Mish-Mosh Monday #3: Pictures, Families, Ancestors, and More

That's my Dad in the middle, but who are the other people? Mom talked
a lot about favorite friends Lou & Schoonie. Is that who it is? Or is it
Jim & Arlyss, or Donna & Ray?

I was labeling family photos today. Really labeling them. Like storing information inside each photos properties so it can’t be lost. And you may breathe…… now. That’s it for techy.

That's my Uncle Elbert on the left, my grandpa, Francis James Christensen,
at the end on the right. Who are the two in the middle? Is the young boy
my Uncle Francie? Who is the other man?

There are lots of people in the same predicament as I am. I have family photos. A few have a date written on the back, very few tell who the people are in the picture. Ugh! I hate it. I have pictures of my ancestors and have no idea who they are.

This is someone in my Mom's family. It could be her. It could be one of her
five brothers or sisters. I might never know.

And that is why I am tackling this behemoth project, so my children, grandchildren and beyond will know the who, when, & where of our photos.

My sister, Jan

What was written on the back.
So sweet.

I have also written 3 “books” for my children and their descendants. Two of them are stories about when they were young. The third one is stories about myself up until I was eight. I’ve also made digitized copies of journals that I kept at different periods of my life.

These are two hats that belonged to my grandpa, Joseph Eldred Christensen.
I have written about my memories surrounding these hats.

 I would love to find this type of information on my ancestors. I may. The amazing amount of information coming through the internet is increasing.

There are probably some of you who are interested in genealogy, or family history. It’s become a huge interest in the last 5-10 years. We don’t have to go to libraries and search through musty books and papers, strain our eyes on microfilm and microfiche. The internet has opened up research to an unbelievable level.

Not my family tree...but nice picture of one!

I have lots of my branches, and twigs filled in on my family tree. I’m actually starting on my husband’s side and also my Uncle Elbert’s wife, Marie’s side. (The Marie of Marvelous Marie!)




Ancestry.com is a huge site and has lots of ads on TV, lots of subscribers and huge amounts of data for people to learn about their family.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah

Another extensive site is  FamilySearch.org. It is a family history/record/picture/family memory site run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are doing an amazing amount of work to digitize old records: census, Parish records, ship manifests, etc.

You don’t have to be a member of their Church to access the records. The records are non-denominational. It costs nothing. Just go to the site, enter and name and start finding information.

This digitizing work, called “indexing” is done by-and-large by volunteers. Pages of old records from all over the world are photocopied and then made available for volunteers to go through them and enter the information into a computerized form. After the volunteer is done, it is saved for an “arbitrator” to check the form for accuracy.

You’re probably thinking of some little old ladies sitting down at their computers and peering at records on computers. Maybe 100 in every state, maybe. 

Here’s the stats! Since it began in 14 years ago, 1,188,905,640 records have been completed. In this year, already 85,299,504 records have been completed! And they’ve just are hitting their stride! Not just 100 little old ladies.

This is what a census from looks like. Indexers
get a copy of the record on their computer.

And now, why am I devoting Mish-Mosh Monday to Family History? Let me tell you!

In 2012, the Family Search site held a Worldwide Indexing Event. In 24 hours, 49,025 individual contributors went online and indexed records.

This year, on July 20, Family Search is doing another Worldwide Indexing Event. They are trying to break the record for the most indexers and arbitrators in a 24 hour period.

Think of all the new people that can be added to the digital records! Wonderful! So many relatives of people living today!

I’ve done indexing and it is great! I love doing it. I’ve done mostly census records and it draws you in as you read a record on a family at one period of time. I keep wanting to do more and more.

Since lots of my family records and genealogy has been done, I like to index. I think of a person who might have been searching and search for just this individual I'm indexing for their family tree. Every name I enter is a relative of someone. And someone must be looking for them!

Want to do a good deed?

Next Sunday, July 20th, sit down at your computer and do 1 batch of indexing. You will be helping someone in the world to find a relative that they’ve been looking for. A batch is usually 20-25 records from your source.

During the week go to the Indexing Site and take a little time to learn how to do it. Very easy, very little time. Click on Test Drive. After that, click on Get Started.

Then this Sunday, DO IT! Start time is 6:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. It closes 24 hours later at 5:59 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time

You can choose any of 100 current indexing project available, such as:

Brasil, Recife—Registro Civil 1900-1920
Colombia, Bucaramanga—Registros Parroquiales, 1649-1959

Norge-Tinglysningskort, 1640-1903

UK, Essex,—Parish Registers 1538-1900

Osterreich, Oberosterreich, Steyr—Kirchenbucher, 1601-1906

plus U.S. Obituaries 1980-2014, U.S. Passport Applications 1795-1925, U.S. New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1902, UK Manchester Parish Registers, 1787-1999.

If you speak a foreign language, there are records that need to be indexed in other languages.

“Everyone deserves to be remembered and you can help make this possible. No special skills or time commitments are required. Together, we can help people from around the world find and trace their ancestry for free.”
quote from Family Search Indexing site