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Genealogy Scams and Red Flags

With the growing popularity of genealogy and family history, it is easy to find hundreds of internet sites dedicated to the subject; from sites claiming to have huge databases to others that promise to contain information relevant and specific to your family tree, surname or coat of arms.

Beginning Genealogists should be aware that not every genealogy site is as good as the claims they make.

Genealogy Scams

While a great deal of family tree sites are trustworthy, newcomers to genealogy can sometimes fall prey to less reputable sites that exist to take your money and offer you zero results or results you could have found for free.  Additionally family tree research novices should beware of “genealogy sites” that exist for the sole intention of gathering your personal information for the purpose of email marketing or worse…identity theft.

Before you enter your details for any family tree site, research the site to see what they are claiming to offer.

A reputable genealogy site will:

• List exactly the information, records and databases you can access once you have signed up
• State the locations and periods for which records are available
• State the source of the records or information they hold

Top Three Genealogy Site Red Flags:

#1. A site that makes generalized claims such as “Largest Genealogy Database”, “Millions of Names Free”, “Your Family Story” or simpler claims to “marriage or birth records” without any detail provided…should be avoided.

#2.  Your “Free Search” results are ambiguous. For example, a search return that says they have found X-number of results on the name you entered without details. A good test of this kind of result is to type in a nonsense name such as Harry I. Balls or Jemima Pancakes to see how many results you get.

#3. A site that only provides an online contact form and does not list contact information such as a telephone number or address is not a good bet.  A site without customer service is an absolute no go.

Although there are no 100%, fail-safes as these sites tend to come and go rather quickly. Following the above mentioned simple precautions may help you spot Red flags and make adding those names to your family template a safe and enjoyable experience.

LDS Family Search: How to access un-indexed records for the Genealogy Beginner

Most beginning genealogists very quickly become familiar with the LDS Family Search site.  No surprise there, as Family Search has 2.34 billion free searchable records currently indexed.  Millions of family history enthusiasts regularly use the search fields on the home page to explore these records. However, when this search tool fails to result in finding an ancestor, many beginners give up; believing the record they are searching for is not there.  This is unfortunate, as there are 312.4 million names yet to be indexed and they can be accessed through the image collections known as “Browse Only”.

If you cannot find the record you are searching for at familysearch.org. Do not give up too easily it may just be hiding somewhere else on the site.

Browse only collections

Browse only collections are filmed images of original records that are waiting future indexing.   Family Search has made these images available to researchers through a technique referred to as Waypointing.  The Waypointing method operates by grouping images by record type, year range and geographic location.  One way to think of it is as a digitized microfilm reader that allows genealogists to view images from home.  Images they would otherwise have to visit their nearest Family History Center to see.  If you do not find your ancestor by conducting a regular search, try using browse only.

How to use Waypointing

Let us assume that a genealogy beginner is searching for the marriage record of their ancestor Leander Russel.  They have found a death record that puts him in St. Clair, Michigan in 1875.  The death record also shows him being born in St. Clair; however, there is no information about his marital status other than widower.  Our beginning genealogist takes a logical step and logs onto Family Search. Unfortunately, the search yields no results.  Here is where knowing how to use the browse only images can make the difference between finding the record and hitting a brick wall.

Waypointing walk through

Accessing the Browse only images collection is easy.  Going back to the Family Search home page our beginning genealogist scrolls down until they find “All Record Collections”. Clicking on this brings them to the Historical Records Collection page.  From here there are two options, either scroll down the list to see if there are any records for Michigan or use the search field at the top of the page.

Typing Michigan into the search field brings up two browse only image collections and one of them is for Michigan County Marriages 1820-1835.  Clicking browse images from the right hand column opens a page that lists all of the counties in that collection and St. Clair is among them. Following that link opens another page giving year ranges for the marriages. Our genealogy newbie selects the most likely range and begins going through the records.

Navigating the document is simple. On the top of the page, a navigation bar allows the option of jumping to a specific page. This is a good thing when you are looking at a document containing hundreds of pages.   Using this method the marriage record for Leander is found and another genealogy beginner hits pay dirt.  Of course, this search would have been much faster and easier were the record previously indexed.

Wrap Up

Family Search is a free search site and volunteers are the key to getting information online. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer indexer, more information can be found at:http:

//www.genealogybeginner.com/community/genealogy-in-general/indexing-records-for-family-search#p51

Do not forget to use the browse only image collection the next time a regular search produces a negative outcome.

A Well-Kept Secret: The Internet Archives is an Amazing Resource for Genealogists

The Internet Archives is front-page news for all beginning genealogists and family historians. Internet Archives is taking a lesson from the lost library of Alexandria.  Alleged to be the greatest repository of knowledge in the known world, the Great Library housed books written by the most renowned scholars and philosophers: but all that was lost when it burned to the ground. In collaboration with the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress, The Internet Archives is actively working to digitize and preserve written records for coming generations. This is great news for genealogists.

The archives has an ever expanding compilation of resources consisting of  items from the National Library of Scotland, The University of Toronto and the Boston Public Library to name a few.

What you will find at the Internet Archives

Some major genealogical resources you can find on their site include Biographical documents, Vital Statistics and books on surname origins. Perhaps most significant to genealogy research is their collection of Old Parish Registers from Great Britain, Canada and the United States. Even better is the fact that accessing this information is easy and free.

How to access records

For beginning genealogists or those new to online research it may seem a little complicated at first.  Do not be intimidated, it is actually effortless to get straight to the information you want in three simple steps.

Because Genealogy Beginner is here to help you, we have put together a little walk through to get you started, just click to Old Parish Registers and scroll to the Record of the parish list of deaths. 1785-1819 – Bentley, William, 1759-1819, Salem Mass.

Step one:

Click on Record of the parish list of deaths. 1785-1819 – Bentley, William, 1759-1819, Salem Mass. and it will take you to http://www.archive.org/details/recordofparishli00bent

Step two:

Click on “editable web page”  at the bottom of the first text box and it will take you to “Open Library”

Step three:

Click “read online” at the top of the right hand column.  Once you are here, you are ready to read.  At the bottom of the page, you can use the page-turner icons or simply drag your mouse to select a specific page. The richness of genealogical information is astounding. For instance, on page 143 of this document you can find entry # 1087 that gives the following account:

“Nov.7. Margaret, widow of Benjamin Nurse. Fever, etc.,  67 years. She was a Welcome in Daniels Street. Married at 26, and lived thirty years in married life. Her husband a baker. Left two children: eldest son in Boston. Her Brother Thomas married a Lambert. A sister Foye only one left. Daniels Street.”

Wrap up

In addition to the main collection, there are also sub collections that cover passenger lists, Military records and books from the Brigham Young University Family History Library. The Internet Archive is a wholly not-for-profit organization. It was founded for the sole purpose of building an internet library that offers unending access to historical collections for researchers, historians, genealogists and the public. The Internet Archives is a site that all genealogists need to bookmark.

New Magazine for Genealogy Beginners

All of a sudden there seems to be a run on posts related to magazines. Here is another one I came across this morning. Discovering Family History is a new magazine geared toward the beginning genealogist. You can download a free (no sign-up required) preview at the link above. The publisher writes: “Welcome to Discovering Family History, the latest magazine from the publishers of Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy and History Magazine. This new bi-monthly magazine is targeted at people who are starting their genealogy, need a refresher course or are tackling a new aspect of genealogy.

 

Discovering Family History articles are being written by some of the most respected book and magazine authors ­ and many of them have extensive experience of teaching genealogy courses, either face-to-face or online.

Even if you have been conducting your genealogy research for many years, you may want to take a look at what Discovering Family History has to offer: as you get more and more into your family history, you will find the need to investigate resources that are completely new to you. Discovering Family History can help.”

I love this free preview. The articles appear to be exciting and well written. Some article titles include:

• A Few Fantastic Free Family History Websites
• Let Obituaries Speak to You (<– With an Excellent Graphic)
• Who Else is Researching Your Name
• What is a Vital Record

Good stuff!

 

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Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

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