The Amazing Power of FamilySearch Indexing
I spent some time indexing a set of about 160 names from the Philadelphia Marriage Index (1885-1916) yesterday through the all-volunteer FamilySearch Indexing project. This wasn't my first foray into indexing through FamilySearch, but their recent release of Philadelphia Death Records on FamilySearch Record Search (free access to all) got me wondering what other projects are currently in the works. Since I received such personal benefit from the Philadelphia Death Records that were previously indexed by other volunteers, I felt it was only fair to put in some time helping to index the Philadelphia Marriage Records.
I've blogged about FamilySearch Indexing before, but it's amazing how much the project has grown in recent months. Over 150,000 volunteers worldwide have signed on, and collectively are creating an average of more than 1.5 million indexed names each day! This makes FamilySearch Indexing the world's largest volunteer-based indexing effort according to Senior Manager of FamilySearch Indexing, Stephen Valentine. I was surprised to learn that volunteers cover a wide age group with more than 55% younger than 60 years of age; genealogy is no longer an activity only for the retired crowd! Twenty percent of volunteers are actually in the 20-40 year old age group (including me, although just barely).
A Spanish language version of the Web site and software was recently launched so Spanish-speaking volunteers can now participate. The project is in special need of more Spanish-reading/speaking assistance for special Spanish-language projects such as the 1930 Mexico Census. A major focus for 2008 will be to continue to expand FamilySearch Indexing internationally, including major record collections from Canada, England, Germany and Latin America.
One other interesting focus of FamilySearch Indexing is their efforts to partner with other organizations to enhance their existing index data. This is geared toward genealogical societies, archives and commercial companies who have previously created indexes that either aren't as accurate or as complete as they might like. FamilySearch can import their data into the FamilySearch Indexing system - using the original index as their "A" key [Note: FamilySearch Indexing utilizes a double-blind indexing system, with two individuals independently indexing the same data (keys "A" and "B"), with any descrepancies between the two extractions arbitrated by an expert third individual]. FamilySearch Indexing volunteers then create a second B key with the uploaded data, which is then compared against the original index (A key). Differences between the two are arbitrated by experts to produce a more complete and accurate final index.
If you're interested in joining the FamilySearch Indexing revolution, the software is easy to download and use, and instructions are well thought out and generally self-explanatory. When extracting surnames from the Philadelphia Marriage Index, for example, I wasn't sure what to do about the Jr included in the surname field. So I checked the instructions for "Surname" which told me to exclude all titles, including Jr. Question answered and I was back to extracting. There are many interesting projects to choose from, and you can select which records you're interested in extracting (although the specific batch of names will be assigned to you automatically). For more insight into the FamilySearch Indexing process, Renee Zamora has a great series of posts titled Adventures in FamilySearch Indexing on Renee's Genealogy Blog.
Comments
Kimberly;
Thanks for updating us in the Indexing work. I’m curious about the quality of the images you are working from. Are you finding them readable? I looked at some German images and decided I wasn’t up to the task.
nothing is free. One is requested to join and then its “free”
Question for H Freedman– why do you say it is not free if all you have to do is join?
It’s free. There’s no fee, no money to pay, no cost. That is to say, it’s free.
It is free, and you need to join so that the operation can keep track of you as a volunteer. Can you imagine if someone volunteered just to maliciously corrupt their data? Or started keying in obscenities? The double blind keying system would catch it before the data went live, but what a waste of everyone’s time. It needs to be a controlled environment.
I have been indexing for over two years now. I love it so much and learn so much about people’s lives from it. If any one is just starting to index don’t start with any of the foreign language projects. It’s best to start with easier ones like the Irish birth, marriage, death project or the Philidelphia marriage, even the 1870 census projects aren’t too bad. Start slow and you’ll learn to love it. I do between 2,000 and 3,000 each month and would like to do more. When it’s done it will be such a great help for people doing their family history/genealogy.
“Twenty percent of volunteers are actually in the 20-40 year old age group (including me, although just barely).”
Congratulations on turning 20!
– The Ancestry Insider
Let’s approach this logically.
Many earlier posts are concerned that a loved one from the past has been baptized into another faith; “Mormonism”. They are upset that we would force others to join our religion. Please understand our perspective.
Baptism is an outward sign of an inward conviction. No one (as stated in previous posts) is “forced” into “Mormonism”. No person who has had a proxy baptism is ever considered a member of Christ’s (Our) Church. Free agency (choice) is always respected. No one can be forced into heaven.
We believe that we are members of Christ’s church. This church, we believe in has existed off and on from the beginning of time through Patriarchs like Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham. It existed to prepare the Jews for the coming of Christ. It existed though Jesus and His Apostles in the Early Church.
We also believe it was restored in 19th century by the return of Christ, ancient apostles, and Prophets. We also believe we are preparing for the 2nd Coming of Christ.
If others are correct that Christ is not responsible for directing this work then proxy baptisms mean nothing and will be of no affect in this life or the one to come. It will not matter that someone from the past was a Jew or Christian or a Moslem or a Hindu. Where authority is of no affect, the action (Baptism) means nothing.
On the other hand, if the great Jehovah or Christ is leading this work as directed by the only true and living God; those that challenge the pursuit of this work do so at their Jeopardy.
“Many earlier posts are concerned that a loved one from the past has been baptized into another faith”
These are also MY loved ones from the past - I would like to at least offer them baptism into Christ’s church. Salvation is always a matter of personal choice - even the greatest proxy work of all time - the atonement of Christ - is only valid in the lives of those who choose to make it so even though it was done on behalf of every person who has ever or will ever live on this earth.
I am an arbitrator in familysearchindexing. I do both English and Spanish and have been involved from the very beginning. It is extremely interesting and miraculous how the work is progressing. Kudos to all of you out there who are so diligent.