Printing Charts in FamilySearch

The Brigham Young University Library continues posting is educational series of videos on various aspects of family history. This is latest video posted that gives you an overview of how to print pedigree charts, family group records and fan charts from the data in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. So far, the BYU Family History Library videos have had over 27,000 views.

FamilySearch App Gallery jumps to 95 listed Apps

Briefly, the last couple of days, the FamilySearch.org App Gallery jumped to 96 Apps, but then dropped down to its more recent total of 95. If you click on any of the large icons representing the various programs or Apps, you can see more details about that particular App. Here is an example if I click on the link to see the "A Family Tree by FamilySearch - iOS." If you want to see all of the Apps at once, you have to click on the menu and view "All Categories."

You might want to spend a few minutes and review the offerings. The Apps are available on the Web or for specific operations systems, such as iOS, Android, Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The Apps may be free, available on subscription or have a one time payment. By the way, the term "App" is nothing more than a jargon term for program or application. The Apps fall into several different categories. Some are full-blown applications and others are utilities designed to work with the FamilySearch.org Family Tree.

There is a provision for ranking the programs or Apps with stars. The present rankings are based on very few responses and are not at all reliable. They will only become reliable as people rank the programs. If you want more reliable family history reviews, see GenSoftReviews.com.

I Am a Pioneer from FamilySearch -- New Records Reveal Previously Unknown Pioneers

In a blog post by Paul G. Nauta, entitled "New Records Reveal Previously Unknown Mormon Pioneers," FamilySearch and the The Church History Library announced:

In a collaboration between the Church History Library and FamilySearch, individuals can now discover and explore more of their pioneer heritage on the newly redesigned Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel website that also includes information about previously unknown pioneers. In addition to discovering your pioneer ancestors, new features enable people to read their ancestors’ personal journals, see available photos, and learn key details about major events in their ancestors’ lives. 

Since the site was first launched, an influx of pioneer documentation has allowed historians to reconcile and expand their understanding of the trek west. The site now includes information about more than 57,000 individuals in 370 pioneer companies, with thousands of original trail excerpts that are authoritatively documented. “This is an extremely significant database,” said Keith Erekson, Church History Library Director. “It reveals so much about individual pioneers and their experiences, but it also offers fresh new insights about their collective experience.” Site updates include the ability to submit family photographs of pioneers and to link to digital copies of sources on the Internet. There are also new articles of interest, including humorous stories from the trail.

In conjunction with this new website update, FamilySearch is encouraging individuals today to see themselves as modern-day pioneers. Here is the excerpt.

Millions of people continue to be inspired by the courage, faith, and triumphs of the Mormon pioneers. Many of us are unknowingly modern pioneers, whose courage, personal achievements, and applied faith will be equally inspiring to future posterity and generations. This updated site will be featured in the international “I Am a Pioneer” social media campaign (#IAmAPioneer) that will encourage individuals today to see themselves as modern-day pioneers and recognize the need to readily capture their stories of triumph online for future generations. Learn more about this initiative at FamilySearch.org/iamapioneer.

Second Annual Worldwide Indexing Event

In a press release dated July 15, 2015, FamilySearch announces its Second Annual Worldwide Indexing Event scheduled for August 7th to the 14th, 2015. The theme of this year's event is "Fuel the Find." The Infographic image explains how indexing assists the family history research process. Here is quote from the press release about the effort to index records:

Indexed (transcribed) historical records are like the fuel that powers genealogical search engines such as FamilySearch.org, enabling people to find missing or unknown branches in their family trees. Beyond simple name searches, indexed records also allow FamilySearch.org to provide patrons with highly relevant and accurate hints, essentially bringing the records of their ancestors to them automatically. Every name that a volunteer indexes from a historical record adds another drop of precious fuel that can ultimately help someone easily and quickly find a missing ancestor.

The goal this year is to expand the base of indexers to include those who are fluent in other languages. Here is the goal:

Already one of the largest and most successful volunteer transcription programs in history with more than 1.3 billion records indexed since 2007, FamilySearch indexing is looking toward this year’s event to launch an expanded push for indexed records in languages other than English. Currently FamilySearch.org offers 20 times more searchable records in English than in all other languages combined. To balance this ratio, people with fluency in other languages, especially French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, are being sought as indexing volunteers. 

An additional goal is to exceed the effort from last year.

Last year’s Worldwide Indexing Event established a one-week record of 91,721 participants. This year, more than 100,000 participants are expected. To be counted, each volunteer must submit at least one indexing or arbitration batch sometime during the week. Volunteers and potential volunteers can visit FamilySearch.org/indexingevent2015 to learn more, including strategies for avoiding high demand periods that may tend to slow down the indexing system.   

 

What and Where is the Ancestral File?

The contents of the Ancestral File were part of the original records that were seeded into the database that was used first, by the new.FamilySearch.org program and finally, as the basis for the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. Here is what the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki has to say about the Ancestral File:

Ancestral File is a computerized collection of genealogies that links families into pedigrees, showing ancestors and descendants. It contains information for about 40 million people from throughout the world. It shows individuals’ names, family relationships, dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. Ancestral File was created from thousands of user submitted pedigree charts, family group sheets, and GEDCOM files. Submissions were merged to reduce duplication and submitted corrections were applied to rectify errors.

• The current site contains 40 million, 5 million more than the previous website.
• Information is not displayed for living individuals, including submitters.
• Pedigree charts will soon be supported.

The program is found in the main Search menu under the selection for Search Genealogies. There is a further pull-down menu that will let you search all of the four collections on this page or each individually. Here is a screenshot of the link to the menu:

There are, of course, some limitations on the data in the Ancestral File. First and foremost it is not considered a "source." All of the information is user submitted and therefore only as reliable as the researcher who submitted the information. Here is a summary of the issues with the database from the Research Wiki:

The Ancestral File has several key limitations.

• It contains no notes or sources.
• Submitters are responsible for the accuracy of the information. FamilySearch did not check the accuracy of any submission.
• Submitter information, previously available, is now hidden for privacy reasons.
• Ancestral File contains many errors and corrections are not accepted.
• Ancestral File also contains duplicates which were not identified and merged (often due to inconsistent or scanty data).
• Unlike the new FamilySearch Tree and Pedigree Resource File (PRF), Ancestral File is static.
• As previously mentioned, information in Ancestral File is second-hand. Verify the information before accepting it.

Despite these limitations, the Ancestral File can be a good place to start your research.

MyHeritage Introduces Global Name Translation™

How would you like to search in English for your Russian ancestors and have the search done in Russian with the results translated back into English for your convenience? This is how the new technology from MyHeritage.com works. Quoting from a blog post entitled, "New Feature: Global Name Translation™ Technology."

This innovation now makes it even easier to discover your global roots. The technology automatically translates names found in historical records and family trees from one language into another, at very high accuracy, generating all plausible translations, to facilitate matches between names in different languages. In addition, a manual search on MyHeritage's SuperSearch, will return results in other languages, automatically translated into the language of the query.

The post goes on to explain,

The technology covers given names and surnames and can tackle names previously encountered in the past, in addition to new names not seen before. It also utilizes extensive dictionaries built by MyHeritage to cover synonyms and nicknames. 

For example, a search for Alessandro (Alexander in Italian) will also find "Саша" (the Russian form of Sasha, a popular nickname for Alexander) with its corresponding translation into the language of your search.

How is this done? Here is a more technical explanation:

Global Name Translation™ is built on advanced algorithms and based on MyHeritage’s massive multilingual and international database of 6 billion family tree profiles and historical records. The technology is also integrated into our matching technologies, so you’ll begin receiving matches, with very high accuracy, translated on your behalf. 

If a user from Greece, with family tree data entered in Greek, is related to a user in Israel with family tree data entered in Hebrew, MyHeritage will be able to connect them by matching the names in both languages, and show the two users how their family trees overlap, leading to exciting family reunions as never before. 

Anyone with a family tree at MyHeritage can use our new Global Name Translation™ technology. Begin by enjoying automatic matches or use SuperSearch, our online database of billions of historical records, to find your ancestors from around the world. 

Our first version successfully translates names among English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Hebrew, Polish, Czech, Russian and Ukrainian. The next version, currently in development, will add Chinese and Japanese, and additional languages will follow.

This new technology is really a major advance, something we don't see every day.

Your family line on the FamilySearch Family Tree might be at an end and you don't know it

You might be impressed with your extended lines on the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, but the fact that there are names extending off into the distant past has absolutely not guarantee that you are really related to all these "ancestors." Fortunately, FamilySearch has added the caution icons that graphically show difficulties with the data. This Morgan line goes back to about the 800s AD but then it starts over again with a parent born 200 years later in about 1000 AD. Here is a screenshot of that portion of the Family Tree.

You could get really excited to see all these names go on and on. But there is a serious issue here. Here is where the problems arise. This is a screenshot of John Morgan, supposedly born in Shepardtown, Berkley, Virginia in "abt 1734." 

The initial problem is rather simple. Here is a quote about the history of Shepherdstown, now in West Virginia:

Colonial settlers began their migration into the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley in the early 18th century. Many crossed the Potomac River at Pack Horse Ford, about one mile (2 km) down river from the site of Shepherdstown. The Colony of Virginia began issuing Valley land grants in the 1730s. In 1734, Thomas Shepherd (1705-1776) was granted 222 acres (898,000 m²) on the south side of the Potomac (then called the Potowmack), along the Falling Spring Branch (now known as the Town Run). From that tract he selected 50 acres (202,000 m²) and laid out a town. Naming his town Mecklenburg, he petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for a charter, which was granted in 1762. Thomas Shepherd was the sole trustee, owning the town and being responsible for its government. A second charter, which allowed for self-government, was granted by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1794. In 1798, the corporate limits were extended and the name was changed to Shepherd's Town. After the American Civil War, the town's name was officially contracted to Shepherdstown.

John Morgan, b. abt 1734, could not have been born in Shepherdstown, Virginia. In addition, by consulting with the Newberry Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, we can learn that Berkeley County was created by Virginia from Frederick County in 1772, many years after John Morgan's approximate birth date. In 1734, there were no counties in the area now known as Shepherdstown. Note that the spelling of both the town and county on the Family Tree is wrong.

Of course, there is no death date for this "John Morgan" and there are only two sources listed. Both of the listed sources are extracted IGI records.

There is nothing in this record or any source connecting this John Morgan to my family line other than the fact that the Family Tree shows the connection. As a matter of fact, my own research is considerably different than what is shown in the Family Tree and my research did not extend past this person named John Morgan, neither have I been able to identify him accurately. This is not an indictment of the Family Tree so much as an indication that close examination of any of the extended family lines on the FamilySearch.org Family Tree are highly suspect unless completely sourced and documented.

If you take the time to follow your lines back on the Family Tree, you must realize that the first ancestor without verifiable sources is basically unsupported and could easily be fictitious. All of the programs that derive their data from the Family Tree (see FamilySearch Apps Gallery) are subject to this lack of verifiable accuracy. Think about it.