A website suggestion from Sandy

Sandy found a website that might be helpful in your research. Here is what she said:

There is a website called SmartBackgroundChecks that  I like because it reminds me of MyLife.com.  It has the month and year of birth along with relatives and addresses.  It has been handy and often has information for people that TruePeople does not have.  Check it out.

https://www.smartbackgroundchecks.com/ 

Grandchildren progress report - January 22

Here is our progress on the Grandchildren sample as of yesterday, January 22, 2020.

Grandchildren Sample	POW	Non-POW	Total
Total RecIds Completed	122	213	335
RecIds Completed in the Last Week	4	19	23
% Sample Completed	--	--	11.9
Total Grandchildren (including new)	--	--	33209
New Grandchildren Added	184	346	530
Total Grandchildren Completed	--	--	4364
% Grandchildren Completed	--	--	13.14
Birth Dates Added	1600	2675	4275
Death Dates Added	1372	2446	3818
Death Causes Added	273	472	745
Found 1930	710	1135	1845
Found 1940	864	1489	2353
Living Grandchildren	32	24	56
New Living Male-line Great Grandsons Found	38	139	177
New Living Male Greats Found in Last Week	2	4	6
Child Death Causes Added	--	--	64

Total Sample = 2826

NY historic newspapers

Sandy found a new resource that she's had some good luck using. I'm sure we've all had trouble finding information on families who were born, lived, or died in New York state. Sandy found a link allowing access to historic New York newspapers.

Here's what she had to say about it: It allows you to search for names and counties or all counties, date range and combination of words. For example, I searched for Hattie Flanders in all counties between 1940 and 1950 and got like 36 results.  But then I typed "Hattie Flanders died" and I got the obituary (instead of all the social gossip articles).  Very cool!

Here's the link: https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/ 

VCC screens version 1.82

The VCC screens have been updated. Before you begin work, make sure it says version: 1.82 at the top. This will ensure that you have all the correct fields and that everything saves properly. We don't know if any bugs will happen, so you might want to occasionally make sure the death screen has saved after you submit it.

Here are the changes:

Other: For Primary Cause of Death Duration there is now an "Other" box. This is a text box, so you may enter anything that doesn't fit in the Years, Months, Days boxes. Some examples of what you might enter here include: sudden, 1 hour, unknown, date of onset mm/dd/yyyy. When entering date of onset, type it in exactly the format shown: "date of onset mm/dd/yyyy" (in that order, including the slashes). If there are other dates you need to enter that aren't date of onset, label them.

Birth Sources: Birth sources have been separated from the death sources. If you find the birth date on multiple sources, please check multiple source boxes. If you select "Other," copy and paste the title of the record directly from the source (removing any apostrophes). "Life Claim/SS" is the same as "Social Security Death Index or Life Claim" in the death sources.

Birth Sources: Military Record: If the birth date comes from any military record such as draft cards or enlistments, check "Military Record." There is no need to select "Other" and copy the title of the record. Do not confuse this with the death sources that lists Mil Info, which is only for military information included in the VCC screens (and will generally only be used if you have to update the death screen for one of the soldier's children).

Birth Sources: Census: You'll notice a "Census" box under birth sources. This box is ONLY to be checked if you DO NOT HAVE A BIRTH DATE FROM ANY SOURCE. If you don't have a birth date, you may go to the census decade closest to the person's birth and estimate the year (month and year if the decade is 1900) and enter it in the birth date field. Then check the Census box and select the census decade used to estimate the birth year. Use census decades that are already input on the VCC grid or that are on the family tree or in the hints. Do not do additional searches for census decades.

The Source URLs apply to both birth and death sources. If you have a link for different birth and death records, include one of each. Otherwise, just include the two best links that you find.

1930/1940 Census Information: If you select "M" for the "Marital Status" for either the 1930 or 1940 census, additional fields will appear. These are the same fields you input for the target individual. "Grade Completed" will be added for the spouse in 1940, soon. Enter all information for the target individual and the target individual's spouse. If EITHER the target individual or the target individual's spouse are the head of household, check the "Head of Household?" box and input the information.

Please begin using these new fields today, and mark on your log which family you're working on. On the soldier's line, type "Version 1.82, 11/19/2019."

Grandchildren progress report - November 13

Here is our progress on the Grandchildren sample as of November 13, 2019.

Grandchildren Sample	POW	Non-POW	Total
Total RecIds Completed	103	28	131
RecIds Completed in the Last Week	10	18	28
% Sample Completed	--	--	4.64
Total Grandchildren (including new)	15843	17017	32860
New Grandchildren Added	184	51	235
Total Grandchildren Completed	1472	310	1782
% Grandchildren Completed	9.29	1.82	5.4
Birth Dates Added	1358	310	1668
Death Dates Added	1246	302	1548
Death Causes Added	215	66	281
Found 1930	592	158	750
Found 1940	789	198	987
Living Grandchildren	24	0	24
New Living Male-line Great Grandsons Found	56	10	66
Child Death Causes Added	22	16	38

Total Sample = 2826