Record Breaking Indexing

     On Monday, July 2nd FamilySearch Indexing is hoping to index 5 million names over a 24 hour period. The previous record is 4.9 million, so I think 5m is doable. Who knows, maybe we can finish off the 1940 census?

      Information for this event can be found on Facebook, as well as by logging into the indexing software.  If you've never indexed before, you can find more information here: FamilySearch Indexing.

     Given that this event is taking place over a 24 hour period, the actual event day is different depending on your time zone.  The "day" actually starts at 00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC/GMT). So for example, Atlanta (-5 GMT) can start participating at 8pm on July 1st. Here's a list of the time zones:

• Sydney, Australia: July 2 @ 10:00 AM
• Moscow, Russia: July 2 @ 4:00 AM
• Kyiv, Ukraine: July 2 @ 3:00 AM
• Johannesburg, South Africa: July 2 @ 2:00 AM
• Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels, Warsaw, Stockholm: July 2 @ 2:00 AM
• London, England: July 2 @ 1:00 AM
• Sao Paulo, Brazil: July 1 @ 9:00 PM
• Buenos Aires, Argentina: July 1 @ 9:00 PM
• Ottawa, Canada: July 1 @ 8:00 PM
• Santiago, Chile: July 1 @ 8:00 PM
• New York City, New York: July 1 @ 8:00 PM
• Chicago, Illinois: July 1 @ 7:00 PM
• Salt Lake City, Utah: July 1 @ 6:00 PM
• Phoenix, Arizona: July 1 @ 5:00 PM
• Los Angeles, California: July 1 @ 5:00 PM
• Anchorage, Alaska: July 1 @ 4:00 PM
• Honolulu, Hawaii: July 1 @ 2:00 PM

Feel free to use the above image to promote this event.

Tombstone Tuesday - The Evans Family Plot

     This is the Evans family plot at the Rock Branch Baptist Church in Elbert County, Georgia. Buried in this plot are, from left to right, Harriett Partain Evans and William A Evans (3x Great Grandparents),  Leila Craft Evans Brown and John Evans (2x Great Grandparents),  Ethel Evans (daughter of Leila and John), Leila Evans (daughter of Harriett and William), Luther Evans (daughter of Leila and John). At the end of this row is another grave, one that may or may not belong in the Evans plot. I can't read the stone:

Here are the other stones in the plot:

 

Return to Sender

     Back in March I wrote about some personal letters of actress and step-cousin, Edith Fellows.  With only a slight connection to her, I thought that there might be more immediate relatives who would like to have the letters.

     Based on information I received from my aunt, I knew the name of her daughter and son-in-law and I was able to confirm this information on IMDB.com, a movie database website.  Since Edith's daughter and grandaughter are both actresses, I was able to follow a "family tree" on IMDB. I was then able to find Edith's granddaughter, Natalie, on Facebook.  A few days and a few messages later, Edith's letter's were in the mail and on their way back to her family.

     Although this example is a little different, it shows that there are other resources for genealogists, than those created explicitly for genealogy.

New Beta features at 23andMe

   23andMe's ancestry features have changed a lot since I first posted about them on this blog, and there are more changes yet to come. A few days ago I received an invitation to be a beta tester for some new features at 23andMe.  These new features were announced at the recent SoCal Jamboree and mentioned on a number of blogs.  So far two new features have been introduced to beta testers: the My Ancestry page and Relative Finder Geographic Map View.

     Here's what the My Ancestry page looks like:

     Pretty much, this is a landing or summary page of 23andMe's genealogy features. Each box links you to the corresponding feature, though not always in a way you might expect. For example: the Top Relatives Surnames box. If you click on the Smith section in this box you might expect to be taken to a list of your Smith matches, but you are only taken to the basic Relative Finder list page.  You will then have to manually search for anyone named Smith.  This page is still under development, with graphics updates in the works. Overall I think that this page is a simple, yet logical, addition to the site.

     The other new feature is the Relative Finder Geographic Map View:

     This is a new way to look at the pre-existing Relative Finder match list, accessed via a toggle button on the RF page. Each marker indicates a geographic location that one of your matches has listed in their profile. The number on the marker indicates the combined number of times that place is listed in those profiles.  Here's a closeup view:

     You can see that I have 35 matches that mention North Carolina as a location for their ancestors. The matches don't seem to appear to be in any particular order. It would be nice to see public matches first, in order of percentage shared. Click on a match's name and you'll be taken to their profile

     The matches shown on your RF Map view can be adjusted to the following levels: Close Relatives, 1st-3rd Cousins, 4th-6th Cousins, and Distant Cousins. It's interesting to note that these categories are different from the ones listed on the RF List view. When initially viewing the map, I eliminate the Close Relatives - I know what locations I'm looking for and seeing my self and my parents just clutters the map.

     One thing about this map: it won't work if users don't properly fill out their profile.  The location data seems to be pulled from "Family Locations" portion of each user's profile. This section is a bit confusing to fill out to begin with. There are no instructions and the locations need to be filled out properly and separated by commas and semicolons.  I have seen many, many, many profiles where folks have written paragraphs worth of information, which doesn't work with the system. Because of the confusion created by this, many people list only basic locations, such as states. After not seeing my mom's locations on my map, I realized that I had listed only states on her profile. A random dot in the middle of Georgia isn't exactly helpful when trying to find a match. At minimum, users should list counties. I would recommend that prompt be added on the profile page and the RF pages to help users fill out their profiles.

     Some other improvements that would be nice:

• When you click on a match, it would be neat to see a "other locations in common" link, that might highlight any other location markers we share.
• Ditto with any other matches that we might have in common.
• As the gedcom feature is rolled out, perhaps surnames and locations will be integrated together in this feature. 
• As I switch over to list view, my settings should be the same. So, if I was just viewing 3rd-4th cousins on the map, I should see those, and only those, results on my list view.
• Move duplicate listings in the same locations. For example, I list Edgefield County, SC twice in my profile, once for my maternal side and one for my paternal side. I am listed twice on the map for Edgefield County, which is unnecessary. 

     There are more new features coming, including Gedcom uploads. I'm excited to see what new features are coming, as well as what improvements will be implemented. 23andMe is off to a great start so far.