to Linda Leland.  The setting was the Bride's Room in the Chula Vista Presbyterian Church in Chula Vista, California.

From left to right:

*  Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver - my mother
*  Linda Joan Leland - my bride-to-be
*  Edna May (Schaffner) Leland - Linda's mother

I did not recall seeing the flowers in my mother's hair, or whatever was in Edna's hair, before I saw this photograph today.  

I don't know who took this picture - I'm guessing that it was one of the bridesmaids using their own camera, or my mother's camera.  There are several similar photographs of groups in the Bride's Room.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/bride-linda-and-moms-post-355-of-not-so.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

And Now We Are 9

                      It's Genea-Musings 9th Blogiversary!!!!!!!

It seems like just yesterday that I started my Randy's Musings blog - here is the first post on 15 April 2006. I explained the name change to Genea-Musings in my first anniversary post on 15 April 2007. In my two-year anniversary post, I showed a screen shot of the early blog page. 

I like to spout some numbers on my blogiversary, so please bear with me:

1)  After nine years of Randy's Musings and Genea-Musings, this is post number 8,632. Over 3,287 days, that averages out to be 2.63 posts per day. In the past year, I've written 965 posts, or 2.64 posts per day (that is a little higher than last year, 2.60). I think that the most over the nine years was 8 posts in one day and I've had days with zero posts (usually when on vacation).

2)  My known readership has increased each year until recently. Since I started this blog, I have had over 1,699,000 unique visitors (these include multiple visits per day by the same reader) and over 2,274,000 page views over seven years, and over 430,000 page views and over 285,000 unique visitors in the past year. Those numbers (from SiteMeter) are somewhat lower than last year.  

3)  My SiteMeter statistics indicate that in April 2015 this blog had about 849 unique visitors a day, with an average of about 1,304 page views a day.  I also use Google Statistics to look at statistics, and the page view numbers are a lot higher for some reason (about 3,530 per day over the past month).  I still don't know if those numbers include RSS reader visits and views - I do think the Google Statistics numbers include RSS reader views.

4)  In addition, about 1,685 persons subscribe via email using Feedburner, and about 1,200 persons subscribe via Feedly.  I don't have a count for other feeds, blog readers and Facebook readers. If I had to guess, I would say that about 4,200 persons read Genea-Musings on an average day. A significant number of the readers (probably over 40%) on the actual website come via a search engine - you wouldn't believe what some of the search parameters are!

Please permit me to genea-muse for a bit here:

1)  I really appreciate the Genea-bloggers community and all of my Genea-Musings readers. Without all of you, we would not have as much genealogy information (news, research experiences, family history, photographs, etc.) online. Blogging and then social networking, has brought democratization to the world of genealogy writing - anybody can do it (and many do it very well) and the genealogy community has more information, provided faster and more up-to-date, than it ever has had before.

2)  The genea-blogger community is overwhelmingly friendly and supportive of each other and their readers.  There is very little overt competition, back-biting or flame wars.  This reflects the genealogy community as a whole, I believe - almost everyone believes in, and works at, collaborating with, educating, and helping others - from the most famous (e.g., the genea-rock stars like Elizabeth Mills, Tom Jones, Megan Smolenyak, etc.) to the beginners (new society members, new blog readers, etc.).

3)  The genea-bloggers community as a whole has garnered the respect of the genealogy industry - the database companies, the software companies, website owners, and genealogical societies.  We have been treated and recognized as legitimate media outlets for the genealogy community.  They understand that genealogy blogs are a significant way to announce and publicize their products or services, and to create genea-buzz at conferences.  This could not happen without the commitment of genea-bloggers to objectivity and collaboration.  Not to mention time, energy and lifelong learning.

4)  I'm really proud to be a member of the genea-blogger community and to enjoy the camaraderie online and in person.  At a genealogy conference or seminar, genea-bloggers tend to flock together - it's an instant brother/sisterhood - many of us read each other's blogs.  Facebook and other social media sites have enabled us to "know" and rejoice, or commiserate, with the life and research experiences of our colleagues.

5) Life is good in the genea-cave, and it's even better when family history is made with our daughters and the five grandchildren (we added grandson Charlie last September), or when we travel to a genealogy seminar, conference or society talk (we were on the Heritage Books cruise last December, at RootsTech in February, in Palm Springs 3 months ago, and we're going to Genealogy Jamboree in seven weeks in Burbank). 

6)  Lastly, thank you to my faithful readers.  I do this to help the genealogy community pursue their hobb obsession, and to document my own family history.  I appreciate your feedback to my posts and learn a lot from the collected wisdom and experience of my readers.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/and-now-we-are-9.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Book Announcement: "How to Archive Family Photos," by Denise May Levenick

I received this NEW book notice from Denise May Levenick, author at The Family Curator blog:

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

Hello Fellow Genealogist!

I love old photos. I get lost imagining the stories of my ancestors pictured in my grandparents' albums and snapshots. But it's not the old photos that give me the biggest challenge-it's managing my growing digital photo collection.

I know I'm not alone. My young daughters-in-law provided the spark for a book about archiving digital photos. After seeing my first book, How to Archive Family Keepsakes , both young mothers remarked that they didn't have many family keepsakes (yet!), but they sure would like some tips for organizing and preserving their growing digital photo collections. So, here it is: How to Archive Family Photos: A Step-by-Step Guide to Organize and Share Your Photos Digitally. 

To really understand what kind of guidebook would be most useful, I talked with young parents snapping hundreds of photos each month, and with family historians grappling with huge heirloom photos collections. And I spoke with genealogists who manage thousands of research images. Different situations demanded slightly different strategies, but one theme ran through every scenario: Start setting up a system now to archive the digital photos on your smartphone, your computer, and your camera. Specific step-by-step workflows grew out of these conversations, each one adaptable to individual needs. In this book, you'll discover that digital photo management actually is manageable-it doesn't have to be difficult or overwhelming. 

And because family photos are really about family memories, the book features 25 easy keepsake projects to get your digital images into the hands of your family and friends. After all, what good are memories buried in the depths of a hard drive?

If you've been looking for a digital photo management solution that's simple and suitable for your needs, you'll find inspiration and strategies in How to Archive Family Photos. Join me in cutting the digital clutter to preserve and share your family photos and stories! 

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

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/book-announcement-how-to-archive-family.html

One Document, Four Database Providers, and Four Different Source Citations (or not)

On the April 13th Mondays With Myrt Hangout On Air, we had a discussion about a record for one of DearMYRTLE's ancestors.

1)  On MyHeritage, Pat had found a record for her ancestor, Thomas Wasden (1821-1891) on the list of her Record Matches.  She appreciated that MyHeritage found this record for her since she had never seen it.  The record on MyHeritage is shown below (two screens):

The record is from the database for "Utah Veterans With Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966."  The record summary contains indexed information on the first screen above, and the index card image with the information is shown in the second screen.

Pat could save this record to her ancestor using the "Save record" button, and when she did, she could then add the indexed record details to her person in her MyHeritage tree.  She could also see the source citation crafted by MyHeritage for this record.  Here is an image of the source citation:

As you can see, it is a summary of the indexed information, followed by the title of the database as the "Source" and a link to the record on MyHeritage.

Pat thought, as do I and others, that this is not a source citation to use in a genealogical database - it's missing many elements of a quality source citation.

2)  Having noted on the second screen above, that this record image and indexed information had been provided by FamilySearch (through the partnership agreements between MyHeritage and FamilySearch), Pat clicked on the link to the image on FamilySearch:

FamilySearch provides a source citation at the bottom of the screen for this record (I clicked on the "Show citation" tab to make it show up).  The record summary can be attached to a person in the FamilySearch Family Tree.  The source citation is:

"Utah, Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11844-111251-69?cc=1542862 : accessed 14 April 2015), W > Wasden, Thomas, 1891 > image 1 of 1; State Archives, Capitol Building, Salt Lake City.

That is a very specific source citation for this document, and is, I think, an Evidence Explained-quality citation.  Except for the long URL.

3)  I wondered if this record was also on Findmypast, which also has a partnership with FamilySearch.  It is, here is the record summary on Findmypast for this record:

Findmypast provides only the record transcription for this record, describes the record collection in words, and notes that the information was used by permission of FamilySearch Intl.

I found no way to see a source citation for this record on Findmypast.  Hopefully, Findmypast will provide quality source citations in the future.

4)  Lastly, I knew that Ancestry.com had a partnership with FamilySearch - was this record also found on Ancestry.com?  Yes -- here's the record summary:

The indexed information is provided, and a link to the image on FamilySearch.

The source citation for this record on Ancestry.com is:

Ancestry.com. Utah, Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Original data: Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

This is not a quality source citation IMHO because it does not refer to the subject, Thomas Wasden, or to the actual original source of the data in the Utah State Archives in Salt Lake City.    If a user attached this record to a person in their Ancestry Member Tree, the source information above would be included.

5)  From this little escapade into one record and sources for that record on four websites, we see that:

*  MyHeritage provides an indexed transcription and a record image, but lists only the database title as a source, with no information about the subject of the record, and no information about the source of the original record.

*  FamilySearch provides an indexed transcription and a record image, plus a complete source citation, including the original source of the image.

*  Findmypast provides an indexed transcription and a record image, but has no actual source citation, but does provide the title of the database.

*  Ancestry.com provides an indexed transcription and a link to the record image, and a source that does not provide information about the subject of the record, and credits FamilySearch with the original record rather than the Utah State Archives.

6)  During the discussion on the Mondays With Myrt, Pat said that she would cite the FamilySearch record image, since that was the source for the other three websites, and also cite the original data in the Utah State Archives.

She also hoped that MyHeritage would improve their source citation quality to include information about the subject of the record, the record provider, and the source of the source.

I hope that MyHeritage, Findmypast and Ancestry.com, and other record providers, will improve their source citations to the point where researchers are confident that they provide quality information (in my view, similar to Evidence Explained citations).

7)  My own source citation for this record would be something like this:

"Utah, Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 14 April 2015), W > Wasden, Thomas, 1891 > image 1 of 1; citing State Archives, Capitol Building, Salt Lake City.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/one-document-four-databases-and-four.html

Copyright (c) 2015) Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - The National Genealogical Society's Monthly Email Newsletter - NGS Monthly

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Sign up - for FREE - for the NGS Monthly newsletter provided by the National Genealogical Society.

You can sign up for NGS Monthly on the NGS website - see  http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/ngs_monthly.  This comes by email every month with information about NGS activities.  Here's the top of the email:

And a little further down:

The contents of this month's NGS Monthly newsletter includes:

*  President's Message
*  Editor's Message
*  Article: "The Importance of Genealogical Analysis and Correlation" - requires NGS membership
*  Article:  "Finding and Using Alien Records" - requires NGS membership.
*  NGS Conference Pre-Registration and Ticket Sales Close April 29
*  Live Streaming for NGS Conference
*  NGS Conference App Now Available
*  New NGS Publications
*  Genealogy and the Law and Mastering Genealogical Proof Available on Kindle
*  NGS 2015 Family History Conference Events
*  NGSQ and NGS Magazine links (requires membership)
*  Upfront With NGS - blog article links

The real valuable features in this newsletter are the two articles, which can be read online or downloaded to a PDF format or into Evernote.  Here is the top of the page for the first article:

The URL for this page is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/tuesdays-tip-national-genealogical.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

MyHeritage Adds "Discoveries" to Your Family Tree

It looks like MyHeritage has redesigned their screen a bit, with more icons, more dropdown menus and a larger menu font.  Here is a screenshot of the top of my MyHeritage site:

I clicked on the "Discoveries" tab above, and there are three items - Smart Matches, Record Matches, and Discoveries (New!).  I didn't see anything new on the other tabs, but I may have missed it.

I clicked on the "Discoveries" link and saw:

The screen above tells me that this Instant Discovery is for my ancestor John Underhill (1745-1816) and is in C. Scott's tree on MyHeritage.  But it also says that 0 people can be added to my tree. [The first time I went through this, it said 50 people.]

Scrolling down on the screen above, there are right and left arrows for other Instant Discoveries - here is my second one:

I had a total of four, but none of them would add any new profiles.

For my John Underhill, I clicked on the orange "View Discovery" button and saw a comparison between my tree person and the John Underhill in C. Scott's tree:

I didn't see that the other MyHeritage tree had anything I didn't have - it had the same birth information, death information, parents names, and siblings (I have two more), but did not have a spouse or children like mine did.

I would have clicked on the "Yes" button in the middle under the "Is this the same John Underhill?" but it is not active.  I also tried the orange "Adds one person" button and that didn't work either.  I could find no way to go to the other MyHeritage tree to see if that tree has better information (relationships, dates, places, sources, images, etc.) than I have.  Perhaps the other person clicked Yes before I tried to.  On another Discovery, I did click "Yes," accepted the combined person, and my tree person gained some information from the other person's tree.

MyHeritage introduced "Instant Discoveries" back in December - see my posts MyHeritage Blog in Introducing Instant Discoveries and Another Try at MyHeritage "Instant Discoveries" Feature - but that was targeted to new subscribers, the "man on the street."  

I'm happy to see that they are providing it for subscribers now.  This may be a very useful addition.  I wonder if MyHeritage will soon send me an email notice about these Instant Discoveries.  It will be interesting to see if it finds thousands at once or provides a small number each week or month.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/myheritage-adds-discoveries-to-your.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

New or Updated Record Collections at FamilySearch.org - April 6 to 12, 2015

I'm trying to keep up with the new and updated record collections at FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list).  As of 12 April 2015, there were 1,952 record collections on FamilySearch (an increase of 1 from last week).

*  Philippines, La Union, Diocese of San Fernando de La Union, 1801-1984; Browse Images only, no index, added or updated 09 Apr 2015

*  Italy, Napoli, Serrara Fontana, Civil Registration (Comune), 1809-1929; 13,052 indexed records with images, added or updated 09 Apr 2015

*  Philippines, Civil Registration (Local), 1888-1984; 11,684 indexed records with images, added or updated 09 Apr 2015

*  California, San Francisco Passenger Lists, 1893-1953; 1,188,641 indexed records with images, added or updated 09 Apr 2015

*  Alabama, County Marriages, 1809-1950; 1,592,030 indexed records with images, added or updated 09 Apr 2015

*  China Collection of Genealogies, 1239-2014; Browse Images only, no index, added or updated 09 Apr 2015

*  Maryland, Probate Estate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940; 89,727 indexed records with images, added or updated 08 Apr 2015

*  Montana, Cascade County Records, 1880-2009; 461,167 indexed records with images, added or updated 08 Apr 2015

*  Texas, Indexes and Manifests of Arrivals at the Port of Del Rio, 1906-1953; 104,679 indexed records with images, added or updated 08 Apr 2015

*  Texas, El Paso Manifests of Arrivals at the Port of El Paso, 1905-1927; 294,100 indexed records with images, added or updated 08 Apr 2015

*  England, Derbyshire, Church of England Parish Registers, 1537-1918; 1,474,822 indexed records with images, added or updated 07 Apr 2015

*  Belgium, East Flanders, Civil Registration, 1541-1912; 212,210 indexed records with images, added or updated 07 Apr 2015

*  Montana, Sanders County Records, 1866-2010; 6,943 indexed records with images, added or updated 06 Apr 2015

Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell which collections are brand new and which ones are updated.  The asterisk they use is for "Recently added or updated."  I am particularly interested in new collections, for the obvious reasons.

In order to select a specific collection, go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list and use the "Filter by collection name" feature in the upper left-hand corner.

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.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/new-or-updated-record-collections-at_13.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver