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Oct
19
2006
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Written by Kelly Whitelock
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Thursday, 19 October 2006 |
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O.k., now that you know how to search for and order microfilms, now comes the challenge. When your film comes in it will potentially be in one of several film widths. You will need to go to a microfilm viewing station that may or may not be automatic. The ones that we have for viewing at our Family History Center are manual. That means that you need to turn the handle to advance or rewind the film. At the public library though, the machines are automatic and you just push a button to get the film to move in either direction.
Please be sure to follow the loading instructions on the machine to make sure that you load the microfilm correctly. Also, make sure that you use the correct size spool to collect the film on the other side.
Then thread the film and advance it. You will then be on your way.
Unfortunately, there are some challenges with looking at microfilm. You can get a little motion sick if you go too fast while reading the film. So, take a break every so often to prevent this.
Then, trying to make out the various handwritings of different record keepers. It can be challenging getting to know their handwriting style and deciphering their coded handwriting. Don't Give Up! You will get used to it. I have looked at so many types of handwriting now that I can make out most anything. I've surprised people by helping them too. Sometimes you need to take a break from looking so that you can rest your mind. After five minutes, sometimes it all clears up for you.
Just plain finding the information on the film can take a lot of time if it is not laid out in some type of order. Most people that make the microfilms try very hard to keep it in chronological order or alphabetical order. It is time consuming but let me tell you when you find that magical information that you're looking for, it's all worth it!
Good luck and I'll write more later!
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Oct
18
2006
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ORDERING MARVELOUS MICROFILMS II |
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Written by Kelly Whitelock
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Wednesday, 18 October 2006 |
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I am most familiar with ordering Microfilms from our Family History Center at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So, I'm going to take you step-by-step through the process!
- Go to www.familysearch.org.
- Next, click on the light yellow tab on the left titled, "Library".
- Then, you will see a menu just below the light yellow tabs. Click on, "Family History Library Catalog".
This page is where you want to go to look for information. You will notice the menu on the right side of the screen. These are the categories:
- Place Search
- Surname Search
- Keyword Search
- Title Search
- Film/Fiche Search
- Author Search
- Subject Search
- Call Number Search
The "Place Search" is the one that I use most commonly. I have found the most information that way. I will use this for the example.
When you click on "Place Search" it takes you to the next page that asks you for the "Place" and then below asks for "Part of (optional)". For the "Place" box, you can put in anything that you want to. Such as a city, country or wherever you want. I have had more success though by putting in a city name in "Place" and then the state in the "Part of (optional)". The same can be done for villages in country's and so forth.
After you have put in your search criteria, it will take you to a page that has other links in blue. You then click on one that matches the most closely to what you are looking for. At this point it is best for you to just click on these links and look around a little. I learned a lot by just exploring the library.
Once you have found something that interests you. Click on "View Film Notes". Here you will usually find a list of microfilms that will have the information that you are looking for. Film numbers look like this:
FHL US/CAN Fiche
6043814
CAUTION! Make sure that you read the notes on the left side carefully before you order your film. Check and double check to make sure that you are picking out the right film and number to order.
Then you go to your local FHC and order the Microfilm. There is a fee to order them for 30 days and then you can renew them for additional time for an additional fee. It typically takes 2 to 4 weeks to arrive. This does vary especially if someone else has requested the same copy. Salt Lake City sends the films to the FHC and they are for your use within the FHC. Unfortunately, they can not leave the building.
That's all there is to the ordering process! I'll give more tips soon!
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Oct
17
2006
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ORDERING MARVELOUS MICROFILMS I |
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Written by Kelly Whitelock
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Tuesday, 17 October 2006 |
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Have you ever ordered any microfilms from a library or from your local LDS Family History Center? It can be very exciting to finally find a microfilm that you want to order. Here are some tips that you might want to use when you order microfilms.
Make sure to narrow down your search and/or widen your search as much as possible!
If you are looking for information about a city, sometimes the city information is kept at the County level. Therefore, you would need to widen your search by going to the county level. Likewise, if you are looking, for example, vital records in a particular state within the United States, it's sometimes easier to look on the county or city level instead.
The timeline that you are looking into will have a lot to do with where records are kept as well. In some states, records were once held at the city level and then the rules were changed. The new rule could be that the new the location of records to be kept is now at the state level. In my home city you can find the earliest years at the city level but the more current years are at the state level. It makes it a little confusing.
Remember each city, each county, each providence, each state, and/or each country will keep their records in different places. If boundaries changed where your family lived, you would need to find out if the records moved within the new boundaries. For example: in eastern Europe, countries fought and ownership changed very regularly. Sometimes they would leave the records where they were and sometimes they would move them. Learning the basic history of the area that your ancestors lived in will help with this dramatically.
I will add to my tips as the week goes on so please check back for more!
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Oct
09
2006
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Written by Kelly Whitelock
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Monday, 09 October 2006 |
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Something that I found this week were marriage records for Pinellas County Florida. I went to www.ancestry.com and found these records. I actually found a relative that was married in Florida in the 30's that I wasn't aware of. I was also able to confirm dates and name spellings that I hadn't known before.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is working hard to get their microfilms scanned and available to the general public for free. This is a huge task but it will be such a blessing! I understand that within a year we will all be able to see a portion of the files.
I'll definitely keep you posted on this!
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Oct
06
2006
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EASY ANCESTOR FILE SHORT-CUT |
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Written by Kelly Whitelock
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Friday, 06 October 2006 |
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Have you ever gone to a library looking for your family members but forgot that one piece of paper with their information on it that you needed? I know that I have. Once you have progressed in your genealogy enough you will find that you have potentially hundreds of ancestors to keep track of. This is no small task. Many of us don't have laptop computers to take with us and even if we did, does that library have a wireless connection or outlets near by to use when our batteries run low. These are things that we need to contend with when we are doing our research.
The solution is a neat tip that I picked up from one of my genealogy buddies. What you need to do is buy a Rolodex! Surprising but true! In a Rolodex you can alphabetize your family and put their basic info. on each card. You could go even as far as printing out their info. and taping it to the Rolodex card. This is an awesome way to carry your ancestors information with you in a small container to any location that you might be going. Another tip, if you want, you can now buy different colors of Rolodex cards. Then you can color code your family lines.
Then, if you have Smith's on both sides of your family, you know which ones belong to which line. This is a very easy solution to keeping track of your ancestors and the information that you need on them.
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Oct
05
2006
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Written by Kelly Whitelock
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Thursday, 05 October 2006 |
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I jot down notes on little pieces of paper as well as on papers inside of my genealogy notebook. Through the years I have gone through my notebook and found notes that meant very little to me when I wrote them down, but mean the world to me now.
As you grow in your knowledge of genealogy, you will see the importance of the little things that you didn't pick up on in the beginning. There's no point in being hard on yourself later on when that light bulb goes off in your head and you can't believe that you didn't see that before. So, don't get down on yourself like I and others have done in the past. Enjoy the excitement of your new understanding and run with it!
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Sep
26
2006
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Written by Kelly Whitelock
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
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What a great day I had yesterday! I worked in the Family History Center and a friend of mine from church came to visit me. She and I thought that we were related but were not positive. So, we set out to find some information on our families. After she filled out a pedigree chart on my side of the family that I thought the connection was in, I went to the computer.
Our FHC's have full access to www.Ancestry.com and I plugged in my family's info. I looked under the 1900 U.S. Census and found my Great-Great Grandparents. They were the last family listed on the page. Well, as I was printing off copies of their information, I had an idea pop into my head. I thought that I should look at the next page just in case someone else lived with them that I couldn't see on the page that I was looking at. Well, I did that and I struck Genealogy Gold! Not only were there two additional people living with them but I found out that my friends Great-Grandparents lived RIGHT NEXT DOOR! You can imagine my excitement! So, we imagine that my Great-Great Grandmother and her Great Grandfather are siblings! We haven't proved it yet but it seems too good to be true for us to deny that it isn't a true possiblity! We were so excited that we were high-fiving each other!
So, any time that you look at a Census record, it's a great idea to go a page ahead or a page backwards to see if there are more family members that live near by. Maybe you will strike Census Gold like we did!?!?
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