U.S. Records Collection - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Re: How does one cross-reference spouse in Florida Marriage Collection?

TaedWynnell — 2013-06-03 03:40:19Z

I started using the Advanced Search to narrow down the month/year and the county. Searching on the certificate number didn't help. I found the first spouse that way, though it took about 10 minutes (the spouse's last name started with a "B").

However, I read the first reply above. Sure enough, the certificate was clickable. For whatever reason, that link appeared in nearly the same color as the other text (not in blue), so it was not noticable as a link.

Thanks, all!

Re: How does one cross-reference spouse in Florida Marriage Collection?

frostfreedet — 2013-06-03 02:22:39Z

You can search for the other party by using the certificate number or date (as it appears in the one record) as keyword.

There are other marriage records like this, also some baptismal records, such ss in some Berks County, PA church records.

Even when you find the other party, saving the record will not give you a marriage event encoded to link both parties. You can create a marriage event, after attaching each person's version to the record, then move the citation to the marriage event you created.

There are a lot of indexes that Ancestry acquired from external sources, which are not coded as one would wish. For large databases, it's a large amount of time/effort to go through each item and fix the coding.

Re: How does one cross-reference spouse in Florida Marriage Collection?

mbmjlm — 2013-06-03 00:05:24Z

It depends. Just checking now-I see that if the record comes from the Source: Dodd, Jordan R, et. al., Early American Marriages: Florida to 1850 there seems to be no way to discover the other spouse. However, if it looks like this:

Name: Evelyn May O'Berry
County of Marriage: Citrus
Volume: 4
Certificate: 910
Source: Florida Department of Health

Oftentimes the certificate is clickable and you will find the corresponding spouse-clicking on the example above, the corresponding spouse was a Guy Anderson. I'm only using these names as examples as they are not in my family tree.

Hope this helps.

How does one cross-reference spouse in Florida Marriage Collection?

TaedWynnell — 2013-06-02 13:20:05Z

Unlike the other marriage records that I've run across, the Florida Marriage Collection does not contain the spouse's name. The image contains a few other numbers, but still no spouse information.

For example:
Name: Robert E Wootters
County of Marriage: Dade
Volume: 1712
Certificate: 571

So, is it possible to cross-reference to find the spouse?

Re: Pennsylvania Birth and Death Certificates

frostfreedet — 2013-05-11 22:20:15Z

That availability will be death records, not birth records.

Only the first couple of years of birth records will be available due to statutory sequestration period.

Re: Pennsylvania Birth and Death Certificates

47pandamom — 2013-05-11 04:56:22Z

Thank you for this valuable information and the link to more information. I do hope that the process moves along quickly.

Re: Misindexing

daciodan — 2013-05-10 14:09:27Z

I see plenty of indexing errors on familysearch.org, presumedly done by well meaning, English as their first language, volunteers.

It's subjective, what looks like "a" to you, looks like and "e" to me.

Re: Misindexing

BrklynBridge — 2013-05-10 11:54:25Z

"The indexing on Ancestry can sometimes be awful and frankly Ancestry should be embarrassed."

I disagree...and sometimes you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. It seems ACOM has several choices here...

1. Only make non-indexed images available for browsing.

2. Rely upon volunteer indexing.

3. Sub-contract the indexing to the most cost-effective service provider thereby mitigating a need for subscription rate increases and live with the inevitable second-language errors to be noted/corrected on an ad hoc basis (a feature which, btw, FamilySearch does not yet provide).

I'll go with #3. YMMV.

Re: Pennsylvania Birth and Death Certificates

RobinBMc — 2013-05-10 10:08:47Z

http://home.ptd.net/~timarg/PaHR-Access-FAQ.htm#Who Is Going To Pay For This

The processing started on August 27, 2012 when the first batch of records have been transported to Ancestry's relatively close facilities in Silver Spring, MD. They have started with the earliest records (1906) and after each year is complete the following year will then be processed. While the records are being processed they will not be available at the State Archives. Ancestry is expected to make the records available online as they are processed and data extracted. All the records are expected to be done within 18 months (around February 2014). According to the state archivist the first patch of records are expected to be available online in "late Summer".

---

I assume "late summer" means summer of 2013 - so we should see the first batch available in the next few months or so with all the records available sometime early next year.

Misindexing

timarg1 — 2013-05-10 08:59:25Z

The indexing on Ancestry can sometimes be awful and frankly Ancestry should be embarrassed. I have seen such ridiculous indexing such as Dharles for Charles, Oohn for John, Searje for George and so on. On one page of military posts almost every name was misindexed despite the fact the writing was not that hard to decipher. But then English is not a second language for me and I'm quite familiar with American names.

Databases that contain ridiculous mistakes like this render the database useless when for example you're looking for John Fisher and it's indexed as Oohn Sisher. When I called the company about this particular page they claimed it would corrected shortly. A year later nothing had been done. And this is not an isolated case. I've found tons of mistakes like this, so many it would take me years to correct the ones I've come across.

Pennsylvania Birth and Death Certificates

47pandamom — 2013-05-10 05:23:02Z

When is Ancestry going to post the actual Birth and Death
Certificates for Pennsylvania that are currently being scanned?

Re: Frank (Franklin) H. Johnson

mbmjlm — 2013-04-04 06:37:52Z

Tell me about the surname Johnson. That is my maiden name. I know just how hard it is especially in Tennessee where every other person is a Johnson. I was fortunate with mine several years ago because my father and his siblings knew a good bit about their father and his family in Tennessee. I was told by someone that Tennessee should have been named Johnson because there are so many of them there. However, I too would suggest posting on other message boards instead of this one which is dedicated to US Records Collection and not surnames. Do use ancestry for death and marriage records because you might be surprised at what you find. Familysearch is another good place.

Frank (Franklin) H. Johnson

Phyl00 — 2013-04-04 00:39:07Z

I am trying find out who are the parents of my gr-grandfather Frank (Franklin) H. Johnson. I have found that he was born 29 Oct 1855 in Missouri, but don't know town or county. He died in Shelby County, IL on 17 Jan 1915. He married Margaret Elizabeth George(1879) and they had the following children: Effa Johnson born April 1879, Ella born June 1884, Grover Cleveland born 4 November 1886, James Henry born 25 February 1889, Mary born December 1890, Iva Melvina born 23 September 1894, Elsie Viola born 20 March 1898, Grace born 23 December 1901 and Nellie M born 13 August 1903. Any help with this, would be appreciated

Moved to Shelby County, IL board

Re: Frank (Franklin) H. Johnson

barbdale_1 — 2013-04-03 23:38:09Z

You might have better luck posting on the Shelby County Illinois board.
You might try looking for a death certificate or obit that may list a county, or his parents names that could give you a lead. I know how hard it is with a surname like Johnson!

Re: Problem with U.S. City Directories - Old Search

JimLivermoreNY — 2013-04-02 10:10:56Z

I missed that, thanks.

Re: Problem with U.S. City Directories - Old Search

BobNY — 2013-04-01 16:41:21Z

It has been that way since at least 18 Feb, with no response from Staff.

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.ancsite/12619/mb....

Problem with U.S. City Directories - Old Search

JimLivermoreNY — 2013-04-01 11:56:05Z

Any attempt to refine a search in this collection will result in a No Match. It seems the year of interest section is borked.

Re: Please fix Date problem Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941

BurgessDonnelly — 2013-03-31 00:41:47Z

The Oconee County Georgia marriage collection has similar issues. All marriages of blacks have been converted into marriages between 2 Army officers, because the "col" abbreviation has been interpreted as Colonel. In addition, the location imports as "Georgia, Georgia" instead of Oconee [County], Georgia.

I've reported both issues multiple times.

Date Problem in Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941

bonedigger176 — 2013-03-30 15:49:00Z

I posted about this problem less than 12 hours ago on this board only to find it deleted now. I'm attaching screen shots of the problem encountered which involves the date of marriage being shown as "month-month-year" rather than "month-day-year" as it should be. Not sure why my original message would be deleted but hope this message lasts long enough for others to read it.

And for the administrator of this board...I'm not going to go away and give up posting to the board about this problem. I can re-post my message as many times as you'd like to delete them.

This is a mess . . .

BobNY — 2013-03-30 15:49:00Z

My first comment was also deleted by the admin for no apparent reason
===========================
From the same database, see the attached purported "record." The correct marriage date is given in the "Comments," while the transposed and truncated incorrect date is given as the marriage date. In addition, the bride is listed as the "performed by" individual.

Re: This is a mess . . .

ludlowbaylive — 2013-03-30 15:49:00Z

Your posts were not deleted:

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.usrecords/230.1/m...

Re: This is a mess . . .

bonedigger176 — 2013-03-30 15:49:00Z

I believe it's supposed to be my choice as to the most appropriate board for my post. I chose this board, Ancestry Improvements, because Ancestry needs to improve the database index and information. Also, Ancestry staff members are known to periodically visit this particular board so I felt my post would stand a greater chance of being noticed here.

It's a real mess . . .

BobNY — 2013-03-29 21:10:07Z

Here is one from that database where the purported "record" shows the correct date in the comment section and the erroneous date as the marriage date. In addition, the bride is listed as the entry for "performed by."

Please fix Date problem Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941

bonedigger176 — 2013-03-29 18:11:26Z

I've reported this issue before, about a year ago, but it still exists. The dates in the Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941, are formatted as "month-month-year" instead of in "month-day-year" format. See my example screen shots for Jacob Fritz and Rosanna Sindlinger attached. They were married on September 3, 1872 in Owen County, IN. Instead of the date, September 3, 1872, the date appears as "Sep Mar 1872". After following the link to attach the record, the date leaves off the actual month of the marriage and shows only the day, the 3rd, which is shown as a named month, "Mar", with the year 1872.

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988

pmhask33 — 2013-03-29 01:11:09Z

Under the town of Wayland in this data collection, the data set entitled Births, Marriages and Death actually contains the records for the neighboring town of Sudbury. Not only were the records that I found traceable to the published volume for Sudbury, but a look at image #5 in this data set indicates very clearly that these are Sudbury records.

Re: Where's the second half of the City Directories?

meekernj — 2013-02-26 01:17:38Z

Well, you can try this site:

https://sites.google.com/site/onlinedirectorysite/

I see there is one for LA for 1936. I know that Ancestry should have the whole thing, but in some cases they don't. So you may need to find work-arounds.

Re: Where's the second half of the City Directories?

glb2727 — 2013-02-26 00:31:27Z

This just seems to confirm my hypothesis, which is that most of these directory databases contain only the first half of the alphabet. For example, if you search for John Smith living in Los Angeles in 1935, you won't get any hits in LA proper. You'll get results from other areas that had smaller, one-volume directories, such as Santa Monica.

Re: Where's the second half of the City Directories?

meekernj — 2013-02-26 00:14:41Z

When Ancestry started putting these up several years ago, they made this mess. They must have just grabbed reels at random and digitized them.

For the last year or so I've been using this link.

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469

I've had much better luck with city directories located there. Maybe that will help.

Where's the second half of the City Directories?

glb2727 — 2013-02-25 22:08:15Z

Many city directories are in two volumes, but if you pull up the City Directory on ancestry, it seems only to have the first microfilm reel. For example, the LA City Directory for 1935 that is online is for letters A - N only. If you do a search for (say) Smith, it will give you hits, but if you click on the link, it takes you to a page in the first half of the alphabet. It is quite clear from the last page of the document in ancestry that the "end of the reel" is only to Letter N, and that the remainder of the alphabet is in another volume / microfilm reel, but I cannot figure out how to access it.

Re: Adding Missing Names to Ancestry Index

GregTaylor1957 — 2013-02-21 06:03:47Z

That's really too bad. Thank-you.

Re: Adding Missing Names to Ancestry Index

frostfreedet — 2013-02-21 02:49:33Z

Ancestry.com does not presently have a way for users to *add* names missing from indexes/extracts.

This really disrupts ability to attach a record citation correctly to persons in trees.

I would just love the opportunity to add elements that are missing from indexes/extracts, in a group of NY church records transcripts that were OCR-indexed. The originals were poor mimeographs and an awful lot was missed. But no dice at present.

Re: How do I request Death Certificate thru Ancestry.com without a SSN?

Catherine_OBriant — 2013-02-21 00:58:51Z

Thank you for your information :)

Re: How do I request Death Certificate thru Ancestry.com without a SSN?

meekernj — 2013-02-19 17:07:57Z

Address is:

STATE OFFICE OF VITAL STATISTICS
ATTN: CLIENT SERVICES
P.O. BOX 210
Jacksonville, FL 32231-0042

There is a form you can use here:

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/planning_eval/vital_statistics/DH...

I usually just send a letter with my name, address and phone #, along with name, exact date of death, county and file # if I have it. If death is more than 50 years ago, you will get cause of death. If it is less than 50 years, ago, you can get cause of death, but will have to provide relationship and photocopy of your driver's license. If less than 50 years, I would use the form so they can easily see what you need.

Sharon

Re: How do I request Death Certificate thru Ancestry.com without a SSN?

174Lyndale — 2013-02-19 16:05:01Z

meekernj

What is the snail mail address that you have sent to for death certificates?
174Lyndale

Adding Missing Names to Ancestry Index

GregTaylor1957 — 2013-02-17 19:09:50Z

Hi, I'm not sure I'm in the proper board as my question applies to more than just the U.S. Records Collection but I'll give it a shot. Since Ancestry has come out with numerous new City Directories I thought I'd be busy searching and adding new data to my tree's but this hasn't been the case. I've searched for a relative whom I know lived in a certain city at a certain date but no record of them came up. I then decided to browse the directory in question and found them. When I looked through the "Ancestry Index" panel at the bottom of the screen their name, address, occupation information was not there. As a matter of fact it seemed that numerous names were missing. That would explain why they never came up in the search. I looked for a blank area I could add their info to but nothing. I right-clicked "Add Update" but that only allowed me to update the persons name on the list that was already there...not add a new one. I can not find anywhere on the page that will let me do this. This problem doesn't seem to be confined to just the U.S. Directories. Ancestry has added numerous "Canada voter Lists" up here in Canada and I had the same problem. I knew my Aunt in a certain city and date. She did not come up in the search so I browsed and found her, but again no info in the bottom index. Luckily, I was able to add her because the scanning software Ancestry uses mistook the name of the district she lived in (Prince George) with a proper name and listed a "George, Prince" with no other information. In this case I did click "Add Update" on this listing and added her information to it. Is there anyone that could please help me out with this? Thank-you, Greg

Re: Wrong images for WWI Draft Registration cards

dh_2000 — 2012-10-19 09:11:44Z

You didn't say what state you were looking at but NY WWI indexes and images hava been messed up since day 1. ancesry has been notified over and over again.

Re: Hints for only one related Index

10191986 — 2012-09-30 02:47:47Z

Darn was hoping there was a lazy approach, well i will have to sort through my 1000's of hints to find the ones i want i suppose.... most of them our worthless ones i don't need anymore.

Re: Hints for only one related Index

mbmjlm — 2012-09-29 14:01:48Z

There is no option for just seeing one kind of hint. It's all of them and I don't know of a way that you can opt out of hints either. Maybe someone else knows how to opt out of hints so you see none, but there is no way to limit yourself to a selected hint.

Hints for only one related Index

10191986 — 2012-09-29 09:04:52Z

So i'm trying to figure out how do i only see hints related to marriages.... i do not want the Tree hints, or censuses, or anything at the moment.... preferably the Washington Marriage Index is there a way to show all my hints related to that?

Hints for only one related Index

10191986 — 2012-09-29 08:52:27Z

Indiana Marriage DB index entries messed up

bonedigger176 — 2012-09-27 03:21:14Z

The index for the Indiana Marriage Collection 1800-1941 is having an issue, which I've noticed for at least a month but believe it's been longer. As an example, when doing a search for Nora Burcham in Greene County, the result will show something such as "Oct Sep 1913" for the marriage date. Following the link, the next page will say "Sep 1913" with no other info. I've figured out that the "Oct Sep 1913" actually equates to Oct 9, 1913 which is, in fact, when Nora married Luther Duncan in that county. Somehow or another the numerical digit for the day of the event has been converted to a month in text form in the index. This issue needs to be corrected.

Edit by author 9/26/2012: I've attached screen shots of what I've been seeing for a while along with an image of the actual WPA marriage index in my possession outside of Ancestry. This post was originally posted to the Ancestry Improvements board but some administrator decided it should be moved to the U.S. Collection board instead.

Mayflower Births and Deaths Vol 2 won't load

PVodola1 — 2012-09-05 02:26:16Z

All pages of Vol 2 of Rosen's are black. Vol 1 and Marriages are OK. Can this be fixed?

Re: Ancestry Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620-1988 help

michaelcooley337 — 2012-08-29 19:47:31Z

Daniel Cooley of Kent Co. MD is my 6th great grandfather. After 20+ years of research, I could not find any evidence connecting him with the Massachusetts Cooleys. Michael Cooley

Re: Where Did The Ancestry draft registration card Go?

BobNY — 2012-08-14 16:14:09Z

" I'm wondering if I actually pulled it off familysearch?"
=================================

That conclusion seems more likely, since this is ACOM's description of the data set.

This database currently contains draft cards for the following states:

Alaska
Arkansas*
California*
Connecticut
Delaware
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana*
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York*
Ohio*
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia

*The collection of records for these states in this database is incomplete. Therefore, it is possible that an ancestor who fits the age requirement of this registration and is from one of these states, will not currently be found in this database.

Records for additional states will be added to this database as Ancestry can acquire them.

Re: Where Did The Ancestry draft registration card Go?

patmob — 2012-08-14 09:38:25Z

Sharon,

Thanks for trying.

I wasn't trying to search with the drop down box, my assumption was that the states on the drop down box represent the totality of the data and that Michigan wasn't there.

Now I'm wondering if I actually pulled it off familysearch? I would have said no, but I guess its possible….

Thanks again!

Re: Where Did The Ancestry draft registration card Go?

meekernj — 2012-08-14 01:46:59Z

You had me a bit confused because you mentioned a drop-down box. You don't use that for searching.

However, I did search for this man and did not find him on Ancestry. I agree that there is no drop-down box for Michigan if you want to browse.

It sure does look like the Michigan records disappeared if you had attached them previously. I guess Ancestry has to answer for this.

I did find that draft card on FamilySearch, but, of course, you can't attach it to a tree from there.

Good thing you had a download of it.

Sharon

Re: Where Did The Ancestry draft registration card Go?

patmob — 2012-08-13 23:23:37Z

Sharon,

Thanks for the offer but the problem is Michigan no longer shows up on the list of states for which records exist.

So when you got to this page http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1002 and hit the drop down box - no Michigan.

That being said, the particulars are as follows:

William Paul Radwick living in Flint Michigan at 1218 Smith Street.

I've been able to recreate it since I had previously downloaded the image - just wondering at this point where the Michigan records went to?

Re: Where Did The Ancestry draft registration card Go?

meekernj — 2012-08-12 18:29:17Z

Give me the name and particulars. I'll see if I can find it.

Sharon

Where Did The Ancestry draft registration card Go?

patmob — 2012-08-12 14:08:34Z

I accidentally removed a WW2 draft registration card from someone in my tree but when I went to reattach it, the record isn't there.

The draft registration card was from Michigan but that state no longer shows as an option when I search that database?

I know the record did exist and come from Ancestry (I have a copy on my hard drive and a printed copy).

Any ideas?

Re: Death Record Correction

kennydee1972 — 2012-08-11 15:17:56Z

Harharharharhar

Yes I have and I transcribe for FamilySearch.org alot too and yes I'm pretty sure I have made my mistake. But again this was way off and as I said before "Clear as day" what the date is. But I not going to spend my time about this, but I really want to report the incorrection and make it right.