It turns out that old mistakes in household 0 are coming back to haunt us. So we have decided that you need to do more than a cursory check of HH0. Please check HH0 carefully. Add URLs. Check everything, not just occupation or M1/M2.
We don't know if the mistakes we're seeing are from problems with the original data collection or if they happened when data were uploaded to the VCC screens. Of course, most of you didn't make the mistakes. Sorry, you'll have to correct them.
We recognize that this will slow you down a little, if you haven't already been doing careful checks. Sorry about that. Please do your best to continue bringing your times down while doing this work.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Cause and contributing cause of death
We had a question about the contributory cause of death. According to the Mil Info, the cause of death was "Asthma caused by disease heart" with nothing listed in the contributing cause.
Here is the question.
Should "asthma" be input on the Death screen as the cause of death and "disease heart" be input as the contributory cause?
The short answer is no. You should enter it just as it was in the Mil Info. Don't put anything under contributing cause unless it specifically says "contributing cause" or it's listed next to "contributory" on the death cert.
Here is the question.
Should "asthma" be input on the Death screen as the cause of death and "disease heart" be input as the contributory cause?
The short answer is no. You should enter it just as it was in the Mil Info. Don't put anything under contributing cause unless it specifically says "contributing cause" or it's listed next to "contributory" on the death cert.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Searching
Here are some searching tips from Sandy.
Please remember you can search with one name only. You can even search a common name like John or Mary if you know exactly where they should be living, where they were born, where their parents were born, etc. Scroll down the list looking for a last name that looks similar to what you need. Remember it might start with a different letter (Hickson rather than Nickson, for example or Rammenam instead of Ammarman).
Similarly, you could search by last name only.
Or search with no names at all. Try searching all males born in 1844 (+/-5) in NY, living in Lebanon, MO. In this last case, Elija Pinkney was indexed as Eliza Priskrey.
Please remember you can search with one name only. You can even search a common name like John or Mary if you know exactly where they should be living, where they were born, where their parents were born, etc. Scroll down the list looking for a last name that looks similar to what you need. Remember it might start with a different letter (Hickson rather than Nickson, for example or Rammenam instead of Ammarman).
Similarly, you could search by last name only.
Or search with no names at all. Try searching all males born in 1844 (+/-5) in NY, living in Lebanon, MO. In this last case, Elija Pinkney was indexed as Eliza Priskrey.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Hints and records and family trees
When using the hints feature on the family tree, it is not necessary to clear all the hints. Sometimes there are a lot of hints, and you have to balance the time it takes to look at them all with the value they bring to your search and to the data.
When it comes to military records, Sandy had this to say. If there are just a few and you're sure it's the vet's records (you know where he served by his RecId number), you can save them to the tree if you want. But you don't have to. Sometimes the vet has more than 20 hints and you may not feel like doing all of them . By all means attach hints that you think might help you find your person. It comes down to personal preference and time. Please do attach any 1890 veterans census that appears to the veteran (and any WWI or WWII draft cards for any of his kids).
ALWAYS attach vital records to the tree for the veteran, his spouse, and their children. Make sure you remember to attach vital records that you found on both Family Search and Ancestry. Vital records include birth, marriage, and death records.
Always attach records that will be input on the Grid to the family tree. Also attach any records that will help generate useful hints.
If you have any tips about using hints or attaching records to the tree, please share them in the comments.
When it comes to military records, Sandy had this to say. If there are just a few and you're sure it's the vet's records (you know where he served by his RecId number), you can save them to the tree if you want. But you don't have to. Sometimes the vet has more than 20 hints and you may not feel like doing all of them . By all means attach hints that you think might help you find your person. It comes down to personal preference and time. Please do attach any 1890 veterans census that appears to the veteran (and any WWI or WWII draft cards for any of his kids).
ALWAYS attach vital records to the tree for the veteran, his spouse, and their children. Make sure you remember to attach vital records that you found on both Family Search and Ancestry. Vital records include birth, marriage, and death records.
Always attach records that will be input on the Grid to the family tree. Also attach any records that will help generate useful hints.
If you have any tips about using hints or attaching records to the tree, please share them in the comments.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Completed family trees
Just a reminder to download your completed family trees and email them to me or save them to the file server. Some of you, who are in the office, download them as you go. That's fine. Others give them to me at the end of the assignment. That's fine, too. Still others wait until I ask you a few times to get them to me. This is not fine.
If you've recently (or not so recently) completed an assignment, work out a plan to get me your completed family trees. It's OK, if you want to wait to download the tree until after a soldier is checked. Just let me know that's what you're doing, and don't forget to send the tree later.
We're having a problem with people waiting too long to get me their trees. By the time they get to the task, they've lost the trees. We have several missing family trees in Project 1.
Soon, we will be testing a new tool that will require you keep up with your family trees. It's a good idea to get into good habits now.
If you've recently (or not so recently) completed an assignment, work out a plan to get me your completed family trees. It's OK, if you want to wait to download the tree until after a soldier is checked. Just let me know that's what you're doing, and don't forget to send the tree later.
We're having a problem with people waiting too long to get me their trees. By the time they get to the task, they've lost the trees. We have several missing family trees in Project 1.
Soon, we will be testing a new tool that will require you keep up with your family trees. It's a good idea to get into good habits now.
Monday, May 16, 2016
New USCT record
Those of you who have been working on Project 2 know how difficult and frustrating it can be to find information on the USCT soldiers and their families. Recently, Stacy had a lot of success with one family.
There were 15 households and 164 people on the Grid. There were only three children that she couldn't find information for once they left the soldier's household. This is even more impressive, because the soldier's name was Robert Brown, and the family lived in the south!
I think Stacy was relieved after so much work to hit complete on this family. Good job, Stacy!
There were 15 households and 164 people on the Grid. There were only three children that she couldn't find information for once they left the soldier's household. This is even more impressive, because the soldier's name was Robert Brown, and the family lived in the south!
I think Stacy was relieved after so much work to hit complete on this family. Good job, Stacy!
Friday, May 13, 2016
Checking documents
Just a reminder about your checks. Please type the inputter's name at the top of the Word document. Some of you are forgetting to do this. You might consider typing the person's first and last name to prevent confusion. We have two Davids now, and at least once, the check was sent to the wrong David. When I ask you to check a David's work, I try to indicate which David it is.
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